Abstract
COVID-19 forced academics to transition from face-to-face to remote teaching using various online platforms. This article focuses on my experiences of teaching a research module during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The social, cognitive and teaching presences from the Community of Inquiry Framework for a successful higher education experience was used as a lens for the study. The data are generated from my reflection on teaching, the WhatsApp chat transcript and student emails. My reflections on teaching a research module suggest that the teaching, social and cognitive presences were experienced to a certain extent. The findings indicate that training and trials in preparation for transition to online teaching are important. In this study trials to familiarise academics and students with online teaching influenced the establishment of teaching presence positively because challenges related to online teaching were identified and addressed before the commencement of the actual online teaching. Therefore, when making instructional decisions, it is crucial first to diagnose and address challenges regarding online platforms. However, being accustomed to traditional face-to-face teaching, dominated by oral communication and telling methods, influenced the social presence negatively. Online collaboration among students was unclear. Notably, my social presence experiences suggest that teaching during and beyond COVID-19 requires a pedagogical approach that relies heavily on the social and collaborative component of learning as a point of departure for the development of online teaching and learning practices. The Community of Inquiry Framework used in this study could be helpful for higher education institutions to evaluate academics and students’ experiences of online teaching and learning, particularly when the institution is planning to redesign and implement online courses.
Highlights
In January 2020 when the news reported about COVID-19 in China nobody foresaw that it would have a huge impact on education systems across the globe
My teaching methods were not aligned to rapid changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic; but teaching in higher education requires one to provide intellectual and academic leadership, to provide tools and help students to work at the higher level (Gutiérrez-Santiuste, Rodríguez-Sabiote & GallegoArrufat, 2015)
This article presented my reflections on the teaching of a research module during COVID-19, using the lens of the Community of Inquiry Framework
Summary
In January 2020 when the news reported about COVID-19 in China nobody foresaw that it would have a huge impact on education systems across the globe. Teaching and learning in higher education was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced changes in various universities’ operations. Similar to other universities around the world, South African higher education institutions had to digitalise their operations. My teaching methods were not aligned to rapid changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic; but teaching in higher education requires one to provide intellectual and academic leadership, to provide tools and help students to work at the higher level (Gutiérrez-Santiuste, Rodríguez-Sabiote & GallegoArrufat, 2015). The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting, reshaping and testing the extent to which teaching and learning in higher education meets the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) (Onwuegbuzie & Ojo, 2021)
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