Parallel Session
Addressing the Covid-19 grand challenge in higher education: A collaboration framework
Dr K Stander
Senior Lecturer: Business Management
University of South Africa
Dr. Karen Stander is a Senior Lecturer in Business Management at the University of South Africa and was awarded her PhD in Strategy from the University of Pretoria in 2019. She obtained her Master’s degree with distinction for the University of Pretoria in 2012 and was awarded the Dean’s List award with full academic honorary colors as a result. She received the Excellence in Tuition Award from the University of South Africa in 2021 as well as from the College of Economic and Management Sciences in 2019.
Dr. Stander currently supervises the research projects of 800 Honours students in the Department of Business Management and has 11 active masters and doctoral students in the field of Strategic Management. Her research interests are in Strategy-as-Practice, Competitive Advantage and Open Strategy.
Abstract
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 calls for inclusive, equitable and quality education as well as for the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. However, it has been estimated that Covid-19 has wiped out 20 years of education gains (United Nations, 2021). Should Higher Education want to undo the harm Covid-19 has done to the attainment of this goal, it will have to start thinking not only about the content but also about the student we teach. The outcomes of degrees and modules must produce students who are able, despite disruptions such as Covid-19 (Dolicar & Zare, 2020), to achieve good educational outcomes. We need to design learning experiences with academic resilience in mind (Ye, Strietholt & Blömeke, 2021).
In this paper, I will show how academic resilience was achieved through the triangulation of: (1) the SDGs; (2) the requirement of collaborative problem solving to address a grand challenge (Howard-Grenville, 2020); and (3) suggestions of the World Economic Forum that by 2025 graduates will have to be technology literate (Whitting, 2020). I will use the guidelines associated with action research (Brandbury, 2015) to not only reflect on my practices, but also present a module development framework I implemented in my module. A framework which actively broke down communication barriers, creating students who are not only academically resilient, but who will be able to work in multi-disciplinary teams to address the “wicked problems” faced by the communities they live in (Pryshlakivsky & Searcy, 2013).
KEY WORDS: Higher Education, Post-graduate research, SDGs, Phenomenology, Grand Challenge, Covid-19
Stander.pdf