The Influence of COVID-19 on Students’ Learning: Access and Participation in Higher Education in Southern Africa

Abstract

Recent experiences of institutions in COVID-19 have heightened the need for research on its impact on higher education institutions globally. This article’s authors are from higher learning institutions in Botswana, South Africa and Zambia, which used a blended learning model before COVID- 19. Most of their students used the traditional part of blended learning, depending on the print, postal service, and face-to-face. These students’ access and participation in learning during COVID-19 were negatively affected. Using Digital Equity as a framework, this paper explores the influence of COVID-19 on students’ access and participation in online learning. There seem to be significant disparities in access and participation in high-quality technologies and severe educational inequities. This digital inequality impact calls for civic awareness in digital literacy among the citizenry if the gap between the rural and urban, have and have not digital immigrants and digital natives are to be bridged