Dear School of IT students
I am so excited that our learning and teaching will resume soon.
All your lecturers have been working so hard at adjusting the modules so that we can fit it into the timelines that will allow you to complete the academic year. I want to briefly explain the way forward to you so that you can understand what the plan is and that you do not unduly get anxious about your studies.
As you would have seen from Prof Muthwa’s communication there are 2 pathways that will allow you to complete your academic year. Pathway 1 will be off campus online learning and teaching and pathway 2 will be on campus learning and teaching. I want to emphasise that both pathways cover exactly the same work and will have the same requirements for passing. The need for the 2 pathways is to allow those of you who have access to work from home to do so and complete your modules. This will allow those who don’t have access to safely return to campus at a date to be announced by the president. By safely I mean that the class sizes will be smaller due to pathway 1 students having finished, and thus it makes physical distancing in labs possible. Please also view the dean’s video or .pdf document to ensure that you are familiar with the approach taken in EBET. This is in line with the university’s approach, but is a more specific to the Faculty of EBET context.
You will also be contacted by your lecturers to indicate to them if you have internet access or not. Obviously those who have no access at all may not be able to respond, but your lecturers will still be aware of you, as they will all check their class registers and make note of the responses. We encourage those who can access devices and data to follow pathway 1.
Lastly, most, of your modules will also change to continuous assessment. This means that there will be no exam written in the traditional sense but rather multiple assignments that must be completed successfully, as well as a “end of module assessment”. Your lecturers will explain these requirements to you as they will differ for each module.
Please stay in touch with your lecturers and your classmates as much as possible to ensure that you do not feel more isolated and alone than you already do. We are all sailing unfamiliar waters but if we stand together we will get through this much easier than if we try do it alone. Ask for help, and as always my “door”, now email is open to you for any queries and concerns.
Stay safe, stay healthy and stay at home.