2021 Teaching & Learning Report

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT

THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2021

1.1 Message from the DVC Teaching and Learning 1

1.2 SMART learning environment and SMART universities 7

1.3 Enhancing student success and beyond 13

3

TEACHING AND LEARNING: ACADEMIC SUPPORT, INNOVATION AND CREATING FUTURES

3.1 Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) 82

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

2.1 Faculty of Applied Science 15

2.2 Faculty of Business and Management Sciences 25

2.3 Faculty of Education 35 2.4 Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment 43

2.5 Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences 59 2.6 Faculty of Informatics and Design 66

3.2 Centre for Innovative Educational Technology (CIET) Teaching and Learning Report 95

3.3 Centre for Professional and Personal Development (CPPD) 103

3.4 Centre for Community Engagement and Work-Integrated Learning 105

3.5 CPUT Libraries 123

3.6 Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships (SIP) Directorate 128

45

INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING AND LEARNING IMPERATIVES

HOLISTIC STUDENT SUPPORT AND INITIATIVE TOWARDS STUDENT SUCCESS

4.1 Language development 133

4.2 Academic planning and the development of HEQSF-aligned qualifications 135

4.3 Graduate attributes and the decolonial agenda in 2021 138

4.4 The new CPUT strategy and policy on learning, teaching and assessment 140

5.1 Department of Student Counselling 144

5.2 Disability Unit (DU) 153

CPUT Disability Unit: Frequently Asked Questions 156

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

1.1 Message from the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning

DVC Message

Academic year 2021 continued to hold many lessons for CPUT as staff and students demonstrated resilience and tenacity by concluding the year in the given time. As we move toward a post-lockdown phase, great strides by CPUT have led to an environment which is agile in response to rapid shifts in learning and teaching while remaining cognisant of staff and student experience. Currently, we find ourselves at a point in time, as stated by Du Plessis et al. (2022: 1), whereafter “the unprecedented changes experienced in higher education due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a need to integrate initial thoughts and reflective experience to decide on the way forward”. Aligned to the principles and values of CPUT’s Vision 2030, the Teaching and Learning Report 2021 aptly captures the outcomes of the reflexivity and tireless efforts of the CPUT learning and teaching community, as the authors suggest.

One such achievement is the council approved Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Policy, Rules and Procedures. This policy serves as an overarching framework for multimodal learning, teaching and assessment, including the use of technology, for all levels of study at CPUT, with consideration given to the experiences of the past two years. Through a collaborative effort, this progressive policy addresses teaching and learning face-to-face, blended or fully online; and covers all aspects including curriculum and programme development, learning and teaching practice, work-integrated learning, assessment, moderation, learner analytics and student feedback on teaching and courses in ways that will render us even more agile to future disruptions. As a departure from the traditional, teaching-centred approach, the policy focusses on learning and teaching and on encouraging opportunities for collaboration, co-creation and engagement between staff and students as fundamental principles of Vision 2030. Operationalising the LTA policy, a comprehensive institutional Learning and Teaching Strategy was developed and filtered through to Faculty and Centre level. Building One Smart CPUT remains at the heart of the learning and teaching strategy with the aim of fostering a sense of belonging and connectedness.

As a supporting document, the Learning and Teaching Strategy (LTS) provides further guidance for the implementation of the CPUT Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Policy and facilitates the realisation

Prof Rishidaw Balkaran DVC Teaching and Learning

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2021 1

of V2030 (Oneness and Smartness) through curriculum renewal and innovative pedagogic practices. As we move into a new phase of the pandemic, an institutional postlockdown guideline toolkit was developed to reimagine and rethink approaches to learning, teaching, research WiL and community engagement in higher education. Included in the guideline are five critical themes: 1) the University as a Social Space; 2) Technical considerations: Rethinking Approaches to Delivering the Curriculum; 3) Philosophies and Pedagogies for Learning, Teaching, Research, WiL and Community Engagement; 4) Educational Technology – Learning Design and Data Analytics; and 5) Reconsidering Infrastructure in the “New Normal”. These themes framed the thinking about strategies that will take us forward once lockdown ends. The post-lockdown toolkit will assist in decision-making and planning for Lockdown Level Zero (LL0) and beyond.

There was much to celebrate in 2021, such as the recipients of the 2021 Institutional Teaching Excellence Awards, Dr Candice Livingstone (Faculty of Education) and Prof Oluwaseun Oyekola (Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment), as well as Faculty and Departmental awardees. We are proud to have three staff members – Drs Cynthia Dube (Faculty of Business Management Sciences), Ignatius Ticha (Faculty of Applied Sciences) and Candice Livingstone (Faculty of Education) – selected to participate in the Teaching Advancement at University (TAU), a nationally recognised teaching fellowship programme.

While the impact of Covid-19 is not yet fully understood, we are reminded by Duby et al. (2022) that it is often the “most marginalized and vulnerable sectors of society are likely to have been disproportionately affected by the educational

impacts of COVID-19 related closures and educational disruptions”. We take this opportunity to commend our students on their academic achievements in 2021, who despite working under the most difficult circumstances, completed the year. As a university, we remain resolute and committed to developing an environment conducive to positive student experiences, the provision of holistic support and ensuring our graduates are skilled for the 21st century and beyond.

Finally, a sincere thanks to the learning and teaching community, who through a collective effort, provided the necessary support, encouragement and care. This Teaching and Learning Report is a celebration of these practices and educational successes.

References

du Plessis, M., Jansen van Vuuren, C.D., Simons, A., Frantz, J., Roman, N., & Andipatin, M. (2022). South African Higher Education Institutions at the Beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Sense-Making and Lessons Learnt. Front. Educ. 6:740016. doi: 10.3389/ feduc.2021.740016

Duby, Z., Jonas, K., Bunce, B., Bergh, K., Maruping, K., Fowler, C., Reddy, T., Govindasamy, D. & Mathews, C. (2022). Navigating Education in the Context of COVID-19 Lockdowns and School Closures: Challenges and Resilience Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa. Front. Educ. 7:856610. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.856610

Aligned to the principles and values of CPUT’s Vision

2030, the Teaching and Learning Report

2021 aptly captures the outcomes of the reflexivity and tireless efforts of the CPUT learning and teaching community,

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Umyalezo weDVC

Unyaka ka-2021 kwezemfundo ufundise lukhulu kubasebenzi nakubafundi baseCPUT kodwa baqhubeka ukubonisa ukomelela namandla ngokuthi bawugqibe unyaka ngexesha elimiselweyo. Nanjengoko sisondela kwinqanaba lokuphela kokuvalwa ngci kwesizwe/ilokhudawuni, iCPUT ithathe inyathelo eliya phambili elikhokelele kwisimo sokwenza izinto ngokukhawuleza ukumelana neenguqu zokufunda nokufundisa kodwa oko akwenzi ukuba amava abasebenzi nabafundi angathathelwa ngqalelo. Kula maxesha, sizibona sijongene nokwachazwa nguDu Plessis et al. (2022: 1), apho athi “iinguqu ezininzi ezingazange zabonwa ngaphambili zifumaneka kwezemfundo ephakamileyo ngenxa yobhubhane weKhovidi-19, kukho imfuneko yokudibanisa iimbono zangaphambili kunye namava ngokunzulu ukuze sicinge indlela eya phambili”. Ngokuhambelana nemigomo kunye nemimiselo yeMbono yaseCPUT ka-2030, iNgxelo ka-2021 yokuFunda nokuFundisa iziphuhlisa ngokucacileyo iziphumo zeenzame zokumela nesimo nezokungaphelelwa ngamandla okufunda nokufundisa ngumphakathi waseCPUT, nanjengoko umbhali ecebisa.

Enye yezinto ezibonisa le mpumelelo yiPolisi yokuFunda, ukuFundisa kunye noHlolo (i-LTA) eyaphunyezwa libhunga. Le polisi isebenza njengesakhelo/njengesikhokelo esingundlela-ninzi sokufunda, ukufundisa nohlolo, okuquka ukusetyenziswa kwethekhnoloji/kobuchwephesha, kumanqanaba onke emfundo eCPUT, esinike ingqwalasela kumava eminyaka emibini edlulileyo. Ngobambiswano, le polisi eyinkqubela phambili icacisa ngendlela yokufunda nokufundisa kujongenwe ubuso ngobuso, iyindibaniselwano yokujongana ubuso ngobuso okanye ubuxhakaxhaka bonxibelelwano; iquka yonke imiba yekharityhulam nokuveliswa kwenkqubo, imisebenzi yokufunda nokufundisa, ukufunda okuyidibaniselana nokusebenza (ukusebenzaokuhlangene nokusebenza), uhlolo, ukuhlelwa/ukuphononongwa komsebenzi/kwamanqaku, ukuphicothwa kwemo yomfundi kunye nengxelo yomfundi kwindlela yokufundiswa nakwiikhosi neyakuthi yenze ukuba simelane ngokugqibeleleyo nokukhawulezileyo kwiziphazamisi kwixesha elizayo. Njengendlela yokusuka kwindlela yakudala yokufundisa, ipolisi inika ingqwalasela kwindlela yokufunda nokufundisa kwanokukhuthaza ukwenzeka kwamathuba entsebenziswano, uyilo ngentsebenziswano kwakunye nonxibelelwano phakathi kwabasebenzi nabafundi njengondoqo wemigomo yoMbono ka-2030. Ngenjongo yokusetyenziswa kwepolisi i-LTA, isiCwangciso-qhinga/iSitratheji esipheleleyo sokuFundisa nokuFunda seziko sayilwa saza sangeniswa kwinqanaba leFakhalthi neleSenta. Ukwakhiwa kweCPUT eNye eHlakaniphileyo/i-One Smart CPUT kungundoqo kwistratheji/kwisicwangciso-qhinga sokufundisa nokufunda ngenjongo yokukhuthaza ukuziva uyinxalenye kukho nonxibelelwano/ubunye.

Prof Rishidaw Balkaran DVC Teaching and Learning

ACHIEVEMENTS

Njengolunye uxwebhu olusisixhasi ngolwazi, isiCwangciso-qhinga sokuFundisa nokuFunda (i-LTS) sinika isikhokelo esongezelelweyo sokusetyenziswa kwePolisi yaseCPUT yokuFundisa, ukuFunda kunye noHlolo sikwaququzelela ukuqatshelwa kwe-V2030 (Ubunye kunye neNtlakanipho) ngemisebenzi ejongene nokuvuselelwa kwekharityhulam nemfundo enobuchule. Nanjengoko singena kwinqanaba elitsha likabhubhane, isixhobo seziko elisisisikhokelo sexesha lokudlula kokuvalwa ngci kwesizwe/selokhudawuni senziwe ukwenzela ukubona nokucinga ngokutsha iindlela zokufunda, ukufundisa, uphando i-WiL kwakunye nentsebenziswano noluntu kwimfundo ephakamileyo. Okuqukiweyo kwesi sikhokelo yimixholo emihlanu ebalulekileyo: 1) iYunivesithi njengeNdawo yeNtlalo; 2) Imiba yobuChwepheshe enokuqatshelwa: indawo yokuCinga Ngokutsha iiNdlela Zokwazisa iKharityhulam; 3) Iifilosofi neeNdlela zobuchule/iiPhedagoji zokuFunda, ukuFundisa, uPhando, i-WiL kunye neNtsebenziswano noLuntu; 4) iMfundo yobuChwephesha – uYilo lokuFundisa, kunye noHlalutyo lweDatha; kwakunye 5) Nokucinga ngokutsha ngeziseko Zezakhiwo “kwiSiqhelo Esitsha”. Le mixholo ibe ziziseko zokucinga ngobuqhinga obuya kusisa phambili xa ilokhudawuni ifikela esiphelweni. Isixhobo sexesha lokudlula kwelokhudawuni siyakunceda ekuthatheni isigqibo nokucwangcisela iNqaba leSiphelo/uZiro Lokhudawuni (i-LLO) nangaphaya.

Kuninzi esinokukubhiyozela ku-2021, okufana nokubhiyozela abo bafumene amaWonga eZiko ka2021 okuFundisa ngokuGqwesileyo, uGqr. Candice

Livingstone (weFakhalthi yezeMfundo) kunye noNjing. Oluwaseun Oyekola (weFakhalthi yezoBunjineli noLwakhiwo lokusiNgqongileyo), kwakunye nabawongiweyo beFakhalthi nabamaSebe. Sinovuyo ukubanamalungu abasebenzi amathathu – OoGqr. uCynthia Dube (weFakhalthi yeeSayensi zoLawulo lwezoShishino), u-Ignatius Ticha (weFakhalthi yeeSayensi zokoNgezelelwayo/i-Aplayidi Sayensi) kwakunye noCandice Livingstone (weFakhalthi yezeMfundo) – abebekhethelwe ukuthatha inxaxheba kwinkqubo yeYunivesithi yokuQhubela phambili ukuFundisa (i-TAU), inkqubo yobudlelwane bokufundisa eyaziwa kuzwelonke. Nangona okona kuchaphazeleka yikhovidi-19 kungekaqondakali ngokupheleleyo, siyakhunjuzwa ngu- Duby et al. (2022) ukuba idla ngokuba “awona macandelo ahlukumezekileyo nasemngciphekweni omkhulu anokuba achaphazeleke ngokungalinganiyo yimiba yezemfundo ngokubhekiselele kwiKHOVIDI-19… ukuvalwa nokuphazamiseka kwezemfundo”. Sithatha eli thuba ukuncoma abafundi bethu kwimpumelelo yabo kwizifundo ku-2021, abathe nangona besebenza phantsi kwezona meko zinzima kakhulu, bawugqiba unyaka wabo. Siyiyunivesithi, sakuhlala siqinisekisa kwaye sizimisele ukwakha eyona ndawo ikwimeko elungele ukwenza amava abafundi ayimpumelelo, ukunika inkxaso egqibeleleyo kwanokuqinisekisa ukuba abathweswe izidanga banezakhona zenkulungwane ye-21st nangaphaya.

Okokugqibela, ndenza umbulelo ongazenzisiyo kubafundi nakubasebenzi bebonke, abathe ngenxa yokuphathisana, banikezela ngeyona nkxaso, inkuthazo

kwakunye nenkathalo. Le Ngxelo yokuFundisa nokuFunda ingumbhiyozo wempumelelo kwindlela yokwenza izinto nakwimfundo ngokubanzi.

Iireferensi/Uncwadi ekusekelezelwe kulo

du Plessis, M., Jansen van Vuuren, C.D., Simons, A., Frantz, J., Roman, N., & Andipatin, M. (2022). South African Higher Education Institutions at the Beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Sense-Making and Lessons Learnt. Front. Educ. 6:740016. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.740016

Duby, Z., Jonas, K., Bunce, B., Bergh, K., Maruping, K., Fowler, C., Reddy, T., Govindasamy, D. & Mathews, C. (2022). Navigating Education in the Context of COVID-19 Lockdowns and School Closures: Challenges and Resilience Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa. Front. Educ. 7:856610. doi: 10.3389/ feduc.2022.856610

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Boodskap van Adjunk-visekanselier

CPUT se personeel en studente het hulle veerkragtigheid en deursettingsvermoë bewys deurdat hulle die 2021 akademiese jaar op die gegewe tyd voltooi het. Soos ons beweeg na ’n fase buite die grendeltyd het CPUT groot vooruitgang gemaak in die skep van ’n omgewing wat buigbaar is, vinnig kan reageer tot leer- en onderrig veranderinge en deurgans bewus bly van personeel en studente se ervarings. Ons bevind onsself tans in ’n tyd wat Du Plessis en kollegas (2022: 1) beskryf as ’n draaipunt waar “die ongekende veranderinge in hoër onderwys, as gevolg van die COVID-19 pandemie, ons hoop om aanvanklike gedagtes en reflektiewe ervarings te integreer en te besluit op ’n pad vorentoe.” In lyn met die waardes van CPUT se Visie 2030, bied die Onderrig- en Leer Verslag van 2021 ’n raak beskrywing van die refleksiwiteit en onvermoeidheid van ons leer- en onderrig-gemeenskap.

Een so ’n poging tot integrasie is die Leer-, Onderrig- en Assesseringsbeleid (LOA beleid), reëls en prosedures wat deur samewerking tot stand gekom het. Hierdie beleid dien as ’n oorkoepelende raamwerk vir multimodale leer, onderrig en assessering vir alle kursusvlakke aan CPUT. Nie net sluit dit die gebruik van tegnologie in nie, maar integreer ook die ervarings en lesse van die laaste twee jaar. Die aanbieding van leer en onderrig in persoon, ten volle aanlyn of in kombinasie word deur hierdie progressiewe beleid aangespreek. Dit spreek ook dinge aan soos kurrikulum en programontwikkeling, leer- en onderrigpraktyk, werkgeintegreerde leer, assessering en moderering asook die analise van leerders en die terugvoer van studente rakende kursusse en onderrig. Hierdie tipe inligting verseker dat ons meer buigbaar kan wees sou ons ooit weer ontwrigtinge teëkom. Die beleid wyk van die tradisionele leer-gesentreerde benadering af – dit fokus op leer en onderrig en moedig geleenthede vir samewerking, mede-skepping en deelname tussen personeel en studente aan as deel van die fundamentele beginsels van Visie 2030.

Die operasionalisering van die LOA beleid, ’n omvattende Leer- en Onderrigstrategie, is ontwikkel wat deurgefiltreer na die fakulteite en bestuur. Die bou van Een Slim CPUT bly die middelpunt van ons leer- en onderrigstrategie sodat ’n gevoel van samehorigheid bevorder kan word.

Die Leer- en Onderrigstrategie (LOS) is ’n aanvullende dokument wat verdere riglyne verskaf vir die implementering van die CPUT LOA beleid. Dit fasiliteer ook die verwesenliking van Visie 2030 (Eenheid en Slimheid) deur kurrikulumvernuwing en innoverende opvoedkundige praktyke. ’n Institusionele gids is ontwikkel vir die fase van die pandemie buite die grendeltyd waarnatoe ons tans beweeg. Dit was gedoen om benaderings tot leer, onderrig, navorsing, werkgeintegreerde leer en gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid in

Prof Rishidaw Balkaran DVC Teaching and Learning

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

hoër onderwys te heroorweeg en herverbeel. Hierdie gids bespreek vyf kritiese temas: 1) die Universiteit as leefruimte; 2) Tegniese oorwegings: Die Heroorweging van Benaderings tot Kurrikulum Lewering; 3) Filosofieë en Pedagogiek vir Leer, Onderrig, Navorsing, Werkgeintegreerde Leer en Gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid; 4) Opvoedkundige Tegnologie – Leerskepping en Dataanalise; en 5) Die Heroorweging van Infrastruktuur in die “Nuwe Normaal”. Hierdie temas vorm die raamwerk vir besluitneming en beplanning vir Grendeltyd Vlak 0 (GV0) en selfs verder.

Daar was baie om oor fees te vier in 2021, byvoorbeeld die ontvangers van die 2021 Institusionele Toekennings vir Uitmuntendheid in Onderrig, dr. Candice Livingstone (Fakulteit Opvoedkunde) en prof. Oluwaseun Oyekola (Fakulteit Ingenieurswese en die Geboude Omgewing), asook almal anders wie toekkenings ontvang het. Ons is ook trots op drie van ons personeellede wie gekies is om deel te neem aan die “Teaching Advancement at University (TAU)” program wat ’n nasionaal-gekende program is vir die bevordering van onderrig aan ’n universiteit. Hulle is drs. Cynthia Dube (Fakulteit Besigheids- en Bestuurswetenskappe), Ignatius Ticha (Fakulteit van Toegepaste Wetenskappe) en Candice Livingstone (Fakulteit Opvoedkunde).

Alhoewel ons nog nie die impak van COVID-19 ten volle kan begryp nie, is dit gepas om herinner te word aan die woorde van Duby en kollegas (2022): Dit is dikwels die “mees gemarginaliseerde en kwesbare sektore van ons samelewing wie waarskynlik buite verhouding geraak word deur COVID-19-verwante sluitings en

opvoedkundige ontwrigtinge.” Ons maak dus gebruik van hierdie geleentheid om ons studente geluk te wens met hulle akademiese prestasies in 2021. Hulle het die jaar voltooi ten spyte die moeilikste omstandighede.

As ’n universiteit bly ons toegewyd tot die ontwikkeling van ’n omgewing wat positiewe studente ervaringe bevorder, die bied van holistiese ondersteuning en die bedrewenheid van graduandi om sukses te behaal in die 21ste eeu en selfs verder.

Ten slotte, ’n opregte dankie aan die leer- en onderriggemeenskap wie deur ’n gesamentlike poging die nodige ondersteuning, aanmoediging en omgee gebied het. Hierdie Onderrig- en Leer Verslag is ’n viering van hierdie praktyke en opleidingsuksesse.

Verwysings

du Plessis, M., Jansen van Vuuren, C.D., Simons, A., Frantz, J., Roman, N., & Andipatin, M. (2022). South African Higher Education Institutions at the Beginning of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Sense-Making and Lessons Learnt. Front. Educ. 6:740016. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.740016

Duby, Z., Jonas, K., Bunce, B., Bergh, K., Maruping, K., Fowler, C., Reddy, T., Govindasamy, D. & Mathews, C. (2022). Navigating Education in the Context of COVID-19 Lockdowns and School Closures: Challenges and Resilience Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in South Africa. Front. Educ. 7:856610. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.856610

In lyn met die waardes van CPUT se Visie 2030, bied die Onderrig- en Leer Verslag van 2021 ’n raak beskrywing van die refleksiwiteit en onvermoeidheid van ons leer- en onderriggemeenskap.

1.2 SMART learning environment and SMART universities

In my previous contribution, I focused on the future of learning and teaching at CPUT by the year 2030. My perspectives were based on Vision 2030 with its focus on smart learning environments.

As notions of smart universities, smart cities and smart learning environments are emerging exponentially, it seems appropriate for CPUT to unpack these concepts, trying to establish what it means for us aspiring to be a smart university. We obviously know by now that universities of technology in South Africa have an exciting role to play as their visions and missions are enhanced by the technological advancements of the 21st century. Certainly, one of their biggest challenges is to make technology work for people, communities and nations and to improve their living conditions such as access to clean water, electricity, internet, health services, educational opportunities, safety and food security.

Nuzzaci and La Vecchia (2012:23) maintain that to make it possible for a university to be “smart” means to be at the centre of spatial, time, cultural, professional, local, national and international relationships. Clearly this idea signals the creation of a smart ecosystem of people, technology, leadership and community responsiveness. The mentioned authors claim that it is indeed time to also ask how a smart university can help establish smart cities. This implies the offering of alternative paths for smart contexts and to create sustainable partnerships that will lead to the critical awareness of knowledge and competencies. All these endeavours should contribute towards individual, regional and national wellbeing, creating global smart communities.

The development of smart universities and their smart environments, understandably starts with smart lecturers and a university’s ability to provide lecturers the most appropriate smart tools and the necessary support to perform their work and evaluate. We have seen during the last couple of months the emerging of a variety of smart assessment models.

What is emerging is the development of new learning theories and pedagogies. It is indeed an interesting time for educationists and the scholarly world.

Prof Driekie Hay-Swemmer Executive Director in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2021 1

Changing pedagogies

In a smart learning environment, a fundamental shift is needed towards a more personalised, social, open, dynamic, emergent, and knowledge-pull model for learning, as opposed to the one-size-fits-all, centralised, static, top-down, and knowledge-push models of traditional learning solutions (Chatti et al., 2010). It is essential to integrate technologies effectively into the curriculum in such a way that it will improve the effectiveness and efficacy of students’ learning.

Personalised, yet adaptive learning

In a smart learning environment, more attention can be paid to the individual needs of students. According to Hwang and Fu (2020) and Peng, Ma and Spector (2019), a smart learning environment is regarded as a learning system for facilitating efficient personalised learning. Personalised adaptive learning makes adaptive adjustments according to the individual characteristics of learners possible and can contribute to the individualised development of students.

Thus, the design of learning ecosystems that integrate smart learning to personalise and self-regulated learning should be a key focus in the universities of the future. Having said this, one should be mindful that regardless of how technology develops, there will always be a need for social interactions. We all know

that new knowledge construction takes place through social interaction. Therefore, how to improve the affective interaction within the smart learning environment is an important challenge to acknowledge. One effective solution is to construct a comprehensive and dynamic learner model, which can incorporate learners’ learning emotions as a more important influencing factor (Hwang & Fu, 2020).

Innovative ways of assessment

Price (2015) articulates that despite the advances in psychological research and educational technology, assessment practices in universities have remained unchanged (or perhaps we should say ‘unchallenged’) for decades. In a smart university learning environment, there is a serious need to go beyond traditional forms of assessment and use new methods to evaluate the effectiveness of the smart learning environment. There could be more opportunities to engage with new ways of formative assessment that could lead to students taking more responsibility for their learning and their ability to recognise gaps in their learning and academic development (Price, 2015).

Personalised Learning Analytics

In a smart learning environment, it will hopefully be easier to generate large amounts of learner behaviour data. It is thus possible to build data-centric smart higher education systems which will have the capability to provide learners with a seamless learning experience. Learner analytics could be used to process learning data, monitor learning progress, and provide feedback to the system, lecturers and students. In the South African context, this could make a valuable contribution towards access with success, the impact of early warning systems and keeping track of both undergraduate and postgraduate students’ academic progress.

Beer (2019) and Chatterjee et al. (2019) alert that the use of artificial intelligence technologies (e.g., the internet of things, perception technology, video recording technology, image recognition technology and platform acquisition technology, multi-source, heterogeneous, multi-modal big data [for example, raising hands, facial expressions, bodily postures and discussion] concerning students’ learning process could be collected. This could address the scepticism about the use of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning. There are already solutions using

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

video analytics to deal with the human and emotive side of teaching and learning. These solutions can, for instance, identify students’ positive actions, such as participation, hand raising and standing up, and negative actions, such as turning around and resting their head on the table. This capability will ensure that these actions would be traced, recorded, and visualised in a dashboard to determine students’ engagement situations (Intel, 2019).

In a typical smart learning environment, digital cameras and recording or casting equipment, multiple student-controlled interactive whiteboards or touch screen televisions, mobile devices that are compatible to connect with student-controlled displays, wireless Internet, and educational management software should be available and accessible (MacLeod et al., 2018). These resources will allow students to engage in different kinds of instructional resources regardless of race, gender, learning differences, socio-economic status or background.

Integrating pedagogies and technology into the heart of a university

The question now is how we put it all together, developing a model that will integrate pedagogies, learning theories and information and communication technologies (ICTs) in such a way that learning is maximised. Another question is this: How do we make sure that they become part of all institutional components in such a way that this resolves the often-conflicting needs of an institution? A third question is this: What are the main successful factors for providing services, courses and programmes that will offer learners an exceptional learning experience.

To answer these questions, the work in Europe within European Universities, the Association of European Universities, is appropriate and relevant for CPUT. They have developed a set of guidelines for using ICTs (see Table 1 below). Nuzzaci and La Vecchia (2016:19) see the challenge for institutions to develop the proper knowledge and skills to exploit the full potential of technologies, being mindful that the introduction of technology alone will not guarantee the smart development of a higher education context.

Unfortunately, many of the existing models have not yet been thoroughly researched – especially how it is changing learning and teaching in higher education institutions. There is also not consensus on the

meaning and use of the concepts of technological adoption and supply employed within the academic context. In concord, Nuzzaci and La Vecchia (2016:19) assert that “… it is rather difficult to explain how emerging models can ensure an efficient relationship between technologies, didactics and research more structured and advanced within an interpretative framework which aims to enable education to achieve high goals and a certain degree of wellbeing in teaching and learning contexts.

Given CPUT’s V2030, continuous change in our way of thinking about learning is inevitable. Technology only for the sake of technology is not what CPUT is aspiring towards, it is rather a matter of taking our specific students’ profile into consideration, where they are coming from, the level of their digital literacies and obviously be acutely aware of their digital dignity. Only then it will be possible for CPUT to build a pedagogy relevant for CPUT – a model that will indeed enhance students’ academic performance, taking into consideration their education backgrounds and preparedness for university education.

Therefore, I thought it could be of value to introduce to CPUT’s academic community the results of the EU’s research on how, where, when specific technologies should be used, taking into consideration specific learning outcomes.

Table 1: Survey results from the Association of European Universities on how to integrate pedagogies and ICTs into higher education

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY TO SUPPORT PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES

Using tools and templates

Using models/simulations

PEDAGOGICAL TACTICS AND EXAMPLES TECHNOLOGY INFRASRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS

Individual or group projects by students

• Course work preparation, building models, simulations, programming

• Web page construction

Individual self-paced learning

• Enhanced textbook and other resources

• “Virtual” laboratories/workbenches

• Typically developed by publishers or consortia of university

• PC486 (nonmultimedia)

• Pentium multimedia

• Stand-alone or networked

• Individual ownership or provided by campus

• PC486 (nonmultimedia)

• Pentium multimedia

• Stand-alone or networked; possibly accessed via Web (e.g., Java applets)

• Individually owned PC, subject to ability to license individual copies; otherwise confined to campus-based PC workstations

CSW environments (computersupported collaborative work)

Collaborative learning

• Support for group work

• Mediated class discussion

• Group & individual projects

Electronic mail

Student-teacher and student-student communication

• Improved access to academic staff, submission of course work, feedback, advice and discussion

• Allows asynchronous dialogue

Video- and/or audio conferencing and audio graphics Outreach to remote tutorial groups; institutional collaboration

• Use generally confined to small groups at senior, undergraduate, or graduate level

• PC486 (nonmultimedia)

• Pentium multimedia

• Connected to network, accessible from off-campus

• University must maintain host ser ver; CMC (computer-mediated communications) software (groupware) required

• Can be Web-based (e.g., TopClass) or proprietary

• C486 (nonmultimedia)

• Connected to network, accessible on-campus only or accessible from off-campus

• University must maintain host mail ser ver

• High-quality videoconferencing systems require dedicated rooms, typically 2 or 3 cameras, microphones, and some form of electronic “whiteboard” or method displaying computer-projected images at both ends; high-grade telecommunications links are typically required e.g., ISDN

• Small-scale videoconferencing can be achieved using PC with video card and top-mounted camera. Systems often see proprietory software, and networking between systems is not always adequate. Subject to networking, control software can be used to allow shared working on files in standard formats e.g., word processing, spread sheet, CAD. The tutor may transfer active control to/from remote locations, and all participants view the active image on their local screens

• High-grade telecommunications lines are normally required

• Limited workability is possible over the Internet

Lecturing/demonstrating

Audiovisual presentation

• Support the lecture-style presentation incorporating audiovisual/multimedia elements

• Fixed projection installations in large or medium-size auditoria

• Fixed video and/or PC consoles or facility for presenter to connect laptop computer; portable projection devices for smaller rooms; LCD projection panels; connected to PC for use with overhead projectors

• Data projectors;self-contained units with built-in light source

TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY TO SUPPORT PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES

PEDAGOGICAL TACTICS AND EXAMPLES TECHNOLOGY INFRASRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS

Broadcasting Extensions of conventional lecturing

• Elements of distance education programs, providing off-campus access to traditional sites of teaching. Sometimes used in combination with audioconferencing or simple telephone to provide feedback/questions from remote sites. Lecturer frequently delivers lecture simultaneously to live audience on campus. Broadcast can be terrestrial or by satellite

Hypermedia resources Course resources for self-paced, self-directed learning or for private study directed by teacher

• Corpus of loosely structured documentation, including multimedia (sound, graphics, animation, and video) with embedded hypertext links

• Can be made available on CD-ROM or via the Web

Didactic courseware Self-paced learning

• Computer-based training (CBT) or computerassisted learning (CAL) resources, typically used in highly structured didactic format, with sequential lessons, examples, and tests; may replace or supplement aspects of conventional teaching

Automated testing/feedback Assessment

• Can be used for systematic objective testing

• Useful where large class groups are to be tested and where subject matter lends itself to this type of test

Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) (adaptive coursework) Self-paced learning

• Adaptive coursework extends the CBT/CAL approach by working to customise “lessons” based on dynamically modelling individual student performance

(Source and with acknowledgement to Nuzzaci & La Vecchia, 2016:19)

• TV technology

• Normally uses dedicated classroom, with 2 or more cameras, controlled by lecturer

• Pentium multimedia PC

• Stand alone [CD-ROM] or networked [WWW]

• PC486 (nonmultimedia)

• Many CBT applications do not require multimedia facilities and may be loaded directly from floppy disc

• Pentium multimedia

• Stand-alone or networked, for CBT/CAL coureware that makes use of multimedia − typically distributed on CDROM

• Use off-campus may be limited, depending on terms of copyright or site licensing

• PC486 (nonmultimedia)

• Connected to a network, accessible on-campus only or accessible from off-campus (depending on provision of site license for relevant test management software)

• PC486 (nonmultimedia); ITS applications do not always require multimedia facilities

• Pentium multimedia − stand-alone or networked, for courseware that makes use of multimedia - typically distributed on D CD-ROM

• Use off-campus may be limited, depending on terms of the copyright or site licensing

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2021 1

Summative perspectives

Taking into consideration CPUT’s aspiration to be One Smart University of Technology, one that aspires to enhance learning and teaching, aimed at student success while embracing technological innovations, it will be critical in the years to come to contribute towards knowledge creation of student learning and success in the digital advanced era.

Of consideration should be the survey results of the Association of European Universities. There is certainly much food for thought.

References

Beer, D. (2019). The Data Gaze: Capitalism, Power, and Perception. SAGE Publications Inc.

Chatterjee, A., Gupta, U., Chinnakotla, M.K., Srikanth, R., Galley, M., & Agrawal, P. (2019). Understanding emotions in text using deep learning and big data. Computers in Human Behavior, 93: 309–317.

Chatti, M.A., Agustiawan, M.R., Jarke, M., & Specht, M. (2010). Toward a personal learning environment framework. International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 1(4): 66–85.

Hwang, G.J. & Fu, Q.K. (2020). Advancement and research trends of smart learning environments in the mobile era. International Journal of Mobile Learning and Organisation, 14(1): 114–129. Intel. (2019). Corerain—delivering a smart classroom solution. YouTube. Retrieve from https://www.youtu be.com/watch ?v=fWOaW 2MUpl w

McLeod, A., Carabott, A., & Kelly, P.Y. (2019). The myth of the “digital native”, pedagogical beliefs about ICT and its place in education, and the reality of a teacher as an ICT role model each contribute to the attitudes school students develop about ICT.

Nuzzaci, A. & La Vecchia, L. (2012). (Department of Human Sciences, Università dell’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy) and Loredana La Vecchia (Centre of Technologies for Communication, Innovation and Distance learning, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy) International Journal of Digital Literacy and Digital Competence (IJDLDC)3(4).

Peng, H., Ma, S., & Spector, J.M. (2019) Personalized Adaptive Learning: An Emerging Pedagogical Approach Enabled by a Smart Learning Environment. In: Chang M. et al. (eds). Foundations and Trends in Smart Learning.

Price, J.K. (2015). Transforming learning for the smart learning environment: Lessons learned from the intel education initiatives. Smart Learning Environments, 2: 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s4056 1-015-0022-y

Sclater, N. (2017). Learning analytics explained. Routledge.

1.3 Enhancing student success and beyond

Throughput rate

Throughput rates reflect the efficiency of teaching and learning measured per cohort of students admitted to the University in a specific year. The statistics below reflect the throughput rate in 2016, 2017 and 2018 at CPUT. The numbers reflect the students who completed their qualifications in minimum time, indicated as “Graduates in Min time”. However, not all students managed to complete within the prescribed period; some take an extra year (“Graduates in Min + 1”) or an additional two years (“Graduates in min + 2”).

During these years, CPUT began phasing in the Higher Education Qualification SubFramework (HEQSF) qualifications on the 10-level National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The newly introduced qualifications are included in the tables below, leading to a shift in student registration.

2.1 FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE

Introduction

The academic year 2021 saw the Faculty of Applied Sciences draw deeply from the experiences gained during the previous year, when the Covid-19 pandemic forced a radical shift in learning and teaching strategies. Students and staff were more comfortable engaging in a blended format of online and contact classes, with all Departments settling into the appropriate mode, depending on the needs of the curriculum and the students.

As the country shifted through lockdown levels, depending on the prevalence of Covid-19 in the Western Cape and nationally, the faculty was guided by CPUT’s Health Cluster on how best to safely engage with students. As a result, departments needed to constantly adapt their practice, introducing dynamism into their pedagogy, using a variety of tools to conduct learning and teaching, as the reflection below highlights.

As we continued to support the student learning journey in the new normal, novel strategies emerged that could allow the faculty to learn and transform, adapting to a smart multimodal and multitalented entity, realising its vision of embracing technology to enhance student learning in a manner that is responsive to ever and fast-evolving futures.

Strategic units in the faculty have offered structured support to academic departments, drawing on the variety of institutional

supports available to enhance the learning experience of students within the faculty. The faculty has remained fully engaged with the many conversations, opportunities, projects and forums that occur within the institution, to ensure that best practice is shared among all stakeholders of CPUT, including the industries and alumni that we engage with.

Despite the challenges that faced in 2021, a total of 764 students successfully completed their studies during the year and were due to graduate in April 2022. Staff members in the faculty are deserving of commendation for their efforts which culminated in this achievement.

Curriculum Development, Learning and Teaching

The Curriculum and Academic Development Unit has been active in engaging with all departments in the planning and rollout of new qualifications, and in the support of improving curricula, to align with the faculty’s Strategic Plan. Many new NQF Postgraduate Diplomas, one from each department, were in the advanced stages of accreditation. The following new qualifications were on offer in 2022, having been accredited by SAQA by the end of 2021:

• Postgraduate Diploma in Agriculture

• Postgraduate Diploma in Consumer Sciences Food and Nutrition

Prof Muhammad Nakhooda Curriculum and Academic Coordinator

Dean of the Faculty

• Postgraduate Diploma in Marine Science

• Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Management

• Postgraduate Diploma in Horticulture

• Master of Marine Science

In addition to these, three new extended curriculum programmes (ECP) have been accredited and were on offer in 2022:

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• Diploma in Environmental Management

• Diploma in Agriculture

• Diploma in Agricultural Management

Rigorous planning and diligent communication and feedback to accreditation bodies such as the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) has strengthened the curriculum development capacity within the faculty.

The faculty took an active role in the development of CPUT’s revised, consolidated and comprehensive Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy, which was approved by Councill at the end of 2021. The faculty’s own Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy will be developed accordingly, with flexibility, empathy and support of the knowledge journey at the forefront and is sure to usher in a period of innovation in all areas of practice.

The faculty held its Teaching and Learning Colloquium on 16 September 2021, with the theme “Innovative Teaching and Learning in Times

of Fragility”. The presentations and discussions emanating from this event were rich and served to showcase the innovative practices that lecturers employ in their engagement with students. The extent to which lecturers exercised flexibility and empathy in the spirit of oneness was on display. This was highly encouraging and evidenced the strategies that the faculty will be embracing to strengthen capacity and resources through training and development for changing student needs.

Celebrating heritage and supporting learning through language

A typical and regular need among students is language support. The faculty’s Language Unit, headed by Dr Ignatius Khan Ticha, has again been highly active in this space, organising several initiatives throughout the year aimed at fostering a culture of celebrating diversity while supporting academic language development.

The Annual Reading Quiz took place in the second semester of 2021, the first round kicking off with ten teams participating. Competition was stiff, and students expressed great interest. The comradery and spirit of reading was palpable, despite the event being held online.

Importantly, the quiz offered students, for the first time,

the option of participating in any of three languages: English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa. Such recognition of the linguistic repertoire among students spoke directly to the faculty’s mission of enabling students by being cognisant of the resources they bring to their learning journey at CPUT.

Students from the Department of Maths and Physics went on to win the first prize.

Students from the Department of Maths and Physics celebrating winning the Annual Faculty of Applied Sciences Reading Quiz on 22 September 2021

The Language Unit also continued with its activities of hosting the Afrikaans and isiXhosa Conversational Courses for staff, which are run over 10 weeks. Participants always benefit from such courses, reflecting that the impact is tangible, and that such knowledge inspires academics to seek ways of ensuring that multilingualism is a key element of the teaching and learning project.

The International Mother Language Day is a regular occasion in the faculty’s calendar, and 2021 was no

exception. The faculty hosted Dr Zakeera Docrat, who addressed participants online on the topic “Multilingual Strategies for Scientific Teaching, Learning and Researching in Higher Education Institutions”. Various other presentations and discussion sessions formed part of the virtual event, with multilingualism a theme common to each.

In this regard, the faculty has, under the guidance of Dr Ticha, developed a total of nine multilingual glossaries across the several disciplines represented by the various departments in the faculty. This is the highest number of such glossaries for any faculty at CPUT, which is highly commendable, especially given the fact that the sciences are often seen as the least amenable to multilingual engagement.

Supporting learning in the home language

In keeping with the theme of language support, Dr Courtney Puckree-Padua from the Department of Conservation and Marine Sciences has been supporting students’ language needs by adopting a multilingual approach to teaching and learning.

Content was presented in three of the major languages of the Western Cape, which greatly enhances student understanding of the material presented. This also validates student agency, developing a culture of confidence as students are able to relate more easily to the typically difficult content in a science curriculum.

English Afrikaans isiXhosa

Such interventions go a long way towards accommodating student needs and illustrate the practical approaches that departments take in realising the Oneness that underpins CPUT’s Vision 2030.

Smart, blended practicals

Drawing on the experiences of the innovative practices that characterised the pandemic years, several Departments have augmented benchtop practicals with videos and practical simulations, thus allowing students to engage and interact with their scientific experiments in several ways. These interventions draw on more than one learning style and hence provide further opportunities to support student learning.

Feedback from staff and students who have used these resources, such as the Journal of Visualised Experiments (JoVE), or the videos that academic staff themselves have recorded, bear testament to their effectiveness. It is for this reason that the faculty seek to expand on these practices, providing departments with all the resources they require to advance the blended practicals project and offer additional support to students most in need.

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Implementing authentic and smart online assessments using specialised software

Among the important principles of CPUT’s Assessment Policy are validity, authenticity, reliability and integrity. These principles were tested since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which presented both challenges and opportunities in the design of authentic assessments.

As online assessments at universities and in the workplace become commonplace, familiarity with this mode is increasingly relevant to the student learning experience. Automated marking in certain contexts may also be a more efficient means of assessing learning. However, an obvious challenge is ensuring the integrity of online or remote assessments. If left unchecked, the possibility of plagiarism significantly increases.

The institution, through its Blackboard learning management system, provides some tools to implement online assessments with a degree of integrity, and with support and awareness around authentic assessment strategies to discourage plagiarism. Nevertheless, within the faculty, wider implementation of innovative technologies to ensure assessment integrity has been explored.

Academic staff in the Department of Mathematics & Physics increasingly relied on ‘R-exams’ software, an add-on package within the R statistical software suite. It allows the user to write code to generate any number of random versions of a question, utilising variation in numerous question parameters. One can easily generate and include figures, tables and mathematical expressions in the question, making it richer and more authentic. One can also automatically calculate the answer and produce a full step-by-step solution for each version of the question. Thus, not only is the question selfmarking, but when students check their results, they are able to see both the correct answer and how to arrive at it.

In this way, each student receives a different assessment task, making dishonest practices such as copying or sharing of answers largely ineffective. The assessment is still reliable because the differences in questions are more cosmetic than substantial. And it is no more time-consuming for the lecturer than creating a single assessment task. Various assessment types can be created using R-exams, which can then, as a bonus, be imported into Blackboard.

The figure below shows an example of a file response question from the subject ‘Mathematical Statistics’ as seen by a student in Blackboard, along with the full solution that the student would be able to see as feedback after the test has been marked.

Students conducting practicals in the Chemistry laboratory; both virtual and contact practicals are common in the faculty, drawing on technology to augment the learning experience

Student feedback surveys of the initiative have been positive, with students particularly appreciating that lecturers were able to create practice versions of tests (with no extra effort by the lecturer) that they could attempt as many times as they liked. On each practice attempt, the student sees different questions and can see the full solutions for self-assessment. The practice tests, helping students to become familiar with the online test interface, are valuable formative assessments.

An engaged faculty

Collaborative Service-Learning initiatives

The Departments of Mathematics & Physics and of Chemistry have jointly worked on a Service-Learning project in partnership with Beautiful Gate South Africa, a non-profit organisation based in Philippi, in the Cape Flats. Beautiful Gate runs an after-school education support programme for local high school learners from Grades 10 to 12. Students from the faculty would spend two afternoons per week at the centre (a minimum of 2 hours total per week) tutoring Mathematics and other required STEM subjects. The programme has been running since 2016, with many learners reporting a marked improvement in their academic performance because of it.

Restrictions around Covid-19 had required that the student tutors adapt to teaching online, using Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp to reach learners. Tutors first underwent training through CPUT’s Fundani CHED to adequately prepare them for online engagement. In the end, lack of internet connectivity or unstable connections meant that much of the interactions occurred on WhatsApp, which the students then maximised.

Whilst the project remains successful despite the shift to online tutoring, it is hoped that in-person tutoring will be a reality again soon so that the school learners may fully benefit from interacting with students in a contact mode. The departments concerned are commended for supporting their students to realise an important service-learning project with direct benefit to a community in need.

Technology to the people: A curriculum that empowers local fisherwomen

Staff and students from the Department of Food Science and Technology organised a Service-Learning Project in collaboration with Weskusmandjie and ABALOBI, the South African-based global social enterprise. The ABALOBI Gender and Women

Example of actual online assessment questions created using R-exams and deployed to Blackboard

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in Fisheries Programme aims to ensure that all their work is gender sensitive and contributes towards the economic empowerment of women in smallscale fisheries. The project, which formed part of the students’ curriculum, focused on training fisherwomen in good manufacturing practices, product development and packaging.

First- and second-year students in the extended curriculum programme (ECP) participated by developing the content to be presented. Feedback from students showed that they learned how to apply subject knowledge to the industry. Another outcome from the students’ viewpoint was that the service-learning project made them understand the importance of deeper engagement with course material to be able to apply it effectively and appropriately. Working with the community also assisted students with improving their written and communication skills.

Furthermore, Weskusmandjie requested training with product development using the SA black mussel, a typically difficult food source to preserve and package. Participants from Weskusmandjie therefore attended a one-day workshop on smoking of SA black mussels as a means of preservation and to enhance palatability.

International collaboration with FH Münster University of Applied Sciences

The Consumer Science Programme has formed a collaboration with the German FH Münster University of Applied Sciences, allowing conversation between staff and students from the Diploma in Consumer Science in Food and Nutrition at CPUT and those studying for a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics and Nutrition Science at Münster.

Staff from the CPUT department designed and hosted an online seminar with the German students between the 4th to the 8th of October 2021. The topic was “Food science and nutritional perspective on functional foods - on the example of South African Maize flour”.

The aim of the international collaboration was to create a global partnership to foster relationships

with FH Münster University of Applied Science to increase the number of international applicants to CPUT. This opportunity allowed staff and students to share experience and expertise in Food Science and Nutrition.

This collaboration is set to continue into 2022 on a rotation basis between the institutions to allow students from both institutions to benefit from the shared experiences.

a virtual class to a cohort of German students from the MH Münster University of Applied Science, held 4 and 8 October 2021

VitaGlobal Project

In keeping with the Internationalisation focus of the Faculty, the Department of Agriculture has been involved in the VitaGlobal Erasmus+ project that started in 2019. The general objective of the project is to contribute to local development by

Members of Weskusmandjie completing the course offered by the Department of Food Science and Technology

enhancing study programmes in agricultural science and, specifically, vini/viticulture, which are of strategic economic importance in Europe, South America, South Africa and Georgia (https://vitaglobalproject.org/). The Department of Agriculture is directly involved in the co-curriculation of an academic module in Sustainable Viticulture with sub-themes on grapevine physiology, precision viticulture and irrigation. The module content will be included in the newly approved Postgraduate Diploma in Agriculture, and specifically in the viticulturerelated specialisation stream, which will be offered from 2023. Although the VitaGlobal project will officially conclude at the end of 2022, the momentum and collaborations that have emanated out of it will be sustained for years to come.

products and making these accessible to a variety of food production styles. Such exercises situate content knowledge in the curriculum within the local context, contributing to curriculum transformation and decolonisation.

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Small group discussion during the Kick-Off meeting of the project in Argentina

Working with alumni

Delegates from various partner institutions at the project KickOff meeting

Consumer Sciences Lecturer Ms Pauline Koen (left) with alumnus Ms Lekholo Makendula in a still from their video blog ‘A little bit of both’

Ms Pauline Koen, lecturer in the Consumer Science Programme, has been deeply involved in supporting students in many ways. She has produced numerous videos to enhance practical skills, distributed via WhatsApp. These resources complement course notes and provide students with an immersive learning experience, no matter what their technical capacity may be.

As an additional project, Ms Koen has worked with CPUT alumnus, Ms Lekholo Makendula, to produce a blog entitled ‘A little bit of both’, which showcases the relationship between Western and African cuisine using local

Links to some videos can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/ALBOBoth/ videos/377283166059873

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-OUtV9nnS4

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Innovation-led practices

Industry experience in a pandemic: Pop-Up Factory Project in 2021

Due to lockdown regulations during the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a hesitancy by many companies to place students for the workplace-based learning component of the several qualifications in the faculty, necessitating creative interventions to provide the experience students require.

In the Consumer Science Programme, a ‘Pop-Up Factory Project’ was implemented, which included large-scale production of several food items within the department, by converting laboratories into factories and cafeteria. Here, light meals were prepared and served to the faculty and university community.

In the context of the pandemic, work-integrated learning (WIL), which prepares students for industry, was simulated using the online learning management system, Blackboard, requiring students to develop and upload complete CVs and covering letters to apply for the food factory positions. Staff members interviewed candidates, testing a variety of necessary attributes and skills, such as knowledge of health and safety, production, scaling, costing, quality management, packaging, labelling, and nutritional information of diverse food types.

This exercise was well-received, and student feedback indicated that the learning experience was rich, allowing students the confidence to enter the workplace after graduation with the necessary learning outcomes met, despite the challenges posed by the pandemic. Such adaptive practice builds capacity within departments to remain adaptable and responsive to the needs of students and industry.

Industry experience on show

Students from the Chemistry Department who completed the Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) component in the final year of the diploma qualification were expected to showcase their project during a poster presentation day. Here, the culmination of several months of industry experience was on display as students reflected on their understanding of the link between the theoretical components of their curricula and the application thereof in industry.

The WIL component is regarded as a capstone of diploma students’ learning journey, as several Graduate Attributes such as professionalism, knowledge of content, employability, communication and literacy are evaluated to ensure that graduating students are industry-ready and capable of making the meaningful contribution that the faculty require of them.

Students from the Consumer Sciences Programme preparing meals in the Pop-Up Factory; the smorgasbord included lasagne, bread, gluten-free pancakes, lemon biscuits and mini milk tarts

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TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Chemistry Department staff discuss student presentations

Exploring alternative protein sources

Dr Vusi Mshayisa represented the Department of Food Science and Technology as a guest on the radio station ‘Cape Talk,’ to discuss the progress made towards research and development of insect proteins. Through initiatives such as these, the department and faculty seek to engage with the broader community on topics that relate to the role of technology on sustainability, such as securing food sources for a growing global human population. The interview can be accessed here: Dr Mshayisa - Cape Talk interview on edible insect protein.

Teaching Excellence Awards in 2021

The faculty seeks to recognise and promote excellent and innovative teaching and learning practices among its staff. With changing students’ needs in the shift to greater blended engagement, academics have had to dig deep into their pedagogic repertoires and support students in diverse ways. This has not gone unnoticed. With the support of the Institutional Teaching and Learning Directorate, Fundani, a call was made for Excellence Awards in teaching and learning, at both faculty and departmental levels.

The quality of the portfolios received was testament to the student-centred approach that academics in the faculty frame their practice. Ethics of care and supportive pedagogies were on display, as several academics were acknowledged with awards (one faculty award and five departmental awards). These are listed under their respective categories.

Faculty Teaching Excellence Award

Dr Vusi Mshayisa lectures and conducts research at the Department of Food Science and Technology at CPUT. In 2018, he obtained a teaching development programme (TDP) certificate with distinction due to his engaging and innovative pedagogical practices. His current educational research focuses on the effective use of educational technology to enhance student learning experiences. He is current chairperson of the South African Association for food science and technology (SAAFost) in the Cape Branch. One of the bedrock of social and emotional learning practices that he has implemented in a number of his courses is building a community of learning, with the associated motto: “We are all in this together!”. Creating a classroom culture built on a community is a powerful affective learning foundation. This has allowed him to be responsive to the strudents needs and innovate his teaching practice.

Departmental Teaching Excellence Awards

Dr Hanlie Theron, started lecturing at CPUT on contract while still studying towards her Master’s degree. She always wanted to teach and was one of the fortunate few who found employment in their first career choice. Over the last 18 years she has been privileged to see the agriculture programme being established in Wellington which grew over time to be the self-sufficient department that it is today. This award is an official recognition for all the time and effort put into her teaching and learning practice. Thank you, CPUT, for all the opportunities offered for both personal and professional growth.

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is a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science. She started lecturing at CPUT 35 years ago and has had to navigate many social, political (pre- and post- apartheid) and academic changes. She has always tried to use innovative methods to keep teaching interesting and relevant. She has taught and lectured in all levels in the service department. She has also supervised and supported Masters students to achieve their qualifications.

Johan van Rooyen is a landscape architecture lecturer and designer - practicing in both South Africa and Ireland. His lecturing experience includes other builtenvironment fields and includes lecturing architecture and interior architecture. He is an active member of the South African Council for the Landscape Architectural Profession (SACLAP) Educational Committee and an honorary member of The South African Landscapers Institute (SALI). The Honorable, then Minister of Public Works has recognised his work and identified him as a positive role-player for the advancement of the landscape architectural industry and education. This led to the Minister of Public Works, Honorable Patricia De Lille to appoint him in 2022 to serve as a member of Council.

Bonita Kleyn-Magolie is a Geotechology lecturer within the Programme of Environmental Management in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Studies. She has served as Head of Programme, Curriculum Officer ad Level Coordinator for both the Mainstream First Year and the Extended Curriculum Programme. She received her BSc and BSc Honors degrees in Geography form the University of the Western cape and a Master of Science degree in Applied Science form the University of Cape Town. Her research interests include the application of geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing to evaluate the impact of land use change on water quality, with the aim of developng best management practices. She is passionate about teaching and sees herself a s a teacher, facilitator and mentor who guides her students through the learning process by stimulating critical thinking, encouraging problem solving and promoting reflection.

Conclusion

Over the course of the 2021 academic year, amidst a reflexive praxis requirement by the Council on Higher Education (CHE), the faculty reflected on the depth of its experience in supporting students of all abilities through their respective curricula, and on the sharp lessons learnt in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic forced innovation. Drawing on these learnings, the faculty charted a course forward, renewed its Strategic Plan in line with CPUT’s Vision 2030, and embraced learning and teaching in a changing context by driving innovation.

of the South African Wildlife Management Association and the scientific advisory board of the Cape Leopard Trust.

At the heart of all the faculty’s activities is the concern for student access and success. As the highlights from academic year 2021 in this report show, the faculty strives for excellence in all that it does. With changing student needs and potential future challenges in these VUCA times, it is the aim of the faculty to remain responsive, proactive and adaptable.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

2.2 FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES (FBMS)

Introduction

The shock waves of the Covid-19 pandemic and its related restrictions and unexpected consequences are still reverberating through the faculty as staff, students and all other stakeholders are continuously adapting to opportunities and challenges, striving to be at the forefront whilst maintaining a quality and responsive academic project. Great lessons were learnt (and are being learnt) as the faculty transitioned to finding new flexible ways of thinking and implementing plans to align with current ever-shifting national and institutional requirements due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Academic Year 2021 (AY2021) continued to be characterised by a flexible multimodal model of teaching, learning and assessment including face-to-face teaching, online/remote learning and appropriate assessments creating engaging and relevant learning environments in pursuit of CPUT’s vison 2030 of one SMART university. With a student-centred lens, staff adapted teaching, learning and assessments, culminating in a celebration of graduates at the annual graduation ceremony.

Resilience and redefining teaching, learning and assessments

Amidst ongoing changes and challenges staff proved to be resilient and repurposed teaching and learning as innovative teaching and learning strategies continue to emerge. As

illustrated below the faculty was exemplary in knowledge production and curriculum implementation, finding the best possible ways to enable student access and success.

The faculty, in collaboration with academics, shared innovative and interesting teaching, learning and assessment (TLA) practices which culminated in a faculty multimodal booklet (access and attached below) showcasing lecturers’ resourcefulness and sharing new ways of TLA.

Available on: https://cputacza.sharepoint.com/sites/ teachinglearningguidelines

This collaborative effort focused on teaching approaches to encourage student learning and engagement, smart use of technology to support learning and effective teaching methods, practices, and approaches. Amongst others, innovative and effective use of Blackboard features, Mentimeter and Miroboard as tools to engage students more effectively, different assessment methods for the online environment, innovative project-based assessments for work-integrated learning and a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project to facilitate student internationalisation were shared.

Dr Sandra Williams

Teaching and Learning Coordinator

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The theme of the faculty’s Annual Best Practice Webinar, “Extraordinary times in Higher Education – Challenge or Opportunity?” mirrored the prevailing higher education landscape. The webinar attracted 100+ attendees, with seven academics sharing insights, knowledge, experiences, and best practices in an endeavour to improve approaches and practices for the continued success of the academic project during unprecedented times. The topics were apt, meaningful and engaging and the Annual Best Practice Seminar celebrated academics and their talent, dedication and pedagogy of love and courage.

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

Teaching Excellence Awards in 2021

Faculty Teaching Excellence Award

Dr Chris Hattingh-Niekerk is a lecturer in the Department of Tourism and Events Management at the faculty of Business and Management Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He lectures primarily in events and leisure marketing. His primary research interests relate to the same, i.e. leisure, tourism and events marketing. he has published in top refereed international journals including the Journal of Homosexuality, Sport in Society and the International Journal of Tourism Cities.

Departmental Teaching Excellence Awards

Raygaanah Barday joined Cape Penicsula University of Technology in 2009. She holds a BA (Law), LLB and LLM (Family Law) degree, and is a qualified mediator for both medical negligence and commercial disputes. Currently she lectures on the Bachelor of Paralegal Studies degree where she teaches The Law of Contract to first year students and will be teaching Consumer Law Practice in the second semester to

second year students in 2022. Publications include co-author of Skills for Law Students: Fresh Perspectives (2008) and has also written on issues relating to children’s and women’s rights.

Ms Nadia Davids is a highly dedicated lecturer with over 30 years experience teaching Financial Accounting to undergraduate and postgraduate students, adult learners, as well as directing corporate training. Teaching is my passion and engaging with students on all levels is what drives me. This is my second teaching award received from CPUT. I enjoy sharing my zest for numbers, being disruptive, and re-imagining education on all levels. Utilising technology and applying constructive and effective teaching methodology to promote a stimulating learning environment is an essential element in my teaching. Employing a blended approach to reach all students from various disciplines motivates and improves understanding of content and improves assessment scores.

Frances de Klerk (9 April 1969 –22 June 2022) was awarded the departmental teacher award in absentia. She was a registered with the Health Professional Council of South Africa (HPCSA) as an industrial psychologist and had more than 25 years’ experience in the private and public sector. She achieved a MA degree in Industrial Psychology (North-West University), a BA (Hons) degree in Industrial Psychology (North-West University), a BA Communications (Hons) degree (North-West University) and a Higher Diploma in Higher Education and Training (CPUT). She was a lecturer in the Department of Human Resources Management at CPUT

TEACHING AND

where she supervised M-students and taught Organisation Development and Transformation, and Human Resource Development 3. She also managed a part-time private practice where she specialised in the fields of OD, psychometric assessment, counselling and skills development. She contributed to book chapters, Organisational development towards improving organisational effectiveness in Gie, L. (ed.) Human Resource Management in Southern Africa: Contemporary Theories and Professional Practice Standards; and updated her chapter: The organisation development process in Martins, N & Geldenhuys, D (ed) Fundamentals of Organisation Development and change Management in 2021. She is deeply missed by her colleagues in the HRM department and the greater CPUT community.

Student access and success

In collaboration with institutional support structures such as student counselling and Fundani, the faculty implements a student-centred pedagogy. Student support through teaching assistants, retention officers, mentors and tutors proved to be invaluable, providing academic and social support to facilitate student access and success. Eighty-eight students were appointed as teaching assistants, tutors, mentors and retention officers, and worked across the different departments. This endeavour contributes immensely to improved student engagement, access and success and concomitantly creates opportunities for teaching assistants, retention officers, mentors and tutors to develop skills and attributes beyond the formal curriculum.

The faculty secured several grants to further enhance student access and success.

Developmental initiatives

In its endeavour to be at the cutting edge and forefront and consistently striving to deliver an academic project that is student-centred, the faculty implemented a range of developmental strategies, such as workshops, seminars, ongoing engagement reviewing and renewing subject content relevance and currency, revising subject guides for remote learning, developing interactive teaching and learning activities for remote learning and developing assessments appropriate to remote learning, amongst many others. Several academic development initiatives on remote teaching were presented, which included capacity building on instructional design for online learning, podcasting, screen casting and effective and optimal use of the Blackboard Learner Management System to support remote teaching, learning and assessment. As part of the shortterm Learning and Teaching strategic goals, the faculty goals for 2021-2023 included focus areas of Curriculum Renewal; 21st Century Skills in Curriculum; and Graduate Attributes in Curriculum, all directly aligned with CPUT’s vison 2030 of One SMART University.

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Student funding of this nature will no doubt contribute greatly to the education of deserving students.

Faculty and staff are to be lauded for sterling efforts and contributions to make AY2021 a resounding success. During the May 2022 graduation ceremony, 3033 students from across the 16 departments walked proudly across the stage. Fifteen graduates reached this milestone summa cum laude whilst 42 graduated cum laude.

At this ceremony, the faculty awarded the very first Postgraduate Diplomas, as Marketing graduates proudly received this newly-introduced Level 8 qualification. The second cohort of paralegal students graduated, presenting opportunities in this profession.

Teaching and learning innovations: Academics transitioning

Exciting teaching, learning and assessment practices were adopted as illustrated below, including collaborations with international university partners and real-world projects in association with industry, creating platforms for transforming education.

The Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project is a virtual mobility experience incorporated into the formal curriculum. Sports Management students were provided with opportunities to collaborate with students from an international university in the United Kingdom. In another international partnership, the X-Culture Project, Retail Management students participated with more than 200 universities across 102 countries in a real-life international business project. These students worked in global virtual teams of five to seven students and on successful completion of the project were issued with a X-Culture certificate. The Department of Marketing partnered with industry to provide students with real-world experience. This project-based learning endeavour was advocated as the Work-integrated Learning modality for the programme, and students worked with industry clients and produced campaign briefs. In Business and Information Administration, the lecturer included various social justice themes. She collaborated with civil society and non-profit organisations encouraging students to engage with and explore complex issues such as sexual and gender diversity and the harsh realities experienced by the LGBTIQA+ community.

Academics shared their exceptional efforts as they found the best conceivable way to deliver smartly during times of change and new opportunities.

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project between CPUT, SA & Coventry University, UK

PROJECT LEADS: Prof Brendon Knott & Dr Janice Hemmonsbey-Lodewyk

DEPARTMENT: Sport Management

The international lockdown regulations of the Covid-19 pandemic certainly impacted the traditional, face-to-face learning and teaching practices and spaces. These impacts extended to student-teacher interactions, community engagement, servicelearning and assessment practices.

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) projects refer to ‘virtual mobility’ experiences that are incorporated into the formal curriculum, and two of these projects were conducted in the Department of Sport Management at CPUT, with both Advanced Diploma students in 2020 and with first-year Diploma students in 2021. Beyond combatting the felt impacts of traditional learning and teaching, these COIL projects connect students from across different geographic locations and cultural backgrounds; get students to engage in discipline-specific exchanges aimed at developing digital and intercultural skills; enable students to develop knowledge and skills over a broad range of management disciplines; and prepare students for 4IR to cope with an increasingly complex and globalised environment.

Specifically, the 2021 project conducted with the Sport and Leisure Marketing students of CPUT and Coventry University in the UK, had students engaging in a marketing-specific project based on an assessment of rugby events in the UK and South Africa.

WhatsApp

The project consisted of two parts, with differing outcomes:

• Part 1 advanced the students’ application of the promotion mix elements for a selected rugby event in their own geographical setting. Collaborative video presentations on event promotions on their selected event were designed. These video submissions were assessed using a pre-designed assessment rubric.

Figure 1: Map of Coventry University, United Kingdom

The scope of the project included student groups engaging virtually with their counterparts on theoretical aspects of the sport and leisure marketing ‘promotion mix’.

The following pictures illustrate virtual collaboration between students on Zoom and WhatsApp group

• Part 2 required students to select any of the promotional videos from their counterparts submitted in Part 1, and then write a reflective essay on the key differences in hosting rugby events in diverse cultural and international contexts, as well as make suggestions for events to consider in various national contexts.

A OneDrive link was shared for student groups to upload and share their video presentations and reflective essays.

The following excerpts are examples of first-year student reflections (Part 2) illustrating the key learnings and significance of undertaking a COIL project.

Figure 2: Virtual collaboration between students on Zoom and

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CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The video submission below presents a student group presentation.

Student GROUP. COIL Video Presentation.mp4

The project was effective as it prompted students to take responsibility for their own group dynamics as well as their own learning. The project instilled in them advanced communication and presentation skills. It taught students about self-reflection on common desirable student behaviour, such as punctuality for meetings and time management for completing tasks. The project further advanced students’ reflections on contextual knowledge on sport and leisure marketing and event promotions.

One SMART collaboration with industry for student engagement

Ms Mandy Jones and Ms Lauren Swart DEPARTMENT: Marketing

Online, blended or hybrid approaches to learning and teaching, which were once a vision, have encouraged a rethink of how we create an engaging learning environment that gives our students the best learning experience. To this end, the department collaborated with the industry partner, Black Wolf Youth Agency, and this innovative project offered students the best learning experience inculcating 21st century skills for graduate success.

In collaboration with academic lecturers, a project was developed and implemented to engage students in project-based learning that was advocated as the Work-Integrated Learning modality for the programme. From the collaboration, the Brand Marketing Challenge (BMC) was conceptualised.

The project:

• was based on an authentic problem to empower students with skills for the workplace;

• was designed to engage students in interdisciplinary learning;

• was executed within a group;

• used collaboration with stakeholders to develop professional skills, behaviour and networks;

• was monitored to minimise the risk of project failure;

• resulted in an output; and

• was assessed to determine whether the outcomes were achieved.

• Embracing technology in its broadest sense

The project was launched on the Black Wolf Youth Agency (BWYA) website, on Blackboard, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. A question-and-answer session was held with the clients’ brand managers using Google Meet; research consisted of secondary data, observation of customer engagement on social media and online surveys.

• Creating Smart student engagement and learning experiences

Students engaged in interdisciplinary learning by conducting research to identify target audiences and organising them into key personas. Online and offline marketing campaigns were created. The project spanned multiple learning areas within the programme, which reflected the world of work.

• Developing collaborative projects

The project was designed in collaboration with the academic lecturers, industry partners and their clients. The overarching objective was to create a match between industry partner requirements and the academic programme.

Students worked collaboratively, sharing ideas and deciding on a strategy to achieve the desired outcome.

•

Inculcating 21st century skills

The 21st century skills were mapped throughout the project. For example, students engaged in critical thinking by considering “how the brand connected with the target audience post-Covid to amplify and reestablish the brand”. They were productive and the entire campaign was mocked up as an actual. The PowerPoint presentation was supported by a Word or Google document for future editing, highlighting the key outcomes of the challenge and summarising the research data, including the next steps for the client.

• Equipping students with CPUT Graduate Attributes he results of the survey indicated that students are tech-savvy. They used technology in numerous ways for group meetings, video recordings and mock-ups. Students were resilient and could problem solve. Most respondents indicated that they bounced back after facing challenges. Their relational capabilities are evident because they had to engage with their group members to develop the best possible solution for their clients.

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Our experiences and insights engaging with this project are that collaboration with strategic partners is key to driving a SMART university to ensure that our students are industry-ready as skills continue to evolve.

Platforms for Transformative Education

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

Ms Mandie Richards LECTURER:

Diversity Management

Institutions of Higher Learning should play a pivotal role in not only creating environments that are inclusive, safe and allow for voices of all stakeholders, but also ensuring that there is vigorous integration of content into a curriculum which is responsive to the needs of students and communities. Graduate attributes at CPUT emphasise the need for students to act ethically and to be global citizens. This requires that the curriculum is inclusive of these attributes, so that students are able to live these values in society and in the workplace.

Diversity Management, a second-year subject in the Diploma: Business and Information Administration, includes various social justice themes encouraging students to not only engage theoretically, but also to voice their shared experiences, knowledge and understanding of challenges experienced by people who have been marginalised, thereby contributing meaningfully to a society which needs to be just, fair and free of discrimination, and affirming the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. As we navigate conversations with students, we must include civil society and organisations which contribute to the

narrative and policy which addresses social injustices. Whilst the pandemic limited contact sessions, the online environment provided a plethora of opportunities to embed graduate attributes (GA), such as the institutional relational GA, for both students and lecturers in creative ways. Two meaningful conversations created platforms for students to voice shared experiences, knowledge and understanding on social injustices; these engagements left invaluable impressions.

Sexual and Gender Diversity

One conversation allowed for a collaboration with a non-profit organisation, Inclusive and Affirming Ministries (IAM), in the area of sexual and gender diversity. Students engaged meaningfully in a topic which is often deemed to be uncomfortable and avoided. Various videos and readings were provided to the students by IAM prior to the conversation.

Discrimination against the LGBTQI+ Community in...

This team project challenged each team to choose a different country in Africa and explore its constitution as well as the harsh realities experienced by the LGBTIQA+ community.

Figure 3: Transformation conversation invitation: unheard voices of LGBTIQ+ youth

Figure 4: Students’ inclusion of pride flag of Angola in research project

The project comprised a research assignment and a digital storytelling video requiring students to think creatively and be innovative. Here is a link to one team’s video exploring discrimination of the LGBTQIA+ community in Angola: Conserving the Status Quo is Equal to Moving Backwards - YouTube. All final videos were uploaded to Blackboard as a resource for students and to stir further conversations around human rights. Videos took the format of documentaries, live interviews and poems. The project allowed students to explore this topic beyond the confines of the classroom, their communities and borders, giving teams carte blanche and an opportunity to demonstrate their

technological abilities, critical engagement and thinking outside of the box, whilst providing social comment and creating awareness of social injustices in the world.

Insights provided in both the webinar and the project are a constant reminder that students and lecturers are on a perpetual journey of learning and unlearning, and in the process will hopefully contribute to positivity and nation-building whilst achieving goals of the institution, the country and beyond.

Internationalisation of curriculum using Tech-Focussed Problem-Based Learning

Prof Virimai Mugobo DEPARTMENT: Retail Business Management

For the past three years, the department has been part of the X-Culture Project, a partnership of more than 200 universities spread across 102 countries in the world. Every year, participating students are placed in global virtual teams (GVTs) comprised of five to seven students per team, and each student in the team is from a different country and from a different university. To date, over 60 000 students from across the world have successfully participated in the X-Culture Project, and this number includes 200 students from CPUT. On successful completion of the project, the students are issued with a certificate by the X-Culture organisation.

In the X-Culture Project, the students work on real-life international business problems/challenges presented by

real companies that are partners to the X-Culture Project. The students basically serve as consultants, while also learning how to work with people from other cultures, and this enhances their ability to work with people from diverse cultures (intercultural learning) and backgrounds to collaboratively solve common problems in a technologymediated environment.

Working in global virtual teams and dealing with different time zones and cultural differences, the students spend a semester solving genuine business problems/ challenges presented by the project’s corporate partners. There are no simulations, no games, but real international virtual teams dealing with real companies and solving real business problems, and this leads to active, deep, significant, and authentic learning as the students participate in solving clearlyidentified global business problems. No travel is needed; all collaboration is virtual and thus the project enhances each student’s ability to use technology in solving problems in a team-based environment.

The X-Culture Project’s Learning, Teaching & Assessment Focal Areas

Architecture of the X-Culture Project

AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The students are required to write and pass a readiness test and an English proficiency test (minimum 80% pass required). After passing the tests, the students are then placed in GVTs. The students then get to choose the problem they want to deal with from the range of international business challenges presented to them. The students in each group decide on how and when they will do the project if they meet the deadlines – this fosters student-centred and student-directed learning. All the students in a group have a role: they could be a scribe, chairperson, recordkeeper, timekeeper, researcher or editor. This facilitates student engagement, student empowerment, peer learning and peer assessment (assessment as learning). Communication and coordination are conducted through free online digital tools such as Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, Skype, Google+ and many others. These are the same tools that the students will use when they join the world of work and the project thus capacitates them for the future through this experiential learning in a multicultural environment.

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Each group develops its own code of conduct to govern its own operations. There are 20 dedicated coaches/ mentors to support the groups as required. Representatives from the participating companies brief the students about their companies and the problems that they are facing. In the Retail Business Management Department, the project is undertaken by both Advanced Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma students and is linked to a summative assessment (assessment as learning and assessment of learning).

Benefits of the X-Culture Project to our Students

There are several benefits that accrue to the students who participate in the X-Culture Project, and these include the following, inter alia:

• opportunity to be part of a global virtual team dealing with an international and real problem facing a real company;

• learning with and about different cultures;

• dealing with complex situations: different time horizons, languages, cultures, religions and technologies;

• creation of work-integrated learning opportunities;

• receiving a certificate of completion which can be used for employment purposes;

• creation of international networks from which students will benefit, even after graduation;

• participating in a free international work readiness programme;

• free curriculum vitae (CV) writing and interview preparation seminars;

• international problem-solving and work experience; and

• international employment opportunities and career pathways after graduation.

Problem-based learning is a robust pedagogy that facilitates student engagement, active learning, self-directed learning, lifelong learning, and the creation of active citizenry. The X-Culture Project thus fosters collaboration between our students and other students and academics across diverse cultures and thus promotes technology-based learning in diverse environments (learning across differences). The X-Culture Project, through its problem-based and project- based approaches, has thus enhanced our teaching practices in the department and enriched our students’ learning experiences by using technology to expose them to international curricula, international cultural practices, international business and international partnerships.

Resources

X-Culture Introductory Video - https://youtu.be/ ZG7mMTPzExE

Conclusion

In an environment of diverse needs and demands during extraordinary times in higher education the faculty explored new ways of knowing, doing and being. Innovative responses, insights, knowledge, experiences and best practices emerged as academics navigated the changing and uncertain teaching and learning environment, foregrounding possibilities for future advances.

2.3 FACULTY OF EDUCATION

This report will focus on innovative teaching and learning strategies and the use of technology in teaching and learning activities and assessment, over and above teaching in the faculty. Reference will also be made to the teaching and learning spaces in the faculty and how these contribute to or hamper good teaching and learning. Student development and involvement in outreach and community engagement programmes will also be highlighted. The report will conclude with a brief indication of the way forward.

Professor Andile Mji Dean of the Faculty Dr Anna Thornhill Assistant Dean: T&L Dr Kwanele Booi Teaching and Learning Coordinator

Introduction

The Faculty of Education is spread over two campuses. One campus is an inner-city campus situated in Mowbray, which attracts many students from the greater Cape Town area, as well as other provinces, especially Eastern Cape, Limpopo and KZN. The language of instruction on the Mowbray campus is English. The other campus is a rural campus situated in Wellington, about 70 km away from Cape Town, and the language of instruction on this campus is Afrikaans.

Innovative Teaching and Learning Strategies and the use of Technology in Teaching and Learning and Assessment

In 2021, Curriculum Officers took over the task of empowering the academic staff members at the faculty on the programmes, which include workshops on Blackboard Collaborate and the use of a blended learning and teaching strategy to maximise the use of ICTS in the learning space. The reality of the Covid-19 pandemic has put the entire university on LL3 and therefore necessitated that tuition was offered primarily via online platforms.

There has been an increase in the use of Blackboard Learn to enhance and support learning. A number of

MOWBRAY CAMPUS – Highbury Road, Mowbray

WELLINGTON CAMPUS – Jan van Riebeeck Street, Wellington

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

lecturers have made use of tools such as discussion forums and wiki pages and groups to encourage collaborative learning. There has been an increase in the use of online tests and assignments. More lecturers also booked computer labs for tests to be completed under typical exam conditions. A number of lessons have been learned through the initiative of the Faculty Curriculum Officers during the course of the year, which have informed practice for 2022.

of Covid-19’ in the book Teaching in and Beyond Pandemic Times, a compilation on stories about the lives of teachers during the pandemic lockdown.

Prof Dippenaar and Prof Livingston were invited by Associate Professor Keiko Tsuchiya, from the Graduate School of Urban Social and Cultural Studies (School of International Liberal Arts), Yokohama City University in Japan, to present an online seminar about ‘Multilingualism in South Africa’.

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

Prof Candice Livingston was awarded the Institutional Teaching Excellence Award at the end of 2021, with the Award Ceremony taking place in

Prof Candice Livingston published a chapter entitled ‘I see you: student engagement in the time

Prof Livingston was invited to present a talk on digital storytelling and its role in the digital age by UCT libraries as part of the UCT World Digital Preservation Day on 4 November 2021.

She was also invited to be a speaker and mentor for the South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLAR). She was part of the Escalator Empower Track as part of the Digital Champions initiative. She presented a seminar series on ‘How stories breathe: a digital perspective’.

(https://youtu.be/rakXAc4VF6E)

https://escalator.sadilar.org/champions/ empower2021/

On 30 March 2021, members of the Training the Teachers of the Future: Literacy and Language at

CPUT project presented an international seminar to the Faculty of Education at the University of the Western Cape. Prof An de Moor from Odisee University of Applied Sciences was the keynote speaker, and she contextualised our project and gave training on the integration of Language Across the Curriculum. Ms Linda Manashe from the Centre for Innovative Educational Training at CPUT, reported on the use of multilingual glossaries in this project. Prof Dippenaar, Prof Livingston and Ms Fleischmann also provided training and feedback on the project.

From the IP Department, we had Ms Genevieve Lentz (nGap member of staff) and Mr Charl Du Toit (parttime Lecturer, Human Movement) participating at the Tokyo Olympics. Ms Lentz, a table-tennis umpire, she did us proud, earning special mention from and recognition by the Vice Chancellor. Mr Du Toit competed at the Tokyo Paralympics and placed our university, faculty and department on the world map.

Dr Esau received a Career Advancement Grant for Black Academic Women from CPGS for a community engagement project that she initiated during lockdown. The project offers a mentorship programme and support for newly qualified teachers. WCED’s Metro South Education District have given Dr Esau permission to launch the mentorship programme with ten of their schools and have offered the support of their team of curriculum specialists to assist.

Mr Eral Basson, Afrikaans nGap lecturer, went to Belgium at the invitation of Ghent university to learn about the Dutch language as part of his ongoing doctoral studies. I attach his motivation and mine which were approved by the Health Cluster, enabling Mr Basson to spend a few months in that country. Mr Basson returned in March satisfied with the knowledge he gained from this experience.

Teaching and Learning Highlights in the Faculty

For the first time in the history of CPUT, there will be students awarded their B.Ed. Honours degrees in Teaching and Learning with the subject isiXhosa as their specialisation subject. I believe that it is important to mention that their research projects were also focused on the development of isiXhosa as a subject of teaching and learning. We see this as a major contribution to our institution’s commitment to transformation and decolonisation advocated for by Vision 2030. It is also noteworthy that the lecturer responsible for this development, Dr Xolani Mavela, is a lecturer from our Wellington Campus.

Advisory Board meeting with Wellington and Mowbray FP and IP departments on Friday 22 October 2021

The status of the accreditation changed with the approval of the programme for the Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).

Excellent results were also achieved in the Grade R diploma exit level results. The FP department is proud of its success and achievements since introducing the Grade R Diploma programme. We have helped to professionalise the Grade R level of the FP. We have boosted the morale and confidence of the Grade R

ACHIEVEMENTS AT

teachers and made them proud of their profession, which augurs well for the future of young children’s development and learning in South Africa.

High-risk modules

There were no modules identified as high-risk modules. What has been noticed, however, is that the pass rates remain high but the average percentages per subject are sinking. For example, the class may obtain a 100% pass, but the average (mean) percent of marks might be just 50%.

The departments monitor performance in all modules to see which are high-risk modules. The indicators would be a high number of students who fail the subject, from term tests to the final assessment, or a large number of students needing extra or alternative assessments.

The general observation from the academic staff about underperforming students in any subject is that this is a result of poor attendance of classes and issues related to access of online platforms for learning and teaching. This poor attendance of classes results in students either underperforming or failing to take part in the subject and missing assessments. To address the poor attendance of online classes, it was proposed that we implement an attendance-based credit and demerit system. Since 2018, when the attendance-based credit and demerit system was introduced, the faculty has not reached a point of implementing such measures.

The peer tutor system is assisting in improving academic performance across the board. The current Teaching and Learning Coordinator, Dr Booi (responsible for the UCDG project management in the Faculty of Education), and the Assistant Dean responsible for Teaching and Learning, Dr Thornhill, monitored and managed this area well. Since the appointment of the Teaching and Learning Coordinator, there has been considerable improvement in the administration of both peer tutor systems and the appointment of Teaching Assistants (TAs) to assist both the academic staff and students deal with issues of lowering attrition rates and lowering throughput rates. This approach, together with the First-Year Experience (FYE) discussed below, have assisted in ensuring student success at the undergraduate level.

First-Year Experience (FYE)

We have extremely dedicated and enthusiastic Retention Officers (ROs), three on each campus, who are working hard at planning and finalising the orientation and FYE programmes. The Wellington FYE committee members are:

• SP/FET: Mr Marinus van Wyk and RO Mrs Odette Simmery

• IP: Mrs Kobie Meiring and RO Ms Junetta Goosen

• FP: Dr Milandre Vlok and RO Ms Alyssa Neser

• Dr Sanet Cox, coordinator

The Mowbray committee members are:

• SP/FET: Dr Moses Moyo and RO Ms Naledi Mpotulo

• IP: Dr Hester Traut and RO Ms Amanda Mdanjelwa

• FP: Dr George Joubert and RO Ms Bridgette Mlalandle

• Dr Kwanele Booi, coordinator

1. Orientation for first-years was planned for 14 – 19 March 2021, and for the first time it happened via Microsoft Teams.

2. Budget approval from Dean Coopoo (Dean of students) was received to allow for the payment for orientation workers and mentors.

3. At Wellington campus the FYE programme had to consider the following two specific aspects:

• W ithin the education faculty we are working together with the Mowbray campus alongside Dr Booi (FYE coordinator) and the ROs.

• On the Wellington campus we are working together with the other faculties, Business and Agriculture, to assist students with campus specific information (such as library services, disability unit, student counselling and clinic services).

4. The ROs have been working on exciting initiatives, including social media (Facebook, Instagram and T ikTok). Videos were made:

• Campus specific (Wellington) alongside other faculties for generic information to all first-year students

• Faculty specific by ROs, mentors, year coordinators per phase to:

- Introduce FYE team and lecturers

- Encourage and motivate

- Communicate and inform

- Explain academic course and subject information.

5. Additional attention was given to health and wellbeing during the orientation programme, as well as throughout the year. Dr Vlok worked on a programme alongside the student counselling services to provide regular support (regarding mindfulness, breathing exercises, yoga) using video clips and other media.

6. We also took heed of the advice from a report by Mrs Kearns regarding FYE 2020 and adapted our programme according to those observations.

Internationalisation

Teaching the Teachers of the Future: Language and Literacy at CPUT (University development grant sponsored by the Flemish Interuniversity Council)

The project entitled Teaching the Teachers of the Future (TTF): Language and Literacy at CPUT has been ongoing since 2018 and is sponsored by the Flemish Interuniversity Council.

On 30 March 2021, members of the TTF project presented an international seminar to the Faculty of Education at the University of the Western Cape. Prof An de Moor from Odisee University of Applied Sciences, the keynote speaker, contextualised our project and gave training on the integration of Language Across the Curriculum. Ms Linda Manashe, from the Centre for Innovative

Educational Training at CPUT, reported on the use of multilingual glossaries in this project. Prof Dippenaar, Dr Livingston and Ms Fleischmann also provided training and feedback on the project.

Furthermore, in collaboration with the University of Ghent, two academic modules – Language policy in South Africa and Diversity – were developed within the confines of this project; these modules will be integrated as course content for the Faculty of Education. These modules were created as a joint venture and will be used by both universities.

Dr Livingston spent 2021 compiling and adapting the Handbook for Language Across the Curriculum: a Facilitators Guide, for use in the Faculty of Education. This guide has been translated into English by associates of Professor An De Moor from the Odisee University of Applied Sciences (Ghent, Belgium) and adapted for the South African context by Dr Livingston and Prof Dippenaar. This material was developed by the Study Advice Service of Artevelde College and by the Expertise Unit for Language Policy of Odisee University of Applied Sciences. The cultural society ‘Orde van den Prince’ made the project financially and substantively possible. The Orde van den Prince administration of the region of East- and Zeelandic Flanders is aware of the fact that teachers – and not only language teachers – are crucial in enhancing the language proficiency of students. Unfortunately, because of Covid-19 restrictions, there was no academic exchange of lecturers (South African or Flemish) in 2021.

Online Guest Lecture Exchange with Prof Keiko Tsuchiya, Associate Professor at the International College of Arts and Sciences, Yokohama City University, Japan

Dr Candice Livingston and A/Prof Hanlie Dippenaar were invited to present a guest lecture on multilingualism at Yokohama City University, in Japan. In addition, Prof Tsuchiya was invited to give a guest lecture for staff and students in the Department of English, as well as for students registered in the B.Ed. Honours (specialisation Second Language Teaching). Both lectures

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

were well attended by staff and students from both institutions. Further collaboration is being explored.

Guest lecture: Ms Cheryl Logan, Ohio State University, USA

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

Ms Cheryl Logan (PhD Candidate at Ohio State University) offered a guest lecture with thirdyear undergraduate students in the Dept of English. We were planning for her to visit us at Wellington, but due to Covid-19, this visit has been postponed until August 2022. Funding has already been approved through the US Embassy. We are planning to have her visit in 2022, which will include further research and guest lectures. Based on the research we did together (Dr Candice Livingston, Ms Cheryl Logan and A/Prof Hanlie Dippenaar), we submitted a chapter in an international book, which is in publication process in Germany (Hanlie Dippenaar, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cheryl Logan, Ohio State University, Columbus, [USA] & Candice Livingston, Cape Peninsula University of Technology entitled Authenticity of literature in a post-colonial curriculum for teachers of English) in Will, L., Stadler, W. & I. Eloff (Eds.): Authenticity across Languages and Cultures

– Themes of Identity in Foreign Language Teaching & Learning (with a Foreword by Claire Kramsch, UC Berkeley: Authenticity in our times). Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2022.

HAN student visit project

During 2021, the planning of the student visit from HAN University took place. However, the actual visit only took place in February 2022, and two students from our department joined the project at Theewaterskloof. This project is carried out across faculties, in collaboration with Jacqui Scheepers from the Community Engagement Unit.

Faculty Language Coordinator’s report

On 6 August 2021, the Faculty Language Committee held its meeting comprised of all language lecturers from the Faculty of Education. Using meetings in this way, members can bring their language concerns to the meeting and take feedback to their respective departments. The meetings will be scheduled quarterly. It was agreed that a seminar be organised on “Storytelling for promoting literacy” to commemorate Heritage Day. The committee also drafted a term of reference in line with other faculties and the Senate Language Committee, approved by the Faculty Board.

The language symposium was based on the theme “My heritage, my Identity”. The presenters included five students and a keynote speaker who gave talks on their heritage with reference to diversity and language. The first student did a presentation on “The Mantle” which portrays the culture of the Muslims. The second student presented an Afrikaans poem which talks about the Khoisan culture. The third student presented in English about the importance of English as a neutral language in a rainbow nation. One student recited a poem in IsiXhosa on tradition and another student sang a praise song to usher in the keynote speaker. The keynote speaker was Ms Joy Levin from the University of the Western Cape. Her presentation was entitled “The role of storytelling in teaching”. The abstract for her talk follows below:

There is a reason that children ask to hear stories repeatedly, and that our history is written in fables, tales and myths. One could say the mind of the human is hardwired for stories. In this presentation I look at the use of stories for learning. Storytelling engages the child’s imagination, which Rudolf Steiner outlines as the precursor for critical and creative thinking. Egan explains the importance of binaries in stories, which allow for children to find their own perspective within polarities. Theories of Vygotsky, Egan, Steiner, and others outline how to use stories for teaching, bringing in emotional and moral development and at the same time, laying the foundation for thinking, and thus, facilitating learning. Waldorf education uses stories through primary school as a means of teaching. Another core area is the Neurological understanding which shows the relationship between using the right and left brain in listening and forming pictures of the content, which allows for more complete learning.

In our October meeting, the committee elected a secretary, Ms Genevieve Lents, to run the secretariat of the committee. The faculty was advised by the Language Working Group to begin preparing the translation of the faculty and all departments as this was already approved by the CPUT Naming Committee. Also, it was resolved that all Literacy lecturers must work on timetabling to ease the teaching of Information Literacy by librarians. It was concluded that all members of the committee should attend the first meeting of 2022 with activities that will populate the calendar of the Language Committee.

Student Development and Community Engagement Programmes

Student Development

Ms. Danika Odendaal, a second year B.Ed. Foundation Phase student, represented our institution at the 2021 University Sport South Africa (USSA) National tournament which took place at Camp Discovery in the Northwest Province from 19 to 25 September 2021.

Congratulations to our Art lecturers, Ms Sipesihle Biyela from Mowbray and Mrs Kobie Meiring from Wellington, whose students have produced excellent art. Please see a video to the Wellington 4th year Artworks and link to the Mowbray 4th year online Artworks display.

https://sites.google.com/view/4thyearartip2021/home

assist learners with English proficiency and reading.

During the time of Covid-19, however, many service-learning projects were cancelled due to the requirements of social distancing, including the projects of the Department of English.

Every year, students from the Faculty of Education do their practice teaching in Wellington, Mossel Bay and the surrounding areas. Pastor Thys Wagenaar from the Filippense Christian Church, Community of Africa, his wife, Mrs Angelina Wagenaar and Mrs Mary-Ann started a soup kitchen in Asla Park, Mossel Bay, during lockdown, feeding around 50 children twice a week. The children were former beneficiaries of feeding schemes at their schools but were now hungry. Pastor Wagenaar and his team purchased food and supplies from their own pockets and rose at 4 am to cook meals before heading off to work.

Community

Engagement

Project

in Mossel Bay: The Hope, Health, and Happiness project in Asla Park, Mossel Bay

The Service-Learning Civic Engagement Unit of CPUT, under the leadership of Ms Jacqui Scheepers, supports staff and students from all faculties and departments, and advises on ways to collaborate with government agencies and community-based organisations in implementing relevant projects in urban and rural locations. Such projects are important experiential learning opportunities for students and enable the university to contribute to society in its aim to be an engaged and relevant university. In the Faculty of Education, Wellington campus, third-year students who enrol for English typically carry out their servicelearning projects in the correctional facility in Wellington as well as in a local children’s home where they

Two lecturers from the Dept of English, Ms Valencia Theys and Dr Hanlie Dippenaar, heard about the project and arranged for CPUT students to be involved in the project. As part of their servicelearning project, the students created posters with motivational messages of hope for the children.

Mrs Jacqui Scheepers assisted in securing donations from local businesses who supplied vegetables and fresh fish to feed the learners. The CE Unit at CPUT contributed learning materials and other items which they transported from Cape Town to Mossel Bay. The learners were invited for an afternoon of fun and games on Wednesday, 7

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TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

October, during which they received posters and goodie bags. Camissa Solutions, who is engaged in a broad range of community projects in Mossel Bay, partnered with CPUT and Mrs Lovetta gave an inspirational message to the learners, telling them that they matter very much. Ms Theys played educational games with the learners, whereafter the lecturers, joined by two postgraduate students from the Faculty of Education, conveyed messages of hope and support and distributed posters. The programme was supported by CPUT’s Head of Department of Emergency Medical Sciences (EMS), Mr Lloyd Christopher; an EMS master’s student from CPUT, Daniel Tilley, facilitated a session on health and safety. He reminded the learners of the importance of safety during Covid-19 and taught them about the paramedic services. After the event, Mrs Wagenaar and Mrs Michaels provided a warm meal to all learners.

Conclusion

In 2021, the Faculty of Education embarked on developing staff capacity to use innovative strategies and technology in their teaching and learning. With assistance from Fundani, CIET, COs, the IT and T&L, Coordinators and other staff are actively using Blackboard in their daily teaching. Some lecturers also use Plickers, Kahoot and other apps to enhance student learning. Translanguaging is used to assist speakers of languages other than

English or Afrikaans to be able to understand what they are being taught and become active participants in the learning process. The FYE programme has gained momentum in assisting first-year students to successfully transition from high school to university.

The physical teaching and learning spaces remain a challenge, though some lecturers have taken the initiative to bring about positive change. Despite this, these challenges manifested in the delay in allocating the space for ECC Centre.

Harmonising the delivery of the curriculum on the two campuses is happening at an increasing rate, and the Curriculum Officers and Language, ICT and Teaching and Learning Coordinators played a crucial role in initiating processes which ensured that both campuses work in harmony as they form ‘ONE’ faculty. The faculty is awaiting the revised Minimum Requirements for Teacher Education Qualifications (MRTEQ). Once we have received the approved document, we will embark on amending our curricula and admission requirements accordingly. We must keep up with implementing technologies of the 4IR in both our teaching and curricula if we intend to prepare our student teachers for 21st century classrooms.

2.4 FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

The Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment (FEBE) has the following Vision and Mission statements in line with the Faculty Strategic plan 2030:

Faculty Vision

To be a leading faculty in engineering and the built environment that advances knowledge through science, technology, and innovation for the benefit of society.

Faculty Mission

To be a self-sustaining faculty that is responsive and relevant; environmentally conscious; renowned for its innovation in teaching and learning, research, and technological development; and which produces graduates who contribute to society.

The faculty is one of six faculties and the second largest within CPUT, with approximately 6500 students registered in 2021. The faculty currently consists of eight departments operating over three campuses: Bellville, District Six and Granger Bay.

The faculty offers over 50 HEQSF-aligned qualifications which include diplomas, advanced diplomas, degrees, honours degrees, postgraduate diplomas, masters and doctoral degrees. It covers a broad range of Engineering, Built Environment and related disciplines, i.e., Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Geomatics; Clothing and Textile Technology; Construction Management and Quantity Surveying; Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering; Industrial and Systems Engineering; Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics; and Maritime Studies and Marine Engineering.

During 2021, the faculty continued to deliver the curriculum in a multimodal approach following the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. These two years provided the faculty with valuable information regarding what could be possible if provided with access to appropriate devices and connectivity; conducive living, learning, and working spaces for staff and students and if technology was optimally utilised while maintaining the quality and integrity of the programme.

The faculty celebrated the demanding work and perseverance of students and graduated a total of 1 501, of which 1432 (95%) were undergraduate and 69 (5%) were postgraduates. This report for 2021 is a summary of some of the achievements in the faculty, despite all the challenges faced. I am amazed and humbled by how the staff and students responded to the obstacles we encountered.

During 2021, the names of two departments were changed after approval from the Naming Committee and Senate:

• The Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying was changed to the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics

• The Department of Mechanical Engineering was changed to the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering

These departmental name changes were to allow the names to reflect the new HEQSFaligned qualifications that have responded to the emerging digital transformation industry needs and align with the institution and faculty’s Vision 2030.

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AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Prof Marshall Sheldon Dean of the Faculty

Prof Sheldon holds a Doctoral Degree in Chemical Engineering. With more than 20 years’ experience in higher education, she has held the positions of Lecturer and Senior Lecturer; Associate Professor; Head of Programme; Head of Department of Chemical Engineering (acting); Assistant Dean of Engineering: Teaching and Learning; Dean of Engineering and the Built Environment; and Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research, Technology Innovation and Partnership (acting). She has spent more than ten years in management positions, which includes three years in Senior Management and two and a half years of Executive Management.

Prof Sheldon is registered as a Professional Engineering Technologist with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA); is a member of the Water Institute of South Africa (WISA); the South African Institute of Chemical Engineers (SAIChE); the South African Society for Engineering Educators (SASEE); (served on the SASEE board 2017-2019); the African Engineering Education Association and the Global Engineering Dean’s Council (served on the panel for the 2021 Diversity Award)

Prof Sheldon is a C2 NRF-rated researcher. To date, she has successfully graduated 14 master (4 cum laude) and four doctoral students. She has published and co-authored 30 articles in international peer-reviewed journals; nine international conference papers; one book chapter; and a WRC technical report. She has an h-index on Google Scholar of 14; Scopus 11 and Web of Science 10. Her research work has been presented at more than 60 conferences both internationally, nationally and locally.

Prof Ramsuroop is the Assistant Dean: Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at CPUT since April 2021. Prof Ramsuroop holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering and has over 33 years of industrial and academic experience. In his current role as Assistant Dean of Teaching and Learning, Prof Ramsuroop continues to engage and promote academic excellence and uphold high professional standards to underpin research and teaching in the field of engineering. Over the past 30 years he has held several management positions in academia, has taught a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses and supervised several postgraduate students.

He has been actively involved in various national and international professional activities that directly contributed to chemical engineering education and the profession. He currently serves on several working committees at the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) including the generation of the new suite of engineering qualification standards for SA, the accreditation of national and international engineering programmes, and is currently the chairperson of the task team for the national implementation of the new legislation on Identification of Engineering Work (IDoEW).

Prof Suresh Ramsuroop

Assistant Dean, Academic

Prof Ramsuroop is a registered Professional Engineering Technologist with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) and is a registered Chartered Engineer with the Engineering Council of UK (ECUK). His current research interests include computational chemical thermodynamics, process synthesis and design, and engineering education.

Dr Trunette Joseph Coordination of Faculty T&L

Dr Trunette Joseph, who has been the T&L Coordinator since 2014, leads Teaching and Learning in this faculty across all eight departments with the support of a committed and enthusiastic team of departmental teaching and learning representatives, the Language Development Coordinator, the ECP Coordinator, the Student Engagement Coordinator, as well as representatives from Fundani Centre for Higher Education and Development, and the library. The University of the Western Cape is her first alma mater, where she completed a BA in languages (English and German), a Secondary Teaching Diploma, and a post graduate B.Ed. degree. She holds an Ed.M. degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a PhD in Political Science (on Gender Mainstreaming in International Development Organisations) from Stellenbosch University. Her work experience spans secondary and tertiary teaching for more than 10 years, as well as extensive management experience in national and provincial government departments (12+ years). Among other things, her portfolio includes gender and transformation in both government and higher education.

T&L Highlights

The disruption of on-campus learning during the past two years has had widespread impacts on students, staff, and the operations in the faculty. Not only has it led to the disruption of the traditional teaching and learning experiences, but the sudden, unplanned shift to digital modalities has prompted a reconfiguration of the delivery of programmes.

While the transition to online delivery in the past two years has broadened learning opportunities, it has also presented significant challenges to students and teaching staff alike. Adapting to new remote learning environments, maintaining student engagement, adapting to remote assessments and equitable access have been the most significant challenges for programme delivery during the pandemic. In response, the academic sector had to review and reimagine the delivery of our programmes and had to consider the following key elements: curriculum, pedagogy, technology, access, and inclusion.

The loss of the second curriculum experience during the past two years has highlighted the insight that higher education extends far beyond coursework, grades or certifications. The critical impact of the second curriculum is that it enables the critical development of social and emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills.

More challenging for online delivery were laboratory sessions, design project classes, workshop activity and computer simulation subjects, and WIL, because the competencies developed in these teaching and learning activities are difficult to develop exclusively through online delivery.

The FEBE multimodal approach to programme delivery was key to ensuring that our students receive hands-on laboratory experience and limited face-to-face contact to remain motivated and benefit from the on-campus facilities and support, whilst allowing students some of the flexibility afforded by synchronous and asynchronous online delivery.

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AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The guiding principles adopted by the faculty include:

• The mode of delivery should take cognisance of the various situations that students may find themselves in.

• L&T&A must be developed around the most vulnerable students, who have no electronic devices or access. The mode selected should ensure that all students have fair and equal access to all learning opportunities.

• Student support (tutors/mentors/TAs/ROs) should be flexible in terms of availability to provide support to students.

• The hyflex/hybrid models require dialogues considering all the challenges that could emerge, including student success and the integrity of the academic project.

• The mode of activities and type of assessment should be aligned with the lear ning outcomes to be achieved, while maintaining the highest level of integrity.

• Departments must ensure that staff and students are adequately trained to use the respective online platforms effectively and interactively (i.e., students should complete the online student training provided by CIET either during orientation or before lectures commence; staff must use the available training opportunities from CIET, LDU and Fundani).

Professional Body Accreditation of Qualifications

The faculty currently offers approximately 50 HEQSF-aligned qualifications, and approximately 90% of the diplomas; advanced diplomas, and bachelor’s degrees are professional qualifications that are accredited by various statutory professional bodies. The various Statutory Profession Councils are established through various acts of South African legislation and are established by the respective government ministries. These councils have the statutory mandate to govern and regulate the practice of specific occupations in South Africa. The statutory mandate of the professional bodies includes oversight and accreditation of learning programmes at educational institutions, registration of applicants in appropriate categories of registration, and exercise oversight over the professional conduct of registered persons.

During the programme accreditation process, the various departments and their qualifications were assessed against predetermined criteria to determine whether the programmes meet the prescribed standards of educational quality, and specified minimum standards set by the professional body. The accreditation reviews,

looking at programme curricula, staff, facilities and institutional support, were conducted by teams of highly skilled professionals from industry and academia, with expertise in the various disciplines.

During 2021, the faculty hosted three professional body accreditation visits, where 20 different qualifications were evaluated. The three statutory bodies were: the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA); the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), and the South African Council for Construction and Quantity Surveying Professions (SACQSP). All the programmes evaluated during the accreditation visits received endorsements from the statutory bodies. The endorsements received for all the engineering programmes further indicate that these qualifications are also recognised internationally by several countries who are signatory countries to the Dublin and Sidney Accords and members of the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) (www.ieagreements.org).

In November 2021, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) visited the Department of Maritime Studies as part of the international accreditation process for the Evaluation of the Maritime Education, Training and Certification System in South Africa. The outcome of this process is that the IMO has concluded that the South African Maritime Education does comply with international standards.

Table 1: 2021 Professional body accreditations in the faculty

DEPARTMENT QUALIFICATION

PROFESSIONAL BODY

Chemical Engineering Diploma: Chemical Engineering. ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

Advanced Diploma: Chemical Engineering ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

Civil Engineering and Geomatics Diploma: Civil Engineering. ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

Advanced Diploma: Civil Engineering ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

Bachelor of Engineering Technology: Civil EngineeringECSA (Provisional accreditation)

Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering Diploma in Engineering Technology: Computer Engineering ECSA (Provisional accreditation)

Diploma in Engineering Technology: Electrical EngineeringECSA (Provisional accreditation)

Bachelor of Engineering Technology: Electrical EngineeringECSA (Provisional accreditation)

Bachelor of Engineering Technology: Computer Engineering ECSA (Provisional accreditation)

Industrial and Systems Engineering Diploma: Industrial Engineering. ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

Advanced Diploma: Industrial Engineering ECSA (Provisional accreditation)

NB: Provisional Accreditation is a midway accreditation process for new qualifications where only 50% of the curriculum has been completed and hence, the programme has not produced any graduates at the time of the accreditation visit.

New HEQSF-aligned programmes

During 2021, the faculty submitted the following Level 8 qualifications for approval to DHET, CHE and SAQA and with approved plans to phase these in during 2022 and 2023, depending on the approval dates.

• PGDip Construction

Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering

Diploma: Mechanical Engineering ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

Advanced Diploma: Mechanical Engineering ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

Diploma: Mechanical Engineering (Mechatronics) ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

Advanced Diploma: Mechanical Engineering (Mechatronics) ECSA (Regular Accreditation)

• PGDip Clothing and Textile Technology

• PGDip Engineering Management

• PGDip Mechanical Engineering

• BEngTech (Hons) Chemical Engineering

Construction Management and Quantity Surveying

Diploma in Construction SACQSP (Regular Accreditation)

Advanced Diploma in Quantity Surveying SACQSP (Regular Accreditation)

• BEngTech (Hons) Civil Engineering

• BEngTech (Hons) Computer Engineering

• BEngTech (Hons) Electrical Engineering

AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The faculty also received approval for, and commenced with, a new Master of Engineering in Engineering Management (coursework) in July 2021, with its first cohort of 10 students. This qualification opens up prospects for product development, manufacturing, construction, design engineering, industrial engineering, technology, production, or any other field that employs personnel who perform an engineering function. According to Prof Yan, the Head of Department, this qualification develops students to practice management within engineering: “Engineering management is a career that brings together the technological problem-solving ability of engineering and the organisational, administrative, and planning abilities of management in order to oversee the operational performance of complex engineering-driven enterprises”.

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Teaching Excellence Awards in 2021

Departmental Teaching Excellence Awards

received his BSc from AlTahady University, Libya in 2001 and MSc from the University of Tripoli, Libya in 2008, and PhD from Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) South Africa in 2015, all in Electrical Engineering. He is currently a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering at CPUT. He is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET) and a member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers, and an active member of the Energy Institute and Centre for Distributed Power Systems at CPUT. He has published and co-authored many journal and conference papers. His main and current research interests include, control of power converters especially model predictive control, renewable energy resources and their applications and Real-time simulators.

University Alumni Rising Star Award 2020 as well as the first recipient of the prestigious DAAD UNILEAD scholarship 2021. She is the Editorial Advisory Board Member for the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education and member of the SABS committee.

My name is Kevin Musungu. I am the HoP for Geomatics in the Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics. I lecture and research in Geoinformation, Satellite Mapping and Machine Learning. I get excited to see the growth in my students from the classroom to making a name in industry and various research and professional platforms. I am also a Professional Land Surveyor and sectional title Practitioner. Outside work (and sometimes at work), I love dancing, running, gardening, watching movies and listening to music. I am a father of three and a husband of one. lastly, I live and love to learn.

Academic Staff Development

It is interesting to note how the content of academic staff development had changed from 2020, when the primary training focus was on multimodal, flexible, blended, and remote Teaching and Learning (T&L) in the face of the Covid-19 Pandemic. In 2021, identified training needs directed the faculty focus to decolonising and transforming T&L; ensuring integrity and quality of online assessments; integrating CPUT and ECSA GAs (Graduate Attributes) into the curriculum; introducing threshold concepts to address subjects at risk, and raising staff awareness on multilingualism challenges in higher education.

Thus, the following interventions, funded by the UCDG, were offered to staff (shown in Table 2).

Online training and development enabled many more staff members to attend training than was the case with face-to-face training in the past; working from home and the multimodal, remote, flexible and blended T&L approach freed staff, enabling them to attend online training in greater numbers.

In addition to externally facilitated workshops listed in Table 2, several internal workshops on online programme delivery and assessments were held.

In recognition of promoting academic excellence in learning; teaching and assessments, several staff in the faculty were recipients of the Teaching Excellence Awards (TEA). These awards are intended to recognise, promote and reward teaching excellence; enhance the professionalism of university teachers; share excellent practice with the faculty and institution; provide opportunities for further professional development; and improve student engagement and success. The recipients for 2021 were as follows:

Institutional TEA

Prof Seun Oyekola: Department of Chemical Engineering Faculty TEA

Dr Sweta Patnaik: Department of Clothing and Textile Technology Departmental TEA

Dr Ali-Mustafa Ali-Almaktoof: Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering

Mr Kevin Musungu: Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics

Ms Leigh Middleton: Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering

Table 2: 2021 Faculty training and workshop sessions

TRAINING TOPIC, OBJECTIVES FACILITATOR

1. Understanding Employment Equity (EE) in a Transformative Context

2. Transformation Planning and Implementation

The objective of these two training sessions was to build the capacity of the members of the FTWG to enable EE implementation based on the faculty EE plan, within the faculty transformation plan, as well as to enable departments and the faculty office to provide

An Introduction to Threshold Concepts

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The objective was to introduce lecturers to key concepts/threshold concepts in subjects that students need to master to pass the subject. This training was identified as a need based on the 2020 subject review.; TC’s could assist to take subjects out of risk if undertaken as a project in departments.

Transformation Implementation in the Faculty Office and eight academic departments

The objective of this session was to empower and build staff capacity to ensure transformation implementation at all levels in the faculty.

Transformation, Decolonisation and a Third Possibility for the University

Objectives: To build upon the workshop above, and to enable staff to integrate transformation and decolonising the university into one project.

CPUT Graduate Attribute Training

Objective: capacity building for all staff on how to integrate the CPUT graduate attributes into the curriculum.

ECSA

Graduate Attributes, Requirements and Appropriate Assessments

Objective: To assist staff to integrate ECSA GAs into their programmes as required by ECSA.

Multilingualism, Academic Literacy and Epistemic Justice

Objectives: To appraise staff of the role Multilingualism and Trans-language as a pedagogy for student support and success.

Mr Rudy Oosterwyk , External Management Consultant with strategic management, transformation, public sector and HE work experience

Dr Lizel Hudson , WIL and Language Coordinator for Health & Wellness Faculty

Mr Rudy Oosterwyk

Distinguished Professor Lesley Le Grange, from the Education Faculty at Stellenbosch University

Dr Belinda Ketel

Professor Brandon Collier-Reed from the Engineering Faculty at UCT

Dr Robyn Tyler, a researcher from the UWC Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research

Language Development

Student dropout and throughput continue to be two critical factors in the faculty. Even though the contributing factors are multifaceted, one of the contributors is that the majority of the students are English second language students. FEBE in 2021 attempted to introduce language transformation by advocating for national and CPUT policy in all discussions at all levels. The CPUT and National Language policies and their implementation are central to the agenda on most FEBE forums.

The Faculty Language Development Committee has also designed a Terms of Reference that opens membership to any academic staff member in the faculty. This is a movement to steer away from the traditional notion that language is only central to a Communication Skills lecturer. The implication is that language is central to all courses.

Furthermore, conceptual multilingual glossaries have been advocated to support the Language of teaching and learning, which is English. Many departments have latched onto the multilingual project to enhance the teaching and learning platform.

A focus on the implementation of the Language Policy which focuses on multilingualism support was introduced in the fourth term of 2021 by arranging a workshop for staff. Translanguaging as a pedagogy was highlighted. This was a successful first start to introduce multilingualism and translanguaging as it was wellattended and received complimentary reviews. The workshop was Facilitated by Dr Robyn Tyler of the Centre for Multilingualism and Diversity of UWC.

Work-Integrated Learning and Community Engagement

The challenges experienced by the university and students in completing the WIL component of their studies was complicated by the Covid-19 lockdown. Companies reduced staff and worked remotely, requiring fewer interns than was the case under normal circumstances.

Fortunately, government, private sector and the university stepped up their efforts to assist students in this regard. The government provided relief funding to pay for student mentorship, the SETA’s provided student

stipends and companies employed staff to mentor students. The faculty in turn, with industry input, provided on-campus industrial-based projects to provide an industrial experience, affording the students a work-related environment.

Advisory board meetings were held by most departments, which incorporated valuable suggestions to improve the reduced workplacebased WIL period from 12 to 6 months. Industry agreed that projects sourced in industry and performed on campus, with limited company visits, could make the experience more valuable.

Community engagement projects, with the assistance of the Service-Learning Department were mostly put on hold for the 2020/2021, period as no travel was possible. The current projects were maintained and accommodated on campus as far as possible. In early 2022, the site visits and engagements with partners resumed and several new projects will be available to students for the second semester of 2022.

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CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering participated in the Engineers Without Borders design challenge with the theme “Engineering for People”. In 2019/2020, over 7,000 students worldwide took part in the Engineering for People Design Challenge, of which 2,200 were from South Africa. For the 2021 challenges, multidisciplinary teams with students from different engineering departments were encouraged to take part, as it enables students to share the different skills they have acquired from their engineering disciplines in tackling the problem faced by the two communities used as a case study. In total, 12 teams from the Department of Industrial Engineering participated in the design challenge.

Department of Mechanical Engineering Senior Lecturer, Fareed Ismail, who graduated with a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering, established the Beleaf Aquaponics project, which is making a difference in a Belhar community.

This pilot project spans multiple disciplines, such as renewable energy, new farming methods (aquaponics), education and training of community members and ECD. The project provides food for the children and the harvest is sold to a local supplier. Though it is carried out on a small scale, the educational value and growth are exceptional.

The project won the regional and national governmental awards for the most outstanding ECD programme in SA. The project will partner with other

institutes such as iThemba labs and Nanoenergy for Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDAF) to improve solar collector equipment by introducing recent technology in the fields of nanoscience. This will result in the establishment of a centre of excellence at CPUT.

https://www.cput.ac.za/newsroom/news/article/4325/febe-to-host-peesa-iii-dissemination-conference

Another Aquaponics Project started as a service-learning project in collaboration with the Tehillah Community Centre. In 2020, student groups started setting up an aquaponics unit to assist in the growing of fresh produce. Due to security issues, this project was brought back onto campus. A second group of students was assigned to design the rainwater harvesting at the site. This project will expand in 2022 to include full solar power for the pumping unit and water heating. Horticulture students and Food Technology students will ensure that the plant and livestock are correctly sourced and maintained.

The Balvenie Project, a joint venture between the Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying (CM&QS), outside contractors and CPUT students, involves the construction of a library at the Balvenie School in Elsie’s River. The construction of the building was carried out using alternative building techniques (using wooden frames and sandbags) to reduce costs.

INNOVATION: At Beleaf Aquaponics, which is based at Belhar Community Centre, teachers are taught how to integrate the curriculum for Early Child Development (ECD) into their syllabus

Through the Covid relief funding received from DHET, 78 students from the Department of Civil Engineering and the Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying (CM&QS) were able to complete the WIL component, being involved in several community-based projects. These projects were: Balvenie School Library, District 6 Memorial Garden, Eden Road Green Building, Turfhall Urban Park and Athlone Stadium Netball venue. Civil Engineering students focused on the structural design aspects of these projects, whilst Construction Management and Quantity Surveying students focused on the project management, quantity surveying and building maintenance aspects of these projects.

Student Support and experience

Two key areas critical to a student’s success include academic interventions and integration into campus life, both academically and socially. Actionable plans to identify students in need and implement supportive programs and supplementary instruction will improve student retention rates by supporting struggling students to get back on track, and integrate themselves as active, integral members in the classroom.

The Early Warning System (EWS) was implemented in varying degrees of success in the various departments. The process is largely dependent on the timeous capturing of assessment marks on the MAS system to identify students at risk. However,

in certain cases, the processes were followed (such as notification and discussion with students). It became evident in the meetings held with departments that the departments were active, but that not all had been reporting on the activities.

The increasing needs of students during the pandemic resulted in additional support being made available to support the academic and personal development of students in the faculty. The peer support systems in the faculty include study skills to support academic writing skills and subject-specific support to address gaps in subject knowledge and understanding. This supplementary instructional support contributes to the quality of the students’ learning experience and to their educational achievement.

Peer support programmes in the faculty are made possible through various student positions such as teaching assistants (TA’s); tutors; mentors; and retention officers (ROs). All of these were funded by the UCDG and the faculty. All ECP programmes have their own allocated funds for student support and supplementary instruction which is fully integrated into the ECP programme delivery. It goes without saying that the TAs working with both tutors and the lecturers, the mentors who worked closely with students to provide psycho-social support, and the retention officers (ROs) who worked with lecturers and at-risk students, all contributed to the academic success of the eight departments in the faculty.

Student Counselling presented a series of workshops on Personal Development and Leadership. These workshops were intended for the mentors as a complement to their training received at the beginning of the year. The department also conducted a Riftal-funded research project on the mentors’ experiences of being a mentor. The project focused on the acquiring of personal growth and leadership development skills through involvement in a co-curricular activity. Data was collected by administering a questionnaire and doing some focus group interviews.

The Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering has implemented a successful mentorship programme to their first-year students. The peer mentor programme mentors and retention officers assist firstyear students to transition smoothly from high school to university and to reduce the first-year dropout rate. The programme grew from eight mentors when it started, increased to 25 in 2020 and grew to 38 mentors and two retention officers in 2021.

The retention officers arranged a series of online sessions called “Life After Varsity”. Past students from the department (who are now in industry) were invited to share their experiences as students engaging in workintegrated learning and entering industry. These sessions were open to all students from the department. Three

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

sessions were held over the year and feedback from students (online feedback) was positive. This will now become a regular feature each year. The retention officers and mentors arranged a two-part information session with all first-years on preparing for the FISA. Mentors shared study tips and advice on dealing with exams. The sessions were well-attended.

Peer Mentor Programme thrived despite Covid-19

ECP Programme Student Support

The Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP) in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment (FEBE) has been positioned to give emphasis to social justice in the education space. These programmes are designed to provide access and provide supplementary instruction to assist students develop a solid foundation to succeed in various engineering and technology programmes. Most of the students in the ECP come from poorly-resourced schools. With this foundation provision, the ECP attempts to bridge this gap so that the student’s potential is realised. The faculty has continued to roll out new ECP programmes that are aligned to its suite of HEQSF primary qualifications in the various disciplines.

The use of a world-class interactive platform helped enhance the learning experience. The interactive online learning platform WileyPLUS UX and the interactive online learning platform CENGAGE WebAssign was integrated into our LMS, Blackboard, for a range of subjects in the ECP programmes in the faculty. These platforms are particularly useful and important with regards to supporting the learning experience. These platforms add to the multifaceted teaching and learning approach which is key to ensuring a genuine blended learning experience. The students were given access to the online textbook, the lectures as well as numerous problems and interactive tutorial sessions.

Scholarship in Learning, Teaching and Assessments

The faculty offered a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes which span the field of engineering, construction sciences and process technologies. In 2021, The Education Research Unit in FEBE (FEBEERU) was formed by a multidisciplinary team of lecturers in the faculty, with well over 30 publications in engineering education. The research unit aims to promote critical dialogue on curriculum design and delivery within CPUT and the broader community and enhance the educational experiences of our students. To achieve its aim, it will

conduct scholarly research on contextual and discipline-specific factors that contribute to student success, employability, curriculum inclusiveness, the pedagogy of teaching, learning and assessment in the related disciplines, and professionalism. Such research will provide the principles, methodologies, and educational practices upon which to continuously build innovative and transformative curricula which produce graduates that contribute to society.

The planned research activities cover four key cluster areas: Transformative Curricula and Social Issues in Engineering Education; ICT in Engineering Education; Engineering Curriculum; and Student Experience, Engagement and Performance. The planned activities are aligned to Vision 2030’s two dimensions of “Oneness” and “Smartness” and to the development of a holistic learning environment to produce graduates that are flexible, agile and adaptive.

Several of the members of the faculty have also participated the 2021 World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) and the Global Engineering Dean’s Council Virtual Conference (GEDC) held recently. The conference is a prestigious annual event in furthering the mission of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) to bring together the global community to build excellence in engineering education.

Several staff in the faculty also registered for the PhD in Engineering Education offered at UCT. This includes staff who already have PhDs in their respective disciplines. The key research focus Areas of the staff include ethics and social justice; knowledge and curriculum; student experience; student engagement with technology; and university/work interface.

Internationalisation Activities

The faculty hosted the final conference of the PEESA III project. The three-year international collaboration project is funded by the European Commission on the Erasmus+ programme. It is aimed at building capacity in areas related to engineering education. The project is being implemented by a consortium of universities from South Africa and Europe, namely: CPUT, Tshwane University of Technology, Vaal University of Technology, Durban University of Technology, Hochschule Wismar, Hochschule Flensburg, University of Szczecin and the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. The purpose of the PEESA III project was to share experiences in personalisation of engineering education in Southern Africa through lectures, workshops, company visits, dissemination events and excursions. The project also focuses on the promotion of women in engineering and on improving the university’s industry co-operation. Through this project CPUT, developed an internationally accredited MEng

in Engineering Management, which was first offered in 2021 in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

The Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering hosted several international students from TU Delft in the Netherlands, who participated in community-based projects.

Five third-year chemical engineering students participated in the Virtual Exchange Program with the University of Pittsburgh. The students participated in a course in Socially Impactful Engineering Design in a Virtual Space.

The inclusion of elements of 4IR into the various programmes offered in the faculty was initiated by having staff from the various departments trained in the use of the Dassault Systèmes, 3DEXPERIENCE platform. The project is funded by the French Ministry and will ensure further collaborations with international partners. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is an industry-leading multidisciplinary simulation package that enables early and comprehensive assessments to better ensure that new designs are sustainable, certified, and efficient in today’s resource-constrained world. The platform enables innovations and radical ideas to be tested quickly to find the best trade-offs at the earliest design phases, while remaining within time and budget constraints. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform will be integrated into all programmes in the faculty, ensuring that our graduates are trained in the emerging technologies.

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

Prof Oluwaseun Oyekola from the Department of Chemical Engineering has been appointed as a team member of an international project called OERiGA (Open Educational Resource of indigenous Games in Africa) which will serve as a teaching and learning resource for both schools and universities: “OERiGA will enable digitisation of indigenous games and allow the millennial to design indigenous digital games, thereby documenting games which would otherwise become extinct, while unlocking a digital games industry in Africa”.

Highlight activities in various departments

Multilingualism and translanguaging were encouraged in all spheres in Chemical Engineering. Translations of classroom materials were readily available from the language working group of CPUT. Some lecturers made use of this, while others used their resources to develop a multilingual classroom. Being sensitive to the contextual and conceptual spaces of students became the order of the day as lecturers negotiated their way around the multimodal flexible new ways of learning.

The interactive online learning platforms WileyPLUS UX and CENGAGE WebAssign were integrated into our LMS, Blackboard, for a range of subjects in the ECP programmes in the faculty. These platforms are very useful, especially with the pandemic. Even

before the pandemic, these platforms added to the multifaceted teaching and learning approach which is key to ensuring a genuine blended learning experience.

Covid-19 restrictions limited the possibility of industrial visits over the past two years. Ms Nomava Mti and Mr Andile Thole, who lecture third-year Chemical Engineering Project students, invited guest lecturers Dr T Mokomele and Mr P Mohlala from Astron Energy, one of the biggest local employers of Chemical Engineering graduates. The lecturer gave an overview of the Petroleum Industry.

Fitire: Highlights of the day with CEP361S students

In the Department of Clothing and Textile Technology, the multimodal delivery was successfully implemented. The assessments were problem-based and made use of alternate modes like journals and blogs. The programme has a significant practical component, where students were divided into small groups and completed their tasks more diligently compared than was the case in 2020. Another success that the department notes was the successful completion of the project by the third years for the Cape Town Society for the Blind (CTSB), where they produced 100 graduation gowns for the non-profit organisation as part of their Work-integrated Learning. The opportunity also created a space for a few students to be placed there.

Dr Sweta Patnaik, a senior lecturer and curriculum officer, was honoured to be the first CPUT recipient of the prestigious German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) UNILEAD Scholarship, which allowed her to enrol for a DIES UNILEAD Course at the University of Oldenburg in 2021.

The Department of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering successfully hosted the regional 2021 Work Skills competition. Several groups of CPUT students participated in the competition and progressed to the national level. The WorldSkills competitions are considered a gold standard for skills excellence, inspiring and motivating young participants. Four teams from the faculty competed in the in-house round of the WorldSkills Competition (WSC) held at the SARETEC building in the following categories: CNC Milling, Renewable Energy, Mobile Robotics and Mechatronics, with the theme: New Youth, New Skills, New Dream. One student team competed in the CNC (Computer Numerical Control) milling, two student teams participated in the Mobile Robotics, two student teams in Mechatronics, and one student team competed in the Renewable Energy categories.

WorldSkills Competition

Student preparing graduation gowns for the Cape Town Society for the Blind

Students from the

Conclusion

Delivering a curriculum to a diverse group of students spread across South African, including some international students – all with their own challenges ranging from access to appropriate devices, data, connectivity, conducive living and learning environments – presented unique challenges to staff. The faculty responded by adjusting the teaching, learning, assessment and communication strategies accordingly.

From the experiences gleaned in 2020, the management and coordination of the academic programmes and delivery to a multimodal delivery of the curriculum were successfully implemented in the AY2021. Even with continuous changes in lockdown levels as the year progressed, all staff contributed to the successful conclusion of the 2021 academic project, while adhering to Covid-19 health and safety protocols and government lockdown regulations.

talent and skills during the provincial competition of the WorldSkills Competition (WSC)

2.5 FACULTY OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS SCIENCES

Conducting our work as Health and Wellness Science educators during the second year of a pandemic presented all of us with a unique set of challenges. This report will reflect on how the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences at CPUT has managed to conduct remote learning with a specific focus on how these challenges changed our teaching and learning practice, both in the present and future.

The title of this report is the “New Dreamscape for Health and Wellness Sciences Higher Education”, reflecting on the changing times we find ourselves in and how it will influence the future of Health and Wellness Sciences of higher education as we envisage moving into a postpandemic era.

Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences New Vision and Mission

In 2021, the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences (FHWS) embarked on forming a new Vision and Mission in order to align with the CPUT Vision 2030.

Vision: A proud African technology-driven faculty taking the lead in research-led health and wellness education and innovation with relevance both locally and globally.

Mission: To empower agile graduate healthcare professionals who are ethically responsive to industry and societal needs, through academic excellence and lifelong learning, together with the pursuit of relevant and pioneering research and clinical innovation which will improve the health of individuals, both locally and globally (Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, Strategic Plan for V2030, 2021).

Envisaging ourselves as a proud African technologydriven faculty offering relevant education and innovation locally and globally is the first step towards becoming one of the leading faculties in Health and Wellness Sciences in Africa. With this vision as a framework, there is much work ahead to align the academic project of the faculty in teaching and learning, research and work-integrated learning with the set vision of the faculty. Based on the principle that if you can dream it, you can do it, this report will reflect on ways in which the faculty was successful in not only rethinking and reimagining the academic project during the pandemic period, but also reflect on ways in which we have achieved some of what we had set out to do to reach success in teaching and learning, paving the way for future teaching and learning practices.

Prof Thandi Matsha-Erasmus Dean of the Faculty

Anthea Pinto-Prins Teaching and Learning Coordinator

Ms

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

New Orientation Experiences for First-Years

The first challenge was to navigate the varying lockdown levels as the Covid-19 variants evolved. Engendering positive student experience remains a key objective and a special focus was placed on our first-year students entering into our programmes. The faculty opted for a blended approach to Orientation 2021, which included both face-to-face and online orientation sessions. Figure 5 below shows ways in which the lecturers have become innovative in offering blended learning orientation programmes to our first-year students within the faculty.

As each department had a full orientation programme, students felt welcomed by the faculty. Students having a sense of belonging to a profession and the responsibility of care towards other students is imperative for professional development. The orientation programmes assist in fostering this sense of empathy. A link to an orientation video for 2022 is included here to show how the experiences in 2021 framed the orientation of 2022.

See below orientation week video link from Biomedical Sciences.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v0YaZCHkCoKvowim1JtXgf dAtuRiZlmk/view?usp=sharing

FHWS Supports the National STEM Project

Figure 5: Blended orientation in Biomedical Sciences Department, 2021

With the help of the First-Year Experience Unit of Fundani at CPUT, our first-year students were issued with a drawstring bag, lanyard and a first-year booklet. The Wellness Sciences Department decided to include additional sanitary items to the goody bags for both male and female students (see Figure 6).

In alignment with the faculty’s Vision 2030, we needed to revisit the programmes that we were offering and ensure that they were relevant to current national imperatives. Having a specific niche in the Western Cape on Health and Wellness Sciences, the Department of Emergency Medical Sciences teamed up with the Department of Biomedical Sciences to assist Grade 12 learners in Maths and Sciences Subjects, forwarding the STEM vision in South Africa. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is a broad term used to group together these academic disciplines. This term is typically used to address an education policy or curriculum choices in schools. It has implications for workforce development and national security concerns.

Figure

6: Wellness Sciences first-year

goody bag – female (left) and male (right)

Various departments have been working in unison to assist schools with a Life Sciences revision programme and plan to continue this year. Many underprivileged matric Life Sciences learners have been further disadvantaged by the pandemic because they do not have access to Wi-Fi or smart phones, and thus online remote learning is not an option for them. The development of STEM remains a focus area for the economic growth of the country. Thus, supporting the STEM vision will provide disadvantaged students with an opportunity to qualify and apply for science programmes at tertiary level. The collaborating departments created an environment in which the participating matric learners were still able to physically attend a Life Science Revision programme while conforming to Covid-19 protocols. In 2021, a total number of 121 matric learners had benefited from this project.

A ‘Covid-19 friendly’ classroom was designed, incorporating a classical horseshoe shape, with desks spaced adequately apart. The students were thus able to engage with the tutors, who positioned themselves within the centre of the horseshoe while maintaining a safe social distance.

Prior to entering the classroom, a register was taken, all participants’ temperatures were recorded, and their hands were sanitised. In addition, all desks were sanitised before and after each session, and the classrooms remained well ventilated. It was compulsory to wear a facial mask

that covered both the mouth and nose at all times. This model proves that it is possible to conduct revision programmes for those who do not have access to basic technology such as Wi-Fi and smart devices under Covid-19 conditions. We are excited to run our revision programmes with the 2022 matric students and forward the STEM Vision

FHWS Hyflex Model of Teaching and Learning

A HyFlex model, which is a combination of ‘hybrid’ and ‘flexible’ learning, was adopted by the FHWS in 2021. This model integrates face-to-face teaching (synchronous) and online learning (asynchronous) experiences with the aim of achieving the intended learning outcomes. An important feature of a hybrid course design is that students are expected to undergo the same combination of online and inperson activities. In contrast, the ‘flexible’ aspect of HyFlex is that students are given choice in how they participate in the course and engage with material in the mode that works best for them over the course and from session to session. In the FHWS we rely heavily on face-to-face teaching and learning as well as assessment. As such, whenever the lockdown levels were lowered to allow for more contact with our students, venues were used for teaching and learning, as well as for assessments

Figure 7: STEM Project at high school offered by FHWS departments

Figure 9: Lab students appropriately distanced and wearing masks, Department of Emergency Medical Sciences

ON

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

In HyFlex courses, students can choose from one of three participation paths:

1. participate in face-to-face synchronous class sessions inperson (in a classroom);

2. participate in face-to-face class sessions via video conference (e.g., TEAMS); or

3. participate fully asynchronously via Blackboard.

A HyFlex class makes class meetings and materials available so that students can access them online or in-person, during or after class sessions. All students, regardless of the path taken, will achieve the same learning objectives. Irrespective of the lockdown level, a HyFlex approach can be implemented at any level for large or small classes. This option opens the space for alternate curriculum implementation (TL&A) from LL3, LL2 and LL1 (with 1/3 to 50% of students being allowed to return to campus) and LL0, where all students might be invited to return to campus, mainly first-year, full-time and other levels on a rotational basis. Departments may specify which portion of the three modes can count towards full participation in a

A Lecturer’s reflection on Multimodal Teaching and Learning

Ms Anelisa Motaung is a lecturer in the Department of Biomedical Sciences, and she has reflected on her experiences during the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2020, at the beginning of the year when a state of disaster was announced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, teaching & learning had to be suspended. When it was resumed, we were still in lockdown, away from our students, having to find creative means of keeping in touch with them. Since online learning was new and none of our students had really prepared for it, many of them could not afford any platform beyond WhatsApp, so I designed a strategy that allowed them plenty of self-study time offline and interactive sessions on WhatsApp, where we studied real-life cases that relate to the content, supplementing this with pictures, voice notes, videos and, in true WhatsApp-style, the students included some memes (of course).

This year (2021) our department continued using multimodal means of teaching, with Blackboard and Microsoft being the main platforms I use to teach my students. Since we do not have our cameras on for the sessions on Microsoft Teams, I did not know my student’s faces. One of the class representatives also complained in a staff meeting that they felt out of touch with each other as students in this online learning. So, for one of the modules I used an online platform called Flipgrid for them to do their homework discussion in video form.

ventilation and social distancing

Flipgrid is an application that allows teachers to facilitate short video discussions with their students. They could finally see my face as I present the homework on the platform and get to see each other as well. I believe that seeing each other’s faces made the online teaching & learning experience less intimidating, although they probably had to muster a lot of confidence to brave the video assignment after such a long time of being in the comfort zone of not being seen.

To entice even my shy students to engage with the coursework while I gauged their interaction, I also incorporated Kahoot! into one of our Microsoft Teams sessions. Kahoot! Is another online platform that is game-based, where individual students in a class get to do formative assessment quizzes in a gamified form. I have seen how winning this game built up the confidence of one of my quietest students. Not only are the quizzes fun and engaging, but the games also give me statistics about my students’ knowledge that guide me with regard to relevant problem areas.

Figure 11: Example of homework completed on Flipgrid

A Student’s Reflection on Learning during Challenges faced during the Pandemic

A hardworking Opticianry student has been recognised with an award for academic excellence from the South African Optometric Association (SAOA).

Ms Precious Ndlovu said she was shocked when she was told that she was the recipient and initially thought it was a mistake.

I thought I would be informed the next day that they had made a mistake but overall, I am truly happy and honoured to be acknowledged for my hard work, but not as much as my mother is: she has probably told the whole town by now.

She said that it was during the lockdown that she figured out how to study effectively and not “to only memorise to forget things”.

My last secret is that I know every time I look at my marks, I literally imagine the joy I feel every time my mother says, ‘I am so proud of you’. I live by the quote that states that procrastination is an arrogant assumption that God owes you another chance to do something you already had time to do.

Precious said she would not have received the award without the help of her lecturers, “who patiently answered all the questions posed by my curious mind”.

Angelique Walbrugh, Head of the Department of Ophthalmic Sciences, said: “We are proud of Ms Precious Ndlovu’s achievement and wish to extend our gratitude to the South African Optometric Association for recognising and celebrating the role of academic excellence in growing the profession of Opticianry”.

Excellent Academic Achievement

My secret is putting in the effort to the extent that going through the work feels like listening to my favourite song.

She said she also promises herself rewards for studying and has learnt to get enough rest.

Harry Rosen, CEO of the SAOA, said that every year academic institutions are asked to nominate students with the aim of recognising academic excellence. According to Rosen, the award was acknowledged during the recent virtual Annual General Meeting of the SAOA.

Figure 12: Ms Precious Ndlovu showing her Award in

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Teaching Excellence Awards 2021

At the end of Academic Year 2021, the entire faculty celebrated teaching and learning Excellence and innovation in the faculty. A red-carpet event was held in the CPUT Auditorium on Bellville Campus, and academic, administrative and technical staff all gathered to celebrate teaching excellence as well as outstanding achievements in community engagement and service-learning projects. Furthermore, achievements in curriculum development and renewal were celebrated, and staff also had a moment to reflect on the challenges of the past year and share best practice.

Faculty Teaching Excellence Award

Mr Nkosikho Sogwagwa is a lecturer in the Biomedical Sciences department, located within the Faculty of Health and Wellness at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. He is teaching at all levels of the BHSc: Medical Laboratory Science and BTech Biomedical Technology programme. He holds an MSc in Biomedical Technology and is currently enrolled as a PHd student in Biomedical Sciences. Prior to joining academia in 2012, he practiced as a Medical Technologist in a Haemotology laboratory with National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) in Green Point, Cape Town. He concluded his practical internship and professional board

is currently a lecturer in the Biomedical Science department. Her teaching philosophy states, as an educator her goal is to prepare students to be lifelong learners. Students must actively seek knowledge both inside and outside the classroom. She challenged herself to stimulate interest and curiosity that naturally exists within the students, and has found that students learn best when theyb are intrinsically motivated and as an educator it is her responsibility to provoke their inquisitiveness to foster their development into critical thinkers. She hopes that with her research she will be able to give back to the greater community and hopefully be able to see how her students become great ambassadors in Science and help to save lives.

Roxanne Maritz is a qualified paramedic and employed as a full-time lecturer in the Department of Emergency Medical Care on CPUT Bellville campus. She obtained her BSc Degree in Human Life Sciences at Stellenbosch in 2014, then obtained her Bachelor of Emergency Medical Care from CPUT in 2018 and completed her Masters in Emergency Medical Care in 2020. She has a passion for teaching and looks forward to learning what the world of academia still has to offer as she believes in

lifelong learning. In addition, she is passionate about our CPUT Bellville campus cats and is part of an NPO called Aid4Paws where the cats are trapped, neutered and returned to campus. Sick cats are treated, and vaccinations kept up to date, deflead, dewormed and ensuring kittens find suitable homes.

feet in this new environment. I am grateful to be here.

Of the many lessons learned in the past two years, one that stands out is the need for planning in uncertain times. A post-Covid strategy was drafted for the faculty, where considerations were made for future T&L practice based on the experiences over the past two years. It is safe to say that we will most likely never return to the old way of “chalk and talk”. The challenging times faced have forced lecturers to think outside of the box and find new and innovative ways to achieve the goals set out by faculty.

One highlight of multimodal teaching and learning in AY2021 was that for the first time in many years, not a single subject offered throughout the entire faculty was found to be “at risk”. That means that all subjects had pass rates above 50%. This is an amazing achievement for our faculty.

allow the student to become a competent, caring professional who will have the ability to internalise and question their actions. To me, being an educator is such a fulfilling role and I am constantly learning from those around me.

We are excited about the road ahead as we embrace the changing times and strive towards our dream of becoming the leading Health and Wellness Sciences faculty in the country and on the continent.

Figure 13: Teaching Excellence Awards 2021 Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences

LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

2.6 FACULTY OF INFORMATICS AND DESIGN

learning, teaching, assessment, research, community engagement, WIL, language, digital technologies and transformation are coming together to reveal exciting synergies that can drive our collective engagement in transforming our dreamscape, captured in our vision and mission statements, into reality.

Next the vision and mission statement of the faculty is provided, aligned to the institutional vision and mission. This provides the strategic framework for the rest of this report in terms of highlighting the success within the faculty and providing an indication of the way forward in realising our strategic goals. We also reflect on novel approaches used. Finally, this report will conclude with some conclusions that can inform our journey to become One Smart CPUT.

Faculty Vision, Mission and Values

The vision, mission and values for the faculty are presented below, and will guide our strategic engagement until 2030. The faculty’s strategic focus areas and goals are also included to provide an overview of activities involved in executing and supporting our mission. This is in line with an integrated and holistic approach that aims to drive greater convergence in everything we do.

Faculty Strategic Focus Areas and Goals

The following seven strategic focus areas are broad-based, long-term objectives that will move the faculty towards actualising V2030 One Smart CPUT.

Vision

•FID strives to be an inclusive faculty that harnesses appropriate technologies in a collaborative, supportive and transformative academic environment by being responsive and adaptive to local, national, continental, and global socio, eco and cultural context.

Mission

•FID embraces the spirit of oneness (ubunye) in providing diverse innovative T&L, research, and community engagement, for students and staff, towards achieving excellence in academic performance, entrepreneurship, and lifelong learning.

Values

•Excellence (quality of being outstanding)

•Astuteness (quality of situational understanding)

•Relevance (quality of connectedness)

•Integrity (quality of being moral and principled)

•Diversity (quality of including)

Executing The Mission

CPUT transforms its students, through world-class researchers who inspire knowledge production and innovations that are cutting-edge.

SMART TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

SMART RTIP THAT IS RELEVANT AND HAS IMPACT

•Develop faculty qualifications that integrate emerging industry trends and needs to prepare students/graduates for the diverse emerging skillsets within their field of study.

•Develop the research capacity of a future generation of scholars and innovators, putting CPUT at the forefront of innovation in its broadest sense.

In support of the mission

•Develop a purpose-driven organisation and processes to deliver the FID academic project SMART ORGANISATIONAL PROCESSES

CTS WORKFORCE

•Leverage technologies and information resources for recruitment and retention efforts and support student services

•Re-imagine the CPUT workforce performing in a technologydriven and inspired environment, their skillsets, attitudes and abilities, to adjust to the notion of One SMART CPUT

•Create a multicultural environment at CPUT in recognition of our place in Africa and the world

•Ensure the relevance and excellence of CPUT’s academic and research programmes through the development of linkages within a quintuple helix environment

•Build the capacity of students to engage in a CPUT student experience in ways that are both individually transformative and build the social capital of CPUT and its broader community

Successes in departments and the faculty

Applied Design Department

The shift to blended learning is a step towards our dreamscape for higher education in design, which presents many possibilities, especially in the field of 3D modelling, prototyping, and future virtual reality capabilities in all fields of design. It is expected that the use of virtual reality technology will also, in future, affect how we teach design and how our students will be able to experience work-integrated learning.

In this report, we share the learning and teaching approaches implemented in the design programmes forming part of the Applied Design suite of qualifications for the 2021 academic year.

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TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

In 2021, staff and students worked hard towards completing the academic year, despite challenges which included late registration of students and having to make catch-up plans. A more concerning ongoing challenge is that of students registering but not showing up and not being contactable. These students do not deregister and therefore affect the recorded throughput rates.

FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

Due to Covid, there were no academic exclusions at the end of 2020, which meant that students that were failing across the board and would normally be excluded were allowed to repeat. This also impacted the pass rates in 2021. For Design programmes, the biggest challenge for our students was access to specialised materials, equipment and technology that we provide on campus as far as possible, with limited resources for maintenance and procurement of equipment.

Due to the impact of Covid, most programmes found that they needed to do a lot of catching up with students during the 2021 academic year. The arduous work put in by staff in developing online content has resulted in a transition to a more blended approach to learning and teaching in most programmes.

In ECP, no real-time online classes or discussions are being utilised, as students are not able to access equitably. All interactions are asynchronous, with prerecorded lectures, resources and assignment briefs loaded onto Blackboard. WhatsApp is used as the primary synchronous communication platform. Prerecorded lectures, PowerPoints, demonstration videos, step-by-step photographic instructions, assignment briefs and voice recordings are used. Duplicate resources,

where possible, are shared via WhatsApp for those who do not have access to, or sufficient data for, Blackboard. This has proven to be a successful approach, as students that for some reason may need to revisit content can do so in their own time. It is hoped that this transition to more flexible approaches will gain traction across all our programmes in future.

Staff were able to reflect on the 2020 online teaching experience and adapt briefs/requirements appropriately during the 2021 academic year. There has been a shift in the way we communicate with students using digital applications via WhatsApp Slack, Miro and BB.

Student engagements now take place over a wide variety of online interactions such as videos made and shared online, reflective questions, comprehensions, and student work uploaded for comments, in flipped classrooms, using Blackboard collaboration. Lectures and discussions are also recorded.

In addition, these digital platforms have provided a means to share resources for emotional support/ skills building with students and staff. Access to data remains challenging and asynchronous activities allow students to access at night when data is cheaper. Students can access a vast amount of free mobile data and access to BB platform is free. Challenges remain that some students work on their phones - they require campus access for computer labs. Some subjects also need specialised software. Students require access to workshops and tools that are on campus, therefore our department applied to the Health Cluster for permission to continue with on-campus activities as soon as this was possible. Staff found that there is little peer-to-peer learning in the online space. In addition, some students rely on their peers for motivation and other support in the studio.

Architectural Technology and Interior Design Department

Extended Curriculum Programme: Architectural Technology and Interior Design Diploma in Architectural Technology – First Year Diploma in Architectural Technology – Second Year Diploma in Architectural Technology – Third Year Advanced Diploma in Architectural Technology Diploma in Interior Design – Second Year Diploma in Interior Design – Third Year Advanced Diploma in Interior Design

Overview of Programme and Structure

The Department of Architectural Technology and Interior Design comprises of two programmes: Architectural Technology and Interior Design. The programmes offer an Extended Curriculum Programme, Diploma and Advanced Diploma (please see programme structure below). The Advanced Diplomas for both programmes are currently offered on a two-year part-time basis with a full-time option being offered from 2022. Both Architectural Technology and Interior Design are professional programmes and are linked to the following professional bodies: The South African Council for the Architectural Profession (SACAP) and The African Institute of the Interior Design Professions (IID). In terms of future programmes, both programmes are awaiting SAQA-IDs for the Postgraduate Diplomas, thereafter we envision the writing and submission of a Professional Masters for both

From a curriculum alignment perspective, all years and qualifications have the same subject names and increase in complexity as a student progresses. This has allowed the department to create both vertical and horizontal alignment in both curriculum and

Information Technology Department

During the year 2021, which was technically a carryover from the year 2020, where we experienced full lockdown for the whole academic year, the Information Technology (IT) Department continued focussing and improving on the aspects that enhanced the delivery of our programmes online, with emphasis placed on subject guides, student engagement, LinkedIn learning, production and standardisation of video and audio quality delivery to student.

Learner guides

The IT department revised the learner guides and fully migrated to the use of Blackboard to deliver curriculum. There is now full Blackboard support for all the subjects and all the learner guides are on Blackboard. The department also created a SharePoint platform for access by admin staff who do not have access to respective subjects. Across all offerings, curriculum proceeded according to plan. The challenges were mostly among the first-years and TVET colleges that started their academic programmes extremely late, and the Advanced Diploma, where there are a number of students from other institutions registered late, due to challenges in getting results from their old institutions.

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn was fully integrated into a number of courses, where both students and staff subjects used it in a number of ways. Mostly lecturers recommended subjects to students to improve their technical skills. Lecturers have been using some of the content; however, some subjects do not have content matching their curriculum. This means that lecturers recommend LinkedIn for personnel development in other areas.

Homegrown Activities and Best Practices

During 2021, staff used other platforms that students prefer for communication, like MS Teams, Zoom, Discord, and so forth. Staff also came up with creative practices for online assessments. In some subjects, assignments/projects are marked online with students in Q&A sessions (in one-on-one sessions or group sessions). In other subjects, such as Research, assignments

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are aligned with work covered. Students were also given a chapter to pre-study, with videos to look at and small tests to accomplish on Blackboard as many times as they needed to boost their understanding.

In some subjects, staff created slideshows on the textbook chapters and narrated slides where applicable, using Break Away groups to assist students in discussions, and using polls and Google forms to obtain feedback after classes.

Production and Standardisation of Video and Audio Quality

Staff also used OpenShot and HandBrake to create new media that is small and optimised for online distribution. There were also other staff who used OBS Studio, an open-source software suite, to direct their online content delivery. This helped standardise the quality of video delivered across the board. The HandBrake tool for video sizes was also standardised across our subjects.

Assessments

The assessment for 2021 largely progressed well, despite the early challenges of load-shedding that caused early assessments to be postponed. There were cases where students’ poor connectivity affected their ability to complete their assessments. All reassessments for the year subjects, regardless of the reason, were scheduled for the first term of the week in the new semester. This was carried out to maximise teaching time during the first semester, which got off to a bad start for all of the programmes, due to 2020 overruns.

Student Engagement

The student engagement during 2021 was confined to Blackboard, emails and other media tool platforms. Student engagement had been mostly poor when asked questions in class, and class attendance through the Blackboard report and from observations was relatively poor as well. However, it must be noted that class attendance is an unreliable source of student engagement – students may not be able to attend class, but watch the recorded lesson, often because of connectivity problems and so forth. There was certainly a significant number of students watching videos after the class sessions, particularly late at night.

Media Department

This teaching and learning report reflects on the challenging time, largely precipitated by Covid-19, that we find ourselves in as the Media Department at CPUT; the challenges we have experienced and how we have overcome some of them. The report further looks ahead and engages with how we envisage the future of media education and higher education. In discussing the aforementioned, the report also discusses our students’ learning experience at CPUT from a holistic perspective.

Challenges and Successes in the Media Department

Challenges: Our main challenge as a department has been that we are part of a higher learning institution that was established to provide classroom-based education. Moreover, our programmes in the Media Department consist of practical subjects that require hands-on demonstrations and simulation. Our mode of teaching was therefore very challenged by the shift to online/remote teaching. Theoretical subjects suddenly had to become ‘YouTube-like’ and as academics we had to change our teaching methodologies, including the way we thought about technology as a means to teach practical subjects. Students were basically on their own when it came to simulated studio work, mostly at their places of residence. They had lost out on our input and hands-on assistance in the creation of many of their assignments. Assessing the theoretical subjects, on the other hand, resulted in major dishonesty, which was exacerbated by the fact that we did not have the students in front us, writing their tests.

The other challenge we encountered was that we draw our students from across the country, with most of them coming from previously disadvantaged backgrounds. As a result, our students faced a host of challenges in terms of getting proper devices and connection to the internet. Although the university made data available to students for online sessions, some lacked the equipment required to utilise it. Besides, the physical, practical component of classroom instruction has proven to be irreplaceable through online sessions. The physical touch and feel in the classroom and the ability to interact with the students in person to make them feel involved and included is missing. The model of virtual teaching is complex in two ways: you can never truly observe how much a student is learning in a virtually-mediated model, but the flip side is it allows students to work at their pace. This approach has turned our normative teaching experience upside down. The pandemic also affected a vital component of our curriculum, namely work-integrated learning, as the in-person internships our students were accustomed to were not readily available.

Successes: The move to adopting emergency remote teaching and learning in the production courses prompted a more student-centered approach to course design to allow students to do work at times and in contexts convenient for them. These included using resources that allowed for more self-directed learning, being more flexible with deadlines and more communication channels between students and lecturers. The Journalism programme came up with the first virtual mentorship programme. Instead of going to work in a newsroom, which was virtually impossible in 2020, some of our students were paired up with a mentor who then gave them one-on-one guidance on what it takes to be a journalist and worked with them on some set projects, which were then assessed together with a reflective journal. This was a first for the programme. In 2021, all students were placed, though many did their work from home and did not go into the office. This development speaks to how the remote aspects of our internships, which may become an approach in the future, provide new opportunities and limitations for the industry and the field.

The adoption of the Blackboard (BB) Learner Management System and the integration of all student teaching and learning through this platform was implemented. The shift from face-to-face teaching and learning directly impacted the academic programme, but implementation of the features offered through BB eased the pressure. Lecturers noted the enhancement of the student learning experiences through using BB, as students have learnt to navigate around BB easily and lecturers focus on creating files and subfiles for ease of use. Lecturers also became more skilled at using the online platform and have engaged new skills in using the online platforms for T&L. LinkedIn Learning resources have also been an invaluable resource to support the conventional core class content and prescribed materials.

Lecturers in the Media Department now use a variety of technologies such as YouTube videos, LinkedIn Learning, class recordings, lecturer slides, competitions, and other online resources to enhance the T&L practices. The integration of BB tools was prevalent, such as the forum discussions, the grading centre to provide feedback and marks to the students, uploading links to useful YouTube videos in the content section, providing slide presentations covering the entire syllabus, uploading example case studies, providing examples of real-life brands and how they are managed, uploading information on professional institutes where students can see additional practical examples. All classes were recorded, and the links uploaded on Blackboard for students to access when they have data or manage to engage with the T&L content.

As a result of the challenges associated with the pandemic, lecturers in the Media Department have become more innovative and more savvy in using online platforms to engage with students and industry. Evidence is seen, for example, in Social Studies, where the lecturer uses music and songs at the commencement of each class to aid in setting the tone for the prescribed material or class discussion. This was exemplified in Chapter 4 – Aggression: Its nature, causes and control. For this chapter, the lecturer played a song by Eminem (Stan). It unpacks violence, anger and mental health. This song would then be used as the foundational reference for the section, as the learning would revolve around unpacking the lyrics and aligning them with the chapter or content covered (see lyrics in the Appendix).

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FACULTY VOICES ON TEACHING AND LEARNING

Examples of successful activities: One key activity in the production courses is field trips where students visit radio and television news broadcasters to get first-hand experience of the context and interact with the professionals. That could not happen due to the pandemic, so some lecturers adopted a speaker series where some of the leading broadcasters would speak to the Journalism students about what life was like as a journalist reporting during the pandemic and offer them insights into how to prepare to work in an industry that has been fundamentally altered by these developments.

The picture below is of a poster of one of the speakers, a seasoned TV journalist who currently works for Newzroom Afrika, Athi Mtongana.

Another activity in the Journalism programme is the bi-annual engagement with the Independent Electoral Commission in the Western Cape, where our students spend a week before elections working with the IEC on various activities related to their media and communications tasks. For the 2021 election, students participated in person after a year of hard lockdown, and they reflected on the experience as having been invaluable for them. With very stringent Covid-19 protocols in place, the students gained hands-on experience of what the world of work may look like in the aftermath of the pandemic. The picture below is of the group that participated in 2021.

Some of the innovative and creative assessment practices implemented due to the online space we have been forced into during the Covid-19 pandemic are identified below:

1. Social Media Campaign Portfolio using CANVA and social media

2. Community Media & Visual Communication Videos for third-year students

3. Visual Media Look-books

4. NGO project portfolios (using digital portfolios through CANVA)

Student Experience

The feedback that we have received shows that our students enjoy the online learning environment although for some it causes anxiety and distress, as they have learning challenges and require specific (including face-to-face) learning and engagement. Online learning allows students to engage with the content and learn at their own pace, and also affords the opportunity to reflect on the learning and information shared during the class sessions. Generally, students appear to enjoy certain aspects of the online approach. The theoretical subjects being taught primarily online appear to be the favoured part of the ‘new normal’. Many reasons, such as being able to sleep later, attend class in pyjamas, have something to drink during class, and many aspects of comfort and convenience, seem to be contributing factors. The students do miss face-to-face interaction, though. They realise that they need hands-on studio work, with lecturer involvement. They also acknowledge the fact that many of them do not have the software needed to be successful in editing their work. The fact that

CPUT students who participated at an IEC activity in 2021

some of the D6 campus facilities are not ready to be used is also a grave concern. The students also feel singled out: UCT, UWC and US all have full-contact classes, why not CPUT?

Urban and Regional Planning Department

A Manifesto for a Just City Student Project

In 2021, CPUT’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning participated in the international student project run by the TU Delft, supported by the African Centre for Cities. A group of five Advanced Diploma students voluntarily participated, with Dr B Verster as an adviser. The outcome of this student project is a book published with selected manifestos. The final project, which started in the second half of the year (as a branch of the social digital innovation project) was the participatory e-planning research project with a focus on elevating community voices through the use of using digital spaces.

The ‘Interdisciplinary collaborative learning through social digital innovation’ Research Initiative

This three-year-long project between UWC and CPUT’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning commenced in 2021 and has two objectives: firstly, to engage with marginalised communities in the Western Cape Province in order to find digital solutions for urban environmental/ecological

problems (in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals) and secondly, to develop a pedagogical framework for interdisciplinary, collaborative online learning.

Simulated Work-Integrated Learning

In 2021, the Department continued with a simulated approach wherein students who did not find work were divided into groups, with each group having a mentor from industry. The identified mentors are also CPUT alumni. The simulation ran for a period of six months, where students were exposed to various aspects of urban and regional planning.

Lunchtime Talks

In order to build (and maintain) a strong relationship with alumni, and to inspire and help the current students to advance their learning in a more interactive way, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning launched Lunchtime Talks in 2021. Alumni are invited to talk on a specific theme, which revolves around the most significant celebration or commemoration linked to a particular month e.g., Human Rights, Freedom, Women’s Month. These talks are helpful not only for the current students, but also update staff on the current practices and challenges within the field of Planning. The talks are also regarded as a crucial reflection space wherein alumni are asked to advise the department on learning and teaching areas that require improvement to better prepare the students for the workplace. The feedback from alumni forms part of deliberations on how the curricula can be improved.

Blended Learning

As a response to the problem of classroom capacity, which was worsened by the Covid-19 regulations, the department has developed/refined the approaches below:

At first-year level, the department has developed a blended approach, which combines on-campus and online attendance simultaneously. Students have the three options of attending: join from home/residence, computer lab on campus or attending in person. To maintain peer interaction, students are required to attend crit sessions on campus for any design-related subject.

For other levels, the department is continuing with a multimodal approach, including face-to-face interactions, staggered block-release and remote teaching and learning.

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The Way Forward and New Approaches

Applied Design Department

Across all our programmes, theory classes have shifted to 90%, online with some face-to-face engagement as needed and more specifically in the ECP and the first year of study, where students are still being introduced to online learning. In the theory classes the following innovative technology applications are used to facilitate learning activities: interactive whiteboards, screen casting, podcasting, SLACK, Sway and Edpuzzle.

Most of our learning is practice- and project-based and students come to campus to use the facilities and equipment needed to meet the learning outcomes. Due to venue limitations and Covid-19 protocols, classes in some programmes need to be repeated on a rotational basis.

• In the extended curriculum foundation year, many individual lecture-support videos have been made available. WhatsApp is used extensively for information dissemination and support for sick/temporarily remote students.

• In Fashion, lecturers make use of reference YouTube videos, lecturers’ own made videos and links to support materials. The use of WhatsApp for sharing information of class changes, day-by-day workflow information, sick notifications, attention to BB work and reminders of deadlines. Practical work is still face-to-face. Theory and Business is mostly online.

• For Jewellery, videos have been made for the practical theory subjects like Metallurgy, and Manufacture. All our practical subjects are delivered face-to-face and students work closely with staff.

• In Product and Industrial Design, video clips and annotated PowerPoint presentations are used. We also engage with students through messaging apps (WhatsApp and Slack) to ensure inclusivity and quick interaction.

• For Visual Communication Design, supportive links are included in most briefs and in briefing sessions.

LinkedIn Learning has assisted the department with software training for both staff and students. There is potential for more use of this resource going forwards, especially with regards to staff’s continuing professional development. Subject specific content varies between the various design disciplines, with Fashion, Product and Industrial Design and particularly Visual Communication Design making use of this resource for students to access.

In 2021, use was made of student mentors and tutors to assist students with practical work and general wellbeing. This has been implemented across more programmes in 2022. In 2021 we also introduced four seven-week cycles into our planner, which allow for one catch-up week (week 7) every six weeks. This was found to be extraordinarily successful in the ECP programme and it is hoped that it will assist our other programmes going forwards.

Architectural Technology and Interior Design Department

• We have approved TA/Tutors and are waiting for these students to be trained

• We allow soft deadlines for online submissions

• All online lectures are recorded via Blackboard Collaborate

• Our At-Risk Strategy has been approved by Fundani and these students are identified

• Crit sessions are offered for all years; for years that have adopted a blended approach, this is conducted face-to-face and online

• All students have been informed about CPUT Counselling services

• In 2021, at the end-of-year marks discussion, we started to track our top ECP and first-year students to put them on a cum-laude track

• Our At-Risk Strategy has been approved by Fundani; students are identified by staff

• Utilisation of LinkedIn Learning

• Industry involvement within the curriculum (crit sessions and guest lectures)

• Aligning curriculum with industry competitions

• International parallel studio: Global Perspectives in collaboration with Hasselt University (Belgium)

• International student and staff exchange: Hasselt University (Belgium) and Umea University (Sweden)

• International parallel studio: Derby University (UK)

Given the varying constraints we are faced with, I am of the opinion that we are providing our students with the best we can provide in terms of achieving the new dreamscape for higher education. To this end, and apart from all that has been listed, I draw your attention to the following narratives that explain our current international partnerships and projects that are taking both our curriculum and students global.

UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN

On behalf of the Lincoln School of Design, at the University of Lincoln, Colleen Cocotos supported the revalidation of the Master of Arts in Interior Architecture and Design.

The role was for a discipline specialist to serve as an external panel member based on their academic and professional profile. The University of Lincoln made this appointment owing to our registration and professional involvement with the African Institute of the Interior Design Professions (iid) and the innovative work at CPUT regarding asynchronous teaching.

The University of Lincoln praised the value of balanced expertise of practice and higher education as modelled by CPUT and proposed in the revalidation process.

Support was given in the curriculum development process for the Master of Arts in Interior Architecture. Recommendations were made to broaden access efforts and suggested support measures were

provided for graduates from disciplines other than architecture or interior design.

Professor Anne Chick expressed appreciation for a display of deep expertise in the discipline while maintaining respect for their specific circumstances. Our CPUT approach to cultural sensitivity was valuable in considering safeguarding measures for those of the University of Lincoln’s international students who follow a work placement option.

UNIVERSITY OF DERBY

In 2021, the Advanced Diploma in Interior Design introduced a collaborative guest lecture series with the University of Derby in the UK. Online guest lecture exchanges were carried out and coordinated by Colleen Cocotos from CPUT and the University of Derby’s Interior Design Programme Leader, Barend Slabbert. This guest lecture series will continue into 2022.

UHASSELT (BELGIUM)

• Erasmus+ funded exchanges for staffRudolf Perold and Carike Abrahamse visiting UHasselt to take part in year-end portfolio evaluations in June 2022.

• Two lecturers from UHasselt (Peggy Winkels and Ludo Schouterden) visited CPUT in Nov 2021 to prepare for our first joint international parallel design studio, Global Perspectives (in the ADvDipAT), focusing on sites in District Six and in Canal North-East in Brussels. Both areas have similar histories of forced

removals, and students will map their own city and then exchange information so as to develop live-work design proposals in each other’s cities. This studio will run over three years and will serve to inform our PGDipAT based on lessons learnt from the UHasselt March Year 1 curriculum.

• Two CPUT diploma students (AdvDipAT) will spend a semester in Hasselt in 2023, on an Erasmus+ funded mobility, and take part in the second iteration of Global Perspectives.

• Rudolf Perold has been appointed as affiliated researcher at UHasselt and is co-supervising the doctoral research of CPUT colleague Maretha Dreyer at UHasselt, focusing on refugees and homemaking in Cape Town. He will also co-supervise CPUT contract staff member Dirk Naude’s doctoral research at UHasselt, due to commence in May 2022.

UMA UNIVERSITY (UMA, SWEDEN)

Three AdvDipAT students are currently on an Erasmus+ funded semester-long exchange at UMA and will be followed by another three next year.

• Rudolf Perold has completed a teaching exchange in March 2022, to teach in their studios and to develop a strategic plan for future collaboration with their staff.

• James Benedict Brown of UMA will be visiting CPUT, together with two colleagues, at some point in 2022 or 2023 to teach in our studios and to further any future collaboration that has been identified during our initial visit to UMA.

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Information Technology Department

The capacity for the department to reduce repeat teaching was noticeable across the board as the department was able to run big online classes. Students have also benefited from increased quality of recorded lectures, and we have seen a trend of the recorded lectures being viewed a number of related times by the students. The system put in place is certainly going to continue, going forward. Making recorded sessions available in all our subjects will certainly remain standard, and all theory classes will have to be delivered online using the mechanism that we have now perfected.

Practical subjects will continue to be delivered on campus, as it has been challenging to manage these online.

Media Department

Hybrid approach: The future of higher education, based on our experience, looks hybrid. It has become quite apparent that it is extremely difficult to teach our full course online. We will therefore need to teach some of the components of the theoretical subjects online, and some small segments of the practical work, too. However, the bulk of the practical work needs to happen on campus, in the studio, and sometimes in the computer lab. Not all students have computers or editing software and almost all do not have the specialised equipment that we have on campus. It is thus imperative that we continue with our programme as primarily a campus-based one. Our recent experience also shows that students being on campus 24/7 is no longer required. Our students now work 24/7 in varied spaces, whether online or in person anywhere they choose. as long as they are connected by a laptop or smartphone. Data shortages and connectivity issues are still an issue among students, and this has a direct impact on the T&L activities we offer.

Continuous learning and innovation: Our future calls for continuous innovation and creativity on our part as teachers if we need to offer applied and practical work that contributes to the holistic T&L experience. We also need to continually and actively seek ethical and effective strategies to assess and evaluate students in this changed landscape. Online assessments and learning have a direct link to plagiarism (which can even now be more easily identified) but also a higher degree of copying and other unethical behaviour around assessment and learning.

The emergence of new media and technology will allow for creative and innovative teaching and learning practices. It has made learning and engagement in real time much more possible, as students are required to be online continuously, and it has pushed these students to engage using digital and social platforms for engagement. Lecturers and students will have to learn fast and be better equipped to take advantage of new and evolving technologies.

Increased student accountability: Remote learning will also be directly influenced and increase student accountability for their own learning. They will need to prepare more effectively to meet deadlines, as well as manage their time and resources. Online learning has certainly made access to information so much easier and more convenient. But South African higher education needs to invest in students to assist them in obtaining hardware and or devices for T&L.

Multilingualism: In a paper recently published, titled “Educators’ Experiences of using multilingual pedagogies during emergency remote teaching: a case study of South African universities”, based on a study funded by the CPUT RITAL funds, one of our colleagues, Dr Sisanda Nkoala, was able to provide perspectives on what remote teaching could mean for multilingual higher education. If we don’t prioritise the localisation of our learner management systems and include indigenous languages, as well as make a more concerted effort to find and create more multimodal resources for use in online contexts.

Remote teaching and learning primarily steered us to more monolingual, English-based approaches because of the dominance of English in online spaces. Thus, English is not only dominant in how we speak online, but Anglocentric ways of thinking are also dominant because of this. This does not bode well for multilingual higher education in the future, and Dr Nkoala’s recommendations in this study could provide a useful starting point.

Context sensitivity: out by our colleagues in the department, future planning in higher education institutions should factor in the differences in access and some of the prevailing structural issues that characterise life in South Africa when charting a way forward in the aftermath of the pandemic. Reflections from Media students show that structural inequalities determine the extent to which students can and cannot participate meaningfully in higher education when remote

Teaching Excellence Awards 2021

Faculty Teaching Excellence Award

Ms Amanda Morris is an avid planner, a believer in structure, familiarizing oneself with policy and using it to effect positive change. I am familiar with the structures, systems and policies of the institution and take a keen interest in how those impact the academic project. I bring a strong student-focused approach to my classroom pedagogoes and my reserach interests includes design education, curriculum design and socially just pedagogies. More recently I have grown an interest in post-qualitative and art-based methodologies. As an individual I am loyal, resilient, opinionated and I beleive in pursuit of righteousness. I have a passion for teaching anfd learning, strong leadership and administrative abilities and a keen knowledge of the strategic objectives of CPUT.

Sisanda Nkoala is a well-published academic in the CPUT media department. Her areas of interest are the intersection of rhetoric, multilingualism and media. Her project on digitizing texts from the Early South African Black Press was chosen as one of the 2022 digital humanities OER flagship projects by Sadilar. Beyond the academy, she serves on the Board of the State-owned entity, Brand South Africa and the coordinating council of HELTASA, among others. She recently passed her PhD in Rhetoric Studies from UCT and is awaiting graduation. She is a former award winning journalist whose greatest joy

Dr Trust Matsilele lectures in the Journalism department within the Faculty of Informatics and Design. He serves as the Media Department Research Committee chair and is a member of the Faculty Research Committee. Some of his community work involves the Real411 − a fact-checking organ of Media Monitoring Africa, SACOMM, SANEF, IAMCR, Global Risk Journalism Hub, and Global Internet Governance. Dr Matsilele is a regular international conference participnat and acts as a country researcher (SA) for the Global Risk Journalism Hub. He holds a DLitt et Phil Communication Studies from the University of Johannesburg, a Master of Philosophy Journalism from Stellenbosch, and a Bachelor of Arts Honors Journalism and Media Studies form the University of the Witwatersrand.

ON

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

smart cities realm. She is part of a number of research working groups focusng on reflexive professional academic practices in higher education as well as developing new methodologies for sustainable- smart city implementations. Her recent research emaphasis is on post-qualitative research and sociomateriality with a specific focus on co-creating social digital

Conclusion

In 2021, there were great improvements made by staff and students regarding digital skills and the use of online facilities and programmes. We found new methods for logging online feedback; however, it was found that online facilitation and recordkeeping is very timeconsuming. In 2022 we have allowed more preparation and marking time on our staff workload reports.

The departments are working on aligning the new dreamscape to industry expectations and international standards. With many programmes including practical components and requiring contact classes, the departments have made great strides in moving towards multi-model teaching practices.

As we concluded 2021, there was agreement from both staff and students that we had improved over the course of the year at delivering consistent experiences in online content across the subjects. This is something the departments and faculty will retain, particularly for theoretical subjects and postgraduate subjects. With the assistance of the faculty, the departments are performing well in terms of learning and teaching. Departments will continue to refine the approaches adopted based on the reflection of what we have learnt over the last two years.

called ‘Doing Academia Differently’, funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF), and includes a team of researchers, academics and philosophers from different international and local universities.

This Teaching and Learning report reflects the changing times in which we find ourselves, largely precipitated by Covid-19. It has highlighted the challenges we have experienced, which range from the need to migrate to remote learning and student challenges in accessing data and devices. It has also discussed how we have overcome some of these challenges using innovative strategies. The report has further looked ahead and engaged with how we envisage the future of higher education within the various disciplines that constitute the faculty. It argues that the future of higher education is hybrid and should be characterised by continuous innovation, creativity, context sensitivity and accountability on the part of students. In discussing the aforementioned, the report has also discussed our students’ learning experience at CPUT from a holistic perspective. Experiences vary from student to student. However, most students tend to favour online learning.

AND

ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

FUNDANI CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT (CHED)

Dr Xena Cupido Director Fundani CHED

Reflecting on 2021, this Teaching and Learning Report captures the many accomplishments of CPUT staff and students. The 2021 academic year started at Lockdown Level 3 (LL3), which resulted in most academic activities continuing via remote learning and teaching. Student registrations took place online, orientation of first-year students was fully online for the first time, and classes commenced online on 1 February for returning students and 15 March for first-year students. Yet during this time, drawing on previous experiences of 2020, there are notable achievements highlighted in this report. One such achievement was the finalisation of the Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Policy, Rules and Guidelines supported by the CPUT Learning and Teaching Strategy. As we plan for 2022, the LTA policy and strategy will guide practices, programmes and projects aligned to Vision 2030 which seeks to build ONE SMART CPUT.

One such project is the First Year Experience (FYE), which continued to gain traction with first-year students. Established as a learning community, FYE draws on the strengths of peer mentors to support and enhance the opportunity for student success at first year level. Priority has been given to incoming students through the provision of peer mentors and online learning materials to ease the transition to first year. The data provided insight into firstyear student learning interests as they access the online learning material, informing decision-making in collaboration

with faculties to promote strategies for student success. As Covid-19 continued to transform student academic development support, the Student Learning Unit (SLU) produced a multilingual writing guide in conjunction with the Language Unit. This is in keeping with the spirit of the DHET Language policy for Higher Education (2002) which states the “role of all our languages ‘working together’ to build a common sense of nationhood is consistent with the values of ‘democracy, social justice and fundamental rights’, which are enshrined in the Constitution”. Multilingual writing support materials make the curriculum more accessible to students in the three official CPUT languages. The Fundani STEM sector continues to grow as more departments use the academic development support provided to staff and students. In 2021, six lecturers worked with STEM consultants reaching close to 2000 students.

Addressing social justice in higher education, the Curriculum Development Unit (CDU) hosted four annual Curriculum Officer forums. Fundani CHED invited Dr Siddique Motala, a senior lecturer for Academic Development in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town, who focused on historical mapping, digital storytelling, augmented reality and socially just pedagogies in engineering education. His talk on social justice entitled History, Hauntings, Stories was given at the annual RITAL conference on 25 November 2021. The RITAL conference convened academics from across various disciplines interested in discussing institutional, curriculum and

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

pedagogical adaptations during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof Daniela Gachago was invited as keynote speaker at the conference themed Post-pandemic challenges in higher education: Integrating pedagogy and technology-enhanced teaching and learning practices. While traditionally, mostly academics attend the conference, in 2021, support staff were also encouraged to participate to share experiences and best practices.

The second cycle of the 2021-2023 University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG) was initiated in 2021 after the finalisation of the UCDG audits. The projects included the 20212023 cycle have been aimed at developmental initiatives and interventions intended to advance and improve the academic project, comprised of the following:

• Student Success: Undergraduate Support

• Student Success: Postgraduate Student Support

• Student Success: Student Leadership and Development Programme

• Advancing Teaching & Learning at University

• Growing CPUT’s Rising Stars in Research and Innovation

• Curriculum Development

The monitoring and evaluation of the grant under the auspices of Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST), in partnership with the DHET, has developed a UCDP MiS Portal for the capturing of evidence.

This year the Teaching Excellence Awards (TEA) were reinstated which recognise and celebrate the commitment toward excellence in learning and teaching. A number of awards have been made in faculties and departments. The 2021 Institutional Teaching Excellence Awardees were Dr Candice Livingston and Prof Oluwaseun Oyekolo. These awards present an opportunity to value the reflective, critical and contextually aware teaching that takes place across the institution. A maximum of three institutional awards will be made. Faculty and departmental awards are in the process of being concluded. On final note, CPUT has three Cohort 4 Teaching Advancement at University (TAU) participants: Dr Candice Livingston (Faculty of Education); Dr Cynthia Dube (Faculty of Business Management Sciences); and Dr Ignatius Ticha (Faculty of Applied Sciences). This programme empowers teaching fellows in a wide range of disciplines to contribute towards the enhancement of teaching at CPUT.

In conclusion, the 2021 academic year offered countless valuable lessons and transformative insights for learning and teaching in higher education. What remains is to think about how the new innovative practices will impact the delivery of the curriculum beyond Covid-19.

First-Year Experience

CPUT’s FYE is a carefully structured project designed to provide timely and effective interventions to first-year students from the day they enrol in the university and throughout their first year of study. This is done mainly through FYE orientation, seminars, CPUT101, FYE mentoring and the RO programme. FYE is a student-centred initiative that responds to the university’s Vision 2030, SMART CPUT, and ONENESS. FYE aims to increase student success and reduce attrition. FYE assists students in achieving a smooth transition from high school to university. This is achieved by helping students cultivate the abilities necessary for effective learning. FYE aims to inspire students to become fully inducted into their academic disciplines and programmes, providing them with psychosocial and academic support that will encourage them to achieve academic excellence. In 2021, the FYE planned for both online and face-to-face delivery of its activities. We already have FYE videos across a range of topics available on https://www.youtube.com/user/CPUTfye, and all topics are covered in CPUT101 on Blackboard.

AND LEARNING: ACADEMIC SUPPORT, INNOVATION AND CREATING FUTURES

The Retention Officers and Mentor Coordinator

The coordinator monitors mentor and RO activities in providing online support to first-year students, identifies opportunities and challenges faced by first-year students, and makes faculties and Support Services aware of the challenges and allows for them to be effectively addressed.

Responsibilities of the Retention Officers and Mentor Coordinator Included:

• coordinate the activities of 132 mentors and 35 ROs;

• respond timeously to RO and mentor queries in the WhatsApp group;

• communicate with mentors and ROs via WhatsApp;

• liaise with lecturers and students about the training of ROs and mentors;

• compile mentor and RO reports;

• refer students to the relevant Student Services; and

• allocate mentees to mentors.

Mentor and RO Reports

Personal Issues

With the advent of Covid-19, first-year students’ fears included uncertainty about whether they would finish the academic year, lack of resources (laptops, data, study material), challenges operating online, illness of loved ones, anxiety about loss of loved ones, and grieving the actual loss of loved ones. Some first-year students had lost several family members, among which were the family breadwinners, and some breadwinners had their salary reduced or lost employment due to Covid-19. These students were referred to Student Counselling to assist in coping with their fears and anxieties.

Accommodation

First-year students who were allowed on campus face issues primarily with accommodation. Many students were not accepted into the residences and thus sought private accommodation; however, because of problems with their bursaries or a loss of funding by NSFAS, many of these students had to return home to other provinces because they could not afford accommodation themselves. The mentors and RO Coordinator had to negotiate with the residence fathers at the CPUT residences that had space for them and involved the SRC to assist in this regard.

Food Security and Other Necessities

Due to non-payment by NSFAS, death of breadwinners, and loss of employment by family members, some students were hungry and needed other necessities such as clothes and blankets. At FYE, we were fortunate to have students who have left the institution donating their stuff (cutlery, crockery, blankets, for example), so these were given to students in need. Student Welfare also provided food parcels to students undergoing food insecurity.

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Academic Challenges

Mentors assisted students with academic registrations and amendments, accessing the CPUT Portal for online lectures, and applying for study resources such as data, Blackboard, and course notes.

Some first-year students faced difficulties with several of their subjects:

Business and Management Sciences: BCS, BCA, Stats, Accounting and Financial Accounting

Faculty of Engineering: Physical Sciences, Computer literacy, Introduction to Drawing

Applied Sciences: Physical Sciences Education: Mathematics

Several first-year students required technical assistance from the mentors on navigating Blackboard and help with the content of their modules.

Faculty first-year coordinators were made aware of student challenges; tutors and extra tutorial sessions were organised to assist the students. Mentors and ROs did their best to ensure they provided mentees with sufficient information and strategies on time management and study habits and connected them with tutors, as many students were not even aware of the existence of the tutoring service.

Challenges for Mentors

Mentors also felt overcommitted and found themselves burning out in their efforts to go the extra mile. The mentor and RO Coordinator provided support to the mentors to manage their time effectively and avoid burnout.

Conference Attendance

Mkonto, N. 2021. Mentor readiness to provide online support to students during the lockdown. 41st Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition (Virtual). 15-19 February 2021. ZOOM

Mkonto, N. 2021. Mentor Readiness to Provide Online Support in the Time of the Covid-19 Pandemic. 6th Annual South African National Resource Centre Conference on First-Year Experience (Virtual) 19-21 May 2021. ZOOM.

Publications

Mkonto, Nosisana. 2021. Family Support for First-Year Students during the Transition to University. The International Journal of Learning in Higher Education 28 (1): 139-150. doi:10.18848/2327-7955/CGP/ v28i01/139-150

Mkonto, Nosisana & Luvuyo Kakaza. 2021. The Role of a University in Support of First-year Students. In Ralarala, M. Hassan, S.L. & Naidoo, R. ed. Knowledge beyond the “colour lines”: Towards repurposing knowledge generation in South African higher education, Bellville and Stellenbosch. UWC Press and African Sun Media, pp.135-150.

Mkonto, Nosisana. 2021. Understanding Safe and Inclusive Spaces at a South African University. In Sosibo, Z.L & Ivala, N.E. (Eds). Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Spaces: Shaping Futures and Envisioning Unity Diversity and Transformation. Vernon Press, Series in Education, pp. 45-58.

Pather, Subethra, Esambe, Emmanuel, & Mkonto, Nosisana. 2021. First-year Students’ Expectations of University Experiences: Views of Students from Diverse Schooling Contexts. In Sosibo, Z.L & Ivala, N.E. (Eds). Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Spaces: Shaping Futures and Envisioning Unity Diversity and Transformation. Vernon Press, Series in Education, pp. 99-114.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

OVERVIEW OF THE STUDENT LEARNING UNIT (Writing Centre)

The Student Learning Unit (Writing Centre) assists students with academic writing by providing support, feedback and advice from postgraduate tutors and postgraduate writing consultants. It also helps lecturers support the development of student writing in courses. Furthermore, the Student Learning Unit (SLU) assists students with STEM support as Student Learning practitioners provide academic support through individual and group consultation and selfstudy activities; team teaching between the STEM support lecturer and lecturers in the faculties takes place regularly. The SLU also trains senior students to be teaching assistants and tutors.

About the Student Learning Unit (Writing Centre)

The Student Learning Unit (Writing Centre) is an academic unit which falls under the directorate of Fundani Centre for Higher Education (CHED). The SLU provides advice and support to both students and staff. The mandate of the Student Learning Unit (Writing Centre) is to provide a supportive academic environment in which undergraduate and advanced diploma students receive advice, guidance and constructive assistance with written tasks, assignments, proposals and other forms of writing. Whilst postgraduate students at CPUT are primarily

supported by the Directorate of Postgraduate Studies, they are also welcomed to approach the Writing Centre for assistance with writing.

The writing and STEM consultants who work at the Writing Centre are all master’s and PhD students working in a range of disciplines. They are welltrained in methods for consulting with students and giving constructive feedback to students. The SLU assists students directly while also supporting lecturers who are concerned with developing the reading and writing abilities of students in their courses and disciplines.

The Writing Centre provides a resource for students to access individually or in groups. In addition, the SLU serves as a resource to assist lecturers to support the reading and writing development of students within the context of modules taught. The workshops that the SLU offers to students are integrated with courses in a certain way; for example, an essay writing workshop can be related to a particular assignment task that students are currently working on. Furthermore, the SLU collaborates with lecturers to assist with embedding academic literacies, particularly reading and writing development, into course materials and formative assessment tasks and structuring formative assessment tasks to enhance scaffolding of learning.

The writing consultants of the SLU give formative feedback on drafts of student assignments

in relation to writing as an integral part of the course assessment strategy. Moreover, the SLU provides feedback on student writing in formative assessment tasks and assists with the training of departmental tutors.

Student Learning Unit (SLU) vision and mission statement

• Ubuntu-focused student development partner charged with transforming students’ learning experiences at CPUT.

• Promoting students’ academic and strategic literacies.

• Developing students’ capacity, competencies and skills through STEM (mathematics, physics and chemistry) with an emphasis student support.

• Co-teaching and collaborating with lecturers in developing diagnostic tools and student assessment.

• Developing pedagogical strategies to assist peer tutors and TAs in facilitating learning.

• Providing SMART administrative support and effective governance to the SLU.

• Using innovative SMART technological solutions to meet student needs and transform their lived experiences.

• Playing an effective linking role between the SLU, Fundani and faculties.

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

First-Year Orientation

The Student Learning Unit provided the 2021 first-year orientation to students by means of online platforms such Blackboard and Microsoft Teams to the following faculties. The Education HIV/Aids Unit in some departmental firstyear orientation was facilitated in camps, face-to-face with students. The table below presents the statistics of the 2021 orientation.

Orientation stats 2021

FACULTY DATE ECP1st year 2nd year 3rd year Btech/ Honours TOTAL

Academic literacy workshops

The academic literacy sector facilitated academic writing workshops to the following departments in 2021.

DEPARTMENTLEVEL OF STUDYTOPIC COVERED DURATION

Proposal writing Stages of proposal writing 6-week intervention Electrical Engineering Department

Hospitality Management Advanced Diploma Hospitality Management

Education 4 March 2021 95 95 HIV/Aids Unit 5 March 2021 94 94 Health & Wellness (DEMS) 16 March 2021 110 110 Engineering (DEECE) 17 March 2021 85 85 Total 1959495384 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Total

First years full- time and part-time students

Argumentative essay 1 week

First-year students Structure of report writing 6-week intervention Food Technology Third-year students Structure of report writing 6-week intervention Management & Project Management Department

Business & Management First-year students Time management 1 week Chemistry Department First-year students Time management 1 week Emergence Medical Care Third-year students First-year students Second-year students

Total

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1st year 2nd year 3rd year Btech/Honours Total

1st year 2nd year 3rd year Btech/Honours Total

Education 4 March 2021 HIV and Aids Unit 5 March 2021 Health & Wellness (DEMS) 16 March 2021 Engineering (DEECE) 17 March 2021

1st year 2nd year 3rd year Btech/Honours Total

1st year 2nd year 3rd year Btech/Honours Total

Education 4 March 2021

Total Education 4 March 2021 HIV and Aids Unit 5 March 2021 Health & Wellness (DEMS) 16 March 2021 Engineering (DEECE) 17 March 2021

HIV and Aids Unit 5 March 2021

Total Education 4 March 2021 HIV and Aids Unit 5 March 2021

Health & Wellness (DEMS) 16 March 2021 Engineering (DEECE) 17 March 2021

Health & Wellness (DEMS) 16 March 2021 Engineering (DEECE) 17 March 2021

Teaching Assistants

These students were specifically referred to the SLU because they were struggling academically, identified as at risk in their academic studies in 2021

Proposal writing Academic writing Language of writing Synthesising literature review

Ongoing –consultation

Ongoing –consultation Education Post-Graduate Honours Education students

The Student Learning Unit (SLU) provided teaching assistant training to senior students who were equipped to work with lecturers in lectures and small groups in facilitating learning and teaching. Fourteen training sessions took place in 2021.

TEACHING

The graph and the table below show statistics of workshops facilitated for Teaching Assistants in 2021.

Teaching Assistant training

FACULTY TOTAL 2nd year3rd yearB-Tech

Applied Science 21 2 Business & Management Science 12 1 Education 26 Engineering 18 1 Health & Wellness 72 Informatics & Design 10 Total 94222

STEM sector

SLU-STEM Model of Support

The STEM sector, located within the Student Learning Unit (SLU) of Fundani CHED, consists of 11 consultants (learning facilitators) coordinated by the SLU. The sector provides academic support to students by means of diagnostic support, co-teaching, tutoring, individual and group consultations and research activities. The consultants are doctoral and post-doctoral students from CPUT and UWC. Students are typically referred to use or contact the SLU via the booking system. The STEM sector networks proactively with mathematics and science lecturers. Consultants are assigned to specific lecturers based on a needs analysis. The STEM sector is currently working with six lecturers in the following four departments: Marine Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Applied Sciences. The table below presents

statistics of the services provided by the STEM sector in 2021, with the STEM sector facilitating the following workshops in the departments.

Tutor training

The Student Learning Unit facilitated tutor training workshops to senior students who were upskilled as tutors and in return, facilitated tutorial sessions in their faculties and departments. Eighteen training sessions took place this year. The table below shows the statistical representation of tutor training that took place in 2021.

Inter-departmental collaboration

The Student Learning Unit facilitated a specialised tutor training programme for third-year Chemistry students who were selected to be tutors for Matric second chance students, the STEM project and the Beautiful Gate project. These third-year students are tutoring Grade 12 learners in Philippi in the Cape flats. Training workshops were facilitated to 117 third-year students on the content of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and the theory of tutoring.

Blackboard training

FACULTY TOTAL 1st year2nd year3rd yearB-TechM-TechD-Tech

Business & Management Sciences

66 8331842 1 Education 34 41614 Applied Sciences 57 8261111 1 Informatics & Design 24 1311 Health & Wellness 9 4221 Engineering & the Built Environment

28 101042 2 Natural Sciences 5 2 3 Total 2238598546187

The Students Learning unit trained students on how to use and navigate Blackboard as the platform for consultations, training and lessons. The table below shows the statistics of the training conducted in 2021. Nine training sessions took place in 2021.

Blackboard training

FACULTY TOTAL ECP1st year2nd year3rd yearB-TechM-TechD-Tech

Applied Science 11 5 5 1 Business & Management Science

22 153 3 1 Education 4 2 2 Engineering 14 3 36 2 Health & Wellness 2 1 1

Informatics & Design 2 1 1 Total 550018114166

Accessing the Student Learning Unit: WConline booking

The Writing Centre maintained the use of the email booking system for the first six months of 2020. During this time, the SLU piloted the use of the WConline booking system with other institutions in the country. For example, the SLU collaborated with Durban University of Technology (DUT) on the use of the WConline booking system. The WConline booking, a writing centre scheduling system for students to register and schedule their own appointments in advance, enables students to make appointments with tutors, teaching assistants, lecturers and writing consultants for learning support services. The system benefited students and the SLU staff during remote teaching and learning of the national lockdown in 2021. Students benefited from the system because they were able to upload assignments for discussion during consultations. The plan is to fully roll out the WConline booking system in 2022 and beyond so that no CPUT students will be left out: they will be able to secure bookings by means of WConline booking system anywhere in the country or in the world.

Marketing and promotion

For the 2021 academic year, the Student Learning Unit Writing Centre introduced two Newsflash communications platforms, one for students and another for faculty and staff. A flier noting the workshops to be offered by the SLU was sent electronically to faculty Teaching and Learning Coordinators, Programme Heads and the Student Representative Council during 2021 academic year and by means of the CPUT formal communication platform Newsflash. Email communication also highlighted upcoming workshops to garner student interest and lecturer curiosity. Other promotional tools included WhatsApp and a student newsflash platform.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

EXTENDED CURRICULUM PROGRAMME (ECP) UNIT Introduction

The Fundani ECP Unit boasts two key highlights for the 2021 academic year: the approval of new DHET ECPs and the HELTASA National ECP Colloquium.

DHET approved ECPs

CPUT remains committed to widening participation and increasing access through the provision of alternative pathways for students into formal diplomas and degrees. The following ECPs were approved in 2021 and will be offered in 2022:

• Bachelor of Health Science in Dental Technology

• Bachelor of Environmental Health

• Diploma in Agriculture

• Diploma in Agricultural Management

HELTASA National ECP Colloquium

The HELTASA National ECP colloquium took place online from 17 to 19 August 2021. The over-arching theme of the colloquium was Promoting Scholarship in ECP. The colloquium was hosted jointly by the four Western Cape universities: CPUT, SU, UWC and UCT.

The event boasted over 200 attendees representing 17 South African public universities. In addition, 32 innovative and thought-provoking abstract submissions were received in accordance with the following sub-themes:

• Decolonising the curriculum and scholarship in ECP

• Student data analytics and scholarship in ECP

• Pedagogical practices towards scholarship in ECP: Curriculum design/ change

• Pedagogical practices towards scholarship in ECP: Innovative practices, and

• Pedagogical practices towards scholarship in ECP: Student reflection and reflection on ERT.

The keynote address, delivered by Prof Clever Ndebele and entitled Theoretically grounding SoTL in the Extended Curriculum Programme: Lessons from literature was inspiring and empowering, illuminated the importance of grounding one’s teaching and learning practices theoretically.

and ‘smartness’. These fundamental principles required that we see education as a political act. It is on that score that our workshops were geared towards cultivation of reflexivity to enable participants to think relationally to understand the embeddedness of education into unequal power relations in the larger society. We broadened the scope of ‘student success’ as we paid special attention to the constitutive relationship between knowledge and power, exploring the following questions:

1. Whose knowledge must the students master?

2. What is the relationship between this knowledge and those who hold the cultural, social and economic capital in this society?

3. Who benefits from these definitions of ‘legitimate knowledge’ and who does not?

4. What can we do as critical educators and activists to change existing educational and social inequalities and to create curricula and teaching that are more socially just? (See Apple, 2006).

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT UNIT (CDU) REPORT 2021

Curriculum Officer Forum

In 2021, the Curriculum Officer (CO) forum focused on the alignment of curricula practices across CPUT to the strategic goals encapsulated in Vision 2030. Our workshops centred on the philosophical principles of V2030, namely ‘oneness’

We looked at curriculum as an ‘intellectual property’ (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995) and thereby a means by which materials, programmes, rules, structures and pedagogies valued in particular context re-instantiate privilege of the dominant actors in society. The CO forum served as a platform for discussing critical theoretical tools (hermeneutic) to enable academics see education as inextricably linked with social structures. We worked collaboratively with various units in creating an enabling environment for the development of truly ‘African’ (Oneness) and ‘smart’ university graduates as envisaged in V2030. We introduced participants to ‘ubu-ntu’ as philo-praxis1 for epistemic justice, interrogating the following issues:

1. Decolonial/humanising pedagogy as an imperative towards epistemic justice;

2. Language as a fundamental pedagogic resource towards a decolonised higher education;

3. W iL (all modalities) as a pedagogic space to cultivate transcendental professional identity; and

4. ICTs as a pedagogic resource to achieve epistemic justice.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

The first CO forum, held 03 March 2021, focused on the conception of ‘ubu-ntu’ as a pedagogic praxis for epistemic justice. Our approach towards this task centred on embedding CPUT graduate attributes (GAs) in curriculum practices. These GAs were presented as a springboard towards curricula transformation and COs were empowered to interrogate structural and cultural constraints towards the attainment of GAs.

The second CO forum, held 05 May 2022, looked at work-integrated learning (WiL) as a pedagogic space to cultivate transcendental professional identity/gaze. In this forum we explored ways in which pedagogical practices associated with WiL might enable transformation as envisaged in V2030. This forum continued with the engagement of the philosophical underpinnings of V2030 to enable development of WiL as creative knowing and imagination. WiL was presented as a potential space for students to engage with asymmetrical relations of knowing in an open society. We also explored how WiL might encourage the university to re-imagine post-graduate qualifications and their research component as aligned with HEQsF, 2013.

The third CO forum, held 04 August, focused on language as the fundamental pedagogical resource to facilitate epistemic justice. We looked at how CPUT curriculum practices might endow students with multiple linguistic, educational, cultural and social experiences – also known

as ‘funds of knowledge’ – to enable relational agency (CPUT, GAs). The forum emphasised that people who study or do research in the languages they know best are more creative and innovative than those who do so in a less familiar language. We demonstrated how multilingualism enables creativity as it facilitates enhanced mental flexibility, enhanced problem-solving capabilities, expanded metalinguistic abilities, enhanced learning capacity, enhanced personal ability, enhanced creative thinking skills, enhanced higher order interpersonal communication skills and ability to multitask. These below skills were viewed as critical in the attainment of CPUT graduate attributes:

1. Relational agency

2. Knowing and technological capability and foresight

3. Resilience, and

4. Ethical imagination.

The fourth CO forum, held 06 October, paid attention on the role ICTs as a pedagogic resource to facilitate epistemic justice. We invited Dr Siddique Motala, senior lecturer for Academic Development in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town. Dr Motala’s work focuses on historical mapping, digital storytelling, augmented reality and socially just pedagogies in engineering education.

His talk was entitled History, Hauntings, Stories

Dr Motala considered how higher education might benefit from thinking about history and stories. He explored theoretical and practical issues that might guide a pedagogy of resistance. Reading engineering education theory and practice critically, Dr Motala used creative micro-instances of activism in the form of storytelling intervention to move across disciplinary boundaries, demonstrating this boundary crossing by narrating the story of District 6 through maps. He showed how sensibility towards non-linear time is a useful pedagogical strategy.

References

Apple, M.W. (2006). Book review: How class Works in Education. Educational Policy, 20(2): 455-462. Ladson-Billings, G. & Tate, W.F. (2006). Education research in the public interest: social justice, action, and policy. New York, Teachers College Press.

Ramose, M. (2016). Teacher and student with a critical pan-epistemic orientation: An ethical necessity for Africanizing the education educational curriculum in Africa. South African Journal of Philosophy, 35(4): 546-555.

RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING (RPL) 2021

Interaction with RPL applicants in 2021

The Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is an alternative route of admission to higher education. It is part of social justice, with the aim to provide individuals an opportunity to educate themselves, who would normally not have access to higher education. CPUT offers three types of RPL: access into undergraduate studies, exemptions for subjects and advanced standing for postgraduate studies. In 2021, the second year of the pandemic, CPUT RPL-ed a total of 76 individuals; giving 46 access into first year or fourth year, granting 26 individuals exemptions via RPL, and granting two individuals access and exemptions. Two applicants were granted advanced standing into master’s degree studies.

With relevant work experience, the knowledge of the applicant might not be at the level required for first year. CPUT assists in the preparation for RPL, enhancing the knowledge required. The Faculty of Business and Management Sciences runs workshops to improve the numeracy knowledge of applicants, among other things. Workshops with the Faculty of Business and Management Science were held to prepare RPL applicants, as well as a health run workshop of life science and also numeracy. These workshops were held online.

Involvement of Academia

RPL at CPUT is qualification-specific, requiring applicants to have five years of working experience, preferably relevant work experience, before the application is considered.

RPL is a specialist pedagogy (Cooper et al., 2016) and academic staff at CPUT are advised to view RPL as such. A challenge facing academic staff is how to plan for the implementation of a specialist pedagogy involving knowledge developed outside academia. As a university of technology, CPUT prepares students for a specific profession. Workshops are held with academic staff to facilitate this paradigm shift. Workshops were held in 2021 with the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences (FBMS) to review the year and prepare for 2022. Workshops were also held with individual departments, including Real Estate, Financial Management, Taxation and the Media Cluster in the Faculty of Informatics and Design (FID).

Knowledge enhancement workshop on numeracy id being held online

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

3.2 CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY (CIET)

Introduction

How did the second year (2021) of the pandemic and remote teaching and learning change CIET training practice?

2020 changed the way the Centre worked, as we had from March to the end of May to prepare lecturers with differing levels of technological knowledge and pedagogical skills through webinars to teach using primarily online tools. In 2020, the Centre concentrated on ensuring that every lecturer could provide materials and assess students online. This worked well, with the institution taking care of ensuring that all staff had devices and data, that students had devices and data to access materials online and students who could not access content online were provided with study packs. The multi-modal method of teaching adopted by the university ensured that no students were left behind.

The pandemic in 2020 created training audiences in unprecedented numbers, and this trend continued in 2021, which is the thesis for this report. Having trained most of the academics on Blackboard Basics, intermediate and advanced tools, issues of assessments and student engagement using the LMS and other emerging technologies in 2021, there was a realisation that, while this was done well, academics merely received the skills they needed to do their jobs in a remote teaching and learning environment.

However, this was a year filled with the additional stress of having to teach remotely and to teach and train while sick or bereaved and teaching students experiencing similar challenges. So, the Centre recognised that it had to build on the training provided in 2020 and offer training which enabled academics to pedagogically use the LMS and other emerging technologies for teaching and learning of students. For instance, issues of how to present content in chunks using adaptive release, how to involve students in their learning, use of alternative, non-traditional methods of assessments, using security features within Blackboard during assessments and other proctoring tools, but also showing empathy while teaching and assessing online and how to use universal design principles while designing instruction to cater for learners with different styles of learning, became part of our training. Furthermore, cheating in online assessments became a global challenge, and the centre had to engage with ways of ensuring integrity in assessing students online towards the end of 2021.

At times, training was difficult for the CIET staff as we were bereaved, and we were often training academic staff members experiencing similar issues and stressors. As a unit, we did not engage in training staff on how to take care of themselves but emphasised how they should show empathy for their students in their teaching and assessments, by ensuring they provided content through low-bandwidth technologies. We also emphasised

Prof Eunice Ivala Director CIET

AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

checking on their students and adapting assessment methods to take cognisance of the difficult times students were having. Another difficulty was the Centre’s staff losing their 2020 leave days, which they could not take in 2020 or before end of June 2021, due to the necessity of having to work to support the academic project. Unfortunately, Human Resources and DVC Teaching and Learning did not acknowledge that staff sacrificed their leave to support the academic project and meet staff halfway. The staff acknowledged the leave policy, but policies should be there to guide and with the understanding that staff were working during the pandemic, one would have assumed certain concessions regarding leave policy for CIET staff. That did not happen, despite the director’s request for consideration from HR and DVC Teaching and Learning. As a result, CIET staff members became demoralised and indicated that they had learnt that the institution did not care about their wellbeing, but merely what they could get out of them. At the moment, no CIET staff member wants to sacrifice personal leave for institutional work.

Despite the above challenges, the Centres continued to provide quality service. In 2021, 95.34% of CPUT students were active on Blackboard. The most-used tool was the content tool, which is to be expected, as staff have to provide content to students. There was increased use of interaction tools which were previously minimally used, and assessment tools were also used. The same trend in the usage of interactive tools was recorded in the faculty uptake of the LMS, as shown in Diagrams 2-7 below. It is important for CIET to continue to train staff to ensure that they effectively utilise the interactive and assessment tools, as most assessment of learning takes place using these tools. The diagrams show that the Faculty of Education had 98.26% of their students active on the LMS, followed by the Faculty of Informatics and Design, with 96.6%; Faculty of Applied Sciences with 95.7%; the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment with 95.5%; the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences with 93.99%; and the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences having 88.45% of students active on the LMS.

Diagram 1: Institutional uptake of the LMS

Diagram 2: Uptake of the LMS, Faculty of Informatics and Design

Diagram 3: Uptake of the LMS, Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences

Diagram 5: Uptake of the LMS, Faculty of Education

Diagram 4: Uptake of the LMS, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Diagram 6: Uptake of the LMS, Faculty of Business and Management Sciences

In 2021, The LMS had 4644 active courses; the total number of active users sat at 27 507, with 2466 instructors active and with average page views per

Staff Development Activities

With regard to staff development, CIET trained a total of 851 staff members. The workshops offered and attendance per workshop are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below.

Table 1: CIET Workshop Training in 2021

Table 2: CIET Workshop Training (continued)

Diagram 7: Uptake of the LMS, Faculty of Applied Sciences

Departments

Business and Management Sciences

Departments

Public Administration & Governance

Public Administration & Governance

Marketing

Marketing

Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management

Financial Accounting & Taxation

Financial Accounting & Taxation

Cape Town Hotel School

Business and Management Sciences 5 13 5 21 10 4 9 2 1 4 2 1 19 4 4 11

Sport & Leisure Management Business and Management Sciences 0 5 10 15 20 25

BUS - Other

Applied Economics & Real Estate

Applied

Sport & Leisure Management Business and Management Sciences 0 5 10 15 20 25

Number of Attendees

Number of Attendees

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Student Support

For student support, CIET provided all CPUT students with videos on how to access content on Blackboard via PC, Mobile Application and LinkedIn Learning Resources access via OPA and Blackboard. By October 2021, as the data concerning LinkedIn Resources usage below shows clearly that more marketing of resources was needed amongst students and

Other Activities in which CIET Staff were Involved in 2021

Some of the Centre’s staff were involved in the following activities:

Supporting Human Capital and other units in conceptualising the online staff academy.

Participation in industry/sector initiatives, for example attending several national roundtables:

• DHET on lecturer development

• Data analytics Blackboard Roundtable

• DHET/HELTASA/Sairch Chair on remote teaching and staff agency

• Online Assessments

• Pod-Network (USA) diversity dialogues

• NRF Review Panels and review for national and international journals

The Centre’s staff and other CPUT recruited into the project by CIET were part of the FutureAbility Erasmus + Project 2021-2023, investigating how lecturers from the partnering institutions, with CPUT being the only African partner, taught visual arts subjects or used visual arts methodology in teaching other subjects before and during the pandemic. The project activities included desktop research, survey, focus group interviews; the sharing of teaching methodologies (all done in 2021) and cocreating teaching resources to fill the gaps identified in literature, and sharing these resources via OERs.

In terms of scholarship regarding teaching and learning, the unit produced the following papers in 2021:

Journal articles

Gachago, D., Jones, B., Esambe, E., Jongile, S., & Ivala, E. 2021. Engaging knowledge and the knower: Design considerations for emerging modes of academic staff development. Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning (CriSTaL), 2021.

ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Book chapters

Gachago, D., Morkel, J., van Zyl, I., & Ivala, E. 2021. From Design thinking to design doing: Experiences from an academic Staff Development programme for Blended Course design. Conceptualizing and Innovating Education and Work with Networked Learning, pp. 19-35. Springer, Cham.

Abrahams, I., Meda, L., & Ivala, E. 2021. Implementing Blended Learning in classrooms: Educators’ perspectives. Handbook of Research on Innovations in Non-Traditional Educational Practices, pp. 327-340. IGI Global.

Waghid, Y., Waghid, Z. & Waghid, F. 2021. Social justice reconsidered: making a defence for a university of critique again. In Ndofirepi, A., Vurayi, S. & Erima, G. (Eds.). Unyoking African University Knowledges: Voices from the Subaltern. Springer.

Gachago, D., Waghid, F., & Van Zyl, I. 2021. More than Delivery: Designing Blended Learning with and for Academic staff. In: L. Sisibo, & E. Ivala (Eds.), Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Spaces: Shaping Futures and Envisioning Unity in Diversity and Transformation. Malaga: Vernon Press.

Strydom, S., Titus, S., Waghid, F., & Gachago, D. 2021. Enabling inter-institutional co-teaching

of a Post-Graduate Diploma in Educational Technology: Uncovering the sites of struggle, negotiation and accommodation. In Z. Shangase, E. Ivala, & D. Gachago (Eds.). Co-teaching/researching in an Unequal World: Using Virtual Classrooms to Connect Africa, and Africa and the World. Malaga: Vernon Press, Forthcoming.

Edited Books

Sosibo, Z., Ivala, E. (Ed). 2021. Cultural diversity in education. Creating effective teaching and learning spaces: Shaping futures and envisioning unity in Diversity and transformation. Vernon Press.

Waghid, Y., Waghid, Z., Terblanche, J & Waghid, F. 2021. Higher Teaching and Learning for Alternative Futures: A Renewed Focus on Critical Praxis. New York & London: PalgraveMacMillan.

Conclusion

The way forward and new approaches CIET will move towards Vision 2030, emanating from 2021 practices:

• Training to ensure that a culture of academic integrity will form part of the Centre’s training towards Vision 2030.

• Use of universal design principles for teaching

and learning and designing assessments will be embraced.

• Decolonising the curriculum and giving students a voice in their learning and assessment will be a huge part of the Centre’s work.

• Providing students support to learn better using technology will be taken forward by the Centre, despite the Centre’s mandate being to do staff development. Covid-19 showed that we need to support students, and this began in 2021 through providing orientation videos and LinkedIn Learning resources for all staff and students. The Centre will target niche areas where student materials can be provided to ensure student success.

• Training staff on wellness issues and especially mental health, the Centre, in collaboration with Partners in an Erasmus + project is developing modules which will assist lecturers to learn how to take care of themselves and to teach students about mental health issues, amongst other topics.

• Studies by CHE-UFS showed that both staff and students in higher education institutions in South Africa lacked digital literacies; CIET will design interventions for both staff and students.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

3.3 CENTRE FOR PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPPD)

During the year 2021, the Centre for Professional and Personal Development (CPPD) and the rest of the Short Course environment continued to show resilience in the face of the devastating challenges of the pandemic. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic for teaching and learning, achieving a remarkable growth (43%) in fees raised from short courses was undoubtedly the highlight for the year 2021.

This report reflects how CPPD and the Short Course Offering Entities (SCOEs) adapted their teaching and learning practices and how the adaptations are likely to shape the future of teaching and learning within the Short Course environment.

The year 2021 remained a challenging period for remote learning, teaching, and assessment. Short course facilitators and lecturers had to embrace online learning, teaching, and assessment (LTA) and its associated demands.

The migration to full virtual LTA in the Short Course environment tested the adaptability and perseverance of all those involved. Facilitators and lecturers had to put in extra effort to maintain the academic standards in traditional face-to-face classroom teaching. Additionally, they had to navigate the demands of LTA of adult learners who have different learning styles, were unfamiliar with

technology and required additional academic support to meet the needs of the short courses. “It was important for us to consider the students’ voice by listening to their expectations, meeting their expectations and providing extra support where they required it”, said Valdiela Daries, Senior Lecturer of the Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences (MITS) Department.

The extra support for academics involved problemsolving in the field of technical computer skills related to online LTA and academic writing skills. Within the MITS Department, facilitators and lecturers had to consider that the student group were healthcare professionals who were treating and managing patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 on a daily basis. This called for flexibility by allowing project submissions past the agreed due dates because of student Covid-19 infections. “We had to show understanding of personal circumstances because the adult students were in full-time employment and had family responsibilities”, said Valdiela Daries.

Despite heavy reliance on online LTA where the situation allowed, such as when lockdown restrictions were lifted, some face-to-face teaching and learning did occur. In August 2021, the Graduate Centre for Management (GCM [SPU]) conducted the first face-to-face session in East London for a group of learners on the Occupational Certificate: Career Development Information Officer.

Mr Shoni Khangala Director CPPD

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT

Off-site face-to-face classes were held within the Western Cape when lockdown levels were lowered. Production Management Industry, from the Faculty of the Engineering and Built Environment (FEBE), was delivered at a local manufacturing company.

Other SCOEs, such as the ICT Academy, used MS Teams extensively. According to Vaughn Berkerling of the ICT Academy, “Students adapted rapidly to the Teams learning environment we used to simulate an authentic in-person classroom”. Where students required personal technical support or guidance, instructors provided WhatsApp breakaway sessions after class.

The Cisco Academy online Learner Management System (LMS) and content delivery system proved to be ideal for the online learning environment, providing

both formative and summative assessment. The students completed zerorated chapter quizzes as they worked through the course material and then completed graded multichoice chapter tests and final theory exams. Practical exams are delivered via the Packet Tracer network simulator.

In conclusion, the short course environment witnessed a relatively adequate adaptation to the new teaching, learning and assessment methods during the second year of the pandemic. Facilitators, lecturers and students alike had to reinvent and adapt to manage the online LTA space and make it a success. Short course facilitators and lecturers have embraced remote LTA practices. The short course offering entities continue to find ways to adapt the virtual classroom space to fit the new reality by developing strategies for better learning environments, improved instructional formats and new materials development.

Encouraging learners who received their Production Management for Industry certificates was Mr Richard Noor, CEO of W-Tech Manufacturing/ Fibretek

Learners of the Occupational Certificate: Career Development Information Officer – East London

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

3.4 CENTRE FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING

Introduction

CPUT’s Centre for Community Engagement and WorkIntegrated Learning (CE & WIL) viewed 2021 as a year of reviewing its policies and implementing new plans that were developed in 2020 to move CE and WIL activities towards excellence and align CPUT’s CE and WIL practice with the university’s Vision 2030 in general and Teaching and Learning in particular.

1. Implementation of the recommendations of the 2020 Institutional WIL workshop

The Centre facilitated the implementation of the recommendations of an institutional WIL workshop, which was held virtually on 3 June 2020. The purpose of the workshop was to build a systematic platform for WIL to operate effectively and efficiently and serve as a vehicle to drive CPUT’s Vision 2030. The recommendations that related to CE and WIL policy reviews, WIL design in academic programmes, WIL research, WIL partnerships and WIL data management were implemented in 2021 through the establishment of the following five institutional WIL task teams:

1.1 Task team for quality management and CE and WIL policy reviews.

1.2 The WIL in Curriculum task team to give direction regarding WIL design and practice in academic programmes (i.e., to develop WIL implementation guidelines that suit different contexts of academic programmes).

1.3 The WIL research task team.

1.4 Task team to develop a central data management system for WIL.

1.5 Task team to improve regional, national, and international partnerships.

Each task team developed an implementation plan for its 2021 activities, held meetings, conducted workshops and submitted reports for presentation to Senate Teaching and Learning Committee meetings. A meeting was convened to discuss the structure, process and timelines for integrating the work of the task team into a consolidated WIL document for CPUT. The plan was to complete the compilation of the document in 2022.

2. Reviewed CE and WIL Policies

The work of the task team on quality management and CE and WIL policy reviews resulted in a review of the following three CE and WIL related policies:

2.1 Policy on Workplace-Learning and Service-Learning (approved by Senate in 2013 with the purpose of replacing the policy on Cooperative Education) It was noted that a WIL policy had never been in existence at CPUT and that the definition and practice of WIL had evolved over the years due to pandemics, protests, natural disasters and use of technology. It was therefore recommended that workplace-learning and service-learning be treated as components of WIL like other applicable WIL modalities (e.g., project based and

Prof Joyce Nduna

Ms Jacqui Scheepers

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

problem-based learning), and that all applicable WIL modalities form an integral part of the new Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy.

2.2 Policy on Advisory Committees (2009)

It was recommended that some components of the Policy on Advisory Committees be an integral part of WIL and be included in the new Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy. Other components of this policy which do not relate to teaching and learning could be included in the Stakeholder Engagement Strategy, when developed.

2.3 Policy and Procedures for Community Engagement (2008)

As community engagement that is embedded into the curriculum (i.e., service-learning) is defined as a form of WIL by the CHE (2011), it was recommended that service-learning form part of WIL and be included in the new Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy.

The Centre participated actively to ensure that these recommendations were implemented during the development of the new Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy.

It was suggested that the institution take a decision on the reporting lines of community engagement that are not embedded into the curriculum as it is difficult to report these CE activities to the Teaching and Learning Senate Committee.

It was further suggested that an inclusive engagement policy (that covers all partnerships, e.g.,

with industry, SETAs, Government departments, community organisations) be developed, and that the components of the Policy and Procedures for Community Engagement that are not reportable to the Senate Teaching and Learning Committee be treated as part of a broader CPUT engagement strategy and be provided with a home to report such activities.

Further discussions on community engagement activities that are not reported to the Senate Teaching and Learning Committee took place between the Centre and the Executive Director in the Office of the Vice Chancellor in a meeting held on 12 August 2021.

3. Development of a CE and WIL Strategic Plan

A short-term strategic plan (2021-2022) was developed to guide and support CE and WIL activities of the institution. The strategic plan was developed in two phases and in accordance with the seven focus areas of One Smart CPUT. The first phase was a SWOT analysis and closing out of the CE and WIL Vision 2020; the second phase focused on the planning for CPUT’s Vision 2030. Several workshops were held with the CE and WIL staff and faculty coordinators to develop the strategic plan.

4. Provided support for the faculties

The Centre played a supportive role for the faculties, as it is a strategic support centre for scholarly community engagement and work-integrated learning. As CPUT’s definition of community

engagement is inclusive of engagement with community and industry, the 2021 report includes the functions of the two units of the Centre, which are the Cooperative Education Unit and the ServiceLearning and Civic Engagement Unit. These units had to adapt their activities and practices as required by the restrictions and constraints brought about by Covid-19. The subsections cover the diverse range of activities, initiatives, interventions and achievements as related to teaching and learning which were implemented by the units in 2021.

(a) Cooperative Education Unit

Quarterly meetings held with CE and WIL Faculty Coordinators flagged the following challenges that needed the attention of the Cooperative Education Unit.

• The safety of WIL students traveling to worksites (e.g., clinical sites) during the lockdown period. Alternatives to public transport were considered and reliable transport provided.

• The need to standardise and revise MoUs with workplaces that provide project-based and workplace learning opportunities and to ensure that MoUs are in accordance with current developments in WIL. Discussions on processes and procedures to be followed by the faculties to deal with MoUs took place.

• Development of WIL guidelines that are responsive to the POPI Act in terms of treating information on WIL students. Discussions around this issue were facilitated.

• Renewal of an insurance cover for WIL students. The Unit facilitated the renewal of

an insurance cover and provided the faculties with details of the insurance.

The meetings and faculty reports also highlighted the following achievements that were supported by the Cooperative Education Unit.

• Online workshops for the Employability Improvement Programme (EIP) that were conducted on Saturdays to prepare students for their workplace learning.

• CPUT graduates that were invited to join a regional Virtual Grad Expo hosted by the South African Graduate Employers Association (SAGEA) at no cost to the student or graduate.

• Successful implementation of various WIL modalities during the pandemic and their contribution to student success.

• Flexible and innovative ways that were used by the Unit to support the implementation of workplace learning. Academic departments were supported in their teaching and learning activities to plan and implement workplace learning differently, using the digital approach. The following methods were used to support the faculties:

- All WIL placement registrations were completed electronically.

- Logbooks and other training materials were distributed electronically.

- Graduate support activities were conducted online, including CV submission, sourcing of opportunities and provision of career information.

- All engagement activities between internal and external stakeholders (e.g., WIL workshops, WIL, funder engagement, and learner stipend administration were conducted online.

• Continued support of the Unit to administer stipends for workplace learning and to respond to monthly payment queries of WIL students. The availability of SETA funding (although reduced) to support workplace learning in 2021 benefitted students, academic departments and workplaces, as many workplaces could not afford to pay placed students due to the pandemic that affected them negatively. The SETA funds also assisted WIL coordinators in academic departments to better negotiate placement opportunities for those students that had to do workplace learning to graduate and get recognition from their professional bodies.

The following table shows the number of academic departments and students that benefitted from the SETA funds in 2021.

NAME OF SETAAmountFaculties / DepartmentsNo. studentsStipend per learner

HWSETA R2 016 000 Health & Wellness Biomedical Sciences 32 R3500

MERSETA R3 660 900 Engineering Mechanical Engineering Electrical Engineering Industrial Engineering

BANKSETA R2 520 000 Informatics and Design Information Technology 40 R5000

CATHSSETA R344 400 Business Tourism Events Management

FOODBEV SETA R1 080 000 Applied Science Food Technology Analytical Chemistry Business Operations Management

52 R5000

14 R3500

30 R3000

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021 TEACHING

AND LEARNING: ACADEMIC SUPPORT, INNOVATION AND CREATING FUTURES

AGRISETA R954 000 Applied Science Landscape Technology 40 R3975

5. Continued participation of the Unit in the National DHET College Lecturer Education Project (CLEP) to support the Faculties of Education

The Unit completed the deliverables of the College Lecturer Education Project of the DHET in 2021 after publishing and distributing the WIL Implementation Guidelines for offering the qualifications in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Adult and Community Education and Training (ACET) to the Faculties of Education of 16 universities that participated in the DHET College Lecturer Education Project.

6. Participation of the Unit in regional WIL-related activities

The Unit played an active role in coordinating and facilitating the CHEC-CPUT Dual Higher Education Project, which aims at restructuring the curriculum to involve more industry participation in higher education programmes to enhance student employability. Several institutional meetings were held with the representatives of the CHEC office in 2021 with the purpose of selecting and developing pilot programmes in the faculties.

SERVICE-LEARNING (SL) AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT (CE) UNITS

Prepared by Jacqui Scheepers

Impact of Covid-19 Restrictions on SLCE

Having entered another year of the global pandemic, the year 2021 remained a year which saw many challenges and restrictions for service-learning and civic engagement projects and programmes. Many Service-Learning (SL) and Civic Engagement (CE) programmes and projects were hampered by the restrictions laid down by the national government and by the institutional rules and regulations. Where possible, alternative forms of communication were devised to ensure that engagement with students, communities and service partners was maintained. External project partners were also experiencing the impact of Covid-19, leading to a suspension and reduction of some projects. However, SLCE, together with students, staff and external partners continued to engage on multiple platforms to conceptualise and creatively design and implement projects.

The Service-Learning Unit continues to promote multiple approaches for the realisation of community engagement projects that can attain the learning outcomes of students during the pandemic and

subsequent restrictions. The new theoretical and conceptual position: Extreme E-Service Learning (XE-SL) may not be ideal for all academic disciplines, but certainly provides lecturers/SL Conveners with a theoretical framework for their SL practice. Readings on Extreme E-Service Learning have been made available on MS Teams and were circulated for discussion. SL Conveners are provided with an option to decide whether this form of servicelearning is appropriate for their disciplinary context. A definition of the three forms of service-learning was shared.

There was general consensus that the university should pursue a blended approach for SLCE rather than Extreme-E-Service Learning. Staff acknowledged that many project activities could shift to online engagement.

The SLCE Unit responded to requests in 2020 to provide support to faculties and departments to explore alternatives to work placements in the form of project-based learning in communities. In fact,

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

“PJBL is a strategy that recognises both students’ inherent drive to learn and capacity to do useful work” (Turner, Keegan & Crawford, 2000). Through presentations and meetings with lecturers, industry and community partners, projects with a communitybased focus were developed so that students could achieve the learning outcomes as prescribed by their respective academic programmes. It was important that “Successful strategies in the design and implementation of effective WIL curricula ensure that students focus on the integration of theoretical knowledge and practice in ways that allow them to connect university or disciplinary learning with workplace application” (CHE WIL Good Practice Guide, Winberg; Garraway & Engel-Hills, 2011). These project pilots were further expanded in 2021.

Service-Learning Projects

Despite the challenges of Covid-19, lecturers across all six faculties submitted SL project applications for implementation.

i. Agricultural Heritage Project at Language Museum Paarl, Applied Science

Dr Anton Nel, a Senior Lecturer: Oenology and Crop Protection based at the Agriculture Hub on the Wellington campus initiated this agricultural project in 2021. As a result, the Department of Agriculture applied to register this concept as a service-learning initiative. Fortunately, the project activities take place outdoors and therefore did not have the same

stringent restrictions to which many other SL projects were subjected. The project is run at the Language Museum in Paarl. They have a 40+-year-old vineyard at the back of the museum and this vineyard is used to give Oenology and Viticulture students experience in managing a vineyard.

• During the winter, they had to prune the vines.

• During the spring, they had to spray the vineyards with a non-lethal chemical spray every second week. Students learned how to mix the chemicals and how to use the backpack sprayers.

• In early spring, students had to learn how to do leaf management techniques, so suckering was one of the practices they had to carry out.

The project is continuous, as every winter involves pruning and the whole cycle will repeat itself.

Students shown how to prune old vines

Two students preparing to spray

Female students busy pruning

Students spraying vines mid-Spring

ACHIEVEMENTS

ii. Service-Learning in the Faculty of Education

The projects in the Faculty of Education (Wellington campus) were adapted to the online environment in 2021. Staff and students were not allowed to visit our previous sites (Hawequa Correctional Services and Andrew Murray Children’s Home). All projects were changed to online engagement, or engagement in their own contexts and locations, as students were not on campus.

English students (FEN 361 and FEN 362) chose their own individual projects to be implemented in their own environment. Most students opted to tutor learners in their neighbourhood in English proficiency. Students submitted proof of their engagement as part of their final subject portfolios. Their reflections indicate the value of the projects and how they experienced it as a learning opportunity.

The Faculty of Education staff met in November 2021 with the Drakenstein Correctional Facility and the Service-Learning Unit to discuss the development of a formal agreement. The intention was to bring our students to their facility on a regular basis. Third year students will assist with Maths, English, Art and Human Movement (sport days). This is a new partnership for Service-Learning and will yield many learning opportunities for Service-Learning projects.

The faculty has also arranged to continue with their project at the Andrew Murray Children’s home when the students return to campus again. Meanwhile, since 2021, lecturers have arranged that students

work on a tutoring project to tutor learners online in India. Attached are screenshots from students’ online portfolios.

iii. Aquaponics Project

The aquaponics transdisciplinary project was started by Mr Walter Kohlhofer, Mechanical Engineering lecturer and CE and WIL Faculty Coordinator as a service-learning project in collaboration with the Tehillah Community Centre in Matroosfontein. Due to security issues at the community site, it was decided to move the unit back to campus to ensure control and correct maintenance. It has been challenging for staff, students and partners to continue with the project

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

during the lockdown period. However, with the assistance of the Service-Learning Unit and the CE and WIL Faculty Coordinator of the Faculty of Applied Science, Mr Andrew Rand, community training workshops continued under strict Covid-19 protocols by applying for Health Cluster approval and by adhering to strict health and safety protocols. Student groups started in 2020 and 2021 setting up an aquaponics unit to assist in the growing of fresh produce and a second group of students was assigned to design the rainwater harvesting at the site. This project will expand in 2022 to include full solar power for the pumping unit and water heating. Horticultural Technology students, under the guidance of Dr Felix Nchu and Food Technology students, will ensure that the plant and livestock are correctly sourced and maintained. The lecturer from the Food Technology department, who is leading the transdisciplinary project team is Dr Sune Botha, who has been instrumental in maintaining contact with the community. Training of the West Coast communities, students and staff will be conducted in 2022.

to many industries limiting access on site (including students). Many companies could not afford to employ students, as workers were being retrenched and some businesses even had to close their doors.

In the face of these challenges, a team was formed by the SLCE Units to combine their energies, expertise, and resources to ensure that students achieve their WIL outcomes, which became a reality during the pandemic year 2021. The team, led by Ms Jacqui Scheepers, was comprised of Ms Toni Stringer, former acting assistant Dean of the faculty, Mr Walter Kohlhofer, Ambrence Fisher, Patricia Overmeyer and the industry partners, led by Mr Faldi Samaai from Nadeson Consulting.

iv. Project Based Learning (Community Engagement and WIL) in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

This Project Based Learning (PBL) project, housed in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, initially started off as a community engagement project, but evolved into providing alternatives for WIL students who could not be placed in industry. The economic situation exacerbated by the pandemic led

With funding received from the Department of Higher Education, industry mentors were appointed to oversee real projects in industry. These projects were: Balvenie School Library, District 6 Memorial Garden, Eden Road Green Building, Turfhall Urban Park, and Athlone Stadium Netball Venue. The mentors provided online workshops on health and safety (H&S) and professionalism in the workplace. It was vitally important that the students doing PJBL did not miss any fundamentals which the WPBL students would usually get exposure to during their orientation and their training period. Topics covered for H&S included The Health and Safety Act, Construction Standards, and risk assessments. These sessions were offered over four weeks in August/September 2021. Topics for the Professionalism workshops included Contracts, Code of Conduct, KPIs and KPAs and Company

A view of the current setup on in the Department of Horticultural technology, Bellville

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

policies. These sessions were offered over four weeks in August 2021.

The students were assigned to various groups under the guidance of qualified engineers and project managers at Nadeson Consulting and E2C Consulting. These projects ran from August to December 2021. Eleven Civil Engineering (CE) and forty-four CM&QS students were placed in project groups and assigned to five projects under the guidance of Nadeson Consulting Engineers. These projects ranged from a school library and sport facilities to a green multistorey building. The project was also linked to the Student Leadership Academy, where one Architectural Technology student was brought on board to provide additional support to the team.

Three CE and 25 CM&QS students completed WIL on these projects in December 2021. 20 CE and 30 CM&QS students were placed under the guidance of E2C Consulting Engineers on two projects, viz:

1. Multi-storey house construction, and 2. WCED school maintenance.

Initially, these groups were multidisciplinary, but later they were split into a CE group which focused on structural design of the houses and a CM&QS group which focused on the project management, quantity surveying, and maintenance aspects of the schools project. Six CE and 19 CM&QS students completed WIL on these projects in December 2021.

The projects the students were involved in varied widely and were a good reflection of the types of projects students would do if placed on WPBL. Industry mentors played an important part in assisting students to achieve the outcomes of WIL. Various site visits were included in the programmes for both Nadeson and E2C students. The use of online sessions, as well as a WhatsApp group, helped the mentors and co-op co-ordinators guide the students during the project as face-to-face meetings had to be limited due to Covid restrictions. The projects were all successfully completed.

The transdisciplinary school library project in Elsies River is led by the Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying (CM&QS) and is primarily a Service-Learning project which involves the sustainable construction of a library at the Balvenie School in Elsie’s River. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, there has been limited access to the school and limited availability of students, which has resulted in the delays.

The project is a joint venture between CM&QS, outside contractors and CPUT students. The construction of the building is being carried out using alternative building techniques (wooden frames and sandbags) to show how materials in the environment can be used for construction.

The construction method used does not require heavy machinery and unskilled labour can be used. Students were present during various stages of the construction process thus far.

Besides creating Service-Learning and Civic Engagement opportunities, the community site has given WIL students an opportunity to achieve their learning outcomes through project-based learning. Engagement with students and partners was achieved by following a blended approach, for example MS Teams, project WhatsApp groups, and other communication platforms. Students were also provided with an opportunity to visit the sites. An alumnus who qualified in architectural technology at CPUT was the project coordinator for the student team.

One of the project partners, Nadeson Construction, assisted by drawing up a Bill of Quantities (BOQ) which will be processed in 2022. The company has also raised R6000 via a crowdfunding initiative started by the students to purchase a computer and audio-visual equipment. In addition, they have started collecting library books and many other organisations are willing to donate books to the library. The Service-Learning Unit ensures that communication with all partners and lecturers is maintained. Mr Desmond Jackson is currently the project coordinator and will be taking the project forward to completion in 2022 with the department of CM7QS.

The project for 2021 culminated in a reflection session where student project teams presented their projects to staff, industry, and their peers. Below are pictures of the session in the IT Centre, Bellville campus.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Service-Lear ning in Diagnostic Radiography

This report provides an overview of the service-learning community projects carried out during the academic year of 2021 by the students of the Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences Department, Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences. The department incorporated a ServiceLearning component in the subjects: Radiographic Management 3 [D], Ultrasound Management 3 [DU], Nuclear Medicine Management 3 and Patient Care and Management 3 [RT].

The service-learning community projects were grounded on the theory of Module 2: Planning. The students were divided into eight groups by the subject lecturer. Each group consisted of approximately ten students, with representation from all four of the undergraduate academic programmes offered by the department. The groups were tasked to identify a community and to assist the community by conducting “empowering/uplifting/ upskilling” activities. In the end, the groups had to submit a detailed, written group assignment and a narrated PowerPoint presentation based on their respective projects, from start to finish, and how they incorporated the theory of Module 2: Planning into their projects. In addition, each group member also had to submit an individual reflective report based on their own, unique experiences throughout their respective projects, by using the Gibbs Reflective Cycle guidelines provided to them. The following information presents a summarised version of the Service-Learning Community Projects conducted by the students.

GROUP 1

Project title Gracious Givers

Goal

The goal of Group 1 was to assist the Durbanville Children’s Home by providing them with grocery items and teaching the children the correct hand-washing techniques as per the World Health Organisation, in an interactive, fun, and rewarding way. The group spent a whole day with the community, where they also played educational and problem-solving games with the children. This was performed to teach the children critical thinking skills and also to uplift their general spirit, especially critical during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Community partner Durbanville Children’s Home

Mr Gerhardus George Visser Koch, Service-Learning Convener and Lecturer: Diagnostic Radiography, Department of Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences

GROUP 2

Project titleFrom Vision to Mission

Community partner Vision Child and Youth Care Centre

Goal The goal of Group 2 was to assist with the needs of the Vision Child and Youth Care Centre by providing information about radiography disciplines, healthy eating, student bursaries and providing non-perishable items for the centre. Group 2 also volunteered to work at the charity shops under management of the Vision Child and Youth Care Centre.

GROUP 3

Project titleThey Are Because We Give

Community partner Ubuntu House

Service provider Z&A Photos

Goal The overall goal of Group 3 was to raise funds to assist the needs of the Ubuntu House by providing them with a hamper containing Purity Everyday Bum Spray and Zinplex syrup (these needs were identified by the Ubuntu House). It was also suggested that Ubuntu House should be aware of how to use social media properly and effectively, as they are not a well-known children’s home. What better use of their time than to teach the Ubuntu House how to use social media to their advantage? Their social media page was outdated and needed an attraction factor; thus, the Ubuntu House Video Plan was drafted. The aim of the video was to update their social media page and allow individuals over social media to take a few seconds of their time to watch a video of the overall organisation. Group 3 also created a presentation to teach the owners of the Ubuntu House the importance of social media and how to start an Instagram account.

GROUP 4

Project titleHanding Out Hope with Love

Community partner Hands of Love

Goal

The goal of Group 4 was to assist Hands of Luv with the needs they had, and which included sanitary and essential products such as non-perishable food items. Each member in the community received a carepackage consisting of the latter. Group 4 also had interactive discussion sessions with the community on topics related to: 1) the importance of education, 2) the programmes offered by the Medical Imaging and Therapeutic Sciences Department and 3) teenage pregnancy.

GROUP 5

Project titleHelping Hands

Community partner Holy Cross Youth and Child Care Centre

Goal

The goal of Group 5 was to address the needs of the Holy Cross Youth and Child Care Centre by supplying them with non-perishable food items, toiletries, and toys. Furthermore, Group 5 empowered the community by helping them start a vegetable garden. Group 5 educated the community on how to maintain their garden.

GROUP 6

Project titleMake a Difference

Community partner The Haven Night Shelter

Service providerBergman, Ross and Partners Radiologists

Goal The primary goal of Group 6 was to choose a community whereby they were able to contribute not only by donating materials, but also by sharing the medical/radiographic knowledge that they have acquired throughout their formal studies. Food, toiletries, clothes, and blankets were amongst the items that Group 6 donated. Group 6 partnered up with a qualified mammographer from Bergman, Ross & Partners to give a presentation regarding all the important information about breast cancer, followed by a Q&A session in which the group also had an opportunity to interact with the residents of the shelter on a more personal level. Group 6 also donated pens, scarves and pamphlets about breast cancer and self-breast-exams for each resident to keep for future reference.

GROUP 7

Project titleHelpers on Hand

Community partner Zanokhanyo Children’s Safety Home

Goal The goal of Group 7 was to provide the community with food and household items, such as toilet paper, sanitary pads, school stationary, clothing, basic first aid kits, surgical masks, and hand sanitizers. This non-governmental organisation was founded in 2005, however, tragedy struck in October 2007 when their house caught fire and four of the children lost their lives. The Zanokhanyo Children’s Safety Home lost everything

GROUP 7

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

and had to start all over again with the little that they get from the community. The community’s story really touched the hearts of all the members in Group 7, and although the donations were much appreciated by the community, Group 7 felt that the children needed more. Due to their home having burned down previously, Group 7 wanted to empower the members of this community by creating more awareness regarding fires, and should they ever be faced with another fire, how to handle it. Poster were created by the members in Group 7, and they had an interactive discussion session with the children. In addition, Group 7 also created posters on the safety precautions and measures associated with the current coronavirus pandemic.

GROUP 8

Project titleGAPA Community Project

Goal

The goal of Group 8 was to provide the much-needed items by the community such as resources for their handicrafts, organic crops for their garden, clothing, hand sanitizers, life- and healthy living skills. Group 8 further empowered their community by explaining how to do a self-breast-exam and by educating them on cervical and prostate cancer.

Community partner GAPA – Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS

ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The lecturer reflects: I started working as a fulltime lecturer in January 2021. Service-Learning for me, was a brandnew concept of which I had little knowledge and experience. Together with my students, we were able to successfully execute multiple projects. The impact of our projects also landed us a faculty award. As the facilitator, I was able to witness, first-hand, the students’ interactions with the community partners and service providers. The students were able to apply their newly acquired knowledge by completing real-life projects and by doing so, I believe many of them came to the realisation of the important role and impact they have as future healthcare professionals, within our community at large. This was evident in their written group assignments, their oral group presentations and their individual reflective reports.

The academic year of 2021 posed several challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic and especially so, to the students who carried out the above projects. The students, however, managed to implement and complete all their projects successfully met the required, and stipulated outcomes. Regular progress meetings were scheduled to discuss the progress of the projects throughout the year, by using the student-centred, flipped classroom teaching and learning approach.

GROUP 1 STUDENT REFLECTION: to visit the Durbanville Children’s Home as part of our community project. Upon arrival, we were greeted with loads of respect and hospitality. When we started our programme, the kids were so eager to learn and have fun with us. As the day progressed, we let the kids play loads of games and taught them a valuable lesson in one of our games. When all our games were finished, we as a group gave a small gift to each child just to thank them for having us and spending the day with us.

The children’s home at the end of the day expressed how thankful they were for our visit. They were also very happy and overwhelmed with all the donations that we as group gave to them. They were also grateful that we interacted with each child by playing games with them and giving the caretakers a much-needed break for a while, though the caretakers were also very eager to see what games we were playing. They also thought that we educated the children well with the handwashing technique in a very fun way so the children would remember it in future. Overall, the community was very impressed with us and expressed that we are more than welcome to come and assist them any day.

GROUP 2 – REFLECTION BY COMMUNITY PARTNER

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT

GROUP 6 - REFLECTION BY COMMUNITY PARTNER

Tracy – Lee Manuel (Host on duty)

Dear students of CPUT, as a host of the Haven Night Shelter in Belville, I would like to thank you guys for the wonderful work that you have done. I know that this was an assignment project, however, I am sure that in the end it became much more than a project to you young men and women. From what I saw from the two days you guys came to spend with us, much was learned on your part as to what really takes place in the shelter. Not only did you brighten up the hearts of our clients with your beautiful gifts of food, clothing, and toiletries, but also you took time to sit with and interact with them. Individually as well as in a group, you spoke with them and showed interest in them as people which really warmed my heart. Quite often people have a stigma added to the word “shelter” and do not realise that we are all human beings first. You treated our clients with the utmost respect as you spent time getting to know them and speaking about their experiences as recovering addicts. Thank you for the love and fellowship, we look forward to seeing you again in the future.

Regards, Tracey-Lee Manuel

Geraldine Holley (Client of the Shelter)

Dear students, it was a very nice experience to know that young people like you guys can think about us. Thank you for making time for us and giving us what you did. Not only the gifts, but the love, care, and time that you made for us. You guys were great, you taught us a lot of things that we didn’t know. Stay the way you are, stay away from drugs.

Love, Geraldine

Anthony Carter (Client of the Shelter)

Dear students, Hi there. Being a recovering addict is not easy, but for myself I am coping very well because I really need to get myself back on track so that I can be the best husband a woman could ask for and the best father to my son. I want to say thank you very much for coming to spend time with us and to share your knowledge about cancer that you guys learnt over the months or years, it was very interesting. Thank you very much for the donations that you people brought, I really appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. There is not a lot of people like you students that have the heart for the less fortunate. But I just want to say, once again, thank you very, very much for everything and I hope to see you guys again. Please keep me in your prayers. Thank you, love you guys!

Soraya Lakay (Client of the Shelter)

This letter is for the sweet, caring, and loving students who came to visit us at the Safe Haven Night Shelter. We would just like to thank you guys once again for everything. We also hope you guys enjoyed spending time there and remember to stay away from drugs or to be there for someone you guys that know that’s using, to be there as a friend. We also learnt a lot of breast cancer. The men actually learnt something; most of them didn’t know that men do get breast cancer also. We all were so grateful for the food, gifts and especially the time you guys have spent here with us at the shelter.

We have worked well with the CPUT students who have now completed their project with the GAPA community. It has been an honour to work

During their visits they helped in the garden and shared some information the grandmothers of GAPA needed. The grandmothers in GAPA now know how to examine their breasts in order to check for any unusual signs of possible breast cancer. It is indeed very important for the grandmothers to detect such changes early on. These students donated a lot which includes fabric, plants, seeds, wool, sanitizers, and masks. They did not just help the grandmothers, but also their families, as the food from the garden will also feed their families.

We are very thankful for these students and CPUT for allowing such programmes in our communities (Occupational therapist at GAPA)

, Lecturer & Work-Integrated Learning Coordinator, Faculty

ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The administrative staff at Lentegeur Hospital approached Ms Jacqui Scheepers, Manager of the Service-Learning (SL) Unit at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in 2008, expressing the need for the implementation of patient recreational programmes at the hospital that would raise the self-esteem and wellbeing of its patients. The SL Unit requested that CPUT’s Somatology Department conceptualise a project in conjunction with the hospital and in doing so establishing a partnership between CPUT and the hospital. The initial project was implemented exclusively among the hospital’s pre-discharge (PD) female patients. These patients are on the cusp of being discharged into the care of family, and the project assisted them to prepare them for their reintroduction into society. Since then, the need has grown, and in 2019, a request was made to extend the project to two extra wards. Key to the project is the incorporation of CPUT students who are currently completing their third year of the National Diploma in Somatology. These students are required to engage on a one-on-one basis with the pre-discharge patients at Lentegeur Psychiatric Hospital. Due to the pandemic in 2020 and lockdown regulations, the project was amended and commenced again in 2021, following strict Covid-19 protocols that were put in place by both the university and the hospital.

CPUT, in collaboration with the project partner, has addressed the need for reintegrating the patients from the hospital who have been admitted to the facility as a result of either mental or emotional abuse. The Somatology Department and the ServiceLearning Unit, in its partnership with the hospital, aims to host a range of therapeutic (recreational),

self-care activities for these patients to re-establish and reaffirm their identify and value in society, but also in an attempt to empower these women with an opportunity to be self-sufficient, active members of society. Goody-bags are prepared each year. Due to the nature of the project and non-disclosure agreements, no other pictures can be taken where patients are at risk of being identified.

SLCE Project database

i. Second Chance Matric Rewrite Flagship Project

The 2nd Chance Matric Rewrite flagship project, in operation since 2015, provides tuition and support to Matric learners on Saturdays at CPUT, Bellville campus. Learners are provided with an opportunity to rewrite the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination, which takes place from October to November every year. The main aim of the project has evolved over the years to specifically focus on providing learners with an opportunity to improve their marks so that they can qualify for university entry in their chosen programme.

Mr Vuyo Mhlonto is the Project Coordinator and is responsible for project implementation and coordination. He carefully selects learners according to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) criteria from an application pool of hundreds of applicants. Many learners were referred by university staff and student societies, including the Student Representative Council in cases where they did not meet the criteria for acceptance for the programme

Learners writing the NSC examination at the CPUT examination centre

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

of their choice. The classes were opened to those CPUT students who required additional support in the offered subjects. In 2020, 240 learners were accepted into the programme and registered with the Western Cape Education Department (WCED).

The project contributes to job creation by employing qualified and registered SACE teachers to conduct revision on the selected scarce skills subjects: Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, Life Sciences, Accountancy, English First Additional Language and Physical Science. The number of subjects was increased due to the high demand from learners. This project contributes to the science and technology sector as it offers subjects which learners require to be accepted into engineering, education, science and health fields. Registered CPUT students, some who are Second Chance Alumni, volunteer their time to assist Mr Mhlonto with some of the project activities.

Dr Francois Wewers from the Faculty of Applied Science successfully integrated his Chemistry programme into the project, which saw the implementation of the SL component. For the first time, Chemistry students were trained as tutors by the Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development. Students then provided additional tutorials and academic support for the learners in Mathematics and Physical Science. This project is also part of an ongoing research project on the implementation of graduate attributes in the Chemistry programme.

ii. VC’s Prestigious STEM School Project

In 2021, the Manager of SLCE, Ms Jacqui Scheepers, was invited to participate in a think tank focused on developing the VC’s Prestigious STEM school project. She was nominated to lead a task team to develop a STEM strategy for the university. The SLCE Units will work collaboratively with faculties and support units across the university to conceptualise a strategic platform for all the community engagement initiatives related to the development of STEM in schools. Many CE projects and programmes are already in existence and the strategy and framework will provide direction for the institution.

iii. Civic Engagement Student Leadership Academy

The Civic Engagement Unit supports student societies, individual students and staff with their extramural community engagement projects and activities. In 2021, the Student Success: Student Leadership and Development Programme was launched by SLCE Manager, Jacqui Scheepers and Director; Transformation, Nonkosi Tyolwana. This is a three-year programme funded by the University Capacity Development Grant (DHET). Historically, student preparation for SLCE was reliant on the lecturer and the SL Unit staff. In the classroom, the student preparation was centred mostly on the theoretical and disciplinary components and not necessarily on adequate preparation for engagement with communities. No formal module or programme

existed to address the preparation of students. As part of the UCDG project, the Learning for Life through Community Engagement Student Academy is an initiative managed by the SLCE Units which started in 2021.

The purpose of the academy is to develop a student capacity-building programme to further the leadership skills of students in preparation for community engagement. Students are afforded the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary community engagement project teams and to realise the achievement of Graduate Attributes. The academy seeks to promote the positive youth development approach by “making young individuals stronger and more resourceful, as reflected in their behaviour and mindset” (UN, 2016:18). The interrelationship between student leadership, community engagement and Vision 2030 is epitomised as follows:

A series of institutional and national workshops were held with university staff, students and partners in the process of developing the leadership academy which was implemented in 2021.

Conclusion

Despite the numerous challenges in 2021, staff and students persevered, conceptualised and implemented projects. Staff were encouraged to develop a more scholarly approach to their SLCE practices. The project spreadsheet indicates the spread of projects across departments, faculties and the broader institutions. Going forward, the SLCE units will continue to build a community of practice to support engaged teaching and research in the journey towards strengthening the scholarship of engagement at the university. We further aim to re-imagine our SLCE programmes going forward for the university and to generate new and innovative ways of implementing transdisciplinary SLCE in this ‘new normal’ through staff and student capacity building, development of engaged research, and the strengthening of SLCE university partnerships.

Student leaders engaging with school learners in project teams

Academy on Student Leadership: student conference and certification ceremony

Dr Faiq Waghid, Centre for Innovative Technology, presents at the materials development workshops

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

3.5 CPUT LIBRARIES

Introduction

The ongoing pandemic continued to disrupt library services, with libraries opening at various times during the year, some spaces being closed and the borrowing of materials restricted. The library used this period to improve its online services, strengthening both collections and engagement with stakeholders.

• updating online content for the Information Literacy course;

• making available an Information Literacy course in Afrikaans and Xhosa;

• preparing for the opening of a new library at Newlands;

• developing a new Creative Design Idea Space at District 6 library;

• increasing usage of digital resources, especially electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs);

• purchasing course materials (prescribed books, recommended reading and niche titles); and

• providing an opportunity for three Work-Integrated Learning students from the Department of Mathematics and Physics to develop dashboards for the library’s statistics database.

This report focuses on library activities centred around supporting teaching and learning, including the provision of centred client services, the provision of information services, and access to online library services and physical spaces.

Client-centred services

Positioning the library in the learning process of students

Library staff continue to provide information literacy training in collaboration with faculties and departments. In 2021, library staff conducted training online, using mainly the Blackboard platform. With the online training, fewer training interventions were conducted than in 2020, but more students (22 668 in total and 9 348 distinct) attended training.

Figure 1 indicates the number of training session and number of students trained per faculty.

Prof Elisha Chiwari Director CPUT Libraries

AND

ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Figure 1: Training overview

• The equivalent of 792 periods were spent by library staff training students and staff; and

• 66% of all training interventions were either for ECP (Extended Curriculum Programme) or first-year students.

In 2021, librarians provided training for a wide selection of CPUT staff and students, with a total of 52 staff and 1 802 distinct students studying BTech or higher receiving training.

The Information literacy content in the form of eBooks, infographics and videos was also linked to Myclassroom for self-study purposes.

The Information Literacy course was translated into Afrikaans and Xhosa and a short survey of students at Wellington using the translated courses indicated that 87% of the Afrikaans respondents and 80% of the Xhosa respondents felt that the translated resources were easy to follow.

Supporting Work-Integrated Learning Programmes

The library provided an opportunity for three students from the Department of Mathematics and Physics in the Faculty of Applied Sciences to work on a data visualisation project using Microsoft Power BI. The aim of the project was to create a visualisation of reports from the CPUT statistics database that could be accessible via a website. The students each presented a paper and developed dashboards using data drawn from the statistics database.

Connecting users with information resources

Provision of Information Resources to Support Teaching and Learning Activities

At CPUT Libraries, resources can be divided into four broad collections (see Figure 4).

During 2021, librarians actively used the course reading lists for each subject to check for and purchase prescribed and recommended reading titles, as well as titles for niche area subjects. Where possible, electronic copies of titles were purchased. The physical collection was increased by 991 purchased books, six purchased audio-visual items and 790 donations. By the end of 2021, 1 793 ordered items had not been received.

The library purchased 10 e-book packages containing 4 145 titles, as well as individual e-book titles. In total, 4 624 new e-books (including high turn-away titles) were purchased. Five new databases and two new journal title subscriptions were added to the collection.

The Library Management Committee recommended that all existing databases and journals be renewed for 2022 and motivated for the purchase of the Nursing Reference Centre Plus, Jove (Biological Sciences bundle and Chemistry & Environment bundle, as well as two bonus bundles) and the Sage Research Methods Videos (two options: SRM Videos and SRM Videos: Practical Research and Academic Skills) which had been trialled during 2021, as from January 2022.

Providing additional information resources through Open Access

Access to the Central Knowledge base via PRIMO has allowed the library to activate a number of open access and free titles.

Free and purchased e-resources 2021

Graph 2:

TEACHING

Excluding Project Gutenberg with 55 719 titles, the largest free e-book collections are DOAB (Directory of Open Access Books, 37 055 titles) and InTech books Free (8 729 titles). The largest collections of free e-journals are DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals, 14 228 titles) followed by Free Medical Journals (3 377 titles).

Ensuring Discoverability of Information Resources

Access to all library resources is provided via PRIMO, the library discovery tool. A search box is available on all library website pages. Further access to digital resources is available via the Research Support page on the library website.

However, due to library closures and the restrictions on borrowing of items due to Covid-19, the usage of printed items was very low, with only 3 195 items being issued and 3 883 items used in-house, though the usage of online materials continued to rise. Figure

Information Enquiry Services

A key component of the library service is assisting staff and students in finding and using information sources. With the closure of libraries in 2020, this assistance went online, with the Ask Us service enabling users to chat with library staff. Further services were provided through emails, telephone calls and in some cases face-to-face.

Even with the library being closed for extended periods in 2020 and 2021, library staff managed to assist with information queries. Over 1766 queries were successfully attended to by the librarians during the year under review. Table 1 indicates the number of queries per month, while Figure 7 indicates the trends from January to December 2021.

Table 1: information queries through LibChat service

Figure 7: Information queries via library chat service

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Provision of creative and collaborative spaces

As was the case in 2020, many of the CPUT Libraries were closed for prolonged periods during the year. When open, access to various spaces within the libraries was restricted, with some areas, such as the learning commons areas, closed. During 2021, CPUT libraries prepared for the opening of a new library for the Department of Sport Management in the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences at the Newlands Cricket grounds. The library at Media City supporting the Departments of Architecture and Town and Regional Planning in the Faculty of Informatics and Design was temporarily moved to the District 6 campus. Within the District 6 library, a space was identified for the development of a Creative Idea Development Space and equipment was purchased for the furnishing of the area.

Conclusion

The library faculty support teams have been innovative and creative in making sure that students and lecturers continued to receive supportive library services while they are studying online. Information resources were ordered, and Open Access material used where possible. The library Ask Us service came at the right time, enabling users to access information through the online environment. The course material project made it possible to make available essential information resources through the Learner Management System. In 2022 and beyond the libraries will further build on the 2021 successes and provide more innovative services in response to the teaching and learning programmes of the university.

3.6 STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND PARTNERSHIPS (SIP) DIRECTORATE

SMART Internationalisation

The overarching framework for SIP in a postpandemic world is the internationalising of higher education through national and transnational research collaborations and exchanges to decolonising Global Higher Education that is framed within Pan-African paradigms to lead across the borders.

SMART Partnerships

Despite a second year of lockdown in 2021, SIP continued to engage and consolidate partnerships both nationally and internationally, mostly using a virtual platform. CPUT’s approach to Smart Partnerships is strongly embedded within the research focus areas and CPUT’s Vision 2030 – One Smart CPUT –which is influenced by the 4th Industrial Revolution, artificial intelligence and developments in technology.

Prof Judy Peter Director SIP

Globally, higher education is currently in the process of reimagining, decolonising, discursive areas of practice to access collaborative opportunities in research, staff and student exchanges and elements of strategic partnerships and initiatives. In the current dynamic and rapidly changing environment, online learning in its multiple modality rollout is embedded in the politics of the haves and have nots, the geopolitics of constructs such as global boundaries and the associated hierarchies of the South and North. The theoretical underpinning of the decolonial and transformation agenda, cultural and economic inequalities should ideally underpin 4IR interventions and hybrid faceto-face and virtual teaching and learning plans in a post-pandemic world. The implementation of virtual pedagogic technologies in higher education (HE) was fast-tracked during this time. Of equal importance to the strategic role of SIP was the need to align its core function with CPUT’s Strategic Plan 2021-2030 (V2030 – One Smart CPUT) and Policy Framework for Internationalisation of Education in South Africa.

Total number of partnerships, national and international

CountryNo

Australia 5 Austria 1 Austria 2 Belgium 13 Botswana 3 Brazil 1 Bulgaria 1 China 14 Czech Republic 1 Czechia 1 Denmark 2 Egypt 1 England 1 Ethiopia 3 Europe 5 Finland 3 France 28 Gabon 3

CountryNo

Georgia 1 Germany 56 Ghana 6 Greece 1 India 1 Italy 3 Kenya 7 Madagascar 1 Malawi 1 Malaysia 1 Mauritius 1 Mexico 1 Mozambique 1 Namibia 3 Netherlands 8 Nigeria 5 Poland 3 Portugal 2

CountryNo

Romania 2 Russia 2 Slovak Republic 1 Slovenia 1 Slovenia 1 Saudi Arabia 2 South Africa 20 Spain 1 Sudan 1 Sweden 3 Switzerland 1 Turkey 2 USA 3 Zambia 1 Zimbabwe 1

Total 225

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Partnership (local and international) agreements concluded In 2021

Name of University

Osnabruck University of Applied Sciences, Germany Memorandum of Understanding

Agricultural Research Council Memorandum of Understanding

Academic Institute of Excellence, Engineering Memorandum of Understanding

Furge University of Applied Sciences, Germany Memorandum of Understanding

FEDERATI Applied Sciences, Engineering Memorandum of Understanding

UP Applied Sciences, Engineering Memorandum of Understanding

Schneider Electrical South Africa, Engineering Memorandum of Understanding

International School of Business and Research (ISBR), India Memorandum of Understanding

JAMK University, Finland Memorandum of Understanding (Renewal)

Hochschule München, Germany Memorandum of Understanding

Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria Memorandum of Understanding

Rotterdam Business School, Netherlands Memorandum of Understanding

Department of Transport and Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying Memorandum of Understanding

Future Ability Erasmus + Project Erasmus agreement

Student Exchange Agreement with Hasselt University, Germany Memorandum of Understanding

Halmstad University in the discipline of Electrical Engineering, Germany Memorandum of Understanding

Chandigarh University, India Memorandum of Understanding

The South African Weather Services (SAWS) Memorandum of Understanding Saldana Bay Memorandum of Understanding

Name of University

UCT Vacation Training Agreement, Engineering Memorandum of Understanding

NDA Hasselt University, Germany Proposal agreement

Partnership on Historical Women’s Hub Memorandum of Understanding

Drakenstein Municipality Agreement Memorandum of Understanding

FEDERATI Sponsorship Memorandum of Understanding

Stats Information Technology (SITA) Agreement Memorandum of Understanding

South African Institute of ExcellenceEngineering Memorandum of Understanding

Cape Nature Memorandum of Understanding

The Water Institute Alliance (WIA) Memorandum of Understanding

Internationalisation Events and Forums

Despite internationalisation activities and physical mobility halting in 2021, the SIP Office continued to support the faculties and departments in carrying out their internationalisation activities with respect to teaching and learning in several ways.

Innovation for African Universities (IAU) Virtual Programme 2021

The first consortium partner workshop in the framework of the British Council Innovation for African Universities (IAU) programme took place on 29 October 2021, entitled “Sustainable Inclusive Industry-linked Business Innovation and Incubation”. It was led by Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) whose delegates propounded on the relevant structures at their institution and the local

TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

ecosystem and practical case studies. Discussions focused on how MMU could support activities at CPUT and what needs and priorities are to be elaborated on in the second phase of the programme (2022).

The second, CPUT-led workshop took place on 5 November 2021 on the topic of “How to create a new pedagogy in entrepreneurship development?” It was attended by the partner consortium and coorganised with SNAKE NATION as the local ecosystem partner.

A workshop hosted by the British Council on the 17 November 2021 entitled “Effective dissemination, showcasing and influencing for external stakeholders”.

A Workshop hosted by the British Council on the 24 November 2021, entitled “Influencing for internal stakeholders”.

The IAU Workshop CPUT and Manchester Metropolitan University Workshop took place 10 December 2021, 10:00-15:00, entitled “Sustainable Inclusive Blended Industry-Linked Enterprise Education”. This workshop focused on the stakeholder sustainability of inclusive industry-linked enterprise education and technopreneurship practice (respecting the inputs from the past IAU and our consortium’s workshops).

Internationalisation Events

The Yebo! Project Final Conference Hosted in April 2021

In April 2021, CPUT hosted the final Yebo Conference. Yebo! means ‘Yes!’ in Zulu and is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building project co-ordinated by the University of Montpellier in France. This project was launched in December 2017. The main purpose of the Yebo! project was to foster and develop the internationalisation of doctoral studies in SA. The project addressed internationalisation needs by promoting doctoral studies, to give better access to necessary information and train supervisors. The expertise brought by EU partners with the internationalisation of their doctoral studies, combined with the experience from the three non-university partners, provided valuable input to SA universities to accomplish these goals. Since its inception, the project has evaluated the partners’ internationalisation rates, created a PhD portal and organised several training sessions for PhD candidates and the staff service departments who support them. Engagement with postgraduate students has highlighted a need for funding for research projects, conference attendance and mobility, and so the Yebo! Project provided a funding tool named Research Connect for all PhDs in partner universities. The final Yebo conference will highlight what the project has achieved, under the theme “Supervision and Internationalisation of the PhD in and after the Covid-19 era”.

Conferences

• Abstract entitled “Equity-Sensitive Strategies of Higher Education in South Africa: Post-Pandemic Internationalisation@Home” was submitted to the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) annual conference and exhibition in Vancouver, Canada, (hybrid) was accepted.

• Dr Leonie Schoelen, postdoctoral fellow at the Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships, upon invitation by Dr Anja Hallacker, DAAD South Africa Information Office Director at Wits University, presented on her experience of North-South mobility in the framework of the 10th DAAD South Africa conference on 30th October 2021.

• Abstract on “A mapping of South African University of Technology’s Internationalisation strategies: A comparative study of national policy framework alignment” to the Annual Comparative International Education Society (CIES) conference in Minneapolis, USA (hybrid) in April 2022 was submitted 27 October 2021.

• The Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships Directorate successfully applied for and received a grant application (USD 5000) from the Association of International Education Administrators to host a Forum on internationalisation@home) in post pandemic times. The Forum will be held as a hybrid event in March 2022. It is noteworthy to record that this is the first national event of the AIEA on the continent.

University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP)

CPUT, together with Wits University (lead partner), University of Limpopo, Stellenbosch University, UWC and Loughborough University (LU) (UK technical partner) responded to the call for application for Phase 2 of UCDP. This focuses on collaboration between SA and UK universities in support of doctoral training for university academic staff. This unique six-university consortium will foster the development of a cohort of 10 interdisciplinary next-generation researchers to obtain doctoral degrees.

South Africa-Sweden University Forum (SASUF)

SASUF is a strategic internationalisation project running from 2017 to 2020 with an aim of strengthening partnerships in research, education, and innovation between 37 universities in SA and Sweden. This collaboration includes embassies, civil society organisations, funding agencies and ministries in both countries. SASUF has a budget of 22,000,000 SEK and is funded by the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT), the participating universities, and NRF and DHET in SA. From 2017, CPUT’s participation in SASUF has resulted in its researchers engaging with research from other partner universities, hosting and participating in seminars, benefiting in funding for research projects, and student and staff mobility.

A proposal for SASUF 2030 has been awarded funding from STINT (The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education). The second iteration of SASUF will start towards the end of 2021 or early 2022, with the first research and innovation week tentatively scheduled for September 2022. Ongoing collaboration projects from the first SASUF project will continue.

CPUT SASUF projects leaders

CPUT has been fortunate to have the leadership of four seasoned academics who led SASUF funded collaborative projects with Swedish partners, namely:

• Prof Ephias Ruhode – Digital Technologies, Big Data and Cybersecurity

• Prof Khan – Energy - Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

• Prof Penelope Engel-Hills – Professional Education – Faculty of Education

• Dr Diane Bell – Health – Faculty of Business and Management Sciences

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Project

In 2021, the SIP Office launched the initiation of a COIL Committee to engage with issues in respect of enhancing the internationalisation of the curriculum and the internationalisation at home paradigms of comprehensive internationalisation. COIL is a pedagogy and way of building collaboration among academics and students around the world. The design, development and implementation of a COIL project is an example of internationalisation of the curriculum and internationalisation at home in action. COIL embodies applied and authentic learning in groups of students.

COIL projects are designed and developed through collaboration between academic (professors/faculty) partners in two or more different education institutions and geo-physical locations around the world. The project is jointly implemented by the academic partners, with their groups of students interacting and collaborating (ACU, 2021). Draft COIL terms of reference were circulated to the COIL Committee from the Faculty of Education, as the first COIL project initiators.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

4.1

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Language Unit and Language Working Group

Mother Language Day

The right and, in some cases around the world, the privilege of “doing life” in the language one learnt from birth is celebrated internationally every year. The Language Unit and Language Working Group joined the 2021 virtual celebration by reflecting on our organisation’s purpose and individual love of language. Pictured here is a mock-up of the blog post in which we share our reflections.

We Are Raising Giants

Postgraduate students became the focus of our language efforts around the same time that CPUT’s Autumn graduation ceremonies were held. We celebrated these students’ academic accolades in light of having to achieve them in a language few would consider their mother language. With our social media campaign entitled We Are Raising Giants, we wanted to express our pride in these students and acknowledge their enormous potential.

Students from all six faculties of disciplines were invited to explain their research in three-minute videos, which were published on YouTube and shared via the institution’s Twitter and Facebook pages. What made these videos special was the fact that students recorded themselves explaining their work in English as well as their home languages. In adjacent blog posts, published on the Language Unit’s blog, they also reflected on their academic journeys and shared study tips to help future CPUT giants.

The MLD post on the Language Unit blog The MLD post on the Language Unit

Language Indaba

INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING AND

IMPERATIVES

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

The annual Language Indaba saw its second iteration in virtual format on 28 October 2021. The event, hosted by the Language Unit and the Language Working Group, aims to galvanise academics to actively participate in the language development and multilingualism discourse in higher education. This year’s theme, Reimagining the language of trauma: GBV, COVID-19 and

marginalisation, provoked intense debates and visceral reactions from all participants. On the heels of a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections and the increase in cases of gender-based violence, the discussions at this indaba were both topical and incisive.

Students and academics from all disciplines gathered to consider the role language plays in trauma. For many, the links between the causes and healing of trauma were a revelation. Dr Chivaugn Gordon (UCT) shared the many pitfalls she navigates in her gynaecology lectures, making us aware of our interactions with colleagues and students around matters of gender identity and pronoun preferences.

Prof. Rozena Maart (UKZN) illustrated the connection between South Africa’s Apartheid past, our residual trauma and how language has been used to normalise abuse. It was striking to realise how much pain can be hidden in humorous sayings, and how we’ve been socialised to regard them as innocuous.

Invitation to the 2021 Language Indaba

4.2 ACADEMIC PLANNING AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEQSF-ALIGNED QUALIFICATIONS

The purpose of this report is to provide the accreditation of new qualifications that were developed between 2020-2021 in relation to the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF). In total, the university approved 65 new HEQSF-aligned qualifications, which were submitted externally to the DHET for Programme Qualification Mix (PQM) clearance to the Council on Higher Education (CHE) for accreditation and to SAQA for registration. The tables below outline the status of the qualifications per faculty as follows:

• Table A, qualifications that are fully accredited and registered;

• Table B, qualifications that are accredited, but pending SAQA registration;

• Table C, accredited qualifications with priorto-commencement conditions; and

• Table D, qualifications pending CHE accreditation.

Forty-two of 65 qualifications are fully accredited and registered (Table A), while 12 qualifications are pending SAQA registration (Table B). The other six qualifications are accredited with priorto-commencement conditions (Table C). Lastly, five qualifications are still at various stages of the accreditation processes at the CHE (Table D).

Table A: CHE-accredited and SAQA-registered qualifications

FACULTY QUALIFICATION NAME

Applied Sciences (12 quals)

Bachelor of Food Science and Technology Postgraduate Diploma in Marine Science

Postgraduate Diploma in Consumer Science in Food and Nutrition

Advanced Diploma in Landscape Architecture

Master of Marine Sciences

Postgraduate Diploma in Agriculture Postgraduate Diploma in Horticulture Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Management

Doctor of Agriculture

Doctor of Conservation Science

Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Management

Master of Environmental Management

Advanced Diploma in Accountancy Advanced Diploma in Internal Auditing

Business & Management Sciences (14 quals)

Advanced Diploma in Sport and Leisure Management Diploma in Banking

FACULTYQUALIFICATION NAME

FACULTYQUALIFICATION

NAME

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Business & Management Sciences (14 quals)

INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING AND LEARNING IMPERATIVES

Engineering & the Built Environment (6 quals)

Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Taxation

Postgraduate Diploma in Human Resource Management

Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing

Postgraduate Diploma in Business Process Management

Postgraduate Diploma in Entrepreneurship Management

Postgraduate Diploma in Retail Business Management

Postgraduate Diploma in Supply Chain Management

Postgraduate Diploma in Internal Auditing

Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management

Postgraduate Diploma in Sport and Leisure Management

Master of Engineering in Engineering Management

Bachelor of Engineering Technology Honours in Civil Engineering

Bachelor of Engineering Technology Honours in Computer Engineering

Bachelor of Engineering Technology Honours in Electrical Engineering

Postgraduate Diploma in Clothing and Textile Technology

Postgraduate Diploma in Engineering Management

Postgraduate Diploma in Information and Communication Technology

Postgraduate Diploma in Media Leadership and Innovation

Informatics & Design (6 quals)

Postgraduate Diploma in Architectural Technology Postgraduate Diploma in Design

Postgraduate Diploma in Interior Design

Master of Communication and Media

Postgraduate Diploma in Health Services Management Diploma in Dental Technology

Health & Wellness Sciences (4 quals)

Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health Nursing Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Care Nursing

Table B: CHE-accredited qualifications but pending SAQA registration

FACULTY & QUALIFICATION NAME

SAQA Meeting date

Business & Management Sciences (7 quals)

Enrolment targets

Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration21 April 90

Postgraduate Diploma in Business and Information Administration 21 April 40

Postgraduate Diploma in Hospitality, Tourism and Event Management 21 April 40

Postgraduate Diploma in Public Administration21 April 40

Postgraduate Diploma in Management Accounting21 April 75

Master of Business and Management Sciences21 June 25

FACULTY & QUALIFICATION NAME SAQA Meeting date

Enrolment targets

Doctor of Business and Management Sciences21 June 10

Engineering & the Built Environment (3 quals)

Bachelor of Engineering Technology Honours in Chemical Engineering 21 April 37

Postgraduate Diploma in Construction 21 June 35

Postgraduate Diploma in Mechanical Engineering21 June 55 Education

Advanced Diploma in Adult and Community Education and Training Teaching 21 June 40

Informatics & Design

Master of Design 21 June 12

Table C: New qualifications accredited with prior to commencement conditions

QUALIFICATION NAME HEQC REF NO. Status

Bachelor of Business Informatics H/H01/ E150CAN Report submitted to CHE, pending CHE feedback

Postgraduate Diploma in Biotechnology H/H01/ E166CAN Report submitted to CHE, pending CHE feedback

Postgraduate Diploma in Oncology and Palliative Nursing

H/H01/ E184CAN Report submitted to CHE, pending CHE feedback

QUALIFICATION NAME HEQC REF NO. Status

Postgraduate Diploma in Conservation Science

H/H01/ E163CAN Feedback received on 19 April; report will be submitted by 13 May

Diploma in Cost and Management Accounting H/H01/ E189CAN Feedback received on 19 April; report will be submitted by 13 May

Doctor of Business Informatics

H/H01/ E186CAN Report submitted to CHE, pending CHE feedback

Table D: New qualifications pending CHE accreditation

NoQUALIFICATION NAME HEQC REF NO. Status

1.Postgraduate Diploma in Analytical Chemistry 19/05/2021

H/H01/ E146CAN Recommendation Phase

2.Postgraduate Diploma in Nursing Education H/H01/ E183CAN Recommendation Phase

3.Master of Information Technology (a representation was submitted in Dec 2021)

H/H01/ E180CAN Evaluation Phase

4.Diploma in Early Childhood Care and Education H/H01/ E190CAN Evaluation Phase

5.Doctor of Philosophy in Media and Communication H/H01/ E191CAN Evaluation Phase

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

4.3 GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES AND THE DECOLONIAL AGENDA IN 2021

INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING AND LEARNING IMPERATIVES

The Curriculum Development Unit (CDU), part of Fundani CHED, continues to use the development of graduate attributes (GAs) project as a springboard to facilitate the decolonial agenda at CPUT. CPUT GAs were revised to align with CPUT’s V2030 and now view enabling development of ‘Oneness and Smartness’ as an important disposition amongst staff and students.

While Graduate Attributes (Gas) were initially conceptualised to facilitate development of student dispositions, with the advent of V2030 the project has now expanded to facilitate development of these dispositions for the entire CPUT community.

To achieve this goal, CDU works collaboratively with the Centre for Diversity, Inclusivity & Social Change in ensuring that we create an enabling environment for the development of a truly ‘African’ (Oneness) and ‘smart’ university community, as envisaged in V2030. We view the development of African ontology (being) as a counternarrative to the coloniality of being, and our two core attributes were developed to achieve this end.

Relational Agency

CPUT graduates will be firmly rooted in African ontology (or ‘being’) and understand our ‘relationality’ with other cultures and epistemologies. Central to this attribute is to acknowledge our colonial history

and its continuing effects on the lives of the people in the present.

Knowing and Technological Capability and Foresight

This encourages a shift from a monoculture of scientific knowledge to an ecology of knowledges and technological artefacts to facilitate knowledgeas-emancipation.

The two following supporting attributes are key towards the realisation of the core attributes.

Ethical Ability (Personal, Societal and Professional Ethics)

This concerns an orientation to the wellbeing and improvement of society rather than just ensuring the wellbeing and advancement of oneself.

Resilience Ability (Within Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurial Activities)

In professional fields, ethics form a cornerstone against which decisions are made in practice and as such characterise being professional.

Our approach towards achievement of CPUT

attributes – V2030

In 2021, we introduced the CPUT community to ‘ubuntu’ as African philo-praxis for liberation through the Curriculum Officer’s Forum and developed the teaching and learning strategy to enact V2030. Our first step was to organise a seminar series to change ways of thinking, doing and being. Working with the Centre for Diversity, Inclusivity & Social Change we launched two seminar series.

Vice-Chancellor’s Transformation Seminar Series

Our goal: rethinking and repositioning transformation within the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT)’s One Smart Vision 2030 Strategy. The first seminar was a virtual seminar on 01 August 2021 with the keynote address delivered by Prof. Rozena Maart from the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN).

The objectives of the transformation seminar series were as follows:

• to integrate the Transformation Barometer of Higher Education to the CPUT One Smart Vision 2030 Strategy;

• to mainstream transformation in teaching, learning, curriculum, research, innovation and community engagement to enhance a transformative student-centred environment;

• to share lessons, practices and research agendas on transformation-related themes;

• to rethink and redesign education processes to meet the diverse needs of students and staff within the rapidly changing world of technology and social justice; and

• to reshape institutional cultures to find solutions to complex problems facing our local communities, our country (NDP), our continent (Agenda 2063) and our world (Agenda 2030/Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs]).

Andrew W Mellon Foundation Seminar Series

The first seminar was scheduled for 2021 but was postponed due to the outbreak of the fourth wave of Covid-19. This first seminar finally took place in April 2022 at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

Title: Current Approaches to Decolonising the African University: The CHEC University

in Conversation

The purpose of the first seminar was twofold: 1. to raise awareness of the programme in all the universities; and 2. to open a conversation as to the current approaches to and projects on decoloniality in each of the four CHEC universities.

Associate Professor Judy Peter represented Dr David Phaho, DVC: Research in welcoming all participants to the seminar. Professor Peter is the current director for Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships (SIP) at CPUT.

Ms Nonkosi Tyolwana, Director of the Centre for Diversity, Inclusivity & Social Change at CPUT provided the keynote address.

Dr Sharman Wickham, Project Coordinator, began by explaining that this project had not initially started as a research project: rather, it was intended to showcase work conducted in our universities on decoloniality. Given that the project was committed to being inclusive in its representation, the Advisory Team soon recognised that the universities did not have a list of all projects undertaken around decoloniality. And so, the need to undertake some preliminary research was identified: we needed to identify how the universities were approaching decoloniality and who was involved in such work.

1. University of the Western Cape was represented by Prof Simphiwe Sesanti

2. University of Cape Town was represented by Prof Kasturi Behari-Leak and Dr Benita Moolman

3. University of Stellenbosch was represented by Professor Aslam Fataar, Dr Precious Simba and Dr Jennifer Feldman

4. Cape Peninsula University of Technology was represented by Mr Siyabulela Sabata

Prof Rozena Maart

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

4.4 THE NEW CPUT STRATEGY AND POLICY ON LEARNING, TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT

INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING AND LEARNING IMPERATIVES

CPUT learning and teaching strategy

The heart of CPUT’s learning and teaching strategy is to contribute toward “building One Smart CPUT” which fosters a sense of belonging and connectedness among staff and students. This strategic plan has been aligned to CPUT’s Vision 2030, guided by the National Development Plan 2030 as well as the regional and national imperatives as set out in the strategic vision of the Department of Higher Education. The CPUT Vision 2030 established long-term plans, providing clear focus areas. CPUT strives to develop students with “a deeper sense of connectedness and sharing, whilst being highly competent to work in a technology driven economy and world”.

As a supporting document, the Learning and Teaching Strategy (LTS) provides further guidance for the implementation of the CPUT Learning, Teaching and Assessment (LTA) Policy while facilitating the realisation of V2030 (Oneness and Smartness) through pedagogic practices.

This LTS is guided by the broad Learning and Teaching (L&T) policy governing teaching and activities, which is complemented by detailed rules and procedures to give effect to the policy. These rules and procedures will also be aligned to the Students’ Academic Rules. Additionally, the Institution’s Strategy on Learning and Teaching (under development) which will be the ‘compass’ towards achieving our goals on Learning and teaching, will also resonate with the unitary L&T policy.

Our Context as an African UoT

As an African university, centring the philosophy of ubuntu in learning and teaching creates an opportunity to “advance its humanistic ethos and paradigmatic alternative that can fully complement, with its emphasis on human connections and interdependency,

the Western positivistic, linear and mechanistic paradigms” (Oviawe, 2016:3). These values have been espoused in Vision 2030. Ubuntu is “our way of being” described as a philosophy of being, relational, harnessing the strength of the collective in meaning-making. Informed by this philosophical approach, our learning and teaching strategy is shaped by the following values:

• embracing a culture of ethics and integrity;

• seeking kindness and showing compassion (human heartedness) for the wellbeing of all our students, staff, stakeholders and the CPUT community, as expressed in ubuntu as a way of living;

• embracing restoration as we deal with the legacy of our past and as we redress issues of equality, gender-based violence, and any form of discrimination;

• being a testimony of unity (ubunye), whilst embracing diversity (ukungafani) in all its forms by being honest, transparent, credible and respectful;

• showing passion and demonstrating enthusiasm, devotion, intensity, tenacity and total commitment to everything that we undertake as a university of technology; delivering uncompromising quality service, and always searching for better ways of doing things;

• taking accountability and accepting responsibility for all our actions and the actions that we commit to; and

• being technologically astute and embracing, taking ownership of and experimenting with the possibilities technology offers.

Learning and Teaching Strategic Planning Process

A consultative phase was initiated in November 2020 with deans, directors and other stakeholders to develop a Learning and Teaching Decadal Plan. This led to the development of faculty centre and unit strategic plans.

Parallel to this process, a review of the Teaching, Learning and Assessment policy was initiated to align closely to Vision 2030 and to streamline the policies.

Learning and teaching policy

During 2020, the Senate Teaching & Learning Committee (STLC) and the Executive Committee of Senate (SENEX) resolved that the institution’s policies governing the broad area of learning and teaching needed to be revised. Subsequently, a workshop and consultations were held with representatives from all six faculties as well as from strategic units such as Fundani CHED; the Quality Management Directorate (QMD); the Centre for Innovative Educational Technologies (CIET); the Centre for Community Engagement and Work Integrated Learning (CE & WIL); the Directorate for Transformation, Social Cohesion & Diversity; the Registrar’s Division; and the Central SRC.

During the consultation, it was observed that CPUT has historically employed a variety of policies governing teaching and learning – with different individual policies for activities such as curriculum development, assessment, moderation, student feedback on teaching and courses, workplace-based learning and e-learning. There has also been a succession of two policies on teaching and learning since 2006; these were focused on specific aspects of T&L: the 2006 policy was focused on alignment with SAQA, HEQC and Professional/ Industrial Councils; and the 2013 policy focused on work-integrated teaching and learning at NQF levels 5-8.

Figure 1: Learning and teaching strategy development

The LTS has been aligned to the LTA policy, which seeks to provide an overarching policy framework for the seven focus areas as outlined in the CPUT Vision 2030 for all levels of study at the institution. The Senate Teaching and Learning Committee (STLC) will facilitate the implementation of the institutional Learning and Teaching Strategy in collaboration with relevant academic, professional and industry partners, to promote good practice across faculties and central units. The LTS provides a framework for faculties, centres and units to align strategic plans with Vision 2030 and the dimensions of Oneness and Smartness. The aim of the Learning and Teaching Strategy is to address the intent and scope of the Teaching, Learning and Assessment Policy and to anchor teaching practices within dimensions of Oneness and Smartness, as outlined in Vision 2030.

It was also clear that the relatively large number of independent policies governing very specific areas of T&L were sometimes discordant and contradictory. Thus, it was recommended as follows:

• a unitary T&L policy for the institution be developed in place of the current policies which govern specific components of T&L;

• provision for the various components of T&L be made in the unitary policy, with such provision being at policy-level rather than at the level of procedures and rules; and

• each component of T&L to have procedures and rules which give effect to the provisions in the policy.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021 INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING AND

This approach should allow the policy to be sufficiently brief yet still provide a harmonious framework across the various components of T&L, while also allowing for flexibility and agility in terms of the detailed procedures and rules operating within the policy. The procedures and rules can be modified as appropriate without waiting for the policy to change. The importance of such agility was greatly highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic and is one of the lessons learnt.

INSTITUTIONAL TEACHING AND LEARNING IMPERATIVES

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

These recommendations were supported by the Senate Teaching and Learning Committee and SENEX. A policy working group was then established with representations from various entities to implement the recommendation. The formal policy development process outlined in the institution’s Policy on Policy Development was then followed, and a new policy on learning and teaching was developed.

The new policy governing learning and teaching and activities is a broad policy which covers relevant key pillars: Curriculum and Programme Development, Work Integrated Learning, e-Learning, Moderation, Assessment, and T&L practice (including actual learning, teaching and support). This is represented graphically as follows.

Overall structure of the new LTA policy showing the five divisions

The policy itself is complemented by detailed rules and procedures to give effect to the policy. These rules and procedures are aligned to the students’ academic rules. Additionally, the institution’s strategy on learning and teaching which is the ‘compass’ towards achieving our goals on learning and teaching is also consonant with the unitary learning and teaching policy. The relationship between the new policy and the other supporting documents is represented below.

Naming of the Policy

The policy was designated as the ‘Learning, Teaching and Assessment Policy’ in order to bring to the fore the central role that learning must occupy in the activities covered by the policy. foregrounding ‘learning’ in the policy confirms the university’s commitment to adopting learner-centred approaches that promote and enhance epistemological access and student partnerships in the learning process, with a drive towards equitable outcomes for student success. It highlights the need to encourage deeper engagement between staff and students through trust, values, co-thinking, co-learning, co-creating and co-designing. In any case, teaching itself includes learning by the teacher; and the learner is often an active teacher to other learners and to the teacher. Thus, ‘teaching’ and ‘learning’ do not necessarily have a unidirectional relationship from the teacher to the learner. As posited by J.C. Dana, “Teaching is learning, and learning is teaching. Those who dare to teach must never cease to learn”.

Conceptual location of the new LTA policy in the institution

AND

ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

5.1 DEPARTMENT OF STUDENT COUNSELLING

Ms Leanie Brits

HOD: Student Counselling

The Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown brought with them unique student engagement challenges for support departments. During 2020, Student Counselling responded to the challenge by implementing an online counselling service and moving all programmes online. The department was able to continue to support students’ mental health and wellbeing during lockdown. The mobilisation of online services in 2020 brought a significant rise in service uptake in 2021, as can be seen in the increase in counselling and webinar attendance. Student Counselling endeavoured to evaluate its online activities during 2021 and will provide a short overview of the outcomes in this report. Despite great accomplishments in mobilising and providing online support services and resources, unique challenges to student engagement remain.

Department successes in 2021

Individual counselling and therapy

Since the inception of online counselling, the service has been well established and uptake of online counselling is proportional to statistics of face-to-face counselling provision in 2019.

A significant number (1206) of new clients enrolled for counselling services in 2021 and 4122 therapy sessions were facilitated, with 85% of clients self-referred to the online counselling service, which is indicative of effective and continued marketing efforts. The major presenting problems that students faced during 2021 that can be attributed to the prolonged impact of COVID-19, lockdown and remote learning were as follows: student isolation and loneliness, personal loss and trauma, depression and anxiety, adjustment and relationship challenges. Supporting students’ personal and academic development and wellness through counselling remains the core service of the department.

The programme conducts an annual client satisfaction survey to assess the level of satisfaction of students who attend counselling and therapy. This was the second survey which evaluated student experiences of online counselling. Results from the survey indicated that most respondents (81.9%) received an appointment within one week from sending their request to the counselling email line, and 18.1% waited a week or longer. Most respondents (87.1%) found it easy to make an appointment for counselling and 76.2% indicated that they felt the online counselling service easily accessible. A large percentage (85.5%) of respondents found the sessions helpful; the majority of respondents (91.4%) indicated that they would return for counselling if they needed it again. Respondents identified access to data, connectivity challenges and waiting periods for some students during busier times as limitations to online counselling.

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Programme activities in the virtual domain

The Career Preparedness Programme offered by the department is run in partnership with WIL faculty officers. Through this programme, counselling staff present career preparedness topics such as interview preparation, personal brand management and job search skills to second- and third-year students who are preparing to enter work placements. A total of 24 class groups participated and 1226 students completed the WIL workshop series virtually during 2021. Students’ experiences of the online workshops were evaluated using a Google Forms, with 216 students completing the evaluations anonymously. The respondents indicated a 97% satisfaction level, with 96% of the respondents indicating that they would recommend these workshops to others. The content was deemed relevant by respondents and 100% noted the information as both relevant and useful.

form part of the academic departments’ at-risk strategy to enhance student throughput and success. The AEQ provides students with feedback on all available campus resources to address any identified area that may impede their academic success. The AEQ was administered online via Blackboard to 2130 students and feedback on summative group results was provided to 24 academic departments via Microsoft Teams. The online administration of the AEQ process made the service accessible and less resource-intensive than manual administration as was the practice in previous years. The AEQ will be offered in the same format, as the service is accessible and offered in a manner that is familiar, hosted on the learner management system (LMS).

The department’s Student Leadership and Development Programme offers training and development activities to various student leadership groups, aimed at developing and enhancing student leadership skills. A total of 373 students attended the various virtual training activities. Students’ experiences of the online workshops were evaluated using Google Forms. The experiences of peer mentors who attended training offered by Fundani, in collaboration with various departments, evaluated their experience of the programme offered by Student Counselling. Sixty-nine mentors completed the evaluations anonymously. The satisfaction level of the training was 80%, with 98% of the respondents indicating that the content was informative and useful. A 100% satisfaction level was reported for presenter knowledge and experience.

The Academic Enhancement Questionnaire (AEQ), identifying academic and non-academic risk areas amongst first-time entering students, serves to

The Final Year Experience Programme has a portal on Blackboard giving students access to programme videos and resources. Many students (422) attended webinars hosted between March and October 2021, and 3431 students accessed online resources hosted on the portal. The programme evaluated students’ experiences of the webinars, with 100% of respondents indicating that they found the information useful and informative and feeling that it contributed to their personal development. The portal is accessible and offers a familiar interface as it is on the learner management system (LMS).

Student Counselling continues to expand its online counselling resources and slowly extend its social media footprint. The wellness programme annually develops student electronic resources and shares wellness and mental health information via social media pages, the CPUT webpage, and Blackboard. The department ran an online suicide awareness campaign during 2021, which included a roundtable discussion on the topic with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) and a series of psychoeducational posts. See examples of the diverse range of electronic resources distributed under Heading 3.

HOLISTIC STUDENT SUPPORT AND INITIATIVE TOWARDS STUDENT SUCCESS

STUDENT SUPPORT AND INITIATIVE TOWARDS STUDENT SUCCESS

The way forward

Wellness and psychoeducational electronic resources

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Working remotely, utilising electronic and virtual communication media extended the reach of the department. Services are accessible to students in any geographic location, and students can use different electronic media platforms to access services and engage with content. Most services offered virtually were evaluated, and the responses from students indicated that that these programmes were impactful, even though presented virtually. It yielded positive learning and engagement outcomes for students. Limitations to student engagement are still a problem: the most significant barriers remain access to student data, connectivity challenges and limited confidentiality for some students. The continued impact of lockdown, Covid-19 and remote learning on students’ psychosocial functioning is still primarily social isolation, which is linked to a myriad of mental health challenges. It is in light of this that the department followed a hybrid online and in-person approach for counselling in 2021, to accommodate students who experienced obstacles and limitations in accessing the online service.

Online Suicide Awareness Campaign Programme

HOLISTIC STUDENT SUPPORT AND INITIATIVE TOWARDS STUDENT SUCCESS

CELEBRATING TEACHING AND LEARNING ACHIEVEMENTS AT CPUT

Homesickness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTza2wGna8E

Grief and Bereavement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUUxr9g8Ubw

Healthy and Unhealthy Coping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6mX9ehDMYU

5 Traits you Need to Succeed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ukJbRU9wE

Mindfulness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqHcbQvBADU

Conclusion

Online learning and support brought with it new avenues and modes of student engagement. Lockdown and online learning catapulted support services into the virtual domain and challenged staff to upskill and utilise new media and technologies. Since this type of support has proven to be effective and accessible, the department will continue to follow a hybrid support approach.

5.2 DISABILITY UNIT (DU)

Introduction

This report provides an overview of the work of the DU, covering the following sections: background, support services during the Covid-19 pandemic, changes of practice implemented by the DU, hardware available at DU labs, key highlights and successes of the DU.

Background

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, CPUT substituted regular face-to-face teaching with online teaching and learning. The shift online was sudden and unexpected and caused various academic and social concerns for students:

• stress

• anxiety

• lack of academic support

• lack of adequate resources to support online teaching

• lack of socialisation

• lack of motivation in attending classes

• feelings of loneliness

• fear of the pandemic

• worries about their own health and the health of loved ones

• isolation, and

• financial concerns and lack of communication with classmates and relatives.

While Covid affected all students, its impact on students with disabilities were particularly harsh. Disabilities possessed by the affected students include the following:

• physical

• sensory

• intellectual

• emotional

• pervasive development, and

• developmental.

The DU is a multifunctional support service point of the university that strives to implement an accessible and welcoming learning environment for students with disabilities. The DU understood that it had to adjust its services to respond in an appropriate manner to students with disabilities amidst the pandemic. Implementation strategies that were adopted by the DU included:

• Intensified communication through, amongst others, sending heartfelt motivational messages and information to students with disabilities on various platforms.

• Opening up DU labs and the resource centre on the Bellville and D6 campuses, on an appointment

Dr. Amanda Ismail

HOD: Disability Unit

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021 HOLISTIC STUDENT SUPPORT AND

Support services during the Covid-19 pandemic and changes of practice implemented by the DU

HOLISTIC STUDENT SUPPORT AND INITIATIVE TOWARDS STUDENT SUCCESS

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basis, in the midst of hard lockdown, with permission from the relevant university structures. This was carried out to ensure that students with disabilities had access to assistive devices, resources, and software to promote accessibility, inclusion and equality. Strict Covid-19 regulations and measures were put into place.

• Providing support services both online and in person. The DU had regular online checkin sessions with students with disabilities. Students who preferred physical meetings due to their disabilities were accommodated accordingly. Complaints and challenges were conveyed to the various units, departments and faculties and appropriate accommodations were put in place to mitigate the identified barriers.

• Sharing the students counselling departments’ contact details as well as other mental health resources and doing referrals where necessary.

• Offering online tutorials and support to lecturers on various topics, such as universal access and universal design for multimodal learning. This was carried out to ensure that teaching and learning were accessible to all students.

• Offering online tutorials for students with disabilities on effective use of assistive devices and online tools in a multimodal teaching environment.

This was in addition to the services already provided by the DU:

• language capture for students with varying degrees of hearing loss;

• group or one-on-one training on specialised software programmes and/or assistive devices;

• assessments of the needs of students with disabilities on all campuses;

• applications and recommendations for reasonable accommodation and exam concessions for students with disabilities;

• inputs into policy development;

• outreach and marketing;

• research and advocacy services;

• academic assistance during assessments;

• awareness-raising and sharing of best practices; and

• resource centre and labs with short-term loan devices, specialised devices and software.

Hardware available at DU labs

• Large screen computer monitors – for students with a visual impairment. Scanners – to enable students to scan their work and save it in document or audio format.

• Magnifiers – for students who require magnification.

• Braille embosser – for vision-impaired students order to convert documents into Braille format.

• Special large font keyboards – for students with visual impairment (in yellow and black or black and white keyboards, ensuring high contrast).

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Conclusion

The DU remained accessible to students with disabilities, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. The DU practices and services were adjusted in line with the needs of students with disabilities, whilst prioritising health and safety as well. Students with disabilities can contact the unit at disabilityunit@ cput.ac.za and all correspondence is attended to within a reasonable time period.

• Digital recorders – for students with physical challenges to enable them to record lectures and write notes at a later stage and at their own pace.

Key highlights and successes of the DU

• Successful adjustment of DU services in line with Covid-19 protocols and regulations.

• Effective orientation took place across faculties.

• Regular online disability awareness and sensitisation programmes were conducted across the institution.

• Lecturers who attended webinars and accessed online resources were equipped with pedagogical considerations for universal access and universal design for learning in a multimodal environment.

• Students with disabilities were encouraged, and taught how, to make optimal use of assistive devices and online tools.

• Students with disabilities were supported and were reasonably accommodated as far as possible.

• Retention and pass rates were largely positive amongst students with disabilities.

HOLISTIC STUDENT SUPPORT AND INITIATIVE TOWARDS STUDENT SUCCESS

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CPUT DISABILITY UNIT: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Information for current and prospective students at CPUT.

What are the contact details of the DU?

A: DISTRICT 6 CAMPUS: Dellicia de Vos Tel: 021 460-9071

BELLVILLE CAMPUS: Pumeza Magogotya Tel: 021 953-8447

EMAIL ADDRESS: disabilityunit@cput.ac.za

WEBSITE: https://www.cput.ac.za/services/ disability/prospective

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ CPUTDisabilityUnit2016/

Can I study if I have a disability?

A: Yes, on condition that you meet the minimum requirements.

Where do I check what the minimum requirements are?

A: Online, under faculties - look for the qualification that you are interested in and then look for minimum requirements.

How do I apply at CPUT?

A: Please see our website or click on this link http://www.cput.ac.za/study/apply for further information.

Does the DU provide services to with staff with disabilities?

A: No, all staff matters are under the ambit of the Human Capital department.

What does the Disability Unit do?

A: Our services – we provide:

• Support to students with disabilities and support to lecturers in working with students with disabilities

• Language capturer for students who are Deaf or Hearing Impaired

• Group or one-one training on specialised software programmes and/or assistive devices

• Assessments of students with disabilities’ needs on all campuses

• Applications and recommendations for reasonable accommodation and exam concessions for students with disabilities

• Inputs into policy development

• Outreach and marketing

CPUT DISABILITY UNIT: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

TEACHING AND LEARNING REPORT 2021

Research and advocacy services

• Academic assistance during assessments

• Awareness-raising and sharing of best practices

• Resource Centre and labs with short-term loan devices, specialised devices, and software

What assistive devices are available to students to support them in their academic development?

Hardware available at DU Labs:

• Large screen computer monitors – for students with a visual impairment.

• Scanners – to enable students to scan their work and save it in document or audio format.

• Magnifiers – for students who require magnification.

• Braille embosser – for vision-impaired students order to convert documents into Braille format.

• Special large font keyboards – for students with visual impairment (in yellow and black or black and white keyboards, ensuring high contrast).

• Digital recorders – for students with physical challenges to enable them to record lectures and write notes at a later stage and at their own pace.

How can I access the services of the DU?

A: Registered students can request an appointment on disabilityunit@cput.ac.za

An assessment will follow, and you need to bring all medical documents with. No payment is required for accessing the services at the DU.

Can the DU help me with the fees?

A: No - the DU does not have any funding for fees for courses, as it is not a financial institution.

Why should I consider disclosing my disability?

A: We can assist more effectively if we know about your disability.

What does it cost to study at CPUT?

A: You can calculate the fees when you process your application form –information on the link http://www.cput. ac.za/study/apply

Can I apply for a NSFAS bursary?

A: Yes, provided that you can submit a letter from your doctor to confirm your disability and, that your parents’ combined annual gross salary satisfies NSFAS means test.

Does the DU handle the finances for students with disabilities?

A: No, we do not deal with student finances, as CPUT has a financial aid office to assist students.

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CPUT DISABILITY UNIT: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How do I apply for residence?

A: When you submit your application form, it is very important to also apply for accommodation in the residences if you need accommodation. Please specify your disability so that the most suitable accommodation can be considered.

How will I study without the assistive devices and software that I had access to at my school?

A: We have a fully equipped lab on the Cape Town campus and one on the Bellville campus with computers and assistive devices that will help you. We also have computers that have the software installed, on all our other campuses.

Will the DU help me with the application process?

A: Yes, we can help you complete the application.

How do I apply?

A: You can follow our step-by-step guidelines on the website http://www.cput.ac.za/ study/apply

I was granted extra time when I was at my school – what do I do now?

A: The DU will assess your requirements and assist you with extra time for exams and tests. You will have to provide the necessary documentation, i.e., Dr’s recommendations and/or exam concession letters received at school in order for us to process your application for extra time.

Does CPUT provide facilitators in the residence?

A: There are unfortunately no resources for a personal facilitator.

Does the Disability Unit provide transport to students with disabilities?

A: No, we do not have the resources to do so. Students not on residence usually sign up with Dial-a-ride for transport to campus.

What is Universal Design for Learning (UDL)?

A: The idea of “Universal Design” is a method of designing course materials, content, and instruction to benefit all learners. Instead of adapting or retrofitting a course to a specific audience, universal design emphasises environments that are accessible to everyone, regardless of ability.