scholarly journals Mitigating the Implications of Covid‐19 on the Academic Project at Walter Sisulu University in South Africa: A Proposed Framework for Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60
Author(s):  
Rushiella N. Songca ◽  
Clever Ndebele ◽  
Munienge Mbodila
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Online Mode ◽  
The Way

Walter Sisulu University (WSU) in South Africa, like other universities worldwide, is faced with the challenges associated with the outbreak of the Covid‑19 pandemic. The challenge has changed our day-to-day lives, including the way we interact and conduct business. In the midst of this, WSU has had to change the way learning and teaching occurs. Traditional face-to-face tuition had to be adapted by moving to the online mode of teaching and learning to both minimise the time lost in the academic project and protect staff and students from the devastating effects of the virus. This article reflects the actions taken by the University and describes its pilot-project approach to online learning and those processes it has put in place to ensure its effective implementation. While it is accepted that switching to an online mode of teaching and learning can facilitate flexibility in space and time, the reality is that the majority of students at WSU – mainly due to their geographical and socio-economic environments – experience daily challenges ranging from poor network coverage, lack of internet connectivity, lack of electricity and other socio-economic impediments that make online learning stressful or beyond their reach. In this article, we present a model that could be used by higher education institutions (HEIs) to respond to Covid‑19 in the short term. The proposed model is underpinned by a framework that caters for students who are readily able to access online learning, students with intermittent access to online facilities and finally, students who cannot access online education. First, we provide a brief description of online learning, highlighting the challenges presented to teaching and learning by this approach. We argue that our context and education policies present additional problems that militate against the adoption of online strategies by most HEIs. In the final instance, we present a framework that is better suited to our context and can be used during and after the lockdown. Data were collected using online questionnaires with both structured and openended questions from both lecturers and students to determine their experiences with the testing project. Lastly, we draw conclusions based on the findings of the study.

scholarly journals Faculty’s and Students’ Perceptions of Online Learning During COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakaryia Almahasees ◽  
Khaled Mohsen ◽  
Mohammad Omar Amin
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Privacy And Security ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Learning Challenges ◽  
Face To Face Learning ◽  
Method Of Instruction ◽  
Self Learning

COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted teaching in a vriety of institutions. It has tested the readiness of academic institutions to deal with such abrupt crisis. Online learning has become the main method of instruction during the pandemic in Jordan. After 4 months of online education, two online surveys were distributed to investigate faculty’s and Students’ perception of the learning process that took place over that period of time with no face to face education. In this regard, the study aimed to identify both faculty’s and students’ perceptions of online learning, utilizing two surveys one distributed to 50 faculty members and another 280 students were selected randomly to explore the effectiveness, challenges, and advantages of online education in Jordan. The analysis showed that the common online platforms in Jordan were Zoom, Microsoft Teams offering online interactive classes, and WhatsApp in communication with students outside the class. The study found that both faculty and students agreed that online education is useful during the current pandemic. At the same time, its efficacy is less effective than face-to-face learning and teaching. Faculty and students indicated that online learning challenges lie in adapting to online education, especially for deaf and hard of hearing students, lack of interaction and motivation, technical and Internet issues, data privacy, and security. They also agreed on the advantages of online learning. The benefits were mainly self-learning, low costs, convenience, and flexibility. Even though online learning works as a temporary alternative due to COVID-19, it could not substitute face-to-face learning. The study recommends that blended learning would help in providing a rigorous learning environment.

scholarly journals Assessing Quality And Effectiveness In Fully Online Distance Education

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Smith ◽  
Donald Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Online Distance Education ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
The Past ◽  
Online Distance Learning ◽  
Online Distance

Online education has developed over the past two decades, initially in response to a desire to provide distance learning opportunities at degree level for remote communities. The University of the Highlands and Islands [UHI] in Scotland has been at the forefront of this. It has been possible to gain degrees using wholly online learning and teaching processes since 1995. In recent years, institutions across the globe have developed learning materials for online learning in order to both supplement the teaching and learning in face-to-face classes and to enable students to undertake entire programmes using online communications. The most recent developments have been in the advent of MOOCS and SPOCS. This paper seeks to (1) give an overview of the past 20 years of developments in online education, (2) provide a detailed review of recent research relating to standards, satisfaction and effectiveness of online education, (3) consider the costs and benefits across a range of definitions of online education and (4) examine the primary challenges, conflicts and opportunities for online distance learning and teaching in relation to the issues faced by students, educators and institutions.

Person-Centered Online Education

2012 ◽  
pp. 23-34
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Henry
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Student Engagement ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Experiences ◽  
Instructional Designers ◽  
Carl Rogers ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Client Centered Therapy

The great psychologist Carl Rogers not only made major strides in psychotherapy by developing client-centered therapy, but also applied these humanistic principles to teaching and learning. As designers and teachers in the built environment of online learning and teaching seek to design educational experiences exemplifying practices in teaching and learning, an examination of Rogers’s person-centered learning can give instructional designers another lens through which to view student engagement and learning.

scholarly journals How University Lecturers and Students Interpret Opportunities and Challenges of Online Mode of Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1006-1022
Author(s):  
Ganga Ram Paudyal ◽  
Karna Rana
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Online Mode ◽  
University Lecturers

This paper reports an analysis of university lecturers and students’ experience of the online mode of learning in the COVID-19 situation. It as qualitative research employed semi-structured interviews and observation of online classes to gather data. It reports on how online classes enabled university lecturers and students to manage online learning and improve technological skills with consistent practice of various information and communication technology (ICT) tools. Despite limited technological and pedagogical knowledge, lecturers initiated online learning as an alternative to physical classroom learning in the crisis. Both lecturers and students, thus, were intimidated by new technologies and ways of learning at the beginning. In absence of ICT training, their consistent practices of online learning enabled them to develop some level of confidence in using ICT in teaching and learning activities. Many students from remote rural villages, however, are unable to access online education due to the lack of the internet, smart devices and electricity. The online mode of learning, albeit it is reported a potential strategy to shift from the traditional education system to modern learning, cannot be sustainable in the context where there is limited or no infrastructure for the internet and electricity.

scholarly journals Students' Perceptions of Online Learning and Teaching during COVID-19 pandemic: An Empirical Study in Selected University in Sri Lanka

2021 ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Shamini Howshigan ◽  
Thevanes Nadesan
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Education System ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Online Teaching And Learning ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Face To Face

The dramatic transition to online pedagogy in education, as a consequence of COVID19 has shownseveral inequalities and challenges and advantages in education. The epidemic of COVID-19 profoundly changed the global higher education system in 2020, and the crisis has accelerated innovation in the education sector. Anyhow, whatever the situation, high academic standards are required for a university to produce high-quality teaching outputs and graduates, and it should ensure continuously. With this intention, this study conducted to assess the efficacy of online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the perceptions of undergraduate students from the Selected university.A validated online questionnaire is used among the 171 students from the selected university. The primary goal of this paper is to analyse how the education system adapts to online teaching and learning, identify the preferred mode of study by the students in between face to face interaction and online learning, and identify the advantages and challenges faced by the students in online learning. The paper also aims to make recommendations for improving online teaching and learning through the use of online. The study's findings show that, even though the students are satisfied with the existing online teaching and learning in selected university, they prefer face to face learning than online learning. The study strongly recommends that improving the quality of the online education system and striving to solve students' issues in terms of online learning is required to maintain the standard in education. The study's findings shed light on government and non-government educational institutions, academics, and policymakers to enhance online education and maintain the education standard.

scholarly journals ONLINE EDUCATION: LEARNING OUTCOME, SUCCESS & CHALLENGES

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 524-536
Author(s):  
Michael Alexander Radin ◽  
Natalia Shlat
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Classroom Environment ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Outcome ◽  
Digital Learning ◽  
Face To Face

This paper’s intents are to render the learning outcome, success and challenges that emerge in an online teaching and learning environment in comparison to the traditional face to face classroom environment. First of all, we will examine how the students acclimate to the new online digital learning atmosphere after the traditional face to face learning environment; what challenges and barriers the students encounter in a synchronous and in an asynchronous online learning environments? Second of all, we will focus on how professors adapt to the new digital online teaching styles and examine the new essential teaching innovations that arise in order to achieve and go beyond the expected learning outcomes; how to remit to the students’ challenges and retain the positive and engaging learning environment? In addition, our aims are to examine new pedagogical innovations that naturally emerge while responding to the students’ travails and to smoothly navigate them to achieve the expected learning outcomes.Furthermore, our paper’s intents are to portray how an online learning environment can attain more effective learning outcomes in comparison to the traditional face to face classroom environment; how to think beyond our horizons and to enhance the learning outcomes in a digital learning atmosphere while addressing the students’ challenges? Moreover, we will emphasize how the immediate graded feedback and students’ feedback serve as pertinent tools in achieving the learning outcome and inspires students to learn in an online atmosphere. 

scholarly journals COVID-19 y el aprendizaje en línea en la educación superior – Un estudio de caso de alumnos de los Institutos Politécnicos de Portalegre y Beja

2020 ◽  
pp. 317-325
Author(s):  
Maria Isabel de Borges ◽  
Cristina Dias ◽  
Carla Santos
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Impact

Since the early spring of 2020, Portuguese higher education institutions, as well as other education institutions around the world, have been experiencing an unprecedented massive “migration” from traditional in‐class face‐to‐face education to online education. The massive changing models of teaching and learning brings out different perceptions from various parties. There are some advantages and disadvantages in this kind of learning model. The purpose of this study is to investigate the learners’ perception on online learning in a scenario of a COVID-19 pandemic. The subject of this research are students of two Portuguese Polytechnic Institutes (Portalegre and Beja) The instrument used is an online survey questionnaire, anonymous and voluntary, sent to undergraduate engineering students of the two institutions. This study not only report that online learning is good during COVID-19 pandemic, but also spotted the light on the availability of internet access and computers or cell phones. The main conclusions show that the impact was manly negative from the learners’ perception perspective, having mostly referred the workload and also the difficulty in clarifying doubts in time as major factors that had a very negative influence on their academic performance. Also, the social distancing from colleagues was mentioned as a negative aspect. Finally, most respondents expressed a clear preference for face-to-face education for the next academic year.

Big Data Cognitive Storage: An Optimum Way of handling the Educational Data in Indian Scenario

2017 ◽  
Vol SED2017 (01) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Author(s):  
Ruchi Jain ◽  
Neelesh Kumar Jain
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Data Protection ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Indian Society ◽  
Digital Learning ◽  
Modern Education ◽  
Indian Scenario

The concept of big data has been incorporated in majority of areas. The educational sector has plethora of data especially in online education which plays a vital in modern education. Moreover digital learning which comprises of data and analytics contributes significantly to enhance teaching and learning. The key challenge for handling such data can be a costly affair. IBM has introduced the technology "Cognitive Storage" which ensures that the most relevant information is always on hand. This technology governs the incoming data, stores the data in definite media, application of levels of data protection, policies for the lifecycle and retention of different classes of data. This technology can be very beneficial for online learning in Indian scenario. This technology will be very beneficial in Indian society so as to store more information for the upliftment of the students’ knowledge.

scholarly journals Teaching Mathematics during the COVID-19 Lockdown in a Context of Historical Disadvantage

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Brantina Chirinda ◽  
Mdutshekelwa Ndlovu ◽  
Erica Spangenberg
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Mathematics Teachers ◽  
Education System ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Education Community ◽  
South African Education

The COVID-19 global pandemic widely affected education across the world and engendered unprecedented scenarios that required expeditious responses. In South Africa, the pandemic came on top of pre-existing inequalities in the education system. Using a qualitative research method of exploratory and descriptive nature, this study engaged a social justice framework to explore the teaching and learning of mathematics during the COVID-19 lockdown in a context of historical disadvantage. A sample of twenty-three Grade 12 mathematics teachers at various public secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa was used in the study. The teachers were selected through purposive sampling. A Google-generated open-ended questionnaire and follow-up telephonic interviews were used to collect data. Data were analysed thematically in five steps. The findings revealed that the WhatsApp platform is a valuable tool that can support the teaching and learning of mathematics beyond the classroom in the contexts of historical disadvantage. The findings also provided insights into how mathematics teachers became learners themselves during emergency remote teaching (ERT) as they had to adapt to digital teaching, find solutions to unfamiliar problems and acquire knowledge from a larger mathematics education community around the globe. The article discusses these findings and teachers’ challenges of transitioning from traditional face-to-face classrooms to ERT and how they were addressed. At the time of publishing the article, most learners in South Africa had started going to school on a rotational basis. Nonetheless, the study reported in this article is of importance as ERT in the context of historical disadvantage has foregrounded issues of inequality in the South African education system that must be dealt with urgently.

VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR ESL COURSES

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-243
Author(s):  
Ana-Maria CHISEGA-NEGRILĂ
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning ◽  
Virtual Learning Environments ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
Online Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Face To Face

Abstract: As the time in which online teaching and learning was still an element of novelty has long been gone, virtual learning environments have to be studied thoroughly so that they will provide students not only with the necessary knowledge, but also with the proper tools to meet their learning objectives. The advancement in information technology and the access to an almost inordinate number of learning and teaching tools should have already been fructified and, as a result, not only teachers, but also learners should have already picked up the fruit of knowledge grown in the vast virtual environment of the Internet. However, as education has recently moved almost entirely online, some questions have arisen. Are the Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) enough to offer ESL students both motivation and knowledge? Will foreign languages benefit from this growing trend or will traditional, face-to-face interaction, prove to have been more efficient? The present article will look into some of these questions and into the benefits of VLEs in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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