Preparing for online teaching and learning

26 March 2020 | DVC A/PROF LIS LANGE

Dear colleagues

The declaration of a national lockdown has once again required changes to our planning for teaching and learning at the University of Cape Town (UCT) during the coronavirus pandemic.

Following sector consultations, universities have agreed that there will be a sector-wide date for the reopening of academic activities on 20 April. Taking this into account, the schedule for Term 2 (weeks 6 to 12 of the first semester) will now be as follows:

20–24 April: Learning Online Orientation for students

27 April: first week of teaching starts

UCT will be distributing laptops to those undergraduate students on financial aid who fell outside the net of support of the university’s laptop programme. We have identified a company that will be able to deliver these laptops to students after 17 April.

We will be running a survey of technological and environmental readiness among our students to ascertain their various needs. This will help course convenors get a better sense of what the challenges for online learning might be. The survey will be conducted via SMS to ensure maximum coverage.

The Learning Online Orientation week will be devoted to ensuring that as many students as possible are present and ready to start learning and to iron out any problems in terms of student support, Vula use, etc.

We are doing everything in our power to counter the difficulties that some students might experience with remote learning. We know that despite these efforts there will be some students who will need the opportunity of attending these courses face-to-face. We are making alternative plans for this to take place once students are back on campus. We acknowledge the burden that repeating courses face-to-face will place on staff, and we appreciate the willingness that many of you have shown in this regard out of concern for our most vulnerable students.

UCT will make available extra resources to be able to cope with the extra demand, like funding to appoint more tutors and teaching assistants. We are also working on developing a new academic calendar that takes into account the needs of our academic programmes, such as time for practicals and fieldwork, once we have resumed face-to-face teaching.

Thanks to your response to our survey of needs and readiness, our colleagues in the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) have been able to start supporting staff and scheduling their work to help academics refashion their courses to a different mode of teaching.

Work continues apace to develop appropriate guidelines and support systems for all students. We are also working with faculties and the Office of the Registrar to develop an appropriate framework for assessment and quality assurance over this period. These will be submitted to the Senate Executive Committee and Senate for approval.

We are aware of the anxiety that many academics are experiencing at the prospect of teaching remotely, as well as the uncertainty about how effective tutorial support will be under the current circumstances. We will not know the answer to some of these questions until we start working online. We are already working with faculties that, due to the organisation of their undergraduate teaching, find remote teaching especially challenging. We will provide alternatives that do not jeopardise the quality of teaching that students  receive or the quality assurance of our courses.

As indicated in my previous communication, we will keep you updated as we finalise further documents to guide us in this task. We are in permanent contact with the faculties through the Teaching Online Task Team (TOTT) and through the many academics that are working directly with the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT). It is imperative for the success of our work that we all move forward with a common approach, even as we allow for necessary differences between faculties.

On behalf of the UCT executive, I would like to thank each member of staff in the faculties and support services who are working against the clock to be able to launch our remote teaching programme next month.

I am keeping all of you in my thoughts.

Yours sincerely,

Associate Professor Lis Lange

Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning


Updates will be posted on UCT’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 feature page on the UCT News website.


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UCT’s response to COVID-19

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that caused President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a national disaster in South Africa on 15 March 2020 and to implement a national lockdown from 26 March 2020. UCT is taking the threat of infection in our university community extremely seriously, and this page will be updated with the latest COVID-19 information. Please note that the information on this page is subject to change depending on current lockdown regulations.

Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, has in June 2022 repealed some of South Africa’s remaining COVID-19 regulations: namely, sections 16A, 16B and 16C of the Regulations Relating to the Surveillance and the Control of Notifiable Medical Conditions under the National Health Act. We are now no longer required to wear masks or limit gatherings. Venue restrictions and checks for travellers coming into South Africa have now also been removed.

In July 2022, the University of Cape Town (UCT) revised its approach to managing the COVID-19 pandemic on UCT campuses in 2022.
Read the latest document available on the UCT policies web page.

 

Campus communications

 
2022

Adjusting to our new environment 16:50, 23 June 2022
VC Open Lecture and other updates 17:04, 13 April 2022
Feedback from UCT Council meeting of 12 March 2022 09:45, 18 March 2022
UCT Council
March 2022 graduation celebration 16:45, 8 March 2022
Report on the meeting of UCT Council of 21 February 2022 19:30, 21 February 2022
UCT Council
COVID-19 management 2022 11:55, 14 February 2022
Return to campus arrangements 2022 11:15, 4 February 2022

UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre

On Wednesday, 20 July, staff from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Sciences came together with representatives from the Western Cape Government at the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre at Forest Hill Residence to acknowledge the centre’s significance in the fight against COVID-19 and to thank its staff for their contributions. The centre opened on 1 September 2021 with the aim of providing quality vaccination services to UCT staff, students and the nearby communities, as well as to create an opportunity for medical students from the Faculty of Health Sciences to gain practical public health skills. The vaccination centre ceased operations on Friday, 29 July 2022.

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.

 

“After almost a year of operation, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, located at the Forest Hill residence complex in Mowbray, will close on Friday, 29 July 2022. I am extremely grateful and proud of all staff, students and everyone involved in this important project.”
– Vice-Chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.


Thank You UCT Community

Frequently asked questions

 

Global Citizen Asks: Are COVID-19 Vaccines Safe & Effective?

UCT’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) collaborated with Global Citizen, speaking to trusted experts to dispel vaccine misinformation.



If you have further questions about the COVID-19 vaccine check out the FAQ produced by the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF). The DTHF has developed a dedicated chat function where you can ask your vaccine-related questions on the bottom right hand corner of the website.

IDM YouTube channel | IDM website
 

 

“As a contact university, we look forward to readjusting our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in 2023 as the COVID-19 regulations have been repealed.”
– Prof Harsha Kathard, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning

We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will be updating the UCT community regularly – as and when there are further updates. If you are concerned or need more information, students can contact the Student Wellness Service on 021 650 5620 or 021 650 1271 (after hours), while staff can contact 021 650 5685.

 

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