Page 85 - UniZulu Annual Report 2020

with the necessary skills to develop and implement a blended learning course. TLC supported academics in the creation of easily-embedded interactive multimedia content that was placed on Moodle. This enabled the University to implement a flipped classroom model where students access materials online, learn, interact with peers supported by tutors in small online groups and always have access to the respective lecturer on Moodle. UNIZULU also adopted Henley Business School’s training due to their experience in advanced distance education.
The Multimodal Teaching and Learning Task Team (MMTLTT) designed a guide on the development of the lesson to assist academics. A platform for demonstrations was also provided, where academic staff presented their planned lessons, and they were critiqued to improve their skills. Academics reworked their materials based on the comments given. The fine-tuned materials were prepared, packaged and distributed to students who were unable to learn online. TLC organised workshops on Moodle to strengthen staff capacity on the use of LMS.
An E-Learning Committee was established, chaired by the Director of ICT, where lecturers who were champions of online teaching and learning represented the interests of their respective faculties. The different pieces of training assisted
Diagram 6: Emergency Online Teaching Timelines
academics to align the instruction processes guided by theories of learning from formulating lesson outcomes that are NQF level compliant, through to facilitation as well as assessments strategies that are curriculum-aligned in terms of learning outcomes and assessment. To support blended learning and inactive students, the University send hard-copy study material to students.This process was mainly driven by support staff who received training to conduct this important initiative efficiently and effectively. Data integrity was always maintained.
Online tutor training was done on 4 June 2020. The allocation of 259 tutors was approved for 18 modules and tutors were capacitated with the roles and responsibilities of the tutees. This included strategies that the tutors can use to handle questions from the tutees such as redirecting the question to the whole group to maximise participation. Assistant lecturers (17) were appointed on the Richards Bay Campus to support the full-time staffing component. These lecturers addressed the need for support and consultation time at the Richards Bay Campus. These assistant lecturers, under the supervision of three experienced lecturers as mentors, were given all the training provided to full-time lecturers and they were able to adjust to the online teaching environment with limited support. The timelines for adjusting to the online emergency online teaching is shown in Diagram 6:
Protest and Closure of University Early March
• Immediate move from face-to-face to emergency online T&L
National Level 5 Lockdown
25 March
• Emergency online teching changed to onlineT&L
Level 4
• Staff readiness
• University readiness
• Study material adjustments
• Online material
Level 3 July/August
• 1 June online teaching of all module
• 1 July printing and delivering of study material • Provision of data
• Catch-up plan
• Assessments
Level 2
• Planned return of students
Level 1
83
UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND ANNUAL REPORT 2020