Don’t lose sight of standards
As e-learning in higher learning institutions continues until Dec 31, experts discuss what students and lecturers’ priorities should be and the challenges that come in a fully online environment.
BY now, the terms ‘online learning’ or ‘e-learning’ are an inseparable part of the education system.
Although the Higher Education Ministry has allowed a select group of students to return to campus, the bulk of them will continue their lessons online until the end of the year.
Despite having to fully embrace e-learning for the past three months, students and academics alike have questioned how quality can be maintained when the usual teaching and assessment methods cannot be used in the virtual world.
Some of these concerns were addressed during a recent webinar with several industry experts-cum-academics who sit in regulatory bodies.
Held in May, they discussed the importance of higher learning institutions maintaining the standards and quality of their courses as they adjust to the new normal where almost everything is done digitally.
It also allowed higher learning institutions to gather information from regulatory and professional bodies on the best ways to facilitate their transition to emergency remote teaching while ensuring standards are not compromised.
Dubbed ‘Managing Quality in Higher Education in Times of Crisis’, the webinar was organised by the Academy of Professors Malaysia Education and Human Development Cluster, in collaboration with Universiti Utara Malaysia’s University Teaching Learning Center.
Board of Engineers Malaysia (Engineering Accreditation Department and Engineering Technology Accreditation Department) director Dr Siti Hawa Hamzah said while universities are given the autonomy and flexibility in handling all forms of alternative assessments, she stressed that they must not compromise on the accreditation standards. Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants president and Malaysian Institute of Accountants council member Dr Veerinderjeet Singh and Council of Architectural Accreditation and Education Malaysia head of accreditation and validation Prof Dr Syed Ahmad Iskandar Syed Ariffin, agreed.
The experts, however, cautioned that there are challenges that come along with migrating fully to a virtual teaching and learning environment.
In engineering, Siti Hawa said, it is impossible for a complete shift to happen due to its hands-on and practical components.
Veerinderjeet said online safety is a concern together with the possibility of exam questions and results being hacked by unscrupulous individuals.
Prof Syed Ahmad said difficulties also lie in making this virtual mode of learning a culture among lecturers and students.
“Any compromise on the quality is simply not an option,” he added.
All of these will have an effect on the quality of graduates coming out of our varsities if left unchecked.
Speaking to StarEdu, Malaysian Association of Private Colleges and Universities (Mapcu) president Datuk
Dr Parmjit Singh said collaboration and engagement between lecturers and students is pivotal in assuring the teaching and learning process is continuous and intact on an “undisruptive connection”.
“This allows for all students to be in real time connection with their educators.
“Continuous and seamless knowledge sharing and transfer will be executed on the strengths of the ICT infrastructure in place.
“The design of online delivery is set upon a learning management system strategy to allow for learning optimisation while ensuring attention to what is being taught through blended learning techniques and flip classroom on a virtual platform,” he added.
Learning outcomes, Dr Parmjit said, must be assessed to ensure that they are met.
THE Covid-19 pandemic has thrown universities out of their comfort zones, propelling them to embrace e-learning in its entirety.
Students and lecturers had to change the way they taught, learnt and conducted research overnight.
Postgraduate students required to conduct research on campus have resumed work at their respective universities since May 27.
But the Higher Education Ministry said this permission is granted only to those who need to be physically present in laboratories, workshops, design studios and need the use of specific equipment available on campus.
As for everyone else, online learning will continue until Dec 31 and face-to-face teaching is strictly not allowed until then.
With these changes come the added responsibility for universities to safeguard their quality and standard of teaching and learning.
Prof Dr Rosna Awang-Hashim, the Malaysian Society for Higher Education Policy and Research Development deputy chairman, said emergency remote teaching, which was employed during the pandemic, is a temporary shift of instructional delivery to an alternate delivery mode, something universities’ have no experience in.
This is in contrast to open and distance learning that are planned and designed to be online, said Prof Rosna, who is also a Professor of Educational Psychology in Universiti Utara Malaysia.
“In doing so, how can we ensure that quality is not compromised?
“Should there be any compensatory programmes or initiatives after graduation to ensure standards of programmes are met?” she asked.
Prof Rosna recently moderated a webinar called ‘Managing Quality in Higher Education in Times of Crisis’, where course quality matters were discussed.
The webinar allowed higher education institutions to gain insights from regulatory and professional bodies to facilitate the transition to emergency remote learning without compromising on standards.
“The ability to manage the quality of higher education in times of crisis is crucial as we are concerned about the quality of our graduates, their employability and how this pandemic may affect their job security and quality of life.
“We learnt from 2008 that the global economic crisis had a more profound post-crisis economic impact on young university graduates, where they received relatively lower pay than their less-educated peers.
“We are still adjusting ourselves to this new normal.
“The difference between in-person and online courses lie in how students interact with each other,” she shared.
Maintain standards while keeping autonomy
At the end of March, the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) released their guidelines called ‘Guiding Principles On Teaching and Learning and Assessment Implementation During Covid-19 Pandemic’, which focuses on five areas.
These areas are – final year projects which may affect the graduating cohort; industrial training which may affect technologist and technician programme; laboratories for the ongoing cohort; design project which may affect the graduating cohort and final examinations.
BEM Engineering Accreditation Department and Engineering Technology Accreditation Department director Dr Siti Hawa Hamzah said these guiding principles give universities the flexibility to handle all alternative assessments.
“However, with whatever alternative assessment they embark on, we expect them not to compromise on the accreditation standards.
“BEM is one of the signatories members
to the International Engineering Alliance and one of 20 member countries in the Washington Accord.
“Therefore, we will not lower our standards because we do not want it to be compromised as we are benchmarked against international standards.
“We are currently discussing how to maintain quality assurance and accreditation standards, as well as how final exams can be done,” she said.
Siti Hawa, a former Professor of Civil and Structural Engineering in Universiti Teknologi Mara, Shah Alam, said BEM is looking at internal quality assurance and how it is being approved by a university’s internal body.
We are looking at the outcome students will obtain from this method upon graduation, she added.
Similarly, Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants president and Malaysian Institute of Accountants council member Dr Veerinderjeet Singh said the institute is open to allowing universities to practise flexibility as they deem fit.
However, he stressed, quality cannot be compromised.
“There have been requests from universities for relaxation in the mode of learning and the way assessments are done, from face-to-face to online.
“They must come up with a relevant plan and if they need more guidance, they can share their ideas and plans with the Malaysian Institute of Accountants on what they are doing.”
Veerinderjeet said when universities prepare for online assessments, the issues that normally pop up revolve around quality control and moderation.
He said like BEM, the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Malaysian Institute of Accountants have given universities the autonomy to ensure that the quality of their online assessments is in line with the learning outcome and programme objective of the courses.
“The issue really is about the graduates being able to demonstrate the competencies that are required by the professional bodies.
“Therefore, while we are not worried about online teaching, we are concerned about how universities will manage assessments as different universities have different levels of capabilities.”
He said adequate checks and balances need to be put in place.
Despite it being a highly computerised world and the government spending on Internet facilities, Veerinderjeet said remote areas still face connectivity problems.
Obstacles in going fully online
Some courses can fully adapt to e-learning.
But, Siti Hawa said, it is difficult for engineering courses to go completely online due to the laboratory component that requires physical and hands-on practice.
“Engineering students must be able to translate their engineering designs into prototypes.
“In the technician programme, a big part involves practical components which require technicians to be on site or in workshops.
“These components cannot be learnt just through simulation.”
These are necessary skills students must acquire before joining the workforce, she said.
The new normal standard operating procedures in universities, she said, will have to follow how manufacturing plants will work in a post Covid-19 environment.
Regulatory and professional bodies must work together with the Higher Education Ministry to tackle how universities should address the practice-oriented components in their engineering programmes.
“Additionally, the Internet infrastructure in many parts of the country isn’t great, especially if an online final exam were to be conducted within a three-hour time frame.
“Therefore, some relaxation should be given to these students,” she added.
Universities also face issues such as examination questions and results being hacked, Veerinderjeet said.
The Monash University Malaysia adjunct professor said he is concerned over universities’ online security features.
Among the issues faced with online assessments, he shared, is how universities can prevent cheating, plagiarism and impersonation.
Setting quality questions, how answers will be marked and the security of exam questions and results are equally essential.
“How do they maintain checks and balances here?”
He said these problems need to be tackled “as online teaching is the future.”
He also said there is the issue of added cost for the universities to install the necessary safety tools.
“What about students’ accessibility to online delivery and what are we doing to ensure that students do not face a breakdown in technology especially when answering exam or test questions?”
Moving forward, Veerinderjeet said accreditation guidelines may include how these bodies assess the competency and security aspects of the online platforms universities use.
Council of Architectural Accreditation and Education Malaysia head of accreditation and validation Prof Dr Syed Ahmad Iskandar Syed Ariffin outlined several challenges that architectural courses may face in a fully online environment.
Before the movement control order (MCO), e-learning acted as a supplementary role and as an alternative platform for students and lecturers, he said.
But the MCO has since made it a central mode of teaching and learning.
“One of the challenges is conducting scheduled progressive monitoring and assessment of students’ design projects, which would normally be conducted in design studios.
“The challenges are more about familiarisation and making it a culture for all students and lecturers.
“As of now, the wide range of online platforms that are available to most of us still cannot replace the dynamics of face-to-face interaction, especially in a collaborative learning environment,” he added.
Additional guidance to students is necessary to make up for gaps that may occur during e-learning, he added.
What to prioritise
Ensure the quality of online assessments are equivalent to what is currently being practised in the industry, Veerinderjeet stressed.
He said continuous engagement between universities and regulatory and professional bodies is a must in times of crisis.
“Universities must engage with employers and organisations for feedback to ensure students can continue to be tutored in the same way as they were when they sat for conventional lessons and exams.
“Additionally, there must be proper procedures, guidelines and implementation of online learning and assessments.
“The adaptability of lecturers and students towards embracing changes and technologies is also important,” he said.
Prof Syed Ahmad, who is also a Professor of Architecture at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, said architecture students are advised to prioritise and keep their projects systematically organised.
This is so they can show their well-curated portfolios to prospective employers as proof of their competency.
“In architecture, employers look not only at graduates’ certificates but their design portfolios that play a more important role. It displays a graduate’s level of discipline, attitude, commitment to work, knowledge and so on.
“The portfolios speak volumes about what a student has achieved during his years in university and his quality (as a potential employee).”
Universities, he said, must prioritise re-strategising their teaching and learning process.
They cannot expect students to immediately embrace e-learning when they have been using conventional content and methods this whole time.
“We must make significant changes to the way we do things. We normally bring students to sites for several days for them to investigate the site, do inventory and site analysis before coming back to the (design) studio. Now, we have introduced it via e-platforms such as Google View,” he added.
Agreeing with Prof Syed Ahmad, Siti Hawa said in pursuing an alternative assessment, universities should not exhaust their ideas in creating solutions.
Professional bodies, she said, welcomes ideas by universities in fulfilling the outcome that students should obtain.
She also proposed the Government and the engineering industry reestablish the pupilage programme to assist graduates in the initial years of their employment.
“This is to also help graduates whose employment may be affected due to Covid-19,” she added.