Dr Paul Davis

But we do have to look at the socialisation aspects of it and ensure that the right cohorts are getting socialised rather than then making this large blanket agreement.

Suddenly we can't do this because the energy costs are too high.

And I'd hate to see that happen because that's the wrong approach to this when we can actually plan for it.

Well, what you do is you choose the days that you want people in, you choose the cohorts that you want in, and you make sure that you balance it out.

I said it very clearly that you've got to look at the type of classes that you're actually giving.

So a more considered model, I pointed out, will combine that asynchronous online learning with targeted in-person engagements, such as seminars, workshops.

So you're only bringing them up for one day a week, rather than spreading lectures out over three, four days, whereby they're in class.

It's thinking creatively.

People have considered online to be bad, but asynchronous online content and online learning is not a bad thing.

And it's shown that it can work very effectively with adult learners.

And we are dealing with adult learners at third level.

We're not dealing with children.

We're dealing with adult learners who have a capacity to plan.

I don't think so.

I think what we do is we build the engagement levels in such a way that we actually bring students in at the right time.

I'm not saying that we get rid of first years arriving on campus because first years is where you build your networks and you build the alliances that you need.

Second year offers an opportunity for maybe doing more online delivery because where you've got large classes,

particularly in business faculties, social sciences.

And I know many of my colleagues might disagree with me and I understand that, but I think we need to have a serious conversation about this.

I sit in a business school and I'm looking at