Our teaching in 2021 will be guided by keeping students and staff safe and creating an optimal environment for teaching and learning activities to continue.
To achieve these two essential objectives, the Commerce Faculty will offer all undergraduate courses (from 1st to final year) in a physically distanced learning mode (PDL) during 2021.
For students who will be required to run large datasets or application development software such as Visual Studio, the above specification will not be sufficient and the following should be considered:
i5/i7 Processor
16GB of RAM
250GB hard drive minimum
Please consult with your course convener to ask about the recommended hardware specs to run the software required in specific courses.
Further details regarding special deals on laptops for students can be found here.
PDL means that the key orientation activities and first semester lectures and tutorials will be offered online. Assessments (for example tests and exams) during and at the end of each semester will be invigilated for certain courses in appropriate venues on campus. Invigilation means that you write in a venue - with invigilators present - and the assessment is set for a particular duration. Please refer the First Semester and Second Semester undergraduate course requirements for details of whether assessments are online or on campus. Each course convenor decides how teaching activities are offered. There are two types of online teaching: synchronous or asynchronous format. Synchronous means that you need to log on at a particular time and take part in a live-teaching activity. Asynchronous refers to a learning activity where material is uploaded to the course Vula site. You can study it in your time but must meet the timelines that will be given for completion. We expect that most lectures will be held in an asynchronous format while some tutorials (or workshops) will be synchronous.
What does that mean in practice?
Students are expected to attend all synchronous teaching and learning activities.
For each course, the course convener will communicate the form/s of assessment.
To successfully take part in PDL, each student is required to have sufficient connectivity and access to complete the expected 45 weekly hours throughout the semester. This will require at a minimum:
Access to a computer with appropriate soft– and hardware to maintain a stable internet connection and access relevant software.
Uninterrupted internet access with no data restrictions.
Stable internet connectivity to the UCT required platforms (Vula, library resources, Office 365, STATA).
