From dot.com to pandemic: Reflections on how universities respond

Abstract

This paper reflects on the parallels between two periods of rapid change in the use of technology and their impact on online learning in higher education. One was the dot.com boom around 1999–2000, and the other the COVID-19 pandemic starting in 2020. Both created an imperative to introduce elements of online learning rapidly into existing universities, and to arrange rapid change within institutions where the existing structure and systems often made this sort of change difficult to achieve. Both required implementation of technological and pedagogic approaches which had evolved gradually over the preceding years. Both took place against a backdrop of recognition that it would be difficult to predict the context within which education would take place in the future. Both introduced unexpected, and in some cases unresolved, issues around students’ responses to a changed mode of delivery of education. There were, however, important differences, notably in the triggers for the two events and the extent to which students were familiar with the tools available to facilitate online education. The paper is based on the personal experiences of the author, who was active in both periods, which are used to generate some principles and observations relating to planning online learning during periods of considerable uncertainty