Higher education institutions worldwide have embraced remote as a response to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the imposition of stay-at-home protocols. While this shift from the conventional face-to-face mode to remote learning platforms represents a notable innovation in the education circles, we contend that…

Exploring teachers' identities while teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is essential. Such assists teachers to reflect, improving their teaching through various networks. Identities are conscious thoughts interrogating subconscious thoughts that drive teachers to understand their personal needs. Eleven teachers, registered for a…

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a vital pedagogical strategy in higher education for engaging student teachers to apply their knowledge and skills in authentic contexts. This paper provides an exploratory case study of an open distance and e-learning university (ODeL) in South Africa, to evaluate the effectiveness of online assessments for…

Several studies have focused attention on the crisis of the COVID19 pandemic and the impact on the traditional face-to-face teaching and learning activities across the globe. There is, however, little research regarding the platformisation of education with the aid of the learning management systems (LMSs) in the contexts of South African…

This paper introduces AMMORE, a new dataset of 53,000 math open-response question-answer pairs from Rori, a mathematics learning platform used by middle and high school students in several African countries. Using this dataset, we conducted two experiments to evaluate the use of large language models (LLM) for grading particularly challenging…

This study reports on the usefulness of computer skills for enhanced teaching and learning among lecturers in an open-distance e-learning (ODEL) environment. Computer skills have become fundamental due to increasing new technological tools of web-based management systems, laptops, digital tablets, learning management systems, webinars, and the…

This study examines students' perceptions and preferences for Blackboard at a South African public university. When the South African government, driven by COVID-19, announced the closure of schools in March 2020 for high school learners, home-schooling became the only option despite challenges such as lack of internet access, family support and…

The COVID-19 restrictions resulted in the most significant disruptions to education in this century. Universities responded differently to the restrictions. For example, some universities in Southern Africa closed and had no academic activities for months. These universities had little online teaching and learning, opting for a phased return to…

Digital tools have evolved into a way of life, and as a result, they have become a growing area of interest for academics who research teaching and learning. Scholars increasingly agree that because digital tools affect human-to-human connection, a greater emphasis on understanding their function in engagement from an interdisciplinary viewpoint…

Communication in teaching and learning space has never been the same following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crisis of COVID-19 has brought about the urgency for most higher education institutions to adopt elearning. This response was to save the academic year. Hence, this study explores how e-learning has aided African universities…

The global COVID-19 pandemic has added considerable complexity to the education and training of health care professionals as well as patient care. Literature suggests that e-Learning and mobile health (mHealth) technologies have great potential, but research studies are sparse, especially in low- to middle-income countries. The paper presents…

This study reports how ethics of care principles were foregrounded in a first-year English module offered at an open distance e-learning (ODeL) university in South Africa to enhance online student engagement. Current research indicates that online student engagement predicts student success; however, there is a paucity of how ethics of care…

A considerable amount of research using Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) has been conducted worldwide to investigate the intention and actual usage of Learning Management Systems (LMS) by tertiary staff during COVID-19. However, there seems to be a lack of such research in developing countries like South Africa. Equally…

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted higher education institutions worldwide, prompting a rapid shift towards online learning environments. This study aims to assess the e-readiness of first-year students in using the Learning Management System (LMS) in the context of COVID-19. The researchers used the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)…

The study aimed to determine if there is a significant difference between peer and lecturer assessment scores and to explore the relationship between peer assessment scores and the study year of preservice teachers. Furthermore, the study explored the effect of Blackboard Collaborate online group presentations on the development of pedagogical…