Abstract:

A case study was conducted in a selected University in the Eastern Cape Province primarily to examine the use of Blackboard as a tool to integrate a wide range of pedagogical and course administrative work during the South Africa lockdown as the result of the outbreak of coronavirus / COVID 19. The study seeks to understand how the use of Blackboard could support students continue remotely with their studies and generates stimulating changes in activities. Constructivist theory was used as the lens of the study to explain the data collected from 18 lecturers in the Faculty of Education. A quantitative approach was adopted using questionnaires. The findings suggest that lecturers can use Blackboard collaborate to engage students and enhance digital learning. The use of Blackboard expands the digital learning into the real world, thereby enhancing the students’ knowledge, creativity, and critical thinking. Backboard generates stimulating changes in activities whereby students contribute in a style that is similar to a live classroom but not limited to a set fixed location. The challenges reported related to: students’lack of sufficient knowledge of the use of Blackboard, limited access to Blackboard due to insufficient data, insufficient network and geographic area.

Keywords:

Asynchronous, challenges, software, Applications, synchronous.