{"id":8801,"date":"2022-07-14T07:01:59","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T05:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sabceducation.co.za\/sabceducation\/?p=8801"},"modified":"2022-07-14T07:04:45","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T05:04:45","slug":"sa-a-leading-region-in-pre-covid-online-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sabceducation.co.za\/sabceducation\/2022\/07\/14\/sa-a-leading-region-in-pre-covid-online-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"SA a Leading Region in Pre-COVID Online Learning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Research covering higher education (HE) instructors\u2019 priorities and challenges in course delivery conducted by education technology company Cengage EMEA indicates that prior to COVID, South Africa had the highest percentage of learners receiving online or blended learning as their main mode of course delivery compared with the UK, Middle East and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa had a pre-COVID online and blended learning course delivery of 47% compared with the UK at 34%, the Middle East at 31%, and Europe at 30%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey covering 402 HE instructors indicated South Africa having the lowest percentage of In-Person learning at 51% followed by the UK (66%), Europe (69%), and the Middle East (69%) prior to COVID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, two-thirds of the higher education instructors were delivering their course content in-person pre-COVID, with just a quarter predominantly delivering their course content online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The results may indicate that SA was moving at a faster pace towards online learning prior to COVID. Another factor could be that in SA, courses are generally much larger, some with thousands taking a course, and therefore online would be better suited for managing very large cohorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Segment membership
<\/strong>In the research, Cengage EMEA identified four core instructor segments <\/strong>that the company says go some way to distinguishing attitudes to the use and future use of digital content and delivery in higher education settings. Cengage has called these segments: Advocates, Converts, Sceptics <\/strong>and Traditionalists<\/strong>. The largest group of instructors were designated as \u2018converts\u2019 and the second largest group \u2018traditionalists\u2019. Each segment shared particular characteristics, as seen below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Resources Used<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also prior to COVID, it was found that a combination of resources to deliver courses was used, with basic digital resources such as eTextbooks, instructor PowerPoints, and instructor notes, being part of this and used by 77% of the overall sample.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In combination with these basic digital resources, instructors representing half the sample were typically using \u2018reading from print textbooks\u2019, \u2018lecture notes\u2019, \u2018practice questions\u2019, and \u2018practical sessions\u2019, alongside journal articles. Journal articles were significantly more likely to be used in the UK (62%) compared to other regions, whilst the UK was also significantly more likely to use published materials (63%) and recorded lectures (38%).

TEACHING PREFERENCES
By the time the study was carried out, COVID-19 had disrupted teaching in most higher education institutions (HEIs) for over a year, forcing many to move their teaching online. The sample was asked: Thinking about your own teaching preferences, how would you prefer to teach your course?

Overall, HE instructors showed a preference for either in-person or a blended mix of online and face-to-face teaching. However, preference differences were noted across the segments, with \u2018advocates\u2019 showing a significantly greater preference for in-person teaching and lower for blended.

\u2018Converts\u2019 showed a significantly higher preference for a blended or online approach to course delivery, whilst \u2018traditionalists\u2019 evidenced significantly higher preferences for in-person teaching and much lower preferences for blended or online teaching, suggesting that they are more rigid in their in-person preferences. \u2018Sceptics\u2019 showed a lower preference for online only.

Thinking about your own teaching preferences, how would you prefer to teach a course?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Regionally, European instructors showed a significantly greater preference for in-person teaching (62%), whereas those in South Africa show a significantly lower preference for in-person teaching (31%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Core reasons for preferences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In-person<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • preferred interaction and contact<\/li>
  • can see if students understand the course I\u2019m teaching<\/li>
  • it\u2019s easier to demonstrate something<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Blended<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    • provides flexibility for students<\/li>
    • some aspects need in person interaction<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Online<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      • provides flexibility for students<\/li>
      • flexibility for me to teach around family and personal commitments<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        THE REALITY OF DELIVERING COURSES USING DIGITAL CONTENT<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Understandably, the enforced move for HE institutions to deliver teaching online to their students over the course of the pandemic met with a range of responses. Through the study, Cengage EMEA says it wanted to gauge the perceived benefits and challenges of using digital content to deliver teaching so that education providers and content providers, It can work together to further improve any future experience of this for educators and students alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Perceived benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The sample highlighted many perceived benefits in making the transition to online course delivery. The main benefits of online course delivery highlighted by instructors included:<\/p>\n\n\n\n