Reflecting on Teaching in the Higher Education Context During the Covid-19 Era: A Collaborative Self-Study Project

Abstract

The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic created unimaginable upheaval, uncertainty, and even hostility in the education system, worldwide. Teacher educators in higher education settings were compelled to interact with their students using online platforms to ensure the continuation of teaching and learning. However, the effectiveness of that approach has been questioned. This article presents the narratives of two South African teacher educators who explored pedagogical approaches using such digital platforms. We created collages, concept maps, and a pantoum poem to reflect on our teacher educator practices during the initial and ensuing levels of the Covid-19 lockdown period to provide guidelines for such approaches in the aftermath of the pandemic. We gained various insights into future teaching practices using arts-based media and platforms such as WhatsApp, Moodle, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. The sociocultural theoretical perspective underpinned this self-study project. This theoretical approach highlights the importance of working together in educational settings to create knowledge and make sense of teaching and learning experiences. We discovered that the transition to digital platforms presented both advantages and disadvantages for our teaching. In the latter instance, we found that teaching and learning using digital platforms were rendered inefficient for students from rural settings who were computer illiterate and who had limited access to technology and the internet. However, by conducting workshops, engaging in collaborative initiatives, and appropriating feedback from various role players, we gained understanding of ways to support our students and address their diverse needs. In light of these findings, we recommend intensified teacher educator collaboration and sharing to reimagine and reshape teaching and learning in the higher education teacher training context in the post-Covid-19 era.