COVID-19 Virtual Teaching and Learning Impact on TVET Students’ Academic Success

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated many essential modifications across all sectors of the economy, including the education sector. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training lecturers were offered via a blended mode. The COVID-19 pandemic commanded entire Virtual Teaching and Learning for these students and lecturers. The article looks at the impact of student academic success due to only Virtual Teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Windhoek, Namibia. This study employed a quantitative approach to collect data from the TVET Department students of 2020 cohorts. For this purpose, an online survey was developed and deployed via Qualtrics to 240 students. The article’s main findings revealed that Virtual Teaching and Learning contributed to students’ academic success, as proven by the 75 % graduation number of these participants. However, the participants stated that technical problems and reduced motivation are the two most significant challenges most participants encountered during the COVID-19 Virtual Teaching and Learning. Furthermore, Virtual Teaching and Learning is an alternative mode of study to avoid the costs associated with frequent traveling to attend face-to-face classes. The article further emphasizes the need to integrate digital inclusion within Technical and Vocational Education and Training. Finally, continuous infrastructure and support systems improvement must be implemented to promote equitable access to technical and vocational education training.