Redesigning Teacher Education in the wake of covid-19 and future emergencies: a case of Zimbabwe
Article information:
Volume V 2021, No 1, Pages: 70-95
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24193/JRHE.2021.1.3
Dr. Pfuurai Chimbunde, Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University, Email: chimbundep@gmail.com
Abstract
Globally, the need to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 had rendered the traditional face-to-face educational delivery systems of Higher Education (HE) irrelevant. In light of that, institutions of HE had abruptly introduced online teaching platforms as an alternative, though without auditing the lecturers’ capacities and skills. Informed by the Appreciative Inquiry Model (AIM), this interpretive case study used virtual meetings and WhatsApp discussions to explore the professional limitations of Zimbabwe university lecturers on using the online platforms and their reactions to Teachers Education Programmes in the wake of COVID-19 and future emergencies. 12 lecturers drawn from three purposively selected Zimbabwean universities participated in the case study. Data were generated from questions developed in a way that encouraged the appearance of the Appreciative Inquiry Model stages. Findings suggest that some lecturers in Zimbabwe and possibly in other developing countries are inadequately trained to use online platforms. Institutions of Higher Education are therefore suggested to regularly audit their lecturers’ skills and professionally capacitate them for re-tooling and aligning in order for the skills to match the dictates of future emergencies.
Key words: COVID-19; online platforms; professional limitations; teacher education
