TIEC Stands Up new eLearning Resource Team to Support Continuity of Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

[above] TIEC introducing its eLearning Resource Team during a virtual webinar with the Philippines Commission on Higher Education, alongside the U.S. Embassy Manila and State University of New York’s Center for International Online Learning.

As the scale and impact of COVID-19 became clear in late March, and universities turned to complete online delivery of classes, TIEC recognized that our partner institutions and ministries of education around the world would likely be facing a very tough situation. Texas has advanced experience with online delivery, including in the face of emergencies requiring immediate action. While it still hasn’t been easy to turn to complete online delivery, Texas has vital continuity of education resources and practices to share. Whether the challenge is around ensuring quality and educational standards in a new online classroom setting, navigating testing and assessments, addressing the professional development needs of faculty members, or finding innovative ways to deliver virtual learning in areas with low broadband access – or all of the above – we understand that now is the moment for TIEC to gather our expertise and help others.

“We understand that our global partners face immediate training needs to address what’s needed right now at their universities. We’re ready to move quickly to help support those needs,” said Heather Farmakis, Ph.D., TIEC’s Chief Learning Officer. “But we also recognize that the short-term adaptations we take right now to address the pandemic will have profound, long-term effects on our learning spaces moving forward. If done well, our partners have an opportunity to move their systems forward and be a part of a bigger paradigm shift in the higher education space.”

TIEC is proud to have been able to tap into the expertise of our own staff and faculty from Texas’ nationally-ranked online degree programs across our consortium to stand up the TIEC eLearning Resource Team. Over the last few weeks, the team has been able to begin offering resources to a number of institutions and organizations from Africa to the Middle East and South and Central Asia. This week, TIEC was honored to be a part of the Philippines Commission on Higher Education’s webinar for over 70 higher education institutions, alongside the U.S. Embassy and EducationUSA officials.

“I’m proud to be able to share the combined decades of experience within our TIEC staff in the space of online learning through this new TIEC team. Once we started to tap into our consortium member universities, we understood the wealth of expertise Texas can offer in distance learning,” explained Robin J. Lerner, J.D., President and CEO of TIEC. “Texas is home to many of the top online degree programs – in particular undergraduate – in the United States. We’re thrilled those faculty and administrators are agreeing to be a part of this effort to share their firsthand learnings and perspectives with educators around the globe.”

TIEC is offering customized support to organizations and institutions through our eLearning Support team. In the coming weeks, the team is looking to stand up additional resources for individual faculty looking to improve their online instruction delivery. To learn more, visit www.tiec.org/online-learning-support

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