Hitting the Sweet Spot in the Next Normal: Innovative Response to Disruptive Change: Reintegration after Disruption

Doug Engelbrecht

doi:10.25159/2663-5895/13690

Authors

Doug Engelbrecht University of KwaZulu-Natal https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3771-1757

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-5895/13690

Keywords:

instrumental learning, next normal, learning and performance, societal relevance, post-COVID education, graduate under-employment

Abstract

The tertiary education sector’s emergency remote teaching response to the COVID-19 pandemic was swift and committed. The rollout from March 2020 of EdTech to complement the extant technology platforms was rapid, but hitting the sweet spot, the nexus of teachers, students and EdTech was not uniformly attained. Interrogating the particularities of this elusive target rests on three premises: thorough and durable comprehension of knowledge beyond facts remains the goal; the post-pandemic future is different from that normal preceding it, and compensating for the lived existence of much of not most of the student body is a point of weakness. The role of tertiary education institutions is elevated to prominence in the next normal. For, if teaching is to be mechanical and learning indifferent, the pandemic will have taught us nothing. Deep learning, the goal of instruction, requires prioritisation and deliberate and considered methodisation. This, in turn, requires confronting a multiplicity of issues: the methods of teaching and assessment that prompt superficial and short-term memorisation, the shortcomings of quality assurance systems, the scant connection there appears to be between taught curricula and consequent learning outcomes, and the desires of the labour market which for younger graduates especially, remains tantalisingly out of reach. If education is to be societally relevant, it must find the balance between achieving redress aligned to ideological principles and transformation mapped to the requirements of the labour market.

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