Moving Higher Education Beyond Covid-19: Innovative and Technology-Enhanced Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Institutions, including higher education institutions (HEIs), may use crises as an opportunity to develop, to transform and to improve their institutional resilience. Indeed, the Covid-19 pandemic proves that a vast majority of HEIs around the world effectively adapted to the circumstances of the pandemic and successfully embarked on remote learning. The analysis of HEIs proves as well that the nearly overnight switch to remote learning was but one aspect of the quiet transformation that HEIs worldwide were subdued to. In this context, this chapter identifies the administrative practices, including talent management, operations management, and above all, the organizational culture. The notion of changed expectations on the part of the faculty and the students is highlighted. The key point that this chapter makes is that the faculty and the art of education, rather than simply teaching, need to be placed first if HEIs are to retain their resilience.

This chapter applies science mapping analysis (SciMat) and literature review as research methods to examine literature about higher education institutions (HEIs) during the Covid-19 pandemic. User acceptance, satisfaction, and perception are identified as the most productive research themes in the sample of 561 Web of Science (WoS) indexed articles about HEIs during the pandemic. The literature review of the top themes reveals that user acceptance is influenced by the perceived usefulness of online learning and ease of using online tools. The level of satisfaction among students in online learning is relatively high and linked with the perceived benefits of online courses. Conditions influencing user acceptance and perceived satisfaction differ between students and lecturers. Technology-related themes appeared to be relatively under-researched as standalone themes, but technological aspects turned out to be important components of the most prolific research themes identified.

The concept of innovation should not be reduced to its technological dimension but encompasses the whole context of its deployment and implementation. Regardless of technology, an innovation may be successful or not depending on how well its implementation suits each single context. In the case of education, this consists, to a sizeable extent, in a communicational and interpersonal context. The hypothesis of this piece is that maintaining optimal communication between participants is a key factor of success of new online teaching methods. Given that in this regard, there are similarities between negotiating practice and teaching practice, it is worth examining whether good practices developed in online international negotiation are transferable to online teaching. The chapter identifies a number of practices from online negotiation that perform well in online teaching. It focuses on communicational aspects, mutual understanding (monitoring and optimization of understanding), motivation to listen, attention, active participation, and non-verbal communication. Online teaching and online negotiation share another common feature: some unresolved challenges are common to both disciplines. This should also be taken into account when migrating educational programmes online. The research is informed by the author's first-hand experience from practice in both international diplomatic negotiation and academic teaching.

Some authors have alerted on the state of crisis generated by Covid-19 in the tourism industry worldwide. The restrictive measures disposed by governments generated not only an unparalleled economic crisis but also serious social maladies in society and education (i.e., higher dropout rates and low academic grades). Needless to say that the tourism education was in crisis much time earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic. Echoing Sigala and Ratten, the authors hold the pungent thesis that Covid-19 introduced a new opportunity to reform the epistemology and the basis of the tourism education curricula. Centerd on the role played by pleasure and joy, which is boosted by the digital technologies, this chapter synthesizes the findings of PANCOE, a successful experiment conducted by the University of Palermo, Argentina, to reduce the dropout rates while improving students’ academic performance. The experiment was drawn and applied in the years before and after the pandemic. Results show how pleasure plays a vital role giving students better opportunities in contexts of fear and deprivation.

Covid-19 forced the entire global education system to adapt to the new circumstances. This chapter continues the worldwide discussion on how student learning on courses and programs that were moved partially online due to remote teaching and learning in higher education institutions (HEI) during the Covid-19 pandemic was assured and what opportunities this has brought to higher education. Although there is a tendency in the theoretical literature to focus on the problems, difficulties, and challenges associated with the transition to remote learning in higher education during the pandemic, this study suggests that, contrary to the common belief, students actually identify a great number of positive issues associated with remote learning. The findings of this study highlight that students see both personal benefits and challenges in remote learning. Overall, students are satisfied with the quality of the remote teaching and learning process, and students’ positive assessment of the quality of their studies’ organization increased with age. Stability and routine were important for the students in the study process. These ensure that the study process continues uninterrupted and thus that results can be achieved. The results of this study bring us to the conclusion that the Covid-19 pandemic could be used to speed up changes in HEIs around the globe to find better and more student-centered and innovative solutions in teaching and learning in the future.

This chapter presents the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the course of studies and life career skills development of undergraduate students at the University of Macedonia, a mid-sized public Greek University. It describes a multivariate methodology research that investigated how the students, first-hand experienced the unexpected changes from face-to-face on campus to synchronous online education during the lockdown and how they coped with these changes. Change is considered and described as a main component within current life and career trajectories addressing chaotic and unpredictable circumstances while Chaos Theory of Careers (CTC) offers the theoretical background of the chapter. The research followed the mixed methods paradigm: a multilevel embedded sequential explanatory design including a participant selection model and multivariate data analysis methods. A survey (N = 621) was conducted; individual interviews and focus groups’ discussions further explained the quantitative findings. The emerging clusters of students revealed similarities in feelings, motivation, adaptation, and life career skills development. The first cluster comprised of older, digitally high-skilled students, with the required technological equipment, adaptable to change, self-regulated, strongly in favor of synchronous online education; in the second cluster were grouped the younger, digitally medium-skilled students, who regularly participated in both modalities, critically recognized the advantages of either one, feeling strongly in favor of a combination; finally, the third cluster included digitally medium-skilled students who found serious difficulty in using online platforms, dissatisfied with social isolation and distant interaction, strongly preferring face-to-face instruction, valuing direct physical contact, social connection, and networking.

Over the past years, the educational environment has undergone a revolution, caused mainly by the wide diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs), and the multiscalar implications of the Covid-19 pandemic. This chapter taps into educators’ first-hand experience relating to the adoption of online technologies in an action learning process during the pandemic. Action learning is one of the experiential training methodologies aimed at individual, group, and organizational growth and development through practical, hands-on experience. It is an educational process that facilitates and improves the mechanism and functioning of groups of people who come together to support real challenges or activities, also by learning from direct experience. To this end, the case study of a University Master Course in leadership and change management is examined, based on unstructured interviews and analysis of written documents. The case study represents an emblematic case of adaptation and response to the change imposed by Covid-19 through the promotion of an innovative teaching and learning method. Results show how the adjustments devised to cope with the consequence of teamwork virtualization proved to be synergistic, delivering positive outcomes in terms of participants satisfaction, learning and impact, and producing deeply innovative change management projects. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

In light of a new paradigm to feedback, the focus shifts from how and when instructors deliver feedback to how the learning environment and the feedback practices sustain agentic behavior on feedback. Feedback produces learning if the students are given the opportunity to use and to act on it, and thus to move forward. Ample research on innovative models and designs for feedback and assessment in higher education courses exist. However, a one-size-fits-all model does not exist. Each university setting represents a unique case, and hence the replicability of a model is impossible. This poses a challenge for innovative higher education institutions (HEIs) that consider the promotion of students’ agency on feedback, a distinguishing attribute for their learning experience onsite, and in the Covid-19 inflicted transition to remote instruction. This study used content analysis to investigate how feedback and assessment feedback design, in the online component of a blended course in English for Academic Purposes, can sustain opportunities for feedback encounters and enable student uptake of feedback. After exploring the process of assessment and feedback design, different agents of the course and potential feedback encounters were mapped and analyzed in a sociocultural perspective. An established matrix of feedback for learning was used to investigate and code the feedback encounters generated in the course. The results of the content analysis indicated satisfactory student uptake of feedback and opportunities for potential feedback encounters before, during, and after the assessment. Additionally, the results pointed to the need for more feedforward and self-regulatory commentaries.

Over the period 2020–2021, Latvian schools experienced one of the longest closure periods in Europe. Hence, Covid-19 significantly impacted high school pupils, especially those graduating in 2021, that is, half of the secondary school program they acquired was delivered remotely. Their learning and social experiences are distinct from that of previous cohorts. The findings are directly relevant for higher education institutions (HEIs) to further adapt to the background and needs of this student cohort. To examine this cohort's experience, this chapter empirically examines adolescents at the point of their graduation from high school to learn what impact the pandemic has had on their quality education and plans. The findings provide insight into how they evaluate the remote studies and their knowledge, how they perceive their mental state, and what disruption to plans it has caused. The authors learn that most students found remote studies more difficult than onsite learning and associate it with lack of knowledge behind the grades earned. They have experienced lack of motivation and miss real-life communication with their friends, even though they occasionally admit not breaking lockdown rules and meeting peers. The most common concern among graduates is lost opportunities they would otherwise have, however, the authors also notice impressive resilience when they imply that the pandemic has opened new opportunities that otherwise would not be possible, along with self-development and character growth. Overall, the stress level for adolescents was moderate to high. Covid-19 has caused disruptions to plans, some more like opportunities others like limitations. The insights may provide understanding to how these students require a very different approach from educators and staff alike. HEIs have the opportunity to adapt and innovate and to custom the content of studies and communication form to the diverse incoming generations.

Prior to 2020, the Czech higher education institutions (HEIs) did not have much experience with distance learning and blended learning. Experience with hybrid teaching was minimal. The Covid-19 pandemic therefore presented the management of public universities in the Czech Republic with a number of new tasks in resolving the crisis situation. It also made the possibilities of distance education and other flexible forms of education significantly more visible. In 2021, a total of 26 public universities joined together in a central development project, in order to discuss the most important issues of distance education and blended learning, the current background for the implementation of flexible forms of education, and also their future plans in this area. In this chapter, the authors present in detail the results of a study on the background of public universities for the implementation of distance education and blended learning, which have become the basis for creating the action plans of individual institutions. The results of the analysis showed, among other things online supported education is important, especially in emergency situations.

As societies worldwide continue to navigate and recover from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the world is at a unique crossroads. How can leaders in higher education institutions (HEIs) prioritize holistic human needs and maximize interpersonal and collegial human connection, while continuing to guide and grow successful learning communities both in-person and virtually? With potential costs and benefits in mind, pertinent literature is reviewed, and the limitations and silver linings presented by the ongoing pandemic are explored. Different forms of grief and loss experienced by faculty and students as well as the effects of technostress amid this time of change are also recognized. Concepts and practices introduced by prominent humanistic thought-leaders are discussed as a way to navigate the educational impacts created by the pandemic. A key finding presented is that leaders and HEIs that prioritize human connections and relationships, in concert with adopting technological advancements, are better equipped to maintain personal well-being while enhancing academic success in the long term. By fostering learning environments based on psychological safety, compassion, autonomy, and adaptability, humanistic leaders contribute to the betterment of HEIs as a whole. To this end, the enduring legacy of humanistic leadership is pivotal in this new era of global and individual humanistic transformation amid change.