Redefining and interrogating pedagogical practices

Abstract

Lockdowns and the rapid pivot to remote teaching disrupted much of Australasian higher education and has given us impetus to rethink educational design and practice. Overnight, some educators found themselves thrown into remote teaching, while for others, their courses were already designed with blended and online learning in mind. Universities with large face-to-face cohorts have tended to rely upon traditional teaching and assessment modes, with some variation across faculties and departments. Long before the pandemic, learners had been choosing flexible, online teaching and learning modes with dedicated online providers with programmes purposefully designed to leverage online technologies over the traditional on-campus experiences. Many across the higher education sector have recognised this as an opportune time to reflect on just how far education has shifted from a teacher-centred to a learner-centred approach, and how technology may enable or hinder that process.