The challenges and opportunities experienced during COVID-19 inform reshaping of teaching, learning and research practices for a subgroup of FPP participants
 

Authors:

S Hadebe, A Williams, P Sifolo, M Bradley, M Abduroaf
 

Summary: 

Set against the background of the South African higher education (HE) system, this article reviews how COVID-19 augmented existing challenges as well as how it presented opportunities for improved teaching, learning and research. This is done by providing context to the challenges and opportunities of not only teaching and learning but of the research environment whilst focusing on several disciplines and institutions. Most publications between 2020 and now focused on the challenges and opportunities caused by the pandemic within the teaching and learning environment within a single discipline and in a particular institution. Challenges and opportunities experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic in the research environment from a multi-discipline and multi-institutional perspective were less reported. This meant that the responses to address pandemic-associated disruptions would be limited in its view and weighted to teaching and learning and specific discipline(s). This article draws from the experiences of the authors through their training under the Future Professors Programme Phase 2, Cohort 1 (FPP), while adopting a literature review and reflective writing approach. The article finds an overlap in the COVID-19 experience within the institutions of the authors in terms of challenges and opportunities. However, the impact on research was as devastating as it was on teaching and learning with unique scenarios applicable to the respective disciplines/institutions. While the pandemic had a general negative outlook for most academics, the FPPs programme better prepared the authors to reimagine and reshape our teaching, learning and research practices to face future pandemics.

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