Wits instituted an emergency remote teaching and learning programme as one measure to help minimise the time lost in the academic project.
The almanac has been revised but is dependent on how the crisis unfolds in the months ahead.
"To be clear, the university is not transitioning to a permanent online modality for all courses, nor are we becoming a correspondence institution. We are instituting an emergency remote teaching and learning programme as one measure that will help us to minimise the time lost in the academic project," they said.
Wits said that multiple surveys across the institution had revealed that between 10% and 15% of students did not have access to appropriate computing devices, adequate access to data or conducive learning environments.
Read more: How the University of the Witswatersrand is continuing learning during COVID19
The UKZN Teaching and Learning Office, in conjunction with other divisions, have developed a repository of resources to support academics in engaging with online teaching. This portal will serve as the information hub to accommodate an evolving online tool kit and associated resources: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The UKZN Teach Online Strategy (UTOS) is designed to assist academics adopt a technology enhanced teaching and learning culture, now and for the future. The strategy affirms and aligns with conventional pedagogic practices, while advancing more innovative and creative modes, which includes:
- Understand effective digital pedagogies
- Lecture recording/capture
- Online lecture distribution
- Online assessments
- Online lecturer and student engagement
- Online training and teaching resources
- Webinar recordings and articles
UJ also started the second term of the first semester online today .
"Students have been informed that all teaching and learning for the term will happen online through developed mobile applications for anytime, anywhere access to resources and lectures.
"We understand that devices, data and connectivity are important for successful learning online. The majority of our students have a device that can be used for learning purposes and the University is exploring possibilities of assisting some NSFAS and Missing Middle students with acquiring data and devices," the university said.
UJ says it has made 4000 laptops available to distribute to qualifying NSFAS and Missing Middle students and invested "significant financial resources" to secure 30GB of data per student per month.
Read more: How the University of Johannesburg is continuing learning during COVID19
An Online Transition and Orientation period will start on 20 April and continue until 30 April 2020.
Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, said the university management was deeply aware that some students may struggle to connect, and that students and staff need to learn and teach in a new way. “The Online Transition and Orientation period will allow both staff and students to get acquainted with a new online learning environment; enable both staff and students to re-establish a new way of communication, relationships, and interaction to optimise learning and teaching; and provide the university with an opportunity to assess challenges in the move to online teaching, including determining the level of connectivity, access to devices and other challenges experienced by students, and to use this period to resolve these challenges,” he says.
The majority of the first-semester modules will be completed online, with continuous assessment; this means that all assignments will be used to assess learning, with no examinations.
Read more: How the University of The Free State is continuing learning during COVID19
UWC says it has devised a "comprehensive plan" to ensure that students are permitted to complete the 2020 academic year. This is notwithstanding the fact that the Covid-19 pandemic remains unpredictable, and the situation locally and abroad remains extremely fluid.
Term 2 and the rest of this semester will commence with flexible learning and teaching from 20th April 2020, Acting Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Vivienne Lawack said, "bearing in mind that the University is keenly aware of the limitations some of our students face in terms of equipment and data".
The University’s Executive Management is currently discussing a contingency plan in this regard which will be communicated with all stakeholders once there is confirmation.
"I want to emphasise that no student will be left behind, and our plan includes a catch-up phase for students who have no resources at all during this period of lockdown,"
Read more: How the University of the Western Cape is continuing learning during COVID19