In South Africa for the last few years, the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have experienced unforeseen events that have eventually led to universities' suspension of academic activities. This has financial implications and leads to the extension of the academic calendar. This article looks at using an online learning platform to respond to unforeseen circumstances and beyond this, a shift to the new mode of university service delivery. The article presents the collective perspective of selected students of the School of Governance at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This quantitative study used a census approach of collecting data from the defined population. A total of 212 questionnaires were distributed to students, of which 107 were completed and returned. E-learning is currently a common topic of conversation and will continue to be so in the wake of the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. This study suggests that there is a need to improve students' experiences of using online learning platforms and doing online assessments to roll out online teaching and learning successfully. The results also suggest that the facilitators need to rethink their teaching pedagogy in the process of shifting to e-learning.
Enhancing students’ learning experience through support structures such as tutorial sessions is essential. Students attending the tutorial sessions within the Discipline of Public Governance have never been given the opportunity to provide feedback on the sessions they have attended. They only get a chance to evaluate their lecturers using closed and open-ended questions to capture their learning experiences about modules’ structure, content, delivery and assessments. This implied a need to explore the students’ perceptions about the tutorial sessions during the normal conditions and under severe conditions like this of COVID-19. The quantitative approach was utilised and the data was collected through the distribution of questionnaires to the undergraduate students. The participants attended tutorials within the Discipline of Public Governance during the first semester of the year 2020. The study findings indicated that tutorial sessions occupy a critical role in students' development and learning. It is the platform for the students to easily interact with other students, discuss issues, and improve their performance. The study recommends that higher education institutions invest in the tutorial structure as one of the student support systems as it produces positive results in enhancing student learning. Redefining and reviewing the tutorial support structure is always crucial to improve the tutorial sessions' quality.
The aim of this paper was to explore and evaluate the support mechanisms or measures that the South African government has put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic for tour guides within the tourism sector. This was a non-empirical study, which used an exploratory research design. The study employed document analysis to gather the data, and discourse analysis was utilized to analyze the collected data. This study findings indicate that the government responses and measures assisted numerous tour guides during the lockdown period. Furthermore, the results showed that the tourism sector continues to be severely affected as the government has only recently allowed some business travel and leisure tourism. The study recommends that the government and other tourism stakeholders place new standards to reassure domestic and international travellers' safety so that the tour guides could generate income and avoid possible business closure in this tourism sub-sector.
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