LIFESTYLE - Keep Our Lectures Accessible
The rise of online learning in 2020 has, understandably, not been the most popular phenomenon with most students. Some feel short-changed at the reduced experience they are still paying a large sum for. Of course, too, the reduction in social contact has been a big obstacle for many of us, not to mention the length of time we have been expected to cope with this situation.
However, there is a side of this that not many people seem to be talking about; the benefits of online learning.
While it may not be the experience most students expected or want from university, it is vital to recognise that online learning has increased accessibility for a lot of students. Not only do recorded lectures help students access their degree more easily, but it has afforded all students more flexibility.
I am far from the only student who feels strongly about this issue. For example, second year Queen’s student, Rachel Hasson, confirmed from her lived experience that “pre-pandemic, the lectures were simply not accessible to everyone”.
Universities have sent a painful message to students.
In Rachel’s words, “for many disabled people, the pandemic has shown how many aspects of society are willing to adapt to make things accessible when everyone needed it. Disabled people have been shouting for such accessibility for years.”
Other students have also told me that lectures made available online provide a vital flexibility even for students who don’t have additional access needs. If a family emergency happens, or the student can’t make it in that day for whatever reason, they should still be getting the product they paid for, and this should not be lost sight of after the pandemic is over.
It is clear that online lecture material helps all students, and it is shocking that it has taken a global pandemic for Queen’s students to gain this service.
I have two things to say about this.
Firstly, why has it taken such extreme circumstances for us to get this level of accessibility?
Secondly, we cannot lose this service after the pandemic is over.
Students and activists have long called for recorded lectures to be taken more seriously and are frustrated that it has taken a global pandemic for institutions to take this into account. The universities’ reluctance has, rightly, been linked to ableism and exclusion in universities that have long clung to traditional, outdated teaching methods.
The situation is simple: in-person contact hours do not work for everyone and there needs to be a viable alternative long after Covid-19 has left the stage.
Closer to home, the Student Union at QUB was campaigning for recorded lectures long before the pandemic. Education Officer Jason Bunting says that "for years, students have campaigned for lecture recording as a critical tool to aid accessibility and inclusivity in education and were told it was impossible. The pandemic has shown both that it was possible all along and also benefits it can bring to students' education.”
Queen’s previous claims were clearly unsubstantiated. Even worse, it is how they act, or don’t, after this is all over that is going to cement opinions. On this, Jason says “it is paramount that QUB prioritises the continuation of lecture recording once the immediate pandemic has passed, so all future students can continue to benefit. "
So, we can see how online accessibility has improved as a result of the pandemic, and how it needs to be retained. But it also needs to be noted that a blend of online and in-person content is the future of sustainable universities, and it is very much in their own interests to ensure they are providing the modern product they promise. While there is still a lot more work to do to ensure all students have the same level of access, this is certainly the direction QUB should move in once the pandemic is over.
The bottom line is that the university had the means to provide accessible learning long before it was convenient for them to roll it out, and that we cannot let them remove this service once things ‘go back to normal’.
Rose Winter is a BA Literature student at Queen’s University Belfast.