To care or not to care - reflections on the ethics of blended learning in times of disruption

Abstract

The recent student protests in South African Higher Education have highlighted both the opportunities and challenges of blended/online learning in higher education. This article describes two lecturers' attempts at continuing teaching online during the 2016 campus closure at a large University of Technology in South Africa. Using Tronto's Ethics of Care lens and in particular her moral characteristics of care, namely attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness and solidarity, we reflect on the ethics of our practices when moving towards more open educational practices. Recommendations on academic staff development that promotes ethical open practices conclude the article.

Factors Influencing Student’s Perceptions Towards E-Learning Adoption During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Developing Country Context

“…Alqahtani and Rajkhan (2020) highlight that even some institutions that had implemented e-learning before the lockdown found it challenging to migrate during COVID-19 suddenly; this was worse for institutions that had no prior experience. Swartz et al (2018) report that content and course delivered through technology should be adapted to the virtual environment effectively. Some Science, Technology, and Engineering universities in China partnered in developing computer-based experiments and assessment tools shared by their students (Gamage et al, 2020).…”

Online teaching in response to student protests and campus shutdowns: academics’ perspectives

“…What is clear then is that the disruption of teaching is a strategic action, and some academics argued that the issues raised by protestors be addressed before teaching resumed. Thus, using technology is itself a strategic response where teaching is politicised and implicated in a complex moral web (Swartz, Gachago & Belford, 2018). The contexts raised important different ethical dilemmas, even as blended learning possibly provided practical or pragmatic solutions to the completion of the academic year.…”

The Covid-19 epidemic: teachers’ responses to school closure in developing countries

“…Thus, people had to meet only in small groups and maintain social distancing, minimise face-to-face meeting and create online learning environments. Online learning is a familiar approach which has been used in crises like natural disasters or political conflicts (e.g., Ayebi-Arthur, 2017;Swartz et al, 2018). The case of Covid-19 has similar conditions to other crises, the only difference being that Covid-19 is a global disaster and its impact is still dominating all aspects of life, especially education.…”