teachingconference
SoLT2025
Confer
"Around Rekindl Teaching
Sub-themes
Foundations Around the Fire- Reclaiming
Ancestral and Indigenous Knowledges
Transformative Sparks: Innovations in Teaching, Learning and Curriculum
Rekindling Belonging: Teaching for Equity, Inclusion, and Justice
Fires of Growth: Academic and Professional Development
Sustainable Pedagogies: Learning for Community and Planet
AI at the Fire: Critical Engagements with Emerging Technologies
Other subthemes that would be deemed relevant to the conference theme but which have not been addressed above
Why Attend?
• Engage in powerful conversations around teaching, learning, and social change
• Explore AI, digital pedagogy, decoloniality, and community-driven curriculum
• Learn from African knowledge systems and global best practices
• Contribute to reimagining higher education through a transformative lens.
Conference Theme: "Around the Ancestral Fire: Rekindling Learning and Teaching for Transformation"
The 1st UWC Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoLT) Conference-2025 theme honours the foundational principles of learning and teaching, while igniting new pathways for academic, professional, and societal transformation. It positions SoLT as a living, relational space one that bridges diverse knowledge systems, embraces global trends such as artificial intelligence and digital pedagogy, and champions the urgent calls for social justice, sustainability, and inclusion in higher education.
This is not just a call to reform it is a call to rekindle. To light the fires of Ubuntu within our classrooms, institutions, and communities. To imagine together what it means to teach and learn in ways that affirm dignity, foster connection, and transform lives, and engage in knowledge production.
The ancestral, Ubuntu fire has long been a sacred space of togetherness in African tradition a place where stories are shared, intergenerational wisdom is passed down, a deep sense of relationality is nurtured, and collective reflection takes root. Anchored within the African philosophy of Ubuntu: “I am because we are”, this theme invites scholars, educators, students, and community partners to gather “around the fire” of shared humanity to reflect and engage in a deep reckoning with the past, while co-creating futures of possibility through inclusive, innovative, and grounded educational practices rooted within SoLT.
Call for Papers: We invite submissions for the University of the Western Cape’s first Scholarship of Learning and Teaching Conference 2025
Conference Sub-themes
1. Foundations Around the Fire- Reclaiming Ancestral and Indigenous Knowledges: Learning and teaching through Ubuntu as philo-praxis for epistemic justice; adopting Artsbased approaches, storytelling, proverbs, oral traditions and intergenerational approaches in learning and teaching; applying African Epistemologies and Indigenous Knowledge Systems; decolonising curriculum and assessment; honouring African intellectual heritage in higher education.
2. Transformative Sparks- Innovations in learning and teaching, and curriculum: Applying creative, critical, and inclusive learning and teaching methods; adopting innovative curriculum design and technology-integrated instruction; implementing gamification, simulations, and immersive learning; designing futures-oriented, locally relevant curricula; focussing on reflective practice and the transformative educator, implementing student-centred learning and teaching methods for success; enhancing quality in learning and teaching; knowledge creation through SoTL.
3. Rekindling Belonging-Teaching for Equity, Inclusion, and Justice: Engaging in Ethical, caring, and reflexive teaching practices; building inclusive learning environments; dismantling structural inequalities in teaching and assessment; implementing creative, critical, and inclusive learning and teaching methods; teaching with historical consciousness: memory, struggle, and justice; teaching for neurodiversity, disability inclusion, and trauma informed approaches; incorporating linguistic inclusivity and mother-tongue education; humanising pedagogy and care in the classroom; co-creating knowledge with students.
4. Fires of Growth-Academic and Professional Development: Elevating SoLT as a transformative academic practice; building SoTL capacity among staff and emerging scholars; engaging in SoTL leadership; adopting practitioner inquiry, reflexivity, and critical reflection; applying mentorship, peer engagement, and collaborative learning and teaching; establishing and maintaining academic development programmes to promote student academic success; facilitating students' engagement with knowledge through building academic literacies.
5. Sustainable Pedagogies- Learning for Community and Planet: Attending to climate justice education and eco-pedagogy; implementing service learning, community-engaged learning and teaching, and co-creation; reimagining the university as a public good; focussing on the Scholarship of Engagement; preparing students for global citizenship rooted in local identity.
6. AI at the Fire- Critical Engagements with Emerging Technologies: Technologyenhanced learning and teaching that serves social justice goals; AI as a co-teacher, co-writer, or co-learner; ethical, critical, and decolonial perspectives on educational technology; preparing students for digital citizenship; how do students engage with knowledge in a time of social media, fake news and generative AI?
7. Other subthemes that would be deemed relevant to the conference theme but which have not been addressed above.
Presentation Formats:
• Academic Papers (oral or poster presentations)
• Reflective Practice Sessions
• Workshops / Interactive Demonstrations
• Community Co-presentations
• Artistic/Creative Engagements (e.g., digital stories, exhibitions)
Expression of Interest Form
Are you interested in attending, presenting, or contributing to the UWC SoLT Conference 2025? Kindly complete the Expression of Interest (EOI) Form to stay updated and help us plan for a transformative experience:
� ��� Click here to express your interest in SoLT 2025
The EOI includes options for:
• Attending the conference
• Presenting a paper or workshop
• Participating in community engagement sessions
• Showcasing creative/arts-based work Formal call for papers and registration details will follow in June 2025.
Why Attend?
• Engage in powerful conversations around teaching, learning, and social change
• Explore AI, digital pedagogy, decoloniality, and community-driven curriculum
• Learn from African knowledge systems and global best practices
• Contribute to reimagining higher education through a transformative lens
For further information, please contact: soltconference@uwc.ac.za Or visit: www.uwc.ac.za/sotl2025
Igniting transformation, innovation and creating communities of practice for SoLT
