Hi Miguel, thanks for bringing this up! I think the issue is at the forefront of our minds as we try and continue some sort of semblance of a normal life even though that it bound to be upset even further in the coming weeks and months. It’s been an absolutely chaotic week and I don’t expect next week to be any better (in fact, quite the opposite). Here in South Africa, schools and universities have been closed and the universities hope to continue with online learning in one week’s time. The challenges we have are similar to those mentioned by Emily in that many faculty have refused to explore online learning options in the past and so now when they are being forced to do so, they lack experience. Staff feel overwhelmed and although I have many contributions I can make in terms of resources available, design and implementation of activities for the online space, the biggest challenge has become to manage the faculty’s emotional capacity to deal with this change. Then, one of the biggest challenges we also face is the fact that this is not a country with a stellar first world internet infrastructure, even if the best designed online material was available- many students will struggle to access the content and would have to rely on limited access to internet cafes (which might close in the next few weeks, libraries have already closed) or their mobile phones (seems like a great option for microlearning focused materials but again mobile data is very expensive here and not every student has a smart phone/ or any kind of phone for that matter). Universities have approached the mobile network providers to negotiate zero data rates to access the various LMS platforms that the universities use but as yet we have no confirmation that we have this in place. I am assisting my colleagues in my department but also assisting the greater university teaching and learning center personnel by giving inputs on assessment strategies etc. I then also have to think about the online content that I am responsible for creating and the future planning that needs to go into that as I have to factor in that we might be in a complete shut down within 2 weeks time and I won’t have access to laboratory equipment etc. that is needed for undergraduate training. A lot has to happen in a very short amount of time.
Hi Miguel, thanks for bringing this up!…
21 Mar
This is very difficult to comprehend in so many ways. But it's easy to see that you are a selfless inspired person and teacher. Take a deep breath. It's a long road ahead. A totally changed world. But you prepared. And you are going to make a big difference. You will see. A heart-felt prayer for all of Africa.
