3. CURRICULUM REDESIGN: OPTIMIZE STUDENT-CENTRIC HYBRID LEARNING
As colleges and universities broaden curriculum delivery to include a variety of models—online, in-person, and hybrids of the two—the need to experiment in real-time has become clear. However, complex short-term questions around logistics, pedagogies, prioritization, costs, and other factors can bring long-term implications. As we transition from crisis teaching to the mindful redesign of curriculum, there is opportunity to craft a student-first experience that helps evolve higher education for relevance and value.
The following considerations may offer a path forward:
Mindset Shift: From “Tech When We Need It” to “We Need Tech”
The pandemic accelerated curricular and pedagogical changes that were already underway, the most obvious being online learning. As we play out alternative post-COVID-19 futures, one good bet is that online learning will continue.
In response, there has been a significant shift in mindset across most institutions from “tech when we need it” to “we need tech.” As colleges and universities adapt to this reality, those that embrace the long-term goal of optimizing online learning will likely be more competitive. Most institutions will likely use hybrid models moving forward, as students and faculty shift between in-person and virtual modes.
The growth of online learning begs questions about the relevance of certain traditional types of learning environments, such as lecture halls and auditoria. Online learning may present a greater range of options for learning that better serves students, such as recording lectures to be viewed on the student’s time. Digitization also allows for lectures to be transcribed, translated into a variety of languages, and played/replayed at will or as preferred, including speed adjustments and closed captioning.
Most institutions will likely use hybrid models moving forward, as students and faculty shift between in-person and virtual modes.
New Opportunities for Equity and Inclusivity
While the shift to online learning highlighted the digital divide, online learning may offer a broader variety of students—parents, caregivers, working students, English as a Second Language (ESL) learners, and students with disabilities—more flexibility to tailor their schedules and obtain the tools (e.g. transcripts or lecture recordings) to meet their specific needs.
The growing number of online learning options could provide a wider range of students access to free or affordable content from professors and lectures at colleges and universities that were previously inaccessible. When considering this model of opting in for a self-directed educational experience, lessons from previous models (such as Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCS) include creating a sense of achievement and optimizing the student/faculty and peer-to-peer interactions.
The switch to virtual modes of working may also reveal opportunities for equity and inclusion. For example, online community forums or public meetings may be more accessible to students and community members who may not have the time or means to participate in-person.
The Campus Matters: Put a Premium on the In-Person Experience
While online learning may offer many advantages relative to scheduling efficiencies and personal learning styles, learning often happens socially—information becomes knowledge when we share new ideas with peers, give and receive feedback, synthesize different perspectives, and apply ideas to real-world situations.
Additionally, pandemic-related shut-downs have shown that people will show up to campuses—viewed by many as spaces that are inherently civic, public, and community-centric—whether or not they’re open.
In response, colleges and universities may put a premium on experiences that could only happen in person. Students may expect the on-campus experience to encourage interaction, intimacy, connection, a sense of belonging, and participation. Planning and design may skew toward campus environments that support learning, socializing, and community activities that require face-to-face engagement—student life activities, protests, work (like scientific research or engineering requiring equipment and tools), and other active, experiential and hands-on learning.
Colleges and universities may put a premium on experiences that could only happen in person.
Balance Personal Responsibility With Personalized Service
Online learning put the onus on students to manage their education, with responsibility for self-directed learning and community engagement. While students assume a certain level of autonomy, many may benefit from personalized care.
Likewise, learning spans a variety of activities and modalities—from absorbing new information to applying knowledge in practice—in a variety of individual and group settings (virtual and in-person) that require different scales or experiences of spaces that flex from hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and into the future. Striking the right balance between supporting personal responsibility and personalized service—both in social and physical offerings—may offer new ways to support holistic wellbeing, campus life, and academic success.
“The campus can be organized to be more welcoming, inclusive, and intuitive,” says WRNS Studio partner, Lilian Asperin. “For instance, spaces that students expect to find first may be readily apparent upon entering the campus, after which the campus experience becomes more fluid and rooted in discovery. Level of access to the different spaces and personalized student support become the primary drivers. Flexible, multi-functional, healthy, and welcoming indoor/outdoor learning environments put students first by accommodating a wide spectrum of schedules, learning requirements, and activities.”
Innovate and Flex: Upcycle the Campus
During the pandemic, unconventional “classrooms” required educators to rethink their existing approaches to educational delivery and try something new. For instance, a parking structure might serve as an art studio, or hands-on workshops might take place in an under-used lobby that allows for socially distanced engagement.
In the same way that instructors must shake things up and adapt to new modalities and changing expectations, so must space planners adapt in order to put students first. Physical space that has outlived its initial purpose or was built without a focus on wellness, inclusivity, or operational costs might be repurposed to better support how students learn and interact. Older buildings or classrooms dedicated to singular departments might be repositioned as welcoming, interdisciplinary spaces that host myriad students, faculty, staff, and community members. Similarly, real estate practices, like shared use agreements with neighboring organizations, can generate opportunities in the local economy.