Online delivery and assessment during COVID-19: safeguarding academic integrity

Globally, the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise daily despite strict measures being adopted by many countries. Consequently, universities closed down to minimise the face-to-face contacts, and the majority of the universities are now conducting degree programmes through online delivery. Remote online delivery and assessment are novel experiences for many universities, which presents many challenges, particularly when safeguarding academic integrity. For example, invigilated assessments, often considered as more secure, are not an option given the current situation and detecting any cheating would be significantly challenging. This paper reviews assessment security in the digital domain and critically evaluates the practices from different universities in safeguarding academic integrity, including associated challenges

Sustainable development: Embedding sustainability in higher education

Commitments of higher education institutions to adopting sustainability show exponential growth today, but universities take different approaches to grapple with sustainability issues. The two widely seen approaches to addressing sustainability issues in higher education institutions are (i) through curricula in a compartmentalized manner and (ii) adopting a whole-of-university or holistic approach to sustainability. With the incessant social problems that arise every day, future generations of students will be much more concerned about sustainability and, for that reason, embedding sustainability in higher education curricula can be widely seen as a popular approach. In this chapter, the authors review the current status of embedding sustainability in higher education learning and teaching, highlighting the need for promoting sustainability in higher education

Barriers, new developments, and emerging trends in sustainability in HE

In a backdrop where sustainability efforts and interventions have existed for more than half a century, a question worth asking is what still makes it a “goal” that needs to be achieved. Extending from that argument, this chapter explores barriers to embedding sustainability in higher education and proceeds to examine new developments and emerging trends in education for sustainability. We conclude on the note that sustainability is not a destination but an ever-continuing experience of transformative learning that needs to be maintained at the pace of social transformations. The barriers to and emerging trends in education for sustainability are not limited to those identified in this chapter. It is best if they are treated as points of departure for further research in the area of education for sustainability in higher education

Rethinking assessment: the future of examinations in higher education

The global higher education landscape is significantly impacted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the majority of the universities now follow an online or hybrid mode of delivery. This presents substantial challenges for universities, particularly to conduct examinations, as traditionally most exams were conducted physically on campus. During the first wave of the pandemic, many universities had no option and were forced to move online in a very short period of time, causing universities also to conduct exams online without transforming pedagogy and the structure/s of closed-book exams. Inevitably, in non-proctored and unregulated examinations, this allowed room for students to collaborate and share material during online exams without being noticed by an invigilator as in the case of physical exams. Online exams, also leave room for students to find information online which made preventing plagiarism a significant challenge. This paper investigates the practices used in both closed-book and open-book exams and identifies the challenges associated with the transition to online exams. It also identifies potential ways forward for future online exams, while minimizing opportunities for students to collaborate, plagiarise and use online material. The findings of this study reveal that online examinations affect teachers and students differently: while teachers have mixed feelings about online exams, students are anxious about their grades and the technical hassle they experience in online exams. While viva has emerged as a popular form of alternative assessment, students still feel the need of returning to physical exams. None of the teachers who participated in this study discussed a psychosocial approach to education and exams in this pandemic. We conclude this study on the note that there is a need for the collaboration of social scientists, psychologists, psychosocial specialists, educationists, and humanities scholars/humanists for better educational policy and pedagogical practices during the pandemic