Research

Unisa SBL R&I Day spotlights online learning and research

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March marked the eighth annual Research and Innovation (R&I) month for Unisa. The theme for this year’s R&I month is ODeL in the Global South: Documenting the African experience. To support this initiative, the Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL) hosted a focused R&I Day on 7 March 2019 with the theme Online research that needs a business research perspective with internationally acclaimed open, distance, and e-learning (ODeL) expert, Prof Terry Anderson.

Open to researchers from Unisa and other higher education institutions, science councils and research agencies, the purpose of the day was to explore how students experience online learning and online research, and how this has changed the role of research and research methodology.

Unisa SBL Acting Executive Dean, Prof Raphael Mpofu, says, "As a business school we realise that we play a commanding role through the programmes we offer as well as our thought leader initiatives, in leading the way we teach and conduct research as part of embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Online learning and online research are the newest and most popular form of distance learning today. Within the past decade, online learning has had a major impact on tertiary education and the trend is only increasing."

Anderson, a Professor Emeritus and former Canada Chair in the Centre for Distance Education (CDE) and the Technology Enhanced Knowledge Research Centre (TEKRC) at Athabasca University, Canada, delivered a keynote address focused on what the business research way of thinking has to offer and what is needed in distance learning research.

During his presentation, he highlighted the key components of a modern and open distance learning system, sharing insights on key factors that influence the growth of online learning such as technology, pedagogy, management, politics and online learning.

Anderson believes technology, in particular, is influencing the growth of online learning through elements such as cloud services, corporate partners, social media, access, equity, security and privacy. "Business institutions have the capacity to study the economics of cloud service businesses, and they can learn how to apply them into their own institution."

Open and distance learning has always been about providing access to those who can’t attend classes, and universities have started to develop their own online programmes and online systems. Anderson said that access and equity are really important, but institutions need to consider costs and the return of opening a study centre in a remote area. "The skills that Unisa SBL has as a faculty can be applied, added to the literature, and can be used to promote Unisa SBL as a world class researcher."

* Submitted by Cilla Boucher, Communication and Marketing Specialist, Graduate School of Business Leadership

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Publish date: 2019-03-27 00:00:00.0

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