Wollongong takes breather and decides to go remote

The University of Wollongong has announced a decision to shift all of its undergraduate and postgraduate courses to remote delivery mode and will bring forward a mid-semester break to make the change.

The university said its mid-session recess, originally scheduled to last a week in mid-April, would now extend for two weeks from 23 March as staff worked “intensively” to “transition” its programmes.

“These are extraordinary times,” said vice-chancellor Paul Wellings.

Wollongong’s move came after the University of Queensland (UQ) imposed a week-long “pause” on all its classes from 16 March.

UQ said it would use the time to fast-track transition to online delivery of lectures and other course activities “where possible”, although it planned to resume teaching on campus from 23 March “unless otherwise advised by health authorities”.

“This is a big call, and one I have not taken lightly,” vice-chancellor Peter Høj told students in a weekend email. “We offer more than 300 programmes and around 3,300 courses, and the scale and complexity of achieving the changes are significant.”

Australian National University (ANU) vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt has conceded that “we may have to move fully online in the not-too-distant future”, while outlining plans to maintain face-to-face delivery in “appropriate” small group activities.

In a videotaped address, Professor Schmidt said ANU wanted to minimise the fallout from an inevitable coronavirus diagnosis. “While we haven’t yet had our first Covid-19 infection on campus, it is bound to happen soon,” he said.

“We have seen at other universities the need for many people to self-isolate when a Covid-19 case occurs in a large class. We are working to ensure even if a case does occur in our community, others are unlikely to be affected.”

He said ANU was aiming for fully online delivery of many large classes as well as smaller classes and tutorials where “social distancing” was hard to achieve. The university was also investigating ways to make “contact tracing” easier.

ANU and many other universities have cancelled large events, such as graduation ceremonies and student competitions, after the federal government last week advised against non-essential gatherings of 500 people or more − advice that has since turned into bans in jurisdictions such as New South Wales and Victoria, with non-compliance punishable by large fines and even prison.

James Cook University said on-campus classes would continue as scheduled for the time being. “The university does not conduct lectures that exceed 500 students,” it explained. It said it was looking at remote study options “where possible” and that online work and learning was available to staff and students with particular health concerns.

Southern Cross University said it was now “open and fully functioning” after a staff coronavirus diagnosis forced campus closures last week. “However, where possible courses are actively being transitioned to online delivery mode,” it said, adding that “staff who can work effectively from home have been encouraged to do so.”

It said its on-campus cleaning regime had “stepped up to the highest level of deep-cleaning”.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com