education COVID-19

New pedagogical models in the COVID-19 era

Article
Teaching and learning

In this fourth and last post of the series of 4 articles related to the Digital Transformation of educational institutions, we will focus on analyzing aspects related to the pedagogical model and the quality of teachers and content.

 

elearning

 

The digital transformation of educational organizations regarding the learning process does not consist of installing an LMS (for example Moodle) to upload documents for the student to download or to display some MOOCS or webinars.
These are some of the resources that may be useful for certain objectives, but they must be aligned with the organization's strategy.

Each organization will design its pedagogical model in which it will be established which activities will be carried out in person and which activities will be carried out online and, of the latter, whether they will be carried out synchronously or asynchronously and what level of support the teaching team will exercise in each of them. In other words, some organizations, such as distance universities, will work eminently online and others will use a hybrid (blended) model combining face-to-face spaces with online activities.

 

The quality of teachers will make the difference

It should be borne in mind that the quality of teachers will be decisive in the student experience. For this reason, in online training it is essential to establish good student support and a continuous evaluation model. It is very important that the teacher offers continuous and effective support to his students in the development of the subject, and promotes continuous participation in activities through collaborative tools: forums, chats, social networks, videoconferences,...

For this, the training of teaching staff will be essential both in pedagogical aspects of the model and in the use of technological tools, through the creation of a support office for teaching staff that also performs the function of a single window for any incident or consultation of the same.

 

The content must also be transformed

The creation and transformation of teaching content will also be a key element in the learning process. In addition to the courses, other personalized content (podcasts, videos, posts, blogs, etc.) will be created based on the interests, objectives and level of progress in the students' activities.

The contents will be transformed to adapt to the nature of the new digital media and the multiple devices that users use depending on the time, the place of access or the activity to be carried out.
Students can, for example, use a computer for tasks and times when they require greater concentration, tablets for reading teaching materials while traveling by public or mobile transport for certain specific accesses to services such as receiving notifications, checking notes or reading emails.

For all this, various content transformation techniques such as scriptwriting, gamification... will be used.

 

The evaluation process must be reliable

The evaluation of students and the absence of fraud on exams is one of the most complex challenges in these times of health crisis, even on the part of educational organizations that have a higher level of progress in the digital transformation of their processes. A pedagogical model based on continuous evaluation, as well as the use of tools that allow exams to be carried out safely and reliably, will reduce the risk of fraud, guaranteeing the reliability and quality of the system.

 

Technologies to guarantee the efficiency of the Learning process

 

  • LXP (learning Experience Platform) platforms focused on the student, as an evolution of the LMS (Learning Management System), offer the organization the framework in which to carry out all this teaching activity. These platforms, conveniently configured, will be the channeling element of the entire learning process according to the pedagogical model of the organization
  • eProctoring systems verify the student's identity and reduce the risk of fraud through different techniques of audio and video capture, facial recognition, machine learning, ...
  • Learning Record Store (LRS) and Learning Analytics. These tools will provide us with a repository for records generated in all learning activities, as well as analytical capabilities so that the organization knows what is happening and how to optimize the environments, as well as make predictions about what will happen and make the appropriate decisions for the success or improvement of the student learning process.
  • Digital Identity and Blockchain for the issuance of certificates and titles digitally. Through these technologies, the identity of the student and the inalterability of the information on their certifications can be guaranteed.

 

This post is the third in a series of 4 articles related to Digital Transformation in the education sector, so you may also be interested in the following:

 

Conclusions

Educational institutions, like many other sectors, face the challenge of Digital Transformation. The current health crisis of COVID-19 has only shown that those organizations that have made the most progress in this transformation are better prepared to adapt to the changes.

Current Technology is a very important lever to help organizations throughout the transformation process, however, technology alone is not enough without a good strategy, since Digital Transformation implies a comprehensive and profound change in educational institutions . It begins with a cultural change that encourages continuous innovation and will therefore have to be led by the Management.

Each organization must define its strategy taking into account that it will be necessary to redesign products and services, digitize all processes in the value chain, and train the different agents involved: teachers, students, parents, clients, suppliers , administration, etc.

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Author: Roberto Pérez