Coping mechanisms of foundation and first year ICT students at Tshwane University of Technology to mitigate COVID-19 challenges in academic studies

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa laid bare the social class divide between poor and affluent students at South African universities by creating a phenomenon termed ‘uberfication of university education’ which demanded the use of online learning tools and strategies as an impetus for academic success. While a transition to new technological learning strategies aligns with the requirements of academia in the fourth industrial revolution period, it poses challenges for students from poor backgrounds who lack electronic devices, knowledge exposure, and infrastructure to cope with online learning approaches and resources. The research study was conducted to analyse learning challenges and coping mechanisms of foundation and first-year Information and Communication Technology students at the Tshwane University of Technology, Soshanguve campus during the Covid-19 pandemic. The objectives of the study were to analyse factors that influence online learning approaches and processes, identify students’ challenges and coping mechanisms, and explore strategies that the Tshwane University of Technology can employ to support the foundation and first-year Information Communication Technology students to succeed in their academic studies during Covid-19 period. The study adopted a mixed methods approach of qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to gather data using random and convenience sampling from the foundation and first -year Information and Communication Technology students at the Soshanguve campus of the Tshwane University of Technology. A major finding was that there was cognitive dissonance between the foundation and first-year students who favour contact learning contrary to university management’s view of adopting online teaching and learning to be a new academic learning pathway. The study is significant as it adopted a bottom-up approach of gathering knowledge from affected students about the required support to cope during the Covid-19 pandemic rather than universities imposing solutions that might not align with their everyday lived experiences. The study contributes new knowledge about coping mechanisms that students employed during the Covid-19 pandemic that can also beneficial during transition to online learning.