Digital Disruptions Reshaping Higher Education Teaching and Learning

The digital revolution is changing the way students are taught as well as reshaping what is possible in the educational landscape.

This became clear during an Instructional and Learning Design Symposium hosted by UKZN’s Teaching and Learning Office (UTLO) which brought together academic staff and instructional designers to explore the impact of digital transformation on Higher Education.

Themed: “Innovating the Future of Higher Education through Digital Transformation”, the event featured a keynote address by Ms Shanali Govender, a senior lecturer within the Staff Development Unit at the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at the University of Cape Town.

Govender, who examined the history of instructional learning and design, reviewed learning design as a process, profession, product and field of study.

Discussing the “three moments and five threads” that are interwoven between each other and have moulded learning design, Govender reflected on World War 2, which brought about an emergence of technology with the incorporation of fighter plans and how that set the tone for instructional designers to be active navigators who set the direction and serve the communities around them.

She commented on the COVID-19 pandemic which saw the advent of online and emergency remote teaching and discussed whether the technologies chosen for that task served equity, particularly when speaking in the context of the Global South. Govender remarked on how the pandemic had called for an emergence of “designedly ways of thinking” when examining effective strategies for student assessments. Reflecting on the South African context where a large percent of the population doesn’t attend institutions of higher learning, she called on instructional designers to ‘leverage technologies to open doors to powerful ways of learning outside the realms of universities.’

She also reviewed generative artificial intelligence and what it means for designers and educators in the post digital age.

Govender said: ‘The job of a learning/instructional designer is to locate themselves behind the staff member. The primary relationship in the teaching learning space is between the educator, their student and the content or discipline of learning, and that triage is key.’

Interim Co-Director of the UTLO Professor Nyna Amin commented on how the digital revolution wasn’t just changing the way students were taught but also reshaping what was possible in the educational landscape.

Amin commented on the theme and how it showcased the tangible progress UKZN had achieved, saying the event marked an important milestone in reimagining the educational sphere at UKZN. ‘As we stand at the interception of tradition and innovation, we are witnessing a profound transformation in how we conceptualise, design and deliver education to our students – because our students are what matters the most.’

Instructional designers for each College discussed the challenges they faced and showcased how they were able to overcome them through achieving module transformation. This was achieved by using various design learning techniques namely: Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate and Reverse (SCAMPER); Analyse, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE); action mapping; and the module enhancement approach, among others.

A panel discussion facilitated by Dr Joseph Jere of the College of Law and Management Studies (CLMS) involved Govender, the Academic Leader of Research in the School of Clinical Medicine Professor Veena Singaram and CLMS Head: Teaching and Learning Unit Professor Annah Bengesai, who discussed the technology disruptions affecting education, in particular the ways in which artificial intelligence can be embraced in the learning and assessment of students.

Words: Hlengiwe Khwela

Photographs: Nkosi Gcabashe