Universities are conservative institutions with rigid structures. That's no surprise, as some of them have already survived almost a millennium. But in the past, they also were forced to adapt to new situations, for example, during the reformation or the industrialization.
Whatever one may think about the current Corona pandemic, this crisis made evident that universities are facing such a new situation again. Students were not allowed to come to campus and teaching was offered online instead. Given all the skepticism concerning this approach, even the critics has to admit: It works. The internet has already revolutionized many things, including publishing, entertainment, or tourism. Universities will be probably next.
Such drivers often originate in the US, and the pandemic made the situation much more extreme over there. After the parents have paid 5-digit tuition fees, many campuses closed, and the youngsters were back home again. Why should these students then follow jury-rigged internet courses offered by their home university, if excellent online curricula exist, also delivered by the world-best universities? Moreover, they come at more modest fees, and sometimes even for free.
While less extreme, the situation in Europe was similar. The pandemic did hit our university perfectly unprepared. Online teaching was patched-up in a fire-drill like fashion, and as a consequence, its quality was questionable. The students were sent back home to stare daily at computer screens during many hours. One indeed wonders, whether they should not have better followed established online courses from Oxford.
Courses and problem sessions can be offered thorough the internet perfectly well. However, one should not think that whatever works in the lecture hall can be transferred one-to-one to the screen. Many years ago, I was also teaching a course, which was distributed, back then, on video tapes. I had a professional cameraman, who told me how to move, where to write, etc. Similar adaptations must be made when developing online courses, and substantial effort must be invested to achieve a good online learning experience [1]. But all this is perfectly doable.
Clearly, online courses have their disadvantages. The most important probably is that the university campus environment creates a massive social pressure to learn and to succeed. To maintain the necessary discipline at home is more challenging, but one might be able to fix that with individual online tutoring. Laboratory courses, as we teach them in chemistry, seem impossible to realize online. To develop such skills, you have to learn how to properly work with your hands, and one requires an extensive infrastructure, which is definitely not available at home. But I also thought that to learn playing a musical instrument is impossible online, until a colleague of mine convinced me otherwise. But in all situations, some mix between online and on-campus teaching is certainly feasible. The content of the curricula are not carved in stone either, and can be adapted accordingly. There is really no need that the chemistry lab starts on day one.
On the other hand, advantages of online teaching are obvious [2]. The students can participate in courses wherever they are and whenever they like. Thus one can cut much time, fatigue, and costs uselessly spent on travel and external housing. While the latter aspects are unimportant to a few, they remain a major issue for most, even in a small country as Switzerland. These aspects can be game-changing in a big country like US, Russia, or India. What a pleasure would that be to travel during your studies to campus just once a week, or even less? Universities can gain much too, as one can play the recordings of the same online course more than once, and such a course can be easily followed by throusands of students simulateneously.
But what is essential to realize that some players are far ahead in this game with respect to others, including our university. Just have a look at sites like edX, which was founded by Harvard and MIT, coursera, udemy, etc. to see where things are heading. But you cannot develop an online degree in an afternoon, such a task requires lots of work from a competent team. More importantly, big tech companies are entering into this business too. Apple, Amazon, or Microsoft are now also offering online teaching tools. Several partnerships between universities and such companies are emerging, the best known is probably the one between Google, MIT, and edX [3]. With these companies on board, take one thing for granted: Online teaching will be dominated by few big players, and they will attract students by millions. These students will be missing elsewhere.
But you may say, that all that might be even possible, but how to assure online a correct evaluation, proper exams, and reliable grades? Finally, university degrees should be proofs of acquisition of certain specialized skills, and this evaluation can only properly work when the students are physically present. This frequently defended position is arguable too.
Firstly, online exams can be made as reliable as the classical exams, where physical presence is necessary. The jury-rigged online exams offered by our university during the pandemic were rather an invitation to cheat. There are many ways to cheat during an online exam, but much of this can be prevented too, and several companies gladly help you with that [4].
Secondly, competencies of students having a degree with the same title can be vastly different, unfortunately. In Switzerland, a degree from a cantonal university is considered to be less worth than from the Federal Technical Schools, such as ETHZ or EPFL. Differences in the appreciation between degrees awarded by different universities from the UK and the US could not be larger, just think of a degree from Cambridge, Harvard, or Stanford in comparison to some no-name university in Utah, Kentucky, or Scotland. Over there, the name of the university will largely determine your future job opportunities and salary, and in the US one even says, "go to Yale or go to jail" [5]. I have personally encountered these differences too, since we recruited numerous PhD students, mostly from Europe. First of all, try to compare the transcripts and grades from student with Masters degrees delivered in Spain, Hungary, Ukraine, or Turkey. Good luck! We have then invited the short-listed candidates and during their visit we have systematically asked them about the contents of the courses listed in their transcripts and challenged the respective skills, which they should have acquired in such a course. The outcomes of these interviews were vastly different. Rarely I was impressed, sometimes it was ok, but mostly, such discussions were disillusioning. But all these people had the same degree. Thus I remain skeptical concerning any kind of degree, even from best universities. I would definitely insist to talk to the person in question and that this person is requested to fulfill some essential tasks before eventual employment. As Elon Musk puts it: "Educational background is irrelevant, but all must pass a hard-core coding test" [6]. Therefore, adding online degrees to the portfolio may finally not change much.
University teaching is moving online, whether you like it or not. The consequence will be major changes within the university landscape, in the English speaking countries first, but the European countries will follow. As Scott Galloway suspects, some universities will win big in the process, while many others will disappear [1].
Michal Borkovec, September 1, 2020
References
[1] James D. Walsh, The Coming Disruption, New York Magazine, May 11, 2020, link.
[2] Stephanie Norman, eLearning Industry, March 10, 2016, link.
[3] EdX announces partnership with Google, MIT News, September 10, 2013, link.
[4] Jessica Kasen, How to Cheat in Online Exams, August 21, 2020, link, 4 clever ways students cheat in online exams, Dignify Corp., link.
[5] Catherine Gacad, How Did You Choose Your Child's Education? February 15, 2017, link.
[6] Elon Musk, We are (obviously) also looking for world-class chip designers to join our team, on Twitter @elonmusk, February 2, 2020. link.
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