Characterising approaches to online curriculum delivery during the COVID19 pandemic and their impact on student engagement and perceptions of learning

About

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted teaching and learning activities at Australian universities, necessitating a pivot from primarily campus-based delivery to fully online. Educators were forced to rapidly decide how to deliver their subject in a largely unfamiliar online context. Some subjects primarily used existing recorded material, while others created purpose-designed video content, or delivered live classes via Zoom. The University's experience mirrors a global phenomenon, with broad implications for student engagement and learning.

Aim

This research aims to systematic attempt to study the impact of COVID19-related shifts to online teaching on student engagement and their perceptions of learning. A review of variation in COVID19-responsive curriculum delivery methods across the University of Melbourne undergraduate curriculum in 2020 will be undertaken with the goal of understanding how these relate to the student experience. The research will survey subject coordinators to identify and classify their approaches to online design and delivery and relate this to existing data from student teaching and learning surveys in 2020 and learning analytics for a subset of subjects.

Researchers

  • Professor Raoul Mulder, The University of Melbourne
  • Dr Chris Deneen, The University of Melbourne
  • Dr Elisa Bone, The University of Melbourne
  • Dr Sarah French, The University of Melbourne

Funding

Melbourne Graduate School of Education Researcher Development Scheme

Outcomes

The results of this research will provide vital insight into the implications of decisions around online delivery for student experiences that will be of importance to university staff and leaders across the sector. Proposed outcomes include a pilot project and a journal article.

More information

Professor Raoul Mulder, Melbourne CSHE, The University of Melbourne