Abstract:

On the 23 March 2020 the President of South Africa announced measures to address the Covid-19 pandemic, which included a three week lockdown period. The initial announcement took all sectors of society by surprise including the Higher Education Sector. Many universities scurried to re-organise the delivery model of the academic project to a fully electronic mediated one. One of the foremost challenges that confronted the average South African University in its plight to transform the modus operandi of programme delivery was that of the resource readiness of the average South African university student. Such an understanding was necessary not only to inform the design of novel electronic modes of teaching and learning, but also to ensure that University administrators and academics do not take for granted the resource disparities that exists among the student population.

Evidence from Statistics South Africa, the International Telecommunications Union, and from the literature indicates that the digital divide is a reality in South Africa, especially outside the metropolitan areas and in most far flung small rural towns. As such this paper reports on a survey of students from a selected university. The main objective of the survey, based on a case study design, was to determine the resource readiness of students to engage with online learning while off-campus, during and beyond the period of lockdown. Based on a 51% response rate (N=11,902), we present data which describes the state of device ownership, proximity to a broadband network, type of internet access, preference of device of learning, studying conditions at place of residence, and student confidence to engage in online learning.

The survey results provide a basis on which recommendations are made as to how the disparities in the South African society in respect of Universal Service and Access to telecommunications and that of affordability could be mitigated to ensure that effective learning continues to take place during the “new normal” in higher education. These recommendations are of value to telecommunication policy makers in the average developing country as well as to academic planners in Universities in such countries.

Keywords:

Covid 19, e-learning, resource readiness, internet, digital divide, effective learning.