Exploring the online learning experience of first-year speech-language pathology students in a Johannesburg-based university.

BACKGROUND:  Understanding the learning experiences of first-year speech-language pathology (SLP) students during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is essential to ensure that academic staff are able to support and enhance the transition from secondary to tertiary education. An understanding of the student experience could lead to improved support strategies that could be beneficial for the blended learning environment that the University of the Witwatersrand will be entering from 2022. OBJECTIVES:  This research explored the experiences of first-year SLP students in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD:  An exploratory mixed-method concurrent triangulation design was employed. Quantitative data were collected from likert scales. Qualitative data were collected from critical incident timelines. Themes were identified from both the Likert scales as well as the critical incident timelines using bottom-up thematic analysis. RESULTS:  The majority of participants reflected that their online learning through the pandemic in 2021 was successful. The themes that emerged from this year pertain to 2021 and the specific participants however, it provides an important insight that the students' needs change during a year. As a lecturer, one needs to consider these evolving needs to ensure students have the support that they require to be successful in their learning. CONCLUSION:  This research provided insights into the evolving nature of the support first-year SLP students require in the online learning space during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Transformation in a Speech-Language Pathology University Program in South Africa

Purpose: The far-reaching and extensive ramifications of COVID-19 from the impact on people, sectors, livelihoods, lifestyles, and typical day-to-day routines may only be fully realized over the next decade. Over and above the health sector, education was also hard hit. The harmful effects of the sudden cessation of synchronous learning for learners at every phase of education in South Africa remain perplexing and not yet fully understood. For students in their senior years of qualification in degrees at university, the ramifications of COVID-19 over 2020 have been especially significant given their certain entry into the work arena in 2021. Method: This article highlights how the understanding of the full impact of COVID-19 in the university space cannot be separated from the struggles that have and continue to permeate higher education in South African universities since the fall of apartheid. Results: The need for tangible data showing evidence of transformation within lecture spaces, teaching content, staff and student diversity, as well as access and belonging by students within the academic space, has been less than ideal. Thus, despite the writings in policy, evidence of real change at the ground level has been sparse. Although it is easy to nonchalantly overlook a small department, such as that of speech-language pathology, within the larger higher education sector in Johannesburg, South Africa, we showcase what we believe were gains in transformation in our department, until the somewhat rude appearance of COVID-19. Conclusion: Despite a notable difference in the digital divide between students with and without access (financial, technological, and time), the promulgation for asynchronous online learning to ensure adherence to academic and clinical competency bode well for some, but not all, students.