Changes That Should Remain in Higher Education Post COVID-19: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of the Experiences at Three Universities

Abstract

Objectives: The goal of the present study is to describe how the transition to remote emergency delivery was addressed in three universities during COVID-19 pandemic, to determine the satisfaction levels of their students and faculty with this new teaching-learning experience, and to gather their opinions about the future of Higher Education. Method: The study uses a mixed methods approach, including faculty and student surveys and focus groups Results: The study shows high satisfaction with the emergency remote delivery, and clearly reflects the relevancy of enhancing the digital components of the future learning experiences in Higher Education and a unanimous preference for hybrid education, providing some interesting recommendations to institutions regarding what students and faculty would like to keep for a more effective learning experience when the new normality comes. Conclusions: COVID-19 has had terrible consequences, however, the authors of this paper believe that this pandemic has brought along some positive effects and improvement opportunities in higher education, and if the results of the present study are any indication, the future of face to face higher education should be hybrid. Implication for Theory and / or Practice: This study may have some impact on future research initiatives, but the aspiration of the authors of this paper would be to inform decision making, and make direct recommendations to institutional leaders and policy makers regarding the necessary enhancement of the digital component of the teaching and learning process in Higher Education. Keywords: COVID-19; emergency remote delivery; hybrid higher education

Students’ Responses to Multi-Modal Emergency Remote Learning During COVID-19 in a South African Higher Institution

“…Since COVID-19 induced lockdowns, which led to the closure of HEIs and the adoption of ERTL, many studies have been carried out to explore the experiences of students around the world (Amin & Sundari, 2020;Benito et al, 2021;Ewing & Cooper, 2021;Ghazi-Saidi et al, 2020). ERTL is considered to be a double-edged sword in that it enabled learning to take place during the COVID-19 pandemic but also constrained effective learning (Ewing & Cooper, 2021).…”

“…Remote learning promoted the anytime anywhere learning (Mazana, 2018) and reached people who would have been inaccessible (Yuhasriati et al, 2020). Students enjoyed the comfortable home environments, efficient time utilisation, smooth interaction (Benito et al, 2021;Shim & Lee, 2020), flexibility, convenience (Wise & Bergner, 2020) and the freedom to structure their learning (Jena, 2020;Parker et al, 2021). They had no obligation to attend lectures in cramped lecture venues and could learn in more relaxed environments (Parker et al, 2021), improving their concentration levels (Pincock, 2020).…”

“…The use of videos and recordings was highly appreciated by students (Naidoo, 2020) who were keen to utilise recordings for learning (Yuan, 2021) and as a result, reported enhanced learning experiences (Benito et al, 2021;Vale et al, 2020). Recordings have been reported to improve students' interaction with the course content as they paid more attention to synchronous engagements instead of focusing on note-taking (Nkomo & Daniel, 2021).…”

“…Social isolation was also a major issue and most students felt isolated from their peers and lecturers (Benito et al, 2021;Kaisara & Bwalya, 2020;Shim & Lee, 2020). Students decried the lack of interpersonal experiences and connections with other students (Wise & Bergner, 2020).…”

Student Primacy and the Post Pandemic University

“…Many would argue that the Covid 19 pandemic has forced such a process on the global higher education sector. While the sector gradually returns to some semblance of normality it is an opportune time to take stock of traditional practices and reflect on whether they can exist to serve the new university after this period of creative destruction has ended (see e.g., Krishnamurthy, 2020;Benito et al, 2021).…”