Consulting Teaching and Learning at a Zimbabwe University During Covid-19: Roadmap to Recovery and Beyond

Efiritha Chauraya and Wonder Muchabaiwa
Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
Email: efirithachauraya@fastermail.com/chaurayae@staff.msu.ac.zw

Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic has caused probably the most significant world-wide disruptions in all sectors of the economy in human history. This study prescribes a Zimbabwe state university where little has been done to explore what can be done to prepare the institution to have students continue learning in the face of any threat similar to Covid-19. The study provides snippets of lecturers’ and students’ reflections on their experiences with teaching and learning during the Covid-19 era. Utilising a qualitative approach that employed face-to-face semi structured interviews, data was solicited from 10 lecturers and 20 students. Data was thematically analysed. Both positive aspects and negative outcomes of teaching and learning during the covid crisis were recorded, and from these outcomes, lessons which will help the university systems withstand future emergencies and crises were drawn. These lessons are the novelty and contribution of the study. Key among the lessons were that the institution: continues mobilizing resources to build and strengthen support for teaching-learning, strengthen the registration process, develop a system for online examinations, lobby government to subsidise cost of data bundles, and increase connectivity to remote parts as well as offer online counselling services for students and lecturers.