Emergency remote teaching and learning during COVID-19 pandemic: Efficacy of a four-stage model

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic created the need for a global change in tertiary education. Universities that traditionally relied on contact with students in physical classrooms were forced to consider modes of remote teaching to mitigate the risks of infection due to physical proximity. This study evaluates the emergency remote teaching implemented within the Department of Information Technology at the Durban University of Technology, South Africa. An emergency remote teaching model with four stages consisting of: preparation, synchronous and asynchronous teaching and learning, e-assessments and reflections are described, analysed and evaluated with reference to both lecturers and students. The evaluation is performed using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative analysis was performed on 29 sources using content analysis. 229 initial codes were identified and first categorized into 13 subcategories and finally to the four categories synonymous with the adopted four-stage emergency remote teaching model: preparation (135 references), asynchronous and synchronous teaching and learning (67 references), e-assessments (25 references) and reflections (8 references). Quantitative data on the use of the learning management system from 2019 to 2020 evaluated the results of the applied changes in practice. From the results, it was evident that students and lecturers invested much time in the learning management system with 13 tools being adopted by the 49 analysed subjects. The learning management system was used extensively for communication, assessment and dissemination of subject content. The comparative results of the data from the 2019 and 2020 academic years showed that the majority of the 2020 subjects' final results were statistically higher than the 2019 results. Results of analysis revealed the success of the implementation of the four-stage emergency remote teaching model.