When the COVID-19 pandemic initially took off in China, grave fears were held for Australia's university sector. This was primarily due to Australia's reliance on Chinese students and the travel bans that are still in place. 

But now universities are facing another challenge. With the banning of large gatherings and recent social distancing protocols, on-campus students are now affected and a range of technologies are being relied upon like never before.  

But as Michael Sankey, Deputy Director for Learning Transformations in the Learning Futures Group at Griffith University, explains, most Australian universities are adapting to the new "learning ecosystem", delivering on-campus students their content and assessment online. He stresses, however, that a lot of hard work has gone into the changes and there are some universities, who are no so experienced in online learning,  "that are playing catch up". 

Griffith University has also installed some 1500 VPN connections into Chinese students' computers who are still unable to return to Australia.

Sankey says Griffith is relying on their tried and tested technologies, such as Blackboard Learning and Microsoft Teams, and are trying "to keep things simple". He also warns that "predatory vendors" are trying to cash in on the new learning "ecosystems".

When the COVID-19 pandemic initially took off in China, grave fears were held for Australia's university sector. This was primarily due to Australia's reliance on Chinese students and the travel bans that are still in place. But now universities are facing another challenge. With the banning of large gatherings and recent social distancing protocols, on-campus students are now affected and a range of technologies are being relied upon like never before. But as Michael Sankey, Deputy Director for Learning Transformations in the Learning Futures Group at Griffith University, explains, most Australian universities are adapting to the new "learning ecosystem", delivering on-campus students their content and assessment online. He stresses, however, that a lot of hard work has gone into the changes and there are some universities, who are no so experienced in online learning, "that are playing catch up". Griffith University has also installed some 1500 VPN connections into Chinese students' computers who are still unable to return to Australia. Sankey says Griffith is relying on their tried and tested technologies, such as Blackboard Learning and Microsoft Teams, and are trying "to keep things simple". He also warns that "predatory vendors" are trying to cash in on the new learning "ecosystems".

Campus Review

When the COVID-19 pandemic initially took off in …

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