THE RISE OF ONLINE LEARNING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

By: Ethel Malatji

Email: ethelsiphiwe@gmail.com

University is a place where students live and study close proximately to each other. They are buzzing cultural hubs where students are brought together from nations around the world. Recently, the foundation of this unique ecosystem has been impacted significantly by the rapid spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, regarding the implications for higher education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the education sector in South Africa, as universities across the country shut down, leaving many students feeling vulnerable.

When the pandemic hit and countries began to go into lockdown, our university quickly moved to a fully online delivery model. However, the obvious and immediate challenge we faced was student connectivity. Many of our students, even those in urban centers, struggled with data access for them to fully participate in their online learning.

Though the university designed our system to be asynchronous, meaning students could log in and participate in their own time, connectivity was still a challenge. Some of our students could only log on late at night during off-peak hours. Others live in areas where connectivity is inaccessible due to cost issues. Others struggled to get access to the internet at all. 

Some universities have gone as far as to deliver devices, tablets or smartphones, to their students at home to enable them to continue to engage online. Many institutions gave students data bundles so that connectivity would not be an issue or major obstacle to their continuing to learn.

The move to online learning has affected not just libraries, they have worked hard to put in place extra online study support. Where access to libraries is still possible, they have been made as safe as possible for borrowers online learning also affected examinations, as universities worked hard on putting in place viable alternatives to on-site exams. 

This has raised many issues, on how to ensure that different assessment methods can be introduced in ways that assess students fairly, without detriment to their performance. Universities have tried to embrace these changes as quickly as they could, without sacrificing quality and fairness for speed of implementation.

“Online learning was stressful, it forced us to adapt to working independently and it had its struggles because some are from rural areas, and we missed online classes due to network in the rural. Online learning had a negative impact because most of our practicals were converted to theory”, said Itumeleng Mokoena, a student

Oratile Kekana said that, as a first-year university student last year, COVID-19 affected her badly because she was used to studying traditionally rather than doing things online. So online was a challenge as she couldn’t manage to attend some of my classes due to technical issues.

“It was hard at first, I couldn’t find my balance between studying and having time away from my books, so I tried so hard to balance everything that was going on in my life at that time, made a timetable with everything that I had to do daily”, added Matshidiso Selebeleng.

 

 

 

 

 

CCT RESIDENCE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AWARDS

 

By: Ethel Malatji

Email: ethelsiphiwe@gmail.com

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”, these are the words of Malcolm X, students residing at CCT residence Tshwane University of Technology North campus were awarded trophies and certificates for their outstanding 2021 academic year performance. The ceremony was held at TCE hall within the campus, by the CCT management.

image: CCT students

The award ceremony is one of the leading events at our campus, hosted every year for all the CCT residence students. These awards are given out so that it can be a reminder that university does not have to be a student’s nightmare. It is important to acknowledge and celebrate the effort and dedication made by students in their work. This was presented as a token of appreciation from the management and as an encouragement to those who didn’t get anything.

It was a night of glitz and glamour at the North campus hall, where students came in numbers to celebrate and witness the achievements of other students. The photographers were also present to capture every memory of that day, A DJ was made available to cheer up the audience with good music. The residence manager gave a speech and welcomed everyone for making time to come to the event.

image: TUT Gospel chior

The place was overcrowded, and people were fully excited to see who had won an award. The event was exciting as there were different performers, such as the campus gospel choir, a poet, and a group of dancers. After their performance students who have won.
Their names were called to the front to collect their award, starting from the top one to the top three. It was a great moment for everyone who has done well to achieve an award. The best achiever was given two certificates and a trophy and in the end, the residence assistant Mrs. Maheya gave a word of encouragement to the first years and those that didn’t win. Pictures were taken and it was all fun. 

Reagile Makwela a 22-year-old top archiver integrated communications student said, “she just got an award, and it really shows that hard work really pays, she continued saying that everyone out there should take their school work seriously and nothing is impossible as you can achieve your dreams if you study hard.

Tebogo Maheya, CCT student assistant said, “those that didn’t get any award, should work hard next time, and put more effort into your studies.  She was very happy with the award”.

Mr. Achi, CCT residence manager said that he was very happy for those who have won, and it’s good that they have won, they are going to encourage those who didn’t get anything so that next year will have a new group to celebrate”.

There is a famous quote that says, “True education reveals self-potential more than just sows ideas”, CCT residence students proved that with education and hard work, everyone can achieve anything. The event was productive and inspiring because it set an example of the good things people are here for. 

The ceremony was all about empowering and pushing students, more especially first-year students to work hard and not settle for anything less than 50 percent but aim for good grades. The students supported each other as they were cheering up everyone who made it.