3. Designing for elearning during Covid 19:
Understanding complexity through a
wicked problem lens
Keynote: International Online Conference on Future
Trends in E-Learning and Collaborative Working
Covid-19: Learning and working while staying home. 16-17
June, 2020, Virtual University of Pakistan [online]
Sukaina Walji
Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT)
University of Cape Town
7. What we learnt What we applied
Live with uncertainty Plan where you can.
Yes, online learning is hard… Practice empathy, manage stress, unhappiness and
exhaustion for staff and students. Lots of support
required.
You can’t copy and paste! Build in flexible, asynchronous learning, multimodal.
Terminology is important 2020 Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT).
Digital inequality is a huge
challenge
Design and plan low-tech teaching.
Remote working is not “natural” 2020 has better tools to facilitate this.
Learning from
Experience
17. Step 5: Provide alternatives
LOW DATA
Offline study pack
(downloadable for the
week)
Text course notes
Word docs
PPTs (with few images)
Transcripts
PDFs
Asynchronous discussion
forums
MEDIUM DATA
Text with imagery
Core content with external
websites/links
Short screencasts
Small short videos
Pre-recorded student
presentations
HIGH DATA
Live streaming - Zoom
seminars
External websites/links
Long videos
Larged sized, proprietary
software
Live student presentations
Connection quality
Future-facing: Possibly re-look at Eduroam wifi connectivity at Residences
Flexible T+L options
Device Access
Student Laptop Programme: FinAid 1st-year students get free laptops in 2017 (piloted from 2013)
UCT Laptop Loan Scheme (2017)Data cost
The cost of data in South Africa is significant
Mobile network providers zero-rate data for University sites (2016, 2017)
Made visible existing disparities without residences
Workload and time management
No financial penalties for reducing workload but long term implications e.g dropping a course
Pressures of continuous assessment
Psychosocial Wellbeing - Student Toolkit:https://www.news.uct.ac.za/campus/communications/updates/covid-19/-article/2020-06-23-a-toolkit-for-supporting-marginalised-students
Student remote guide: https://vula.uct.ac.za/start
UCT Cares: https://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2020-06-11-uctcares-about-connecting-you-to-the-right-support
UCT Student Support and Services: https://vula.uct.ac.za/access/content/public/gateway/student-support.html
No invigilated exams
No or minimal external content
Varied resources (ppt, transcript, ppt narrated, video) - students choose what they can do Data
Timed tests - either removed or extra time
Opencast studio in Vula:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEx3xL1tJMg
Check out: https://studio.opencast.org/
The vast majority of staff spent much more time on teaching - being unable to find time for research (this was seen as a problem by many - promotion etc)
[Considerable time spend on communicating with students and assessment administration
A small proportion of staff were confident at the start of Term 2 with teaching online (1/3) - while a majority were confident preparing for online by the end (2/3)