The COVID-19 pandemic that began in March 2020 gave rise to a number of challenges for first-year experience activities at universities globally. One of the key challenges was the process of onboarding first-year students through an orientation programme that could not take place face-to-face as per the norm. In 2021, the first-year orientation at…

This paper discusses the use of technology as enabler for sustaining teaching and learning by reviewing various local and international publications. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in 2020, the Departments of Basic and Higher Education in South Africa ordered all institutions of learning to shut down and start using online…

This discussion explores student and educator academic experiences of online learning and teaching (OLT) at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose was to report on lessons learned during the pandemic, and how this may contribute to a flexible blended learning and teaching (BLT) approach within…

Writing centres have had to adapt to many challenges, including the move to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In South Africa this move was complexified by differential access to digital environments and contextual issues such as lack of electricity and rolling blackouts. Writing centres also need to consider the increasing…

As a response to the exponential increase in COVID-19 cases, the South African government implemented the closure of schools and many universities in March 2020, with some universities operating under partial lockdown conditions. In this context of closure and lockdown, many universities have shifted to forms of virtual and online learning.…

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions have been concerned about their Master and doctoral students, in particular how and when they would be able to continue and complete their research activities and dissertations. Scholars have noted the potential deterioration in the quality of research projects for a variety…

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the teaching and learning in international higher education. Those of us in the global South have particularly been hard hit, struggling to balance working/ functioning economies, a struggling healthcare system, education, commerce, trade, transport, and the community spread of what was later found to be…

This article aims to explore and analyse the challenges and experiences of students in internal medicine and anaesthesiology regarding emergency remote teaching and learning during the coronavirus pandemic. South African universities have been forced to move from face-to-face to online learning (e-learning) due to the coronavirus pandemic…

The current research aimed to investigate the perceptions of pre-service students regarding the usefulness and contribution of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in initial teacher education programmes, particularly in times of emergency. Participants comprised 202 second-career pre-service students who enrolled in alternative teacher education…

Technology-based platforms in higher education institutions (HEIs), including online learning, require innovative approaches to ensure inclusive and transformative educational spaces for students living with disabilities. Achieving social equality, technology access and inclusion may contribute to ensuring a seamless instructional design for…

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted higher education across the globe, in particular the shift from face-to-face teaching and assessment, as well as interaction with students. In 2020, an online survey was distributed to African and Australian higher education academics to gather insights into academics' transformation of educational practices…

COVID-19 affected the teaching practicum placement of approximately 650 fourth year BEd Foundation Phase student teachers at University N in April and July 2020. The teaching practicum is seen as a purposeful, organised, supervised, mentored and assessed educational activity required for the completion of a teacher education programme. During the…

New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was "to go fast and go hard". This directive meant closing the borders, requiring returning New Zealanders to go into two-week self-isolation and, on 25 March 2020, putting the entire country into full lockdown. Schools had a short period of time to get ready to offer online learning. The…

While blended learning is well entrenched in many developed countries as a solution towards enabling access to educational resources and managing student diversity, this may not be the same for rural based universities in developing countries. Yet, blended learning is ideal for the current terrain of the COVID-19 pandemic which requires learning…

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a shift in teaching and learning practices. The University of Pretoria in South Africa was not entirely unprepared for this event, since the university's teaching strategy had gradually evolved into a hybrid delivery mode. In the Faculty of Veterinary Science, however, the practical nature of the…