Teacher education tuition modalities under COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 worldwide resulted in national lockdowns that closed educational institutions and contained the disease. Universities were forced to close their campuses overnight. For continuing tuition provision, various forms of online teaching and learning were instituted. This chapter analyses teacher education students’ experiences and perceptions of the online teaching strategies being implemented at one state university in Zimbabwe. A purposively selected sample of 120 undergraduate and postgraduate students participated in the survey. Results from the survey indicated that significant numbers of students reside in remote rural and impoverished communities of the country, with limited access to online lessons due to the unavailability of systemic infrastructure such as electricity, mobile networks and internet connectivity. The findings also indicate varied consistency in online lecturer-student engagements, something that could be attributed to lecturers’ technological knowledge differences and levels of commitment to the online teaching endeavours. The chapter argues for a re-examination and re-designing of the institution’s model of online learning during the COVID-19 lockdown period, to address deficiencies that could exacerbate the provision of discriminatory learning experiences for students residing in different socio-economic national contexts. This chapter furthermore suggests areas in need of national/systemic intervention if impactful online learning is to be realized.