TLHEC9 (2015) - Conference Handbook by UKZN Teaching & Learning Office

Artist: Randhir Rawatlal

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE 21‐23 SEPTEMBER 2015, ELANGENI HOTEL, DURBAN

RE‐IMAGINING HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: CAN POLICY LEARN FROM PRACTICE? Complexities, Challenges and Possibilities

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

University Teaching &

Quality Promotion & Assurance

Learning

University

Office

Language Planning &

University

Develop-

Extended

ment

Learning

Office Higher Education, Training & Development

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

CONTENTS CONTENTS

Welcome Message

Message from Conference Convener & Chair

Conference Themes

Keynote Speakers

Professor Fazal Rizvi

Professor Adam Habib

Professor William Tierney

Professor Herbert Chimhundu

Conference Workshops

Special Interest Group

Conference Proceedings

Guidelines for Chairing & Presenting

Excellence Awards

Distinguished Teachers

Distinguished Students

General Information

Conference Committees

Conference Programme

Book of Abstract

Committed to promoting and sustaining the

scholarship of teaching & learning and

institutional research

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Professor Renuka Vithal Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching & Learning

WELCOME MESSAGE

Higher education transformation is firmly in the media spotlight this year with campaigns such as “RhodesMustFall”. The theme of “re-imagining higher education policy implementation” for this 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference is particularly relevant in this context, especially in so far as it refers to university curricula. Indications are that the South African Council on Higher Education proposals for undergraduate curriculum reforms, which made the case for a flexible curriculum structure, are unlikely to be implemented by the national Department of Higher Education and Training. Instead, a growth in undergraduate foundation programme provisioning is envisaged for the different extended bachelor programmes. The need for curriculum conversations that lead to real and substantial curriculum reforms has become urgent. We have delayed this kind of deeper critical curriculum conversation, not wanting to start a process that could result in “curriculum change fatigue”. UKZN has, like many other institutions, tinkered on the edges of the curriculum. The case of the successful implementation of the requirement of isiZulu language proficiency in all undergraduate curricula is one such instance. For institutions like UKZN emerging from the grueling university mergers and discussions about common curricula, the time has arrived for taking a next serious step. While the higher education literature is rich with analysis of higher education curricula and what should or ought to be done, arguable much less is known about what has been done, especially in overhauling university curricula at an institutional or system level. An undergraduate curriculum conversation could begin with a set of questions that could be posed with a view to moving from talk shops and workshops to real action and change:

from schooling to university? We know the length and kind of bridge that has to be crossed is not the same for all students; and we know how different the baggage is that has to be carried across that bridge. But there is much that we in universities could do to support that crossing knowing all the challenges that first year students face, be they from rural communities or first generation university students in a family or community. This line of argument suggests that much could be done in reviewing the first semester or first year of the undergraduate curriculum. We know that first semester and year curricula are sometimes packed with the potential gatekeeping “killer” courses, resulting in a year or more being added by failing even a single prerequisite modules in the first semester. We know the wrong choices made in selecting disciplinary or professional programme majors because students have little knowledge and understanding of what those curricula and content entail. We know the struggles of students to become inducted into “alien” institutional cultures and grappling to understand the lecturer and learning demands because it is the first time students encounters different accents, styles and approaches to teaching and learning.

(1) How could we rethink and better facilitate the navigation of the bridge we know is riddled with potholes and obstacles that students have to traverse

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9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

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(2) What would it take to ensure that every undergraduate student has some experience in community engagement activity before they graduate? How could we (re)design our curricula so that every student, as part of their assessments, is required to demonstrate that they have learnt about serving others, caring about others, besides themselves, in the course of their undergraduate studies? Could every academic find ways in which their disciplinary fields are built into each of their programmes in academically creative and authentic ways? Could they be simple acts of caring and kindness such as reading to the aged and children in hospitals; to involvement in projects linked to their studies in communities in which students live and for the people around them that they interact with everyday? We know many such examples abound in the university but how do we provide all students with such opportunities? (3) What is the relevance and value of the undergraduate curriculum as it is increasingly being questioned from different perspectives and vantage points? Complex curriculum questions are being asked about how are students being prepared for a rapidly changing, uncertain and competitive globalizing and technologically advancing world with its increasing threats for graduates to access further study and employment; to how are curricula developing awareness and understanding of the context of Africa and responding to a vision to advance an African Scholarship that is rooted and responsive to its context. (4) How is the undergraduate curriculum a preparation for becoming generators of knowledge and not only consumers, thereby overcoming its colonial and apartheid legacy? How can our collective mindsets be shifted from deficit models, even as we confront them, to see potentiality, to see what is possible in each and every student? It has been found that a common feature of undergraduate curricula of top research universities is that research education and training in its various forms are introduced early in undergraduate curricula. How can research in its different manifestations related to the broad disciplinary and professional fields be made available to undergraduates, be it as future active producers, critical users or literate consumers of research? Rethinking the undergraduate curriculum as preparation for research raises questions on the South African undergraduate curriculum and its relation to honours programmes and curricula, which

is a year-long qualification added on to the 3-year bachelor degrees. Why do we continue to impose gatekeepers to provide access to honours level study? What will be the consequences of removing the ritualistic requirement of scoring 55% or 60% in level three modules of the major or discipline relevant to gain access into Honours programmes? Will the removal of arbitrary entry requirements reduce the inequity between 4-year undergraduate programmes that lead directly to masters and the 3year undergraduate degree which requires a one year Honours, thereby bringing the undergraduate degree into alignment with practices internationally? Removing this as a minimum entry requirement provides access to postgraduate studies in a way that views the Honours as a continuation of the undergraduate degree and thereby significantly increasing the honours cohort as a recruitment base for masters and doctorates over the longer term since the Honours degree serves as a critical pipeline to postgraduate masters and doctoral studies. Unblocking and widening this point in the pipeline has the potential to significantly enhance and contribute to the high level knowledge and skill needs of South Africa. It has the potential to enhance graduate attributes in enabling a move toward having larger numbers of undergraduates leaving the University with a postgraduate qualification and thereby greater levels of competence. UKZN has indeed made the decision to remove this entry requirement into its honours programmes across all disciplines, which will come into effect from next year.

We continue to live in an important historical moment, and students have opened a critical window of opportunity through the current ferment, which offers universities the possibilities to significantly re-imagine our undergraduate curricula for substantially better learning outcomes to serve society.

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

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Ukuguquka kwemfundo ephakeme kusematheni kwabezindaba kulonyaka ngemikhankaso efana ne-‘RhodesMustFall’. Isihloko esithi ”Ukubheka kabusha ukusebenza kwenqubomgomo yemfundo ephakeme” sifanelekile kakhulu kule ngqungquthela ye-9 Yaminyakayonke YezokuFunda NokuFundisa KwezeMfundo Ephakeme, ikakhulukazi uma ikhuluma ngohlelozifundo lwamanyuvesi. Izinkomba ziveza ukuthi iziphakamiso zoMkhandlu WaseNingizimu Afrika WezeMfundo Ephakeme zezinguquko ohlelwenizifundo ebezisekela uhlelozifundo olulula, ngeke ziqale ukusetshetshenziswa uMnyango WezeMfundo Ephakeme NokuQeqesha. Kodwa kulindeleke ukukhula kwezifundo eziyisisekelo zamabanga aphansi eziqwini ezihlukene. Isidingo sezingxoxo ngohlelozifundo eziholela ezinguqukweni ezinqala ohlelwenizifundo sezingeziphuthuma kakhulu. Sizilibazisile lezi zingxoxo ezibucayi ngohlelozifundo, singafuni ukuqala uhlelo oluzophetha “ngokukhathazwa koshintsho lohlelozifundo”. IUKZN, njengezinye izikhungo eziningi, izamile ukwenza izinguquko. Okube yimpumelelo ukuqala kokusetshenziswa kolimi lwesiZulu ezinhlelweni zezifundo zamabanga aphansi eziqu. Ezikhungweni ezifana ne-UKZN eziphuma ohlelweni olunzima lokuhlanganiswa kwamanyuvesi nezingxoxo ngezinhlelozifundo ezifanayo, isikhathi sesifikile sokuthatha isinyathelo esilandelayo esifanele. Yize noma imibhalo ngemfundo ephakeme igcwele ehlaziya uhlelozifundo kanye nokufanele kwenziwe, kodwa kuncane okwaziwayo ngosekwenziwe, ikakhulukazi ekuqinisweni kohlelozifundo enyuvesi ezingeni lesikhungo noma lezinhlelokusebenza. Ingxoxo mayelana nokungenziwa emabangeni aphansi ezifundo zeziqu ingaqala ngokubuza imibuzo ehlose ukusuka ezithangamini zokuxoxa nje kuphela kodwa kuyiwe emnyakazweni wangempela nezinguquko : (1) Singakucabanga kabusha futhi sikuhlelele kanjani izingqinamba esizaziyo ezivimba abafundi kusukela esikoleni kuya enyuvesi? Siyazi ukuthi ukujula nobunjalo bazo kumfundi nomfundi;futhi siyazi ukuthi izinkinga zabo azifani. Kuningi esingakwenza thina esisemanyuvesi ukuze sibasekele ngoba siyazi ukuthi abafundi bonyaka wokuqala babhekana naziphi izinselelo, bangavela ezindaweni ezisemaphandleni noma bayisizukulwane sokuqala sabafunde enyuvesi emndenini noma emphakathini. Loluhlobo lwempikiswano lukhomba ukuthi kuningi okungenziwa uma kubukezwa isimesta yokuqala noma uhlelozifundo lwabafundi bonyaka wokuqala

enyuvesi. Siyazi ukuthi isimesta yokuqala nohlelozifundo lonyaka lugcwele izifundo ezingaba izithiyo empumelelweni yabafundi lokhu kubangela ukuthi kube nonyaka nangaphezulu onezezelekayo ngenxa yokungaphasi ngisho kungaba isifundo esisodwa ngesimesta yokuqala. Siyazazi izinqumo ezingafanele ezithathwa abafundi ,uma bekhetha umkhakha abazowulandela, ngenxa yolwazi nokuqonda okuncane okumayelana nalolo luhlelozifundo nokuqukethwe yizo. Siyawazi umzabalazo wabafundi uma befakwa ezikhungweni ezinesiko elingajwayelekile kubona nokubhekana nenkinga yokuqonda umfundisi nezimfuno zokufunda ngoba kungokokuqala abafundi bebhekana nezindlela zokukhuluma, nezokufundisa nokufunda nokufundisa ezihlukile kwabazijwayele. (2) Yini engaqinisekisa ukuthi wonke umfundi ophothula izifundo zakhe unalo ulwazi lokusebenza nemiphakathi ngaphambi kokuthi athole iziqu? Singaluhlela kanjani uhlelozifundo lwethu ukuze wonke umfundi, njengengxenye yokuhlolwa kwabo, akhombise ukuthi ufundisiwe futhi uyazi ngokusiza abanye, ukukhathalela nabanye hhayi bona kuphela, ngenkathi besafundela amabanga aphansi eziqu zabo? Ingabe ikhona indlela yokuthi bonke abafundisi bathole indlela lapho imikhakha yabo iba yingxenye yezinhlelo zezifundo ngezindlela ezakhayo futhi ezifanele. Kungaba yizenzo ezilula ezikhombisa inkathalo, nesihe njengokufundela asebebadala nezingane ezibhedlela izincwadi; ukubamba iqhaza emisebenzini yemiphakathi ekuhlala kuyo abafundi neyabantu abahlala phakathi kwabo nsukuzonke? Siyazi ukuthi lamathuba maningi enyuvesi kodwa singabahlinzeka kanjani bonke abafundi ngawo?

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

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(3) Yini ukubaluleka nobumqoka kohlelozifundo lwamabanga aphansi njengoba luqhubeka nokuhlohlwa ngemibuzo ezindaweni ezihlukene? Imibuzo ebanzi ngohlelozifundo iyabuzeka ngokuthi yini eyenziwayo ukuze abafundi balungiselelwe umhlaba oguquguqukayo futhi ongaqondakali onezinselelo ekutholakaleni kwemfundo yamazinga aphezulu namathuba emisebenzi; nokuthi izinhlelozifundo zikuthuthukisa kanjani ukwazi ngokuphathelene nezwekazi i-Afrika nokuhlangabezana nombono wozokufunda zaseAfrika ezigxile futhi ezibhekana nezinselelo zayo. (4) Ingabe uhlelozifundo lwamabanga aphansi eziqu lubalungiselela kanjani abafundi ukuba bakhiqize ulwazi bangalwamukela nje kuphela, ngaleyondlela kunqotshwe umthelela wobandlululo nokubuswa ngamanye amazwe? Singahlanganisa kanjani amakhanda ukuze sisuke ezindleleni ezingathuthukisi, yize noma sisabhekene nazo, ukuze sibone amathuba, sibone okungazuzwa umfundi ngamunye? Sekutholakele ukuthi okufanayo ezikhungweni ezihamba phambili kwezocwaningo nokuqeqesha ukuthi ukufundisa ngocwaningo kuqala ohlelwenikufunda lwamabanga aphansi. Kungenziwa kanjani ukuthi ucwaningo ,ngezinhlobonhlobo zalo ngokwemikhakha nezinhlelo zezifundo, lutholakale kubafundi ngendlela engakhuthaza umkhiqizo wocwaningo, babe ngabakhiqizi balo bangomuso noma abasebenzisi balo abanobuciko? Ukuhlela kabusha uhlelokufunda ngenhloso yokulungiselela ucwaningo kuvusa imibuzo ngohlelozifundo lwaseNingizimu Afrika lwabafundi abangakabi neziqu nokuxhumana kwalo nezinhlelo zeziqu ze-honours nezinhlelozifundo zakhona, okuwuhlelo oluthatha unyaka olwengeziwe phezu kweziqu zeminyaka emithathu. Kungani siqhubeka nokuphoqelela izifundo eziyisidingo sokwenza iziqu zesibili (honours)? Kungaba namuphi umthelela ukuqeda isidingo semiphumela engamaphesenti angama-55 noma 60 ezifundweni zebanga lesithathu ezifundweni eziyisidingo ukuze kubhaliselwe iziqu zesibili(honours)?

njengengxenye yeziqu zokuqala futhi lukhuphula isibalo sabafundi beziqu ze-honours okungaphuma kubo abafundi beziqu zesithathu (Masters) nezobudokotela ngokuqhubeka kwesikhathi ngoba lezi ziqu ze-Honours zingumgudu obalulekile oholela ekutholakaleni kweziqu zesithathu (masters) nezobudokotela. Ukukhulula nokwelula loluhlelo njengomgudu oneqhaza elikhulu lokuthuthukisa nokukhulisa izinga labafundi abanamakhono okuzokwenza kukhule isibalo sabafundi abaphuma enyuvesi bezeziqu futhi benamakhono asezingeni eliphezulu. I-UKZN seyithathe isinqumo sokuqeda lesi sidingo sokungena ezinhlelweni ze-honours kuyona yonke imikhakha okuzoqala ukusebenza ngonyaka ozayo.

Sisesikhathini esibalulekile emlandweni futhi abafundi sebevule ithuba elibalulekile ,ngokwesimo esikhona, elinika amanyuvesi izindlela zokuhlela kabusha izinhlelozifundo ukuze zibe nomthelela omuhle kwezokufunda nasemphakathini.

Ingabe ukuqedwa kwezidingo zokubhalisa ezingahlelekile kunganciphisa igebe phakathi kwezinhlelo zeminyaka emine eholela ezifundweni zeziqu zesithathu(masters) kanye nezifundo zeminyaka emithathu ezidinga kufundwe unyaka owodwa we-honours okubeka umfundi ezingeni elihambelana nelomhlaba jikelele? Ukuqeda lesi siding kuvulela ithuba lokwenza izifundo zabaneziqu ngendlela ebheka iziqu zesibili(honours)

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Dr Rubby Dhunpath Director: Teaching & Learning

MESSAGE FROM T HE C ONFERENCE C ONVENER & C HAIR

At the best of times, higher education is in a state of unbridled turbulence. That it should be any less so, remains a point of unresolved contention. What we do know from the South African experience, is that during times of discomfort, institutions take refuge in policy formulation and policy reform less frequently, policy dialogue. This was evident in the decades preceding what has been typecast as the ‘’pre-democratic era”, when education policy units were the heartbeats of universities, some boldly located in the portals of campuses – supported by their university communities, others hovelled in more perilous enclaves, often at the mercy of the state security apparatus. Singularly and collectively, these units exposed the brutality of a divided and divisive education system, characterized by Governmentality geared for social engineering. Policy units envisioned a new future of possibility in which universities nurtured human talent for the greater good of all. In the years following “liberation”, policy units refocused their energies from activism and advocacy to an evidence-based approach to systemic reform, providing the signposts for reform and identifying benchmarks to measure the success of reforms. During this period, many of the policy units quietly faded into the landscape, being either absorbed into mainstream academia or into government. The ensuing period was one of vigorous policy development accompanied by an evaluation culture. This was an era characterized by state policy fetish. The new ruling elite, eager to legitimize its existence to its impatient electorate engaged in what Hans Wieler called ‘’compensatory legitimation’’: using policy tools and processes which saw education in a perpetual state of reform, in its attempt to deliver demonstrably new policy symbols. It was a period of policy borrowing, policy re-scripting and policy cascading, much of which was benign, as the policies and reforms lacked coherence and continuity.

The higher education sector, which was hitherto relatively insulated from overt interference from the state, witnessed a significant re-alignment through mergers and closures under the equity and transformation banner. It was a turbulent period for higher education, as the country pinned its hope for tangible change and economic prosperity on the ailing Academy. Yet, universities remained isolated monoliths often in competition with each other – exacerbated by the era of institutional audits and an emerging rankings culture, which privileged individualism over collectivism. Institutional Audits were critiqued as instruments of accountability rather than drivers of quality, but there was a tacit acknowledgment by many in the academy that it was time for universities to shift the gaze onto themselves and take responsibility for outmoded organisational cultures still locked in 19th century rituals of practice. Herein was a glimmer of hope: that the era of policy fetish was being displaced by policy pragmatism. It was in this spirit that the Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) Quality Enhancement Project (QEP) was conceived, with the potential to demystify academic environments, providing opportunities for institutions across the economic, geographic and organisational spectrum to view themselves through the eyes of their peers in open and supportive dialogic spaces. These spaces are a stark reminder that each institution is a product of an unequal past, but that it is no longer defensible to bemoan historical ‘legacies’ when prospects and possibilities for innovation and change abound in the organisational cultures of peers within the country and elsewhere.

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

However, we need to be clear about the intellectual project of the QEP. We need to be clear that this is not an exercise in sustained isomorphism, where institutions mimic each other’s organisational models, or where the more articulate ones establish new normative canons of practice, or where the CHE becomes the new de facto coercive agency in organisational control. Through the process of policy dialogue, the QEP can interrupt the imperceptible but pernicious slide towards antiintellectualism currently being led by the ruling class, which has come to typify civil society. It is not entirely clear what the QEP will ultimately accomplish, but it would be a complete travesty if universities allow mediocrity to continue to be entrenched as the new standard envisioned by the ruling elite. While we cautiously embrace the QEP as the new policy landscape where policy peer review is valued over policy legitimation, we need to pursue an agenda of a counter-rankings-culture which privileges diversity and differentiation and affirms what the new Vice Chancellor of UKZN, Dr Van Jaarsveld (echoing Clayton Christensen) calls “Disruptive Innovation” as a university’s distinctive competitive edge. We no longer have the luxury of dedicated policy units to drive innovative policy agendas, but we have each other and the dialogic approach to systemic organisational development.

Because this systemic approach is organic rather than interventionist, it allows all institutions to articulate their distinctive voices, without having their voices diluted or muted, but modulated, particularly those that have been reluctant to respond to changing realities and changing times. Some institutions will continue to masquerade their conservatism as preserving academic ‘’standards’’, and others will indulge in elaborate window dressing to show-case their adorned facades. While fashion shows do have their place in the world, universities that adopt a disinterested approach to the QEP processes by relegating the dialogic opportunities to technocrats and staff who have no decisional power and influence, risk squandering a potentially liberating opportunity and will be judged harshly by the emerging precariat amongst their students. The Conference theme this year aims to steer the teaching and learning discourse beyond conventional conceptions of policy, policy development and policy dialogue, towards reimagining possibilities for policy implementation derived from delegates’ lived experiences of policy as practice. I am confident that the collection of keynote addresses, plenary sessions, workshops, paper presentations and posters presented over the next three days, will demonstrate that policy can, indeed, learn from practice.

Can Policy Learn from Practice?

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

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9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

CONFERENCE THEMES

RE-IMAGINING INTERNATIONALISATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRAXIS Higher education is now widely acknowledged as a major development driver in national and international development, resulting in a scramble to provide mass access to higher education and create institutions to meet the demand for knowledge creation and diffusion. With human capital theory dominating conceptions of higher education development even in non-capitalist economies, a pervasive strand in this discourse is an instrumentalist conception of education, where individuals are seen as commodities in transforming economies. In recent times, the internationalisation of higher education discourse has crept into the agendas of both developed and developing countries even though the notions of access and equity remain highly contested. The push for internationalisation raises a number of questions for governments and higher education institutions, notably whether this re-configuration is a betrayal of national agendas or a necessary condition to elevate the quality of higher education. Is international access being widened at the expense of access and equity for local students? Is the push towards internationalisation is inevitable and irrepressible, in a context of pervasive globalisation? Thought-leading papers and posters are invited to challenge the emerging comments on whether internationalisation offers opportunities to envision new paradigms, curricula, research and teaching and learning approaches or whether it is a mythical aspiration.

REVISITING DIFFERENTIATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT FROM PRACTICE? Higher education institutions around the world have engaged, at some point in their histories, in the process of restructuring to solve problems of duplication, fragmentation and lack of access, and to improve the quality of education on offer. By the start of the new millennium, South Africa began a radical restructuring of the higher education sector with the aim of reducing the number of universities from 36 to 23 through institutional mergers, amidst resistance from some, reluctant to relinquish their individual identities. At the time, academics asked questions such as: Can mergers, in fact, address iniquities in the higher education system? In what ways do mergers impact on the curriculum of combined institutions? Are certain kinds of mergers (like voluntary mergers) more successful than others? And why do mergers so often fail to meet planning expectations? In addition, the merger process was said to suffer undertheorization and reliance on the facile transfer of lessons learnt from very different international contexts. Ten years on, the mergers have impacted higher education in both anticipated and unanticipated ways, with some institutions reporting positively on the process and others now agitating for de-mergers. Yet others bemoan the destruction of a functional FET sector. It is now prudent to re-visit these questions and ask new ones such as: Has the higher education policy agenda delivered on its promise? What have we gained and what have we lost in this process? What have we learnt and what have we not learnt? What are the imperatives and challenges we now face to advance our gains and cut our losses? What have been the experiences elsewhere in the world?

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COLLABORATIVE QUALITY EHANCEMENT FOR SYSTEMIC CHANGE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: PROSPECTS AND POSSIBILITIES The focus on educational quality has changed dramatically in recent times: from evaluation as a summative judgment by agencies conferred with authority to declare fitness for/of purpose, to an evidence-based approach of gathering and analysing institutional data and making this available for research and reflection. Norris (1998) alludes to the need for educational institutions to become “more adaptive” in the face of complexity and unpredictability. “Institutional reflexivity and the learning organisation lie at the heart of this impulse toward evaluation” (Norris, 1998). Under this gaze, the individualistic approaches to quality assurance have given way to developmental conceptions of quality as a shared systemic function and a responsibility of the higher education sector as a collective. In introducing its Quality Enhancement Project, The South African Council on Higher Education (CHE) underscores the vital role quality higher education has to play in contributing to the reconstruction and development of all aspects of South African society to produce “enhanced student learning with a view to increasing the number of graduates with attributes that are personally, professionally and socially valuable”. INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH: CATALYST FOR POLICY FORMATION AND INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND/OR CAPITULATION TO CORPORATISATION? Institutional research (IR) in higher education is positioned to inform decision-making, planning, policy formation and resource allocation. As such, IR can serve as a catalyst for development. Information about student outcomes, research, teaching and learning, and the curriculum, among many other aspects, has the potential to enhance understandings of the complexities and challenges faced by higher education. However, while IR can be illuminating and serve a crucial developmental role, it is frequently used to support the decision-making culture of corporatised and professionalised administrative bureaucracies in higher education, the latter function contradicting the collegial culture of academic governance. Therefore, increasingly IR serves a narrow technicist function such as acquiescing to the demands and market-driven ideologies of managerialism and corporatisation. Can the agendas and positionings of development and corporatisation sit comfortably together and to what end? For what purposes do higher education institutions use institutional research?

WHO IS THE 21ST CENTURY UNIVERSITY STUDENT/ ACADEMIC? 21st century university students: (i) want to have a voice in their education, and will respond better to instruction when their voice are heard; (ii) have higher levels of digital literacy than their parents or teachers; (iii) want freedom to express their creativity and dislike rote learning; (iv) want to connect with others in real time, all the time, and on their own terms using social media and mobile technology; (v) collaborate well and embrace teamwork; (vi) can multi-task; (vii) incorporate a “trial and error” approach to learning new skills; (viii) learn better by doing rather than by watching; (ix) have multicultural awareness and appreciation; (x) are open to change; (xi) have access to information – do not know a world without Google; and (xii) consequently have access to more knowledge. In response, the 21st century academic has to be creative and innovative in curriculum design and pedagogy, engage with blended learning, and integrate emerging academic and digital literacies in the curriculum. ALTERNATIVE PARADIGMS AND EMERGING DIRECTIONS IN THE SCHOLARSHIP OF TEACHING AND LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION University massification, the inclusion of marginals, technological innovation, and economic pressures on higher education have placed the scholarship of teaching and learning under intense scrutiny in the present time. Dealing with the new imperatives, with more state intervention and more demands from the employment sectors and from citizens for HE to produce a twenty-first century worker, citizen and thinker, means that it cannot be ‘teaching as usual’. Age-old methods, pedagogies and contents are out of sync with the social, political, economic and psychological rearrangements of a world that simultaneously projects real, imagined and virtual realities, and which is trapped in a discourse of separation that is no longer working. A turn to scholarship, evidence-based innovations and creative practices are needed, if not mandated, for relevant and responsive higher education teaching and learning. We seek papers that speak to these issues, offering alternative paradigms and emerging directions in Africa and elsewhere.

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

TEACHING AND LEARNING POSSIBILITIES AND PERILS

TECHNOLOGIES:

Learning technologies are evolving at a phenomenal pace, challenging universities to implement innovative pedagogies through Web 2.0 technological platforms, such as social media sites, and the introduction of flipped learning. Recently, the explosion of interest in MOOCs has presented a new model for online learning that is threatening both the traditional degree structure and traditional forms of teaching and learning. Within the shifting sands of educational paradigms and technological platforms, there are both great opportunities and perils. Scholars and researchers are invited to offer insights into innovative approaches using learning technologies and blended learning. Of particular interest is the irrepressible penetration of global brands, global media and ‘global’ education commodities which travel across borders, into remote communities, aided by ubiquitous access to basic information technology. We are told by technoadvocates that in an era of technology, students are better informed than their predecessors because of the Internet. It is true that students today know how to use the Internet. They can search for and assemble information dexterously on the Internet and through social media. We are also reminded of an impending tragic consequence of pervasive technology: that reading sound-bytes has supplanted deep reading of original and seminal texts, and students often believe that the Internet is adequate in meeting all their informational needs. In the context of higher education, we need to interrogate whether this access to an abundance of information erroneously translates into the belief that information is equal to learning. RESPONSIVE AND INNOVATIVE PEDAGOGIES IN HIGHER EDUCATION We live in an age where the only constant seems to be change. Yet, academics often fail to respond to the new directions of curricula, pedagogies and the use of technologies and, some say, are in danger of joining a liturgy of predecessors such as Elevator Operators and Lamp-Lighters. Research continues to highlight the gap between the emerging social learning approaches of students and the industrialage instruction of lecturers. The gap is further highlighted by studies suggesting that there is a yawning dichotomy between student and lecturer usage of social media, where the former inhabit this world as residents, while the latter visit only when

required. Others, often labelled as technophobes, Luddites, digital migrants and other such typecasts, claim that learning technologies cannot and do not compensate for good teaching. Improving teaching and learning is at the heart of contemporary higher education, more so in developing countries where student preparedness for higher education, success and throughput are key issues of concern. In practice, it means that the traditional lecture method has to be complemented by new age technologies and pedagogies that are deemed effective in comparator contexts. LANGUAGE POLICY, PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: COMPLEXITIES, CHALLENGES AND POSSIBILITIES The need to reconsider the role of language in the context of both regionalisation and internationalisation in Africa is crucial for development. Academics need to challenge processes and established practices that ‘normalise’ the use of certain languages over others, either as lingua franca or as languages of instruction. This conference strand welcomes evidence-based research and theoretical papers on Language Policy, Language Planning, and Language Raising in higher education; innovative ways of Language Teaching including the use of Corpora in Language Work and Terminology Development and Natural Language Processing. NEW DIRECTIONS AND ADVANCES IN HEALTH SCIENCES EDUCATION The 21st century demands a socially-responsive health sciences education rooted in adult learning pedagogies. The Lancet Commission proposed several reforms in health professionals’ education, including competency-driven approaches, inter-professional education, transformative learning, information technology adoption, and in particular, the development of new competencies around social accountability, systems transformation and leadership. South Africa is undergoing a major health reform, decentralising service delivery towards primary health care, and the health system demands providers wellequipped to work in partnership with governments and communities to mitigate priority public health conditions, and their social determinants. These reforms necessitate education research conducted in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

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9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

Professor Fazal Rizvi University of Melbourne

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Fazal Rizvi is a Professor of Education at the University of Melbourne, having joined the University in July 2010 from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, where he directed the Global Studies in Education programme. Much of Fazal’s recent research has focused on issues of identity, culture and global mobility of students, and theories of globalisation and the internationalisation of higher education. His current projects include an examination of the ways in which Indian universities are negotiating pressures of globalisation and the knowledge economy, as well as a more theoretical exploration of the cosmopolitan possibilities of education. Title: In Search of a New Narrative of

the

rationale

underlying

the

policies

Internationalization of Higher Education

internationalization has been couched in terms of global trade in educational services and in attempts

Chairperson: Professor Julia Preece

to develop the capacity of students and nations to

Over the past two decades, systems of higher

compete successfully in the emerging globally

education around the world have embraced the

integrated economy. In this talk, I will describe some

policies of internationalization. Of course, in one way,

of the ways in which this dominant narrative of

the practices of internationalization are not new. In

internationalization

the colonial era, for example, universities were

economically

established by the colonial authorities to create a

inherent contradictions becoming evident. I will

class of local citizens supportive of their global

discuss some of these contradictions, and suggest

interests.

the need to search for a new narrative of

After

independence,

internationally

and

becoming

politically

based

conceptually,

troubled,

the

with

cooperative ventures in higher education were aimed

internationalization

values

at providing international development assistance to

reciprocity, mutual benefit and the public good.

its

the newly emerging systems of higher education. More recently, while the objectives of international development cooperation have not been entirely abandoned, it is a social imaginary of neoliberalism that

has

increasingly

internationalization.

shaped

the

policies

Internationalization

of now

largely interpreted in market terms, designed to recruit international students, and tie the teaching and

research

functions

universities

“this dominant narrative of internationalization is becoming conceptually, economically and politically troubled”

the

requirements of the global economy. More broadly,

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

Professor Adam Habib University of the Witwatersrand

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Adam Habib is the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand. He is an academic, activist, administrator and a renowned political media commentator and columnist. A Professor of Political Science, his experience spans five universities and multiple local and international institutions, boards and task teams. Professor Habib has served as the former Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation, Library and Faculty Coordination at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). He has also been the Executive Director of the Human Sciences Research Council and a Research Director on Governance and Democracy. Prior to that, he was a Professor in the School of Development Studies at the University of Natal and the Research Director of the Centre for Civil Society. Title: Developing a Differentiated System in

pursued equity without due cognisance being given

South African Higher Education

to efficiency considerations.

Chairperson: Professor R Vithal

A differentiated higher education system enables

South Africa entered its democratic era with an elitist, racially and ethnically fragmented, and inefficient higher education system. Transformation would have required

policy

and

decision-making

responsive to the goals of equity, efficiency, democratic participation and development. However, policy architects and leaders were confronted by the challenge of achieving these goals simultaneously and confronting the concomitant trade-offs. The National Development Plan confronts the issue of knowledge development and differentiation, and expansion of the system including enabling the development of private higher education and the post-secondary education system. However, it does not confront whether the real purpose of the latter is another vocational

opportunity training,

at or

secondary a

education,

community

college

programme that broadens access to the universities. Similarly, some universities have not risen to the challenge of equity and have used autonomy and

institutional

academic freedom as levers to

responsiveness to the diverse and multiple needs of an economy and a society. In South Africa, it would allow some universities to play a bigger role in the teaching

undergraduate

and

the

production of professionals, which is necessary if the economy is to become more productive and competitive. But it would also allow other universities to focus on postgraduate students and undertake high level research, which are equally essential if the country is to develop a knowledge based economy of the 21st century. Differentiation would have to be accompanied

higher

education

executives

exhibiting managerial maturity and effectiveness if South

African

universities

are

going

simultaneously responsive to the country’s needs and competitive vis-à-vis their global peers.

“A differentiated higher education system enables responsiveness to the diverse and multiple needs of an economy and a society.”

pursue ethnic and racial agendas, while others have

students

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

Professor William Tierney University of Southern California

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

William G. Tierney is University Professor, Wilbur-Kieffer Professor of Higher Education, Codirector of the Pullias Centre for Higher Education at the University of Southern California and past president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). His research focuses on increasing access to higher education, improving the performance of postsecondary institutions, and analysing the impact of privatization on postsecondary education. His Centre is involved with USC’s Electronic Arts Game Lab in creating interactive web-enhanced games for teenagers that will enable them to develop strategies for applying to college. He is a Fellow of AERA and has been elected to the National Academy of Education.

Title: The Challenge of Access: Praxis and Structure in Higher Education

“the connection between grit and

Chairperson: Dr Nyna Amin First-generation college students make up an increasing share of students in higher education and graduate at a much lower rate than do students with university-educated parents. What is coming to be known as “grit”—passion and perseverance for longterm goals in the face of setbacks—has been identified as an individual characteristic that is predictive of success in challenging environments, including higher education. Although having grit may be helpful to first-generation university students, the trait alone is not likely to be sufficient for college success. In the talk, I seek to determine the connection between grit and social capital of first -generation college students with regard to their success and persistence during freshman year. The concept of the presentation pertains to one’s intention and reason for pursuing a goal, in this case a university degree. The big question that this paper addresses is: how do first-generation students find their purpose to succeed as college students? The argument in the presentation is that the answer to this question lay at the intersection of grit and social capital. I conceptualize grit as comprising

social capital” three interrelated components: (a) passion/interest; (b) preference for long-term goals; and (c) ability to overcome setbacks. Finding one’s purpose in university relates to the passion/interest and preference for the long-term goals components of grit. Students who are aware of their interests and passions with regard to academics, and who believe in a higher-order purpose for their academic pursuits are more likely to succeed in college. While I submit that grit is likely to contribute to first-generation college students’ success by fostering a sense of agency, I shall suggest that students who also build productive relationships with institutional agents and other students during their first year of university are more likely to perform well academically and persist to the sophomore year. Hence, there is a dynamic interplay between structure and agency.

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

Professor Herbert Chimhundu Chinhoyi University of Technology

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Professor Herbert Chimhundu is one of Zimbabwe’s foremost Linguist and Corpus Lexicographer. A former Senior Fulbright Research Scholar at the University of Florida in the United States of America, Professor Chimhundu has been a Guest Researcher at the University of Oslo in Norway on a number of occasions; a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for the Advanced Studies of African Society in Cape Town (South Africa) and a Sabbatical Fellow at the University of Botswana; Midlands State University, and Masvingo State University. He has written and co-authored several dictionaries, books, chapters in books, technical reports and many research papers and articles in linguistic theory, lexicography and language planning. He is currently a Research Professor in Human Language Technology and Living Heritage, and a Chairperson of the Language and Communication Studies Centre at Chinhoyi University of Technology. Title: AFRICAN LANGUAGES, ICTs AND THE ACADEMY: Perspectives from Lexicography, Terminology and Living Heritage Chairperson: Dr Langa Khumalo This presentation summarises reflections on 35 years of teaching, research and language raising through lexicography, terminology and advocacy, and the limit to what specialists can achieve on their own. To go beyond that limit, radical intervention by the academy is needed to invoke ICTs, specifically human language technology (HLT), not only to bring African languages into the information society, but also to link indigenous knowledge and living heritage [intangible cultural heritage (ICH)] with other forms of knowledge within mainstream academia. Institutions of higher learning are highly respected and their work impacts on policy. They also have the capacity to develop such HLT applications in a manner that can incorporate product development, entrepreneurship and innovation in pedagogy to include digital gadgets, tools and games that are appealing and can be scaled down to the school level. This is what it will take to break out of the vicious cycle of rhetoric that has trapped both politicians and academics in post-colonial Africa for decades.

The conventional departments of linguistics or African languages and literature cannot by themselves demonstrate enough utilitarian value to reverse prevalent negative attitudes or lack of belief by the speakers and lack of political will by the ruling elite. Such is the way of the world today, never mind the immense intrinsic value of the languages themselves and the cultures that they convey; and never mind the consensus that culture and local knowledge are important for sustainable development, a view that is strongly endorsed by the African Union in the Language Plan of Action for Africa (2006) and in Agenda 2063 (aspiration 5). To illustrate the practicalities, the presenter will refer to the work of three new units at his own university that have been set up to deal with language, indigenous knowledge and living heritage as cross-cutting issues.

“radical intervention by the academy is needed to invoke ICTs, specifically human language technology”

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

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9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

CREATING A CULTURE TO IMPROVE STUDENT PERFORMANCE: INCREASING ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION Facilitator Professor William Tierney

A legacy of the 20th century was that there was

The workshop is based on twenty years of

very little relationship between high schools

research into policies and practices that might

and universities.

Students graduated from

employed

increase

communication

high school and even though they were often

between

not prepared for university work, there was

organizations.

very little interaction among faculty, staff and

variables that have an influence on college

teachers in either the k-12 or university

readiness and then consider what is coming to

systems. An artifact of the 21st century is that

there will be a much closer relationship

knowledge) variables. The workshop situates

between all educational organizations and

the discussion at the intersection of k-12 and

systems. One reason for increased interaction

higher education and calls upon strategies

is the urgency to have more individuals who

such as what should be taught, what parents

graduate from high school and attend a

and families might do, how we might increase

postsecondary institution. Such a need is not

the financial literacy of students, and what

only necessary for “manpower” needs but also

might be done when schools are not in session

to increase the democratic participation of the

citizenry. In this workshop we will discuss the

particular focus will also pertain to how

sorts of activities that might take place to

technology and social media might enhance

increase access to higher education and to

student learning.

ensure that students are “college-ready” when

focuses on what we shall call a “culture of

they go to university.

college-going.”

k-12

known

higher

education

We will first discuss cognitive

improve

and

non-cognitive

academic

(or

“college

performance.

The overall framework

“ ...policies and practices that might be employed to increase communication between k-12 and higher education organizations.”

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

THE ADAPTABLE MIND: EDUCATION AND THE DYNAMIC QUESTION Facilitators Mr Steven Harrison and Professor Kriben Pillay This workshop intends to be a far-reaching

We will look at the adaptable mind as a filter

investigation of our ideas about our inner and

designed to synthesize, create, collaborate,

outer lives in a talk and dialogue with Steven

empathize and feel, and not just memorize and

Harrison.

respond in a rote manner. Key components of

There will be two parts to the programme. The first will be a direct look at how each of us creates information in our conscious contact with the world, including the belief systems that limit us, and how dynamic questioning can alter our concepts. Secondly, we will look at how we can learn, teach and adapt in the face of a rapidly expanding information landscape and a radically changing society. To teach a mind to continuously adapt requires a whole new way of education; one that must reinvent itself in a dialogic process with teachers, students and society as a whole. The new

forms

schools

traditional learning. It encompasses: socializing,

cultivation

play,

awareness,

collaboration, self-direction and empathy. Yet all of these aspects are highly valued in society and the workplace and are recognized as invention,

innovative

communication,

creative

design,

workplace

management

and

leadership. Our group will engage in the very collaboration that the adaptable mind requires, and we will see firsthand both the resistance to, and the potential of, a new way of learning.

learning

Steven Harrison has given talks and workshops

and

choice,

all over the US and Europe for the past twenty

democratic decision-making, flexible learning

years. He is the author of The Happy Child,

modalities, relationship-based study, research

Doing Nothing, Being One, Getting to Where

and work, and the recognition that doing

You Are, The Questions to Life's Answers,

nothing is something, and that self-reflection is

What’s Next After Now?, The Shimmering

critically important.

World, and The Love of Uncertainty. His books

communities,

include:

educating the adaptable mind do not look like

self-direction

have been translated into thirteen languages.

“...the adaptable mind as a filter designed to synthesize, create, collaborate, empathize and feel, and not just memorize and respond in a rote manner.” 9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

ALTERNATIVE FORMS OF PRESENTING AT CONFERENCES: USING VISUAL AND ARTS-BASED APPROACHES

Facilitators Professor Michael Samuel and Dr Marinda Swart

The purpose of this workshop is to explore the

We argue that alternative forms of presentation

power of alternative presentation forms to

can

communicate ideas for and from research. The

methodologically and pragmatically potentially

dominant traditional formats of presentations at

opening up possibilities for new audiences and

conferences usually conforms to a particular set

the generation of new types of knowledge.

of academic conventions that include, written

Firstly, we explore why alternative forms of

and oral forms such as papers, round-table

presenting at conferences are considered as

discussions,

workshops

necessary

presentations.

Recently numerous scholars

and

poster

understood

for

theoretically,

knowledge

production,

development and dissemination.

Drawing on

across a range of disciplines in social science

examples

research have experimented with the realm of

presentations from previous conferences, we

alternative presentational forms such as visual

highlight possible design features such as the

and art-based approaches. This includes the use

content, guidelines, curatorial statement, self-

of alternative textual forms such as visual arts

explanatory formats and ethical issues. In the

(paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs,

second part of the conference, participants are

collages, installations) and performance formats

invited to engage in a short design brief activity

(dance,

on an alternative form of presentation for a

music,

mime,

drama,

performance

artistic

and

photographic

poetry). The written and the verbal text are

conference.

extended in these formats to include other forms

other researchers to engage in exploring the

of communication traditionally outside the realm

creative

of formal academia.

alternative forms of presentation at conferences.

It is our intention to encourage

and

critical

possibilities

“opening up possibilities for new audiences and the generation of new types of knowledge...”

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

using

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF GLOBAL MOBILITIES Facilitator Professor Fazal Rizvi In this workshop, we will examine some of the ways in which the global mobilities of people, ideas, money, objects and practices have become central to an understanding of the emerging social constitution of the institutions of higher education around the world. I will show how mobilities affect both the people who are mobile and those who are not. We will examine how these mobilities create various patterns of social differentiation and inequalities, both within and across nations. And finally we will explore how we might work with these mobilities, both building upon the opportunities they provide and meeting the challenges they pose.

WRITING GRANT PROPOSALS FOR TEACHING & LEARNING RESEARCH PROJECTS Facilitator Professor Julia Preece This is a two-hour, hands-on workshop designed to assist early researchers or researchers new to research in teaching and learning in higher education.

The presenter will take

participants through the various stages of structuring a research proposal, highlighting what grant funders are looking for in a ‘good’ proposal. Participants will have the opportunity to critique an unsuccessful proposal and compare this critique with a successful proposal. Although the focus will be on the requirements for the UKZN teaching and learning research grant, much of the content is generic for any research proposal. The presenter, Julia Preece, is Professor of Adult Education and Learning Projects Coordinator at the UKZN Teaching and Learning Office. She is a ‘B’ rated researcher by the National Research Foundation and has extensive experience of writing research proposals in the fields of adult education and community engagement.

She is an editorial board member and reviewer of several

international journals and has published extensively in the fields of adult education, lifelong learning and community engagement.

Her recent books include a co-edited book on

Community Engagement in African Universities (2012) and an authored book on Lifelong Learning and Development: a southern perspective (2009). 9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

ALIGNING HEALTH PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION WITH HEALTH SYSTEMS NEEDS Facilitators Professor Fanie Botha, Professor Sabiha Essack, Dr Penny Flack, Dr Bernhard Gaede, Dr Margaret Mathews, Dr Mosa Moshabela, Dr Thirusha Naidoo

The College of Health Sciences seeks to produce socially accountable, competent and relevant healthcare professionals equipped with disciplinary knowledge, technical skills, profession-specific and generic higher education competencies, values and attributes and aligned to the provincial and national health priorities, burden of disease and the health system. The College is further committed to offering undergraduate and postgraduate education that is community-based across the continuum of health care from primary and community health care to tertiary and specialized services. To this end, the College is in the process of undertaking a situational analysis on the nature and extent of (1) primary healthcare as mooted in the National Development Plan and translated in the current Department of Health Strategic Plan, (2) community-based training (in the primary healthcare model), (3) social accountability as defined by The Health Equity Network (THENet), generic competencies with an emphasis on communication, advocacy and leadership and social cohesion as mooted by the Department of Higher Education and Training. This workshop will discuss the results of the situational analysis with a view to curriculum review (content, pedagogy an assessment) and will take the format of brief plenary presentations followed by a panel discussion.

“ ...the results of the situational analysis with a view to curriculum review …”

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

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9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP TOWARDS A CLEARER POLICY ON THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

Over the past decade, there has been increased interest in the role of technology in education. The interest ranges all the way from multi-institution data analytics to the creation and implementation of games and animated simulations in classrooms. Relatively new concepts in computing such as Big Data and Cloud Computing may also have roles to play, and the potential of social media cannot be ignored. The introduction of computing hardware into the educational process also raises special issues including security and accessibility. In this session, we attempt to classify and organise the concepts that are proliferating in the space, as well as critically analyse the intention and overall objectives of the activity. We make the case that the “players” in field have had a significant time to experiment, and that it is high time to work toward a policy that will inform the evolution of this important aspect of education. The intention is to evaluate the emerging contributions through debate and constructive criticism so that educators who are not researchers in the field can form a more realistic understanding of the role of technology, as well as where they might contribute to the inception.

The following main aspects will be discussed: a)

Creation and application of games in education

13H50 – 14H20

Review of tech-trends and applications to education

14H20 – 14H50

Management of education

14H50 – 15H20

Policy development and objectives

15H20 – 15H50

The outcome of the discussions will be clear set of objectives and actions in the form of projects.

“...it is high time to work toward a policy that will inform the evolution of this important aspect of education. “

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

Professor Sarah Bansilal

Dr Jayaluxmi Naidoo

As editors of the conference proceedings for the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference (TLHEC), we wish to thank the Higher Education community for supporting the conference through the submission of over 20 conference proceedings papers. The papers feature a variety of Disciplines and topics ranging from Undergraduate Teaching and Learning, Postgraduate Teaching and Learning to Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; perceptions and Academic Collaboration. We offer particular thanks to the authors of the conference proceedings papers for your prompt submissions; this has allowed us to insert all accepted conference proceedings papers into this proceeding timeously. Additionally and importantly we wish to thank the Editorial Team for peer reviewing the conference proceedings papers and supporting the authors with revisions and suggestions. All papers were peer reviewed by at least two peer reviewers. We hope that you find the TLHEC enjoyable and useful to your ongoing work in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

E DITORS Dr Jayaluxmi Naidoo

Professor Sarah Bansilal

P EER R EVIEWERS Dr Sally Hobden

Dr Ash Singh-Pillay

Dr Ronicka Mudaly

Dr Mogie Subban

Dr Zanele Ndlovu

Mrs Lebala Kolobe

Dr Vinodhani Paideya

Ms Reshma Subbaye

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

25Â

GUIDELINES FOR CHAIRING AND PRESENTING A CONFERENCE SESSION Much of the success of the conference will rest on the efficiency with which we manage the limited time available to presenters and their audiences. We therefore urge the session chairpersons to recognize that they are the leaders of their sessions with the responsibility to maintain smooth progress according to a prearranged schedule in a courteous and professional manner. PRIOR TO YOUR SESSION:  Try to meet the presenters you will be

sharing the session with, at least 10-15 minutes before the start of your session.

 Encourage

attendees to complete the Evaluation Form (included in the conference bags) during your session.

 Discuss the method you will use to notify

them when they are nearing their presentation time limit and how you will interrupt them if they have reached the end of their allotted time. Try to leave time for pertinent questions and answers (especially if the talk is particularly inspiring or controversial).  Ensure

that you have uploaded your presentations to the resident Laptop. Check that your presentation can be projected on the screens provided. Please report any technical issues to the conference team member based at your venue.

 Please remember to inform the attendees in

your session that they are free to get up and move to another session after each talk. Two or three minutes should be allocated for this anticipated movement of people from session to session.

DURING EACH PRESENTATION (GUIDELINES FOR CHAIRPERSON):  Keep track of elapsed time during a

presentation:  At 15 minutes of a 20-minute talk, give a

*signal* to the speaker (could be card raised, or low voice). Allow at least 10 minutes for discussion time.

QUESTION/ANSWER PERIOD - THE SESSION CHAIR SHOULD:  Invite questions/comments.  Have at least one general question ready

for each speaker in order to help get the discussion off the ground, should the audience be reticent.  As the allotted time for the speaker's talk

WHEN YOUR SESSION BEGINS (GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTER/S)  Your audience will appreciate that you are in

charge and concerned about them and the quality of the session. If needed, politely encourage the audience to settle into their seats and conclude their conversations.  Introduce yourself as the presenter and give

your affiliation.

ends, initiate applause for the speaker.

AT THE END OF THE SESSION - THE SESSION CHAIR SHOULD:  When the last speaker's presentation and

questions/ answers have concluded, THANK the audience for attending.  Remind

attendees evaluations.

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

complete

their

DISTINGUISHED TEACHERS

Professor Michael Savage Michael Savage is a senior professor in Agrometeorology and a University Fellow in the School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Pietermaritzburg Campus. His service to UKZN started in 1975 as a junior lecturer. He has made contributions in research, teaching, and university administration. The focus of his research has been in agrometeorology, environmental biophysics, environmental plant sciences, soil physics and more recently research and teaching on visual literacy. He has lectured agrometeorology, atmospheric science, bio-resources, soil physics and irrigation science. In 2010, he was awarded the D.Sc.Agric. (senior doctorate) by UKZN for research over an extended period on sensible heat flux for estimating evaporation. The award was the first award in the history of UKZN. Over a period of twenty years, Mike has been Acting Dean, Assistant Dean, Acting DVC (Research and Knowledge Systems), Acting Head and Head of Department and Head of two Schools. In early 2011, Mike focussed on exploring ways of making lecturing content more alive, appealing and comprehensible to students, particularly those whose first language was not English. He developed an open web-based teaching, learning and research system for near real-time agrometeorological and environmental applications, mobile-learning, and visual literacy. He submitted the work for a M.Sc.Agric. which was awarded cum laude in April 2014 when he was 60!

Dr Anesh Maharaj Dr Maharaj has recently been promoted to Senior Lecturer. He has served as an associate member of the Multiversity Consortium linked to the HP Global Catalyst Initiative from 2010 to 2013. In 2010 he obtained a grant from the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) for the project Mathematics e-learning and Assessment: A South African Context. He is currently heading the UKZN Mathematics Education Research Group. He also manages grants from 2010 onwards of the Tertiary Education Support Programme (TESP) of ESKOM for the UKZN-ESKOM Mathematics Projects. He heads the NRF funded (2014-2016) collaborative project Online Diagnostics for Undergraduate Mathematics and mentors successful applicants for NRF internships from 2013 onwards to help with web-based diagnostics and research. His research interests include promoting effective teaching and learning in mathematics, advanced mathematical thinking, the use of APOS Theory to carryout studies in undergraduate mathematics, e-learning, diagnostics and assessment. Professor Savage’s Conference Presentation: Title: Using live data and a visually-based teaching, learning and research philosophy works for me Abstract Number: 109 Dr Maharaj’s Conference Presentation: Title: Investigating Mental Constructions towards Conceptual Understanding in Integral Calculus Abstract Number: 119

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

DISTINGUISHED STUDENTS

Ms Domonique De Klerk College of Health Sciences

Domonique de Klerk obtained her Bachelor of Occupational Therapy degree cum laude on 16 April 2015, proving herself as a high-flyer both academically and through responsible community engagement. The 22-year-old from Pietermaritzburg was amongst the UKZN Occupational Therapy students that took on the popular Youtube RAKnomination challenge, making the skydiving dream of wheelchair user, Daniel Ngcobo, come true when they dove out of a plane in parachutes in 2014. During her studies, de Klerk was also invited to the Golden Key International Honor Society, nominated for the Distinguished Student Award and received Deans Commendations for her second, third and fourth year, leading her to graduate cum laude. De Klerk was born in Pietermaritzburg and grew up in the Midlands. She said she was fortunate to attend the Wykeham Collegiate Boarding School for girls and was still grateful for the opportunity she was given to be sent to such a wonderful school as it prepared her well for ‘the real world’ – as is the school’s motto. ‘I want to make the profession of Occupational Therapy famous as I believe there are far too many people who have no idea what we do, even in our own work place. I’m driven by my parent’s sacrifice they made for me to enable me to receive the education I have. I want to make them proud.’ De Klerk is currently completing her Community Service year at GJ Crooks Hospital and would love to study further. ‘I have goals to complete my Masters and PHD as soon as I figure out what field I want to go into.

Mr Musa Kika

College of Law & Management Studies Musa Kika graduated in 2015 with an LLB summa cum laude, and was awarded the KwaZuluNatal Law Society Prize and the Abel Torf Prize for best overall LLB student. Graduating with a total of 37 distinctions and 21 certificates merits and numerous academic awards, he is an Ellie Newman Moot Court Competition finalist. A recipient of the Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship in 2012, Musa was named one of the 100 Brightest Young Minds of SA in 2011 by the Brightest Minds Organisation. In 2014, Musa was awarded the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship with which he is currently pursuing a research LLM in Public Law at the University of Cape Town. He is currently an Assistant Researcher with the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit, an applied research unit at UCT’s Faculty of Law, where he is involved, inter alia, in compiling reports on judges to be interviewed by the Judicial Services Commission, and monitoring the interview process of the JSC, as well as a scoping study to extend the same monitoring to other African countries. Musa attributes much of what he has achieved to UKZN’s learning experience, and believes the teaching he received at the School of Law gives him a competitive edge. He is soon to commence a career as a constitutional, administrative and human rights litigator, and in the longrun hopes to use his training and practise experience to contribute to the rule of law and good governance through global and regional institutions such as SADC, the African Union and the UN.

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

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9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

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9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

GENERAL INFORMATION CONFERENCE VENUE

DINNER

The main conference venue is the Great Ilanga, located on the first floor of the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani Hotel in Durban.

The Cocktail will take place in the Ocean Breeze Restaurant located on the Second Floor.

PARKING

The Conference Gala Dinner will take place in the Great Ilanga, the Main Conference Venue. Dress is smart-casual. Live entertainment will be provided.

Parking is provided on a first-come first-serve basis behind the Hotel. However, there is an undercover parking bays provided by the Hotel at a cost. Delegates are to bear their own parking costs. CONFERENCE HELPDESK The Conference Helpdesk is located at the Reception Area, on the First Floor. The Conference Helpdesk will be open for registration at 07h30 on Monday, 21 September, and daily thereafter from 08h00 to 17h00. NAME TAGS Please wear your name tag in plain view at all times. It serves as your entry-pass to ALL conference sessions, lunch, cocktail and dinner.

WIFI Wi-Fi access at Elangeni is available at an additional cost. Kindly visit the Hotel Reception on the Ground Floor for more information. CATERING Tea & Coffee will be served during breaks in the foyer on the First Floor of the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel. Lunches will be served on the Second Floor of Maharani Towers. Please do notify (the Conference Helpdesk) of any special dietary requirements, if you have not already done so.

EMERGENCIES In the event of an emergency, or if in need of medical attention; please alert the staff at the Conference Helpdesk. CELLPHONES Conference delegates are requested to switch off cellphones during conference presentations. NO SMOKING The Southern Sun Hotel has a strict NOSMOKING policy in all buildings. Delegates are requested to observe this policy. TIMEKEEPING There is a 5-minute allowance between presentation sessions to enable room changes. Presenters are requested to conclude their sessions timeously. Also, please remember that the real benefit to all participants derives from the interaction rather than lengthy presentations with minimal time for questions and answers. LOCAL TAXI COMPANIES Ukhezo

079 708 7551

Mozzie Cabs

031 303 5787

Eagle Taxiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

031 337 8333

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

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CONFERENCE COMMITTEES

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Professor Renuka Vithal

Ms Nondumiso Cele

Ms Christina Mulaudzi

Dr Rubby Dhunpath

Mr Lungelo Hadebe

Mr Siyabonga Ntombela

Mr Ebrahim Adam

Ms Corlia Ogle

Ms Nolwazi Nzama

Ms Tracey April

Mrs Silindile Mchunu

Ms Reshma Subbaye

ABSTRACT REVIEW PANEL

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Prof Sabiha Essack

Dr Nyna Amin

Dr Thabo Msibi

Dr Daisy Pillay

Prof Nobuhle Hlongwa

Dr Rubby Dhunpath

Dr Inba Naicker

Dr Serela Ramklass

Prof Bala Pillay

Dr Bheki Khoza

Dr Maheshvari Naidu

Dr Brian Shawa

Prof Kriben Pillay

Dr Langa Khumalo

Dr Frasia Oosthuizen

Mr Hilary Reynolds

Prof Randhir Rawatlal

Dr Mosa Moshabela

Dr Ansurie Pillay

Ms Reshma Subbaye

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

DAY 1 – MONDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 2015 KEY:

# : Abstract Reference Number DTA: Recipient of UKZN Distinguished Teacher Award PAPER PRESENTATION: 30 minutes: 20 minutes presentation for scholarly papers with 10 minutes discussion (2 presenters per 1 hour) WORKSHOP: 2 hours POSTERS: A2 Posters (displayed throughout the conference with presenters in attendance periodically) SESSIONAL CHAIRS: Each session has two presenters; each of the presenters will serve as Chair for the other (See Guidelines on Page 26 of Conference Handbook)

MAIN VENUE: Great Ilanga, First Floor, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban 07h30 – 08h45 08h45 – 08h55 08h55 – 09h10 09h10 – 09h30 09h30 – 10h30 10h30 – 10h40

REGISTRATION, TEA/COFFEE WELCOME: INTRODUCTION: OPENING ADDRESS: KEYNOTE ADDRESS: TITLE OF KEYNOTE: CHAIR:

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SESSION 1 10h45 – 11h45

First Floor, Conference Foyer, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani Hotel, Durban Dr Rubby Dhunpath, Director: Teaching and Learning, University of KwaZulu-Natal Professor Renuka Vithal, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, University of KwaZulu-Natal Dr Albert Van Jaarsveld, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of KwaZulu-Natal Professor Adam Habib, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Witwatersrand Developing a differentiated system in South African Higher Education (#27) Professor Renuka Vithal, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, University of KwaZulu-Natal

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Chair: N Ndimande-Hlongwa #10 A Bengesai, Z Bulbulia, RH Govender Effect of English Language on Academic Performance in Economics

Chair: N Manyoni #62 BY Mhlongo, ZP Nkosi Ukucwaninga ngesiZulu: Amatemu ocwaningo kanye nemithombo eshicilelwe ngolimi lwesiZulu

Chair: MW Maila #111 LB Shawa The challenge of graduate output in South African Higher Education: the dilemma of policy intervention

Chair: N Madonda #45 M Kortjass, J Mzimela, B Hadebe-Ndlovu & N Madonda Taking a 'selfie' into our practice: A collaborative self-study in Early Childhood Teacher…

Chair: J Van Wyk #22 DL Fewster, PG Govender & D Sing Learning Style: To know or Not to know, that is the question

Chair: D de Klerk #31 M Herbert Teaching and learning with clickers

Chair: RH Govender #77 H Ndebele & N NdimandeHlongwa An anatomy of language problems in the South African Higher Education landscape: A language management…

Chair: N Manyoni #78 ZP Nkosi Inqubomgomo Yolimi yeNyuvesi YaKwaZulu-Natali: Bukhona ubudlelwane phakathi kweNqubomgomo nokwenzeka eNyuvesi?

Chair: LB Shawa #51 MW Maila Describing and decomposing post-apartheid Higher Education challenges and opportunities in South Africa

Chair: N Madonda #28 BN Hadebe-Ndlovu Perceptions of male students about Early Childhood Education B. Ed Programme in UKZN

Chair: D Sing #74 D Naidoo &, J Van Wyk Using occupational therapy graduates’ experiences of community service to strengthen the curriculum

Chair: M Herbert #116 L Spark & D de Klerk Using Clickers in the Classroom: a study of first experiences

NORTH ILANGA

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Chair: BC Nnambooze #50 NE Madondo An Investigation of the Role of English Education Curriculum Choices on Teaching Practice: The Impact on Pedagogic…

Chair: A Singh-Pillay #52 S Makhanya My lived experience of mentoring in becoming a 21st century educator at a university of technology

Chair: P Narismulu #38 J Jawitz & T Perez Unearthing White Male Experience of Teaching in Higher Education in South Africa

Chair: MX Lethoko #11 R Bisaso Differentiation in Uganda’s Higher Education System? Perspectives from National Policy Agendas and…

Chair: M Seedat Khan #44 L Kolobe How best can I teach chemical equilibrium to pre-service teachers?

Chair: T Meskin #43 T Koch By the Numbers: Classroom Management Techniques for Encouraging Autonomous Learners In Language…

11h50 – 12h50

Chair: NE Madondo #57 TS Mbili, JZ Nxumalo & BC Nnambooze Enhancing undergraduate students’ academic writing skills: UKZN Collage of Law and Management Studies.

Chair: S Makhanya #54 L Masinga, T Chirikure, L Kolobe, M Kortjass, A SinghPillay Re-imagining professional development for early career academics through arts-based…

Chair: J Jawitz #76 P Narismulu An exciting time to be a teacher and learner

Chair: R Bisaso #47 MX Lethoko Tertiary institutions merger a big mistake’: Taking stock 13 years later: An investigation into the impact of mergers in the higher education landscape in SA

Chair: L Kolobe #110 M Seedat Khan Learning to Learn in Large classes

Chair: T Koch #60 T Meskin & TL van der Walt Teaching through absence: the gentle art of stepping out of the classroom

12h50 – 13h50

LUNCH – Maharani Hotel, Second Floor of the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban

SESSION 2

WORKSHOPS

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SESSION 3

#30 S Harrison & K Pillay The Adaptable Mind: Education and the Dynamic Question

#107 MA Samuel & M Swart Alternative forms of presenting at conferences: using visual and arts-based approaches

#94 R Rawatlal & H Reynolds (SIG) Towards a clearer policy on the role of technology in education

13h50 –15h50 SUITE 1

SESSION 4 15h55 -16h55

17h00 onwards

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NORTH ILANGA

Chair: G Hundermark #87 V Paideya Supporting SI leaders’ success using reflective journals in Chemistry SI spaces

Chair: JL Goebel #5 JW Badenhorst Learning Styles and Attitudes towards Active Learning of Students: Implications for…

Chair: K Pithouse-Morgan #32 A Hiralaal Using Metaphor Drawings To Better Understand My Practice In Order To Develop…

Chair: PW Hanekom #2 AA Adebayo The Challenges of ICT and Learning in Selected Universities in Nigeria

Chair: L Ilon #3 ET Akinyemi & S. Narsiah Securitizing Education: Human Security and Education in the Context of Climate Change…

Chair: S Mutereko #48 C Loggia & J Wassermann Towards a self-reliant market community in Durban - a 21st century cooperative learning…

Chair: V Paideya #34 G Hundermark Approaches to student success and throughput in the Faculty of Humanities in a SA university.

Chair: JW Badenhorst #23 JL Goebel, SM Maistry Crossing conceptual thresholds in Intermediate Microeconomics

Chair: A Hiralaal #90 D Pillay, I Naicker & K Pithouse-Morgan Self-knowledge creation through collective poetic inquiry…

Chair: AA Adebayo #29 PW Hanekom Piloting the use of PC Tablets in a Teacher Professional Learning initiative: Initial learnings

Chair: ET Akinyemi #36 L Ilon & M Kantini Sustainable Higher Education Systems in Poorly Resourced Communities: An Endogenous…

Chair: C Loggia #70 S Mutereko & V Wedekind Higher Education Responsiveness through Partnerships with Industry…

COCKTAIL EVENING Ocean Breeze Restaurant, Second Floor, Elangeni Hotel

DAY 2 – TUESDAY, 22 SEPTEMBER 2015 08h30 – 09h00

TEA/COFFEE – First Floor, Conference Foyer, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban

09h00 – 10h00

MAIN VENUE: Great Ilanga, First Floor, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban Professor William Tierney, University of Southern California KEYNOTE ADDRESS: The Challenge of Access: Praxis and Structure in Higher Education (#121) TITLE OF KEYNOTE: Dr Nyna Amin, University of KwaZulu-Natal CHAIR:

10h00 – 10h20

TEA/COFFEE – First Floor, Conference Foyer, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban

SESSION 5

WORKSHOPS

GREAT ILANGA

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#122 W Tierney Creating a Culture to Improve Student Performance: Increasing Access to Higher Education

#13 F Botha, S Essack, P Flack, B Gaede, M Mathews, M Moshabela & T Naidoo Aligning Health Professional Education with Health Systems Needs

#91 J. Preece Writing Grant Proposals for Teaching & Learning Research Projects

Early Career Academics (SIG)

10h20 – 12h20

12h25 – 13h25

MAIN VENUE: Great Ilanga, First Floor, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban Professor Narend Baijnath, CEO of the Council on Higher Education KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Teaching, Policy and Higher Education Development for 21st Century Learning TITLE OF KEYNOTE: Professor Murthi Maistry, University of KwaZulu-Natal CHAIR:

13h25 – 14h25

LUNCH – Maharani Hotel, Second Floor of the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban

SESSION 7

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SESSION 8 14h25 – 15h25

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Chair: SF Dlalisa #7 ZG Baleni The Role of Technology in a Constructivist Classroom

Chair: K Pithouse-Morgan #12 L Blignaut & M Du Bruyn TEL and the 21st Century Learner got engaged

Chair: C Stoltz-Urban #101 AJ Ross & G Pillay Troubling selection: towards a broader selection policy

Chair: ZG Baleni #18 SF Dlalisa & B Van Niekerk Factors affecting the postimplementation adoption and usage of Blackboard amongst..

Chair: M Du Bruyn #73 J Naidoo & K PithouseMorgan Revisiting our classroom spaces: Exploring the pedagogical potential of memory work

Chair: G Pillay #117 C Stoltz-Urban & S Gathua The identity of the non-traditional student: Client, partner or scholar?

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NORTH ILANGA

Chair: MJ Savage #55 L Spark, A Jones & D de Klerk Using Sakai to introduce Blended Learning into a Support Programme Chair: A Jones #109 MJ Savage Using live data and a visuallybased teaching, learning and research philosophy works for me

Chair: RH O'Hara #21 S Donnelly & J Wassermann Understanding Undergraduate Absenteeism at a Premier SA University Chair: S Donnelly #83 A Olaniran, O Zishiri & RH O'Hara Factors influencing lecture attendance of Life Sciences students

Chair: PG Nwokedi #41 ED Joubert Where is this wave taking us? Internationalisation and Globalisation in South African Higher Education Chair: ED Joubert #79 PG Nwokedi & FP Khanare Factors (Dis) enabling international postgraduate students’ learning experiences in a South African university…

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SESSION 9 15h30 – 16h30

Chair: L Sosibo #25 N Govender, R Mudaly & A James Preservice teachers’ experiences of the inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge holders’ participation in the academy… Chair: R Mudaly #115 L Sosibo & A Mwanza Inclusion of a community of practice in the digitization of indigenous knowledge…

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SESSION 10 16h30 – 17h30

From 17h30

SUITE 2 Chair: M Romanowski #80 LB Ogunsanya & MA Samuel Rethinking the architectural literacy of higher education institutions: A case study of UKZN: Howard College Chair: LB Ogunsanya #98 M Romanowski Neoliberalism and Western Accreditation: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Educational Leadership…

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Chair: C Bertram #49 BP Mabaso & BP Alant ACE technology educators’ understanding of the design process and its influence on their pedagogical practice in KZN Chair: BP Mabaso #16 IM Christiansen, T Mukeredzi & C Bertram What knowledge should Foundation Phase teachers…

Chair: M Subban #81 RH O'Hara, GK Moodley & DV Robertson-Andersson Do glossaries enhance the teaching and learning of students in a life science context? Chair: GK Moodley #118 M Subban & V Padayachee Assisting students with discipline-specific literacies in Science…

SUITE 5 Chair: S Ramklass #26 C Gwaindepi & T Mabila Students’ understanding of mixed methods design in research Chair: T Mabila #93 S Ramklass Evaluation of research skills on entrance into research programmes

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Chair: M Jordaan #69 M Mtshali Online Discussion Forum: A strategy to support learning in Business Management Education

Chair: L Ronnie #71 SKK Mwendwa Discovering the Elephant: Profiling as an Inner Technology

Chair: E Adam #14 JG Chaka & I Govender The Utility of Mobile Devices and Social Networking Media in Nigeria: The case of Colleges of Education

Chair: AM Saarela #84 D Onen Supervising Graduate Students Employing Quantitative Research Techniques: The Core Issues

Chair: TE Sommerville #128 MJ Greaves, M Ayamba, J Grant & W Warmington Lessons from Engaging First Year Initial Teacher Trainee students in co-creating curricular that embed equality…

Chair: ST Kisaka #75 J Naidoo Exploring the use of teaching and learning technologies in Higher Education: A case study of one university

Chair: M Mtshali #40 M Jordaan Using Blackboard Collaborate as a reflection tool in a servicelearning module

Chair: SKK Mwendwa #99 L Ronnie Doctors and the MBA: A qualitative exploration of enrolment choices

Chair: JG Chaka #1 E Adam, J Wassermann & C Blewett An Investigation of UKZN Students’ Adoption and Utilisation of Personal Cloud Technologies

Chair: D Onen #104 AM Saarela & M Vidgren The Open Innovation Space Approach – Providing Positive Learning Experiences for Students, Educators and Entrepreneurs by Collaborating…

Chair: M Ayamba #114 TE Sommerville Language change in identity formation: the paradox of professionalism

Chair: JG Chaka #129 ST Kisaka An exploration of honour’s student’s critique of a proposal using the discussion forum

GALA DINNER Great Ilanga, First Floor, Elangeni Hotel

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NORTH ILANGA Chair: BB Bontle Monnanyane #24 TP Govender, V Mudaly & N Dorasamy Videos: An Exploratory Study of the use of Video as a Learning Technology in an Introductory Programming … Chair: V Mudaly #61 LM Mhakamuni Khoza, K Sikonkwane & BB Bontle Monnanyane Finding your feet in a technology learning environment

NORTH ILANGA

DAY 3 – WEDNESDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 2015 08h30 – 09h00

TEA/COFFEE – First Floor, Conference Foyer, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban

SESSION 11 09h00 – 10h00

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: TITLE OF KEYNOTE: CHAIR: SUITE 1

MAIN VENUE: Great Ilanga, First Floor, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban Professor Herbert Chimhundu, Chinhoyi University of Technology African Languages, ICTs and The Academy: Perspectives from Lexicography, Terminology and Living Heritage (#15) Dr Langa Khumalo, Director: University Language Planning & Development Office, University of KwaZulu-Natal SUITE 2 SUITE 3 SUITE 4

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Chair: H Reynolds #68 LC Mthethwa Teaching practice challenges through distance education

Chair: D Onen #103 P Rule Nelson Mandela and dialogic lifelong learning: Implications for higher education

Chair: H Tarr #64 M Moodley Teaching mathematics to future engineers: a constraint or catalyst to learning?

Chair: L Ronnie #67 MN Mthembu, N Ngcobo & B Seepamoore Restructuring and strengthening the implementation of group work field practice for 3rd year…

Chair: RW Thabane #108 MA Samuel & M Swart Early professional learning narratives of two novice teachers as Funza Lushaka Bursary holders

10h05 – 11h05

Chair: LC Mthethwa #95 H Reynolds No Lecturer Left Behind

Chair: P Rule #85 D Onen Debating: A Multi-skilling Teachinglearning Strategy Often Neglected by University Teachers in Uganda

Chair: M Moodley #119 H Tarr & A Maharaj Investigating Mental Constructions towards Conceptual Understanding in Integral Calculus

Chair: MN Mthembu #100 L Ronnie Collaboration in group work? Postgraduate student experiences

Chair: M Swart #120 RW Thabane & P Mollo Mentoring for professional growth during Teaching Practice: Perceptions of CUT student teachers…

11h05 – 11h20

TEA/COFFEE – First Floor, Conference Foyer, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban

SESSION 12

SESSION 13 11h20 – 12h20

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Chair: C Kazunga #124 DC Van Graan Exploring inquiry based education in a professional learning programme for…

Chair: T Rajoo #113 A Singh-Pillay Tracing the use of systems diagram to teach polymers in technology education

Chair: M Sibanda #125 R Venugopala & M Moshabela Strategies adopted by learners to succeed in the medical education…

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Chair: KR Tsunga #46 C Lathleiff The efficacy of simulation as pedagogy in facilitating auditing students’ learning

Chair: D de Klerk #106 SC Sabi, U Kolanisi & M Siwela Investigating Perceptions of Food Insecurity Complexities in South African Higher Learning Institutions: UKZN

Chair: DC Van Graan #42 C Kazunga, S Bansilal Undergraduate Mathematics preservice teachers’ understanding of matrix operations

Chair: A Singh-Pillay #89 K Pierce & T Rajoo Examining the level of Technological Knowledge[TK] of Economic and Management Sciences …

Chair: R Venugopala #112 M Sibanda An inquiry into compartmentalization in university learning: Experiences and views

Chair: C Lathleiff #123 KR Tsunga & MC Simelane Learning Styles among Finance Students

Chair: SC Sabi #39 A Jones & D de Klerk 21st Century Student versus Academic - A South African University Perspective

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Chair: TP Pacho #9 Y Bello & BZ Oseni A Practical Demonstration of Microsoft Excel in Teaching and Learning of Statistics: The case of Simple Regression Analysis

Chair: GG Darong #102 M Royan, R Asmal & A Rippon Ethics and Leadership: Developing a Universal Code for an Evolving Africa

Chair: D Ramdeholl #65 T Moodley & MA Samuel Conceptions of doctoral curriculum design: A case study at a research-intensive university

Chair: MJ Pienaar #6 C Bagwandeen & V Singaram Feedback: an integral component affecting the quality and outcomes of post-graduate medical training

Chair: Y Bello #86 TP Pacho Service-learning in higher education in Zimbabwe

Chair: A Rippon #17 GG Darong& M Naidu Challenges in nurses’ clinical decision-making: the role of cultural understandings of health and illness

Chair: MA Samuel #92 D Ramdeholl, J Jones & T Heaney Reimagining Doctoral Education as a Practice of Adult Education

Chair: V Singaram #88 MJ Pienaar Planning for assessment induction: an analysis of existing practices and lecturers’ views

MAIN VENUE: Great Ilanga, First Floor, Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban Reflections, Concluding Remarks & Closure

13h25 – 14h00

LUNCH – Maharani Hotel, Second Floor of the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani, Durban

POSTERS: East Ilanga (On Display for Duration of Conference) Abstract#

Author/s

Title

Abstract#

Author/s

Title

Through the eyes of a differently-abled university student: Assessing physical spaces using Smart Growth Theory Practical exercises to enhance learner visualization of chemical DNA synthesis Teaching pedagogies that facilitate the process of learning: student perspectives in the College of Management Studies

M Mokhomo

Combating the Underpreparedness of University Entry Students: An Extended Programme at CUT

127

A James

Constructing and using phronesis for teacher professional development

A Nadar, MA Tufts & SB Higgins-Opitz

Moodle®, Health Science students and physiology: Do they mix? Some preliminary data

T Dlungwane, A Voce, R Searle & J Wassermann

Early departure from a Masters in Public Health programme

OE Okeke-Uzodike & M Subban

The Impact of Entrepreneurial Curriculum Development in Institutions of Higher Learning in South Africa

E Hoffman

Teacher/student teacher self-reflection and mentor/lecturer observation as flip sides of a practice-based, professional learning and mentoring coin

105

AM. Saarela, J Lockyer & H McMahon

R Ismail & R Mudaly

126

RD Wario

WMS Manduna

MT Mathebula

SR Mchunu

NT April & NT Vilakazi

M Balmith, M Ariatti & AS Gupthar

MB Dlamini & TS Mbili

Exploring how science teachers engage in curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education A technologically enriched lesson: Perceptions on the use of WhatsApp and Skype on teaching practice The Impact of the Economics Bilingual Tutorials on Student Academic Performance

TRADEIT’s Small Business Technology Transfer and Research Model Providing Network Collaboration between Higher Education Institutes and Industry Using tablets to transform teaching and learning at a rural South African university The impact of Technology on the New and Future Generations

University of KwaZulu‐Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#1. An Investigation of UKZN Students’ Adoption and Utilisation of Personal Cloud Technologies

#2. The Challenges of ICT and Learning in Selected Universities in Nigeria

E. Adam, J. Wassermann & C. Blewett University of KwaZulu-Natal

AA. Adebayo University of Zululand

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

The personal cloud is a rapidly emerging computing model which enables the utilisation of online resources for organising and sharing information and media. Personal cloud technology has the potential to enhance higher education, from both academic and support perspectives. The benefits of the personal cloud include cost savings in terms of infrastructure and maintenance, easier collaboration and wider access to information and multimedia stored in the cloud, redundancy and protection from data loss, and enhanced innovation. Despite its rapid emergence and the realisation of these benefits by universities globally, there is limited research on the adoption and utilisation of personal cloud technologies, particularly by university students in a developing country. Adopting a quantitative approach and the Personal Cloud Adoption Model (PCAM) as the theoretical lens, this paper presents the findings obtained from a descriptive analysis of questionnaire responses of 137 students at various levels of their university study. Despite uncertainty around cloud trust, cloud accessibility and social influence, it was found that students’ personal cloud adoption rate was 88.3%. However, their adoption of the personal cloud for personal tasks far surpassed adoption for academic tasks. Furthermore, it was found that existing conditions, from an infrastructure and academic perspective, were not favourable for the cloud-adopting student. We propose that the realisation of the benefits of the personal cloud lies in a harmonised approach involving various university stakeholders. We argue that since the personal cloud is a fundamental technology in the future of higher education, it is necessary for universities to reconsider their approach towards technology and the cloud-adopting student. Furthermore, since the personal cloud has the potential to enhance learning, we advocate the need for an shift from instructivistbased pedagogies towards embracing constructivist-based pedagogies driven by technologies already familiar to students.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become essential elements of all aspects of human life. The use of ICT has fundamentally changed the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of endeavour within education, business, governance and the civil service. While ICT has established a presence in education in Nigeria, its impact has not been as extensive as in other fields of endeavour. The global shift to digital media and information has rendered ICT’s role in education more important and urgent. The study examined the use of ICT for learning at four Universities in Nigeria. It revealed that despite the keenness of some institutions of higher learning in Nigeria to establish effective ICT education programs, they are confronted with enormous problems that impede the proper implementation of these programs. These range from poor ICT penetration and usage among Nigerian higher education practitioners, to the lack of electricity to power ICT materials and poor telecommunication facilities, insufficient funding to procure ICT equipment for learning, and a lack of readiness on the part of government. The paper contends that the various constraints to ICT utilisation should receive prominent and urgent attention in order for ICT to play its lofty role as a change agent for Nigerian tertiary institutions. It recommends that government should increase educational funding as UNESCO recommended that 26% percent of the annual budget should be allocated to education. Furthermore, government should work hard to ensure a stable power supply and University administrators should embark on intensive training of staff on the use of ICT. Keywords: challenges; learning; information and communication technology

Keywords: personal cloud; emerging technology; higher education

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#3. Securitizing Education: Human Security and Education in the Context of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Priorities

#4. Through the Eyes of a Differently-abled University Student: Assessing Physical Spaces Using Smart Growth Theory

ET. Akinyemi & S. Narsiah University of KwaZulu-Natal

NT. April, NT. Vilakazi University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Theme: 3. Collaborative quality enhancement for systemic change in Higher Education: Prospects and possibilities

In recent decades, there has been significant progress in advancing human security through the deployment of educational frameworks and civic awareness campaigns. The health sector appears to have gained the most in this regard with curricular prioritization, mass awareness campaigns and various educational interventions adopted in preventing or combating epidemics and diseases such as Ebola, HIV/AIDS, polio, and tuberculosis, particularly in developing countries. This innovative engagement of society speaks to the fact that, in the face of new challenges, human security rests on effective social penetration of information towards attitudinal transformation that helps reduce risk and mitigate security threats. Climate change presents immense threats to human security and has held global attention in governance, civil society and policy circles where the search for effective options for mitigation and adaptation remain a priority. The importance of human agency in both reversing the anthropogenic causes of climate change and in addressing the mitigation and adaptation problems of attendant threats underscores the prospects of education and informed mass reorientation for attitudinal change and enhanced security. Using secondary data, this paper examines curricular and civil society-led interventions on climate change mitigation and adaptation in Africa. It appraises notable public processes and highlights the prospects of curricular intervention in expanding knowledge on climate change, its threats, mitigation and adaptation. The paper makes a case for the securitization of climate change education through security-sensitive, educational intervention and curricular reforms.

Navigating university spaces is often challenging for students with physical disabilities, which may affect their socializing, sense of belonging on campus, self-esteem and confidence. Some studies in social behavior have argued that learning environments are potential moderators for attitudes and self-esteem as they relate to academic achievement. Smart Growth Theory is an urban planning heuristic device used to promote and ensure development activities that yield an improved quality of life, environmental sensitivity, economic revitalization and sense of community. Most importantly, Smart Growth promotes the creation of accessible and inclusive communities where differently-abled people can easily navigate and access necessary resources and services. The study employed a qualitative approach to examine physical access to spaces on one university campus using photographs. In order to understand the impact of physical access to spaces, an in-depth interview was conducted with a differently-abled student. The findings show that, overall, campus spaces are designed for the average user (abledstudent), with limited physical spaces that allow for accessible and inclusive experiences for every one using that space. The poster signifies that much work needs to be done to create inclusive physical spaces that promote a sense of belonging for all students, which impacts on their academic progression and achievement. This approach challenges the conventional practice of having exclusive spaces, which contradicts the stated university vision to achieve a diverse community of students, and to develop and maintain an accessible and safe built environment in which all (including differently-abled) students can participate in all spheres of university life.

Keywords: climate change; education; security

Keywords: students with disabilities; accessibility; Smart Growth Theory

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#5. Learning Styles and Attitudes Towards Active Learning of Students: Implications for Design and Instruction

#6. Feedback: An Integral Component Affecting The Quality And Outcomes Of Post-Graduate Medical Training

JW. Badenhorst Central University of Technology

C. Bagwandeen & V. Singaram University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Theme: 10. New directions and advances in Health Sciences Education

Widening access of a diverse student population to Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in South Africa implies an increasing need for flexibility in instruction and course design to challenge both students and lecturers to utilize a wide range of learning and teaching styles. This study reports on students’ learning styles and their attitude towards active learning in terms of the four dimensions of the Index of Learning Styles (ILS), namely, active-reflective, sensing-intuitive, visual-reflective and sequential-global. Methods of teaching that employ students’ activity are widely advocated by researchers as facilitating more effective learning than traditional teachercentred methods. It is hypothesised that students may resist active learning because they may be more familiar and more comfortable with passive learning, such as listening to an entire class period of lecturing. This study made use of an exploratory, descriptive design. By means of questionnaires, data were collected from a purposefully and a conveniently selected sample of 150 students at a university in South Africa. It is believed that knowledge of students' learning style preferences and attitudes towards active learning can aid tertiary institutions in class preparation, designing class delivery methods, choosing appropriate technologies and developing sensitivity to different student learning style preferences within the institution.

The Transformative Learning paradigm requires that Professional Education and Medical Education in particular, implement enabling actions, including educational reforms in instruction. A critical cornerstone is the way in which feedback is mutually given and received by faculty and students. Feedback may be defined as information provided by an agent (e.g., teacher, peer, book, parent, self, experience) regarding aspects of one’s performance or understanding, with the implicit aim of improving such performance. In combining instruction with constructive criticism which incorporates a plan for how to improve performance, the process moves beyond an evaluative assessment of past performance to a correctional review. This study employed a mixed methods (quantitative and qualititative) approach toinvestigate the value of giving and receiving feedback in postgraduate medical education. Online questionnaires and interviews were conducted with all registrars and consultants in the six major clinical training programmes at the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine to determine the participants’ perceptions of the quality, efficacy and effectiveness of feedback both given and received during clinical training. A preliminary analysis of the data collected indicates that perceptions of the quality of feedback received differ across disciplines The majority of the registrars agreed that feedback was important to their clinical prowess but that more formalized processes needed to be implemented. Consultants agreed that feedback was integral to training, but cited lack of training in providing feedback, heavy clinical loads and lack of support structures as impediments to the process. It is thus concluded that feedback is as an essential component of medical education. Inadequacy of feedback, dissatisfaction with the process, training on feedback and responses to feedback are gaps that require further study.

Keywords: learning styles; active learning; attitudes

Keywords: feedback; post-graduate medical education; outcomes

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#7. The Role of Technology in a Constructivist Classroom

#8. Practical Exercises to Enhance Learner Visualization of Chemical DNA Synthesis

ZG. Baleni Walter Sisulu University

M. Balmith; M. Ariatti & AS. Gupthar University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

Technology has changed the way we teach and the way we learn. The use of internet, social media and mobile technologies is common these days among students; lecturers need to find pedagogical approaches to integrate these technologies for academic purposes. With the higher education landscape changing in terms of student expectations and teaching methods, learning theories like constructivism are crucial to underpin this trend. Constructivism states that learners actively construct their own knowledge and meaning from their experiences, while technology refers to the designs and environments that engage learners. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of technology in a constructivist classroom and how lecturers use learning theories to enable more effective use of technology leading to constructivism as a framework for educational technology. The paper is conceptual highlighting the importance of the theory of constructivism in a classroom scenario due to innovations in technologies. There is a close relationship between technology and constructivism, the implementation of each one benefiting the other. However, using technology in the classroom by itself is not effective unless the lecturer has a theory to model the instruction with. It is not what equipment is used, but how the equipment is used which makes it relevant to a constructivist classroom.

This project addresses the difficulties experienced by senior undergraduate students studying Biochemistry at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville campus). The study sought to determine if the use of external representations (ERs), has the potential to identify, enhance and remediate students’ conceptual reasoning and visual skill difficulties with a particular focus on chemical synthesis of DNA, a topic taught by the supervisors of this project. Their experiences identified certain recurring difficulties encountered by students, which highlight the need for remedial action. The methodological four-level classification framework outlined by Grayson et al. (2001) describes these as level 2 suspected difficulties. Verification was achieved by inductive analysis making use of general probes (free response), focused probes and interviews which use learner generated diagrams (LGDs) to ascertain the nature of the difficulties and to establish the prevalence of these difficulties among the current cohort of students. Propositional knowledge was used as a guide in assessing the nature of the difficulties. Laboratory exercises, model building sessions and further interviews were conducted to gain more information on the nature of the learning difficulty and to determine if conceptual change had taken place. Data obtained from pre-remediation assessments confirmed a high incidence of difficulties, including rote learning, substitution errors, a lack of understanding, incorrect structural detail, syntheses of new unfound words, conjecture, the use of shorthand notations and abbreviations without definition, inappropriate information transfer, poor differentiation, superficial learning and a lack of knowledge assimilation. The results and analysis of the post-remediation assessment to determine the efficacy of the remedial exercises and their impact on students’ understanding of the topic will be presented.

Keywords: technology; constructivism; learning theory

Keywords: biochemistry; conceptual; remedeation

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#9. A Practical Demonstration of Microsoft Excel in Teaching and Learning of Statistics: The Case of Simple Regression Analysis

#10. Effect of English Language on Academic Performance in Economics A. Bengesai; Z. Bulbulia & RH. Govender University of KwaZulu-Natal

Y. Bello1 & BZ. Oseni2 1 Federal University Dutsin-ma & 2The Polytechnic, Ibadan

Theme: 8. Language policy, planning and implementation in Higher Education: Complexities, challenges and possibilities

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

Limited language proficiency has been identified as the primary reason for academic underperformance in South Africa, especially amongst African students. This is because the medium of instruction is predominantly English, suggesting that students have the added burden of learning both an opaque language of instruction and disciplinary practices. While acknowledging that academic literacies has been the subject of academic scholarship for many years, a reading of the literature shows that the analyses have focused on the qualitative aspects of the relationship between language and academic performance. Furthermore, few studies have investigated the effect of English language on academic performance in contentbased subjects in the South African context. Using statistical analyses, this study explored the effect of language proficiency (as measured by the English Language Development Course at the University of KwaZulu-Natal) on academic performance in Micro-Economics. The sample consisted of students registered for the Bachelor of Commerce Foundation Programme in 2014 (n=237). The ELDV course focuses on critical thinking and logical reasoning, skills that are deemed critical in Micro-Economics. Performance was measured through class tests and examinations. Using these as data, cross tab frequency distributions and the chi square test of significance were run. This was followed by a correlation analysis of the effect of language on academic performance in Economics. Statistically, there exists a significant relationship (albeit moderate for overall performance and weak for the class tests) between students’ overall performance in both courses (r(235) =0.432, pvalue=0.000; r(235)=0.279, pvalue, 0.000). It should be noted that the two courses were taught independently; this might account for this moderate relationship. However, and in spite of such, the results indicate the need to improve students’ language proficiency as a way to improve their academic performance. Moreover, the results point to the need for academic literacy courses which balance language and content instruction.

The paper focuses on a practical demonstration of Microsoft Excel in the teaching and learning of statistics in the introductory courses in higher institutions of learning. The method uses the simple mathematical functions of Microsoft Excel to program the steps involved in the manual calculation of simple linear regression analysis. It complements conventional statistical packages (such as Minitab and SPSS) that produce outputs without the steps, in the effective teaching and learning of statistics. The step-by-step programming of the statistical method allows for simple and quick manipulation of a problem, and simultaneously allows for visual observations of the changes in all the steps involved from the beginning to the final output. This computer-assisted instruction serves as an additional teaching tool for lecturers and it is hoped that it will improve students’ learning capacity. Keywords: microsoft excel in teaching statistics; computer-assisted instruction; simple regression analysis

Keywords: english language proficiency; academic performance; economics

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#11. Differentiation in Uganda’s Higher Education System? Perspectives from National Policy Agendas and Institutional Strategies

#12. TEL and the 21st Century Learner Got Engaged L. Blignaut & M. Du Bruyn Midrand Graduate Institute

R. Bisaso Makerere University

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils Theme: 2. Revisiting differentiation in Higher Education. What have we learnt from practice? Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) has become a very real part of the 21st Century learner’s education, with particular focus on higher education. The continuous advancement of technology is inevitable and so is its presence in education. Hence, it is important to find new and innovative ways of facilitating learning, using technology to enhance learning and different ways of using instructional design. This study investigates the practical application of TEL and aims to answer the question, does TEL foster student engagement and learning? A first year module, Introduction to Tourism, was used as the platform for this study. The module was presented purely through TEL. Online resources and interactive electronic learning opportunities were the primary medium of instruction, paired with regular weekly lecturer contact sessions. No prescribed material was used; however, the resources employed were customised to ensure that all module outcomes were still achieved. After the completion of the module, students were required to complete a post-course evaluation which focused on six critical areas; Course Structure and Content, Quizzing, Navigation, Multimedia, Visual Design and Overall Experience. The students’ assessments were also reviewed. The results of the study indicated that students found the course very interesting and a new experience. Internet infrastructure emerged as a variable that had a noteworthy impact on students’ perceptions and there was also some indication that students are still shackled by their past experiences of physical resources. The study showed clearly that the implementation of TEL should take into consideration the student’s background as well as the myth of the digital native. When implemented successfully, TEL offers prospects for whole brain learning and increased involvement for multiple intelligence in the classroom.

Higher education is a key strategic pillar for the transformation of society. This has been accelerated through the development of dual higher education systems comprising of academic and technical institutions. Such dichotomy is essential in the production of appropriate knowledge and skills to address the changing socio-economic asymmetries in subSaharan Africa. However, in Uganda, some of the formerly well-established and regionally distributed teacher and technical training colleges have been merged and/or upgraded into universities. Such a contradiction illuminates the dilemmatic of understanding and harnessing the merits that can accrue from differentiated higher education systems. Empirically, the paper explores perspectives from national development frameworks and higher education policy agendas to elucidate the extent of differentiation. Conversely, institutional strategic plans and documents are examined to shed light on the existing patterns in Uganda’s higher education institutional space. It is apparent that, Uganda’s tertiary education is ‘an emerging trinary system’ comprising of universities, non-university polytechnic-type institutions; and teachers’ training colleges/colleges of commerce. However, there is limited complementarity among the three sub-systems to constructively engage in regional and national innovation systems development. Furthermore, the institutions that have been upgraded to university status have experienced mission confusion and overload as they endeavour to address regional (local) development needs and reposition to contribute to knowledge-based societies nationally and internationally. Overall, there is homogeneous strategic emphasis on higher education institutions’ contribution to social change, but with variations in leadership and management capacities to realise this mission. Finally, the paper elaborates the implications for engagement of stakeholders in Uganda’s innovation system and more specifically, the need for capacity development in higher education leadership and management in an emerging, differentiated system.

Keywords: technology enhanced learning; 21st century learner; digital native

Keywords: higher education; differentiation; strategic plans

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#14. The Utility of Mobile Devices and Social Networking Media in Nigeria: The Case of Colleges of Education

#13. Aligning Health Professional Education with Health Systems Needs F. Botha, S. Essack, P. Flack, B. Gaede, M. Mathews, M. Moshabela & T. Naidoo University of KwaZulu-Natal

JG. Chaka & I. Govender University of KwaZulu-Natal

WORKSHOP Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils The College of Health Sciences seeks to produce socially accountable, competent and relevant healthcare professionals equipped with disciplinary knowledge, technical skills, professionspecific and generic higher education competencies, values and attributes and aligned to the provincial and national health priorities, burden of disease and the health system. The College is further committed to offering undergraduate and postgraduate education that is community-based across the continuum of health care from primary and community health care to tertiary and specialized services. To this end, the College is in the process of undertaking a situational analysis on the nature and extent of (1) primary healthcare as mooted in the National Development Plan and translated in the current Department of Health Strategic Plan, (2) community-based training (in the primary healthcare model), (3) social accountability as defined by The Health Equity Network (THENet), generic competencies with an emphasis on communication, advocacy and leadership and social cohesion as mooted by the Department of Higher Education and Training. This workshop will discuss the results of the situational analysis with a view to curriculum review (content, pedagogy an assessment) and will take the format of brief plenary presentations followed by a panel discussion.

The rationale for the integration of technology in education is to facilitate the attainment of educational outcomes, hence Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) (Price and Kirkwood, 2010). The application of technology in education has two dimensions - the learning device such as a computer or mobile phones which are used for interaction and the learning management aplications which provide interactive services for learning. Traditionally, conventional learning applications such as moodle and blackboard, among others, were used to provide interactive services to learners. However, with the growing popularity of social networkning media in recent times, their utility as learning media is gaining grounds in the research domain in the midst of concerns regarding security and privacy (Mazman & Usruel 2010; Sánchez, Cortijo, & Javed 2014). While research in this area, which has mostly been conducted in the developed world (such as Klopfer, Osterweil, Groff, & Haas, 2009; Lam, 2012; Buzzetto-More, 2012; West, 2012) has shown that the use of social media as interactive tools can positively impact on teaching and learning, similar investigations in parts of the developing world such as Nigeria will further contribute to current knowledge. As part of a its preliminary investigation for a PhD project, this study investigates the utility of social networking media by stakeholders (students, lecturers and management) of colleges of education in Nigeria. Using a population of 370 participants, a questionnaire was used to ascertain (i) what services stakeholders use their mobile devices for (ii) the various social networking media that stakeholders use their mobile devices to access. The results reveal that stakeholders use their mobile devices for (i) voice communications, sending SMSs, MMSs and browsing educational materials (ii) accessing a number of social networking media, with Facebook having the highest percentage of patronage by students and lecturers and 50% by management.

Keywords: technology enhanced learning; social networking media; colleges of education

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#15. African Languages, ICTs And the Academy: Perspectives from Lexicography, Terminology and Living Heritage

#16. What Knowledge Should Foundation Phase Teachers Learn and How Should They Learn it?

H. Chimhundu Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences

IM. Christiansen1, T. Mukeredzi2, C. Bertram3 Stockholm University; 2Durban University of Technology & 3University of KwaZulu-Natal

KEYNOTE

Theme: 7. Responsive and Innovative Pedagogies in Higher Education

This paper summarises reflections on 35 years of teaching, research and language raising through lexicography, terminology and advocacy, and the limit to what specialists can achieve on their own. To go beyond that limit, radical intervention by the academy is needed to invoke ICTs, specifically human language technology (HLT), not only to bring African languages into the information society, but also to link indigenous knowledge and living heritage [intangible cultural heritage (ICH)] with other forms of knowledge within mainstream academia. Institutions of higher learning are highly respected and their work impacts on policy. They also have the capacity to develop such HLT applications in a manner that can incorporate product development, entrepreneurship and innovation in pedagogy to include digital gadgets, tools and games that are appealing and can be scaled down to the school level. This is what it will take to break out of the vicious cycle of rhetoric that has trapped both politicians and academics in post-colonial Africa for decades. The conventional departments of linguistics or African languages and literature cannot by themselves demonstrate enough utilitarian value to reverse prevalent negative attitudes or lack of belief by the speakers and lack of political will by the ruling elite. Such is the way of the world today, never mind the immense intrinsic value of the languages themselves and the cultures that they convey; and never mind the consensus that culture and local knowledge are important for sustainable development, a view that is strongly endorsed by the African Union in the Language Plan of Action for Africa (2006) and in Agenda 2063 (aspiration 5). To illustrate the practicalities, the presenter will refer to the work of three new units at his own university that have been set up to deal with language, indigenous knowledge and living heritage as cross-cutting issues.

This paper presents an analysis of the literacy and mathematics modules that students study in the Advanced Certificate for Teaching (ACT) for Foundation Phase teachers. The objective of the study is to understand what knowledge is privileged in these modules, how this knowledge is structured and organised, and how the teachers are expected to learn it. The ACT is a twoyear, part-time qualification for teachers. They register as part time students who engage with text-based materials and meet for face-to-face contact sessions on Saturdays and during school holidays for two years. We undertook a qualitative analysis of the modules, using the overarching concepts of Bernstein’s regulative and instructional discourses as well as the domains of propositional and practical knowledge. Within the regulative discourse, we analyse the narratives the modules endorse about the ‘ideal’ Foundation Phase teacher, as well as the narratives about the nature of literacy and mathematics, and what it means to teach and learn these subjects. Within the instructional discourse, we analyse both propositional and practical domains of knowledge. Within the propositional knowledge that is taught, we analyse the quantity and nature of the semantically dense concepts that are presented, as well as the extent to which the concepts are presented in concrete and contextualised ways (strong semantic gravity) or in universalised and abstract ways (weak semantic gravity). With regard to practical knowledge, we analyse the extent to which activities foreground the concepts or the context. Thus the analytic tools draw on Bernstein (2000), Maton (2009) and the field of teacher professional knowledge (Shalem 2014, Winch 2014, Muller 2012). Keywords: professional knowledge; foundation phase; teachers

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#17. Challenges in Nurses’ Clinical Decision-Making: The Role of Cultural Understandings of Health and Illness

#18. Factors Affecting the Post-Implementation Adoption and Usage of Blackboard Amongst Academics at DUT

GG. Darong University of KwaZulu-Natal

SF. Dlalisa1 & B. Van Niekerk2 Durban University of Technology & 2University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 10. New directions and advances in Health Sciences Education

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

To what extent will training nursing students to understand local and cultural understandings of illnesses in South African aid their clinical decision-making? This study sought to understand the role of cultural constructions of illness in some nurses’ understanding of health and patient care. The study was qualitative and ethnographic and was carried out at a public hospital in the Durban area. It involved 20 professional isiZulu-speaking nurses purposively chosen. The data was collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews. The findings of the study showed that aside from their nursing training, the nurses involved in this study have other understandings of health that have been strongly shaped by their cultural constructions and understanding of health. These cultural understandings of health are in part shaped by and embedded in cultural beliefs such as bewitchment and ancestry curse. However, the nurses had not received any formal training to enable them to deal with the cultural differences they face in patient care due to the different approaches to health. Nonetheless, nurses’ cultural constructions and understandings influence their daily clinical decisions and patient care. This creates internal conflict for nurses in carrying out clinical decisions as their nursing code of conduct forbids the introduction or incorporation of any medical practice that is ‘foreign’ to biomedicine. The question then is, how can nursing training take into consideration the cultural differences and approaches to health that nurses face in clinical situations?

Universities around the world have invested heavily in technology which accommodates digitalage students, and supports their learning experience. The Durban University of Technology (DUT) followed the same trend, aligning its strategic planning to revive e-learning by improving pedagogical plans. This exploratory study examined the extent to which various factors influence academics' acceptance and use of the Blackboard system. While the system has been deployed, there appears to be resistance to it. The institution adopted the system in the hope of reaping rewards. However, these are not always a fait accompli, as the technology is not always used as expected. Resistance on the part of stakeholders (students or staff members) may result in underutilization. This study proposed the academics’ LMS adoption model. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as a baseline to assess the extent to which various factors influence adoption and usage. The proposed model comprises three major factors (i.e., personal factors, technological factors, and organizational factors). A mixedmethods approach using a survey and interviews was employed and was extended to all academics at DUT with a teaching responsibility. The results from the electronic survey (esurvey) revealed that academics’ acceptance level of the Blackboard system is relatively high. However, this does not translate to usage of the system that is still fairly low. Both the survey and interviews identified a number of factors which could explain the low usage of Blackboard. The presentation will discuss these factors and make recommendations to mitigate their impact on system usage.

Keywords: cultural constructions; clinical decision; patient care

Keywords: learning management system; higher education; technology acceptance model

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#19. Teaching Pedagogies that Facilitate the Process of Learning: Student Perspectives in the College of Management Studies

#20. Early Departure from a Masters in Public Health Programme T. Dlungwane, A. Voce, R. Searle & J. Wassermann University of KwaZulu-Natal

MB. Dlamini & TS. Mbili University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 10. New directions and advances in Health Sciences Education Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Student departure from university without completing a degree or diploma is a major concern in higher education. The South African Masters student departure rates in 2010 ranged from 30% to 67%. The high number of students leaving higher education has a huge impact on national resources and robs the labour market of highly skilled personnel. In South Africa, student departure of 20% from higher education costs the government ZAR1.3 billion each year. These costs not only affect institutions, but students who leave without completing the qualification suffer emotionally and psychologically. Early departure refers to students that leave the programme within the first semester of commencing their studies. In 2013, the discipline of Public Health Medicine registered 64 first year postgraduate students. At the end of the first semester, only 39 students wrote the examination. Of the 25 students that did not sit the first semester examinations, 17 actively deregistered from the programme. The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors contributing to student early departure in the Master of Public Health programme. A mixed method design was implemented. Students who departed within the first semester were followed up. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Time management, unrealistic academic expectations and personal factors were found to be the primary reasons for student early departure in the Master of Public Health programme. Early departure is thus influenced by multifaceted factors. Thus, greater efforts are needed to help students balance academic and social demands.

Teaching and learning styles are behaviours or actions that both teachers and learners exhibit during the learning exchange process. Just as teachers develop preferences for particular methods of teaching, students develop preferences for particular ways of learning. There is general consensus amongst educators that facilitating learning and accommodating a wide range of learning styles is a major goal in higher education. Teaching behaviours reflect beliefs and values that teachers hold about the learner’s role in the exchange. Learning provides insight into the manner in which learners perceive, interact and respond to the learning environment. Teaching is therefore intertwined with the notion of learning. Although there have been numerous studies on learning styles since the late nineteenth century, one of the shortcomings of the early theories is that they viewed the learner as a passive recipient of information. The notion of good teaching in higher education is now understood to involve responsive and innovative teaching pedagogies that facilitate learning rather than simply transmitting knowledge from teacher to learner. The emergence of various learning style models in past years has focused attention on the idea that students learn in diverse ways and that one approach to teaching does not work for every student or even most students. This study will explore preferred methods of teaching that facilitate learning from a student perspective. The study will be qualitative in nature and data will be collected through the use of semi-structured interviews. Ten students will be purposively selected from the School of Management, IT and Governance. The study’s findings will assist educators in higher education to incorporate teaching strategies that learners consider helpful for the enhancement of their learning experiences.

Keywords: early departure; student departure; master of public health

Keywords: teaching; learning; student perspectives

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#21. Understanding Undergraduate Absenteeism at a Premier South African University

#22. Learning Style: To Know or Not to Know, That is The Question

S. Donnelly & J. Wassermann University of KwaZulu-Natal

DL. Fewster, PG. Govender & D. Sing University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Van Blerkdom (1992) found that whilst university students attend most lectures at the beginning of the semester, classes tend to be less than half full towards the end of the semester. More than two decades later, in a very different world and educational environment, I observe the same behaviour at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). This study set out to understand the reasons behind such absenteeism in a class of 250 students registered for a second-year Finance module. A closed questionnaire and survey were used to obtain data from the students immediately prior to the beginning of a class test, where attendance was close to full module capacity. Focus groups, selected from the same student cohort, were run at a later stage to gain a deeper understanding of the issues behind absenteeism. An interpretative paradigm as well as quantitative analysis were used. It was found that fewer than 25% of these students attend most/all of their classes. Whilst many cited lecturer-related problems, motivational issues, and timetabling and workload issues; as expected, many of this university’s students miss classes as a result of their socio-economic circumstances, for example, because they cannot afford the transport costs to come to campus each day and/or they hold down jobs to enable them to continue with their studies. Through a better understanding of the reasons behind class absenteeism, and the particular challenges faced by students in attending our lectures, it is hoped that this study will assist this university and its academics to enhance the teaching and learning function.

Commensurate with UKZN’s goals of excellence in teaching and learning, this paper provides an overview of a study on learning styles that could inform creative and innovative pedagogical strategies within the discipline of occupational therapy. The overall aim of the study is to understand the experiences, feelings and perspectives of a group of fourth year occupational therapy students with respect to their individual learning styles. Within a pragmatic stance and the use of mixed methods, the authors will use a group of fourth year occupational therapy students (n=24) to explore their experiences and perceptions around learning styles. More specifically, an on-line questionnaire on learning styles followed by descriptive survey on learning styles will be initiated prior to focus groups that aim to provide thick descriptions of students’ experiences and behaviors once aware of their learning styles. Descriptive statistics, using MS Excel will be used to analyse the data from the questionnaires. Deductive reasoning will be used to analyse the transcriptions of the focus groups. Specific ethical concerns around researcher bias and power dynamics have been considered with the authors ensuring reflexivity throughout the study process. The results will be presented within the context of the available literature, with evidence to support or refute the benefit of knowledge of one’s learning style. Positive evidence in this regard will be used to further inform teaching and learning practices to aid and improve the learning experience for the diverse group of students at UKZN.

Keywords: absenteeism; class attendance; higher education

Keywords: learning styles; questionnaires; occupational therapy

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#23. Crossing Conceptual Thresholds in Intermediate Microeconomics

#24. Videos: An Exploratory Study of the Use of Video as a Learning Technology in an Introductory Programming Course @ the Durban University of Technology Information Technology Department

JL. Goebel & SM. Maistry University of KwaZulu-Natal Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Many students find Economics challenging, and undergraduate modules often record high failure rates, in South Africa and internationally. The sources of difficulty may include the abstract nature of the discipline’s concepts, the distinct way of thinking that defines it, or the pedagogical approaches used to teach it. While research into learning in Economics is dominated by quantitative studies, the emerging ‘threshold concepts’ (TC) approach (Meyer & Land 2003) holds promise for exploring the qualitative dimensions. Threshold concepts are educationally critical ideas that act as portals to progress in disciplinary thinking, and may initially be experienced as ‘troublesome’. Crossing conceptual thresholds requires that learners traverse a liminal phase of possible confusion and uncertainty, as their old ways of viewing the world are transformed. Learning encompasses both cognitive and affective elements, and is entwined with learners’ social and emotional contexts. Yet globally uniform teaching methods in undergraduate Economics centre on large plenary lectures, and affective aspects of learning are largely ignored in both pedagogy and enquiry. This paper explores how participation in a tutorial group may support the cognitive and affective aspects of learning in Economics. The methodological approach used was Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA) (Northcutt & McCoy: 2004). A purposive sample of 21 volunteers from UKZN’s 2014 Intermediate Microeconomics class attended a TC-oriented tutorial programme. IQA protocol was applied in focus groups and individual interviews to generate and analyse data regarding their learning. Participation in the tutorial groups emerged as the primary driver of participants’ learning over the semester, supporting both cognitive and affective processes. Students highlighted the role of peer discussion in constructing their understanding. The group also provided emotional support and a sense of connectedness and community as ‘economists in the making’. The paper reflects on how these findings might inform teaching approaches in supporting students’ learning journeys.

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils This study examined the use of videos as a learning technology in an introductory programming course at DUT’s Information Technology Department. Programming students studying the programming language C++ were taught using a combination of face-to-face lectures and video-based lectures. Lectures were video recorded using open source software. The videos focused on key concepts from the study guide and concepts which students considered difficult. Furthermore, videos were narrated showing students how to program concepts in C++. The videos spanned a few minutes. Students had the opportunity to view them at their convenience because the videos were uploaded to DUT’s learning management system (Blackboard) and YouTube website. Students were also presented with videos from the YouTube website depicting key concepts from the C++ programming syllabus. Qualitative data from the students was analyzed to determine how they used the videos and whether the use of videos as a learning technology enhanced the lectures or the students’ understanding of difficult concepts. Surprisingly, the ‘high flyers’ and more experienced students in the programming class did not consider that the use of videos as a learning technology tool assisted their understanding of programming concepts. However, students who were unable to attend lectures or struggled with programming considered the videos helpful in their understanding of difficult programming concepts. Video production is a possibility in the lecture room but it is also fraught with the perils of bandwidth, hardware and ‘know-how’ issues. Keywords: video production; programming; learning technology

Keywords: economics higher education; learning; threshold concepts

TP. Govender1, V. Mudaly2 & N. Dorasamy1 Durban University of Technology & 2University of KwaZulu-Natal

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#25. Preservice Teachers’ Experiences of the Inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge Holders’ Participation in the Academy: Agricultural Sustainable Practices

#26. Students’ Understanding of Mixed Methods Design in Research C. Gwaindepi & T. Mabila University of Limpopo

N. Govender, R. Mudaly & A. James University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education This paper explores preservice teachers’ views of IKS, Science and their relationship as embedded in their responses to questionnaires. Their views are supplemented by their narrated reflection reports on the inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge holders as teachers in the academy with regard to agricultural sustainable practices. Forty-nine (49) preservice teachers were engaged in a Natural Science method university course that prepared them for transformative pedagogy for the new South African school curriculum. This course thus included the teaching and learning of IKS, scientific issues pertaining to IKS, and preparing students to establish gardens on campus and in their communities, using agricultural sustainable practices. Two IKS guardians and knowledgeholders shared their knowledge of agriculture and sustainable development to integrate it into the Biology Education module. The questionnaires (49) and reflections (29) were analyzed for the emergence of major themes or issues. The data was then categorised and interpreted by three researchers. The findings indicate that students’ views of science, IKS and their relationship are complementary. The reflections embodied their positive experiences, where they valued the medicinal uses of indigenous medicines compared to allopathic ones and the important knowledge of gardening practices that they could use. In addition, their reflections confirm that they are determined to perserve their IKS through trans-generational knowledge transfer to their learners and communities. They also supported IKS’ inclusion in the academia but were not explicit about how this should occur. The study implies that students need to be challenged further to express their voices on the status of IKS and Science and begin to engineer integrative community garden projects for sustainable agricultural development. This can be the basis for further studies.

The dawn of the millennium is credited with the emergence of mixed methods (Azorín & Cameron, 2010). Its growth as an intellectual movement and continuous application in research design has been recognised as a welcome mediator in the longstanding polarisation between quantitative and qualitative research (Johnson, Onwuegbuzie & Turner, 2007). Our experience of overreliance on mixed method design amongst candidates turning in research proposals for Faculty Research Committee (FRC) evaluation at a university in Limpopo Province, prompted us to conduct an investigation that sought to establish students’ interpretation as well as the application of mixed methods research design in postgraduate research. The study was a retrospective cross-sectional project where a census was conducted of all research proposals submitted to the FRC between 1 January 2013 and 31 December2014. After the census was complete, the proposal documents were classified according to the proposed research design / methodology. All proposals which indicated the application of mixed methods were included in the study. Others were excluded. Thereafter, the methodology sections of the proposals were subjected to document analysis. From 123 proposals submitted for assessment by the FRC between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2014, a substantial percentage (57%; 69) indicated the adoption of mixed methods. The findings from the document analysis point to conflicting and divergent interpretations of mixed methods. The study concludes that divergence in the interpretation of mixed methods has possible dire consequences for the development and growth of research capacity within the postgraduate community. Hence, it recommends that intensive methodology training be introduced for postgraduate students prior to their submission of research proposals.

Keywords: preservice teachers; indigenous knowledge; community knowledge-holders

Keywords: mixed methods; research design; proposals

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#27. Developing a differentiated system in South African Higher Education

#28. Perceptions of Male Students About Early Childhood Education B. Ed Programme in UKZN

A. Habib University of the Witwatersrand

BN. Hadebe-Ndlovu University of KwaZulu-Natal

KEYNOTE Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic? South Africa entered its democratic era with an elitist, racially and ethnically fragmented, and inefficient higher education system. Transformation would have required policy and decisionmaking to be responsive to the goals of equity, efficiency, democratic participation and development. However, policy architects and leaders were confronted by the challenge of achieving these goals simultaneously and confronting the concomitant trade-offs. The National Development Plan confronts the issue of knowledge development and differentiation, and expansion of the system including enabling the development of private higher education and the post-secondary education system. However, it does not confront whether the real purpose of the latter is another opportunity at secondary education, vocational training, or a community college programme that broadens access to the universities. Similarly, some universities have not risen to the challenge of equity and have used institutional autonomy and academic freedom as levers to pursue ethnic and racial agendas, while others have pursued equity without due cognisance being given to efficiency considerations.

This paper presents the findings of a study on male students’perceptions of the Early Childhood Education B.Ed. Programme offered at UKZN. Male students still believe that this programme is mainly for female students, as they are the ones that should teach young learners at primary schools. This qualitative, multiple case study was informed by the interpretivist approach. Purposive and convenience sampling was used to select the most accessible male B.Ed. students. Unstructured group interviews were used to generate data. These perceptions are taking the Education system back to a time when many jobs were perceived to be only suitable for a certain gender. Male students who have emancipated themselves from gender-based professions are perceived as weak. The findings reveal that few male students are willing to take the B.Ed. ECD programme and that those who have taken the initiative are ridiculed. It is recommended that steps be taken to assist students to recognise that men are part of our societies and have a responsibility to participate in all education spheres. Keywords: perceptions; male students; early childhood education

A differentiated higher education system enables responsiveness to the diverse and multiple needs of an economy and a society. In South Africa, it would allow some universities to play a bigger role in the teaching of undergraduate students and the production of professionals, which is necessary if the economy is to become more productive and competitive. But it would also allow other universities to focus on postgraduate students and undertake high level research, which are equally essential if the country is to develop a knowledge based economy of the 21st century. Differentiation would have to be accompanied by higher education executives exhibiting managerial maturity and effectiveness if South African universities are going to be simultaneously responsive to the country’s needs and competitive vis-à-vis their global peers.

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#29. Piloting the Use of PC Tablets in a Teacher Professional Learning initiative: Initial Learnings

#30. The Adaptable Mind: Education and the Dynamic Question S. Harrison & K. Pillay University of KwaZulu-Natal

PW. Hanekom Stellenbosch University WORKSHOP Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

This workshop intends to be a far-reaching investigation of our ideas about our inner and outer lives in a talk and dialogue with Steven Harrison. There will be two parts to the programme. The first will be a direct look at how each of us creates information in our conscious contact with the world, including the belief systems that limit us, and how dynamic questioning can alter our concepts. Secondly, we will look at how we can learn, teach and adapt in the face of a rapidly expanding information landscape and a radically changing society. To teach a mind to continuously adapt requires a whole new way of education; one that must reinvent itself in a dialogic process with teachers, students and society as a whole. The new forms include: schools as learning communities, self-direction and choice, democratic decision-making, flexible learning modalities, relationship-based study, research and work, and the recognition that doing nothing is something, and that self-reflection is critically important. We will look at the adaptable mind as a filter designed to synthesize, create, collaborate, empathize and feel, and not just memorize and respond in a rote manner. Key components of educating the adaptable mind do not look like traditional learning. It encompasses: play, socializing, cultivation of awareness, collaboration, self-direction and empathy. Yet all of these aspects are highly valued in society and the workplace and are recognized as invention, innovative design, workplace communication, creative management and leadership. Our group will engage in the very collaboration that the adaptable mind requires, and we will see firsthand both the resistance to, and the potential of, a new way of learning.

The Stellenbosch University Centre for Pedagogy (SUNCEP) focus on the three main aspects of improving student preparedness for higher education, namely teacher professional learning (TPL), school based interventions (SBI) and university preparation programmes (UPP). The modes of delivery of short and part-time courses, as defined by the Stellenbosch University Institutional Intent and Strategy (2013 - 2018), are blended and virtual learning models. In addition, both UNESCO and the South African National Development Plan highlight the need for teachers to be e-skilled for any e-learning initiatives to succeed. In turn, the Western Cape Education Department’s e-Education vision calls for the use of mobile devices in all classrooms by 2020. In light of these developments, a blended model TPL initiative incorporating Windows PC tablets, was developed and is being piloted by SUNCEP. The pilot group consists of 113 Senior Phase Mathematics teachers in the Eden Karoo District in South Africa. Each teacher received a tablet with course material pre-loaded as well as 100MB of data. The course material was developed utilizing the authoring software Articulate Storyline 2 (Trade Mark). This software allowed for the creation of interactive material with features such as drag-and-drop interactions, quizzes and self-assessments. The course material was developed for three different purposes. First, for use within the face-to-face contact sessions; secondly, some material was developed for use by the teachers to complete assignments between contact sessions and thirdly, some material can be utilized within the teacher’s classroom with their learners. This paper is essentially a narrative, stemming from an in-depth review of the literature and critical reflection by all role players within SUNCEP, addressing the initial challenges and successes in the design, development and implementation of the TPL initiative. Keywords: teacher; training; tablets

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#31. Teaching and Learning With Clickers

#32. Using Metaphor Drawings To Better Understand My Practice In Order To Develop Responsive And Innovative Pedagogies

M. Herbert University of the Western Cape

A. Hiralaal Durban University of Technology

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Educational technology in the form of classroom response systems (clickers) has become an important aid in teaching and learning. Current research reports that clickers promote active teaching and learning approaches, especially those that involve active student participation in their learning in class. This paper reports on the ongoing research conducted on the use of clickers as an aid to facilitate active student participation in their learning in class in the Physics Department at the University of the Western Cape. Students’ perceptions of the influence of clickers in their participation and learning in class will be presented and discussed.

In this paper I focus on how I have used artefacts, metaphors and collage portraits to better understand how I can develop responsive and innovative pedagogies as a teacher educator in the discipline of Accounting. I demonstrate how I developed these artefacts and metaphors into collage portraits to gain insight into how I teach and why I teach this way. I identified artefacts that I believe informed my pedagogy. Artefacts are objects that I have chosen from my teaching experiences. These artefacts provide clear and solid evidence of my day-to-day teaching activities. They help me recall nodal moments and activities that assist me to better understand how I teach and why I teach this way. Gaining a better understanding of my teaching practice will help me develop responsive and innovative pedagogies as a teacher educator. I then chose metaphors to represent each of the artefacts selected. Metaphors provided me with a rich and powerful mechanism for gaining a better understanding of my practice as well as a stimulus for dialogue, discussion and explanations. Metaphors also made it easier for me to understand complex and abstract meanings that may not be explicit in my practice. I then developed the metaphors into collage portraits. When using collage portraits, one blends photographs and drawings with text that create a reality. This helped me find true meaning and a deeper understanding of my current teaching practice. The use of artefacts, metaphors and collage portraits contributed to a deeper understanding of my practice and assisted me in enhancing my development as a teacher educator.

Keywords: artefact; metaphor; collage portraits

Keywords: teaching and learning; active learning; clickers

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#33. Teacher/Student Teacher Self-Reflection and Mentor/Lecturer Observation as Flip Sides of a Practice-Based, Professional Learning and Mentoring Coin

#34. Approaches to Student Success and Throughput in the Faculty of Humanities in a South African University

E. Hoffman Stellenbosch University

G. Hundermark University of the Witwatersrand

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

The focus of this study was to develop, test and validate the effectiveness of an instrument with which various aspects of educational practice could be formatively assessed by pre-service or in-service teacher-students themselves, as well as their mentors or lecturers. By identifying areas where learning and mentoring were needed, suitable strategies and action plans could be formulated to improve and enhance teaching practise. The allocation of a mentor/lecturer who can visit a teacher or teacher-student in class while teaching, should form part of a personalised development and growth plan for each educator or potential educator. One hundred and thirteen Senior Phase, Mathematics teachers from the Eden-Karoo district in the Western Cape formed part of an in-service training course offered by SUNCEP. The five typical phases of action research were used as the scientific research method, with the exception of the diagnostic phase which in this case had two parts – self-reflection by the teacher combined with classroom observations by the mentor. Both assessments were captured in one dialogue document. Seven PCK areas regarded as crucial for effective teaching were used as criteria in this professional learning and mentoring tool. The completed dialogue forms showed that some self-reflections of teachers differed significantly from what mentors observed during classroom visits. This became a point for discussion. Instead of a mere lesson evaluation by a mentor or lecturer, it is recommended that self-reflection by teachers or teacher-students be made part of the assessment processes which aim, not only to assess the teacher’s current skills, but to enhance professional learning and growth. The final reliability of the instrument developed will be reported on.

An urban university in South Africa draws students from diverse backgrounds and various regions - urban, rural and international. These students have varying educational levels, and are exposed to different standards and quality of education in their school settings. The diverse student population in the Humanities faculty, which is the focus in this paper, has diverse needs which affect their transition into and success at university. Identifying and understanding student needs and characteristics at an early stage can assist faculty and university structures to provide relevant support so that students can transit more readily and succeed. To this end, a teaching and learning unit was set up in the faculty, with one of its focus areas on first year students, to better understand these students and what their support needs may be so that they can pass. A survey was conducted during first year student registration for early identification of student characteristics that can contribute to them being at-risk academically, potentially impacting their success and throughput. These characteristics include demographic and personal variables, such as the regions students came from, if English was their first or additional language, if they were first generation students; financial considerations, and technological considerations, such as access to technology and the ability to use software programs. This paper extends on a study that overviewed survey results, the correlation of atrisk markers to students’ Block (term) 1 marks, and the support services that are available to students in the faculty and on campus. This paper considers the students’ Block 2 (Semester 1) results and the correlation to at-risk markers. The discussion of the results suggests additional support that may be required, related to both teaching and learning, to assist students to achieve success, especially in their first year.

Keywords: professional development; mentoring; dialogue instrument

Keywords: learning support; student preparedness; throughput and success

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#35. The Effect of High School Accounting on the Performance of Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) Students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

#36. Sustainable Higher Education Systems in Poorly Resourced Communities: An Endogenous Model

F. Hussain, T. Jagwanth & P. Ngubane University of KwaZulu-Natal

L. Ilon1 & M. Kantini2 Seoul National University & 2University of Zambia

Theme: 3. Collaborative quality enhancement for systemic change in Higher Education: Prospects and possibilities

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

High failure rates in Accounting courses is a problem both locally and internationally. With Mathematics and English being the most important pre-requisites for entrance to universities in South Africa, a considerable amount of research has been conducted to identify the relationships between high school subjects and success in Accounting at University. This study aims to determine if prior Accounting knowledge has an impact on student performance in the Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) undergraduate degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). The study will indicate whether NSC Accounting should be considered as a prerequisite for acceptance into the degree. The research methodology involved extracting the matric scores of all first year students registered for the Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) undergraduate degree at UKZN from 2008 to 2012 on the Westville and Pietermaritzburg Campuses. Students who had obtained the same matric score were separated into two groups, with the first group being those who had studied Accounting at high school and the second being those who had not. The study measured the groups’ performances based on the number of students that passed Accounting 101 and Accounting 102 in the first academic year, together with the quality of their passes. In addition, the number of years each group took to complete the degree was analysed. The findings revealed that students who did not study Accounting in high school, achieved much slower tertiary academic progression, in conjunction with obtaining lower marks in first year Accounting, as compared to students possessing high school Accounting knowledge. It is thus recommended that NSC Accounting should be considered as a pre-requisite in a mainstream accounting qualification.

The predominant higher education model is an outgrowth of two basic assumptions, both of which are not applicable to poorer communities: education of a select population can adequately serve an entire population, relevant knowledge is relatively static and relayed from these select sources, and the general population is best served by funding a substantially resourced higher education system for this select population. A new model may provide a viable alternative. The paper begins by challenging these prevailing assumptions using an emerging theory of societal well-being. The theory suggests that knowledge and learning are currencies by which societies form value. Building from that theory, other fields are exploring how knowledge is spread and these explorations substantially redefine the role of equity, contexts of knowledge generation and ownership of knowledge. Finally, the paper provides an example of a prototype system being developed in Zambia that uses the new thinking to provide high quality higher education for rural communities. The predominant model of education suggests that higher education is efficiently allocated to those who can ‘return’ the highest income to society. The new theory which emerges from the field of Development Economics is popularly known as Endogenous Theory and is now rapidly being explored in the field of Economics, ICT, Communications, Networks, Social Networks, Education and Development. The theory assumes that knowledge (ideas, creativity) drives societal well-being and that this knowledge has many sources. In order to derive the highest quality ideas, all members of the society (perhaps, most probably those at the margins) must be engaged to derive the most creative and context-relevant ideas. Combined with new research on how knowledge is built, exchanged and spread, the implications are substantial for restructuring higher education throughout, from its structure, curriculum, management, and funding to its target populations.

Keywords: accounting; pre-requisite; secondary accounting knowledge

Keywords: higher education; sustainable; endogenous theory

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#37. Exploring How Science Teachers Engage in Curriculum Innovating in Environment and Sustainability Education

#38. Unearthing White Male Experience of Teaching in Higher Education in South Africa J. Jawitz & T. Perez University of Cape Town

R. Ismail & R. Mudaly University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Understanding how the racial context of teaching in South Africa impacts on academic practice and student learning is essential for anyone engaging with the possibilities and obstacles underlying higher education development in South Africa. Both real and imagined differences and similarities have significant consequences in our everyday experience. This paper seeks to understand how four white male academics working in the professional disciplines of engineering, science and medicine, come to understand their identities in the context of a South African university classroom and how they imagine they are ‘seen’ by others. Working with four white male academics at the research intensive South African University (SAU*) who have strong educator identities provided me with the opportunity to listen to voices that were not embedded in the dominant research perspective of the institution. In this paper I explore how these interviewees expressed their sense of racial identity and how the way they positioned themselves in relation to the other actors in the higher education field at SAU impacted on their teaching practice. (*A fictitious name has been used for the institution)

Teachers of Life Sciences and Natural Sciences are expected to adapt and to implement curriculum changes that are designed by the Department of Basic Education. The new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for Life Sciences and Natural Sciences stipulates that teachers are expected to integrate environment and sustainability content knowledge in their science teaching. According to literature, in order for environment and sustainability content knowledge to be integrated into the science curriculum, a specialised multi-pronged approach is necessary. This highlights the need for science teachers to be innovative in their teaching, together with the need for support for science teachers in the form of professional development. This qualitative case study aims to explore how professional development can be used to support practicing science teachers in curriculum innovating when they implement the new CAPS curriculum in environment and sustainability education. This research located at a tertiary institution in KwaZulu-Natal will comprise of 10 purposefully selected science teachers registered for the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) Honours programme. This research will be located within a critical paradigm with the aim of fostering positive change in current teacher practices, which will lead to a transformation of teaching and learning in environment and sustainability education. Drawing on the constructs of the Zone of Feasible Innovation, practicing science teachers- engagement in curriculum innovating in environment and sustainability education will be analysed, by drawing on data generated using portfolios, interviews and reflective diaries. Recommendations from this study will be directed to curriculum designers, department officials involved in teacher professional development, teacher education institutions and school teachers.

Keywords: icts for teaching; discourses; higher education

Keywords: curriculum innovating; environment and sustainability education; professional development

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#39. 21st Century Student Versus Academic: A South African University Perspective

#40. Using Blackboard Collaborate as a Reflection Tool in a Service-Learning Module

A. Jones & D. de Klerk University of the Witwatersrand

M. Jordaan University of Pretoria

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

21st century academics the world over continue to discuss the way students think, learn, and engage from an academic perspective, despite changes in teaching and learning approaches or advancements in higher education. As such, some have labelled the current cohort of students the Net Generation, the majority of who, from an international point of view, were born into a culture speaking a digital language that allows them instant access to limitless information. This, in turn, has equipped them with an evolved ability to master gaming technology, which places today’s youth under immense pressure to perform. Yet, many of their South African counterparts are different. A large number of local learners spend their childhoods in rural areas, attending schools where access to computers and technology remains limited or non-existent. Consequently, exposure to computers is inadequate, even after they are accepted into urban universities, and they often struggle to gain access to the world of technology that their international equals seem to navigate so easily. Couple this with an assumption by many academics that students have at least a basic understanding of technology, and the potential for poor pass rates and throughput-rate nightmares comes to life. The purpose of this paper is to explore what the key learning characteristics of South African students are by comparing them with what lecturers believe them to be, in an attempt to highlight consistencies and discrepancies. A mixed-method study that will firstly analyse demographic and student-specific data to gain a deeper understanding of the students, followed by focus groups with both students and lecturers, is currently being conducted. The aim of this study is to allow for a better understanding of our students, their needs, and their abilities, which will hopefully assist South African universities to put together appropriate support for the greater majority of their students.

In 2005, the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology at the University of Pretoria implemented a compulsory module, Community-based Project, for all undergraduate students in the Faculty. Since service-learning was not included in the curricula of the Faculty’s existing modules, it was necessary to implement a new, separate module to centralise and coordinate community service initiatives. Module assessment includes a project presentation in which students reflect on the outcomes of their service-learning engagement. Due to the high number of students enrolled in the module (one lecturer to 1 795 students), students have been given the option of using Blackboard Collaborate for their final presentation. In order to evaluate the students’ perspectives on service-learning reflection through Blackboard Collaborate, data was collected through an online survey. The survey enabled students to reflect on their experiences and preferences with regard to the format of the presentation. Most of the students who responded to the survey indicated that they found the Blackboard Collaborate option convenient for a presentation, but that they still preferred a face-to-face presentation. The students reflected that a face-to-face session gives them a better opportunity to explain their project’s results. As an alternative option to the presentation session, Blackboard Collaborate gives students and the lecturer more flexibility in terms of time to upload and watch the reflective presentations. The presentations are also recorded and can be archived for later use. The students found that it is an easy and convenient tool, but indicated that still they preferred face-to-face reflective sessions. Students enrolled in this module are all studying a non-service-related study programme and only undertake one service-learning endeavour during this time. Therefore, it is important to ensure that their experience and personal reflection is authentically shared with the lecturer.

Keywords: net generation; pressure to succeed; students vs academics

Keywords: service learning; blackboard collaborate; reflection

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#41. Where is This Wave Taking Us? Internationalisation and Globalisation in South African Higher Education

#42. Undergraduate Mathematics Pre-Service Teachers’ Understanding of Matrix Operations

ED. Joubert Durban University of Technology

C. Kazunga & S. Bansilal University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 1. Re-imagining internationalisation in Higher Education: Implications for praxis

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Internationalisation and globalisation are two inevitable worldwide trends that are occurring at an ever-increasing rate. They have a significant impact on the higher education (HE) landscape at various levels viz., international, national or systemic and institutional. There is some confusion as to what precisely these phenomena are. The purpose of this study was to provide a theoretical framework on the impact of internationalisation and globalisation in South Africa. HE institutions need to be responsive to the changes affecting them. A literature-based survey provided the information for the formulation of a paper investigating internationalisation and globalisation in HE. This paper firstly seeks to clarify and compare the two concepts. Various authors’ understandings are presented for critical reflection in order to come to a shared conception. This common interpretation is necessary to promote further discourse. The second part of the paper aims to explore how globalisation has affected various aspects of HE in South Africa. Aspects of HE that were investigated include policy, influence on the system, competition in the global environment, the African University and its corresponding roles, marketisation and commoditisation of HE, mobility of academics and impact on research supervision. The paper concludes with a brief examination of globalisation within the context of the Durban University of Technology. It was found that globalisation in the context of HE has far deeper and more comprehensive implications for all stakeholders than is often realised. The envisaged outcome of this paper is to enable academics to more critically examine their understandings of these phenomena, and the impact that they have on their professional practice within their institutional and broader context. The larger implication is for HE institutions to be able to competently respond and strategically position themselves along the wave of globalisation so as to continuously improve teaching and learning and remain competitive within an internationalised arena.

Linear algebra forms a core part of the first year mathematics curriculum of pre-service mathematics teachers in many countries and is applicable to many other areas besides pure mathematics. The research that is reported in this paper, focused on the understanding of matrix algebra as a concept in linear algebra. The purpose of the study was to explore the understanding of matrix algebra concepts of a sample of 70 mathematics undergraduate preservice teachers.The research question underpinning this study is: How can pre-service mathematics teachers’ understanding of matrix algebra concepts be described using APOS theory? The Action Process Object Schema (APOS) theoretical framework describes growth in understanding of mathematics concepts through the hierarchical development of mental constructions called action, process, objects and then as schema. The theory centres on the models of what might be taking place in the mind of a student as she or he engages with mathematical concepts like matrix algebra. The results showed that most pre-service teachers had interiorised actions on scalar multiplication and addition of matrices into processes. For the 14 students who struggled with scalar multiplication and addition, the reason was operations on integers, a topic that is taught at Grade 9 level in schools. Twenty five participants were unable to find the product of two square matrices. Although many participants showed evidence of process level and even object level engagement with the matrix algebra concepts, there were some who had not attained even an action level understanding of the concepts. It is recommended that students who are selected to be pre-service teachers should be given further opportunities of to engage with school level topics using interactive methods. Keywords: matrix algebra; scalar multiplication; matrix products

Keywords: worldwide trends; integration; African university

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#43. By the Numbers: Classroom Management Techniques for Encouraging Autonomous Learners In Language Courses in the 21st Century

#44. How Best Can I Teach Chemical Equilibrium to Pre-Service Teachers?

T. Koch Kinki University

L. Kolobe University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Technological advances, time constraints and learning preferences may limit the effectiveness of the classroom. Twenty first century students may also prefer more active engagement with the language as opposed to the time, spacial and other limits of classroom activities. Since language learning often takes place outside of class, teachers need to find ways to encourage students to use the language in their daily lives. The purpose of this presentation is to describe a classroom management system that rewards students for doing voluntary English language activities outside of the classroom. In this project, 90-minute classes met once a week for 15 weeks. Using a 25-point system, students were awarded points for classroom participation, as well as outside-of-class activities such as reading and taking online tests on graded readers through Mreader.org, writing 100-word essays and other language activities. Since the program was voluntary and students often stop participating after reaching a set-capped goal, there were no minimum or maximum goals. The results showed that although student participation is not uniform, a few students are greatly challenged and highly motivated by such a system. The results showed that 24 students read 320 graded readers and took an online tests on the books with a total of 274,542 words, read an additional 200,000 words, wrote 211 (100-word) essays and did 298 other outside-of-class English activities. The results are skewed by the exceptional activities of a few students. The results imply that some students are highly motivated by the challenge of an open, uncapped goal. Although any points system must consider the outside-of-class time restraints on students’ schedules, the results might be greatly increased by setting minimum goals and probably greatly decreased by setting upper target goals.

This study explores my instructional strategies and sequencing of concepts when teaching chemical equilibrium to Year II Physical sciences specialization student teachers. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the feasibility of implementing researched strategies for the teaching of the chemical equilibrium concept in a science classroom. The study was conceptualised after observing several groups of students coming to university entry level courses with flawed understanding of chemistry concepts, yet they gained access to the chemistry modules based on their above average performance in the Physical Sciences school leaving examinations. With general teaching practices in science classrooms in South Africa being mainly teacher-centered, assessment-driven and somewhat irrelevant to its recipients, change is called for in teaching practices. In my quest to find out how they were taught at school, I reviewed the literature on effective methods for teaching the chemical equilibrium concept from which I developed a model for understanding teaching practices. I used this model in my own teaching of the same concept in an attempt to answer the question, ‘How feasible is this model in teaching for conceptual understanding?’ Using lesson plans, video recorded lessons, lesson reflections, student tests, student interviews and critical friends’ review, I assess the success in using this approach in teaching. Preliminary results show that the approach is feasible but needs to go through continued cycles of Development, Action, Observation and Reflection. Other benefits of this exercise have been my changing perspectives about teaching and learning and therefore improved tolerance of student difficulties. Another spin-off is the collegial support structure built by this exercise. Implications for the development of similar models in other content areas and avenues for context adaptation are discussed. Keywords: chemical equilibrium; instructional strategies; conceptual understanding

Keywords: classroom management; autonomous learners; outside-class activitie

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#45. Taking a 'Selfie' Into Our Practice: A Collaborative Self-Study in Early Childhood Teacher Education

#46. The Efficacy of Simulation as Pedagogy in Facilitating Auditing Students’ Learning

M. Kortjass, J. Mzimela, B. Hadebe-Ndlovu & N. Madonda University of KwaZulu-Natal

C. Lathleiff University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 2. Revisiting differentiation in Higher Education. What have we learnt from practice?

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

This paper presents the findings of a collaborative study by four Early Childhood Education teacher educators in a Higher Education Institution in KwaZulu-Natal. The fundamental aim was to reflect on our practice, as individuals and as a collective using an art-based medium and narratives. Collective self-study was adopted as a research methodology; hence, it is qualitative in nature. In this study we explicate the use of an art-based medium and narratives as a way to symbolize and represent our thinking about practice within the discipline. Our experiences revealed that pre-services teachers tend to perceive the practice in ECE in a simplistic and superficial way. Our challenge as ECE teacher educators is to impress on them that while ECE is practical, it requires teachers to have a solid knowledge base and understanding of how young learners learn. This requires understanding that practice is complex in nature and demands high levels of expertise. Reflecting on our practice allowed us a safe space to share our frustrations as well as the different teaching strategies we use with our students. The art-based medium also allowed us to talk about our vulnerability as new teacher educators and to jointly try to find ways to improve our practice for the benefit of our students.

In this paper, the author evaluates the efficacy of an auditing simulation in enhancing students’ learning. The simulation exposed students to as authentic an audit as possible. Individual participant interviews, focus group interviews, and participant and researcher reflective journals provide evidence that the simulation process enhances students’ knowledge of abstract theories and concepts, and allows them to bridge the theory-practice divide more effectively than the sole use of traditional methods of instruction. There is also evidence to suggest that the simulation increases students’ interest in Auditing, providing a memorable learning experience, and developing students’ confidence in their own abilities. It would seem that Auditing education has much to gain from the wider application of simulation pedagogy. Keywords: simulation; auditing; learning

Keywords: early childhood education; collective self-study; art-based medium

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#48. Towards a Self-Reliant Market Community in Durban: A 21st Century Cooperative Learning Endeavour

#47. Tertiary Institutions Merger a Big Mistake: Taking Stock Thirteen Years Later: An Investigation into the Impact of Mergers in the Higher Education Landscape in South Africa

C. Loggian & J. Wassermann University of KwaZulu-Natal

MX. Lethoko University of Limpopo

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Theme: 2. Revisiting differentiation in Higher Education. What have we learnt from practice?

One of the challenges facing researchers involved in resource and environmental management is to develop problem-focussed processes by integrating local and scientific knowledge. Particularly in community based projects, local knowledge (or experiences) plays a critical role in defining appropriate strategies to meet local needs. Cooperative learning and critical education can be implemented to support knowledge integration and mutual learning, therefore promoting a social learning process. The present research started with the idea of offering a multidisciplinary response to one of the main issues experienced by a street trading community working in Durban, namely resource and environmental management. The big challenge, as a researcher, is developing a zero-waste approach in order to build a self-reliant community working towards a more sustainable and resilient city. The focus of this project is on participatory learning processes that involve us as academics in higher education and the street dealers, being both authors and beneficiaries in the implemented zero-waste-resource efficient systems. The challenge is rooted in how to empower local stakeholders by means of a participatory process, and to establish a cooperative learning path towards a self-reliant urban community. The process of shifting towards a new environmentally conscious mind-set is rooted in cooperative learning approaches developed by means of critical conversations, discussion of the different perspectives held by participants and the opportunities available for all the stakeholders to engage in mutual learning. Critical educational strategies are applied as a means to support public involvement and in empowering the local community to deeply engage with resource and environmental management. This paper investigates the challenges in establishing a cooperative learning approach aimed at realizing knowledge integration for resource and environmental management for the 21st century and, in involving academics in Higher Education in an interactive educational process that fills their gaps associated with local knowledge.

‘On May 2011 I announced my intention to separate the Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA) campus from the competency of the University of Limpopo based on the findings and recommendations of the report of the task team. The task team had been appointed to review the impact of the merger of MEDUNSA and the University of the North, which resulted in the establishment of the University of Limpopo’ (Statement by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr. Blade Nzimande on the establishment and naming of the New Health and Allied Sciences University in Gauteng, 16 May 2014). This statement implies that the two universities have de-merged barely six years after a merger which cost tax payers R1, 3 billion, let alone the time and human resources spent on the merger and the de-merging processes. It is through this lens that this study investigated post-merger successes and failures/challenges within the higher education landscape in South Africa and the lessons learnt from the post-merger era of the selected institutions. The study focused on the following questions: How were the mergers constituted? What successes and challenges has the merger process experienced? It used content analysis of the available literature in relation to mergers dating from 2002 until 2014 and data gathered from face-to-face interviews with the management of seven merged institutions. The study concludes that there are more failures than success stories in relation to mergers in higher education in South Africa. The post-merger phase has taken longer than anticipated with some institutions unable to go through the merger stage itself, while some have de-merged and others have been placed under administration as a way to curb de-merger. Keywords: mergers; post merger impact; merger successes and failures

Keywords: cooperative learning; resource and environmental management; HE academics’ training

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#49. ACE Technology Educators’ Understanding of the Design Process and its Influence on Their Pedagogical Practice in KZN

#50. An Investigation of the Role of English Education Curriculum Choices on Teaching Practice: The Impact on Pedagogic Practices of 4th Year Students.

BP. Mabaso & BP. Alant University of KwaZulu-Natal

NE. Madondo University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education This paper is based on qualitative data generated during Teaching Practice (TP) in four public schools and one private school in KwaZulu-Natal. Students who formed part of this study were in their 4th year of study and based at UKZN’s Edgewood Campus in 2012. The study sought to investigate students’ ability in interpretation, evaluation, genre description and its linguistic manifestation in literary works, since the methods modules teach students how to respond to such works in writing, and create conditions for the development of discourse-specific literacies. A theoretical perspective of curriculum as Complicated Conversations was adopted for this study. This theory articulates that curriculum should not be alienating; it cannot be divorced from public life. The English Education Curriculum structure and students’ reflections were used as data sources. The findings show that students lack what may be referred to as ‘literate English’ in Wallace’s words. Students’ inability to engage critically with content, structure and function could be attributed to the design of the curriculum in the field of English Studies at Edgewood Campus. This curriculum was informed by the pure literary nature of the English Discipline of the former School of Language, Literacies, Media and Drama Education. The study calls for more attention to be paid to the complex manner in which, structure, content and function inter-relate in the production of effective, ‘literate English’. Pedagogic practice should be centrally concerned with showing why it is important to know how complex discourses work, thereby bringing language studies into the center and creating opportunities for the acquisition of discourse-specific literacies.

The design process is regarded as the core of Technology education. Hence, it is argued that it ought to be used to structure and drive the delivery of all learning aims of the Technology subject in South African schools. Research shows that the context-based and complex nature of the design process presents a huge challenge to teachers. As a result, teachers present it as a linear process, rather than an iterative process as suggested in the South African Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement for Grades 7-9 Technology. This paper reports on a larger study conducted in KZN. The purpose of the study was to explore Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) Technology educators’ understanding of the design process. The research question that guided the study was: ‘What are ACE Technology educators’ understandings of the design process?’ A semi-structured questionnaire and two focus group interviews, and Schon’s notions of ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘reflection-on-action’ were employed to trace how these ACE Technology educators developed their understanding of the design process. The results point to seven qualitatively different ways of understanding the design process, but more importantly the disjuncture between understanding and practice is illuminated. Understanding appears to get transformed during practice and is dependent on attributes such as personality, approach to teaching and previous exposure to postgraduate studies and academic readings on Design. ACE Technology educators’ understanding of the design process, therefore, not only directs their pedagogical practice but impacts on Technology learning, with regard to critical thinking, innovation and creativity. The paper concludes by emphasising the role of ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘reflection-on-action’ as ways to alter the disjunction between understanding the design process and classroom practice, and enhance creativity and critical thinking and research in Technology Education.

Keywords: English education; curriculum choices; teaching practice

Keywords: conceptions of the design process; reflection-in-action; reflection–on-action

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#51. Describing and Decomposing Post-Apartheid Higher Education Challenges and Opportunities in South Africa

#52. My Lived Experience of Mentoring in Becoming a 21st Century Educator at a University of Technology

MW. Maila University of South Africa

S. Makhanya Mangosuthu University of Technology

Theme: 2. Revisiting differentiation in Higher Education. What have we learnt from practice?

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Ever since 1994 ushered in a new dawn of inclusive paradigms of education policies, there have been numerous challenges as well as opportunities to grow and advance in all dimensions of economic, social, political and environmental life. A sustained and resilient education policy implementation strategy cannot fail the South African populace in producing the desired democratic education outcomes based on just, equitable and inclusive socio-cultural education for all. The current education landscape depicts major obstacles that are underscored by tendencies of either naively accepting or denying what works or does not work in education, rather than engaging outcomes frankly before taking decisions to improve what is seen as requiring transformative change. In this paper the researcher describes and decomposes the post-apartheid Higher Education regime with the purpose of critiquing the challenges and opportunities availed by such an education landscape. The researcher argues that alternative education philosophies or strategies and ways of understanding transformative learning imperatives and goals for Higher Education need to be pursued in the post-apartheid education environment. To this end, the social critical multidimensional-perspective as pronounced by McLaren and other scholars who believe in liberating curricular praxis, are perceived as a useful framework for describing and decomposing the South African Higher Education regime.

I have been teaching Clothing, Nutrition, Health and Hygiene at a university of technology for 15 years. The literature reveals that many novice university educators leave the profession because of heavy workloads and a lack of guidance and support. This motivated me to embark on this autoethnographic study. This paper explores my lived experience of mentoring in becoming a university educator. I focus on both personal and professional mentors as I answer the following questions: What has been the influence of specific mentors on my lived experience of becoming a university educator? What difference has awareness of mentors made to my development as a university educator? In responding to these questions, I use an autoethnographic approach, which incorporates self-narrative, to search deeply in order to understand the connections between culture and narrative analysis. The strategies used to generate data on mentoring are: a time line chart, metaphor drawing, and visual and textual artefact retrieval. The findings indicate that mentors at both the professional and personal levels have played important roles in my development as a university educator by imparting their values, knowledge and skills. Through the study, I have become aware of the significance of having mentors as a 21st century academic, whether at the personal or professional level. I learned that it is the responsibility of the person that is receiving mentoring to grasp everything that is given by the mentor. I have also become more conscious that, as a 21st century academic, it is my responsibility to emphasise the importance of mentoring to the young people that I teach. I also have the responsibility to mentor young people in order to contribute to the growth and development of the next generation.

Keywords: higher education; social critical theory; transformative learning

Keywords: mentoring; auto ethnography; textual artefacts, visual images and metaphor

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#53. A Technologically Enriched Lesson: Perceptions on the Use of WhatsApp and Skype on Teaching Practice

#54. Re-imagining Professional Development for Early Career Academics Through Arts-Based Collective Self-Study

WMS. Manduna Central University of Technology

L. Masinga, T. Chirikure, L. Kolobe, M. Kortjass & A. Singh-Pillay University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

This study explored the perceptions of WhatsApp/ Skype usage among 3rd year Information Technology teacher training students in promoting student teacher deployment and mentoring. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 39 2rd year Information Technology teacher training students, male (n=19), with an average age of 23. A web-based questionnaire (through Blackboard) was used to gauge students’ perceptions of WhatsApp/Skype usage in teaching practice. The findings were presented by the use of descriptive statistics. The results suggest a positive correlation of WhatsApp/Skype usage, job placement and mentoring.

In this paper, we - a collective of 16 early career academics and 3 established academics from diverse disciplines and schools within one university - take an arts-based collective self-study approach to explore how responsive and innovative pedagogies in academic staff development can help us to re-imagine higher education policy and practice. Collective self-study involves an interactive examination of an issue, with corresponding examination of the collective research process. Arts-based self-study uses the visual and literary arts (e.g., collage, drawing, poetry) to stimulate self-reflexivity, critical inquiry and the exchange of ideas. Our intention is to demonstrate how policy can learn from practice by making visible creative analytic practices that can allow early career academics to take the lead in their own professional development. Creative analytic practices are both ‘scientific’- in the sense of being true to a world known through empirical research - and ‘artistic’ - in the sense of expressing what has been learned through evocative writing and visual arts forms. In this paper, we use the creative media of coconstructed collages, concept maps and poems to re-present a collective self-study process in which we responded to the key question:–‘What are our key recommendations for professional development and support for early career academics at our university?’ The paper reveals how through a series of arts-based, self-reflexive activities, we, as a collective of 19 academics, were able to express, analyse and reflect on our diverse ideas about professional development and support for early career academics, ultimately coming up with three concise recommendations. We highlight the value of creative and collaborative approaches to academic staff development. To conclude, we consider possibilities for policies that support the enactment of responsive and innovative pedagogies in higher education staff development.

Keywords: early career academics; professional development; arts-based self-study

Keywords: ict enhanced placement; effective education environment; ict enriched teaching and learning

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#55. Using Sakai to Introduce Blended Learning into a Support Programme

#56. The Impact of Technology on the New and Future Generations

L. Spark, A. Jones & D. de Klerk University of the Witwatersrand

MT. Mathebula University of Limpopo

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) have become far more than simply a platform on which academics can deliver content. They are now able to provide a central point from which content is managed and shared, where lecturers and students can collaborate, students can be assessed and the lecturers’ and students’ teaching and learning goals can be realised. The Road to Success programme (RSP) in the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management (CLM) was established to provide holistic support to all first-year students, as well as those regarded as ‘at risk’ in the second to fourth years of study. Each course at the university has a site on the LMS (Sakai) that lecturers and students use to a greater or lesser extent. The RSP runs weekly tutorials for students on the programme and created additional sites on Sakai, besides those that students would access for each of their courses, to cater for the specific needs of the programme. All first-year and ‘at risk’ students were given access to these sites. The purpose of the sites is to establish a blended learning approach by providing resources to students to support them in their learning, to set quizzes to ascertain where students are having difficulties, to obtain feedback from students, and to offer chat rooms and forums for discussion and support. However, as with all blended learning approaches, the provision of these sites has not been without challenges. This paper will present the findings of a mixed-methods study undertaken to investigate the integration and usage of the sites, as well as their benefits as perceived by students. These findings may provide guidelines to academics who are starting to incorporate blended learning in their courses.

Technology is athe tool to change the way we conduct ourselves in the our teaching. It impacts on our lives regardless of ourthe level of working environments or areas of expertise. We need to tackle the challenges currently confronting uswe are facing now by developing models to solve future problems. We need to develop models to match the advancing technology and to bring solutions to our communities as well. Our societies in general are moving towards a direction where change will be haveof a greater impact in the near future. The focus ofor technology presentation will be the learning community. We need to use these key role players to also make a great move in developing a finance model where technology centres canmay be upgraded to cater for the challenges that we might be faced with in thise on-going process. This wille development and achievement of this very goal will carvebe to curve a the way forward by identifying possibilitiesimplementing possible ways that could assist for financial backing and stability. The other methods that will be used is to curve-in tConsideration also needs to be given to the ideology behind the influence of policies on politics, socialism and technology and the teaching environments and further on how these impact, if at allever, on the need for the development and implementation of the very same needed intervention of technology. In other words theThere is a need to develop technology models that will enable for teachers and the students to respondadvance into to the demands of the vast, growing technology and to assist in createing precedents to cater for future generations. Ratios into the potentiality and the ability of the current teachers to the current students will also play a vital role in this regard in an attempt to seek for identification in placing and equipping them with the outstanding skills in technology required. Teachers will be indicated to be equipped with skills towards their students.

Keywords: techonology; teachers; students

Keywords: learning management system (lms); student support; blended learning

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#57. Enhancing Undergraduate Students’ Academic Writing Skills: UKZN College of Law and Management Studies

#58. The Impact of the Economics Bilingual Tutorials on Student Academic Performance

TS. Mbili, JZ. Nxumalo & BC. Nnambooze University of KwaZulu-Natal

SR. Mchunu University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Theme: 8. Language policy, planning and implementation in Higher Education: Complexities, challenges and possibilities

Academic writing plays a critical role in student performance; however, many students are struggling to achieve the academic writing standards accepted in higher education. This is not only the case at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) but at other universities locally and internationally. This paper discusses the role of academics in providing support to undergraduate students to help them improve their writing skills in the College of Law and Management Studies at UKZN. It examines the nature of academic writing that is accepted in UKZN, academics’ expectations of students, the challenges students encounter in writing academically, and the kind of support academics provide to students to assist them to improve their academic writing skills. The paper draws from primary data collected through in-depth interviews with undergraduate students and academics within the College of Law and Management Studies. Judgemental sampling was used to identify the participants, and the data was analysed using thematic analysis. The findings reveal that students are not adequately prepared to write academically, that academics offer little support to help students improve, and that feedback from academics is not constructive. As a way forward, the paper proposes the following strategies: a combination of language and content in the discipline curricula, feedback that is formative and a need for collaboration between academic staff and The Writing Place in planning and conducting intensive critical reading and writing workshops. These findings should assist educators in higher education to better understand the needs of their students so that they may respond directly to such needs.

The issue of whether to use native languages in classrooms has been at the center of higher education language policy debates for quite some time. This has been necessitated by the fact that African students often grapple with accessing the curriculum through English as a medium of instruction. It is acknowledged that learning in a foreign language poses significant barriers to participation and limits students’ learning opportunities. Recognising this challenge, a South African University has embarked on a project to promote the use of IsiZulu in the formal teaching and learning program, a move which represents a deviation from the traditional mono-lingual culture of higher education. This study aims to explore the impact of bilingual tutorials (IsiZulu and English) on students’ academic performance. The sample was constituted of (N=480) the 2014 and 2015 first year cohorts taking the Economics 101 module. A betweengroup design with two conditions, comparing bilingual tutorials to monolingual tutorials was used. Data on pass rates and attendance were collected over two semesters starting in 2014. Qualitative data were also collected through a questionnaire. Descriptive analyses using frequencies and cross tabs and calculating the chi square test of significance were used to analyse the relationship between attendance and pass rates. An interpretive methodology was adopted for the qualitative data. Overall, the analyses show that the bilingual tutorials had a positive impact on students’ academic performance ceterius paribus.

Keywords: writing skills; students; academics

Keywords: bilingual tutorials; economics; isiZulu

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#59. From Ticking Boxes to Institutional Systemic Change: The Roll-Out of the Quality Enhancement Project at Mangosuthu University of Technology

#60. Teaching Through Absence: The Gentle Art of Stepping Out of the Classroom T. Meskin & TL. van der Walt University of KwaZulu-Natal

A. Merkestein Mangosuthu University of Technology

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Theme: 3. Collaborative quality enhancement for systemic change in Higher Education: Prospects and possibilities Even though all universities belong to a shared sector, Higher Education, to a large extent they are organisations that are individual in character. This is also visible in parts of the organisation, be they schools, faculties, departments or, in some instances, persons. Despite the fact that there are good reasons for such discreteness, which are located in the context, mission and vision of different Higher Education Institutions, and in the discipline-specific content of faculties, as well as academic and support departments, this perception of uniqueness can hamper systemic institutional change if it remains an unchallenged paradigm. The current Quality Enhancement Project (QEP) that was launched in 2014 has, through its emphasis on systemic change of the entire Higher Education Sector, challenged this paradigm of separateness and individuality both at the institutional and sector level. Over the past years Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) has striven to create a vibrant organisational culture of quality. In using a multi- and inter-disciplinary focus to roll out the QEP at MUT, it was hoped that this process would be re-energised through broad and active engagement of MUT staff in the QEP, and that this might lead to accelerated and deepened development of MUT as a cohesive organisation. The paper describes the path that was chosen by MUT in rolling out the QEP. It also discusses the ways in which much of the format and content of the QEP can be employed to enhance an existing culture of quality at institutional and, possibly, sector level. The findings are presented against the background of research on large-scale participatory approaches aimed at promoting sustained, systemic development in organisations.

Effective teaching of Drama in higher education engages both theory and practice, where practice explores the application of theoretical understandings. Such application most often depends on group exercises, requiring students to work together to generate content in collaborative and participatory ways. As teachers we must confront the question of how to manage the group process in order to elicit the maximum learning benefit from the experience. In this paper, we posit that the teacher’s role in such group work should be to facilitate the process by constructing an experiential learning context within which students become agents of their own learning, rather than driving the process from a position of authority operating as the ‘ones who know’. One key method we employ to accomplish this is stepping out of the classroom space and leaving the students to work, without teacher interference, on specific tasks. Using a self-study methodology, and drawing on theoretical perspectives from Drama in education and broader education discourse, we seek to examine our own teaching practices to understand how teacher absence helps to facilitate student presence in the learning moment of the classroom. In our analysis, we draw on our experiences of teaching across a variety of areas within our discipline, and at a number of different levels, requiring increasingly complex student engagements. Key to our exploration is the need to locate non-traditional and nonlinear methods of teaching and learning that both engage the multicultural and multilingual South African university classroom, and also offer the potential to develop strategies that empower through method at the same time as educating for content. Such an approach is particularly apt in the field of Drama where the tensions - and the synergies - between theory and practice offer a fertile space for developing responsive and innovative pedagogic strategies.

Keywords: culture of quality; participatory approach; systemic institutional change

Keywords: drama; self-study; practice

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#61. Finding Your Feet in a Technology Learning Environment

#62. Ukucwaninga ngesiZulu: Amatemu Ocwaningo Kanye Nemithombo Eshicilelwe Ngolimi lwesiZulu

LM Mhakamuni Khoza, K. Sikonkwane & BB. Bontle Monnanyane Stellenbosch University

BY. Mhlongo & ZP Nkosi University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils Theme: 8. Language policy, planning and implementation in Higher Education: Complexities, challenges and possibilities

The first year of university is assumed to be a critical year that provides the foundation for subsequent years of study and persistence. First-year students commonly face many adjustments. For some students, this involves learning in new ways in technology learning environments. Researchers claim that students can effectively learn in these environments if they have had previous, similar experiences with similar technologies; if not, learning can be compromised. This study reports on the extent to which first year students adjust in blended learning environments. Data were collected from first year residential and distance education students through questionnaires and interviews. The results show that educators use available learning technologies to adapt learning environments to be consistent with how students learn, while students are of the opinion that they have to adapt to learning environments. The findings reveal that cognitive load is less considered in the development of teaching and learning resources in blended learning environments.

INqubomgomo Yolimi Yemfundo ePhakeme igqugquzela ukusetshenziswa kwezilimi zaseAfrika emfundweni ephakeme kuhlanganisa nocwaningo. Ngaleyo ndlela ukwenza ucwaningo ngolimi lwesiZulu akuyona into ephambene nomthetho. Kodwa abafundi abaningi baye bakhethe ukwenza ucwaningo ngolimi lwesiNgisi, ngisho nalabo abacwaninga ngezilimi zaseAfrika. Lokhu kungakha isithombe sokuthi abafundi abazithandi izilimi zabo zoMdabu. Lapho kubhekwa inani locwaningo olwenziwa abafundi nabafundisi basemanyuvesi, kuyavela ukuthi aluluningi ucwaningo oselwenziwe ngolimi lwesiZulu, lapho luqhathaniswa nolimi lwesiNgisi, ngisho nalapho izilimi zase-Afrika zomdabu sezisemthethweni futhi zigunyaziwe ukuba zisetshenziswe ocwaningweni. Lolu cwaningo luhlose ukuhlola ukuthi ngakube amatemu ocwaningo kanye nemithombo eshicilelwe ngolimi lwesiZulu kukhona ngokwanele yini ukuvumela abafundi nabafundisi ukuba bakwazi ukucwaninga ngolimi lwesiZulu ngokukhululeka, bangavinjwa ukuntuleka kwalokhu. Ucwaningo lwenziwe emaNyuvesi amabili asesifundazweni saKwaZulu-Natali. Izindlela zocwaningo ezilandelwe yilezo ezixubile (mixed methods). Ucwaningo lungaphansi kwepharadaymu i-interpretivist, kanti kusetshenziswe izingxoxo (interviews), imibuzo evalekile (questionnaire), kwase kucutshungulwa imiqingo yocwaningo (dissertations and theses) olukhiqizwe ngolimi lwesiZulu, ukuhlola ukusetshenziswa kwamatemu ocwaningo. Abahlanganyeli bocwaningo abafundisi abahlanu bakula manyuvesi, abafundisa isiZulu, kanye nabafundi abahlanu, bakuzo zombili lezi zikhungo. Phakathi kokutholakele ukuthi amatemu ocwaningo awayona ingqinamba, bakhona abafundi nabafundisi abawasebenzisayo ocwaningweni. Nakuba ekhona, kodwa kuyenzeka amatemu ocwaningo ehluke lapho kuqhathaniswa ucwaningo oselushicilelwe. Ngale kwalokhu, imithombo eshicilelwe, njengamaphepha amajenali ahloliwe (peer-reviewed journals) ikhona eyimbijana, nakuba iseyindlala, kepha ngokusebenzisa leyo ekhona umcwaningi angeze ahlangabezana nezingqinamba ezimayelana nokwentuleka kwamatemu ocwaningo. Ucwaningo lusonga ngokuthi kufanele kube nephrojekthi ezobhekelela ukuhlanganiswa, kuhlaziywe, kubukezwe, futhi kube nokuvumelana mayelana namatemu ocwaningo azosetshenziswa ngendlela efanayo, ukwelekelela ukukhula kolimi lwesiZulu ocwaningweni. Ngale kwalokhu, ucwaningo luncoma ukuba kube khona umqhudelwano mayelana nokusetshenziswa kwamatemu esiZulu anembayo. Amatemu kufanele aqukathe umqondo oqukethwe yilawo esiNgisi ukuze kube nesiqiniseko sokuthi achaza khona lokhu okuchazwa awesiNgisi avele ekhona. Okunye ukuba kube khona umqhudelwano wamaphepha abhalwe ngolimi lesiZulu. Lokhu kungahlanganisa ubunjalo (quality) bephepha, inani lamaphepha

Keywords: adapt; first year; cognitive load

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

amajenali ahloliwe asekhiqizwe umbhali ngolimi lwesiZulu, kanye nokwethulwa kwamaphepha ngesiZulu. Lokhu kungasiza ekutheni kwande inani lamaphepha akhiqizwe ngesiZulu, futhi kube yindlela yokukhula kwamatemu okucwaninga ngesiZulu.

#63. Combating the Underpreparedness of University Entry Students: An Extended Programme at CUT

Keywords: isizulu; amatemu ocwaningo; amaphepha amajenali abhalwe ngesizulu

M. Mokhomo Central University of Technology

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

In education, the curriculum is constantly changing to meet the needs of society. High schools have a mandate to prepare students for higher education. However, only a small percentage of students leaving high school have direct entry to universities; both traditional and universities of technology (UoTs). While curricula cater for the small percentage that meets the entry requirements, most aspiring students have to change their plans and study what they never planned to take as their careers. Therefore universities need to transform so that they are able to accommodate and reach out through (bridging) extended programmes. This paper explores the on-going practice of universities in accepting and rejecting potential students. According to Pierre Bourdieu's cultural-reproductive model, high school students bring with them the knowledge of what they want to learn and where they want to learn it. Central University of Technology (CUT) has graduate attributes it wants its students to attain. John Biggs' constructive alignment should guide CUT into having a programme that prepares students for entry into the programmes of their choice. The paper examines how students who are in their first choice programmes perform better than those who had to change courses to gain entry to CUT. The results of this study will encourage the institution to reconsider its admission policy and to consider a (bridging) extended programme. This is a qualitative study underpinned within a social constructivist paradigm. Self-administered questionnaires and unstructured interviews were used to collect data. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample consisted of 60 students across all years of study. Data reduction and analysis in terms of this method involves organising, accounting for and explaining.

Keywords: curriculum; student unpreparedness; extended programme

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#64. Teaching Mathematics to Future Engineers: A Constraint or Catalyst to Learning?

#65. Conceptions of Doctoral Curriculum Design: A Case Study at a Research-Intensive University

M. Moodley University of KwaZulu-Natal

T. Moodley & MA. Samuel University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

The shortage of qualified engineers in the country led to the increased intake of engineering students at a South African Higher Education Institution (SAHEI). However the SAHEI is not graduating sufficient engineers in relation to its intake to effectively address the critical shortage. The poor graduation rates of undergraduate engineering students has been attributed, in part, to poor pass rates in mathematics. While mathematics is a core module in engineering, it is a constraint to progression in engineering, thus underscoring the mathematics education of engineering students as a concern. This article reports on a qualitative study that sought to understand how teaching and learning is approached in a core mathematics module, Mathematics for Engineers (ME), at the SAHEI. The study examined the structure of pedagogy using Bernstein’s concept of framing to determine the extent of the control exerted by lecturers and students over selection, sequencing, pacing and evaluative criteria. Furthermore it sought to examine lecturers’ and students’ perceptions of how well they learned mathematics. Using a qualitative approach, internal and external languages of description were developed to link theory to data and to facilitate the collection of empirical data. A range of data were generated through document analysis, observation of twenty-four lectures and interviews with four lecturers and fourteen students. The findings show that the ME module exhibits strong framing over selection, sequencing, pacing and evaluative criteria. In addition to poor pass rates, students and lecturers asserted that they learned the mathematics sufficiently to pass the module. The implications are that students may not have developed the mathematical understanding required in subsequent engineering modules. The findings suggest the need for lecturers to engage in research-led practice to develop teaching and learning approaches that will enhance the quality of learning in the ME module and by extension, engineering.

Producing high-calibre doctoral graduates who can contribute to social needs and meet the human capital demands of an innovation-driven economy are strong, standing concerns of national governments. Through the realignment of curricula, a project initiated by the Council on Higher Education in 2011, higher education institutions in South Africa were propelled to re-examine the doctoral programmes against the Higher Education Qualifications SubFramework (HEQSF) of 2013 which was one attempt of steering through policy, greater potential variation of the types of doctoral education curriculum models to activate knowledge construction, development and innovation. A further challenge envisioned by the HEQSF framework concerns the nature of supervision models to characterise the shifts in multiple possibilities for doctoral education and the need for a rapid expansion of doctoral graduates in South Africa. This paper presents a multiple case study of doctoral programmes offered at a research-intensive university. It explores the overt official policies around the expansion of doctoral education. It focuses more specifically on the espoused curriculum as declared by designers of doctoral education curricula. It probes the operational curriculum within the University, suggesting how and why decisions are being made in the way they are, about the nature, form and shape of the doctoral education curriculum. The analysis is based on different levels of data: Section 1 outlines the HEQSF national curriculum policy options. Section 2 presents insight into the institution’s doctoral programmes submitted to the HEQSF structures. Section 3 outlines the selected case studies of doctoral education programmes to activate insight into decision-making by academics. The intersection between national and operational institutional levels with respect to decision-making around the design and delivery of doctoral education forms the concluding section 4 of the paper.

Keywords: mathematics in engineering; engineering education; pedagogy

Keywords: research-intensive university; doctorate; professional doctorate

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#66. Integrating Work and Learning: A Student Perspective

#67. Restructuring and Strengthening the Implementation of Group Work Field Practice for 3rd Year Social Work Students

TJ. Mosholi Central University of Technology

MN. Mthembu, N. Ngcobo & B. Seepamoore University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Work Integrated Learning (WIL) in the curriculum and pedagogy of most professional and sectoral fields of practice is intended to promote effective linkages between theory and practice. In particular WIL is envisioned to ensure synergy between the theoretical knowledge acquired in institutions of higher learning, and knowledge acquired at the workplace. This paper explores ongoing research on the extent to which students’ perspectives are taken into account in designing the WIL aspect of curriculum and pedagogy. The main thrust of the paper is the examination of apparent gaps between theory and the workplace, the development of learning outcomes and comprehensive feedback, and the duration of WIL. The results of the study will inform future implementation practice of WIL. This study uses non-experimental, exploratory and descriptive methods to examine the perceptions of students at CUT who attended their WIL in 2014. A sample comprising of 20 students will be randomly selected from the Tourism and Financial Information systems students. Data will be statistically anaysed using the SPSS.

The Social Work degree requires students to demonstrate competency in 27 exit level outcomes. Students need to demonstrate not only the knowledge but also the practical skills required for professional practice. The SOWK 320 module is for 3rd year social work students and it aims to expose students to social work practice in action, including group work. The 2012 internal and external reviews recommended early introduction of field practice, hence the initiative to establish school based programmes in Cato Manor. Amongst the challenges were high student numbers and programme inflexibility. The study therefore explored alternative ways of implementing field practice in three schools in Durban. This study is in line with the value of responsiveness involving many role-players which might enable accountability to the school, the university and the community. Data collection for this qualitative study was first through a group-administered questionnaire with learners from Grades 6 to 7, and later through focus groups discussions with educators and learners, respectively. All three schools are currently sites for field practice. The study found that schools prefer ongoing partnerships with the university as opposed to being perceived of only as a training site. Respective schools’ management designed a system to manage the programme within the school that promotes harmony, sustainability and ownership of the programme as opposed to being seen as a project for the university. Learner needs were identified and they are being incorporated in the programme for 2016. The success of group work field practice in schools rests on a partnership that is needs-based, responsive and mutually beneficial to the schools and the university. Ongoing partnership and engagement with schools creates ownership and sustainability of the programme that offers many benefits to students.

Keywords: workplace knowledge; pedagogy; academic curriculum

Keywords: field work; group work; schools

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#68. Teaching Practice Challenges Through Distance Education

#69. Online Discussion Forum: A Strategy to Support Learning in Business Management Education

LC. Mthethwa University of South Africa

M. Mtshali University of KwaZulu-Nata

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic? Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils The South African Higher Education system for training teachers is at a crucial stage, given public concerns about the shortage of teachers and the lack of quality teachers. Poor reading and mathematical foundations have become the norm in South African public schools. Student teachers that study through distance learning confront many challenges because they learn on their own and practice their teaching skills in schools which are not equipped for the 21st century teacher. Since learning technologies are evolving at a phenomenal pace, universities are challenged to implement innovative pedagogies, such as social media sites and the introduction of flipped learning. The theory of connectivity underpins innovative approaches using learning technologies and blended learning , with presently employed educators forming the communties of practice. This in turn creates digital natives amongst student teachers, who will penetrate global education from remote communities. Student teachers are aided and guided by school leaders using Facebook that will track their performance in a very relaxed environment. Data was collected from five student teachers registered at different distance universities. The study aimed to assist student teachers registered at distance universities to overcome the challenges they face. The role of ICT in leadership is seen under the umbrella of the communities of practice. Lectures are seen as technology stewards.

Online-supported teaching and learning is a technological innovation in education that combines face-to-face teaching in plenary lectures with an online component using a learning management system (LMS). This offers opportunities to students to conduct their learning with one another through the online discussion forum. There is a need to understand how this innovation is experienced by South African students, many of whom confront it for the first time at university. We have yet to understand students’ experiences of online support in ways that influence their learning. This paper explores students’ experiences of learning using the online discussion forum in Business Management Education. The mixed-methods approach used has a qualitative component that drew on the principles of phenomenography. Fifteen participants from a Business Management Education class that had 156 students were selected using phenomenographic sampling. A quantitative component is then implemented to support or oppose the qualitative findings. Qualitative data sources included personal reflective journals, focus group discussions and individual interviews while questionnaires were circulated to the respondents to generate quantitative data. An analysis of the data revealed that participants viewed the online discussion as having offered a context for learning through social interaction in qualitatively different ways.

Keywords: student teachers; communities of practice; digital natives Keywords: online supported teaching and learning; online discussion forum; social interaction

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#70. Higher Education Responsiveness through Partnerships with Industry: Experiences of a South African University of Technology

#71. Discovering the Elephant: Profiling as an Inner Technology SKK. Mwendwa Technical University of Kenya

S. Mutereko1 & V. Wedekind2 1 University of KwaZulu-Natal & 2University of the Witwatersrand

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

Theme: 3. Collaborative quality enhancement for systemic change in Higher Education: Prospects and possibilities

‘The lack of self-knowledge makes one a slave’(Ewe). Today education as a whole is at a crossroads. Global figures are questioning whether our systems, set in an industrial revolution paradigm, are enabling 21st century youth to be formally or self-employed on the one hand, or to be contributive citizens, on the other. In East African the new extractive sector is demanding new skill sets and competencies, interestingly enough both technical and soft. In a shrinking globe, due to technological advancements and the information revolution, exposure to all kinds of information requires an individual to be discriminative. Are we providing our graduates with skills and practices to maneuver today’s complex world? In universities today the ability to understand oneself and one’s inner workings has not been exploited as a possible basic practice to investigate and resolve present issues. After observing students over 576 hours in the studio in the ‘the Art of Creative Thinking’ course, – theoretically recognizing the latest research in physics and neuro-science, plus using practical techniques such as visualization and improvisation – and obtaining feedback from 100 students, through questionnaires, on the relevance of the course, and its ability to elicit debate on problem solving and creative solution finding, it became apparent that profiling is an important part of the method. The purpose of the course has been to produce moral, effective and relevant human-centered designers, assuming that in providing students with the tools to learn their biases – inner technology – they would be equipped with the ability to create and choose as well as be empowered beyond university. I present the observations of and responses to the course that suggest that profiling – grounding students with discriminative tools – needs serious consideration as a foundation within university.

The dearth of specialised middle level skills in the pulp and paper industry on the one hand, and the funding and recruitment challenges on the part of higher education institutions on the other, led to the establishment of a partnership between the Paper Manufacturers’ Association of South Africa and a university of technology (UoT), Chemical Engineering Department. The partnership resulted in the curriculation of pulp and paper focused qualifications. As part of a broader Department of Higher Education and Training funded Labour Market Intelligence Partnership project, which explored the complexities shaping current post-schooling curriculum, this study adopted a case study approach in order to illustrate how HEIs experience partnerships. One focus group interview was conducted with the deputy dean and nine heads of departments from different engineering departments. Although the focus of this paper is the Chemical Engineering Department and one specific programme within that department, the views from other heads of department were used to illuminate the uniqueness of the Chemical Engineering Department. This paper explores the experiences and understanding of academics and Pulp and Paper National Diploma students. The results show that while the UoT has benefitted through workplace learning opportunities for their students and funding through the lecturers who have been seconded to the department by industry, the partnership links are weakening. The programme is often shunned by high achieving matric graduates and sometimes taken as a stepping-stone to other prestigious engineering fields. The curriculation of qualifications that are narrowly focused on pulp and paper may limit articulation and the portability of skills between different industries by graduates. Keywords: partnerships; industry; higher education

Keywords: profiling; inner technology;

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#72. Moodle®, Health Science Students and Physiology: Do They Mix? Some Preliminary Data

#73. Revisiting our Classroom Spaces: Exploring the Pedagogical Potential of Memory Work J. Naidoo & K. Pithouse-Morgan University of KwaZulu-Natal

A. Nadar, MA. Tufts & SB. Higgins-Opitz University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils We reflect on the use of memory work as an innovative pedagogic tool in the context of the postgraduate module ‘Researching Teacher Development’. Drawing on data generated from teaching this module to two different Master of Education classes, we reflect on the possibilities and challenges of memory work as pedagogy. We begin by explaining the purpose and process of the memory work activities. Students engaged in and presented a range of memory work activities: memory self-portraits, letter writing, collages and poems. From these, we present selected examples of students’ responses to the memory work activities. We also reflect on feedback about memory work activities in student evaluations and examiners’ reports. Using a theoretical perspective of productive remembering, we examine memory work as a method of self-exploration for teachers. We highlight how memory work as a pedagogic tool allows for critical self-reflection, uncovers insight into our teaching practices and promotes awareness of ethical issues and emotions in teacher research. To conclude, we draw attention to how memory work as an innovative and responsive pedagogic interaction tool serves as a research tool for self-study and facilitates not only our professional development as university educators but also that of our students.

Moodle® has recently been adopted as a University-wide teaching platform. During the course of 2011 and 2014, while we were evaluating the introduction of the PowerLab® system to Health Science students, we included some statements on Moodle® as we were using it to post practical notes. When we analysed our results, we noticed that about a third of the students reported that they were having difficulties with Moodle®. We subsequently further analysed the 2011 results to see whether gender, home language, ethnic background, and repeating students influenced the outcome. This quantitative and qualitative study was questionnairebased. Demographic data was only available for 74 students out of a class of 104. There were 21 students repeating the course. The response rates for all students, first time students and repeat students were 71%, 76% and 62%, respectively. 42 female and 32 male students completed the questionnaire. 38 students were English First Language (EFL) and 36 were English Second Language (ESL) speakers. There were 33 African, 2 Coloured, 12 Indian, and 21 White students in the cohort. The female students were more positive than their male counterparts (81% versus 69%, respectively) about receiving the practical notes via Moodle® in advance of the practicals, citing preparation as the main reason. Interestingly, no difference was noted for home language. Lack of accessibility and the complexity of Moodle® were some of the reasons given by those students that responded negatively. Despite accessing Moodle® more frequently, repeat students seemed to be more negatively inclined to receiving their practical notes via Moodle®. African and Indian students seemed to be more positive than their White counterparts. Our results suggest that further research is needed to ensure the successful adoption of Moodle® in the teaching and learning of physiology, especially to Health Science students not majoring in physiology per se.

Keywords: memory work; productive remembering; pedagogy

Keywords: moodle®; health science students; physiology

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#74. Using Occupational Therapy Graduates’ Experiences of Community Service to Strengthen the Curriculum

#75. Exploring the Use of Teaching and Learning Technologies in Higher Education: A Case Study of One University

D. Naidoo & J. Van Wyk University of KwaZulu-Natal

J. Naidoo University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 10. New directions and advances in Health Sciences Education

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

There is a need for health professional educational institutions to explore how well graduates are prepared for the challenges they face during community service. However, there is limited research on how well the undergraduate South African occupational therapy curricula prepare graduates for community practice. This study explored the working experiences of occupational therapy graduates during their community service year to gather their perceptions of the efficacy of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s undergraduate programme. A purposive sample of thirteen occupational therapy graduates (OT) from the 2013 community service cohort (n=20) and fifteen OT graduates from the 2014 community service cohort was selected. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed. Ethical approval was obtained from the UKZN Biomedical Research Ethics Committee and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health. The study uncovered both positive and challenging experiences of community service as well as strengths and opportunities for change impacting on their training. Positive experiences included building collaborations within the hospital and community and experiencing the effectiveness of their profession. Challenges included a lack of supervision, and difficulty in setting up the department. Strengths within the curriculum included graduates feeling that the course was good and that it equipped them for basic clinical practice in a hospital setting. The graduates believed that the occupational therapy curriculum required revision to address the disparities of being trained in well-resourced settings as opposed to the under-resourced community context where they practise. It is concluded that guiding strategies are required to transform the University of KwaZulu-Natal occupational therapy curriculum into a contextualised programme with relevant educational outcomes for practice within the public sector and the changing healthcare landscape.

The use of teaching and learning technologies are fast becoming the norm at institutions of Higher Education. Exploring the use of these technologies is important in sustaining and improving teaching and learning at such institutions. This paper reports on a study conducted at one University in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study explored post-graduate lecturers’ use of teaching and learning technologies within Higher Education. Qualitative data was collected during the 2014 and 2015 academic year. A lecturer questionnaire, lecture observation schedules and semi-structured lecturer interviews were used to collect data. The study was framed by merging Shulman’s (1987) PCK and Mishra & Koehler’s (2006) TPACK frameworks. The lecturer questionnaire assisted in answering questions relating to each participant’s pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Pedagogic content knowledge refers to the merging of content and pedagogy while, TPACK epitomises how one integrates technology effectively within the classroom. At least two post-graduate lectures taught by each of the three participants were observed. A semistructured lecturer interview was used to gain an in-depth understanding of how teaching and learning technologies were integrated within the post-graduate lectures. This interpretive study employed qualitative data analysis. Thematic coding and interpretive techniques were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that the participants used innovative methods to integrate technology within the post-graduate lectures. The findings also revealed that the challenges associated with teaching abstract concepts were alleviated through the use of teaching and learning technologies. In the presentation an in-depth discussion of the technologies used, the results, findings and recommendations will be provided. This study has implications for curriculum developers and lecturers at Institutions of Higher Education.

Keywords: graduates’ experience; health science education; transformation

Keywords: post-graduate; technology; knowledge

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#76. An Exciting Time to be a Teacher and Learner

#77. An Anatomy of Language Problems in the South African Higher Education Landscape: A Language Management Approach

P. Narismulu University of KwaZulu-Natal

H. Ndebele & N. Ndimande-Hlongwa University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic? Theme: 8. Language policy, planning and implementation in Higher Education: Complexities, challenges and possibilities

One of the most exciting developments in my own teaching and learning has been the recent dramatic national advances in student social responsiveness, which makes lectures, tutorial classes, and seminars wonderful places to engage students, and help advance their capacity to engage with their concerns and take initiatives more effectively. Twenty-first century students and academics who are part of the tiny minority that benefit from public funding are capable of making far greater and more significant contributions to social and intellectual development. This is the case in disciplines like English Studies, particularly as it comes from a weakly responsive base historically, yet happens to be a powerful creative-critical-communicative nexus of many subjectivities in our developing society. Such a nexus advances problem-based learning to engage themes such as Equality, Social Justice, Overcoming Discrimination, and advancing African theories, conceptual frameworks, strategies and agency, which can be tested by all learners and teachers in the group. This offers space to tackle complex real-world problems (like colonialism, neocolonialism, racism, sexism, etc.) to challenge their stereotypes and other iterations (through discourse analysis, critical theory, feminism, etc.) and help solve them for individuals and groups, using the experiential, participatory, problem-solving methods and the systematic skills development of critical pedagogy. All the arts and literary/language studies, in addition to the social sciences, allow for a deeper understanding of people, values or persuasions (economic, racial/ethnic, political, religious, nationality, etc.). Literary texts allow for the development and exploration of active citizenship, for advancing values and ethics, for developing work-related knowledge and skills, for thinking, reading, analysis, argument construction, creative envisioning, and a variety of writing skills.

This paper seeks to provide a critical examination of the language problems associated with the low profile of indigenous African languages, and further suggest language management strategies that could be adopted within the Higher Education landscape. Over the years, institutions of higher learning have relied solely on national legislative provisions and their own institutional language policies to promote and develop African languages. Almost two decades after the advent of a democratic society and the provision of progressive legislation that vests these languages with official status and the authority to function in higher domains, African languages are still lagging behind in their development. Data for the study was gathered through interviews with key individuals in various South African Universities. These included language planning practitioners, lexicographers, terminologists and African language academics. A language management approach was employed as the primary theory for the study. The study established that the linguistic problems include the limited utilisation of these languages as languages of teaching and learning and the accompanying lack of documentation, the negative attitudes that exist towards these languages amongst the university community and the general populace, problematic inborn language and identity issues, weak bilingualism and monolingualism, and finally, the problem of orthographic inconsistencies in the use of these languages. It is therefore important to adopt language management strategies that would ensure the promotion and intellectualisation of these languages, given the multilingual nature of the South African university landscape, the demonstrated potential of these languages and the need for transformation.

Keywords: english studies; social justice; innovation and reflection Keywords: higher education; language management; transformation

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#78. Inqubomgomo Yolimi yeNyuvesi YaKwaZulu-Natali: Bukhona ubudlelwane phakathi kweNqubomgomo nokwenzeka eNyuvesi?

#79. Factors (Dis) Enabling International Postgraduate Students’ Learning Experiences in a South African University in the 21st Century

ZP. Nkosi University of KwaZulu-Natal

PG. Nwokedi & FP. Khanare University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 8. Language policy, planning and implementation in Higher Education: Complexities, challenges and possibilities

Theme: 1. Re-imagining internationalisation in Higher Education: Implications for praxis The voices of international postgraduate students are more often than not missing from the conversation about their learning experiences at the host university. This paper draws on an on-going M.Ed. study on international postgraduate students’ constructions of their learning experiences in a South African university. It asks the question: What factors enable and constrain international postgraduate students’ learning experiences in a South African university in the 21st century? The study adopted a qualitative approach, drawing on the interpretive paradigm and used participatory visual arts-based methodologies, in particular, photovoice, to answer this question. Eight international postgraduate students in M.Ed. and Ph.D from the School of Education were purposively selected. The findings suggest a strong sense of enabling learning environments such as interpersonal relationships among international students; lecturers’ support; learning in an open-resource setting; active participation in terms of employability and adaptive coping strategies. The study also identified the factors that constrain international students’ learning experiences, namely, poor international-local student relations; a lack of upper management support; financial constraints and external factors over time. The paper concludes that international postgraduate students are highly motivated about their learning experiences and could access vast internal resources towards their learning. However, they also point out their dissatisfactions, mainly macro-level forces which have a negative effect on their learning. The paper concludes that, incorporating photovoice - a participatory visual method might increase dialogue but could also offer access to international postgraduate students ideas’ about their learning experiences visually.

Inqubomgomo Yolimi yeNyuvesi YaKwaZulu-Natali igqugquzela ukuthuthukiswa kwezilimi zoMdabu zase-Afrika, ikakhulukazi ulimi lwesiZulu. Lokhu kungenxa yokuthi lolu limi yilona olukhulunywa ngabantu abaningi esifundazweni saKwaZulu-Natali okuyindawo iNyuvesi ekuyo. Phakathi kwezinye izinto ezibalwe kule Nqubomgomo Yolimi ukuthi iNyuvesi iyokhuthaza ukusetshenziswa kwesiZulu njengolimi lokufundisa, igqugquzele ucwaningo olwenziwe ngesiZulu, iqikelele ekwelekeleleni izinhlelo zokuthuthukiswa kolimi lwesiZulu, nokunye. Isithombe esivezwa yile Nqubomgomo ngokuthuthukiswa kolimi lwesiZulu sihle futhi sikhombisa ukukhathalela kweNyuvesi ukuba luthuthuke lolu limi kwezemfundo. Kodwa-ke umbuzo owokuthi kungakanani okwenzekayo kumbe osekuqaliwe ukwenzeka ukulekelela ukuphumelela kwaleli phupho lenyuvesi? Lapha ngingabala izifundo ezifundwa ngolimi lwesiNgisi nangesiZulu eSikoleni seMfundo ezingeni leziqu zokuqala (B Ed) ukugqugquzela ubulimimbili, isibalo socwaningo oselwenziwe ngesiZulu (olwenziwe abafundisi basesikoleni seMfundo kanye nabafundi), isibalo samaphepha asethuliwe ezingqungqutheleni ngolimi lwesiZulu kule Nyuvesi, imincintiswano nokunye okungagqugquzela abafundi nabafundisi ukuba bakhuthalele ukusetshenziswa kolimi lwesiZulu. Umbuzo wesibili owokuthi kubambeni njengoba abafundisi nabafundi bolimi lwesiZulu baningi eSikoleni seMfundo kule Nyuvesi. Ucwaningo lusebenzise izindlela zocwaningo oluyikhwalithethivu kanti luyi-case study. Lusebenzisa izingxoxo nabafundisi nabafundi esiKoleni seMfundo. Kucutshungulwe nezincwadi zezifinqo zezingqungquthela ze-UTLO zeminyaka eyedlule kanye namajenali, ukuthola isibalo samaphepha aseshicilelwe naseke ethulwa ngolimi lwesiZulu, kanye nocwaningo oselukhiqizwe ngabafundi olwenziwe ngolimi lwesiZulu eSikoleni seMfundo. Phakathi kokutholakele ukuthi okuqukethwe yiNqubomgomo Yolimi YeNyuvesi akuhambisani kahle nokwenzekayo ngempela ukuqinisekisa iphupho le-UKZN lokuba yiNyuvesi ehamba phambili ekuqhakambiseni imfundo Yase-Afrika kumbe ngezilimi zoMdabu zase-Afrika. Iphepha lisonga ngokuthi kusadingeka ukugqugquzeleka kwabafundisi okusezingeni elithe xaxa, okuzobaheha ukuba basibone isidingo sokuthi izifundo ezahlukene zitholakale ngesiNgisi nangesiZulu ezingeni leziqu zokuqala zobuthisha, nokuthi bathande ukucwaninga ngolimi lwesiZulu. Kudingeka nokugqugquzelwa kwabafundi okuthe xaxa ukubaheha ukuba bathi lapho sebephothulile eziqwini zabo zokuqala zobuthisha, bakhethe ukufunda ngolimi lwesiZulu lapho sebenza iziqu ezilandelayo.

Keywords: enabling and constraining environments; international students; university

Keywords: isizulu; inqubomgomo yolimi yenyuvesi; ubulimimbili

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#80. Rethinking the Architectural Literacy of Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study of University of KwaZulu-Natal: Howard College

#81. Do Glossaries Enhance the Teaching and Learning of Students in a Life Science Context? RH. O'Hara, GK. Moodley & DV. Robertson-Andersson University of KwaZulu-Natal

LB. Ogunsanya & MA. Samuel University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

Preliminary findings (T&LHE: Moodley & Robertson-Andersson, 2014), showed that massification in the Life Sciences is far greater than in other disciplines within South African universities, and that student-staff ratios increased by 81% over a decade. This is possibly linked to the 20% decrease in relative pass rates at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Students’ poor performance in compiling practical reports in Level one Life Science modules may be due to a lack of the cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) required to complete these reports. The lack of language proficiency makes it difficult for learners to learn and understand concepts in different content learning areas and this is especially true of English Additional Language learners. The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy of glossaries as a means of scaffolding student understanding of module content and the facilitation of deeper learning. The objectives are: 1) to test the efficacy of glossaries in student comprehension and understanding of terminology in life sciences, 2) to determine the effect of glossaries on student performance in life science practicals compared to practicals without glossaries, and 3) to clarify what structures and systems need to be in place to maximize the benefits of glossaries in a life sciences teaching context. Theories on the different dimensions of language proficiency and the role of language in the development of cognition are highly relevant to the South African context. Practicals and lectures can be seen as cognitively demanding; thus, it is thought that the use of glossaries could scaffold student conceptualisation and increase understanding, and ultimately performance. This initiative drew on the theoretical foundations of constructivism as well as Cummin’s distinction between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills and the later CALP. The significance of these theories to the current study is that they account for the gap in understanding between theoretical knowledge and the application thereof during practical sessions. It is hypothesized that the use of glossaries will scaffold students’ concept understanding so that they can then apply what they learned during the lectures to the practical questions. The glossaries will act as the more skilled partner and will thus support the student in tackling a more cognitively complex task. This paper uses empirical and action research to attempt to improve students’ conceptual learning and understanding of critical Life Science concepts in first year modules.

Universities campuses are composed of buildings with emotional, practical, functional and even spiritual meanings. The physical environment of a university campus is a place with distinct character. Apart from their functional requirements as places of learning and knowledge production, buildings and landscapes form a textual lens through which to examine higher education provisioning across time. This paper discusses the chronological history of the Howard College campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal through the lens of architecture. Four campus buildings established in different periods with different architectural styles and features were analysed. The paper argues that architecture can be viewed as a ‘text’ and that university campus buildings are illuminating reflections of the political, cultural, architectural style, technology and educational landscape contexts of different periods within the development of a higher education institution. The paper proposes ‘architectural literacy’ as a construct to inform qualitative historical insight into the changing landscape of the higher education system in South Africa. It provides insight into the specific characteristics of the selected institution which has undergone various transformations from its colonial inception, to its manifestation as an evolving separatist apartheid institution, and its post-apartheid formation as a new merged institution constituting one of the largest universities in postapartheid South Africa. The implications for architectural studies conclude this paper. Keywords: architecture; architectural literacy; university campus

Keywords: glossaries; cognitive academic language proficiency; life sciences

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#82. The Impact of Entrepreneurial Curriculum Development in Institutions of Higher Learning in South Africa

#83. Factors Influencing Lecture Attendance of Life Sciences Students A. Olaniran, O. Zishiri & RH. O'Hara, University of KwaZulu-Natal

OE. Okeke-Uzodike & M. Subban University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic? Entrepreneurship has been recognised as one of the key drivers of economic development. The quest to redress the injustices of the apartheid system in order to ensure equity and lure the disadvantaged group/youth into embracing the spirit of entrepreneurship led to the implementation of an entrepreneurial curriculum in Higher Education Institutions. The literature has documented the low level of entrepreneurial spirit among the youth. While a few studies have been conducted on entrepreneurial education in South African institutions of higher learning, none of these studies measured its impact in relation to the youth’s perceptions of entrepreneurship. This study will examine the impact of entrepreneurial curriculum development on the youth’s perceptions of entrepreneurship in South African Institutions of Higher Learning. It will also examine the impact of the entrepreneurial curriculum on the mindset of youths. Primary and secondary data collection method will be used. The data collection method involves both qualitative and quantitative research while the research instrument includes class assessment; administration of questionnaires and interviews. The study will be limited to Bachelor of Commerce Management students in an institution of higher learning. Data will be collected over a two year period so as to monitor the trends and patterns of relationships.

The study is situated at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and examines undergraduate students currently enrolled for a Bachelor of Science Degree. In South African there has recently been a push for increased retention and throughput of university students. However, during the last few years attendance has decreased at many lectures across South African universities. This trend is very worrisome as both international studies such as Devadoss & Foltz, 1996; St Clair, 1999; Halpern, 2007; Newman-Ford et al.,2008; and Credé et al., 2010; as well as research from South Africa (Fraser & Killen, 2005 ; Thatcher et al, 2007; Schmulian & Coetzee, 2011) have shown that there is a positive correlation between student performance and lecture attendance. In order to increase student attendance at lectures a study that offers insight into students’ attitudes towards lectures and the reasons for poor attendance will enablethe researchers to take remedial steps that will lead to increased student attendance at lectures as well as improved pass rates, retention and throughput. Furthermore, although there have been numerous studies both within South Africa and internationally on lecture attendance in courses ranging from psychology, to mathematics, engineering, accountancy, economics and marketing, there is a lack of published research on courses for Life Science students. This study will therefore explore the attitudes and reasons for non-attendance of students within the School of Life Sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Keywords: education; curriculum development; youth and entrepreneurship

Keywords: lecture attendance; throughput and retention; life science education

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#84. Supervising Graduate Students Employing Quantitative Research Techniques: The Core Issues

#85. Debating: A Multi-skilling Teaching-learning Strategy Often Neglected by University Teachers in Uganda

D. Onen Makerere University

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Worldwide, the importance that universities attach to the supervision and examination of their students’ research projects cannot be over-emphasized. At many universities, the appointment and promotion of academic staff depends to some extent on the number of graduate students they have supervised. Despite the obvious benefits of effective research supervision to both staff and students, the recent literature abounds with evidence of inherent weaknesses in supervising and examining students’ dissertations and theses across several institutions. Such anomalies could stem from supervisors’ inability to competently guide their supervisees employing specific research techniques. The case of quantitative research techniques may not be an exception. This conceptual paper aims to bring to the fore the core issues that anyone supervising a student employing quantitative research techniques must bear in mind, including the issues of appropriate conceptualization, use of theory, and choice of study design as well as data analysis techniques.

Worldwide, calls for effective teaching and learning at all levels of education are on the increase. Effective teaching requires teachers to choose from a repertoire of strategies that not only enhance learning, but also enable learners to develop additional skills, including communication, critical thinking and interpersonal skills. However, choosing teaching strategies is a daunting task even for the most accomplished teacher. In this paper, the author presents the findings of an on-going study at two universities, one in Finland and the other in Uganda, on staff and students’ use of debating as a teaching-learning strategy and graduate students in the field of higher education’s perceptions of this strategy. The study is mainly qualitative; however, both quantitative and qualitative data are being collected using survey and interviewing methods. Preliminary findings indicate that majority of students are very satisfied with the use of debating as a teaching-learning strategy in many of their courses.Many argue that, besides promoting their understanding of the issues of interest in their programs, debating helps them build their confidence, engages them in the teaching-learning process and builds their discussion and communication skills as well as their discovery and innovation abilities. However, the majority of the students at the university in Uganda reveal limited use of debating as a teaching-learning strategy by their teachers - a claim their teachers appear to agree with. Thus, the researcher concludes that appropriate use of debating in teaching graduate students should result in multi-skilled students. It is recommended that university teachers in Uganda and elsewhere should use debating as a teaching-learning strategy since, in this digital era, the majority of students can easily access information via e-means.

Keywords: research supervision; quantitative research; research techniques

Keywords: teaching-learning strategy; debating; multi-skilling

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#86. Service-Learning in Higher Education in Zimbabwe

#87. Supporting Supplemental Instruction Leaders’ Success Using Reflective Journals in Chemistry Supplemental Instruction Spaces

TP. Pacho University of Hamburg

V. Paideya University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates community service with academic study, reflection and analysis to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities. There has been an increase in research on servicelearning over the years across the globe. Despite service-learning’s contribution being widely recognised, there is remarkably little research that empirically examines this question in Zimbabwe. This paper explores service-learning in higher education in Zimbabwe using Arrupe College and its service-learning programme known as the ‘Apostolate’ as a case study. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the programme on student learning. By means of qualitative methodology, this paper presents the experiences of students who participated in the programme to better understand how learning takes place in the context of community service and higher education in Zimbabwe.

This article focuses on Supplemental Instruction leaders’ reflections on their participation in Chemistry Supplemental Instruction (SI) sessions. SI is an academic support programme aimed at high risk courses such as Chemistry. SI sessions are conducted by third-year or post-graduate students who are referred to as SI leaders. SI leaders play a significant role in that they facilitate the SI sessions rather than lecture and most often do not need to be content experts but rather develop learning skills with students during the sessions. In order to support SI leaders’ growth and development more effectively, SI leader reflective journals were introduced. SI leaders were asked to reflect on each SI session they conducted in an attempt to improve the quality of the sessions through redesign upon reflection. A design research methodology was introduced which involved iterative cycles of design, implementation, reflection and redesign of SI activities to ensure student participation and conceptual development. Perry’s Model on Intellectual Development was used as an analytical framework. The data revealed that the SI leaders developed an understanding of different learning styles and approaches; gained confidence and patience in interactions with students; understood the need to motivate students and also increased their content knowledge and problem solving abilities as the semester progressed.

Keywords: service; reflection; learning

Keywords: supplemental instruction; SI leader; reflective journals

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#88. Planning for Assessment Induction: An Analysis of Existing Practices and Lecturers’ Views

#89. Examining the Level of Technological Knowledge[TK] of Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) Students and Lecturing Staff at the Wits School of Education [WSoE]

MJ. Pienaar University of South Africa

K. Pierce & T. Rajoo University of the Witwatersrand

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

It is well-known that teaching, learning and assessment are intertwined. Although it is often assumed that academic staff at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have sufficient subject knowledge, their knowledge of student learning and competencies regarding teaching and assessment are challenged. The research reported in this paper was prompted by the researcher’s observation that academic staff at a Private Higher Educational Institution (PHEI) are not formally initiated to plan and conduct assessment. In addition, academic staff at this PHEI reported specific concerns about their preparedness to utilize assessment effectively. In an attempt to address this problem, the researcher acquainted herself with the theoretical foundations, nature and role of induction programmes by means of a literature study. This was followed by an empirical study to answer two questions: - What is the nature and scope of existing assessment induction programmes? - What are the views and needs of academic staff regarding an assessment induction programme? Through a mixed method design, a document analysis of accessible documents of six purposively selected South African public HEIs was done to determine the nature and scope of existing assessment induction programmes. Furthermore, the views and needs of academic staff at the identified PHEI with regard to an assessment induction programme were determined through questionnaires and interviews. A total of 101 academic staff participated in the research. The key findings of the empirical study revealed that an assessment induction programme should be structured according to five questions which are usually associated with strategic planning. These include When? How long? What? For who? and By whom? Using these five questions, the researcher developed a set of guidelines which are proposed for planning an assessment induction programme for the specific PHEI. Such a programme could improve the quality of assessment and consequently, teaching and learning.

This paper draws on the initial findings from data gathered from the lecturing staff and their students in the Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) unit at the Wits School of Education (WSoE). The research investigates the levels of technological knowledge amongst these participants. The Department of Basic Education has committed to ensuring that schools become technologically advanced so as to improve the quality of the workforce. This would be possible if teachers are educated to use technology and to be willing to apply this in the context of the classroom. Research conducted in Gauteng schools has determined that if teachers are unwilling to use technology, it makes no difference if it is provided. This phobia is then transferred to learners who believe that technology is something to be wary of instead of igniting their natural curiosity. Furthermore, much of the literature points to a divide across many schools in South Africa between urban and rural schools, public and private schools, and public and ex-model C public schools as well in different teacher training institutions. Accordingly, the researchers sought to establish if the participants are promoting the aforementioned scenario with the teachers we produce. In doing so, we conducted an initial pilot study to gather information from our participants as to their level of technological knowledge. Data emerged from questionnaires and interviews with six lecturing staff and smaller focus group discussions with approximately thirty students from the undergraduate and postgraduate student body. It is hoped that understanding the relationship between the EMS lecturing staff, EMS students and the benefits of technologically-aided teaching or the lack thereof will assist the EMS unit. The research will assist in identifying the strengths and weaknesses in terms of the selection, application and use of technology in preparing preservice teacher educators. Keywords: technological knowledge; pre-service teachers; lecturing staff

Keywords: assessment; induction; assessment induction

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#90. Self-Knowledge Creation Through Collective Poetic Inquiry: Embracing Productive Resistance as 21st Century University Academics

#91. Writing Grant Proposals for Teaching & Learning Research Projects J. Preece University of KwaZulu-Natal

D. Pillay, I. Naicker & K. Pithouse-Morgan University of KwaZulu-Natal WORKSHOP Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

This is a two-hour, hands-on workshop designed to assist early researchers or researchers new to research in teaching and learning in higher education. The presenter will take participants through the various stages of structuring a research proposal, highlighting what grant funders are looking for in a ‘good’ proposal. Participants will have the opportunity to critique an unsuccessful proposal and compare this critique with a successful proposal. Although the focus will be on the requirements for the UKZN teaching and learning research grant, much of the content is generic for any research proposal. The presenter, Julia Preece, is Professor of Adult Education and Learning Projects Coordinator at the UKZN Teaching and Learning Office. She is a ‘B’ rated researcher by the National Research Foundation and has extensive experience of writing research proposals in the fields of adult education and community engagement. She is an editorial board member and reviewer of several international journals and has published extensively in the fields of adult education, lifelong learning and community engagement. Her recent books include a co-edited book on Community Engagement in African Universities (2012) and an authored book on Lifelong Learning and Development: a southern perspective (2009).

In this paper, we explore how using collective poetic inquiry deepened our own self-knowledge as 21st century South African academics who choose to resist a corporate model of higher education. More and more, qualitative researchers have been exploring poetry as a literary artsbased research medium. Found poetry is a method of poetic inquiry that takes words and phrases from data sources and arranges them into poems. Using found poetry in the pantoum and tanka formats, we provide an example of a poetic inquiry process in which we started off by exploring other academics- lived experiences of postgraduate research supervision and came to a turning point of reflexivity and self-realisation. Drawing on data sources of transcripts of unstructured interviews with postgraduate research supervisors, our own audio-recorded discussions, and our co-composed poetry, we aim to contribute to methodological conversations about poetry-as-research, with a particular focus on understanding more about the potential of collective poetic inquiry for cultivating productive resistance in academia. Drawing on a multiperspectival theoretical lens comprising notions of -productive unknowing' and 'productive ambiguity', we conceptualise our collective research process as productive resistance. We invite our audience to join us in considering how cultivating productive resistance in academia might bring about change in ourselves and in our ways of knowing as members of 21st century academic communities. The paper highlights our evolving understanding that collaborative creativity and experimentation in research can be acts of selfknowledge creation for university academics who embrace productive resistance.

Keywords: self-knowledge creation; collective poetic inquiry; productive resistance

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#92. Reimagining Doctoral Education as a Practice of Adult Education

#93. Evaluation of Research Skills on Entrance into Research Programmes

1 D. Ramdeholl, 2J. Jones & 3T. Heaney, Empire State College1; Lehman College2 & National Louis University3

S. Ramklass University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

This panel is based on a co-edited book on doctoral education. A brief overview and findings from each chapter will be presented. Authors will speak to their chapter. In the US, doctoral programs are built on what has generally been considered outdated and unresponsive frameworks and processes. Each chapter author views doctoral education as a venue in which to nurture the emergence of scholars who will expand the canon and open up new possibilities for practice in the discipline. This volume proposes reconceptualizing and reimagining what doctoral education looks like utilizing frameworks like Africentrism, embodied education, and critical race theory. Each chapter provides a new pedagogical model for doctoral education. Chapters are written by known scholars who developed successful doctoral programs (Stephen Brookfield), Africentric scholars (Derise Tolliver) and other scholars who have been integral in implementing student forums and governance to institutionalize student perspectives as valuable aspects in the doctoral process (Tom Heaney). Other chapters argue for privileging different ways of knowing/learning such as embodied education (Jaye Jones), and jointly written dissertations (Nadira Charaniya and Jane Walsh). In total, these reflections on adult education principles and practices open possibilities for reenvisioning doctoral study. They move the collaborative nature of scholarly work to center stage, while emphasizing the agency of the individual scholar in knowledge production. They honor the rich diversity of cultures as a lens through which the doctoral curriculum emerges anew with each retelling. They reconnect the academy with community in a mutually rewarding synergy, reminding us that the mastery of a discipline is to engage in a scholarly dance neophytes, apprentices, and masters - with a view to producing new wisdom and new scholars. The central findings point to an overhaul of doctoral education based on specific sets of principles that are more culturally and racially responsive to students.

Under-preparedness of students for the research experience has been identified as a significant factor influencing time to degree with completion rates often in excess of the expected time. Research supervisors have recognised the absence of formal mechanisms to evaluate students’ research skills and competence as contributing to a negative research experience. An assessment of research competence at the beginning of the programme would identify candidates’ strengths and deficiencies. These results could be used to direct and structure appropriate support whilst providing opportunities for students to develop and enhance their range of research skills. Little is written on baseline skills assessment for research programmes in South Africa. This paper will present an argument for the assessment of research skills whilst highlighting current practices in the area. Keywords: research skills; evaluation; competence

Keywords: doctoral education; adult education; radical education

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#94. Towards a Clearer Policy on the Role of Technology in Education

#95. No Lecturer Left Behind

R. Rawatlal & H. Reynolds University of KwaZulu-Natal

H. Reynolds University of KwaZulu-Natal

WORKSHOP

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

As the world becomes increasingly digital, and as research and information become more and more accessible, there is a need for academics to not only be proficient in basic computer usage, but to become proficient in what Jones and Flanagan (undated) refer to as the ‘Literacy of the 21st Century.’ Inasmuch as no lecturer can teach unless they are fluent in the medium of communication, be it anything from sign language to Mandarin, English or Tamil, they can now not be fully effective unless they are fluent in the elements which constitute this 21st century literacy. This can no longer be a desire on the part of institutions, but has to move to the very forefront of their agendas. It is transformation that has to happen. Worldwide, most learning management systems are underutilised and less effective than they should be, as most features are ignored and are simply used as a repository for notes and communication, usually one directional. A lack of fluency in the tools of the digital era reduces the production of repurposed material, which could engage far more effectively and reduces the efficacy of teaching in the modern world.

Keywords: digital literacy; digital fluency; staff development

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#96. Challenges and Opportunities of Global Mobilities

#97. In Search of a New Narrative of Internationalization of Higher Education

F. Rizvi University of Melbourne

WORKSHOP

KEYNOTE

In this workshop, we will examine some of the ways in which the global mobilities of people, ideas, money, objects and practices have become central to an understanding of the emerging social constitution of the institutions of higher education around the world. I will show how mobilities affect both the people who are mobile and those who are not. We will examine how these mobilities create various patterns of social differentiation and inequalities, both within and across nations. And finally we will explore how we might work with these mobilities, both building upon the opportunities they provide and meeting the challenges they pose.

Over the past two decades, systems of higher education around the world have embraced the policies of internationalization. Of course, in one way, the practices of internationalization are not new. In the colonial era, for example, universities were established by the colonial authorities to create a class of local citizens supportive of their global interests. After independence, internationally cooperative ventures in higher education were aimed at providing international development assistance to the newly emerging systems of higher education. More recently, while the objectives of international development cooperation have not been entirely abandoned, it is a social imaginary of neoliberalism that has increasingly shaped the policies of internationalization. Internationalization is now largely interpreted in market terms, designed to recruit international students, and tie the teaching and research functions of universities to the requirements of the global economy. More broadly, the rationale underlying the policies of internationalization has been couched in terms of global trade in educational services and in attempts to develop the capacity of students and nations to compete successfully in the emerging globally integrated economy. In this talk, I will describe some of the ways in which this dominant narrative of internationalization is becoming conceptually, economically and politically troubled, with its inherent contradictions becoming evident. I will discuss some of these contradictions, and suggest the need to search for a new narrative of internationalization based on the values of reciprocity, mutual benefit and the public good.

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#98. Neoliberalism and Western Accreditation: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Educational Leadership Constituent Council Standards

#99. Doctors and the MBA: A Qualitative Exploration of Enrolment Choices L. Ronnie University of Cape Town

M. Romanowski Qatar University

Theme: 10. New directions and advances in Health Sciences Education Theme: 1. Re-imagining internationalisation in Higher Education: Implications for praxis Little has been written on the reasons why health professionals enrol at business schools. This study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring doctors’ motivation for pursuing a Master in Business Administration (MBA) degree. Given that South Africa faces a multitude of challenges in the healthcare sector, the paper sheds light on the perceived gaps in the traditional medical curriculum as well as providing an understanding of doctors’ personal and career choices. Data were collected over a three-year period through in-depth interviews with 14 doctors. At the time of their interview, all the research participants were enrolled in either a part-time or full-time MBA. Creswell’s (2012) data analysis spiral shaped the data handling and analysis process. In addition to emerging themes, the analysis was informed by the relevant literature that assisted with understanding how choice and motivation may be constructed. The findings show that six main factors lead doctors to enrol in an MBA programme. These are: 1. Diversification of skills and avoidance of pigeonholing 2. Personal growth and transformation 3. Preparation for management roles within the healthcare system 4. Improved research skills 5. A supplementary curriculum that provides skills to build a financially successful vocation 6. Exposure to, and the impact of, a world beyond healthcare Although MBA programmes are not typically considered to be the choice of doctors, this study suggests that postgraduate education in the form of an MBA can help bridge a critical skills gap in South Africa. As the expansion of high level skills is considered crucial in South Africa, business schools can play a pivotal role in addressing future and current workplace needs in the healthcare sector.

Qatar is in the midst of massive educational reform, including the upgrading of post-secondary education. Accordingly, Qatar University (QU) embarked on an ambitious educational reform titled The QU Reform Project. Initiated in 2003, QU identified major areas requiring reform. The reform involved the upgrading of academic standards resulting in the university and individual colleges seeking international accreditation as a primary means of upgrading academic standards and providing quality assurance. Considering that Qatar is one of the most active importers of foreign education providers, it is clear that under the guise of internationalization, neoliberalism and the adoption of Western education models and standards significantly shaped QU reform. In particular, the College of Education seeking accreditation from the National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCTAE) and NCATE’s Program Standards for Educational Leadership (Educational Leadership Constituent Council ELCC) is an example of how neoliberalism and the adoption of standards from Western accrediting agencies directly shape the college, professors, and programs that prepare educational leaders and students. With this in mind, this paper provides a critical discourse analysis of the ELCC standards using Habermas’ Knowledge-Constitutive Interests (KCIs) as a theoretical framework. The purpose of this study is to 1) situate accreditation within a neoliberal context 2) develop a deeper understanding of how KCI are embedded in the ELCC standards, 3) examine the ontological and epistemological assumptions embedded in the standards and 4) provide a discussion on the consequences of adopting neoliberal reforms accompanied by Western accreditation standards in a country that is vastly different from the one in which these standards were constructed. The findings indicate that although there are glimpses of all 3 KCIs, the ELCC standards are embedded in a technical rationality that is a key element of neoliberalism. Discussion centers on the consequences for the nation and higher education.

Keywords: doctors; MBA; business school Keywords: accreditation; globalization; critical discourse analysis

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#100. Collaboration in Group Work? Postgraduate Student Experiences

#101. Troubling Selection: Towards a Broader Selection Policy

L. Ronnie University of Cape Town

AJ. Ross & G. Pillay University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Theme: 10. New directions and advances in Health Sciences Education

Working in teams is an expected norm in today’s work environment. How does the academy prepare students for this reality and how do we encourage cooperative practices within our courses? This paper examines this phenomenon from a student perspective and provides insights into the challenges and learning opportunities embedded within small group work. Postgraduate students enrolled in a management programme at a Cape-based university were required to complete a short paper reflecting on their group experience. This stemmed from an assignment task where they were randomly assigned to small groups with shared responsibility for the outcome. Content analysis was used to analyse 593 student papers. The preliminary findings show four broad themes. These include: the value of planning; communication strategies; managing conflict; and future desired behaviours. The value of planning encompassed preparation and joint understanding of the task and its various components. Communication strategies included setting ground rules, having trust in the other’s ability to deliver on time, and maintaining good, ongoing working relationships after, in many instances, the experience of initial discomfort. Potential conflict had to be managed. Interpersonal and negotiation skills were put to the test and sometimes found wanting when dealing with different work ethics, approaches, views, and learning styles. Many students were, however, able to show a level of insight into how their future relational behaviours might require adjustment in similar situations. The paper concludes that, while both personally and professionally, collaboration and cooperation are sought-after skills, academics cannot merely expect students to instinctively know how to work with others in a group setting. Our role must be to engender these competencies not only within the classroom but as part of higher education’s contribution to developing individuals who can work productively with others in the 21st century workplace.

Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) must produce health care professionals (HCPs) that are able to meet the priority needs of the population and address health system deficiencies. However, staff shortages at many (rural) health care facilities, the rising number of malpractice claims and unprofessional behaviour on the part of HCPs suggest a mismatch between outcome and policy intentions. In response, many IHL are reviewing curriculum content and context. However admission criteria at many IHL continue to be based primarily on academic ability despite concerns regarding its suitability as the only admission criterion. In this paper, we argue that there is a need for a more elaborate theoretical perspective when considering the selection of students to train as HCPs. A narrative inquiry approach, drawing on life history interviews and art-based methods, was used to generate and collect data on of lived lives, told and experienced by six rural origin HCPs. Preliminary analysis of two narrative vignettes framed as dilemmatic spaces shows how personal beliefs and practices created within relational and structural conditions in a rural context inform the perspectives that HCPs adopted in their learning and development at the IHL and the transformational practices enacted as HCPs engaged in health care provisioning. The vignettes are discussed along two themes: Critical incidents growing up in rural KZN and critical incidents of studying at university to become a HCP. Through their everyday experiences we learn what competing forces played out, how they negotiated these and what positions they took in committing themselves to become HCPs, and how they transform to become HCPs who have the capacity to lead transformation. In introducing and analytically using dilemmatic spaces to understand the selection of HCPs, we are able to gain a deeper, more complex understanding of the beliefs and priorities that are important to consider alongside academic potential.

Keywords: group processes; group learning; postgraduate students

Keywords: selection criteria; dilemmatic spaces; transformational practice

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#102. Ethics and Leadership: Developing a Universal Code for an Evolving Africa

#103. Nelson Mandela and Dialogic Lifelong Learning: Implications for Higher Education

M. Royan, R. Asmal & A. Rippon, MANCOSA

P. Rule University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

Africa is currently challenged by an eroding ethical leadership base across the continent. The foundation of past ethical thought and exploring authoritative sources has led to a general understanding and consensus of what ethics should subscribe to. Africa and South Africa are at a crossroads where the quest for a renewed spirit and united front for re-establishing an ethical foundation is eminent. Higher education and evolving curriculum in typical leadership programmes is important in sewing a ‘golden thread’ throughout every curriculum, thus portraying the critical importance of a renewed thrust in strategic community development globally. To solve the current dilemma that is fragmenting the continent regarding the degeneration of ethical conduct amongst current leadership in Africa, the paper concentrates on possible solutions and the essence thereof for innovative ethical solutions to emerge. Developing higher education global systems and critically evaluating policy, practice and its evolving implementation incorporates a paradigm of thinking that not only takes into account the past (in-the-box thinking), and the current evolving ‘outside-of-the-box’ thinking, but explores a shift that encourages teaching, learning and innovation with a renewed higher education basket of tools. The ultimate journey is a new focus on a shift toward ‘without-thebox’ thinking for further development in higher education using a learner-centred approach in a flipped classroom environment and thus encouraging a renewed ethos embedded in an innovative future professional that should emerge. The outcome is a renewed approach to revitalise higher education in a fast and vibrant technological global environment, encouraging a new generation of dynamic, strategic African leaders that can address the on-going evolving sustainable development leadership challenges which are currently fragmenting and destabilising the continent.

An analysis of the life and work of Nelson Mandela reveals that he was an exemplary lifelong learner. Mandela’s own education was complex and multi-faceted, including a traditional education associated with his Thembu upbringing in the rural Eastern Cape; formal schooling through which he ascended ‘the mission ladder’ of mission institutions; higher education which included not only Fort Hare, but also a BA degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA) and law studies at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and a law degree from University of London; a professional law education; a multi-faceted political education, principally associated with the African National Congress and its Youth League; and a ‘prison education’. This paper shows that Mandela learnt through a continuing dialogue with others, with himself, with the collective and with his context. It develops the notion of dialogic lifelong learning and teases out it implications for higher education. Keywords: Mandela; lifelong learning; dialogue

Keywords: ethics; leadership; corruption

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#104. The Open Innovation Space Approach – Providing Positive Learning Experiences for Students, Educators and Entrepreneurs by Collaborating in Authentic Working Environments

#105. TRADEIT’s Small Business Technology Transfer and Research Model Providing Network Collaboration between Higher Education Institutes and Industry

AM. Saarela & M. Vidgren Savonia University of Applied Sciences Ltd.

AM. Saarela1, J. Lockyer2 & H. McMahon3 Savonia University of Applied Sciences; 2Coventry University; 3Institute of Technology Tralee

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Theme: 9. Alternative paradigms and emerging directions in the scholarship of teaching and learning in Higher Education

This paper discusses the Open-Innovation-Space (OIS) approach utilized by Savonia University of Applied Sciences. OIS is based on socio-constructive and contextual learning thinking. In OIS, learning, development, research and teaching are implemented in cooperation with industry partners and consequently, versatile collaboration between students, educators and entrepreneurs is required. Through this collaboration, which involves meeting new actors in authentic environments, innovations are generated. This creates a stimulating educational environment and provides new insights for RDI operations. At Savonia, education has been transformed by applying OIS ideology where students carry out industry-based projects each year. For example, the Savonia Future Food (FF) unit puts all OIS aspects into practice by providing product development services for companies and in doing so, facilitates students, entrepreneurs, educators, scientists and consumers to work closely together. Recently, the FF unit carried out a food industry-driven RDI project involving consumers in the field, in supermarkets. As a result of this approach, a worldwide recognized consumer research method called VAP-WAVO was created. Nowadays, the FF unit offers innovative consumer research methods, and the OIS approach facilitates students to achieve comprehensive know-how in many fields. OIS also provides opportunities for educators to utilize their expertise by implementing versatile pedagogical approaches. Accordingly, the role of an educator has changed from knowledge provider to supportive co-actor in the learning process. The OIS approach has produced remarkable results and the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council has rewarded Savonia three times, making Savonia one of the most desirable universities in Finland. Furthermore, industry partners increasingly provide new and challenging learning opportunities based on previously successfully implemented projects. The paper concludes that OIS requires the ability to enter a discomfort zone. It provides the opportunity to benefit society in the long run, by reforming education practices and bringing working-life closer to universities. Accordingly, OIS provides a win-win situation for all partners.

This paper highlights a novel higher education and research driven approach, the Small Business Technology Transfer and Research model (SBTTR) developed during the FP7-TRADEITproject (Network for the Transfer of knowledge on traditional foods to SMEs) funded by the European Community. The SBTTR contains five stages between institutes and SMEs: 1) engagement and mission, 2) profiling and knowledge capture, 3) identification for further collaboration, 4) supporting actions for knowledge and technology transfer and 5) new collaboration ways of partners. Across Europe, in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain (2), the UK and Finland, nine SBTTR hubs have been able to stimulate innovations between SMEs and higher education and research institutes. One SBTTR hub is hosted at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences where ideology has been integrated to the daily operations of the Future Food RDI unit (FF). The application of the model has offered new tools for communication and collaboration between universities and companies such as active learning methods, platforms for sharing knowledge and research and cooperating in real-life environments. At the FF hub, all partners have been involved - coordinating experts, entrepreneurs, educators and students – in support, especially the product development stages of SMEs. Regular activities and continuous support of higher education institutes have enhanced the probability of SMEs participating in networking via different platforms, such as electronic marketplace portal; transnational brokerage events and national action learning workshops. The paper concludes that the SBTTR model benefits society in the long run by enhancing the growth potential of food producing SMEs through the utilization of technologies intended to lead to improvements in capacity, efficiency, compliance, product quality and innovation. It renews higher education practices and brings working-life closer to universities. It also strengthens partnerships, networking and network development by providing a win-win situation for all partners.

Keywords: open innovation space; learning experience; collaboration

Keywords: knowledge transfer; collaboration; networking

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#106. Investigating Perceptions of Food Insecurity Complexities in South African Higher Learning Institutions: University of KwaZulu-Natal

#107. Alternative Forms of Presenting at Conferences: Using Visual and Arts-Based Approaches

SC. Sabi, U. Kolanisi & M. Siwela University of KwaZulu-Natal

MA. Samuel & M. Swart University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 4. Institutional Research: Catalyst for policy formation and institutional development and/or capitulation to corporatisation?

WORKSHOP The purpose of this workshop is to explore the power of alternative presentation forms to communicate ideas for and from research. The dominant traditional formats of presentations at conferences usually conforms to a particular set of academic conventions that include, written and oral forms such as papers, round-table discussions, workshops and poster presentations. Recently numerous scholars across a range of disciplines in social science research have experimented with the realm of alternative presentational forms such as visual and art-based approaches. This includes the use of alternative textual forms such as visual arts (paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, collages, installations) and performance formats (dance, music, mime, drama, performance poetry). The written and the verbal text are extended in these formats to include other forms of communication traditionally outside the realm of formal academia. We argue that alternative forms of presentation can be understood theoretically, methodologically and pragmatically potentially opening up possibilities for new audiences and the generation of new types of knowledge. Firstly, we explore why alternative forms of presenting at conferences are considered as necessary for knowledge production, development and dissemination. Drawing on examples of artistic and photographic presentations from previous conferences, we highlight possible design features such as the content, guidelines, curatorial statement, self-explanatory formats and ethical issues. In the second part of the conference, participants are invited to engage in a short design brief activity on an alternative form of presentation for a conference. It is our intention to encourage other researchers to engage in exploring the creative and critical possibilities of using alternative forms of presentation at conferences.

Household food insecurity or food poverty is a complex phenomenon that challenges most African countries. In South Africa, despite recorded significant economic advancement in the past decade as evident in the 2011 national census, an average of 20% households are facing serious food insecurities. In recent years, South Africa has also recorded high dropout rates of students in higher education that are linked to poverty. This challenge threatens South Africa’s economic advancement and transformation as students’ academic performance, their degree completion and entry into the labour market are seriously compromised. The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), one of the leading higher learning institutions on the continent is among the most severely affected by food insecurity complexities; its records indicate that 53.1% of its students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. While the importance of food security is well recognised in South Africa’s National Constitution, there is a lack of food security policy to guide institutions of higher learning to address food insecurity among students. Institutions such as UKZN implemented a food security programme in 2012 to address food poverty among students. Studies on food security in higher learning institutions have expanded substantially in recent years but there is a knowledge gap with regard to perceptions of food insecurity complexities in South African tertiary institutions such as UKZN, notwithstanding the problem’s impact on students’ education and the country’s economy. Against this backdrop, the main question to be addressed is: How is the problem of food insecurity perceived in tertiary institutions such as UKZN in South Africa? The study will adopt mixed methods of research, with UKZN staff and undergraduate students as its target population. Primary data will be generated from key informant interviews, focus group discussions and self-administered questionnaires. Secondary data will be obtained by reviewing the institution’s food security-related policies.

Keywords: food insecurity; higher learning institutions; policy

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#108. Early Professional Learning Narratives of Two Novice Teachers as Funza Lushaka Bursary (FLB) Holders

#109. Using Live Data and a Visually-Based Teaching, Learning and Research Philosophy Works For Me

MA. Samuel & M. Swart University of KwaZulu-Natal

MJ. Savage University of KwaZulu-Natal (2014/2015 Distinguished Teacher Recipient)

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

The re-introduction of a service contract bursary within the South African teacher education system was a policy response to attract recruits into pre-service teacher education within universities with the promise of mandatory employment after graduation. Firstly, this paper addresses the origins and current status of the Funza Lushaka Bursary Contract Scheme (FLBCS). It describes the challenges of managing the intervention in a co-ordinated programme nationally, regionally and institutionally. Secondly, the paper describes the narrative reflective experiences of early professional teachers who are recipients of the bursary and their journeys into the profession. These experiences provide insight into the disjuncture between the intended, enacted and experienced levels of the FLBCS policy through the lens of novice teachers. The paper offers implications for sustaining and implementing the systemic management of the bursary scheme; the establishment of teacher needs in schooling; employment transitions; and curriculum preparation by higher education institutions suggested for pre-service education as novices transit to their first employment. The interface between the world of academia and the world of work is the focus of this paper.

How does one teach and get academically diverse undergraduate students to learn and research difficult agro-environmental subject matter involving invisible things, especially students whose language does not include the technological terms used? Teaching and learning methods using live data, including research, are described. The teaching and learning approach used is fourfold. Firstly, understand students’ learning difficulties, relying on their everyday agro-environmental experiences while developing basic concepts - revealing the unseen. An empathetic approach, with visual approaches, enlightens understanding. Secondly, engage directly with students during lectures, about what they know, are taught, and have learned, again making use of their experiences. Such engagement should be continual, animated and empathetic. Furthermore, complex material is presented in a manner more easily understood by students using visual teaching materials including visual displays of the current outside environment inside the lecture room/laboratory. The use of humour is also essential and has assisted in confident engagement with students and in developing important concepts to improve the student knowledge base. An open and friendly relationship is therefore developed quickly. Thirdly, once there has been sufficient knowledge (teaching) and skills transfer (learning), their knowledge and skills have to be applied (research) through practicals and projects. The use of live data and graphics piqued student interest and linked live data to lectures, practicals and projects. Fourthly, undergraduate projects link to postgraduate/staff research and vice versa with an emphasis on data/graphic examination anytime in different places using various technologies - mobile learning. Undergraduate projects with potential for postgraduate research topics were offered to postgraduates or used for staff research and postgraduate projects spawned undergraduate projects. Students benefited from system use, with improved appreciation of weather element ranges; ability to manipulate/display data in graphic/table form; appreciation/awareness of global climate change and/or global warming aspects; and appreciation/awareness of agrometeorological graphical displays, and trends.

Keywords: service contract bursaries; early professional learning; workplace employment

Keywords: seeing data; shared agroenvironmental measurement system; visual literacy

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#110. Learning to Learn in Large classes

#111. The Challenge of Graduate Output in South African Higher Education: The Dilemma of Policy Intervention

M. Seedat Khan University of KwaZulu-Natal

LB. Shawa University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 8. Language policy, planning and implementation in Higher Education: Complexities, challenges and possibilities

Theme: 4. Institutional Research: Catalyst for policy formation and institutional development and/or capitulation to corporatisation?

The rapidly increasing number of students entering institutions of higher learning presents a challenge to academics, students and management alike. Excellence in teaching should be an absolute certainty at an institute of higher learning. Without this certainty the future of higher education is disaster-prone. This paper seeks to address the challenges that both academics and students face with an increasing number of learners in the classroom. This impetus for this paper lies in the annual increase in student numbers in the Social Sciences at Universities all over South Africa. While student numbers continue to increase, the number of academics that service these students remains the same; and infrastructure is neither improved nor prioritised. This paper is based on participant observation through teaching and interacting with first year students at two universities in South Africa over a period of five years from 2010-2015. Both the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Johannesburg had first year classes in excess of 1,000 students. The results of this qualitative study from an academic’s lived perspective indicated that the student is only as good as his/her teacher. Large classes in the Social Sciences are not an uncommon feature in any institution of higher learning in South Africa. What was once a comfortable class of 100-200 students has now increased to classes of 1,981 students. The resources, staffing and equipment remain unchanged, yet the expectation of excellence in teaching remains the same. The changing learning environment affects students, academics, learning and a series of other critical sociological factors. Through the analysis of the results and impact from 2010-2015 this paper seeks to provide sociological insight into the impact of the complexities, challenges and possibilities that lie ahead of us.

Higher education policy documents in South Africa are replete with the challenges of graduate output and possible policy interventions. An important recent (proposed) policy document by the Council on Higher Education (CHE): A proposal for undergraduate curriculum reform in South Africa, suggests that providing additional undergraduate curriculum space to enable the majority of the student body to succeed in mastering their core curricula could improve graduate output. Furthermore, since in the foreseeable future there is no prospect that the schooling sector will produce the well-prepared matriculants required by the higher education sector, the higher education sector ought to act on systemic problems within its control. This paper argues that the suggested policy interventions are unlikely to improve graduate output as they lack a deep analysis of the unequal social fabric in the country. The paper utilises the notion of capital advanced by Bourdieu to argue that meaningful policy interventions and/or studies should engage with the forms of cultural and social capital experienced by the majority of the student body. The assumption is that forms of capital highly contribute to academic attainment and can thus not be ignored or mentioned tangentially in any meaningful policy study or intervention, especially in post-apartheid South Africa. Keywords: higher education; unequal society; capital

Keywords: students; learning; environment

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#112. An Inquiry into Compartmentalization in University Learning: Experiences and Views

#113. Tracing the Use of Systems Diagram to Teach Polymers in Technology Education

M. Sibanda University of KwaZulu-Natal

A. Singh- Pillay University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 2. Revisiting differentiation in Higher Education. What have we learnt from practice?

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

In this study I interrogate the learning behaviors of university students with a focus on students pursuing commercial degree qualifications. The study questions whether these students pursue deep and strategic learning approaches holistically within the programmes; and whether such knowledge acquisition is applied and integrated within programmes to create an interwoven knowledge base for critical academic and theoretical engagement. The term compartmentalization is used to describe a situation where students use knowledge acquired from a module solely for the purpose of that module and would thus not integrate such knowledge in other areas of study, a concept which can be loosely defined within the surface and apathetic learning framework. To answer the research question, I reviewed my personal experiences as a teacher and further used an open ended questionnaire technique. The questionnaire was administered to lecturers to obtain their views and experiences in teaching modules that require knowledge trajectory from one module (level) to another. The results show that the majority of lecturers acknowledge compartmentalization in learning, demonstrating a great need to reconsider current pedagogical approaches in order to enhance philosophical teaching and learning practices in higher education.

As a teacher educator I am engrossed in how self-study research and critical reflection can elucidate some of the dilemmas and challenges that impact both teaching and learning and can inspire context-specific, practitioner-led responses to these challenges. This paper focuses on my experience of deploying a systems diagram approach to teaching polymers to preservice technology teachers at a selected university. The rationale advanced is that systems diagrams are more comprehensible that just words; they are a clearer way to illustrate relationships between complex phenomenon. This means that they can be used to transform abstract knowledge and understanding into concrete, visual representations that are amenable to comparison and measurement. I explored whether systems diagrams can be used to help 60 pre-service technology teachers to improve their learning achievement by seeing the relationships between concepts. A systems diagram is similar to concept maps but it foregrounds three stages, input, process and output. Data was collect from pre-service technology teachers via their systems diagrams, and audio recordings of dialogues with them whilst my conversations with a critical friend and my reflective diary served as additional data sources. Data collected was subjected to content analysis. The data revealed two important results. First, adopting a systems diagram strategy can significantly improve pre-service technology teachers’ learning achievement compared to using a traditional expository teaching method. Second, the majority (90%) of the pre-service technology teachers were satisfied with using the systems diagram approach in learning about polymers. Pre-service technology teachers indicated that systems diagrams can help them to understand, integrate and clarify complex concepts related to polymers and also enhance their interest in learning technology. They also felt that systems diagrams could be usefully used in other curriculum areas.

Keywords: deep-learning; knowledge acquisition; pedagogy

Keywords: pre-service technology teachers; learning; systems diagram

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#115. Inclusion of a Community of Practice in the Digitization of Indigenous Knowledge: A Rural Experience

#114. Language Change in Identity Formation: the Paradox of Professionalism TE. Sommerville University of KwaZulu-Natal

L. Sosibo & A. Mwanza Central Peninsula University of Technology

Theme: 8. Language policy, planning and implementation in Higher Education: Complexities, challenges and possibilities

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils

This study explored medical students’desire to study in English rather than their home language as an unusual example of identity formation. Nineteen third-year students were interviewed as part of a study of the medical curriculum’s pedagogy. Group or individual interviews were recorded, transcribed, submitted to respondents for checking, and analysed thematically using NVivo. At the same time, multifactorial analysis of assessment marks according to demographic characteristics was performed using SPSS. Ethical permission, gatekeepers’ assent and participants’ informed written consent were obtained. Marks analysis according to language alone showed a statistical and sustained difference between first- and second-language English speakers. However, when combined with other demographic factors, language surprisingly faded into insignificance. Equally unexpectedly, non-English-speaking students, when offered teaching, textbooks and assessments in their own language(s), preferred English as the medium of teaching and learning. They saw the terminology, rather than the language, as being more problematic, stated that their own languages did not have sufficient technical vocabulary, and felt that their careers and professional interactions would be conducted largely in English. Since language is recognised as one of the influences on the construction of an individual’s identity, particularly at this time, one might expect South Africa’s people to assert the primacy of their own languages in all spheres. However, the establishment of one’s professional identity has been posited as a period when one’s personal identity may be deconstructed. The hegemony of English is not the only influence here, nor is the developmental state of other South African languages. Induction into an international profession, and perceptions of one’s professional identity, are powerful shaping forces in young adulthood. Appropriate role models and terminology will go only so far in modifying views of professional identity, which in turn reflects back on personal and relational identities.

Globally, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are hailed as instruments with the potential to enable countries to develop. ICTs include telecommunications technologies (telephony, cable, satellite and radio) and digital technologies (information networks and software, computers, and the internet). While much has been written about how ICTs enhance development globally, not much has been recorded about their importance in advancing indigenous knowledge systems in the context where such systems exist. Currently, where indigenous knowledge (IK) exists, such as in Africa in general and sub-Saharan Africa specifically, it is largely not documented and disseminated in print or digital media through modern methods of information and knowledge dissemination that are largely electronic. Instead, this knowledge is still largely passed on through oral traditions and is memory-based, as IK is usually stored in elderly people’s minds. Consequently, efficacy in passing this knowledge from generation to generation mostly depends on effective memorization by the custodian and recipient and on the eloquence of those who impart and demonstrate IK knowledge. Therefore, digitisation of IK needs to be improved drastically. This paper analyses the processes and products of a research pilot project in which an ICT professional partnered with a rural community to digitise indigenous food plants. The objective of the project was twofold: to bridge the digital divide by empowering a marginalised rural community with IKdigitising skills while preserving their culture and to provide them with ICT skills that they could use to manage their everyday lives or the workplace. Situated learning theory underpinned this study. Data was collected through participant observation and interviews and analysed thematically using codes. The results revealed that rural people are agents of their own empowerment and that IK can be combined effectively with ICTs to preserve indigenous people’s culture. Recommendations included increasing ICT-IK projects and conducting largescale research to determine the impact.

Keywords: language; identity; profession

Keywords: information and communication technologies; indigenous food plants; community of practice

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#116. Using Clickers in the Classroom: A Study of First Experiences

#117. The Identity of The Non-Traditional Student: Client, Partner or Scholar?

L. Spark & D. de Klerk University of the Witwatersrand

C. Stoltz-Urban & S. Gathua Da Vinci Institute

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Theme: 5. Who is the 21st Century university student / academic?

Students have certain expectations of tertiary education, which may include how they will be taught and how they will learn. Most of the current generation of students are technologically savvy and use technology for academic work and social interaction, and as such may expect technology to play an important role in teaching and learning. However, universities are renowned for their traditional teaching approaches. Many lecturers do not use any form of technology in their courses, while a smaller group of lecturers use technology extensively. Blended learning, through the use of technology in and out of the classroom, can improve learning outcomes, make effective use of resources and lead to student satisfaction and success. In an attempt to improve blended learning approaches, the Commerce, Law and Management (CLM) Faculty purchased Clickers, or Student Response Systems, for all first-year students. The first priority was to use these Clickers for active student engagement with immediate feedback in lectures. While it is recognised that this is not the most up-to-date technology, Clickers were chosen over other options for various reasons, not least of which is that all students would have equal access to the devices. At the beginning of 2015, Clickers were introduced in three first-year courses in the CLM Faculty. Although some anecdotal feedback has been positive, the introduction of Clickers has not been without challenges, which may impact future blended learning efforts. As a result, a mixed-methods study is in progress to investigate the approaches, uses, advantages and disadvantages of using Clickers in CLM. In this paper, the authors will present the findings and discuss the integration of Clickers into the three CLM courses, the challenges faced by lecturers and students, and the solutions that have been found, which could enlighten potential adopters of Clickers.

This paper explores how institutions of higher learning see the non-traditional student. Many universities and especially private higher education institutions tend to view the student as a client and treat them accordingly. In fact, most non-traditional students expect the same level of client service at a university that they receive from banks and other service delivery institutions - this may be justified in terms of administration and also in terms of the quality of the teaching and learning experience. This paper questions this viewpoint based on the notion that the traditional client service approach, namely, that of ‘the client is always right’, may impact negatively on both the ideologies underpinning higher education and the quality of teaching and learning. It explores the notions of the student as a partner of the university and as a scholar, in an attempt to establish the identity of the non-traditional student in the university context.

Keywords: clickers; blended learning; classroom technology

Keywords: non-traditional student; client service; higher learning

University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#118. Assisting Students With Discipline-Specific Literacies In Science: A Responsive Teaching and Learning Approach

#119. Investigating Mental Constructions towards Conceptual Understanding in Integral Calculus

M. Subban & V. Padayachee University of KwaZulu-Natal

H. Tarr & A. Maharaj University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Students entering university become members of the university community. They need to acquire and use distinctive languages and appropriate discourse conventions and practices peculiar to disciplines, gain competence in particular disciplines, develop identities and become members of discourse communities, acquiring and learning such discourses. This presents challenges for students studying science in higher education where the language of teaching and learning is English and is a second language. Such students have to immerse themselves in two social practices simultaneously when learning science and a new language. The language of science is unambiguous and precise and its study in higher education involves reading, writing, conversing, computing and practising science. Explicit use of visual representation through figures, diagrams, symbols, formulae, tables and pictures; exposure to academic language in the form of scientific readings through journal articles and text books and scientific writing through laboratory reports, scientific abstracts, scientific essays and posters is necessary. These academic practices immerse students in scientific discourse to gain and apply scientific knowledge. Therefore, understanding and practice require literacies specific to disciplines. In light thereof, the paper draws on research from a case study undertaken at a South African university that explored the innovative teaching mechanisms used by disciplinary specialists teaching foundation biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics to assist students with the acquisition of discipline-specific literacies in science. New literacy studies see literacy as a social activity, with relevance for the study. Data was yielded through interviews, observation of lectures, tutorials, practical and field research; and documentary evidence relating to course and laboratory manuals, reports and tests. Such initiatives require disciplinary specialists to shift towards a critical understanding of the teaching of discipline-specific academic literacies as evidenced in this paper. Academic literacies therefore play an important role in the conceptual development of students, thus moving towards a more integrated approach to teaching crafted in practice.

An individual’s development of new mathematical knowledge involves the construction of cognitive representations relevant to a particular mathematical concept, as well as the formation of mental links to related concepts. Dubinsky’s (1991) APOS (action-process-objectschema) theory proposed that, in developing a cognitive representation of a mathematical concept, an individual’s set of mental constructions may include Actions, Processes, Objects, and Schemas. Investigations into an individual’s understanding of a mathematical concept within the APOS theoretical framework begin with the development by the researcher of a ‘genetic decomposition’ of that concept. Asiala et al (1996, pg 5) defined a genetic decomposition as ‘a structured set of mental constructs which might describe how the concept can develop in the mind of an individual’. In other words, a genetic decomposition underpins the theoretical analysis by providing an explanation of how a concept may be deemed ‘understood’, as well as how one might go about constructing this understanding. The theoretical analysis then guides the design of responsive pedagogical strategies whose objective is to facilitate the formation of the mental constructs proposed in the initial genetic decomposition. A number of research studies have described students’ difficulties in understanding integration concepts (e.g., Orton, 1983; Metaxas, 2007; Rösken & Rolka, 2007; Maharaj, 2014). This paper describes an ongoing study of the conceptual understanding of UKZN Mathematics students studying Integral Calculus. A preliminary genetic decomposition is presented, and the analysis of students’ responses to the research instruments is discussed. The preliminary genetic decomposition guides the design of instructional strategies for facilitating students’ acquisition of integration concepts, specifically the use of e-learning in the form of online quizzes, hosted on the MOODLE platform. We conclude with a discussion of the pilot implementation of this online material. Keywords: apos theory; integral calculus; e-learning

Keywords: language of science; discipline-specific literacies; responsive approach to learning

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University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#120. Mentoring for Professional Growth During Teaching Practice: Perceptions of CUT Student Teachers About Functional Capacity Of Mentor Teachers

#121. The Challenge of Access: Praxis and Structure in Higher Education W. Tierney University of Southern California

RW. Thabane & P. Mollo Central University of Technology KEYNOTE Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

First-generation college students make up an increasing share of students in higher education and graduate at a much lower rate than do students with university-educated parents. What is coming to be known as “grit”—passion and perseverance for long-term goals in the face of setbacks—has been identified as an individual characteristic that is predictive of success in challenging environments, including higher education. Although having grit may be helpful to first-generation university students, the trait alone is not likely to be sufficient for college success. In the talk, i seek to determine the connection between grit and social capital of firstgeneration college students with regard to their success and persistence during freshman year. The concept of the presentation pertains to one’s intention and reason for pursuing a goal, in this case a university degree. The big question that this paper addresses is: how do firstgeneration students find their purpose to succeed as college students? The argument in the presentation is that the answer to this question lay at the intersection of grit and social capital. I conceptualize grit as comprising three interrelated components: (a) passion/interest; (b) preference for long-term goals; and (c) ability to overcome setbacks. Finding one’s purpose in university relates to the passion/interest and preference for the long-term goals components of grit. Students who are aware of their interests and passions with regard to academics, and who believe in a higher-order purpose for their academic pursuits are more likely to succeed in college. While I submit that grit is likely to contribute to first-generation college students’ success by fostering a sense of agency, I shall suggest that students who also build productive relationships with institutional agents and other students during their first year of university are more likely to perform well academically and persist to the sophomore year. Hence, there is a dynamic interplay between structure and agency.

The mentor teacher has the greatest influence on the development of the student teacher as a teaching professional. This responsibility is a highly significant one. This paper examines the perceptions of student teachers at the Central University of Technology on the extent to which mentor teachers fulfill their functional capacity to enhance a smooth transition from a trainee to confident teacher. A total of 180 third- and fourth-year level student teachers, studying for the Bachelor of Education in the Further Education and Training band (BEd FET) in the 2015 academic year, participated in this study. A 5 point Likert scale questionnaire designed by the researchers was utilized to collect data. The researchers argue that mentor teachers are inadequately capacitated to fulfill their functional obligations during teaching practice sessions. It is further be argued that there is a general lack of understanding by mentor teachers regarding their roles and responsibilities. The study concludes by offering a number of practical and theoretical implications and recommendations for mentoring of student teachers. Keywords: mentoring; professional growth; teaching practice

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University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#122. Creating a Culture to Improve Student Performance: Increasing Access to Higher Education

#123. Learning Styles Among Finance Students KR. Tsunga & MC. Simelane University of KwaZulu-Natal

W. Tierney University of Southern California

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education WORKSHOP Drawing on the study by Kolb (1984), we explore the learning styles of 3rd year finance students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. This study was conducted within the framework of Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) to categorise the student learning styles with the aim of providing better learning outcomes. Using the ELT, we identified that learning involves a cycle which has four phases: Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation. After identifying this cycle the ELT puts forth the proposition that students will have learning preferences through their learning cycle and they can be classified as Assimilators, Accommodators, Convergers and Divergers. Each category has its strengths and weaknesses meaning that identifying students in a particular classification can enable us to understand as well as assist the students better. The students in the class were asked to fill in a learning style questionnaire in order to identify their learning style. It was found that the students have different learning styles. We propose that such a survey can be undertaken within a class at the beginning of a course so as to identify the dominant group learning style. After identifying the different styles the curriculum can be developed in a manner that improves learning and increases throughput.

A legacy of the 20th century was that there was very little relationship between high schools and universities. Students graduated from high school and even though they were often not prepared for university work, there was very little interaction among faculty, staff and teachers in either the k-12 or university systems. An artifact of the 21st century is that there will be a much closer relationship between all educational organizations and systems. One reason for increased interaction is the urgency to have more individuals who graduate from high school and attend a postsecondary institution. Such a need is not only necessary for “manpower” needs but also to increase the democratic participation of the citizenry. In this workshop we will discuss the sorts of activities that might take place to increase access to higher education and to ensure that students are “college-ready” when they go to university. The workshop is based on twenty years of research into policies and practices that might be employed to increase communication between k-12 and higher education organizations. We will first discuss cognitive variables that have an influence on college readiness and then consider what is coming to be known as non-cognitive (or “college knowledge) variables. The workshop situates the discussion at the intersection of k-12 and higher education and calls upon strategies such as what should be taught, what parents and families might do, how we might increase the financial literacy of students, and what might be done when schools are not in session to improve academic performance. A particular focus will also pertain to how technology and social media might enhance student learning. The overall framework focuses on what we shall call a “culture of college-going.”

Keywords: learning styles; experiential learning; learning cycle

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University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#124. Exploring Inquiry Based Education in a Professional Learning Programme for Science Teachers

#125. Strategies Adopted by Learners to Succeed in The Medical Education Learning Space: A Learner-Centered Approach

DC. Van Graan Stellenbosch University

R. Venugopala & M. Moshabela University of KwaZulu-Natal

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in Higher Education

Worldwide, schools have been struggling to produce good results in Mathematics and Science. In South Africa, in particular, continued poor results in both Mathematics and the Sciences is of great concern. This has led to the evaluation of current teaching and learning practices in these subjects and the type of training provided for Science teachers. Research has shown that the Inquiry Based Education approach (IBE) is very successful in igniting and holding learner interest in Science; this leads to better performance and improved school results in Science. This paper discusses the use of IBE in Science education and a proposed action research project with secondary school teachers in the Western Cape. These teachers will be involved in a professional learning programme at the Stellenbosch University Centre for Pedagogy (SUNCEP). Action research is deemed an appropriate research design for this project as it addresses practical problems, in this case the poor progress by learners in Science, in a positive way. It also gives the participants an opportunity to be part of the project and to play an active role in finding solutions to the problems faced by Science education. The practical nature of action research which is focussed on change, is well-suited to the classroom environment. The central research question is ‘What are the effects of guided training in, and implementation of, inquiry based education on the improvement of Science education?’. This research project affords me an opportunity to help teachers improve their practices, and at the same time gain insight into the SUNCEP teacher professional learning programme in order to improve training methods and strategies.

This study investigated the strategies adopted by learners in medical education to succeed in their learning spaces using a learner-centered approach. The study’s objectives were to: Describe the perceptions and understanding of learning spaces among learners in medical education; Explore the processes through which learners in medical education construct and navigate their learning spaces; Determine the coping skills adopted by learners in medical education to overcome barriers to learning in their learning spaces; Identify the competencies, skills, values and attitudes of students who succeed in the use of their learning space. The goal of this work is to understand the way learning spaces can be organized to accommodate students with varying backgrounds and needs, so that the learning conditions enable them to achieve similar learning outcomes by using their individual strengths and techniques in their approach to learning. To achieve this goal, we first need to understand how the learning space is constructed. More importantly, a learner-centered approach necessitates that we understand the learning space from the point of view of learners themselves. Perceptions of the learning space will create a context for us to understand the different ways in which they navigate that space, as well as the ways in which they overcome barriers to learning and other challenges encountered in the process of learning. Lessons learned from the collective experience of these learners can allow us to better understand different (primary, complementary and alternative) strategies adopted by leaners to succeed in a learning space, and to further remodel the learning space in ways that can accommodate learner diversity. The current research will be embedded in the parent study on transformation of medical education in South Africa, a study supported by the National Research Foundation.

Keywords: inquiry; professional; training

Keywords: medical education; learning space; learner-centred approach

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University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#126. Using Tablets to Transform Teaching and Learning at a Rural South African University

#127 Constructing and using phronesis for teacher professional development A. James

RD. Wario University of the Free State Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in higher education Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils Facilitating learning using practice theory to facilitate learning tasks with learners can be a daunting task for student teachers. How can phronesis (practice theory) be developed and how is it used to facilitate learning? Three Post-graduate Certificate in Education student teachers were observed for one year. Experiential learning and reflections on practice in authentic contexts were essential for their effective lesson preparation and presentation. Educating for the 21st century expects student teachers to be connected to learning and its enhancement through learner engagement. In observing and critiquing how mentor teachers teach and tutor learners at placement sites, an understanding and action of this engagement was constructed. Reflective practice, experiential learning of the use of various tools and strategies for effective presentations and student group discussions served to enhance their practice theory. Bernice stated that she wanted to be ‘relaxed and herself with the learners [and she wanted to] laugh with them.’ She concluded from observing many teachers teaching that they ‘are totally stuck up and boring’. She could not understand why teachers, in her words ‘did not have an open experience’ with the learners. Facilitating learning using practice theory to facilitate learning tasks with learners can be a daunting task for student teachers. How can phronesis (practice theory) be developed and how is it used to facilitate learning? Three Post-graduate Certificate in Education student teachers were observed for one year. Experiential learning and reflections on practice in authentic contexts were essential for their effective lesson preparation and presentation. Educating for the 21st century expects student teachers to be connected to learning and its enhancement through learner engagement.

No technology impacts learning on its own; rather, its impact depends upon how it is used. IPads are no exception. In this study the researcher investigated the possible role of iPads in teaching and learning. The objective was to test multiple ways in which iPad devices could be used to support teaching and learning. Students’ perceptions, experiences and performance were assessed. The research took place at UFS: QwaQwa campus over the course of four months in 2014 and included 17 second-year human-computer interaction (HCI) students. The findings indicated that students believed in the iPads’ role in their learning engagement, motivation and collaboration, thus improving their academic performance. Keywords: ipad devices,teaching and learning; academic performance; higher education

Keywords: phronesis; reflective practice; student teacher

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University of KwaZulu-Natal’s 9th Annual Teaching & Learning in Higher Education Conference 21 – 23 September 2015

#128 Lessons from Engaging First Year Initial Teacher Trainee (ITT) Students in Co-Creating Curricular That Embed Equality and Diversity (Pre and Post Entry to the ITT programme)

#129 An exploration of honour-s student-s critique of a proposal using the discussion forum ST. Kisaka University of KwaZulu-Natal

MJ. Greaves1; M. Ayamba1; J. Grant1 & W. Warmington2 1 Sheffield Hallam University & 2Birmingham City University

Theme: 6. Teaching & Learning Technologies: Possibilities and perils This article is a qualitative case study of eighteen university students undertaking their honours degree in Curriculum Studies. These students are expected, as part of their course, to do independent research which involves developing a proposal. The Researcher-s focus was to explore the honour-s student-s critique of a proposal using the discussion forum. Purposive sampling was used in selecting the participants. Document Analysis and participant observation were used for data generation/production and Guided Analysis was used to present the findings. The Findings suggest that the DF is a powerful resource of student engagement as all students actively participated in the activity and after the students received critique while some improved in their overall proposal others did not. Blooms taxonomy was used as a frame of inquiry. It emerged that student-s favoured the affective domain, in the cognitive domain (which speaks directly to the student-s learning outcomes) student tended to remain at the first three levels. With regard to HW, SW and IW, the first two were used consciously whilst IW seemed to have been used coincidentally. This article, therefore, recommends emphasis on Technology of Education (T.O.E) represented by IW as even though Technology in Education (T.I.E) represented by HW and SW is equally important it should facilitate the former. Keywords: digital technology; discussion forum; learning outcomes

Theme: 7. Responsive and innovative pedagogies in higher education With regard to student engagement and belonging, UK Higher Education Institutions (UKHEIs) face a range of challenges as they attempt to relate to, retain and support students enrolled for their courses (Thomas, 2012; Warmington, Hodge, Sela & Kainth, 2013). For those studying to teach within a multi-racial society, developing an understanding of equality and diversity is critical if, once trained, such societal educators are to positively influence the education of others. For trainee teachers this is particularly acute given the challenge of weaving such issues into their lived experiences and emerging pedagogical practice. If involved in co-creating specific responsive aspects of the curriculum design and approval process, a range of equality principles can be embedded and strategically aligned to their module learning outcomes. These can be furthered through developing understandings of learning processes, critical selfreflection, innovative action planning and goal setting that demonstrate how diversity adds value to their personal and professional practice. We examined how relevant support systems can help further a critical understanding of issues around equality and diversity that contributes to the personal development of students. Issues & Questions: How do concepts of equality and diversity shape our understanding of ourselves and in our relationships with othes? In terms of actions and outcomes how do such concepts apply to our organisations and communities? Keywords: innovative; responsive; pedagogies

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10TH ANNUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING IN HIGER EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2016 THEME: TEACHING INNOVATION AND RESEARCH EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: CAN BOTH BE ACHIEVED?

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

EDITING Corlia Ogle Deanne Collins DESIGN AND LAYOUT Lungelo Hadebe CREATIVE INPUT Reshma Subbaye Ebrahim Adam Nolwazi Nzama

9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015

University Teaching and Learning Oﬃce Postal Address: 2nd Floor, Francis Stock Building, Howard College Campus, UKZN, Durban, 4041 Telephone: +27 (0) 31 260 3002 Facsimile: +27 (0) 260 3360 Email: utlo@ukzn.ac.za Website: utlo.ukzn.ac.za 9TH ANNUAL TEACHING & LEARNING HIGHER EDUCATION CONFERENCE

2015