The education landscape has undergone a dramatic shift, accelerated in response to the challenges presented by Covid. As technology advances, so too do the possibilities for delivering learning outside the traditional classroom. But because we can deliver education online, we must nevertheless ask if we should do and if so, in what circumstances and for whom?
The University of London has long been a pioneer in the development of distance education, from the correspondence schools of the 19th century to the online learning programmes of today - always in the service of widening access to the University’s programmes. Online education has become mainstream in the post-pandemic era, in statutory as well as tertiary education. This panel will consider what has been learned about teaching and students’ learning from this ‘natural’ experiment, and what questions it poses for education looking forward.