This paper reports on a study of the implementation of science teacher education through virtual and open distance learning in the Mashonaland Central Province, Zimbabwe. The study provides insight into challenges faced by students and lecturers on inception of the program at four centres. Data was collected from completed evaluation survey forms of forty-two lecturers who were directly involved at the launch of the program and in-depth interviews. Qualitative data analysis revealed that the programme faces potential threat from centre-, institution-, lecturer-, and student-related factors. These include limited resources, large classes, inadequate expertise in open and distance education, inappropriate science teacher education qualifications, implementer conflict of interest in program participation, students’ low self-esteem, lack of awareness of quality parameters of delivery systems among staff, and lack of standard criteria to measure the quality of services. The paper recommends that issues raised be addressed in order to produce quality teachers.
The COVID-19 pandemic globally transformed the face to face teaching and learning into digital online teaching and learning. The uptake and integration of digital technology in mathematics education have been gradual for many decades. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the digital teaching and learning and made it an imperative and safe remote instruction and pedagogy of the day in mathematics education and education in general. We explored the uptake and use of virtual mathematics laboratory methodology for undergraduate Calculus teaching and learning as a remote instruction and pedagogy gap revealed during the COVID-19 infections prevention and containment period in Zimbabwe. The main objective of the study was to identify digital instructional and pedagogical gaps that existed in addressing students' mathematical misconceptions in Calculus learning in using the APOS theory and a virtual mathematics laboratory. Data was collected from 160 undergraduate students taking Calculus courses via APOS theory mediated digital mathematics laboratory for a semester. Results revealed that the undergraduate students who took the Calculus courses via the digital mathematics laboratory methodology performed better than those who used to take the same courses using didactical approaches. This COVID-19 crisis ushered in digital teaching and learning experiences that clearly spelt out the existence of digital instructional and pedagogical gaps in mathematics education.
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