IN an age where everything is digital, is it possible that everything we learn online is just artificial? With the lack of hands-on training and organizations moving toward digitalization, are we adequately training our future work force with the necessary skills and behavior to perform efficiently and productively? The increase in online courses proves that there is an urgent need to train employees. But how about new graduates who may be partially or wholly trained online?
To some, this movement is an advantage because this means the work force is already adept in using technology similar to the ones used in their future workplace, like teleconferencing. However, it begs the question of whether the students have really learned what they needed to learn to function well in the workplace, or if they have developed the needed competencies required of the work. If you were the recruiter or hiring manager, would you hire someone who graduated with an online degree?
There are several issues you need to think through in order to ascertain if the applicant is right for the job. Educational attainment is just one of the indicators of a person’s suitability for a position. As a recruiter or hiring manager, your role is to ascertain if what they wrote on paper is backed up with experience. And since these are new graduates, it is all the more necessary to craft assessments, whether through scenarios or psychological tests, to determine how they think, what they believe in, and if they are the right fit for the team and the role. In assessing their online credentials, below are some considerations.
With the pandemic and its risks, schools had to discontinue face-to-face instructions. Most traditional schools developed their own online courses to meet student’s learning needs. Whether or not the online course is better than the traditional one depends largely on the course content and the manner of delivery. When I took a distance learning course in the University of the Philippines some years ago, there were reading materials we had to go through, and we had to answer questions based on those materials. And it was required coursework to comment on what other people wrote, and required paperworks had a deadline. Other online courses might not be as thorough. Some just require their students to go through a series of videos and answer simple questions at the end. You need to ask applicants how their online training was conducted.
In the Commission on Higher Education Memorandum 4, series of 2020, guidelines were laid out in the implementation of flexible learning. Higher Education Institutions were encouraged to pursue alternative learning modalities aside from the classroom-based approach given the pandemic. However, CHED left it to the HEIs to develop their own framework for conducting flexible learning. A traditional school’s proven track record can help in ascertaining the quality of their online courses. You still need to look at how the online course was designed and delivered.
In the same CHED memorandum, evaluations for offline, blended, and online learning modalities include performance-based assessments, portfolios, research papers, automated exams with a question pool bank, video recorded students reports, and laboratory reports.
The only difference in online courses is the automated question pool bank. The assessment questions need to be programmed to ensure topic distribution covers the course objectives and targets the intended goal for the course. As to the others, you can try to request for samples of the student’s work to get a glimpse of how they work. How the course assesses the student’s performance will also help you determine what they have learned.
If it is possible, discover the safeguards against cheating. One of the issues in online courses is the integrity of the online assessments. A limited pool of questions with unlimited tries gives students the ability to memorize the questions and answers and allow them to have high marks. Required paperwork also needs to be checked against plagiarism and if students actually wrote the paper they submitted.
Collaboration and teamwork might not always be present in online courses. I attended a project management online training last year where we had to complete a project template. We had a virtual trainer who discussed the material to us and after every topic, he would ask us to complete parts of the template. It helped me get to know other people in the organization but at the same time have the opportunity to work with others.
The majority of online courses are self-contained modules or learning paths such that you can go through an entire online course without having to talk to anyone. Some courses track only completion of materials while some require tests before you can complete them. Ask for instances when applicants have worked with their classmates, and how they dealt with people they have not met personally. This will help you gauge how they interact in an online working environment.
When I interviewed new members for my team before, part of the application was a skill test. Whether one was a new graduate or not, the skill test helped me determine their skill level and baselines for their professional development. Once, there were applicants for a graphics designer role, but I was particularly drawn to one work because it was so detailed. When I asked him to explain his work, he excitedly walked me through his creative process. It turns out, he learned his drawing style from videos of different artists, and he combined what he learned to create his own style.
I guess he was passionate and willing to spend time watching videos and learning different styles even beyond the classroom because he really wanted to learn. And I think that in evaluating applicants who have graduated with an online degree, it would be best to focus on how they learned what they know, how they worked with others, and how they are going to improve themselves.