Teaching and Assessment through Online Platforms during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Benefits and Challenges

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled education systems across the globe to fully embrace online learning as an alternative to face-to-face classes. This has resulted in a paradigm shift, in which online teaching and assessment practices continue to gain prominence at the tertiary level. Hence, this study explores lecturers' teaching and assessment strategies for teaching university students through online platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study has used a framework of SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis as its theoretical base. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with five lecturers from three universities in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The collected data was analysed using content analysis. This study found that lecturers were able to manage the teaching and assessment processes during the COVID-19 school restrictions, using a combination of platforms such as Blackboard-collaborate, WhatsApp, Kahoot, and Google Classroom. The findings also revealed that a wide variety of teaching and assessment methodologies, including small group work, collaborative learning, case methods, discussion posts, multiple choice quizzes, chats, game activities, open-ended questions, and essays were utilized on these platforms. Although the methodologies used for teaching and assessing on these platforms require additional preparation time, they also help increase interaction between students and enable immediate grading of scripts and student feedback. Further findings revealed that online assessment is highly susceptible to test/examination malpractices. This study provided recommendations helpful to policymakers, lecturers, and students regarding online teaching and assessment strategies.

Exploring the Influencing Factors and Validity of Formative Assessment in Online Learning

“…This can be used as an external incentive to assist teachers in reducing the time required for their adaptation to OFA, improving their adaptation to online teaching, better comprehending the needs of students and facilitating interactions between teachers and students so that they can use this information to inform their teaching strategies and better complete OFA. Aina and Ogegbo (2021) also advised colleges to engage in the professional growth of their faculty staff to make sure they are knowledgeable about evaluation and instructional techniques.…”

Post-COVID-19 e-learning acceptance and its impact on community college students in Kelantan, Malaysia: A quantitative analysis

“…The outbreak of the pandemic has forced education systems around the world to fully implement online learning since it is the most efficient mean of learning compared to the traditional classroom approaches [1,2]. This situation has caused a paradigm shift, resulting in online teaching and assessment practices continuing to gain importance at the tertiary level [3]. Past studies have listed many benefits of online learning.…”

“…Past studies have listed many benefits of online learning. Among these are remote and flexible teaching and learning, engagement with diverse audiences, the promotion of cost-effective methods, the use of tools to measure learning outcomes, increased access to a wealth of materials and resources, and facilitated collaboration between students and educators [3][4][5]. In Malaysia, the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has forced the government to introduce procedures and methods such as social distancing, smart working, and the closure of social and commercial activities to prevent the spread of the pandemic.…”

“…However, according to Bianchi, et al [7], online learning is not recommended for courses that require practical skills, which has been one of the obstacles to online learning. Inadequate Internet access and poor infrastructure and service availability, including low-speed Internet connectivity, a lack of technical as well as computer skills, inadequate handling of online learning among teachers, weak administrative support, and inadequate content design are some of the online learning barriers [3,[8][9][10]. Moreover, even though many studies have highlighted the importance of student and teacher qualities to foster online learning acceptance.…”

Online Exams in Language, Linguistics and Translation Courses During the Pandemic in Saudi Arabia

“…In South Africa, findings of a study by Aina and Ogegbo (2021) indicated that instructors used a combination of platforms such as Blackboard-collaborate, Google Classroom, WhatsApp, Kahoot, and with a wide variety of teaching and assessment techniques, such as small group work, collaborative learning, discussion posts, multiple choice quizzes, open-ended questions, essays, case methods, game activities, and chats utilized on these platforms. Those teaching and learning strategies helped increase interaction among the students, enabled immediate grading of scripts and provided feedback to the students.…”