College of Education

Innovative advances in aid of education

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Almost 18 months have passed since the Covid-19 pandemic first turned our lives upside down and it has changed the traditions that higher education institutions have used to navigate the teaching and learning landscape.  

The Covid-19 crisis and the resulting unprecedented interruption to education have created the largest disruption of education systems in history, affecting all continents and involving almost 1.6 billion students in over 190 countries. On a positive note, however, this crisis has accelerated innovative advances in aid of education and training permanence. To this end, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair on Open Distance Learning (ODL) at the University of South Africa (Unisa), recently (11 August 2021) hosted Dr Mary Ooko, Manager of the Unit for Distance Education at the University of Pretoria (UP), at the research webinar series themed "Challenges and opportunities posed by Covid-19 lockdown: Taking a deeper look into the learning support systems in a distance education programme at the University of Pretoria". 

During the webinar, Dr Ooko shared the results of a survey that her unit had conducted to understand the needs of students and develop intervention strategies accordingly. The survey highlighted, among others, a lack of internet skills, a lack of access to the internet, as well as a lack of access to digital gadgets such as laptops, tablets or smartphones.

Among the intervention strategies that were proposed, Dr Ooko mentioned the development of the 

  • E-Learning Support Office
  • Programme Coordination Committee
  • Sponsors Steering Committee
  • Collegial Technological Support Committee

To operationalise some of the proposed intervention strategies, especially the Digital Literacy Campaign, the Unit for Distance Education teamed up with Siyafunda, a non-governmental organisation that specialises in digital literacy interventions.

Regarding quality assessment, Dr Ooko touched on her unit’s engagement with the Quality Criteria Framework of the National Association of Distance Education and Open Learning in South Africa (NADEOSA). She also shared the unit’s engagement with key influencers of quality e-learning, such as the

  • 3-P model (People-Process-Product)
  • European Qualification Framework model

Finally, Dr Ooko shared her fascination with current global concerns arising from the need for online learning:

  • The digital divide caused by unequal access to resources.
  • Capacity building, or the need for a digitally capacitated student cohort and workforce.
  • Quality leadership during times of crisis.
  • Calls for reimagining higher education institutions of the future. 

* Dineo Horner, Acting Marketing and Communications Specialist, CEDU & Prof Moeketsi Letseka, UNESCO Chair on ODL, Unisa

 

 

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Publish date: 2021-10-14 00:00:00.0

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