We've Taken Teaching (Temporarily) Online

A lot has changed in the UK in the past month. But, at QA Higher Education, our priorities in this time of uncertainty have remained unchanged:

• Ensuring the welfare of our staff and students
• Ensuring continuity and access to learning

So, whilst we have temporarily closed our buildings following the UK Government’s implementation of social distancing and travel restrictions as part of the response to Covid-19, we’ve not let that stop us delivering teaching and support to our students.

So, what have we done?

Well, to minimise any disruption to learning, we’ve already transitioned over 4,500 students to temporary online teaching delivery. This means that our students are able to continue their learning as seamlessly as possible from the safety and comfort of their homes, without the need to travel in to their campus.

Not only have our classrooms moved online, but we know that our support teams play a key role in our students time with us, so we’ve ensured that they are available to help online too!

Students can still speak with our ACE Team, Student Services, Finance team, Welfare team, Careers team, and Library team, complete with access to suites of online journals, ebooks, reports and study resources. All are only a phone call or email away continuing to support and advise students as they progress on their courses and navigate the change to online learning. We have also created new teams to help students with any problems with studying online.

For all of our returning students who are due to enrol on to the next stage of their programme in the coming months, we’ll also be moving enrolment processes to be 100% online as necessary, allowing them to continue their studies with us and our partners as planned.

As our Executive Dean, Dr Tim Harris explains, “Our approach to online learning goes beyond just providing our students with materials online on VLEs. We are also running live sessions to replace lectures and seminars, allowing our students to both interact with their lecturers and to break out into smaller groups to work together online.”

“We’re also rolling out a Learning on Demand system which allows students to log into a virtual PC, meaning students will be able to use all of the software they would have if they were at a PC in one of our centres. Finally, we are gradually developing the interactivity of delivery by creating more online quizzes and challenges.”

“To ensure that students are still able to speak to their lecturers on a more informal basis, whether it’s to talk about how things are going, ask questions about their learning, or even to address any worries or challenges that they are experiencing, students are still able to arrange appointments with their tutors through email, phone and online.”

So, although our buildings are currently closed, we’re still teaching and ensuring our students continue to develop the key skills and knowledge ready to achieve their future career aspirations.

Once government restrictions are eased, we plan to transition our students back to face-to-face learning as soon as practical, and will reopen all buildings as quickly as possible.

What about students who are yet to start?

Our admissions processes continue with our university partners, with moves to online testing and interviews as appropriate so those who had planned to commence their studies this spring can continue the application process.

We’ve continued to work closely with all of our university partners, monitoring the situation and adapting as appropriate, continuing to deliver a high level of service to students, applicants, partners and our representatives across the globe.

To all our students, partners, suppliers and friends we’ve met along the way, stay safe, and we hope to see you soon.