Abstract
As they emerge from the pandemic, universities worldwide are evaluating the adaptations in the education sector during the pandemic and determining their course of action for the future. In this work, drawing on the lessons from four courses across two different universities, a survey of over 300 students, and the literature, we present strategies for successfully implementing a flexible blended education format. The survey revealed that the performance of the cohort taking the course during the pandemic performed nearly the same as the cohorts that took the courses before the pandemic. However, the students did not prefer an entirely virtual format, felt that their social wellbeing was impacted, and preferred a hybrid education model with a lot of supplementary learning material. As a key contribution of this work, we have identified and elaborate on four key pillars for a flexible blended education format, namely, course design, pedagogical strategies incorporating active learning and providing a sense of online community, infrastructure for delivery and training, and incorporating activities that support student wellbeing.
Highlights
In December 2019, patients with pneumonia-like symptoms were admitted to the hospitals in Wuhan, China
We provide our commentary on the points to be considered for delivering a high-quality education experience for the students
We have identified the key pillars of quality education as (i) a well-designed course content, (ii) novel pedagogical strategies incorporating active learning techniques to engage students in the class and create a sense of online community, (iii) better infrastructure for delivery and training, and (iv) incorporating practices that promote student wellness and health
Summary
In December 2019, patients with pneumonia-like symptoms were admitted to the hospitals in Wuhan, China. In no time, this spread to other provinces, and the health authorities initiated investigations. Within the first few weeks of 2020, the existence of the Novel Coronavirus was confirmed. As this spread to other countries, a worldwide pandemic was declared. Educational institutions were not insulated from the impact of the pandemic. In the initial weeks of the pandemic, many institutions were completely shut down and were forced to reinvent themselves to continue the educational activities. Several of them were not conversant with the new technologies and modern strategies for virtual education [2]. There are numerous articles on the impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]
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