UNIVERSITY AND COVID-19 | FEATURE
As a new academic year starts, Robert Taffurelli – Programme Director and Senior Lecturer in Media & Journalism at Cardiff Metropolitan University – reflects on the impact of COVID-19 on higher education and what experience new and returning students can expect in 2020-2021.
The ‘new normal’. A phrase few of us used until the pandemic hit, and it’s a phrase most of us could do without ever hearing again. But what has become apparent is that, just as with the ‘old normal’, the meaning of the phrase will be different to everyone.
In my role at Cardiff Metropolitan University, my ‘new normal’ has meant many different things, but most glaringly, not seeing my students – at least, not in the ‘real’ world. Last academic year ended in a unique and unprecedented fashion (there’s a few more words I bet you could do without hearing again), its final months taking place online. For most of us, the virtual world became the place we met, frequently in front of freshly arranged bookshelves: whether one-to-one tutorials, group seminars or lectures, this is where we chatted, discussed, sometimes laughed, and learned and taught together.
For university lecturers, the student experience is central to everything we do, so this new normal proved a challenge. Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Google Meet have all been useful, and while lecturers have adapted to this new way to deliver sessions – many of us using the summer to finetune IT skills – these sessions proved crucial in maintaining a connection with our students.
But not for all. Despite continuing soundbites claiming universities were closed over the summer, this was far from the truth. While learning and teaching moved online, Cardiff Met pressed on, with staff at the University’s halls of residence supporting students, local emergency services and those in need throughout the pandemic. Many other universities in this region and beyond remained – and remain! – open, too.
In the run-up to term time, meanwhile, the Cardiff Met estates team have been busy preparing facilities, providing more hygiene stations, reconfiguring lecture theatres, labs, workshops and social spaces, and will be adopting a flexible learning and teaching approach, meaning students will have greater control over the when and the where of their learning with the aid of educational technology.
For my part in the Media & Journalism sphere, I’m excited to see stories from our film, music, fashion and sport journalism masters students who stayed busy over the summer reporting on COVID-19, producing articles and short films on the pandemic’s impact on their industries.
Of course, the pandemic has disrupted students’ university experience, as it has disrupted all our lives, and hhas presented us all with an unwanted challenge. An already busy summer became even busier, and while the coronavirus placed obstacles before us – well, let’s be honest, a bloody big wall – new and exciting developments have appeared.
words ROBERT TAFFURELLI
