Interview with Cristina Vaqué, vice-rector for Academic Affairs at the UVic-UCC

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  • Cristina Vaqué Crusellas holds a PhD in Food Psychology and has focused much of her research and academic activity on the fields of community nutrition and promoting health. Her vice-rectorate coordinated, agreed on and approved the educational model adapted to the context of 100% online courses in the past academic year due to the pandemic, as well as the hybrid model being used this academic year in everything from the pedagogical perspective to what is possible thanks to technical and administrative factors
  • The Vice-Rectorate of Academic Affairs determines the specific framework of the hybrid model internally with the faculties and externally with the Directorate General for Universities (DGU) and the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU). It also conveys clear information to students and professors so they can apply it and explain it clearly as well

What are the immediate challenges facing your vice-rectorate?

The current challenge is to successfully develop the hybrid model this academic year, 2020-2021, in terms of levels of in-person and remote learning; the measures that have been implemented; the adaptation of communal spaces, classrooms and laboratories; our student-orientation; training in online instruction; the quality of interactions in this type of instruction; detecting needs to avoid the digital gap; assuring external practices in a somewhat unstable context; and so on. The other challenge is how the practices are conducted in all the degree programmes, the practice of sport, etc.

Activity on virtual teaching platforms rose 150% during the lockdown and the rest of last academic year. How do you see this?

We see it positively. It shows an ability to respond and react, along with the effort and adaptation of the university community. The onset of the adaptation to remote instruction has accentuated virtual activity in such a way that it is expected to remain higher than usual. We would have been unable to continue with the educational programmes planned without this adaptation to the current situation. It is and has been possible because the instructors and the institution have incredible pedagogical and technological capacities.

What has been the hardest part of transferring instruction online?

There is no specific issue that particularly stands out across the board in all the programmes. It depends on many factors (type of subject, previous assessment proposals, models of guiding and mentoring students, etc.). All teachers have had to grapple with this challenge, and we have dealt with it as it arises. Even though we have knowledge, previous experience with remote programmes, the capacity to adapt to change and increasingly normalised digital teaching competence, having to replan and adapt all the academic activity based on the experience of the past academic year, and doing so while living with, understanding and suffering from the impact of COVID-19 among thousands of people, family members, friends, citizens and professionals, has been and still continues to be the hardest part.

How has the instruction been planned this academic year?

As a hybrid model that combines a minor but extraordinarily invaluable in-person component with online teaching-learning. The in-person classes focus on highly experimental and interactive elements, while the online sessions are held synchronously or asynchronously to complement and deliver the entire syllabus planned for each class. The instructors are constantly monitoring and guiding the students in their work and their attainment of the associated learning outcomes. The hybrid model is accompanied by a 100% online contingency plan in the case of another lockdown. They are rigorous models which combine the best of each modality yet require a great deal of planning, preparation, monitoring and proactiveness from both instructors and students.

The instructors are constantly monitoring and guiding the students in their work and their attainment of the associated learning outcomes

How are practices done?

The hybrid model keeps the external practices in real settings. Some sites, like social-health settings, are more sensitive than others, but for now the programmes are already underway as scheduled. Obviously, the hygiene and safety measures that each site requires must always be followed.

What innovations have been implemented?

The implementation of the hybrid model in itself is a major innovation, as it significantly lowers the number of in-person classes and focuses on online instruction. Another example is further implementing active methodologies that allow for more student interactivity and monitoring and continuity in curricular development, as well as reinforcing continuous assessment.

Technologically, we have innovated in the use of certain digital platforms that support remote activity like Big Blue Bottom and Zoom in large groups for instruction, and Teams for digital tutorials with the students.

In terms of spaces, two hybrid classrooms have been set up in each faculty, and two small sets have also been created to complement the existing ones.

Can you say that the students should feel safe at the UVic-UCC if they follow the rules posted?

The entire community – research and teaching staff, professional and administrative staff and students – are really being understanding and responsible with the measures established by PROCICAT for universities and adopted by the UVic-UCC to deal with the extraordinary situation brought about by the pandemic. Academically, all the planned instruction has been adjusted to small groups and PPE measures related to the practical activities at the UVic-UCC facilities. Signs have been installed in all the spaces, information on safety measures is available everywhere and the necessary hygiene products are provided. We have also prioritised contact via video conferencing in intercampus meetings. The university spaces are safe if everyone follows the instructions posted.

Are any changes here to stay?

Despite the fact that we are constantly tracking the implementation of the hybrid model, we are going to have to assess it in the future, after the academic year or at least after one semester is over by collecting the contributions and experiences of the entire community. In any event, if the question is general, I’m sure that just like everything, we can always learn from the experience and identify positive and constructive elements, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic at the university will be no exception. Many professions will be changed by the situation we are currently experiencing around the world, and this will happen with university instruction and academic management as well. We will try to conduct an extensive analysis in order to better glean the best parts of working in-person and remotely.

Many professions will be changed by the situation we are currently experiencing around the world, and this will happen with university instruction and academic management as well

How has COVID-19 affected enrolment this year?

It would be risky to explain enrolment solely based on COVID-19. There are many factors that determine it and can explain the behaviour of the final enrolment figures at our university. The effects in terms of job opportunities in certain professions, especially in the field of health, can explain the heavy demand for these programmes. These may be some factors which could have positively contributed to the enrolment this year, a year marked by a contextual situation of crisis and the pandemic, along with a reduction in the cost of tuition at public universities. Still, the high-quality offerings in each degree programme, the experience and professionalism of the instructors and the quality of the areas and services have made it possible for the UVic-UCC to remain a university with an increasing demand among many future professionals.

The UVic has renovated classrooms, servers and ICT materials and has expanded the University Teaching and Educational Technology Unit in order to adapt to the new model

The spaces and facilities at the UVic have been adapted to the hybrid teaching model, which combines in-person and virtual classes and has necessitated the adaptation of spaces and updates of technological equipment in order to reinforce online instruction and decrease classroom capacities.

One of the most important new developments has been equipping two hybrid classrooms in each faculty so they have connections for video conferences, online seminars, sessions streamed on YouTube and Facebook and many other possibilities.

Each of these classrooms has two high-definition web cameras, one of which can follow the instructors in different areas within the classroom, and a sound bar with microphones that can capture the sound from any point in the classroom in order to guarantee that the class can be heard and students can participate from home. We have also installed 65-inch TVs in these classrooms to display the people who are connected online. In parallel, the servers and storage infrastructures have been updated to support the university’s new virtual structure, computers have been updated and new ones have been purchased. This entire set of actions has been carried out in very little time by the professional teams in the Infrastructure and General Services Area and the ICT Area.

Dovetailing with the start of the new academic year, the University Teaching and Educational Technology Unit (UDUTE) has expanded its team of professionals and stepped up and diversified its activities to help teaching, research, administrative and services staff. This transformation meets the need to “search for and find solutions that enrich the range of educational programmes in a context of few in-person classes, and given the possibility of new lockdowns”, explains Richard Sampson, director of the unit. “Despite the financial difficulties right now, the UVic has deemed it essential to strengthen the processes of improving the quality of in-person and remote instruction by furthering its methodology, training and technology. The ultimate goal is to prepare us for an educational future that is even more flexible, mobile and attractive.” The UDUTE is an active agent in advising the university management on establishing teaching options and priorities within this new context.

Lab 0-6 at the UManresa offers alternative proposals during the times of COVID

This year, Lab 0-6, the experimentation and science centre on the Manresa campus for children age birth to six years old, has launched the activity called “Travelling lab 2x2” as an alternative for schools that cannot use their own facilities due to the pandemic. It is being offered during the last three months of this year, from October to December 2020, because the uncertainty caused by the pandemic prevents planning beyond that, as well as to help schools better take advantage of the activity and ensure its continuation throughout the academic year.

“Travelling lab 2x2” is targeted at children between the ages of four and six and lasts three hours. It consists in two science-related activities led by two educators who travel to the schools. The first activity poses the challenge of dyeing water different colours using natural elements, which fosters reflections on the changes that take place when substances interact, the importance of proportions in mixtures, the properties of materials and the use of specific instruments to transform the material. The second is an elective science session with activities that help mobilise these scientific ideas, which the teachers can continue to explore in the classroom throughout the entire academic year.

To help them do so, Lab 0-6 offers a remote advisory service for teachers in schools that want to continue to explore the pathways of scientific knowledge initiated by the visit. Both activities are held simultaneously with two regular groups of at most 25 children, each with their own educator. In addition to having to wash their hands before the activity, the materials used are new in each session and are only touched by the children in the same regular group. After the activity, all the materials are cleaned and sanitised.

The Faculty of Medicine is reinforcing small group work

The unexpected lockdown in March led the Faculty of Medicine, just like the rest of the university community, to transfer all its instruction online. At that time, from one day to the next, the focus of the management, deans and professors in the Bachelor’s in Medicine was to maintain the structure and functioning of the in-person classes and adapt them to the online format while changing the substance and form as little as possible. This initial goal worked successfully at the end of last academic year and served as the foundation for defining academic year 2020-2021, which began with hybrid instruction.

To do so, the faculty has reinforced small group work, which was already one of the underpinnings of its curriculum, and it has increased the number of hours such that approximately 70% of instruction is in-person. In all cases, the sessions delivered in the form of workshops and seminars, activities to analyse clinical cases and anatomy simulation practises. The remaining 30% is taught online in the form of lectures, which have also been adapted to the exceptional situation right now: “The professors record the classes and post them in the virtual classroom so that the students can watch them whenever they want, but debate sessions are periodically held in small groups in order to share any questions that have arisen and expand on any information needed”, explains Ramon Pujol, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine.

This class instruction system has been altered with a reduction in the amount of in-person contact hours based on the temporary measures agreed upon by the rectors of Catalan universities in conjunction with the Secretariat of Universities and the Department of Health, but it will resume as soon as possible. What has not changed is the calendar and the dynamic of the practices, which continue to run despite the restrictions. Just like the other faculties at the UVic, the Teaching Units in both Vic and Manresa have been equipped with hybrid classrooms which allow students who are under lockdown “to be able to participate normally in the in-person sessions but from home and via a screen”, says Pujol.