Online teaching in response to student protests and campus shutdowns: academics’ perspectives

• Published in: International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 1 - 22
• Main Authors: Czerniewicz, Laura, Trotter, Henry, Haupt, Genevieve
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.12.2019; Springer Nature B.V; SpringerOpen
• Subjects: Activism; Activity theory; Blended Learning; CAI; Colleges & universities; Computer Appl. in Social and Behavioral Sciences; Computer assisted instruction; Computer Science; Computers and Education; Contestations; Course Content; Curricula; Demonstrations & protests; Distance Education; Educational Strategies; Educational Technology; Epistemology; Feedback (Response); FeesMustFall; Higher Education; Humanities; Influence of Technology; Information Systems Applications (incl.Internet); Law; Municipalities; Online education; Online instruction; Protests; Racial Segregation; Research Article; Shutdowns; Statistics for Social Sciences; Teaching Methods; South Africa; Contestations; Protests; Blended learning; Activity theory; Online education; South Africa; FeesMustFall; University of Cape Town
• ISSN: 2365-9440; 2365-9440
• DOI: 10.1186/s41239-019-0170-1

During the period 2015–2017, student protests and university shutdowns rocked the higher education sector in South Africa, with key issues being raised regarding student exclusion based on financial, epistemological and cultural grounds. In this highly politicised and contested environment, some universities decided to use blended and online delivery as a strategy to enable the academic year to be completed and all curriculum to be covered, despite the disruptions. This was a controversial decision politically and a challenging one practically. From the perspective of the academics at the University of Cape Town (UCT), this paper draws on interviews with educators in three broad disciplinary areas to explore their views, practices, and experiences regarding the use of online materials in these unique circumstances. Activity Theory provides a framework to consider the issues systemically and to identify the tensions and contradictions in the system.