Building a new chiropractic course during the pandemic: considerations from two universities in the United Kingdom

Developing a new, university-based course during the pandemic has provided different challenges than those faced by existing courses. The authors of this paper are the leaders of two of these courses. Teesside University is enrolling its first students in September 2020 and the University of Central Lancashire commences in 2021. The purpose of this paper is to relate the accommodations made to working remotely, and examine valuable lessons learned from our experiences.

Both authors had less pressure than some staff and therefore had a better ability to manage increased workloads as they did not have teaching or assessment duties. Both authors were new to their respective universities and had little time to understand the cultures of the institutions or build professional networks before having to transition to working remotely. Author 1 had a week in his office prior to lockdown, then developed the teaching materials for Year 1, recruited the first cohort of students from home, and will begin teaching remotely as well. Author 2 developed the entire course as well as the materials for accreditation on his own at home.

For both authors, this period highlighted the importance of strategic planning, transparent leadership, tactical flexibility, and the importance of intra- and inter-professional collaboration. There was no opportunity for often valuable coffee room chat, or corridor meetings. Instead, all communication was formal and intentional, requiring increased effort. We conclude that embracing the technology available to us, and proactively seeking professional collaboration opportunities aided our relative achievements throughout this pandemic.