In South Africa COVID-19 was responsible for an immediate transfer of teaching, learning and assessment to the online environment.
Although the pharmacology modules were prepared for hybrid learning, for Professor Werner Cordier, Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Pretoria, the full switch to online took place while he still had ongoing research responsibilities. He had also just started a new management role.
Professor Cordier describes how he sought to cope with the unexpected and unwanted challenges he now faced. The initial belief was that knowledge and passion would overcome all obstacles. Here he reviews what actually happened and what are the lessons for the future.
He describes:
- Very real impacts on the academic teaching staff
- Efforts made to provide manageable technology platforms
- How teaching will be undertaken in the future
Professor Werner will share:
- What he achieved during lockdown
- What he lost and what he gained
- What best practice adaptations are needed in the future to be better equipped to handle major transitions
- How it changed his view of what it means to be a professional academic
