Parallel Session
Academic Quality Assurance & Enhancement Unit and UNIDrive at the University of South Africa in the Midst of Covid-19
Mr JK Mashabela
Lecturer: Church History
University of South Africa
James Kenokeno Mashabela was a Contract Lecturer in the subject of Church History at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and currently an Administrative Contract at the College of Education Quality Assurance and Enhancement (CEDU QAE) unit, UNISA. He received the Bachelor of Theology degree and the Honours in Theology degree from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. He also has a Master of Theology degree and a PhD degree in Theology from the University of South Africa. His focus areas in fields of academic interests are as followings: South African Church History; Early Church History; Reformation History; Theological Education in South Africa (Africa), Africanisation and Decolonisation Studies; and African Theologies. He is a member of the Church History Society of Southern Africa (CHSSA) and Transatlantic Roundtable, Howard University, Washington DC. He has also published a number of articles.
Abstract
Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted an old normal teaching and learning of the University of South Africa (UNISA) like other higher education institutions in South Africa and the world. Thus, this pandemic has forced this university to operate in a new normal of teaching and learning. In an enterprise for greater coherence between teaching, learning, research and community enhancement, UNISA strives to deliver quality education to the students in the midst of Covid-19. The university views its task of African consciousness as part of its way of teaching and learning, as a strength in service of the students. In efforts to continue teaching and learning, Academic Quality Assurance & Enhancement Unit (AQAEU) has played a significant role to UNIDrive as an online tool to easily access teaching and learning documents at the University of South Africa. UNIDrive is an e-tool where university documents are kept protected for quality purpose. AQAEU is convinced that UNIDrive is one amongst the university e-tools that is designed to close an historical vacuum of handover to avoid losing university documents. It is the purpose of this article to explore how academics and administrators benefit from using online platforms such as UNIDrive that continuous to play a significant role on the university in its development. Furthermore, the article explores decisions taken by the university to provide a liberating approach to effectively implement online teaching and learning. UNISA has used an online teaching and learning for some time as opposed to traditional face-to-face. Covid-19 has forced higher education institutions to move to an online model of teaching and learning as a result UNISA has intensified and improved its online model of teaching and learning to protect both students and staff from the harmful effects of the pandemic. It is essential to preserve both previous traditional face-to-face and online models of teaching and learning while meeting and unifying the needs of a new normal. Higher education institutions in South Africa face a momentous task to address daily socio-economic contexts, and lack of electricity and internet connectivity challenges, which create online stressful teaching and learning for students.
Keywords: Covid-19, Academic Quality Assurance & Enhancement Unit, UNIDrive, University of South Africa, online teaching and learning
Chosen subthemes are:
Sub-theme 2: Access, Equity and Inclusion in the face of uncertainty: “No student left behind”
Sub-theme 3: Teaching, Learning and Assessment during Covid-19: Towards a Reflexive Praxis
Mashabela.pdf