Latest lockdown should not lead to loss of learning

Independent regulator of higher education for England, Office for Students (OfS), has written a letter to all higher education institutions in the country in response to the disruption caused by COVID-19 and its impact on university learning. 

In the letter, Office for Students wrote: “Universities should do all they can to deliver the teaching they have promised to students and alternative arrangements where this is not possible. This may include putting on extra lectures, repeating parts of the course, or fee refunds.” 

At Kortext, we take pride in our Anytime, Anywhere ethos and we agree that a lockdown on campuses shouldn’t mean a lockdown on learning. To date, we have access to over a million ebooks from over 4,000 publishers. This ensures every subject has accessibility for students to read books online that are essential to the delivery of learning.  

The OfS has set out actions for universities and colleges to ensure they continue to meet regulatory requirements so that students can continue to benefit from their education by asking universities to assess the extent to which they have met the commitments they made to students in relation to teaching and alternative arrangements. Universities should assess: 

• whether they were sufficiently clear with new and continuing students about how teaching and assessment would be delivered in 2020-21, the circumstances in which changes might be made, and what those changes might entail 
• whether during the 2020 autumn term students received the teaching and assessment they were promised and might reasonably have expected to receive based on information provided 
• whether current plans for the 2021 spring and summer terms will ensure that students receive the teaching and assessment they were promised and might reasonably expect to receive based on the information provided

The demand for accessibility to provide students the learning resources and content they need has never been greater. Our platform provides 24/7 access to content available on and offline, through our readers and apps, enabling users to download and read ebooks on their devices.  

To find out more about how to ensure your institution has access to essential texts, please do get in touch.  

Source: Office for Students