E-Book Online Repository

This article, situated within a scholarship of teaching and learning paradigm, is a reflective report on the development of an e-book online repository project at Nelson Mandela University (NMU), which responded to the immediate need for digital and blended learning approaches during the coronavirus pandemic. The article offers a qualitative analysis of the project’s trajectory from conceptualization to the production of the first four annual editions. The objective of the project was twofold: (1) to design and implement a multifaceted digital work-integrated activity that would enable media and communication students to put into practice the skills they would usually gain via contact teaching, and (2) to find a method for storing and exhibiting staff and student work for use as case studies in the event of future global crises that may again require transitioning to online learning. Drawing on crystallization as a methodology and a theoretical framework comprising blended learning, digital archiving, and affordance theory, the discussion offers a critical reflection on project planning, challenges faced, and the novel approaches developed and applied to address them in the process of producing the e-book online repository. In conclusion, the article illustrates the advantages of the online repository as a teaching and archiving tool, in addition to offering areas of future research and improvement in terms of participant engagement and technological limitations.