Dr. SOEURN Visal
The University of Puthisastra takes pride in delivering excellent learning experiences for our students. UP’s students and staff are active and engaged members of our vibrant learning community. As part of our commitment to our values of Honor Self, Respect Others and Serve Society, UP has enthusiastically responded to the challenges and opportunities presented, most recently, by the temporary closure of our campus as part of Cambodia’s CoVid-19 pandemic response
We accelerated and expanded the use of our University of Puthisastra Online Platform (UPOP). We also rapidly trained many of our staff and students to use Google Meet and Gmail, as well as UPOP, in order to support and continue students’ learning even though they cannot come to the campus.
One of our important responses to the challenges and opportunities of a rapid transition to online learning was our recent Survey of Students. We want to understand their experience of online learning, so that we can make informed decisions that support further development of our blended and flipped learning practices. Now UP’s Research Department, in partnership with the Department of Quality, Learning and Teaching, and Students (QLTS) has created an additional Survey: Staff Perceptions Of Online Learning At UP.
Our aim is to investigate the perceptions of our staff and lecturers in respect of online teaching. For many of our academic colleagues, the temporary closure of the campus in March precipitated their first experience in delivering teaching online. Our observations to date are that online learning has been very well accepted by most lecturers, but there is no doubt that it has been a steep learning curve with a few challenges along the way. With the teaching of many classes likely to continue online, our lecturers continue to actively respond to ensure that students’ learning is disrupted as little as possible.
UP has been fortunate to have our QLTS team provide leadership and training in online best practice learning and teaching. Led by Boy Vibol and Chin Chanthy, supported by their colleagues in the Learning Centre and Learning and Teaching, QLTS was pivotal in getting things off to a good start, and their whole-hearted support has continued. QLTS researches contemporary online Learning and Teaching practices, particularly those arising from rapid deployment of online teaching in response to COVID-19, and shares its knowledge and enthusiasm at both formal and informal drop-in sessions.
Lecturers needing to understand more about using UPOP, Google Meet and Gmail to teach, and how best to adapt to online assessment practice, can find the advice and support they need to ensure delivery of great learning experiences for our students.
The Perceptions Of Online Learning At UP – Staff Survey offers staff and lecturers the opportunity to identify successes, and tell us what improvements and additional training is required. As part of our determination to continue delivery of best practice learning and teaching, we intend to continue online teaching as part of our programs wherever appropriate. UP has been a strong leader in online learning among Cambodian universities, and is very much in-line with world-wide trends in this regard. Flipped and blended learning provide additional opportunities for our teaching staff, as well as for our students, so getting feedback from both teachers and learners at this time is really important.
We hope that all our lecturers will complete the online survey! It will be sent out early this week. We look forward to receiving lecturers’ candid and considered feedback so that we can continue to improve learning and teaching at UP for the benefit of our students and for the wider community.
