PROFESSOR MAMOKGETHI PHAKENG

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus our rapidly changing world. It has been coming for some time. Back in July 2016 after I joined the University of Cape Town as Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Internationalisation, I spoke at the launch of the university’s annual research report. I argued that in the coming decade we would face a world of uncertainty as well as rapid and profound change.

Four years later, here we are with COVID-19. And more challenges lie ahead, with economic problems, climate change, poverty and inequality, as well as the ethics of machine learning as we settle into the fourth industrial revolution, to name just a few. These challenges will test our solidarity and commitment but together we can overcome each one of them.

When I became Vice-Chancellor in 2018, I argued that for us as UCT to cope with this uncertain future, we would need three things: an unrelenting commitment to excellence, an exceptional focus on transformation, and the courage to do things differently to keep UCT sustainable.

I argued on that occasion that we must forever bury the notion that the global is somehow not African. The problems of Africa are the problems of the world and the problems of the world are the problems of Africa.

Gone are the days when people thought infectious diseases are an “African” problem. COVID-19 has wreaked havoc everywhere.

So we are in this together not just as UCT but as a nation and as the global community.

Higher education around the world is facing the same set of uncertainties that we are facing at UCT. And we continue to engage with higher education institutions here in South Africa, on the continent and elsewhere in the world. And leading institutions in the world that we collaborate with are facing the same issues.

At UCT, along with other South African institutions, we are aware that a return to normality – or a semblance of it – could take time. If at all. Of course, what we think is normal will probably never return completely. So while there is a lot of talk about recovery, my view is that perhaps what would be needed for us to do is not so much recovery but maybe adaptation.

This is a challenge and an opportunity we share with our students… This is an opportunity for all of us to rethink and reimagine how we learn and teach, how we do research and how we apply what we learn – recognising that our students will be working with us to build a new post-COVID world. 

To complete the academic year at UCT we are thinking of all of our students, including those whose environment is not suitable for learning, those living in poverty and those living with different kinds of disabilities. We are working together to meet the challenge.

And it is not easy at all. It is thanks to the help of faculties and professional, administrative and support services staff, including many different departments, that we have been able to ease the situation for most of our students. Nearly 21 000 undergraduate and postgraduate students completed our Student Access Survey to determine the resources they have available for remote learning. We have used this information to see how we can provide help to students who may need it. We are learning a lot though this process of remote learning and teaching, and these lessons should help all of us in Term Three and into the future.

We are monitoring student participation on Vula [internal UCT online learning platform], to identify those who might need extra help and to work with faculties to assist those students.

We have bought laptops and arranged to deliver them on loan to needy students. We are looking at ways to assist students who do not have online access, by sending them printed materials and flash drives. Our aim is to ensure that as many students as possible can continue learning while they are off campus, using whatever materials we can make available to them. We have assembled several working groups and we are using the COVID-19 UCT emergency fund to support this project.

We are providing prepaid data to all students, and we have also established agreements with all four major cellphone operators – Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Telkom – to provide access at no charge to UCT websites that are key for online learning.

This new way of teaching and learning is stressful for all of us, but especially for students, who may feel isolated from their lecturers and tutors and from the camaraderie of fellow students. They may not have home environments where they can study effectively.

Many students I speak to see UCT as an escape: a peaceful physical space where they can focus on their studies. It’s a space they don’t necessarily have at home. So we have also created a plan to assist vulnerable students once the campus can reopen, with blended learning, combining online learning with face to face learning and tutorials. We will only see the success of that when campus can reopen.

Colleagues in the Centre for Innovation in Learning Technology (CILT) in the Centre for Higher Education Development have made it possible to develop online teaching materials in a very short time. CILT is continuing its webinar series with tools to help teaching staff to measure student engagement and to assess their performance in each course.

Even before lockdown, students were interacting with lecturers and tutors online and accessing course materials. We have been building up a bank of recorded lectures since 2018. I hope we can learn to use online teaching as a way to free teaching staff to engage more meaningfully with students on a personal level, because their influence as role models remains as important as ever.

UCT researchers and postgraduate students remain as active as possible, working remotely. Our researchers have been actively engaged with the National Department of Health, with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases as well as the Presidency, to support the government in response to COVID-19. These efforts include developing vaccine candidates, epidemiology studies, clinical research and developing low-cost personal protective equipment.

Experts across the university have been advising the government at provincial and national level as well as volunteering. Their work includes reaching out to the townships and working in local hospitals and clinics.

Many of our staff members would like to know when they could come back to campus. We will not rush to bring colleagues back to campus unless the government directs us to do so, and unless we know that it is safe to do so. When we do return, it will probably be in phases and we will make sure that there are mechanisms in place to ensure that staff members are safe.

We now plan to teach remotely for the second and third terms. The academic year is likely to extend well into December and to continue into February 2021. UCT’s current planning includes the possibility of pushing the start of the next academic year to March 2021. This plan is subject to change, however, depending on the government’s response to COVID-19. Our primary focus is to ensure that every student can complete the academic year successfully.

In the meantime, the cost of the lockdown including financial aid and items such as data and laptops for students, are mounting. I have pledged 20% of my salary for the next three months to the UCT COVID-19 emergency fund. This is in addition to the 10% of my salary that I already contribute to a UCT scholarship fund to support women postgrad students.

In March, at the beginning of the lockdown, our Chancellor, Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe, announced a donation of R5 million by the Motsepe Foundation. And many of colleagues have also pledged their salaries and made substantial donations to the UCT COVID or to some of our entities such as the Baxter Theatre and to the Students’ Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHAWCO). I invite all members of the UCT community to pledge to the fund. Any amount is welcome, no matter how big or small.

Through our hard work, a new and stronger UCT is emerging out of this crisis. As a community we are demonstrating excellence, resilience and innovation.

(Mamokgethi Phakeng is Professor of Mathematics Education and Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town.)

TAWANA KUPE

The internet has changed our lives. Today, in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of students have to study online, while workers whose jobs can be done remotely through the internet have taken to working from home. This “new normal”, as some are calling it, finds expression in the ways in which we are adapting our way of life to our current circumstances.

As we commemorate World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on 17 May, we remember that where we are now in terms of how we communicate is truly remarkable when you consider the day’s humble beginnings.

This day dates back to the signing of the First International Telegraph Convention on 17 May 1865, which marked the establishment of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Today, short text messages – updated and endless versions of the telegram – dominate our means of communication.

Communication is a basic human need, and the internet has connected and disconnected us with and from each other in many ways. Estonia was one of the first countries to describe access to the internet as a human right, in 2001.

Today, we can see the importance of access to the internet and how communication technologies are helping to plug all types of communities directly into the economy through e-commerce. But e-commerce in Africa is not anywhere near the scale of the western world’s e-economy. This is in part due to logistical problems, the geographic spacing of rural areas, and a lack of physical infrastructure like quality roads and transport systems to ensure efficiency. This growing digital divide is exacerbated by the inequality in our society, and needs to be addressed where the playing fields are levelled in terms of access.

The internet has in theory democratised many things, including information access, but there are structural and economic barriers in place which hamper access for some people. These barriers mirror the class, race and socio-economic hurdles we face as a society.

In Africa, we’ve been known to leapfrog technologies to bridge our digital divide. Mobile-first is an oft-repeated mantra because it is easier for people in Africa to be connected via their phones rather than via a laptop or desktop computer.

However, internet access remains a challenge across the continent.

In South Africa, data providers have been accused of exorbitant data bundle pricing when compared to other countries. This has proved to be a notable setback for many students at tertiary institutions, who either don’t have sufficient funds for data or do not have access to an internet-enabled device which would allow them to work from home and keep up with their class work.

The digital divide here again sees poorer students disadvantaged by a cost structure that makes bigger data bundles progressively cheaper by the gigabyte.

Poorer students who do not have larger amounts of disposable income can only buy smaller and more expensive bundles. This further disadvantages many poor, first-generation students who view formal tertiary education as a way out of poverty for their family and broader community.

However, in keeping with the social compact and social justice, more data providers have come to the table during the various crises generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. They have worked closely with universities to help make access more equitable by not charging data fees for the microsites where learning and research content will be placed.

This has helped considerably to lower the burden in terms of the financial impact of COVID-19 on teaching and learning, especially in lower-income households. At the University of Pretoria we’ve worked around the clock to get laptops to as many students as possible who needed them over the course of the past few weeks. Our hope is to ensure that the academic year can now proceed with minimal setbacks.

This day is meant to help raise awareness of the opportunities that the use of the internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as to bridge the digital divide. However, the events of the past few weeks have further highlighted the digital divide that still exists in our country. While great progress has been made and most people in South Africa have access to phones that have WhatsApp, there are still many who do not have smartphones or access to an internet connection. Much of the information they receive through WhatsApp might be hearsay or even fake news relating to COVID-19, a problem exacerbated by their lack of access to data for broader enquiry and to strengthen their ability to apply their own critical media literacies to be able to distinguish fake information from genuine information.

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the importance of ICT in national development. We are living through a very stressful and trying time; practising social distancing and obeying the rules of the lockdown makes us feel very much apart. But at the same time, access to the internet has helped us find new ways of connecting with each other for emotional support as well as the sharing of information and knowledge.

From the telegram to texts and Twitter posts, from newspapers to Netflix and YouTube, we’re now all connected, in various ways, for most of our day. While ICT is not where we would like it to be in our country, let us take a moment to reflect on how far we have come, and be encouraged to take an active role towards driving the global Connect 2030 Agenda in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. As a society we – and specifically our decision-makers – need to be proactive, future-oriented and put in place a communications policy and the necessary regulatory frameworks which prioritise affordable infrastructure for access and lowering the cost of data. We need to enable the release of spectrum necessary to expand e-commerce, encourage competition, and improve internet density. I urge businesses, industry players and academic institutions to continue to innovate and find solutions that will enable us to drive human progress and to bridge the digital divide in the future.

(Professor Tawana Kupe is Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria. He is a professor of Media Studies and Literature. The article was originally published in the University of Pretoria news site)