Exploring how students' experience of remote learning in historically disadvantaged Universities of South Africa shape their perception of remote learning

Tyutyu, Anelisa

Exploring how students' experience of remote learning in historically disadvantaged Universities of South Africa shape their perception of remote learning

Thesis / Dissertation

2025

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Information Systems

Faculty

Faculty of Commerce

Abstract

Remote learning, a means of delivering education online or in the absence of physical presence, emerged as an alternative to traditional teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, its use has become widespread in most higher education institutions. However, in emerging economies and particularly in Africa, its implementation and use remain limited, especially in universities referred to as Historically Disadvantaged Universities (HDIs). These institutions are usually found in rural areas, have limited resources, and continue to service disadvantaged communities. Although remote learning has received attention by several scholars, few have examined remote learning from institutions that are characterised as historically disadvantaged. With this limitation, the contextual challenges experienced by students when engaging in remote learning in these institutions is unknown. The goal of this study is therefore to explore how students experience of remote learning in historically disadvantaged universities of South Africa shapes their social, cognitive, and learning presence in the remote learning environment. Qualitative data using in-depth semi structured interviews was collected from 14 participants from four South African HDIs. The interviews were guided by key constructs from the Community of Inquiry framework and Ubuntu philosophical ideals. These interviews were analysed using thematic analysis after transcription. The findings show that factors that influenced remote learning in HDIs were (i) a perceived sense of community, (ii) the ready availability of institutional resources and academic staff support and presence for remote learning; (iii) and access to digital platforms. These findings have implications for practice, particularly educators and technology implementors in the education sector; as well as for policy development.

Keywords

Universities of South Africa

students' experience

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