The Shifts to Online Learning: Think Piece: Assumptions, Implications and Possibilities for Quality Education in Teacher Education

Abstract

With the advent of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which has spread to the majority of countries across the world, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global pandemic on 11 March 2020. Governments all over the world, including in southern Africa, introduced measures such as the banning of large gatherings,closure of borders, schools and institutions of higher learning to curb the spread of COVID-19. To ensure ongoing teaching and learning, institutions of higher learning made resolutions to transition to remote/online teaching and learning. While online education has long preceded the pandemic, the spiraling of COVID-19 all over the world resulted in the upscaling of online teaching and learning in higher education institutions. Mandatory online teaching and learning was a relatively new practice to most lecturers and students in southern Africa. Drawing on two case stories from Botswana and Namibia, this paper offers a think piece on the shifts to online learning, considering assumptions, implications and possibilities for quality learning in teacher education, through a reflection by teacher educators of environment and sustainability courses. The assumptions in online learning were that students and teacher educators had the capacity and infrastructure for remote/online teaching and learning. This paper thus opens up opportunities for institutions of higher learning to scale up their Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure and support for both students and teacher educators for online teaching and learning which have the potential to improve on quality education during times of crisis. Keywords: Online teaching and learning, ICT infrastructure, Education for SustainableDevelopment (ESD), quality education

Technology as a Key Driver in Enhancing Scientific Education during the Covid-19 Era at the University of Namibia

“…Many students struggled to navigate through online learning due to challenges presented by the use of technology (Dube, 2020). Tshiningayamwe, et al (2020) stated that online teaching and learning was relatively new to a number of lecturers and students in southern African countries. A number of studies revealed that the migration to online teaching and learning during COVID-19 offered some challenges (Demuyakor, 2021;Magesa & Josua, 2022;Moluayonge, 2020).…”

“…Moreover, students also needed to familiarise themselves with online learning platforms or tools, upgrade their computer skills, ensure that they had access to the internet all the time, etc. This was a challenge, as shifting to online came with the assumption that educational institutions had all the capacity and infrastructure necessary to ensure the undisturbed progression of remote/online teaching and learning (Tshiningayamwe et al, 2020). However, this was not the case as explained above.…”

Investigating the Experiences of Mathematics Teacher Technology Integration in the Selected Rural Primary Schools in Namibia

“…As a result, both students and teachers can learn and teach at their own pace, which promotes independence and accessibility (Kaisara & Bwalya, 2021). The outcome has been increased enrollment, decreased learning costs, and the achievement of educational objectives and goals in a convenient manner (Tshiningayamwe et al, 2020;Shambare & Simuja, 2022).…”