1.
Reflecting on Dx in HE
So much more than a transition
António Moreira Teixeira
Associate Professor of Open and Distance Education
Universidade Aberta (PT)
Antonio.Teixeira@uab.pt
Reflecting on Dx in HE: So much more than a transition by António Moreira Teixeira is licensed
under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

2.
The year distance learning saved education…
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3.
After the pandemic, now what?
"Institutions that hadn't been considering Dx to any significant measure are now
faced with shifting in that direction out of necessity. As we look toward a very
uncertain future, we are already seeing evidence that institutions are prioritizing
efforts that bring the greatest value and most tangible results, in a deep and
coordinated fashion. They are, in effect, embracing digital transformation,
intentionally or not, as a matter of survival."
Karen Wetzel, Director, Community and Working Groups, EDUCAUSE

4.
From transition to transformation
• HEIs across the world have its information mostly digitized. From learning
materials to administrative documents everything is produced in digital format.
• Many of the manual and paper-based processes have been automated.
• Most HEIs have engaged in processes of digitalization. Digital technologies and
data are not being used simply to move activities online, but to generate
integrated digital environments where information is at the core.
• Covid-19 and the massive experience of emergency remote teaching and learning
has expanded and accelerated dramatically this trend across the field.
• The shortcomings of ERT&L are leading stakeholders to realize the need to
conduct a deeper cultural change, thus embracing digital transformation.
• Policy is playing a critical role in supporting this strategy (ex: European Union).

5.
Anticipating the digital futures of HEIs
1. The digital futures of HEIs are not about building teaching machines. The purpose of Dx
is not to automate processes, but to add data intelligence.
2. HEIs are going to reinvent and redesign themselves. They will unbundle and rebundle
services, specialize in only certain of their current functions and share resources openly in
collaborative networks.
3. Most HEIs will evolve to a hybrid format. Neither fully online or F2F, but not blended as
well. The learning approaches will be more diverse, complex and flexible.
4. HEIs will further enrich the living experience of learners. Students will have an increased
participation in designing and assessing their own learning experiences, which will also
become more open, authentic, flexible differentiated and personalized.
5. HEIs will change the way they assess and certificate learning achievement. Diplomas will
be replaced by new open formats (ex: microcredentials).
6. Teachers will continue to change their role, but will remain critical for HEIs. Machines will
interact with teachers and students and assume some of the learning support tasks.

6.
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Yuki, a robot lecturer at the Philipps University of Marburg

7.
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/10/28/autossell/28museumsai2/merlin_145084920_c4f80a5f-6ae9-4bc7-adf0-3c5e2f7d20f8-
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The Dot kiosk at the Akron Art Museum

8.
What may prevent us from getting there
1. Lack of integrated policies and holistic institutional strategies. Institutional change is
most effective when top-down planning combines with grassroots dynamics of change.
2. Lack of public investment on infrastructure and resources.
3. Forgetting the decisiveness of the human element. Open and digital scholarship should
be at the center of Dx.
4. Increased divide between research & innovation and educational practices. Emergency
Remote Teaching & Learning may lead to a disregard of research-based expertise.
5. The sole focus on technology or methodology as drivers. Dx reinforces the importance of
ethics and safety, especially when introducing AI in teaching and learning processes.
6. Lack of openness and networking. HEIs must unbundle services and reorganize within
networks, as well as to “dissolve” as a part of the new smart cities knowledge ecosystems.
7. Tradition and systematic inertia. HEIs and scholars are most conservative.

9.
Digital open and distance education
• Distance education (DE) HEIs are not obsolete, but
need to differentiate in the emerging hybrid landscape
• There’s still a lack of HE provision for groups at risk.
• Recent developments have proven the high level of
inequity of digital HE access and participation.
• DE HEIs should be in the front run of response to
rapidly developing social needs and complex
societal challenges which require urgent, flexible,
personalized as much as scalable approaches.
• DE HEIs need to implement more innovative
organizational models, highly responsive to
environmental change and thus holistic and organic.
Teixeira, A. M., Bates, T., & Mota, J. (2019). What future(s) for distance
education universities? Towards an open network-based approach.
RIED. Revista Iberoamericana De Educación a Distancia, 22(1), 107–
126. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.22.1.22288