Page 10 - Research & Innovation Report 2020

DVC’S MESSAGE:
LEARNING AND TEACHING

Collaborative for Success (LT Collab) developed reading materials,
curated an Online Teaching 101 Module, and ran workshops
and consultations to prepare lecturers to shift to online learning.
Virtual reflection sessions were arranged for lecturers to share their Academic success
practices and key learnings. The resultant themes contributed to
an overarching picture that emerged to guide the future of LT at rates for 2020
Mandela University. This work was presented to various committees
and became the subject of a number of conference presentations. In 2020, 25 551 undergraduate students and 3 911
postgraduate students were enrolled at Nelson
“During the hard lockdown,” Prof Foxcroft continues, “we assessed Mandela University. Of these, 7 052 graduated in
that about 65% of Mandela University students had devices, and 2020 compared to 6 947 in 2019. “The success
some of these only had smartphones or cellphones. With this rate of first years was also fantastic at 83%,” says
knowledge and not knowing when we would get back to campus, Prof Foxcroft. “We were most worried about them
we adopted a staggered, multiple pathways approach as a socially as they only had six weeks of lectures before the
just way to give all our students the opportunity to complete the pandemic hit us.”
year.”

Students with devices, connectivity and data started learning
online in May 2020. As the University was able to supply more
students with laptops, the next group of students restarted their communication with lecturers and assessment overload, and home
learning in June 2020. “We also distributed learning packs to and family environments that were not conducive to studying.
students who could not access technology. In the process we were Thirty-one per cent said that they were not sufficiently prepared to
able to identify which students were unable to learn remotely use the technology required for learning online remotely, despite
and could then invite them to return to campus when the various the online preparatory module we developed.”
lockdown levels permitted.” This approach was well received when
it was disseminated at national and international conferences. However, students persevered and in time many began to see
the benefits of learning with technology. Nonetheless, students
“To understand the changing student learning environment, we missed engaging with classmates and lecturers in class and some
contributed to questions for the national Students’ Access to and developed a sense of academic isolation from working on their
Use of Learning Materials (SAULM) Survey. Among the main findings own especially when they were learning remotely.
from the survey were that our students’ greatest challenges were
with technology (connectivity, accessing devices and mobile data), In response, as well as using RADAR (Risk Analysis and Detection
followed by adapting to and becoming more confident with online to Assist and Retain students) to help monitor students’ progress
learning (navigating the Moodle Learning Management System in this changing environment, the University’s Communication and
and mastering MS Teams, workload and time management issues), Marketing team researched social media to identify trending topics
among students. “We used this information to identify hotspots
and challenges and intervene before they became major issues,”
says Prof Foxcroft.

Two Nelson Mandela University professors “When students could start returning to campus in batches as we
contributed a chapter to a seminal book on moved through lockdown levels, we had to develop protocols for
technology-based LT in the time of COVID-19, safe mask-to-mask (M2M) learning and assessment. We studied
published in 2020: literature and research papers to develop our protocols and
strategies. We also evaluated the learning experience of those
Du Plessis, A. and Blignaut, S. (2020). Offline who came to campus for M2M sessions. Generally, they adapted
- Online Information and Communication very quickly and were able to form peer learning communities
Technology (ICT) Teaching and Learning Strategy where they supported each other.
in the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond. In N.
Ndimande-Hlongwa, L. Ramrathan, N. Mkhize, “There were collective celebrations when I could announce that
and J.A. Smit (Eds.), Technology-based Teaching our success rates increased by 5% in 2020, and we graduated
and Learning in Higher Education during the more students in 2020 than in 2019. The success rate of first years
Time of COVID-1 (pp. 92–119). Alternation was also fantastic at 83%,” says Prof Foxcroft. “We were most
African Scholarship Book Series, Volume #02. worried about them as they only had six weeks of lectures before
Durban: CSSALL Publishers (Pty) Ltd. https://doi. the pandemic hit us.
org/10.29086/978-0-9869936-1-9/2020/AASBS02
“In addition,” she concludes, “staff and students developed
many self-management and independent learning attributes and
became more digitally literate, which is essential in the 4IR era and
future world of work.”

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