The Feasibility of Digitalizing Teaching Practice Through Mobile App Development

Abstract

With the closure of educational institutions during COVID-19, some leadership and management teams resorted to technology for online teaching. However, for the teaching practicum (TP) module, the move to online required specially designed interventions, resulting in a variety of different TP COVID-19 configurations. Fortuitously, at the outbreak of COVID-19, a group of academics at a South African Open Distance and E-Learning (ODeL) Institution were on the verge of launching a pilot-study with a TP mobile app solution. To better develop a mobile app, this article reviews recent literature on the integration of online technologies in the contemplation of TP COVID-19 interventions and ask the research question: What were TP supervisors' responses to the feasibility of a TP app? The literature showed an absence of a comprehensive mobile app, while supervisors displayed enthusiasm towards the proposal, but caution against the uncertainties of technological capacity and internet accessibility. Recommendations for the mobile app proposal are suggested.