Introducing online professional development workshops in the context of a changing South African Education context

1. Introducing the CTLM
online workshop series
Rita Kizito
28-06-2017

2. Where do you want to be personally in 5 – 10
years time ?
• Do you want to have a family?
• Do you want to stay in academia?
• Would you prefer to work in a research-
intensive or a teaching-focused institution?
Share some of these experiences with a partner
you don’t know and then introduce this partner to
the group

3. • #feesmustfall
• Transformed, decolonized &
relevant curriculum
• CHE requirements for the
enhancement of the Quality
teaching & learning
• “…the discourse about
professional learning and
development is characterized
by ‘conceptual vagueness’”
(Clegg 2003,p.37)
South African University Context

4. Change is the only constant…
• How can we ensure that we
are developing the kinds of
graduates from our courses
and programs that are fit for
an increasingly volatile,
uncertain, complex and
ambiguous future?
• What should we continue to
protect in our teaching
methods (and institutions),
and what needs to change?”
Tony Bates
“Teaching in a Digital
Age”
( 2016 p.13-14)

5. Nelson Mandela University
…
…be a dynamic African university, recognised for its
leadership in generating cutting-edge knowledge for a
sustainable future
…offer a diverse range of quality educational
opportunities that will make a critical and constructive
contribution to regional, national and global
sustainability.
VISIONMISSION

6. About Nelson Mandela University
• A Comprehensive University
• Located in the Eastern Cape
• 7 faculties
• Largely undergraduate with an intention to increase
the Post Graduate cohort

8. Re-imagining Higher Education
• Requires an approach which is a fusion between calls for radical
transformation and “dismantling of Eurocentrism and epistemic violence”
(Heleta, 2016), and a well-thought out evolutionary process of adopting
“ an African philosophy of education that explores the lives of African
communities and their situations” (Waghid, 2004, p.56).
• Focuses on strengthening the institutional identity, values & culture as
the foundation for improving the teaching and learning quality for
staff, undergraduate and post graduate student development.
• Disciplinary expertise and research related to enhancing
epistemological access, multilingualism and inclusivity provides the
context for the teaching, learning & assessment .
• Requires commitment, time & resources.
• Higher Education practices are centred on learning, development &
the student success , with the academic central to their fulfilment.
• Involves the recognition of innovative, technology-enhanced teaching
& active learning, sharing excellence and distributed leadership across
units & faculties to create an institutional, distinctive culture of Higher

9. Low numbers
of academic
staff
qualified/
developed as
teachers
High
numbers of
academic
staff
qualified/
developed as
teachers
Good infrastructure (additional space for
extra year) and good resources (e.g.,WiFi,
tablets with preloaded materials, etc.)
Poor infrastructure and poor resources
A perfect SA
university
Students benefit from
good teaching and
resources
What were we
thinking?
Students have extra year
of bad teaching in a poor
environment…
Throw money at the
problem
The students get tablets – but
does anyone know how to use
them?!
Teaching in the void
Teaching is great, but can
the students learn
without adequate
resources?
A scenario planning tool for the implementation of a
four-year BA at university X….
Professor Chis Winberg,TALHE, 2014

10. Introducing the CTLM Online workshop series
The workshops have been designed to:
• Add to the range of information and resources each
academic already has
• Cultivate a community for exchanging teaching and
learning development best practices
• Connect NMMU academics with support internal and
external networks

11. Workshop titles
• Engaging and Teaching first year students
• Principles of facilitation
• Good practice tapestry for NMMU teaching and learning
• Reflecting on good teaching and learning
• Innovative assessment to support student success
• Academic Literacies through Multilingualism
• Assessing academic writing
• Approaches to Evaluation
URL : http://learn.nmmu.ac.za/course/view.php?id=4718

12. Bates,T. (2016).Teaching in a digital age. Available
at:[https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/]
Clegg, S. (2003). Problematizing ourselves: Continuing professional development in Higher
Education. International Journal for Academic Development 8(12): 37-50.
Heleta, S. (2016). Decolonisation of higher education: Dismantling epistemic violence and
Eurocentrism in South Africa. Transformation in Higher Education, 1(1), 8.
Waghid,Y. (2004). African philosophy of education: implications for teaching and learning:
perspectives on higher education. South African Journal of Higher Education, 18(3), 56-64.
Winberg, C ( 2014). Presentation at TALHE,2014
References

13. Thank-you