Teaching and learning in the COVID-19 era: A case of Botho University Eswatini

Abstract

Higher education is important for producing the quality of graduates required for a country’s economy. Failure to sustain or ensure effective higher education learning systems can often lead to unfavourable situations where learners are unable to learn and uncertainty about the future of education happens. The COVID-19 pandemic has created substantial challenges and opportunities for the higher education community worldwide. The sudden COVID-19 disruption exposed many higher education institutions to various challenges such as reduced resources to respond to the crisis, personal and academic challenges and the transition from the traditional face-to-face learning approach to online learning. The lack of resources, academic capabilities and online teaching readiness to transition to online delivery were the major factors that affected institutions. Few higher education institutions that had the resources offered online delivery. The overall concern was the readiness of higher education institutions in unpredicted digital learning situations. This research employed a qualitative approach and online questionnaire survey with students with the intention to explore how teaching and learning presence is fostered and maintained during the COVID era. Online surveys were utilized to gather the level of transition and measurement of various constructs which included learner characteristics, online learning awareness, technology skill readiness and access. The findings were organized into three main categories, forms of communication, online delivery approaches and teaching presence and the conclusion is that the level of presence between the lecturer and students, the degree of involvement demonstrated by the lecturer significantly influences the quality of learning under crisis related situations. The findings show that maintaining online teaching presence, adoption of a continuity plan, utilization of existing learning tools or platforms and constant feedback with students are all fundamental elements that tertiary institutions can adopt to address unexpected situations that may disrupt their learning processes.