Self-Directed Learning in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic: Research on the affordances of online virtual excursions is published by AOSIS Scholarly Books.

The book is devoted to scholarship in the field of pre-service teacher education, with a specific focus on research into the enhancement of self-directed learning, and contributes to the discourse on creating a disposition towards self-directed learning during the social and academic integration of first-year students within higher education institutions. Two chapters also deal with research on the development of self-directed learning and nuanced understandings of the chosen professions of Law and Health Sciences students. The target audience is scholars working in the fields of teacher education, self-directed learning, engaging pedagogies, problem-based learning, cooperative learning and gamification. Whereas social constructivist learning theory served as an overarching theoretical framework for the virtual excursions, the various chapters in the book also draw on other secondary theories, such as self-determination theory, social interdependence theory, gender theory and the with fitness model of Kounin (1970).

Copyright (c) 2022 Josef de Beer, Neal Petersen, Elsa Mentz, Robert J. Balfour (Volume editor)

The everlasting endeavour to address effective teaching and learning in higher education institutions’ (HEI) teacher education programmes, ensuring well-trained teachers for the future, is emphasised in this book. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted teaching and learning in unmeasurable ways over the past months. Self-directed learning in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic: Research on the affordances of online virtual excursions is a timeous collection of research work that is much needed in current debates on SDL and how to best approach the praxis of teaching and learning considering the challenges faced by South African educators during a pandemic such as COVID-19. The manuscript comprises a collection of various experts’ work, and scholarship, in the field of student (teacher) training. The design-based, mixed-methods research focuses on SDL and the affordances of online virtual excursions in three faculties: Education, Law and Health Sciences. This collective work presents new ideas from research findings to address the challenges surrounding online teaching and learning. Arguments for innovative strategies, such as virtual excursions, to address the quest for quality teaching and learning in an era of a pandemic are presented. Through this collective work, the researchers present new ideas from their findings on how to best prepare the new generation student (teacher) cohort for an unknown future. In conclusion, the manuscript juxtaposes the affordances of face-toface and virtual excursions, and showing the affordances of both face-to-face and online student excursions in terms of promoting SDL and an emerging professional identity.

Dr Marie-Louise Botha, Department of Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa