From pandemic disruption to post-pandemic transformation: New possibilities for teaching in South African higher education

Keywords: decentering the lecture, blended pedagogy, structure culture agency, transformation

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had previously unimaginable and far-reaching effects on higher education globally (Baker et al. 2022; Cranfield et al. 2021; Kara 2021; Le Grange 2020). On top of the widespread loss felt by students and teachers across the world, we have had to make rapid changes to previously taken-for-granted ways of doing, being, learning and teaching (Baker et al. 2022; Cranfield et al. 2021). Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL) brought constraints and opportunities, challenges and innovations. This article gives form to the statement: “there is an opportunity in the moment for genuine equity-focused innovation in policy-making, provision and pedagogy” (Czerniewicz et al. 2020). We use a theoretical framework of structure, culture and agency through which to view possibilities for transformation of pedagogy, and a form of semi-autoethnography as methodology. Two lecturers, one in the Humanities (Education) and one in the Life Sciences, wrote extended narratives of their experiences of ERTL and the other authors then posed a series of questions to the story authors, which elicited a set of analytic descriptions and explanations. Through iterations of this analysis, we identified two important themes: attending to students’ socio-emotional needs and developing students’ engagement, self-regulation and reflexivity. The analysis identifies key opportunities and challenges that these required and how they were addressed by the lecturers concerned. Based on the analysis and drawing on Case’s (2015b) argument for an expanded sense of agency for students, we argue that the lecture is a key structural and cultural element of the university space that was disrupted during the pandemic and can be transformed going forward. We thus argue for decentering the lecture. Furthermore, we argue that care and concern for students has not been a primary cultural element of teaching and learning in higher education, for structural reasons, and that it should be an integral part of pedagogies going forward.

Author Biographies

K. Brodie, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

School of Education, Faculty of Humanities

A. Joffe, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

School of Arts, Faculty of Humanities

S. Dukhan, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science

S. Godsell, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

School of Education, Faculty of Humanities

D. de Klerk, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Teaching and Learning Centre, Faculty of Commerce, Law, and Management

K. Padayachee, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Science Teaching and Learning Unit, Faculty of Science

References

Ashwin, Paul, David Boud, Susanna Calkins, Kelly Coate, Fiona Hallett, Greg Light, Kathy Luckett et al. 2020. Reflective teaching in higher education. Bloomsbury Academic.

Baker, Sally, Joel Anderson, Rachel Burke, Teresa De Fazio, Clemence Due, Lisa Hartley, Tebeje Molla et al. 2022. "Equitable teaching for cultural and linguistic diversity: exploring the possibilities for engaged pedagogy in post-COVID-19 higher education." Educational Review: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2021.2015293.

Bao, Wei. 2020. "COVID‐19 and online teaching in higher education: A case study of Peking University." Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies 2, no. 2: 113-115. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.191.

Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. 2013. Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. Sage.

Case, Jennifer M. 2015a. “Emergent interactions: rethinking the relationship between teaching and learning.” Teaching in Higher Education 20, no. 6: 625-635.

Case, Jennifer M. 2015b. “A social realist perspective on student learning in higher education: The morphogenesis of agency.” Higher Education Research and Development 34, no. 5:841-852.

Chow, Rudi Santoso, Lam, Chak Ming and Kin, Irwin. 2020. “Crisis Resilience Pedagogy (CRP) for Teaching and Learning”. IEEE TALE2020 – An International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Education, 384-391.

Cranfield, Desireé J., Andrea Tick, Isabella M. Venter, Renette J. Blignaut, and Karen Renaud. 2021. "Higher education students’ perceptions of online learning during COVID-19—A comparative study." Education Sciences 11, no. 8: 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11080403.

Czerniewicz, Laura, Najma Agherdien, Johan Badenhorst, Dina Belluigi, Tracey Chambers, Muntuwenkosi Chili, Magriet De Villiers et al. 2020. "A wake-up call: Equity, inequality and Covid-19 emergency remote teaching and learning." Postdigital Science and Education 2, no. 3: 946-967. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00187-4.

Davids, Nuraan. 2021. "COVID-19: undoing our “normal” to find our humanity." South African Journal of Higher Education 35, no. 1: 178-191. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7588-5814.

Hays, Sharon 1994. "Structure and agency and the sticky problem of culture." Sociological Theory 12, no.1: 57-72.

Green, Wendy, Vivienne Anderson, Kathleen Tait, and Ly Thi Tran. 2020. "Precarity, fear and hope: Reflecting and imagining in higher education during a global pandemic." Higher Education Research & Development 39, no. 7: 1309-1312. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1826029.

Irvine, Valerie. 2020. “The Landscape of Merging Modalities.” Educause Review. Available: https://er.educause.edu/-/media/files/articles/2020/10/er20_4103.pdf. Accessed 23 February 2022.

Joosten, Tanya, Nicole Weber, Margaret Baker, Abigail Schletzbaum, and Abby McGuire. 2021. “Planning for a Blended Future: A Research-Driven Guide for Educators”. Every Learner Everywhere Network. Available: https://www.everylearnereverywhere.org/wp-content/uploads/Planning-for-a-Blended-Future-FINAL-1.pdf. Accessed 23 February 2022.

Kara, Augustine. 2021. "Covid-19 pandemic and possible trends into the future of higher education: A review." Journal of Education and Educational Development 8, no. 1: 9-26. http://dx.doi.org/10.22555/joeed.v8i1.109.

Khanal, Rakesh. 2021 “Crisis Pedagogy: Student Perceptions of Pedagogical Transition Amidst the COVID-19. Pedagogical Research, 6(2), em0094. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/10826

Le Grange, Lesley. 2020. "Covid-19 pandemic and the prospects of education in South Africa." Prospects 51: 425-436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-020-09514-w.

Merisi, Peter, and Ansurie Pillay. 2020. "Emergency Remote Teaching in Higher Education: How Academics Identify the Educational Possibilities." In Alternation African Scholarship Book Series, Volume 2: Technology-based Teaching and Learning in Higher Education during the Time of COVID-19, edited by Nobuhle Ndimande-Hlongwa, Labby Ramrathan, Nhlanhla Mkhize and Johannes A. Smit: 74-91. https://doi.org/10.29086/978-0-9869936-1-9/2020/AASBS02.

Paulus, Trena, Marianne Woodside, and Mary Ziegler. 2008. "Extending the conversation: Qualitative research as dialogic collaborative process." Qualitative Report 13, no. 2: 226-243.

Soudien, Crain, Vijay Reddy, and Jaqueline Harvey. 2021. "The impact of COVID-19 on a fragile education system: The case of South Africa." In Primary and Secondary Education during Covid-19: Disruptions to Educational Opportunity during a Pandemic, edited by Fernando M. Reimers, 303-325. Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81500-4.

Zemblyas, Michalinos. 2018. “Decolonial possibilities in South African higher education: Reconfiguring humanising pedagogies as/with decolonising pedagogies”. In South African Journal of Education Vol. 38 No. 4 November 2018
Published
2023-10-25
How to Cite
Brodie, K., A. Joffe, S. Dukhan, S. Godsell, D. de Klerk, and K. Padayachee. 2023. “From Pandemic Disruption to Post-Pandemic Transformation: New Possibilities for Teaching in South African Higher Education”. South African Journal of Higher Education 36 (4), 66-84. https://doi.org/10.20853/36-4-5180.
Section
General Articles