Keywords

1 Introduction

The academic staff in the 21st century should be privileged and well-off to find themselves living in a digital society and teaching in a time of rapid educational change and adaptation. The use of chalkboards, chalk and talk is a thing of the past transformed from physical contact to an online presence or a hybrid thereof. Academic staff can now use smart boards instead of dry-erase boards. The limits of the physical classroom teaching and learning have transcended and transitioned to the limitless information superhighway. Digital technologies openly advanced access to education and how academic staff and students could virtually connect and transmit knowledge irrespective of their geographical spaces and time zones. The use of these technologies in the classroom should be seen as complementing the academic staff’s role in teaching and learning (Masenya 2021:10).

However, despite this breakthrough, the higher education landscape in South Africa was for a long time unlevelled. The apartheid education accounts for this inequality as out of the twenty-six public universities, some are historically disadvantaged institutions on one hand while others are historically advantaged on the other hand (Yende 2021:59). There are also conservative and liberal universities. Yende (2021:59,65) points out that the inequalities within the institutions of higher learning were arbitrarily perpetuated by the distinction between historically white universities (the University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria, Rhodes University, University of Johannesburg, Stellenbosch University and University of the Witwatersrand) and black universities (the Sefako Makgatho Health Science University, University of North-West, University of Venda, University of Fort Hare, University of Limpopo, University of Zululand, University of the Western Cape, Walter Sisulu University among others). The structural classification of these institutions compromised the quality of education. For example, most rural-based institutions experienced poor network connectivity and this dismally disrupted digital work and learning.

Digital transformation of the education landscape is confronted with challenges and new opportunities both locally and globally. The use of digital technologies by academic staff at work is key to advancing innovative teaching and learning. While there is a gradual increase in the use of these innovative technologies in South African universities, there is still a long way to transform the entire educational landscape. One of the impacts of digital technology necessitated the need for academic staff to acquire 21st-century skills but they are not there yet (Masenya 2021:1).

During the post-Covid-19 period and the fourth industrial revolution (4iR), it is given that digital society is irreversible and thus requires a digital transformation of the education landscape to offer quality education using technological interventions. The interventions could enable students to access education without any hassles. According to Ohei and Brink (2019:4) and Simbarashe (2021:285,291), many universities have adopted technological tools and applications as part of their teaching and learning because Covid-19 and the 4iR conspicuously expressed the importance of hybrid teaching and learning worldwide.

Technology-enhanced learning or digital learning encompasses a wide variety of learning models, digital technologies and services. In essence, an academic staff engages digitally with a student in the context of a pedagogic framework and the outcomes are monitored and measured using an assessment strategy. The use of digital tools to enhance and support learning can occur before, during or after teaching and learning sessions, and support a variety of pedagogic interventions.

Overall, the chapter presents in a nutshell, the challenges brought by digital work and the need for digital transformation and interventions to overcome those challenges.

2 Challenges in the Education Landscape: The Challenge of Disparities, Inequality and Exclusion

There is much interest in information technology in various higher education institutions in South Africa because of the information age that started in 2000. Information and communications technology (ICT) became a basic requirement in higher education institutions in South Africa as a facilitator of knowledge creation and communication yet it was not policy and finance-driven. Although higher education institutions spent more money on ICT infrastructure, the infrastructure is poor and unsustainable (Johl, von Solms and Flowerday 2013:628). The academic staff have no option but to depend on the ICT infrastructure to ease teaching and learning in the classroom and it needs to improve to sustain the academic project (i.e. achieving graduateness as a throughput derived from the student lifecycle) uninterrupted with high and reliable bandwidth connectivity.

The South African higher education landscape is partially transformed and not ready to possess the required skills for the twenty-first century digital society. The critical skills to be in possession by an academic staff required here in the digital education space include business intelligence, digital transformation, cybersecurity, and cloud computing to transform the education landscape at work by consistently and constantly influencing learning, teaching and research applications.

However, the academic staff are not equipped enough to respond swiftly to changing the workplace’s digital demands (Yende 2021:58). Understandably, about 24% of the population in Africa has access to stable internet connectivity and this accounts for digital disparities which are problematic to sustaining teaching and learning. Economic hardships and socio-economic imbalances made it difficult for the students to access online education due to the exorbitant costs of data required for online education and intermittent power cuts commonly referred to as load shading in South Africa (Simbarashe 2021:288). The rural-based institutions or the so-called historically disadvantaged institutions are the hardest hit as they absorb a large volume of students from disadvantaged families.

In the historically disadvantaged institutions previously referred to such as the University of Venda, University of Fort Hare, University of Limpopo, Walter Sisulu University and North-West University among others, there was resistance to adopting technology because it was not affordable to advance teaching and learning while privileged universities like University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and the University of Pretoria reached out to funders to enjoy high tech digital environment in their educational spaces. This is despite the attempts by the government to bridge the digital divide. One of the major reasons is that historically disadvantaged or rural-based universities in South Africa are the ones that were historically disadvantaged by the Apartheid rules and predominantly pushed to the fringes and struggle to attract qualified academic staff hence they experience staff turnovers and shortages (Simbarashe 2021:292,296).

Although the education sector welcomed the application of digital technologies to access education globally, it looks like academic staff in South Africa are caught napping and are still not well prepared or do not feel confident to teach in a digital environment because of their inadequate skills capacities and competencies to interact with the digital teaching and learning platforms. There is no dedicated programme or curriculum to advance their knowledge in the use of online technologies. The workplace is also not ready and still uses old enablers of teaching and learning in specific universities. Out of South Africa’s 413 067 academic staff, only 132 884 had been officially trained in basic ICT utilities in 2014. In 2022, better still, not all academic staff have adequate online teaching competencies and experiences. It is a result of the lack of curriculum for staff development and the use of obsolete equipment at the workplace in several South African universities (Masenya 2021:11, 12).

In one historically disadvantaged higher education institution in Limpopo province, the study underlined that most academic staff members are products of rural-based institutions and are stereotypically resistant to change. They did not go through rigorous technical training and heavily relied on physical classes. Before Covid-19, academic staff would refuse students to submit assignments via an online platform and preferred typed and printed hardcopies, which was an expensive and time-consuming effort. The academic staff struggled to utilise digital learning applications making it difficult for the students to learn (Mawere, Mukonza and Kugara 2021:57, 58). This perpetuated a high failure rate because of many ‘at risk’ students and modules.

The academic staff must accept that the world has transitioned into the digital age in which the use of technologies dominates every facet of our lives including access to education. Confronted with this reality, most higher education institutions in South Africa, especially rurally based universities, must expose academic staff to change from the old conservative ways of offering education in the classroom. The academic staff across the education sector are under the immense pressure of using digital technologies to enhance teaching and learning but they are inadequately skilled and experienced. Academic staff should tap into the digital revolution and adopt new technologies and methods to improve their teaching practices and thereby benefit their students. However, for this to change, it requires a targeted curriculum and learning opportunities in continuing higher education to help employees to better cope with the challenges of digitalization in their work environments.

As such, the historical didactic methods of transmitting academic knowledge from the academic staff to the student must be uprooted to pave a way for digital interventions and adaptations. For this to happen, the adaptation requires the academic staff to possess the requisite skills and abilities to cope with the digital age (Masenya 2021:2). Academic staff are concerned more about the future of their careers and fear substitution by artificial intelligence. One of the main concerns is that the blending of digital technology into the education system blurred the lines between in-person and digital teaching (Yende 2021:64, 66).

Hitherto, the recipient of education is the victim of this unequal education. The Covid-19 pandemic made it worse to exacerbate these inequalities, which require digital transformation across the education landscape to ensure equal access. Ohei and Brink (2019:2) confirm that higher education institutions in South Africa are exposed to many vulnerabilities, including teaching and learning, which require special attention. Consequently, the level of high unemployment especially for unemployed graduates is telling the story about the quality of education, access to the job market and skills exposure. According to Yende (2021:61), the high rate of unemployed graduates and the lack of proper skills required in the labour market is a cause for concern. It is because, largely, the South African higher education institutions are currently overwhelmed and overstretched with student capacities beyond their limits to cater despite severe infrastructure and staff capacity shortages and inadequate digital skills. The previously disadvantaged universities are the most affected (Krishnannair and Krishnannair 2021:76, 77).

The main challenge of the digital transformation of the education sector that is switching to online learning is the problem of inequality in South Africa. South Africa is the most unequal country in the world as shown by Zikhali (2018) in one of the World Bank Group (WBG) reports. It was highlighted that the top 1% of South Africans own 70.9% of the country’s wealth while the bottom 60% only controls 7% of the country’s assets (WBG 2018; Zikhali 2018). Introducing 4IR in an unequal society in Africa like South Africa has the risk that only the wealthy will have access to the new technological developments for educational purposes leaving the poor behind.

Kayembe and Nel (2019) indicate that inequality was clearly shown with the implementation of the other three industrial revolutions. Up to now, a large proportion of the population still lives without transport, electricity, and the internet. As a result, the gap between the “haves” and “have nots” creates further alienation, lack of trust, and social unrest (Kayembe and Nel 2019). In South Africa, some universities can easily integrate online learning with minimal challenges. For example, the University of Johannesburg has been integrating 4IR in learning even before Covid-19 and found it easy to switch to the 4IR type of learning. However, other rurally based universities find it hard to integrate online learning due to challenges related to resources and skill capacities. These universities struggle to catch up with other universities lagging because of widespread inequality in the education sector (Mhlanga and Moloi 2020b).

In South Africa, access to technology especially internet connectivity is unequal and limited (Meyer and Gent 2016; Kayembe and Nel 2019). Some groups in South Africa, especially institutions of learning in remote areas, have poor access to the internet and in some instances, they do not have electricity. Digital transformation of the education sector implies that these groups continue to be marginalized. During the Covid-19 pandemic, various 4IR tools were introduced as a stop-gap measure to counter the negative effects of Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions on the academic year. Students in towns and cities were able to access learning through various platforms, which include virtual classes offered by the South African Broadcasting Corporation in partnership with the government.

Some students learned through cloud online lessons, while others accessed learning through the department of education website and zero-rated mobile apps among many platforms. These various initiatives were put in place to mitigate the disruptions brought by Covid-19 while other platforms were already present before the pandemic. However, students in remote areas were unable to have access to online learning because some do not have access to radios and television, while others do not have access to electricity and internet connection. In a way, these students are being summarily excluded from accessing basic human rights such as access to education. Kayembe and Nel (2019) argue that the gross participation rate of black Africans in education is lower than their white counterparts. Many black South African students have problems with enrolment in mainstream education. The introduction of online learning exacerbated the exclusion of black Africans from education (Xing and Marwala 2018).

Another big challenge that perpetuates inequality and exclusion in the education sector is limited funding (Kayembe and Nel 2019; Xing and Marwala 2018). Over the years, funding in the education sector has been increasing but the budget is not sufficient to fully fund full online instruction with a full online presence (Kayembe and Nel 2019; Mayer 2014). Apart from the inadequacy of the education budget, the national government spent a lot of money fighting the Covid-19 pandemic (Government of South Africa 2020). The available budget to fund the programme such as paying for internet subscriptions, data, and buying laptops for students and instructors is not sustainable, especially for historically disadvantaged universities. Universities should invest more in new technological advancements and a variety of technical infrastructure as well as the training of instructors.

Brown-Martin (2017) writes that one of the biggest costs of the digital transformation of education is the investment in sophisticated technological infrastructure. Well-funded, well-managed ICT academic environment as the foundation to offer support for teaching and learning with technology is crucial. There is a need to have a pool of on-site support to remotely offer technical advice to academic staff and students but all these require funding for infrastructure and capacity development of academic staff, which must be prioritised.

3 A Switch to Online Teaching and Learning

The lockdown realities of Covid-19 have forced South African higher education institutions to switch to online teaching and learning. South African universities are no exception. For instance, in 2020, the University of Cape Town, the University of Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria told students that online teaching and learning is compulsory in the second semester (Universities South Africa 2020). These universities saw the rapid change as the start of the process that disrupted and shifted the education landscape to that of the 4IR in which learning takes place digitally with a few occasions of in-person engagements. Universities conducted teaching and learning using Blackboard, Moodle, Microsoft Teams, and other applications. This of course came with challenges as some academic staff were exposed to online platforms they did not interact with before.

After engaging with a university policy in one South African university, mandatory e-learning online presence is crucial for teaching and learning to take place effectively. A minimum online presence is required for all modules and this includes assessments (tests and assignments), collaboration (activities where students interact with other students – working in groups or projects), communication (activities such as announcements sent through emails and social media handle such as WhatsApp to staff and students through an integrated ICT system), content (study materials such as notes, slides, and videos made available for teaching and learning), site management (working on all accessible modules allocated online) and user management (all general aspects involving a module owner allocating module tasks to users, viewing them, or categorising them for user-friendly access) (E-Learning Policy and Procedure 2021:4). Despite these policy imperatives, the minimum online presence was compromised by most academic staff as seen in Table 1.

Table 1. Minimum Online Presence (own illustration)
Full size table

Table 1 reflects the online presence of University X. University X is one of the twenty-six universities in South Africa established in 1982, about 40 years ago which is historically disadvantaged. It largely enrolls students from historically disadvantaged communities. From Table 1, online presence reflects the following features: (a) total modules offered (240), (b) active modules online (127), (c) inactive modules (113) and (d) assessment online (127). In this case, 127 active modules online mean that the academic staff uploaded documents online usually the learning guide, lecture notes, assignments etc., and actively used online applications such as Moodle throughout the semester to engage and liaise with the students whereas 113 inactive modules online simply meant that there was no activity online not even uploading of learning guides, lecture notes or assignments by the academic staff.

Meeting minimum online presence requires well-developed learning, enhanced, and supported with digital tools. This way, it can enhance the student experience, potentially improve student outcomes, widen participation, and improve accessibility and inclusion (Janet 2010: 27–35). There are however also risks associated with adding a digital element to learning that could result in challenges due to reconciling the inconsistent experience resulting from the differences between the physical and digital student experience such as the impact on connectivity and bandwidth, technology displacing effective practice, poor experience due to insufficient skills and capabilities across staff and students (Badat 2010: 17–21).

There are a lot of technologies available for online teaching and learning processes but sometimes they create constraints. Some examples of technical issues are errors in downloading material, installation issues, login, audio and video problems (Dhawan 2020). Besides, modules taught online posed challenges to the academic staff as they are feeling alienated, experienced low self-esteem and consequently pressurised to increase their self-learning abilities (Dyment and Downing 2018). Dyment and Downing (2018) argue that the academic staff also feel overwhelmed when using technology and thus become insecure in attaining their intended targeted teaching objectives.

As far as technology is concerned, Orlando and Attard (2015:119) state that teaching using technology is not a one size fits all engagement because it relies on the types of technology used at a given point in time and the content of the curriculum that is being taught. Arguably, the infusion of technology presents value propositions to be considered in line with teaching pedagogy and learning experiences. Kirkwood and Price 2014:6) contend that it is often taken lightly that technologies enhance teaching and learning. Presumably, technological infusion, enhancement of learning and engagement of students are inextricably and mutually connected. However, in creating individually tailored differentiated instruction for each student within and across each cohort, additional workload pressures on those seeking to engage with the online environment can be created as academic staff seek to respond often reactively to the individual learning and engagement needs of each cohort.

The other serious challenge is an absence of a clear integrated national strategy. The fact that the disruptions in education came at a time the national government is preoccupied with the fight against Covid-19, made the process of adopting synchronous online learning lack the support of the national government and even the provincial government (Mhlanga and Moloi 2020a). Where the support is available, it differs from one province to the other. For example, although a kind of collaboration can be deduced from the announcements given, each university is autonomous (Johannesburg 2019). This in a way creates disparities in terms of access across universities in the country (Oke and Fernandes 2020).

One more big issue is the lack of uniformity across universities and the response to Covid-19 in the education sector, which did not have a consolidated national government front. It is because various role players did respond, sometimes in a fragmented manner without targeting the student community. In this case, students in rural areas were left out of the programmes introduced since they were targeting students with access to the internet and computers (Mhlanga and Moloi 2020b).

The absence of integrated strategic direction from the government made the digital transformation of education difficult. Generally, academic staff fear the uptake of ICT more than the students and are not exposed to digital work interventions. So, digital work interventions should be communicated with much clarity of thought to empower the academic staff as they have distinct levels of knowledge. Consequently, clear institutional programmes should be put in place because there are numerous benefits to students exposed to online teaching and learning on ICT platforms. The academic staff must prioritise offering modules online using proper and user-friendly online teaching and learning tools. As such, clear goals must be set to intentionally train academic staff and students to successfully switch to online teaching and learning (Meyer and Gent, 2016; Kayembe and Nel 2019).

4 Some Technological Interventions, Applications and Adaptation

Most historically advantaged and disadvantaged universities resorted to digital platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Moodle and Blackboard to increase teaching and learning during and post-Covid-19 periods as a stop-gap measure but this is proving to be a permanent solution to match developing countries with those of the developed first-world. It requires the power of humanity to invent and adopt digital solutions through research and innovation irrespective of their circumstances and this calls for rural-based universities in South Africa to pledge solidarities and partnerships with advanced institutions and private bodies to find suitable technologies to support hybrid (in-person and online) teaching and learning (Simbarashe 2021:295–6). Simbarashe (2021:297) argues that hybrid teaching and learning require adequate capacitated academic staff to enable efficient digital use without compromising access and the quality of education. It is also crucial for rural-based institutions to adopt simple, accessible, and efficient technologies rather than ambitiously attempting sophisticated technologies that are used in elite universities.

There is a need to target levelling the education landscape by prioritising the transformation of the infrastructure in line with digital teaching and learning demands. Classrooms must be transformed and equipped with user-friendly technology that is compatible with the use of various gadgets such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets, to enhance hybrid teaching and learning. There is no longer a need to invest more in physical learning structures but in teaching and learning devices, connectivity and bandwidth and it requires intentional capacity development of the academic staff to optimally make use of these technologies. A radical shift and transformation of the education landscape are crucial in the quest for a permanent digital solution. Apart from staff capacity development, e-learning policies, online staff management and monitoring tools to ensure learning efficiencies and quality education are equally essential (Simbarashe 2021:298).

The transformation of the education landscape requires resourced digital librarians equipped with library websites integrated into the learning management system with quick links to plagiarism prevention and referencing software, reference guides, and free software downloads used for accessing electronic resources such as videos and soundbites via single sign-on authentication on the official library webpage (van Wyk and Kadzenga 2019:52,58). Digital learning is an opportunity to rethink the way we design and deliver university modules and how libraries are stacked with electronic resources. Many universities aim to provide parity of experience to all students, whether they study online or in person, locally or from abroad. Students, in turn, reciprocally benefit from a greater choice of pace and place of learning in the classroom and the library’s online settings. Loaning learning material from across the twenty-six South African universities without boundaries and hassle is a huge win and intervention in the transformation and integration of the education sector.

The wide adoption of digital learning means that our ideas of what it means to belong to a university community will need to be reconsidered. Personalised and proactive, digital learning could help build and nurture lifelong relationships for both academic staff and students, but they will also need support to develop the digital skills, confidence and resilience required to succeed in the digital space as opposed to physical settings. Effective use of digital technology is seen as fundamental in helping to ensure continuity of teaching and learning, meeting current and future social distancing requirements, and engaging positively with students. The higher education landscape has changed and continues to metamorphose. Consequently, existing models of learning may not be appropriate or practical. Universities must reflect not just on how blended or hybrid teaching and learning can be optimally used to deliver modules, but how existing curriculum models will need to be adjusted to fit the new normal.

It is tempting when discussing technology-enhanced learning to focus on the digital technology element, not least because of the cost and challenge of learning how to use it. However, we are clear that the pedagogic considerations are vastly more important. All successful education and training require close attention to learning design and content creation, and technology-enhanced learning is no exception. The successful implementation of online learning is the availability of appropriate skills and resources for students, academics and support staff. According to Butler-Adam (2018) appropriate skills are required for the full implementation and proper management of the technology associated with online teaching and learning. Appropriate skills are important so that the education sector could benefit meaningfully from digital technologies (Kayembe and Nel 2019). Also, the use of instruction requires coordinated guidelines across the education sector so that there is a provision of a theoretical foundation for digital pedagogy (Kayembe and Nel 2019; Xing and Marwala 2018).

Östlund (2008), Ekstrand (2013), Meyer and Gent (2016) and Kayembe and Ne (2019) write that academic staff are required to learn technology integration strategies and to support students with various needs to maximise online presence. Academic staff and instructors need to appreciate the role of ICT in education policy, curriculum, and assessment as well as the organisation and administration of education. Collaboration mechanisms should be in place and instructors must have ways of sharing information as it allows them to take ownership and optimal use of the technology. Training and awareness are required to ensure that ICTs are integrated with the support of pedagogy, in a phased manner. There must be clear goals established to guide academic staff and their students in using ICTs in support of teaching and learning. A large pool of e-skilled academic workforce should be available to improve the quality of education.

In the main, the introduction of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Staffing South Africa’s Universities Framework – a Transformative, Comprehensive Approach to Building Capacity and Developing Future Generations of Academics (SSAUF), the New Generation of Academics Programme (nGAP) meant to prepare and absorb postgraduate students in the workplace to develop teaching and research abilities ready to take permanent academic positions in the universities, the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP) and the University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG) structured around student and staff development, as well as curriculum transformation and programme development, are critical drivers of digital transformation. The unleashing of these four interventions among others in the education sector – i.e. the SSAUF (2015), nGAP (2015), the UCDP (2017) and the UCDG (2017) go a long way to improve the capacity of academic staff and students to be readily prepared to adapt to universities digital workplaces conducive to teaching and learning. However, the success of these four interventions requires an integrated national effort across the twenty-six universities in South Africa to digitally work effortlessly and impeccably.

5 Conclusion

The sudden change in how education is delivered due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the 4iR has impacted both students and academic staff in many ways possible. Adaptation and changes are unavoidable in the new normal as the chances of reverting or reversing to the old normal are practically impossible. Abiding by the DHET recommendation to move educational activities to a virtual teaching model using the existing institutional software and available public digital platforms, has its issues and challenges.

From the ensuing discussion, students faced many challenges related to connectivity, network and bandwidth limitation, affordability of data, inadequate class interaction and emotional trouble. Likewise, academic staff faced the same problems when conducting classes on the digital platform with a minimum online presence. The topmost concerns that challenged academic staff are related to the accessibility of network and bandwidth, low self-esteem and capacity adaptations to class interactions with a minimum online presence.

Hence, it is essential to find practical ways and digital solutions to improve the quality of online teaching and learning at the university workplace. With the information and benchmarking of better teaching and learning best practices for 21st-century, students and the academic staff must be skilled to become technologically savvy and empowered to choose and utilise effective tools, innovative techniques such as chatGPT, Grammarly etc and interactive approaches for student-centred learning, while the university management should provide a conducive and stable platform for online teaching and learning environment using the four interventions among others – SSAUF, UCDP, UCDG and the nGAP adaptable across the twenty-six universities in South Africa.