Post - pandemic, the existing higher education practice is going to require re-organisation if we are to build lasting practices for future generations

1. Rita Ndagire Kizito
28 September 2022
Teaching and Learning beyond the
pandemic: Challenges and
Opportunities in Curriculum Design
and Assessment

2. COVID-19 has become “a catalyst for
the potential digital transformation
of higher education, sparking an
intense period of reorganization that
will surely be followed by necessary
innovation and investment”
Philippa Hardman, University World News, 3 October 2020
• How will this affect Curriculum Design and
assessment?
• What does this mean for teaching and
learning beyond the pandemic?

3. Educational
Research
Innovation
Adaptability
& flexibility
Digital
transformation
strategy
Enablers
Execution
• Teaching ,Learning & Research plans
and policies
• Investment/resources
• People and HE culture
• Diversity and Inclusivity
• Appropriate pedagogical approaches
drivers leaders
Continuous re-organisation and evaluation
while upholding the institutional mission, values and objectives
catalyst
• Digitality – awareness,
literacy, fluency
• IT systems &
infrastructure
• Data systems/analytics
• Embracing new
technologies
Re-organizing the Educational Practice
*actors
*Actors include, students, teachers , professional & support staff

4. Challenges Opportunities
Pace of adoption of new ways of functioning ( design,
teaching & assessment) for staff & students. Digital and online
teaching does not suit all staff or students.
Accelerated rate of adoption of digital teaching and assessment after the
pandemic, with a unanimous preference for hybrid education and a
knowledge of what works ( Bashir et al., 2021, Benito et al., 2021)
Connectivity, access to devices and data , digital
issues of privacy and data intrusion, social impact, and digital
polarization
Improved digital infrastructure, device and data provision at the University’s
cost; partnerships with Ed-tech providers & institutions . Open Education
Resources
Challenges associated with online learning:
ensuring that “students are comfortable interacting and
engaging online (Bashir et.al, 2021,p 12)
Opportunities for innovation . A knowledge of what has worked, what needs
revisiting and what can be shared locally and globally
Retaining student motivation and success. Retaining
numbers and remaining financially sustainable in a
competitive market
Universities collaborating using networks and shifting to distributed
leadership styles (Spillane, 2009)
Lack of continuous and relevant teacher learning
opportunities in design and the use of appropriate
pedagogies
Embrace new pedagogies and new technologies; Invent new ways of learning
activity design, teaching and assessment
Uncontested nature of educational research, which is
criticized for supporting uncritical adoption of ed –tech
related to commercialization, commodification, and
massification of education
Using rigorous , eclectic methods where scientificity is respected and
significant results are obtained (Piccioli, 2019).
Unchanging assessment regimes *Embrace authentic forms of assessment and improve hybrid assessment
infrastructure
Lack of diversity and Inclusion Diversifying the education practice where representation matters, and where
the system is transformed to achieve diverse, equitable and inclusive teaching
and learning( Keane, Heinz & Mc Daid, 2022).

5. Building from
Conventional
Pedagogies
• Behaviourism
• Cognitivism
• Constructivism
• Problem &
Challenge-based
The new normal
requires
• Experimentation
and exploration
• Rethinking of how
learning is best
realized in current
Pedagogies in a
digital, networked
context
• Connectivism
• Rhizomatic learning
(net abled
education)
• Pedagogy of
Revisiting Learning Activity Design
Siemens (2005);
Downes & Siemens
(2008) ; Kizito (2016);
Kop (2011) ;
Cormier (2008); Wiley,
(2013);
Weller (2020)

6. Revisiting Learning Activity Design- possible
futures
Connectivism revisited Humanising Pedagogy
• Self-directed learning:
autonomous learners
• Presence : a voice
• Critical literacies: so that
staff and students can
function in the new hybrid
environments
• Students and
teachers act as agents
of change
• Voice routed in own
stories and experiences
• Community formation
both in place and in
memory
Siemens (2005); Kop (2011)
Zinn, D., & Rodgers, C. (2012)
A
new
normal

7. Curriculum questions informed by
• The educational and personal needs of learners
• Problems and issues important for societal needs
and trends
• Knowledge - academic and cultural heritage
important for future learning and development
McKenney, Nieveen & van den Akker - Design research from a curriculum perspective
http://www.fi.uu.nl/publicaties/literatuur/EducationalDesignResearch.pdf )
Reforming assessment
Using ICT tools ( Goosen & van Heerden, 2018)
Diversifying Assessment (O’Neill & Padden, 2022).

8. References
Bashir, A., Bashir, S., Rana, K., Lambert, P., & Vernallis, A. (2021, August). Post-COVID-19
adaptations; the shifts towards online learning, hybrid course delivery and the
implications for biosciences courses in the higher education setting. In Frontiers in
Education (Vol. 6, p. 711619). Frontiers Media SA.
Benito, Á., Dogan Yenisey, K., Khanna, K., Masis, M. F., Monge, R. M., Tugtan, M. A., ... &
Vig, R. (2021). Changes that should remain in higher education post COVID-19: A
mixed-methods analysis of the experiences at three universities. Higher Learning
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distributed-course
Garrad, T. A., & Nolan, H. (2022). Rethinking higher education unit design: Embedding
universal design for learning in online studies. Student Success.
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Hardman, University World News, 3 October, 2020
Keane, E., Heinz, M., & Mc Daid, R. (Eds.). (2022). Diversifying the Teaching Profession:
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O’Neill, G., & Padden, L. (2022). Diversifying assessment methods: Barriers, benefits and
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Weller, M. (2020). 25 years of ed tech. Athabasca University, AU Press.
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