Digital Curricular Transformation and Fourth Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR): Deepening Divides or Building Bridges

Orhe Arek-Bawa ORCID iD & Sarasvathie Reddy ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.3  No.11 October 2022 Post COVID-19 Special Issue  Article 23 pp.308-326
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022sp31124 |   Published online 7th November 2022.
© 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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As the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to a standstill, many traditional contact higher education institutions, such as the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), embraced the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to pursue their mandates. Such transitions necessitate transforming existing curricula into digitised versions that infuse digital technologies into programme delivery and embed digital learning experiences students need to thrive in the 4IR workplace. However, two years into online education, the extent to which the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) curriculum in the School of Education (SoE) at UKZN integrates digital technologies in programme offerings remain largely uncertain. This article therefore aims to ascertain how the B.Ed curriculum of the SoE has been digitally transformed to support the production of teachers who are prepared for the 4IR classroom. It further explores whether or not the digital curriculum transformation of the B.Ed curriculum deepens the existing digital divide amongst students or builds bridges for digital learning. Stufflebeam’s context, input, process, and product (CIPP) model was relied upon to appreciate students’ digital learning experiences through a qualitative content review of twelve curriculum templates and moderation reports.  The findings suggested varied learning experiences of content and digital skills for students who engaged with the digital B.Ed curriculum while pointing to a possible epistemological limitation for some students due the contextual digital divide. Insights from this article will be helpful to academics and the institution in their quest to produce graduates for the 4IR classroom while making a timeous contribution to the scholarship of teaching and learning to enhance sustainable post-COVID-19 pedagogical practices.

Keywords: Digital transformation, 4IR classroom, Digitalised curriculum, Digital divide.

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Dr. Orhe Arek-Bawa is a Postdoctoral Fellow – Higher Education Studies at the School of Education Higher Education Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her research focuses on Digital transformation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Assessment and Cognitive demand, Development, use, and adoption of electronic textbooks in Accounting Education and Virtual learning in Higher Education.

Prof. Sarasvathie Reddy is an Associate Professor of Higher Education Studies and the Academic Leader of the Education and Development Studies Cluster – School of Education Higher Education Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her research focuses on Diversity in higher education, Curriculum development and design, Doctoral education, Academic staff and student development and Assessing learning in the higher education context.

Arek-Bawa, O. & Reddy,S. “Digital Curricular Transformation and Fourth Industrial Revolution 4.0 (4IR): Deepening Divides or Building Bridges,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 3, no.11 (2022):308-326.  https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2022sp31124

© 2022 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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