On March 16, the rector decided to move all classes at HSE University online due to COVID-19. Not only the largest universities in Russia, but universities all over the world suddenly had to pull off the enormous feat of transitioning to online education immediately. As a result, the ongoing years-long discussions about the pros and cons of online education were put on pause. Academic supervisor of the ICEF bachelor’s programme, Oleg Zamkov, told us about how the ICEF made the online transition, who can help when something goes wrong, and what resources will be necessary for online examinations.
HSE's quantum leap: from campus to online
For many years the ICEF has been using its internal information system – our main digital communication channel. We use it as a kind of social network for teachers and students. General and additional learning materials, as well as lectures and home assignments are uploaded there. Students who missed classes can always catch up on missed work at home. Now, due to the transition to online learning, the information system is going to become not just an additional option, but the primary control tool.
In this information system, students can access the timetable and get updates about their courses. Every day important announcements and learning materials are put online. Students do their homework in the system, and the instructors check it online.
Lectures are also held online via Zoom or other platforms with the same options. Via these platforms it is possible to hold a presentation, make notes on your laptop or blackboard, post comments or questions in chats, and get feedback from students through voice or text messages.
Teachers can see who is present at the lecture, answer questions and elaborate on unclear topics. They can switch windows, show presentations, tables, comments etc. For example, Andrey Dementyev gave lectures on macroeconomics for second year students via the platform Webinar.ru.
HSE has also given students unlimited access to MATLAB and MS Teams.
Links to lectures are placed in the information system, so students can attend lectures with one click. We have also adapted the timetable to the online form. For example, some of the classes can be conducted in the evening and several studying groups can be merged into single lectures so that they can dedicate more time to exam preparation or review of the previous topics.
Many teachers have previously used online education channels (such as WhatsApp and VK) to communicate with their students there and share extra materials – video, audio, texts, links. Now we post materials both to the information system and other channels, so that they are available to everyone. We constantly get feedback from our students and teachers and collect ideas about how to improve the online learning process.
How do teachers manage?
This is the first time we have conducted so many lectures online. Our system engineer helps teachers and provides technical support. Teachers get an opportunity to read lectures and seminars from home. For lectures on Zoom it’s enough to have a computer with a web camera, a microphone, and access to the Internet.
We have also conducted training sessions and prepared instructions about the technical possibilities of online studies. Most of the teachers already have experience with holding webinars or online conferences. However, it requires absolutely different skills from teachers. Representatives of the largest British universities issue an important word of caution: 'You shouldn’t view our actions as a model for online studies. These are just urgent measures.' At the Centre for Distance Education of the University of London they are discussing “course-design” and reconsidering ways of presenting material in light of the online transition.
What should we do with attendance and support?
A few days online showed that attendance in some lectures got even better than offline. This may be explained by the fact that a lot of events in Moscow have been cancelled, students don’t have to spend their time on commuting to school. Instead, students can concentrate on learning. Now students need to exercise their skills of time-management and self-discipline.
There is a student hotline for questions about their online coursework. As for ICEF and HSE in general, all the information is updated in due time on a special internet page. Almost every day we email the students and answer their questions in the information system.
What should we do with exams?
According to our schedule, it was planned to have 3rd module exams. For obvious reasons, examinations are not going to happen in their usual format. But we are ready to prepare students for the final exams. Students will have all their tests online and it will be considered as a part of the regular learning process. The results will not influence the final marks, which students get at the end of the year after their main examination session. We will set a calculation formula for the marks later when we receive information about how the international exams will be organized from the University of London.
If the examinations are to be held online, we need to choose and negotiate the approval of the appropriate platform. We need to organize proctoring – online supervision and oversight of the students with a certain duration and time limits. The systems of proctoring are quite complicated. They require working with several video streams, organizing a storage system for visual and audio information, sometimes face and speech recognition technology, and the development of an interface between the examiner and the examinee(s). Exams will definitely take place, but the exact dates will be announced at a later date.
How can London help us?
We are lucky to be part of the University of London and to have access to all of its resources. Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is the most important of them. It is a platform with materials that students can get online in addition to their programme. Now students can get the most important literature online.
Artem Veselov, ICEF second year bachelor’s student, Student council chairman
We were getting ready for the upcoming spring examination session and did not think that everything would change so quickly. Now we don’t have to wake up two hours before lecture, get dressed, and go to campus. Now all you have to do is get up and open your laptop. This is a new experience for us.
In this situation we need to keep our usual daily routines, so that it doesn’t feel like the semester has ended. This is not the case. The international exams will definitely happen. I’ve also read a lot about how to organize home learning. Specialists give a lot of advice. For example, you should get dressed as you normally would when going to the university and not attend lectures in your pajamas. You can also get organized with the help of different apps. For example, you can limit your social media time with the app, StayFocused, which limits procrastination time.
Online studies are now seen as something not obligatory: we all know how easy it is to fast forward a video on Coursera or YouTube or just close out the seminar window and forget about it. According to predictions from different sources, an epidemic of dissocialisation is coming. We do not feel that our friends are near us, all that we can see is the name in the chat. Our sense of participation can disappear for some time, but later students will understand that homework and lectures do not disappear and it is better to overcome your personal barriers and attend classes. Technically we were ready to this, but not to do so in isolation.
This situation is most challenging for the teachers. They need to reorganize their way of giving lectures and seminars, create a system of checking home assignments. They need to change their usual way of teaching. I really admire our teachers and I think I am not alone. As I see it, this is one of the factors of our responsible attitude to online lessons.
