What lessons can we draw from delivering online higher education in SPHEIR? Are these lessons broadly aligned with the experiences of other higher education organisations?
This paper summarises the lessons learned from the experience of delivering three types of online higher education in SPHEIR: formal learning to students, non-academic services like student support, and staff capacity-building. SPHEIR programme reached more than 150 higher education organisations in 17 countries and therefore provides a rich base from which lessons on online higher education can be drawn, as well as lessons on Covid adaptation.
Building on the webinar series 'Variety of online learning in higher education in SPHEIR', this paper provides a summary of the online activities of each project and lessons reported, including those related to Covid adaptation. A 'cross-cutting lessons for SPHEIR' section highlights common strands of experience which are visible across the SPHEIR portfolio.
The paper then looks at some of the emerging literature on Covid’s impact on higher education, with reflections on how SPHEIR projects might take into account the prevailing conditions relevant to higher education when planning for sustainability and scaling.
Finally, the paper includes some reflections on Covid’s impact on development assistance with implications for and beyond higher education.