What about online teaching? University of KwaZulu-Natal students’ perceptions about staff readiness to take on online teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Abstract

The shift to online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic dramatically changed educational landscapes worldwide (Park et al., 2020). While the immediate challenges and successes of this transition have been widely documented, it is essential to understand its long-term impact (Li, 2022). Despite some positive feedback from existing studies, there is an urgent need for further evaluation about online teaching. Concerns were raised about technological challenges, particularly in the South African context, where many universities struggled to implement online teaching and learning effectively. For instance, a study by Malatji et al. (2021) assessed perceptions of online learning and teaching at the University of Limpopo during the Covid-19 pandemic. Similarly, a 2021 study by Mbambo at the University of KwaZulu-Natal-Pietermaritzburg focused on third-year media students' perceptions of online learning in 2020. Both studies indicated that students felt their lecturers were not adequately prepared to teach online. Moreover, disparities in digital access and literacy significantly impacted the student learning experience, affecting how students perceived and interacted with their lecturers in virtual environments. Therefore, drawing on existing studies regarding emergency online learning and teaching in South Africa and addressing the issue of the digital divide, this study investigates how well UKZN-P Humanities lecturers were equipped to teach effectively and efficiently online during Covid-19, as perceived and experienced by students. Following a qualitative approach, the research used questionnaires and focus group interviews to collect data, and thematically analysed the data to explore these perceptions. It was discovered that UKZN-P Humanities students had both positive and negative perceptions regarding their lecturers’ readiness for online teaching with socio-economic factors, such as students’ high school backgrounds, geographic locations, expectations, preferences, and levels of study, playing a large role in how they perceived their lecturers' ability to teach effectively online during the pandemic.