ISRRT_COVID-19_book

computer literate students needed some time to read and reread the questions and
associated instructions. It happened that some of them could not complete the tests. This
was not because they did not know the answers, but needed time to know how to navigate
the system. Having raised this concern in the first on-line test, students appreciated the
allocation of more time for the subsequent tests. Other problems related to the types of
questions asked. The example is having too many matching questions. Students complained
that they scroll down that screen and even move onto the second page trying to locate the
matching answer. This was resolved by having a smaller number of questions in a table. This
way, navigating for answer was less cumbersome.
Impact on community engagement projects.
The policy on community engagement at the University of Pretoria defines curricular
community engagement as a program-based approach to the integration of communitybased
and/ or work-based engagement in the curriculum of a formal academic program. This
includes the activities that are undertaken in communities as well as the clinical training
environment. During the onset of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown restrictions,
communication was coming from both Department of Higher Education (DHET) and the
regulatory Authorities like the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) and the
South African Nursing Council (SANC) as to how students should be accommodated in
meeting their clinical training hours. There were also messages coming from the regulatory
councils providing guidance on how the stipulated clinical hours could be adapted or noted.
This created a state of anxiety in students that they started fearing that they will not be able
to meet their obligations to register as professionals at the end of their study times.
When nursing students learnt that some higher education institutions have actually called
back the students to the clinical training environment to continue with clinical training, they
started making demands that they be allowed to return. This demand was sparked by the fact
the SANC has not adjusted the clinical training hours. As these students started making
demands, as lecturers we knew that the radiography students will also demand that they be
given a chance to resume their clinical training. There were however the challenges in the
institution with regards to accommodating the students in residences. The DHET had also
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