Diploma in Accounting and Business Studies Students’ Perceptives on Online Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Introduction: The advent and consequent entrenched use of new media technologies in higher education has prompted systems change in many universities across the world. At the University of Botswana, the Centre for Continuing Education (CCE) unveiled a plan to “break down physical lecture-rooms and campus walls” by delivering courses in the Diploma in Accounting and Business Studies (DABS) programme, including to satellite centers, solely through the virtual mode. Driven by the idea of Digital Divide and the hypothesis of lack of access and system challenges, the study investigated the viability of this change considering the inherent social and digital divides in Botswana, and the observation that New Media Technologies often place more emphasis on proliferation of information and communication technologies to the detriment of variables such as economic status, income, and social environment.Objectives: The central question for this study was: Do all students in the DABS programme have “access” to the Internet, mobile technologies and other associated resources to impeccably take part in the online teaching and learning dispensation? Thus, the overarching objective of this study was to unearth whether or not learners enrolled in the DABS programme had access to Internet, mobile technologies and other associated resources to successfully take part in online teaching and learning.Methods: This study used a focus group discussion method involving students’ representatives from all the centers to get their perspectives on online teaching and learning. Results: The study has unveiled that not all DABS students embraced online teaching and learning.Conclusions: It was, therefore, concluded that DABS students have to change their mindset and behaviours towards online-based learning and teaching. They need to adapt to the new norm of online learning