At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many traditional contact higher education institutions, such as the institution where the study was based, transitioned abruptly to remote online learning. Students in the School of Education at the institution who are predominantly from the lower end of the socioeconomic digital divide in South Africa had no…

The global outburst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic according to Burgess and Sievertsen (2020) impeded activities within the confines of many organisations and institutions around the world, thereby making it difficult to manage their traditional programmes. In a bid to keep the academic year open, and considering the unpredictable length…

This article explores student perceptions of writing online examinations for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, examinations at an open and distance learning institution in South Africa were conducted as venue-based examinations. From March 2020, all examinations were moved online. Online examinations were…

For a UK based university faculty that delivers a bespoke Work Based suite of under and postgraduate programmes to a major South African client, the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) agenda is important (Wall, 2013, 2017; Ferrández-Berrueco, Kekale, and Devins, 2016). Pre pandemic, EDI was about access to professionally relevant education…

Globally, higher education institutions, specifically universities are expecting postgraduate (PG) students to conduct research to resolve existing challenges in their field and come out with new innovations. The COVID-19 pandemic affected these expectations. This was a concern to the researcher. A phenomenological qualitative study explored and…

Access to higher education has been one of the critical areas of concern in South Africa, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Corona-virus (COVID-19) pandemic has brought the systemic cleavages into sharp relief, with 'access' and subsequent 'success' emerging as an important variable. Availability of digital facilities…

Aim/Purpose: This article aimed to explore student perceptions and experiences of migrating to a fully online mode during COVID-19. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic changed the mode of delivery from face-to-face or blended learning to fully distance learning. The introduction of the Disaster Management Act (2020) in South Africa forced all…

South Africa, like other countries in the world, went into lockdown due to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) which meant closure of venue-based exam centres, university libraries and academic offices for more than three months. This encounter forced higher institutions of learning to review and reconfigure their assessment practices and conduct…

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted higher education institutions worldwide, prompting a rapid shift towards online learning environments. This study aims to assess the e-readiness of first-year students in using the Learning Management System (LMS) in the context of COVID-19. The researchers used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)…

This paper explored the challenges lecturers face in teaching through online platforms. Online learning has become increasingly prevalent in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions, offering opportunities and challenges for TVET lecturers. The transition from traditional face-to-face teaching to online environments…

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated an abrupt shift to remote teaching, presenting unique challenges for rural Physical Science teachers due to their limited access to technological resources. This qualitative study employed a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of six Physical Science teachers from rural South Africa during…

The teaching of English First Additional Language (EFAL) in South Africa is gradually changing from the traditional style because of the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts are being made to stimulate learners' interest in learning which include using information communication technology (ICT) in the form of e-learning to enhance…

COVID-19's arrival in Zimbabwe and South Africa in early 2020 caused disruptions to all facets of life including education. It disrupted traditional notions of media studies' teaching and learning. In the contexts of these disruptions, the present study interrogates how selected universities in Zimbabwe and South Africa adjusted to the new normal…

After the announcement of a national lockdown by the South African state in March 2020, university students and lecturers had to conduct learning activities online. In countries where reliable information and communications technologies exist, this transition was relatively smooth. Students were able to learn using internet-based online learning…

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) resulted in South Africa's shelter-in-place lockdown. South Africa is vulnerable to the negative outcomes of COVID-19 due to health systems inequalities, high prevalence of human immunodeficiency viruses, tuberculosis and the growing burden of non-communicable diseases. Conducting scientifically…