Distance learning at HEG-FR

 A real-time online communication tool, support, and teaching resources were provided to teaching staff to deal with the urgent situation. On Monday 23 March, classes resumed and students were introduced to distance learning.One week later, a survey of teachers and students provided valuable information on their thoughts about the transition and the difficulties they had encountered. Slightly more than half of the teachers responded, and almost 90% expressed a positive first impression of distance learning. Impressive! 

Adapting the educational setting

Nevertheless, adapting to this new way of working required tremendous effort from both teachers and students. This was particularly apparent among the teachers, who describe the time required as ‘stressful’, ‘enormous’, ‘tremendous’... Because, as summed up very aptly by one teacher: ‘You also need to reinvent the educational setting.’ Indeed, in-person teaching cannot be transposed as is. The core effort will therefore entail ‘putting the presence back into distance’, as the popular expression goes. It will involve finding a way to bring content to life, evaluate the level of students’ comprehension, or organise online work groups, for example. A whole list of requirements...

The viewpoint of Gaby Probst, professor, educational adviser and member of the directorate of the School of Management Fribourg

Gaby, with these three job titles, you have an excellent overview of this transition from classroom teaching to distance learning. According to the survey you conducted, teachers seem to have risen to the challenge with a great deal of commitment. How about students, and yours in particular?

In my case, the level of commitment in the five language classes that I currently teach was excellent at the start. The students were highly motivated and reassured to see that only the form of the class was changing, not the objectives or content. This continuity, combined with clear communication, comforted them at first, when the situation required lots of flexibility from them. However, it’s difficult to keep this motivation going in the long term. The uncertainty regarding exams and the state of public health have left them feeling rather troubled.

Research in the field of distance learning has shown that, in the past, whenever an institution made the decision to introduce this teaching method, the quality of its traditional teaching was enhanced. At the School of Management Fribourg, this was done in an emergency; despite this, do you foresee this same effect when classes resume in person?

As a teaching manager, I wholeheartedly want to share these sometimes very positive experiences with students. So it’s necessary to analyse what worked in favour of independent learning in order to develop these distance learning opportunities and apply them on a broad front. Personally, I’ve been using e-learning platforms and tools for a long time, and I’m very familiar with the possibilities they offer but also the level of effort required to integrate them seamlessly.

Is it possible to envisage distance learning at the School of Management Fribourg in the longer term?

Of course, and as we’ve seen, this is nothing new. For a long-term integration of these methods at the School of Management Fribourg, several aspects need to come together:

• The willingness of the teachers and the school
• A good bottom-up integration of the tools
• Excellent written communication from the teachers
• Either good technical skills on the part of the teachers or interest in learning these tools together with good support and regular re-examination of the benefits of the tools provided
• Enthusiasm is also essential! As Henry Ford said, “enthusiasm is at the bottom of all progress. With it, there is accomplishment.”