Prelims

Half Title Page

The Emerald Handbook of Higher Education in a Post-Covid World

Title Page

The Emerald Handbook of Higher Education in a Post-Covid World: New Approaches and Technologies for Teaching and Learning

EDITED BY

BYRON A. BROWN

University of Zululand, Republic of South Africa

Sheffield Hallam University, UK

AND

ALASTAIR IRONS

University of Sunderland, UK

University of Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2022

Editorial matter and selection © 2022 Byron A. Brown and Alastair Irons

Individual chapters © 2022 The Authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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Contact: permissions@emeraldinsight.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying issued in the UK by The Copyright Licensing Agency and in the USA by The Copyright Clearance Center. Any opinions expressed in the chapters are those of the authors. Whilst Emerald makes every effort to ensure the quality and accuracy of its content, Emerald makes no representation implied or otherwise, as to the chapters’ suitability and application and disclaims any warranties, express or implied, to their use.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80382-194-8 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-193-1 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80382-195-5 (Epub)

Endorsement Page

PRAISE FOR THE BOOK

‘I find the book to be one anchored in praxis … I think the most powerful aspect of this book is its multi-disciplinarity, and its focus on engaging readers in discussion about reimagining pedagogical practices in what can now be viewed as the “New Normal” in higher education teaching and learning across Africa and the world. An excellent resource for the higher education sector.’

– Prof Xoliswa Mtose – Vice Chancellor, University of Zululand, South Africa

‘A sobering read for contemporary audiences who are not just in Africa but in countries engaged in a forever effort to keep the higher education sector afloat amidst the onslaught of the COVID-19 crisis, which incidentally has triggered new discourses about bringing digital technology and education practice into closer alignment.’

– Michael Lesolle – Former Principal and CEO of the Botswana Accountancy College

Contents

Dedication

We would like to dedicate this book to the following people:

The brave men and women in academia: Undoubted, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted decisions to close college and university buildings across Africa, UK and elsewhere around the world during the first wave of the plague. Higher education institutions, professors and lecturers have shown great resilience and tenacity in striving to compensate for the crisis.

Our family: You are the reason why we persevere through this book project. Your sacrifices allowed us to see the fruits of our labour. There is no way we would have accomplished the feat of pulling the project together without the space you gave us to work, even late into the night.

Beaulah: At a personal level, from Byron to you, thank you for being my biggest supporter and best friend.

List of Tables and Figures

About the Editors

Byron A. Brown is a Professor of Education and Director of Research and Innovation at the University of Zululand, Republic of South Africa, and a Visiting Scholar at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He is the former Deputy Executive Director, Teaching, Learning and Research, Botswana Accountancy College (BAC), Botswana. He is Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Member of the Mixed Methods International Research Association, USA, Board Member of the European Scientific Journal, Associate Editor of the Southern African Journal of Accountability and Auditing Research, and Chartered Manager of the Chartered Management Institute. Prior to his current role, he served as Deputy Director for the School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Fore Hare, and was appointed Full Professor of Teaching and Learning at the National University of Science and Technology, Namibia. His research interests are in education leadership and management, social influences in educational contexts, digital learning and teaching, and education policy.

Alastair Irons is a Professor of Computer Science and an Academic Director for Digital Education at the University of Sunderland, having previously been the Dean for the Faculty of Technology. Prior to joining the University in September 2008, he worked at ONE North East, Northumbria University and Information Communication Technology (ICI) having moved to the north east of England from Scotland after graduating in 1984 from Edinburgh University. He became a National Teaching Fellow in 2010. He was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Cape Town in South Africa from 2013 to 2017 and is currently a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg. He is currently the Vice President (academic) of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and is the Chair of the British Computer Society (BCS) Academy board, he also sits on BCS Council and BCS Trustee Board and is a member of the BCS Academic Accreditation Committee. He serves on the management board of DYNAMO North East, the management board of Sphere North East, the Advisory Board of the North East Digital Catapult, and on the management board of the North East Fraud Forum. His research interests focus on digital education and digital pedagogies, digital forensics, and cybersecurity.

About the Contributors

Emma Bond is Pro-Vice Chancellor Research and a Professor of Socio-Technical Research at the University of Suffolk. She has extensive research experience focussing on online risk and vulnerable groups, especially in relation to domestic abuse, revenge pornography, sexual abuse, and image-based abuse. She has nearly 20 years teaching experience on social science undergraduate and post-graduate courses and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Her research on virtual environments, mobile technologies, and risk has attracted much national and international acclaim and she is frequently asked for expert commentary on TV, Radio, and print media.

Tom Crick (MBE, FLSW) is a Professor of Digital and Policy and a Deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor (Civic Mission) at Swansea University, with his role split between the Department of Education and Childhood Studies, and the £32m Computational Foundry. While his disciplinary background is in computer science, data science, and intelligent systems, he has been heavily involved in education and digital policy in the UK over the past 10 years, especially national curriculum and qualifications reform. He chaired the Welsh Government’s review of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) curriculum in 2013, and has recently led the development of the Science and Technology area in the new bilingual Curriculum for Wales, published in January 2020. He was also chair of the National Network for Excellence in Science and Technology (2017–2019). Alongside his academic roles, he is a Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales, Editor-in-Chief of The Computer Journal, and a member of the UK Government’s DCMS College of Experts.

Norman Dinsdale is a Senior Lecturer in Hospitality Management at Sheffield Business School and a Professional Master Chef of Great Britain. Before joining Sheffield Hallam University, he taught at Lancaster and Morecambe College of Further Education, Norwich City College, South Bank University in London, University of Derby, Middlesex University, and in the United Stated at Pace University in New York, and Louisville College of Professional Development in Kentucky. He owned and operated a Michelin rated Restaurant and small Hotel and started the first global HACCP Management Consultancy that advised a number of major British tour operators, cruise companies, international hotel groups, and the NHS on their food and beverage policies. He is a member of the Institute of Hospitality. He is a Doctorate in Business Administration student at Sheffield Hallam University.

Dr Sam Elkington is a Principal Lecturer, Learning and Teaching Excellence at Teesside University. He joined Teesside University in September 2018 where he leads on the University’s learning and teaching enhancement portfolio. He is a National Teaching Fellow and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has worked in Higher Education for over 15 years with extensive experience working across teaching, research, and academic leadership and policy domains. Most recently he worked for Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) where he was the National Lead for Assessment and Feedback and Flexible Learning in Higher Education. He maintains a diverse range of research interests with a track record in developing high impact pedagogic research work in the areas of assessment and feedback, student engagement, learning spaces, and creativity in higher education. His latest book (with Irons, 2021) showcases the latest thinking in enhancing student learning through formative assessment and feedback.

James Ellerby is the Head of Training Development at the Russell Partnership Collection – a conglomerate of three companies that deliver strategic food consulting, hospitality technology, and philanthropy. Before this, he was Senior Lecturer of Hospitality Management at Sheffield Hallam University, where he taught the core topics of strategic management, supply chain management, and operations management in the field of hospitality management. He has over 20 year of experience in the hospitality industry, working predominantly for and with a variety of hotels, restaurants, bars, and pubs. Building on his management career, he established his own consultancy business and has been working with a variety of independent and national organisations. He holds a Master’s degree in Organisation Development and Consultancy and a degree in Hotel and Catering Management. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Surrey.

David Graham is a Senior Lecturer of Hospitality Management and the Head of Tourism and Hospitality Management at Sheffield Hallam University. He spent the early years of his career in the restaurant, hotel, and licensed retail trade working for large multinational chains, followed by ownership of his own restaurants and coffee shop businesses. On selling his business interests he moved into further and higher education. Working at Huddersfield Technical College, where he had responsibility for the hospitality curriculum, at Leeds Metropolitan University, as the Undergraduate, Postgraduate Hospitality and Tourism Cluster Leader, before moving to Sheffield Hallam University in 2000. He has presented a number of papers on pedagogical principles and their application in real world learning, and worked on National Teaching and Learning Committees, and validated bachelors and masters awards for further and higher education institutions in the UK and overseas.

Leila Kajee is a Professor of Education in the Department of Education and Curriculum Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a PhD in Education, specialising in Language in Education. Her research interests span social justice and transformation through language, literacies, and identities. She has taught a range of modules at undergraduate and postgraduate degree levels, including applied English, educational linguistics, literacies, research design, online learning, and digital literacy.

Lelokwane Mokgalo is the Programme Leader and a Senior Lecturer in Tourism Studies in the School of Business and Leisure at the Botswana Accountancy College. Prior to this, he was a Lecturer in Tourism Studies at the University of Botswana. He boast of over 10 years teaching experience in higher education learning. He holds a PhD in Tourism Management as well as an MSc in Responsible Tourism Management. He is passionate about sustainability in the tourism industry and has published articles in the area, cultural heritage as well as domestic tourism in Botswana. His other passion is mentoring and playing an advisory role to young learners in tourism and other business fields. He promotes student interactions and engagements in his teaching practice and believes that they are the cornerstones of effective teaching.

Theophilus Mooko is the Country Director at the Institute of Management Development, and the former Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science, and Technology, Botswana. He holds a PhD in Language and Linguistics and a Masters in Applied Linguistics. His research interests span public policy and social justice through leadership and language. Prior to his role as PS, he served as Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Botswana, and at various levels of the tertiary education system, most notably as Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Botswana and as Executive Director, Botswana Public Service College, Botswana.

Mercy Musikavanhu is a Senior Lecturer of Tourism Studies and Strategic Marketing at Botswana Accountancy College. She holds a PhD in Tourism Management, MSc in Strategic Management, and BTech in Hospitality and Tourism Management. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK. She served in management positions in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry in Zimbabwe and Botswana, before joining the Tertiary Education Sector. Her research interests include strategy, service experience, and she is passionate about improving student engagements and interactions in teaching and learning.

Alice Njoroge is a Lecturer of Management and Information Technology at Botswana Accountancy College. She has been with the institution since June 2014. She has over 14 years teaching experience. She holds a Master’s degree in Management from Amity University, and is a member of the Association of Business Executives. She is a PhD student.

Olivia Nthoi is a Senior Lecturer of Hospitality and Sustainable Tourism, and a published writer and academic researcher based at Botho University in Botswana. She holds a Master of Arts (Development Studies – Sociology), a Bachelor of Arts Degree, majoring in Environmental Science and Archaeology, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Education. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Philosophy at Chinhoyi University of Technology focussing on developing a framework for inclusive tourism in Botswana. She is a Columnist for the Botswana Guardian Newspaper writing the column ‘Let’s Talk Tourism and Heritage’.

Andy Phippen is a Professor of Digital Rights at the Bournemouth University. He has specialised in the use of Information Communication Technologys (ICTs) in social contexts and the intersection with legislation since the turn of the century, carrying out a large amount of empirical research on issues such as attitudes towards privacy, data protection and cybersecurity, and contemporary issues such as sexting, peer abuse, and the impact of digital technology on well-being. He has taught in universities for over 20 years, and teaches across computer science, childhood studies, sociology, and law. He has presented written and oral evidence to parliamentary inquiries related to the use of ICTs in society, which is widely published in the area, and is a frequent media commentator on these issues.

Sarah Rawlinson joined the University of Derby in 1998 after a career in the travel industry, specialising in group travel. She was Head of the Centre for Contemporary Hospitality and Tourism at the University of Derby for over 10 years. Her professional interests include the development of curriculum models that support vocational learning and provide opportunities for students to learn how to bring theory alive and link it to practical application. She has been involved in developing opportunities for students to gain as much experiential learning as part of their degree to support their professional development and provide students with experiences that support employability and prepare graduates for industry. Her research interests include the demands for talented young people in the tourism and hospitality industry, the relationship between industry and higher education, the development of curriculum, work-based learning and the different use of knowledge in the workplace. She is also a reviewer for several academic journals and she continues to support PhD students.

Paula Shaw is the Associate Professor of Online Teaching and Learning at the University of Derby. Her career spans over 30 years in Further and Higher Education. For 20 years, she specialised in online education and operational management, which significantly influenced the University of Derby’s expansion of global online programmes. She developed and presented a ‘PROPHET Framework’ (Pedagogic Realignment with Organisational Priorities and Horizon Emergent Technologies) which ensures that horizon scanning, pedagogy, and educational planning are integral part of online students’ experiences. She is currently leading an 18-month Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) supported collaborative project to deliver a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) flexible learning design toolkit, a digital exhibition of flexible learning, and an open-source module-planning tool.

Foreword

I am delighted to write this foreword as I believe that when we started the year 2020, nobody inside or outside academia could have imagined the world would have lived through such a crisis. On 11 March 2020, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. At that critical time, the vast majority of colleges and universities worldwide were in the midst of their academic year. As is now well known, the outbreak of the pandemic has upended higher education classrooms and campuses – causing many higher education institutions to close their buildings and change their status quo at the time, their pedagogy and ways of working, and has dramatically shaken up interactions with students in the learning environments, and caused education planners and policymakers to rethink matters pertaining, for instance, to physical infrastructure, international mobility as we know it, and mode of study – across Africa, United Kingdom (UK), and the rest of the world. Twenty-four months later, the COVID-19 crisis, has put the academic world under great strain and has brought to light the inflexibility of the higher education system in many countries across Africa, and elsewhere around the world. The devastation caused by the crisis will be felt for many years.

A crisis by its very nature calls for doing things differently and for doing different things. This is because the usual solutions prove wholly inadequate or inapplicable. It is in this context that the higher education sector had to move with great speed to find innovative solutions.

While the COVID-19 crisis has shown that the current higher education pedagogical infrastructures in colleges and universities in many countries are extremely vulnerable to external shocks, lived experiences have shown that many higher education institutions have been able to adapt in one way or another. Universities, colleges, and academics across the African continent and in the UK – like their counterparts around the world – have shown great tenacity, grit, and resilience in endeavouring to adapt and to make amends for the crisis, and although they need to be far more prepared for comparable crises in the future, they have undoubtedly exhibited innovation, leadership, resourcefulness, ubuntu, and the kind of agency that the academic community at large, policymakers, students, non-governmental organisations, and future generations can all learn from – both now and long after the COVID-19 emergency. One area where these qualities of adaption, resourcefulness, leadership, and ubuntu have manifested is higher education pedagogy.

I formed the impression from reading this exciting and thought-provoking volume that it was this notion, this sentiment, that in every system, like the university system, amidst crises such as the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there would be professors, lecturers, and academic leaders in their various settings around the world, who were, against the odds, innovating and testing out new ideas to enable and sustain teaching and learning continuity and quality for students and the institutions. This book, edited by two experts in the fields of education, digital learning and computer science, with vast knowledge of the higher education sector, critiques and documents the literature and several case studies showing what academics have been doing, and could do, to sustain learning continuity during and after the COVID-19 emergency. It is an important contribution to understanding the pedagogical challenges and responses in terms of new approaches and technologies for teaching and learning that have been, or are still to be, implemented to sustain college and university teaching and learning as the sector rebuilds from the crisis.

On this basis, I find the book to be one anchored in praxis and one that brings to light two long held premises: first, when academics solve problems, they learn and often share that knowledge with others, so that, in the event the others experience the same problem, they can be assisted. Second, some insights, glories, and pitfalls about pedagogy and its theory and practices are best understood by those who actively shared in their development and implementation. The case studies illustrating new approaches and technologies for teaching and learning resonate with this point because they were written by the academics who led them. The book is a celebration of the work of these academics who were determined to prevent the complete shutdown of higher education institutions amidst the COVID-19 crisis.

The book, which is aptly entitled Higher Education in a Post-Covid World: New Approaches and Technologies for Teaching and Learning, elaborates on the fundamental changes and transitions in higher education, the emerging approaches, and practices in higher education pedagogy, and the culture and policy concerns in a COVID-19 higher education world. The authors have, remarkably, communicated powerful insights about their craft that lie as templates for teaching and learning in higher education now and in the future. The book assesses and documents the variety of approaches and technologies in teaching and learning that have been tried during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. The volume can, in future, allow academics, policymakers, students, and historians to look back on this period of history with both quantitative and qualitative information, and perhaps with new ideas regarding how education might be reshaped in the future. The chapters of the book are wide ranging and advance the discourse, on the one hand, on various sources of pressures on higher education institutions to change and underinvestment in higher education infrastructure – especially in Africa – but on the other hand, the need for a spirit of innovation in higher education; the need for speedy experimentation in pedagogical approaches and the use of technology that characterised the pandemic; the willingness to, and importance of, widespread partnerships and collaborations across all types of organisations and across countries; and the readiness of higher education to reimagine the utilisation of digital learning technologies and tools in education. The UK and Africa collaboration, which resulted in, for example, the writing of this book, is just one such example.

I think the most powerful aspect of this book is its multi-disciplinarity, and its focus on engaging readers in discussion about reimagining pedagogical practices in what can now be viewed as the ‘New Normal’ of higher education teaching and learning across Africa and the world. The higher education sector will not return entirely to the way it was before the COVID-19 crisis. Through the chapters of this book, readers can begin to explore new approaches and technologies of teaching and learning, outside the conventional classroom, and they can identify and apply the theories and concepts as they relate to them. By engaging readers in the discourse, they are motivated by the value of reflection. It is from reflecting on what has been learnt from the COVID-19 crisis that academics, students, policymakers, and civil society will be able to collaborate to rebuild higher education stronger and better.

The book embodies the essence conveyed in the phrase ‘never let a crisis go to waste’ – attributed to Sir Winston Churchill – because the editors and chapter authors have capitalised on the COVID-19 wave to illustrate how the higher education sector can embrace technology and reform traditional pedagogical approaches and practices now and in future. The pandemic provided the organisational energy and courage to embark on initiatives that would have been unthinkable in the pre-COVID-19 era. The pandemic provides academic leaders with an opportunity to unfreeze the university system to dispose of structures and processes that perhaps add little or no value and to find new ways – as the book aptly brought to light.

I hope this book will become a core text that everyone across Africa and the rest of the world can find stimulating, insightful, and informative.

Professor Xoliswa Mtose

Vice Chancellor and Principal – University of Zululand, South Africa

Acknowledgements

The editors gratefully acknowledge the hard work, time and enormous effort that all our authors of chapters have put into the development and final preparation of this book, and in complying with the timelines that are unavoidably enforced in such a process. At the initial call for chapters, we received more than 30 chapter-proposals and after a careful review process, 20 were approved. Only 14 chapters made it to the final manuscript of the book that is published, not because the other chapters were inferior but because only the giants of the 14 chapters stood the test of the long journey over 12 months. Our deepest gratitude goes to each giant who authored these chapters and resisted the attrition temptation. It remains incredible to us that amidst the COVID-19 plague that rages on, we have managed to pull the project together and are able to share the fruit of this long labour.

Lest we forget, it is the COVID-19 pandemic that inspired the writing of this book. We have all witnessed how our pedagogical practices in the academy have been altered following the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020. We thank all our contributors for theorising their lived professional experiences and bringing them to the pages of this volume. We learned so much from the case studies and substantive theories that reverberate through the discussions across the chapters, and it is because of the contributors that a new dawn in higher education pedagogy can begin to be imagined.

Our deepest appreciation goes to the many Vice Chancellors, Principals and Deans of universities and colleges in Africa and the UK who gave so generously of their time, knowledge and reflections through emails and telephonic discussions, as we pieced together our understanding of pedagogical reforms and innovations implemented in response to the lockdown of campuses and social distancing requirements, stemming from the COVID-19 health crisis. We would delightedly thank each one of these insightful, gifted academics by name, but for our pledges of anonymity and confidentiality. We also owe a debt of thanks to the Senior Librarian at the Botswana Accountancy Library for providing us with remote access to the numerous databases and for linking us with publishers with an interest in pedagogical practices in higher education. Thanks too to the Assistant Dean (Global and Academic Partnerships) in the College of Business, Technology and Engineering at Sheffield Hallam University for building the strong partnership and supporting my visiting Fellowship.

Several colleagues made invaluable contributions to this volume, each one epitomising the big-hearted, selflessness of true scholarship when we gather in the service of ideas. We shall never forget these gifts. Dr Tebogo Magang has been an extraordinary colleague who read and commented on the drafts of several of the chapters, and helped us shape the final version of the manuscript. Dr Tsitsi Chipfuva graciously read and commented on a version of the manuscript and helped hone our understanding of key themes as they relate to teaching practical-based subjects virtually. Her generous comments made a vital contribution to this volume. Nelson Mandela University Research Professor Anass Bayaga read parts of the manuscript at an early stage, offering sage advice, insights and enthusiasm. York University Professor Ntonghanwah Forcheh read parts of the manuscript and brought his immense conceptual grasp that helped with the shaping of the structure of the book. The Emerald team of Kimberley Chadwick and Rajendran Hemavathi brought their vast editorial talents to the manuscript. We worked with Kimberley to discover the final title of the book, and with Rajendran as our book project editor. Rajendran’s collegiality and unparallel mastery of craft helped us in finalising the manuscript. The Emerald team resonated with this project from the start and the team has been tireless in giving support.

Our deepest thanks also go to several other colleagues who encouraged us along the writing journey: Mrs Serty Leburu, Michael Lesolle and Beaulah Molefe. Beaulah Molefe tolerated many late evenings and holidays away as we pulled the manuscript together. In addition, a special thank you to our family members who have endured and tolerated our distracted personas during the preparation of this book. We can only hope that the final result justifies the faith that all our contributors and families, who supported us throughout the journey, have placed in our role as editors.

And finally, as authors and editors who have worked together over many years, providing collaborative education that connects Africa and the UK, we hope this project has strengthened our already strong working relationship. It is our wish that our relationship will act as an example of collaboration and partnership and that the links between the UK and Africa will continue to flourish.

In the end, one faces the page in solitude. Anything in this book that falls short of the trust invested in us as editors is entirely our responsibility alone.