Crisis! What crisis?
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Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:05
Thank you again and have a lovely time at the University Future Festival. We will direct you to our next keynote speaker. She is the Manager of Pedagogy Innovation by CERF, which is now in 2006.
00:29
She is an expert in technology and technology development in the Hochschule-Bildung. She is a programmer on the topic of personalization, learning, flexible building, digital learning materials, and analytics.
00:48
She is also in the national debate about this issue in the Hochschule-Bildung. In the organization CERF, she is also in the national debate about the importance of building and innovation in ICT and innovation,
01:05
and the chance to digitalize all of these aspects. We are very excited about her expertise, her perspective on the digital Hochschule-Bildung, the second, and the biggest with her keynote, Crisis? What Crisis?
01:23
Let us warmly welcome Miss Christine Bock. Thank you very much. Thank you for the opportunity to tell something about the experiences we had in the Netherlands due to Corona.
01:41
And just before Corona, I was wondering about my job. I have been involved in I.T. Innovation for Education for 14 years now. And I was wondering, is it time for something new? I am lucky to work with the most dedicated, inspiring, and enthusiastic people who all have
02:01
a very strong drive to use I.T. for education, to change it for the better. And there is really no greater joy than working with such motivated people. But sometimes I also have the feeling that I'm working in a bubble, a bubble of believers, a bubble with people who dedicate their evening hours, working on ways to stimulate the use of open educational resources,
02:25
with people who experiment with micro-credentialing and ad badges, people who figure out how to use student analytics in an ethical way. But my bubble doesn't necessarily reflect the real world and daily practice of education. Because the teachers, CIOs, and educationalists I work with are also part of their own university,
02:45
where other questions and priority ask for attention, and not everybody else is so keen on exploring and using the possibilities of I.T. like they are. And I was wondering, do we really have an impact?
03:01
On March 15, the lockdown in the Netherlands was announced. All schools in university were closed, a huge educational crisis. And to deal with that crisis, different worlds within university had suddenly, they needed to come together. Because they had to. Because all those people shared one essential goal, student success.
03:23
So everybody, literally everybody, proponents, opponents, and those who are indifferent, realized that I.T. now was the key to ensure as much student success as possible in these pandemic times. Suddenly, the bubble expanded.
03:41
Everybody in higher education needed to enter the bubble. And they did. Willingly or not, believer or not. And did it work? Yes. As far as it could work, it did. With tremendous effort from everybody involved, university managed. Staff and students did.
04:01
Within one week, they transformed all classes and assessments to online versions. Thanks to unbelievable creativity, hard work, and dedication, students were able to continue their classes without falling behind. I work for SURF, a national organization somewhat familiar to Hochschuleforum digitalisierum.
04:24
And in SURF, education and research institutions have worked together for over 33 years on I.T. facilities and innovation in order to make full use of the opportunities offered by digitization. Were we prepared to help universities at SURF?
04:42
I can only answer that with a big no. Are we now, after six months? Still, the answer is a big no. We did our best, and we learned. And since there isn't a teacher anymore, without online education experience, and since it is unthinkable that we will return to the era before corona, we will need to adjust our course, not in the bubble, but in real life.
05:08
I will share some lessons I have learned these past months and give some thoughts on how these lessons will affect the way we collaborate in the upcoming years on a national and an international level.
05:22
So the first lesson is create a place for sharing and building knowledge. The greater the challenge, the more important it is to unleash as much thought and targeted action as possible within an organization. Corona made it clear how important it is to learn together and to be
05:43
able to put different pieces of knowledge and disciplines together to help each other. Only together, we were able to make this major operation possible. But collaboration and learning has to be organized. So creating a place for sharing and building knowledge is key.
06:03
The universities that already invested in these spaces had a head start, but ultimately all universities had to put all hands on deck to connect people and knowledge. At SURF, we did so on a national level. We created the VRAGBAG for online questions and answers.
06:23
We used our existing online platform, SURF communities, and added a special space to ask and answer all kinds of questions. The strength of the VRAGBAG is the extensive expertise network of cooperating parties such as SURF,
06:41
the Dutch Acceleration Plan, that's a big program where a lot of universities collaborate, Comenius, that is a network of outstanding teachers, the VASENU, that is an association of Dutch universities, and AKEO, that's the Center for Inclusive Education. Because of these connected networks, we can quickly find and share the knowledge that is needed.
07:04
We set up an editorial board to identify developments at an early stage and identify themes for which there is a need to share knowledge. By connecting people, we were able to accelerate the sharing of experience and expertise on urgent topics.
07:22
Articles, best practices, tips and tricks were posted and shared more than 10,000 times. Wisdom spread from within the walls of one university to include all universities. So far, we organized 21 webinars on topics such as online proctoring, online interaction,
07:41
peer feedback, online resources, online events, and so on, by asking experts in the field to share their knowledge and answer relevant questions. Every webinar attracted over 100 participants and they are still being used. Even when we addressed new topics, we were able to create new large networks at short notice.
08:04
For example, around the organization of online events, when it became clear that the introduction of the new academic year would have to take place online as well. So what did we learn? The questions we need to address are becoming more and more complex.
08:23
The amount of people requiring answers to be able to do their job is growing and the pace at which these answers are needed is getting faster. Let's face it, we have to keep doing our best. Universities that already invested in educational innovation in, for example, innovation programs had
08:42
a head start on organizing the exchange of knowledge and getting things done. And because networks has been operating within several many years, knowledge exchange at a national level was also relatively easy to organize. But there are also pitfalls. Playtime is over.
09:01
IT for education is no longer something nice to have. It's a must have. We need to answer today's questions and we need answers quickly for the benefit of current students. One of our pitfalls is that we often ignore the tough questions that require more time and effort to answer.
09:21
For example, how do we use VR and AR for laboratory teaching and traineeships? The second lesson, let me see if this works. Well, we do it without pictures.
09:43
The second lesson is establish new connections. This crisis also made it very clear that we need to establish new connections between people that previously could be and stay successful in their own bubble. Let me explain that with a case of online proctoring.
10:04
Key to preventing students from falling behind was the offer of online exams. Most universities use assessment tools, but hardly any had previously used online proctor systems. And if they had, it had hardly been used on a large scale.
10:22
So in no time, many universities had to purchase systems for online proctoring. But the decision on what system has to be purchased is a decision procurement departments of university need to make together with educational specialists, for example, because online proctoring has a direct impact on education.
10:44
Overall, there is no natural connection and workflow between educational specialists, experts on assessments, staff or students and the procurement department yet. And also security and privacy are key elements of online proctoring.
11:02
But there is neither an organic collaboration between procurement and data protection officers and the chief information security officers. Apart from the fact that there was no time to make a procurement decision based on a vision around digital assessment and online proctoring, there is no infrastructure as of yet to connect all the expertise and everyone's point
11:25
of view needed in this process, not within universities and not within their national organization serve. So what did we learn? It appears to be very fruitful, but also very time consuming to build an infrastructure that fosters collaboration between, for example, data
11:45
protection officers, chief information security officers, procurement officers, assessment expert, etc. Especially in times of crisis, they all have their work on another level, and slow processes are killing. Again, especially in times of crisis, decisions have to be made on short notice. Quite some decisions have a long term impact, though, such as
12:10
parental contracts for online proctoring systems. Some decisions could not be taken for very trivial reasons. Jointly carrying out a security audit and a De Pia on a national level, for example,
12:24
is far more cheaper and more efficient than that all the universities do it by themselves. But approval for this initiative by the budget holders took so much time that many universities decided to carry out their own audits after all.
12:40
Online proctoring was the most striking example where we missed an infrastructure for these new connections. But to build a safe, meaningful and sustainable environment for online and hybrid learning for the years to come, we need to have at least all these parties on board and probably even more. They need to learn to understand and to trust each other, learn each other's language, value each other's point of view.
13:07
For the upcoming years, we have to invest in building this infrastructure. And when you are busy, busy managing a crisis, setting up new connections is one of the hardest things to do. Within one's own working environment, let alone on a national level, we
13:24
must ensure that these circumstances prevent us from seeking these new partnerships. The third lesson that I want to talk with you about is that innovation of education is not only about technology, but it's also about politics.
13:43
Online proctoring also told us that the use of IT isn't neutral and can even easily become political. Let me explain that a bit. To prevent students from falling behind, universities choose to use online proctoring. Students rebelled because they felt their privacy was compromised and their protests led to parliamentary questions.
14:08
We are not only addressing technological questions with a political aspect, but we are also taking part in addressing political questions with technological aspects.
14:22
One example, at Surf, we updated a paper, a white paper we published in 2016 on online proctoring, and we worked really hard to make the paper GDPR compliant as quickly as possible. What we didn't do was change the advice that we formulated in 2016,
14:43
namely not to use online proctoring if it's not necessary because of privacy issues. Because we, as independent experts, still supported that advice. But universities felt offended by our conclusions because in times of crisis, the whole point was that they had no alternative and because all the rumour, our white paper became part of a political debate.
15:07
So what did we learn? We can no longer approach IT issues as straightforward technical issues. It means that IT departments and national bodies such as Surf can no longer have a sole technical focus.
15:22
That means we also need to develop new skills, communication skills, political skills, political awareness. We need to be more sensitive in the timing and framing of information, and we need to be better aligned with other parties such as student bodies, politics, and even more, we need to establish new connections.
15:42
We need to be careful, but on the other hand, a pitfall is that we become too careful and too cautious to bring in our expertise because we are scared to become part of a political storm. Expert information is necessary to make a decision, even or mostly political ones.
16:02
So that's a dilemma. The fourth lesson I want to talk to you about is protect public values. In this crisis, there is a tension between the urgent needs of available online services, application and tools, and the agreements we have with service providers so that we can use those services under the conditions that align with our values.
16:29
And the only way that we can reach those agreements with suppliers is if we act collectively. We cannot close deals overnight.
16:40
We have to meet tender rules and take care of legal compliance, and we have other values we want to protect because we want to provide a secure learning environment that is inclusive and accessible. And we want to ensure data superimity to have an impact towards service providers in terms
17:01
of setting our own agenda instead of only following theirs, national and even international collaboration is needed. In the Netherlands, here at SERVE, SERVE establishes sector-wide agreements with service provider. And so in this way, we enable our members to buy and use IT products at the best possible conditions.
17:27
So, for example, our university benefits from contacts with big parties such as Microsoft, Amazon, etc. But we found out in this crisis that we had no structured portfolio on IT resources for online and hybrid learning.
17:41
And suddenly the need for such a portfolio exploded. And I found it a bit shocking how little information we had on the privacy and security conditions of the tools we are using. So we had to prioritize. We helped universities to make decisions on critical systems such as Zoom, Teams and WebEx.
18:03
So we set up a website with all the features of all the systems. And we also made an overview of all available tools for education with a little information about this tool.
18:24
You can find this online. This is only a small screenshot. What we learned was that the enormous increase in the use of IT has highlighted our dependence on commercial service providers. And that values such as security and privacy are rightly under a magnifying glass.
18:45
But the dominance of service providers is considerable and it is growing. So the need to take ad hoc decisions in this crisis unintentionally reduce the opportunities for joint action. And again, we need to organize ourselves better in order to be able to negotiate good conditions.
19:08
So universities have plenty of things in common, but they also have their differences. It is one thing to agree on the importance of collaboration. It is another thing to find a common goal and a common pace.
19:23
Because we are at different starting points, collaboration might mean a delay for one university while it's going too fast for others. Waiting for the perfect starting point will lead to a standstill. We have to act under imperfect conditions to work towards a future that we want to shape ourselves.
19:43
Starting regardless of these conditions in times of crisis demands courage and perseverance and a lot of flexibility. So the last lesson is create a common narrative of the future of education.
20:04
Are you too busy extinguishing the fire to think about the future? That is a big mistake. This crisis should not withhold us to prepare for tomorrow's questions. It's tempting to put all our efforts in the here and now, but perhaps more now, more
20:22
than ever, we need to prepare for a future in which IT is a core element of education. OK, teachers, IT staff, students, they are all exhausted and we really have to take that seriously. This turnaround demands the utmost from them.
20:40
At the same time, there is a great deal of energy aimed at teaching students as well as possible. A clear vision gives direction to that energy. If the spot on the horizon is clear, staff can take the intermediate steps independently.
21:00
And it really matters how we take our next steps. Because whether you are a believer or a non-believer, hybrid learning is here to stay. This crisis that forced university to offer all their courses and exams online made clear what IT can offer, but it also made clear what cannot be replaced in an online environment.
21:22
And because we have this unique situation of being fully online, the dialogue on the future of education will become more richer and more rich and broader. This sudden shift to fully online courses showed us the benefits IT can offer, but it also made clear what we lose by online education, what can never be replaced by IT.
21:46
This shift to online education is a quick fix. It's not a well-folded-out redesign of education. Together, we need to figure out how to find the perfect balance. The fact that online education has taken off so rapidly due to this crisis
22:02
is an enormous boost for the innovation of education, but we need to collaborate. We were able to put man on the moon because we focused forces of 10,000 people, so it should be possible. Everybody has experienced pros and cons, both staff and students.
22:21
We have collectively learned about the necessity and not so self-evident digital literacy of both staff and students. We have learned about the necessity of protecting public values. We need to foster discussion on what we envision higher education to be, because we need coordinated action to design the future.
22:43
We need to discuss our vision within university, but also on a national and an international level. We can only meet the challenges we face that are technical, ethical, political, didactic, if we collaborate. And I really hope that this crisis will be the beginning of creating an inclusive,
23:03
accessible education system that offer the flexibility students need to be equipped for the labour market. So within six months, my job has changed completely. I have had to reconsider everything, the challenges I have to work on, the way
23:26
I need to collaborate, the skills I have to develop, the choices I have to make. And I think this applies to all of us. This big, unbelievable crisis appears also to be a big opportunity to accelerate the ambitions we
23:41
have been working on for years, not as a nice to have, but as a must have. We entered reality with the speed of light. We are facing a big challenge. For me, one that I think no other new job can offer. So I think I will still be around for a while. I hope we will continue collaborating together.
24:04
Thank you very much. Thank you very much, indeed, Miss Borke, for your enlightening talk. We already have one question. And it is from Jens Hofmann.
24:23
He's asking, what is your idea, vision for the future of European collaboration in higher education? Well, I think that a lot of questions on the future on higher education also involve the wish for flexibility and organising flexibility for students.
24:47
If you want to organise that, you need to standardise. Standardise is, standards are the foundation of being able to be flexible. So I think we really need to talk about which standards are we
25:05
going to adapt national and internationally, because students, they don't study national anymore. They want to study internationally. So we really need to adjust more to each other. I think that's one of the very important topics.
25:23
And there are a lot of standards on simple things like, no, they are not simple things. Do we acknowledge the credentials that we issue to students?
25:40
And how do we help them to easily switch from one university to another? So there are a lot of standard questions to be answered. And there is another question again from Jens Hofmann. And he's recurring exactly to this standards you're talking about.
26:01
Who, after all, defines the standards in Europe? Well, that's an interesting question. The IMS Global Organisation is a worldwide organisation for standards for education. And there is, IMS Europe is working right now. And I think we really have to invest in that organisation to make our agreements there.
26:27
We also have a question from an anonymous user. How well did the universities in the Netherlands respond to your offers? What kind of reactions did you receive?
26:42
Well, I think they were grateful for what we did. And as I told you about the online proctoring, sometimes a little bit irritated. And that depends on the level of who is receiving the advice. So for example, procurement officers, privacy officers,
27:00
they were very happy with our white paper on online proctoring. But the senior management wasn't very happy about it. And I can understand that. So it was, I think, just as the universities, we did the best we could. And they valued us for that.