COVID-19 has caused a global rush of universities to transfer their courses online to maintain continuity in student teaching and learning. The study presented in this article investigated the preparedness of academics in Small Island Developing State (SIDS) universities for shifting to emergency online teaching. To examine the impact of preparedness and other factors on the efficacy of academic staff in performing their work duties during the pandemic, the research team collected data from 75 respondents who filled in a questionnaire. In addition, they conducted semi-structured online interviews with a subsample of 5 respondents. They found that most academics had the necessary tools and infrastructure to teach online, including access to reasonably fast internet connections. However, many of them lacked adequate training in applying the use of technology to teaching, which limited their preparedness for developing e-learning activities. Thus, the study found that, insufficient competence in using educational technologies and inadequate university support impacted academics' work efficacy significantly. This impact was less pronounced for staff who had prior online teaching experience, which suggests that their pre-pandemic experiences lessened their dependence on support for online teaching when the sudden need arose. The authors' thematic analysis similarly found academics' uneven familiarity with technology and the need for more "at-the-elbow" technological support during crises to be significant, as well as a need for more leadership to deal with complex situations. Based on their findings, the authors conclude that greater preparedness for online teaching -and thus improved efficacy -might be achieved through a balanced mix of independent learning (by doing) on the part of academic staff and customised and targeted formal professional learning (through training provided by the university).

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The teaching and learning of science have far-reaching curricular objectives which require teachers, students, and parents to be engaged in the teacher-parent-learner (TPL) nexus. During this endeavour, learners are guided to relate their prior knowledge to the science concepts (Grade 9, age group 13-14 years) during a home task activity under the supervision of their parents through an initial collaborative engagement (ICE) on the myptim platform (www.myptim.org). After finishing this activity, learners are invited to submit their work on the platform following their parents’ confirmation through the parent’s platform. In this paper, through an exploratory multiple case study involving six students and four parents, we present preliminary findings regarding the use of the myptim platform for the study of a lesson on ‘Measurement’. The empirical evidence collected through unstructured interviews with the participants indicates that the myptim platform is a promising technological pedagogical tool for the advancement of the teaching and learning of science, in particular, physics. This paper contributes to literature on technology integration through the perspective of teacher-parent-learner nexus.

This paper presents the co-creation of a University-wide Open Educational Resource (OER) on Transdisciplinary Skills and Competencies for enhancing graduate employment with the necessary knowledge, values, and attitudes for building a more resilient workforce in an increasingly uncertain future. The four Key Pillars underlying education and life from the highly influential, and increasingly relevant, Delor’s report (1996) underpinned the development of future-thinking stances for the first-year students as they engaged with learning activities that enabled them to: 1. Learn to know: Investigate their own learning and courses with more agency and depth through metacognitive strategies. 2. Learn to do: Relate theoretical knowledge to more relevant, practical, transdisciplinary applications through collaboration on working towards solution-oriented and challenge-based learning. 3. Learn to live together: This entails the cross-fertilization and respect of each-others’ ideas to bring about innovation through a learning environment that is conducive for thriving together. 4. Learning to be: Developing the human potential to its fullest, especially the skills, competencies and attitudes required to work in an increasingly connected world with greater responsibility for the attainment of common goals. // The objective of the action research was to co-create the OER with the input of both academics and students from different faculties. The collaboratively designed learning activities were adapted to different disciplines and educational contexts to enable learners to be assessed for four main value-laden skills and competencies: a) Collaborative Networking (comprising Cultural awareness, Acknowledging differences, Personal branding, Team playing and trust building, Virtuous circles). b) Communication Networking (comprising Social and Emotional Intelligence, Technology-enhanced Communications, verbal and non-verbal communication, conflict management). c) Growth Mindsets (comprising Solution Orientedness, Grit and determination, Opportunity seeking, creative and critical thinking, design thinking. d) Professional and Ethical Practices (comprising case studies and role plays to demonstrate Social responsibility, Sustainable development, Managing ethical dilemmas and transformational leadership). // 9 faculty members and their respective students formed part of the action research and while co-creation is perhaps too innovative and disruptive for certain academics, the students were appreciative of the opportunity of having a voice and participating in the co-creation of the learning activities that would develop their full potential. This study demonstrates the need for engaging with learners so that they are aware of the active role they play in the learning environment and to build resilience and self-efficacy from within.

Described as the “single great new development in education” (Wedemeyer, 1981:60), distance education would further expand with the advent of technology and the internet in the 1990’s. It can be argued that Covid-19 in 2020 has acted as another catalyst for bringing online and blended learning to the front scene (Zhao, 2020). At the University of Mauritius, distance education and online learning were introduced at the University of Mauritius in 1991 and 2001 respectively. Since 2014, online and blended learning is under the purview of the Centre for Innovative and Lifelong learning: CILL provides infrastructural and pedagogical support for the development of online and blended learning and has the autonomy to initiate projects. This has led to the creation of a sub- culture at CILL where CILL would continue to operate on the margin/periphery of the mainstream activities of the UoM. Innovations at CILL included innovative modes of delivery, assessment and adopting an entrepreneurial/intrapreneurial culture of collegially approaching the Industry for customised training programmes and corporate training solutions. These innovations were most of the time being limited to the activities of CILL. Covid-19 has since 2020 led to a reversal of the situation. Covid-19 has highlighted how many of the innovations introduced by CILL some 25 years ago have ensured robustness and resilience of the Centre’s activities in the face of disruptions caused by the pandemic. Post-lockdown, some of the models would be deployed to the whole of the University. This paper, through exploratory desk research, will explore how these innovations paved the way for preparedness at CILL and how these were escalated to University-wide level, where ‘going against the tide’ becomes the norm.