Educational Innovations for Coping Up with Covid-19 Situation in South African Universities

Abstract

Purpose: In this paper, researcher describe how the educational innovations and creativity affects the efficiency and performance of the Universities in South Africa in their bid to cope with challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning of the 2020 academic year. Method: The researcher used the cross-sectional research design. The data was collected through a survey with the help of a well-developed questionnaire. Respondents were the employees of university of Johannesburg South Africa selected through a simple random sampling technique. A framework of hypotheses was prepared to establish the relationships between the variables Creativity, Efficiency, Performance and Innovation. SEM-PLS was used for the analysis of data. Findings: We conclude by examining how these educational innovations creativity have been able the assist the Universities in mitigating the adverse effects of what could have resulted in the loss of a significant part of the 2020 academic year. Educational creativity and innovation significantly improve the Universities’ performance by enhancing the efficiency of the employees. Implications for Research and Practice: It is recommended that the foundation laid through these innovations should be built upon in the future to provide a platform for ‘new normal’ in teaching and learning in South African Universities particularly as the Higher Educational Institutions are being enabled to accommodate the disruptions in teaching and learning process due to any troublesome situation