Understanding the unintended consequences of online teaching

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20853/35-4-4717
Keywords: online teaching; online learning; risks; consequences

Abstract

In March 2020, South Africa entered a hard lockdown and students and academics, were forced to transition into the fully (emergency) online remote learning space. Lecturers innovated, adapted and learnt how to use many new tools in a short period of time. Despite the changed context in which lecturers find themselves, the traditional academic and professional expectations on staff remain unchanged. Lecturers had to balance personal and professional decisions as well as disruptive technologies. This, with the added responsibility for the governance of these technologies and the uncertainties they represent. Each lecturer accepted a set of risks associated with online teaching. The purpose of this article is to outline and reflect on the problems and challenges relating to streaming and recording lecturers. Online education works effectively in developed countries. It faces practical issues at a scale that traditional learning does not. Notwithstanding these practical issues, there are additional fundamental downsides teaching online which gather around three themes: changes in teaching practices, changes to the student experience, and the re-shaping of institutional strategy and responsibilities specifically relating to this new digital environment.

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Author Biography

R. J. Rudman, Stellenbosch University

School of Accountancy

References

This article outlines the current and future risks relating to online teaching. The article itself is also an example reflecting the modern reality of online learning where controls are not appropriately designed or implemented and where information and material is freely available and shared conveniently without acknowledging the source. The ‘like’ and ‘share’ generation grew up with a different view of sharing and re-using content. In school learners are taught not to photocopy books, nowhere are they taught the same rules can apply to videos they ‘like and ‘share’ on Facebook, YouTube or Instagram. Like the current generation of students who will share learning material sourced online without acknowledging the source, the content of this article was sourced online without acknowledging the source to highlight the risk. It must therefore be acknowledged that parts this paper was plagiarised and unreferenced and I must thank those academics who thought about the personal and professional risks before me and placed their thoughts and ideas online with the potentially misplaced belief that they would be acknowledged.

This paper has no references. It does, however, have a Turnit-in similarity index score of 4%. The Turnit-in report is available on request.

It is hoped that this article encourages debate about the unintended consequences of online learning.
Published
2021-09-18
How to Cite
Rudman, R. J. 2021. “Understanding the Unintended Consequences of Online Teaching”. South African Journal of Higher Education 35 (4), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.20853/35-4-4717.
Issue
Vol. 35 No. 4 (2021)
Section
Articles

Copyright (c) 2021 Riaan Rudman

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