Learning to do things d ifferently

Pandemic offered universities opportunity to embrace benefits of Fourth Industrial Revolution

THE academic year opened with news from China and confirmed by the World Health Organization that a new zoonotic infection, a coronavirus, had been detected in the city of Wuhan.

Universities were some of the first public spaces to close down because of the pending devastation of Covid-19. They did so mainly because of the high concentration of people on campuses, and the nature of interactions that take place there.

Detected at the end of December 2019, Covid-19 spread rapidly, largely because of the globalised nature of travel. First hitting Europe and North America, it reached almost all countries in the world.

South Africa’s first case was confirmed on March 5 by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, leading eventually to a national lockdown from March 26.

The effect of Covid-19 on universities manifested itself in three ways. First, the academic year was disrupted abruptly. It takes years to develop a curriculum for each programme, assign academics to specific programme offerings, and determine assessment methods.

Apart from this, universities are spaces with a unique culture of intellectual engagement where ideas are shaped, tested, corrected or even disputed. Hence universities are noisy but stimulating spaces.

All this was disrupted within a month. Universities had to learn new ways of pursuing that which makes a university. That special space had to be closed physically. And this brings me to the second effect.

The second effect of Covid-19 which resulted in the closure of universities was for us to learn doing things differently. Under normal circumstances the staff at Unisa work at our main campus in Muckleneuk, City of Tshwane, and the Science Campus in Florida, Johannesburg, as well as various regional facilities across the country and in Ethiopia.

For the first time, we resolved that our work continues uninterrupted where our staff continue to work remotely from their homes.

Our young students who come mainly from disadvantaged backgrounds were negatively affected by this move as they suddenly found themselves in a situation where they could no longer access our facilities which serve them as a platform from which they study and download their study materials as well as prepare their assignments and exams.

This prompted us to go out of our way to spend in excess of R52 million in purchasing data to cater for all our students indiscriminately in order to support them as they began to prepare and write their May/june exams.

It is important to note that our academics were present all the time to support our undergraduate students who, under normal circumstances, would have preferred to go to their offices for consultations on matters in which they wish to gain a better understanding of their studies.

Similarly, our academics were always present for our masters and doctoral students and their postgraduate studies have been progressing satisfactorily.

It is remarkable to note that the new work environment since March resulted in a situation where our academic and administrative staff had to adapt to online meetings and interaction.

While the novel ways of managing work processes that have emerged since the lockdown have opened our eyes to the endless possibilities that are afforded to us by modern technology, we also realise that there is still value in human interaction.

The third challenge faced by universities all over the world, just like businesses and governments, is the loss of income. Universities rely largely on three income streams: government grants, student fees, research grants from businesses and philanthropic organisations.

With the reduced national revenue due to the lockdown it is likely that the government may reduce the grants that are allocated to universities for the 2021 academic year. Already, the student fees contribution has decreased.

Businesses and philanthropic organisations may also not be in a position to award research grants for the next two to three years because of the negative effects of the pandemic on their corporate social investment funds.

What further lessons, challenges and opportunities arise for us?

Like other institutions, some of our natural scientists and their masters and doctoral students have the responsibility and opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the biochemical and epidemiological evolution and nature of Covid19, and other questions such as possible mutations.

Similarly, our social scientists and their students will definitely embark on studies – psychological, sociological, anthropological, educational, public health, and other fields – on the social effects of the pandemic. The same applies to our business management and legal academics and their students.

In short, universities will have to offer solutions to the current problems facing humanity, just as we did at the height of the HIV/ Aids pandemic.

As a long standing provider of distance learning in the country, Unisa has had experience in managing this mode of learning and teaching.

Yet, the pandemic has challenged us and equally offered us an opportunity to embrace the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its character of forcing rapid technological changes and their applications.

For us, the use of online platforms for communication, delivery of teaching and learning, and use in assessment, stand as the ready employment we should accelerate.

The university has long adopted the path of becoming a fully-fledged Open Distance e-learning institution.

We have achieved some of the features of this model, such as online applications, registrations, accessing of study materials and library services, and submission of assignments and receipt of results thereof.

With the lockdown we have had to introduce another leg of online learning – assessments.

On the whole, our first online exams are proving to be a success.

The concern remains that of some students who may not participate fully in their studies as a result of lack of access or use of technological gadgets due to their socio-economic backgrounds.

Our lesson is to remain agile during Covid-19 challenges, while not leaving poor and working-class students behind.