CLTD provides research-informed support in higher education learning and teaching. Our programmes and activities aim to enhance the quality of learning and teaching at Wits. We team up with faculties and service departments to support academics by providing:
• Academic professional learning courses, workshops and programmes
• Curriculum renewal and transformation
• Flexible blended and online learning opportunities
• Higher education research and the scholarship of learning and teaching
• Individual and institutional capacity-building in learning and teaching
Scheduling
This prospectus sets out the Centre’s academic professional learning opportunities for 2026. Where dates have already been scheduled, these are stipulated. The coordina tors’ contact details are provided in each case if you have any queries about any aspect of the prospectus, including logistics.
Cost
CLTD workshops are offered free to employees of the University. However, when workshops are conducted in contact mode on campus, the Centre incurs considerable costs in terms of catering, printing, and consultants’ fees. If a participant books a place in a workshop, and does not arrive, CLTD reserves the right to recoup the attributable portion of costs so incurred from the participant.
Refreshments
When workshops are conducted in contact mode on campus, we provide limited catering depending on the duration of the offering. You are welcome to bring your own food and beverages.
Booking
Bookings for most workshops are done via Oracle. From the Oracle log-in page, click on Employee Self Service, and then on My Learning Gateway, then on My Learning.
All workshops are loaded under CLTD. Please book well in advance. All the
workshops have limited capacity, and if your workshop of choice is full, you may need to be wait-listed for the next one scheduled. Only a few workshops of a particular type are offered each year, and these are filled on a first-comefirst-served basis. Please be advised that whilst every care is taken with the scheduling of training, due to unforeseen circumstances, there is a chance that dates and times may change.
Venues
CLTD aims to offer flexible engagement opportunities, requiring a self-regulated approach to learning, with minimal strategic contact or virtual sessions. All our workshops and courses will be offered in line with the u niversity’s Learning & Teaching plan for 2026. Where applicable, a meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed.
Where workshops and courses are provided in contact mode, they will mostly be in one of the venues in the CLTD Building, West Campus. The nearest gate is Enoch Sontonga Gate 9. (CLTD is diagonally opposite the Flower Hall). The rooms are designated Frog, Tree, and Snow. Only Frog Room is wheelchair accessible. Please indicate on your booking form if you have specific needs related to being differently abled.
As parking space is limited, it is generally advisable, where possible, to walk to the building rather than drive, particularly when students are writing exams in the Flower Hall.
Website
Please visit the CLTD website at https://www .wits.ac.za/cltd/
The three recommended learning pathways with associated, differentiated offerings are depicted in Fig 1, some with an added mentoring component, underpinned by Community of Practice (CoP) principles. Learning opportunities for Senior Career academics are still limited, we are in the process of expanding the range of opportunities.
While we identify and recommend two learning pathways, please note that all offerings are open and flexible as per individual need.
DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING PATHWAYS
Suitable For Emerging and Early Career Academics
Suitable For Mid-Career Academics
Suitable For Senior Career Academics
Early Career Academic Development (ECAD) Programme
The Centre for Learning, Teaching and Development (CLTD) and the Wits Research Office collaboratively offer a programme to support the professional learning of early career academics (ECAs).
The programme is intended to nurture early career academics within the Wits context with the following intended learning outcomes. Upon completion, participants should be able to:
• Exercise critical agency and self-management to strategically navigate competing academic priorities, foster well-being, and direct their own professional career path.
• Design, facilitate, and assess coherent, evidence-based, and inclusive learning experiences in complex higher education environments.
• Develop and execute a sustainable scholarly agenda that contributes to the scholarship of learning, of teaching, and advancing research in a distinct academic niche.
• Act as an agentic academic citizen by contributing effectively to institutional governance, building collegial networks, and engaging in critical societal dialogue.
• Articulate and negotiate a purposeful professional identity as a reflexive scholar who integrates the roles of teacher, researcher, and citizen within the South African and global higher education context.
The ECAD programme is a one- or two-year programme that will run from March 2026. It is aimed at academics who have obtained their PhD in the last 10 years and have joined academia within the last 5 years. Activities include professional learning workshops focused on university teaching, research, academic citizenship, writing sessions, mentorship sessions, and membership of a Community of Practice A Portfolio of Evidence (PoE), which includes a Personal Learning Map, will need to be completed and submitted for successful completion of the programme. Participants will have the option of completing the requirements over 24 months.
Also included is a voluntary, funded multidisciplinary project collaboration that will enable ECADers to experience and explore an action research project, related to early career academics within Wits, as a multidisciplinary collective.
EmCAT Adaptive Leadership Programme for Mid-Career
Academic
Transitions
The Adaptive Leadership Programme for Academic Transitions is Wits' flagship professional learning initiative for academics stepping into senior leadership roles. Over nine months, you will build real leadership capability across university teaching (including curriculum design and postgraduate supervision), research, and institutional governance not through theory alone, but by implementing tangible improvements in your own department and discipline.
Aligned to NQF Level 8 and benchmarked against some of the world's leading academic development programmes, the Adaptive Leadership Programme for Academic Transitions pairs you with dedicated teaching and research mentors, embeds you in a peer learning community, and produces a portfolio of evidence structured for promotion applications and professional recognition.
Whether you are moving into a Headship, taking on curriculum leadership, or building your research profile into a sustained trajectory, the Adaptive Leadership Programme for Academic Transitions gives you the tools, the networks, and the confidence to lead with evidence and impact.
Date: TBA
Mode/Venue: Blended
Coordinators: Prof Felix Maringe rieta.ganas@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Now@Wits ● ●
The Now@Wits Programme for new academics works with “new” academics as they transition within the Wits and higher education context. This programme foregrounds the need to enhance confidence and contextual exploration while being an academic at Wits. The programme aims to work with an academic’s already established identity to provoke stronger confidence in generating self-knowledge to enhance learning and teaching, research and academic citizenship decision making and agency.
The 12-month programme involves an orientation to the Wits context, enhancing a stronger sense of self as an academic with agency within Wits. Activities include multidisciplinary and disciplinary Community of Practice meets and mentorship through peer review. Through varied engagements, the programme aims to create the conditions for new academics to continuously reflect on their learning and teaching, research and academic citizenship practices as they work towards a probation portfolio.
This could advantage both the School and the Academic with the opportunity to enhance ongoing performance conversations. Through collaboration with Faculty Representatives, the programme complements professional learning opportunities offered by each Faculty.
Date: March 2026 March 2027
Mode/Venue: In person and online (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
Coordinators:
Ms Nozuko Makhuvha nozuko.makhuvha@wits.ac.za
Ms Rieta Ganas rieta.ganas@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Curriculum Conceptualisation & Design Approaches
●
Curriculum means different things to different people often based on the historical, structural, and socio-cultural factors that make up the curriculum context they practice in. The need for institutional curricula to be responsive to the decolonization and transformation calls does require some form of shared working conceptions around curriculum, its orientations, diverse expression with institutional contexts and curriculum principles that can shape the teaching choices, decisions and actions taken.
This module will enable you to be reflexive about your curriculum positionality and curriculum agency. You will be enabled to explore some of your taken for granted assumptions related to curriculum and design approaches, pacing, sequencing, and progression through a combination of theoretical framing and practical considerations. The praxis opportunity to engage as a curriculum practitioner can enhance contextual relevance, responsiveness, inclusivity and learning- and learnercenteredness of the teaching approaches used to ease student’s curriculum access and success. Curriculum co-creation together with ways of enabling learning and teaching agency will form part of the discussions.
Date, Mode/Venue, and Time:
Date, Mode/Venue, and Time:
24 February (in-person @CLTD) 09:00 12:30
25 February (online – MS Teams) 09:00 11:00 and 12:00 14:00
2 March (online – MS Teams) 09:00 12:00
25 August (in-person @ CLTD) 08:30 12:30
26 August (Online – MS Teams*) 09:00 11:00 and 12:00 14:00
31 August (Online – MS Teams*) 09:00 12:00
Activities and requirements on the Ulwazi course site.
Ms Nozuko Makhuvha nozuko.makhuvha@wits.ac.za
Coordinators:
Ms Rieta Ganas rieta.ganas@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
*Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Designing & building your course in ulwazi
This webinar will focus mainly on intentionally designing, building, and publishing your course site.
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the session, you should be able to:
• Identify the principles of learning experience design for learning and teaching
• Identify your course in terms of Programme/Modules/etc
• Describe Learning Outcomes for your course and for Modules
• Navigate ulwazi
o Overview of the dashboard
o Tools & functionalities
• Structure your course using the Modules function based on some of the Quality Matters (QM) model:
o Course structure and content
o Creating Modules
o Rich Content Editor (Page)
o Linking Items in a Module
o Files – for content uploading
o Importing Content from previous site/s
• Set up your homepage.
• Upload and manage your files
• Add content to your course by
o Building activities into a module
o Outlining your own outcomes
Date Time 27 January 10:00 12:00 10 February 13:00 15:00 12 February 10:30 12:00 09 March 10:00 12:00 11 March 13:00 15:00 15 April 10:00 12:00 14 May 13:00 15:00 22 June 10:00 12:00 07 July 10:00 12:00 04 August 13:00 15:00 10 September 10:00 12:00 06 October 13:00 15:00 11 November 10:00 12:00 10 December 13:00 15:00
Online: Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Design and build your course using a Curriculum Map
This workshop is designed to help you plan, build, and evaluate your course taking into consideration grounded learning experience design principles. This includes prioritizing equity and inclusion in blended learning strategies.
To get the best out of this course, we recommend that you attend Designing and Building your course in ulwazi or are familiar with using ulwazi.
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
Day 1: Plan (In-person)
• Plan learning environments that intentionally accommodates the 3Cs (Communicate, Care, Collaborate).
• Familiarize the concepts of 3Cs in a blended learning environment.
• Using the Quality Matters (QM) rubric to assist you in planning an intentional learning environment.
Day 2: Design (In-person)
• Design a learning environment that is aligned to your outcomes for an engaging learning experience.
• Identify the importance of Storyboard and Curriculum Mapping.
• Demonstrate your intentional planning that accommodates the 3Cs by using the Curriculum Map (align with QM standards).
Day 3: Build (Online)
• Create your own lesson using given storyboard template or curriculum mapping.
Day 4: Evaluate and Reflect (In-Person)
• Evaluate and reflect on your curriculum map and aligning to outcomes:
• Showcase the curriculum map.
• Facilitators and participants give feedback.
• Self-evaluation by presenters.
1st Run 19 22 May 10:00 13:30 2nd Run 17 23 June 13:00 15.00 3rd Run 21 24 July 10:00 13:00 4th Run 11 14 Aug 10:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: Blended (One session per day over 4 days)
Coordinators: Ms Antoinette Malgas Antoinette.Malgas@wits.ac.za
Ms Zamalotshwa Mlotshwa Zamalotshwa.Mlotshwa@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Using Mastery Paths in ulwazi ●
Mastery Paths allows you to create differentiated assignments that would enable you to customise a learning pathway for your students based on their performance of a particular assessment. The learning pathway could consist of different Content Pages, Quizzes, Discussions and Assignments.
Date Time 14 May 10:00 11:30 30 June 13:00 14:30 12 August 10:00 11:30 22 October 13:00 14:30 05 December 10:00 11:30
Mode/Venue: Online, on demand, self-paced*
Coordinators: Ms Neo Petlele neo.petlele@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Online meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Canvas Studio ●
Canvas Studio is a media platform integrated into Canvas that enables educators and students to create, manage, and interact with video and audio content. This tool is key to enhancing your courses by enriching course materials, facilitating active learning through media-based assignments, and enabling personalized feedback on student work.
As an educator, you can leverage Studio to provide students with dynamic learning experiences. Students, in turn, can use the platform to record, edit, and share media projects, engaging more deeply with course content while building essential digital communication skills. Furthermore, Canvas Studio allows students to develop a dynamic media portfolio, showcase their presentation abilities, and participate in collaborative discussions centred on video content.
* Online meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
An
Overview of (Post)graduate Supervision
●
Besides research education, effective supervision is key to the success of postgraduate research, both for the student and for the supervisor. This
workshop provides an overview of postgraduate supervision within the South African context, including national and institutional frameworks, policy and guidelines for the various postgraduate degrees. This workshop will also have the opportunity to explore the various roles within postgraduate supervision, crafting a supervisory agreement and social contract, as well as applying the core principles of a constructive and effective supervision relationship. The workshop could also be offered to Faculties/Schools upon request.
Date: 27 February
Time: 09:00 – 13:00
Mode/Venue: In person, CLTD
Date: 17 June – 01 July (Learning outcomes 1&2)
Time: Self-directed
Mode/Venue: Online, paced, asynchronous - required and available as foundation work from 17 June, for 2 July
Date: 02 July (Learning outcome 3)
Time: 11:00 – 15:00
Mode/Venue: *Online, synchronous;
Date: 7 –15 September (Learning outcomes 1 & 2)
Time: Self-directed
Mode/Venue: Online, self-paced, asynchronous - required and available as foundation work from 7 September, for 16 September
Date: 16 September (Learning outcome 3)
Time: 09:00 – 13:00
Mode/Venue: In person, CLTD
Date: 12 – 23 October (Learning outcomes 1 – 3)
Time: Self-directed
Mode/Venue: *Online, self-paced asynchronous
Coordinator: Prof Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Once bookings are confirmed, participants will be added to the Ulwazi site for learning outcomes 1 and 2, which are self-directed, asynchronous and paced, and required as
foundational learning outcomes for the session on learning outcomes 3. This session is indicated as either in-person, or online. Meeting link for online sessions will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Assessment & Feedback in PG Supervision: Two Sides of a Coin
Good quality feedback to postgraduate students on both the process and product is key to a successful supervision relationship and, ultimately, to the timely throughput of students. However, feedback on postgraduate work occurs in conjunction with assessment of the work. This workshop is an opportunity for dialogue and discussion on the broad typology of assessment, revisiting expectations of postgraduate work in relation to the NQF levels, as well as illustrating principles and strategies for effective and constructive feedback that informs the continuous learning of the student.
Date Time
11 June
09:00 13:00
22 October 11:00 15:00
Mode/Venue
*Online, synchronous
In person, CLTD
Coordinator: Prof Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Once bookings are confirmed, participants will be added to the Ulwazi site. Meeting link will be emailed for the online synchronous session.
Principles & Practices for Cohort Postgraduate Supervision
Traditional one-on-one supervision models prove unsustainable given the increased and unabating ratio of students to supervisor. Cohort supervision may be a viable alternative to the traditional dyadic, or ‘expert-apprentice’ supervision models. Cohort sup ervision models, in turn, may not only counter the often-isolating journey of research but may also enable multi-directional and generative peer-to-peer learning. This workshop offers the opportunity to discuss the rationale of adopting a cohort supervision model, critically reflect on supervision styles, and explore the main principles and practices of cohort supervision with dialogue and conversation for possible implementation in
various contexts. Date
2 6 March
8 April
6 10 July
4 November
Self-directed
12:00 16:00
Self-directed 09:00 13:00
*Online, paced asynchronous
*Online, synchronous
*Online, asynchronous In person, CLTD
Coordinator: Prof Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Once bookings are confirmed, participants will be added to the Ulwazi site. Meeting link will be emailed for the online synchronous session.
Foundations of Postgraduate Supervision Course
Foundations of Postgraduate Supervision is a 10-credit short course that could be registered for as a standalone course, or an elective within the PGDip(E)HE, offered for academic staff wishing to develop advanced postgraduate supervision capacities. This short course could support career advancement and contribute to achieving institutional goals for high-quality postgraduate education.
By the end of the course, the student should be able to:
1. Critically articulate the purpose, challenges, and responsibilities of postgraduate supervision within the South African higher education context.
2. Integrate national and institutional policies, frameworks and guidelines into supervision practices across different NQF levels for postgraduate degrees.
3. Demonstrate the ability to design and formalise a supervision agreement responsive to individual student needs.
4. Analyse and apply supervision models, roles, and styles in ways that promote epistemic justice, inclusion, and student success across diverse postgraduate contexts.
Date: 1 September 2026 9 October 2026
Mode/Venue: Online*
Synchronous sessions once per week for weeks 1 5
Dates: To be announced
Time: 09:00 13:00
Coordinators: Prof Tania Rauch van der merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Online meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Deepening Postgraduate Supervision Practice Course
Following on the Foundations of Postgraduate Supervision course, Deepening Postgraduate Supervision Practice is also a 10-credit short course that could be registered for as a standalone course, or an elective within the PGDip(E)HE, offered for academic staff wishing to develop advanced postgraduate supervision capacities. This short course could support career advancement and contribute to institutional goals for high-quality postgraduate education. Learning outcomes for this course are the following:
By the end of the course, the student should be able to:
1. Critically analyse postgraduate supervision as a teaching practice, drawing on relevant theories and models.
2. Evaluate and apply contextually appropriate supervision strategies to address challenges related to power, culture, identity and communication.
3. Design and implement constructive feedback processes and supervision interventions that promote writing development, agency and research progression.
4. Engage in and contribute meaningfully to a community of supervisory practice that supports collaborative and collegial learning.
Date: Commencing in 2027, date subject to institutional approval
Mode/Venue: Fully online on Ulwazi
Synchronous sessions once per week for weeks 1 5
Dates: To be announced
Time: 09:00 13:00
Coordinators: Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Prof Tania Rauch van der merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Peer Tutoring ●
This is a programme comprising different topics on learning and teaching for students who apply to tutor their peers. It is developed to be facilitated synchronously in 3 days, or asynchronously online over a few weeks. This allows for flexibility of learning depending on the needs of the faculty.
Collaboration with faculty is critical to ensure discipline specific processes and practices are included. Please contact us to organise sessions for your faculty or school.
This module examines the role assessments play in learning and considers options for diversifying assessment practices. Diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in assessment design, principles of assessment, and feedback practices are included.
Date: 13 17 April
Coordinators: Ms Natasha Munsamy natasha.munsamy@wits.ac.za
Ms Neo Petlele neo.petlele@wits.ac.za
Ms Jacqueline Johnson jacqueline.johnson@wits.ac.za
Date, Mode/Venue, and Time: 13 April (in-person) 10:00 12:00 15/16 April (Online) 10:00 12:00
Date: 07 11 September
Coordinators: Ms Natasha Munsamy natasha.munsamy@wits.ac.za
Ms Neo Petlele neo.petlele@wits.ac.za
Ms Jacqueline Johnson jacqueline.johnson@wits.ac.za
Date, Mode/Venue, and Time: 07 September (Hybrid/in-person): 10:00 12:00 09/10 September (Online): 10:00 12:00
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Digital Tools for Assessment ●
Effective learning & teaching involves the integration and alignment of three core systems, namely curriculum, learning and teaching, and assessment. In this context, ensuring alignment between course outcomes, structured learning experiences, and assessment is important for curricular coherence, and contributes to the validity of assessments. Consequently, there is a need for academics to appreciate the role of assessment in student’s learning and to be able to design quality assessments for particular contexts. In addition to the need for authentic, valid assessment practices, more generally, there is a growing need to become familiar with technologies for use with assessments.
This workshop focuses on assessment in the field of Higher Education with special emphasis on assessment tools in ulwazi and other available platforms.
Workshop overview
Session 1
• Discussion tool:
o Setting up graded discussion topics.
o Grading discussion topic using rubrics.
o Grading discussion topic using SpeedGrader.
• Assignment tool:
o Setting up an Assignment link.
o Setting up Peer review & group assignment.
o Grading assignments using rubrics.
o Grading assignments using SpeedGrader.
o Setting up assessment weighting linked to Gradebook.
Date Time
18 February 13:00 14:30 12 March 10:00 11:30
04 May 13:00 14:30
24 June 10:00 11:30 09 July 13:00 14:30 05 August 10:00 11:30 14 September 13:00 14:30 15 October 10:00 11:30 12 November 13:00 14:30 11 December 10:00 11:30
Session 2
• New quiz tool
o Setting up a quiz using various question types.
o Setting up question banks.
o Randomising from question banks.
o Moderate function for grading, adjusting attempt and time limit.
o Grading a Quiz (manual grading).
o Re-grading a Quiz.
o Releasing feedback.
• Studio tool
o Embedding a quiz to a video.
o Setting up an assignment with a quiz embedded video.
Date Time
19 February 13:00 14:30 13 March 10:00 11:30 05 May 13:00 14:30 25 June 10:00 11:30 10 July 13:00 14:30 06 August 10:30 11:30 15 September 13:00 14:30 16 October 10:00 11:30 13 November 13:00 14:30 14 December 10:30 11:30
Mode/Venue: Online (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
Coordinators: Ms Neo Petlele neo.petlele@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Using Canvas Portfolio for Learning and Teaching
Canvas Portfolio is an integrated tool that enables students to create comprehensive academic and professional portfolios. As an educator, you can leverage Canvas Portfolio to facilitate reflective learning, evaluate student progress and skill acquisition across a course or programme, and guide students in curating a professional showcase of their academic journey.
Students can organize and present their work, including documents, media, and project artifacts, within a structured, shareable online space. This platform allows students to build a professional online presence, showcase their educational accomplishments, and connect with peers, academics, and future employers.
Date Time
26 Feb 13:00 14:30
18 March 10:00 11:30 23 April 13:00 14:30
May 10:00 11:30
June 10:00 11:30
July 13:00 14:30
August 10:00 11:30
September 13:00 14:30 27 October 10:00 11:30 24 November 13:00 14:30 02 December 10:00 11:30
Mode/Venue: Online (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
Turnitin Feedback Studio is integrated into ulwazi and provides lecturers with a powerful set of tools to support academic integrity, assessment, and meaningful feedback. More than just a similarity-checking tool, it helps you guide students in developing stronger academic writing practices and a better understanding of citation and referencing. Using the Similarity Report, you can identify potential originality issues, distinguish between acceptable text matches (such as references and correctly cited quotations) and possible plagiarism, and use these insights as opportunities for learning and teaching. Features such as Match Groups, Filters, and the Flags Panel help you focus on the information that matters most.
Feedback Studio also streamlines assessment process by allowing you to provide inline comments, voice feedback, rubric-based assessments, and overall feedback within a single workflow.
When draft submissions are enabled, students can review their own Similarity Reports before final submission, helping them improve their paraphrasing, quoting, and referencing skills. This makes Feedback Studio a valuable tool for both supporting student learning and maintaining academic integrity.
* Online meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
The Peer Review of Teaching: Developing
Reflective and Constructive Feedback
Practice
Designed for Wits academics and teaching support staff who review colleagues’ teaching, oversee peer review processes, or are preparing peer review evidence for professional learning or promotion. This hybrid short course consists of two half-day, inperson workshops supported by structured online engagement on uLwazi. The course explores the purposes, principles, and processes of peer review of teaching, with a focus on ethical, collegial, and evidence-based feedback. You will examine the role of graduate attributes in teaching practice, practise giving and receiving feedback using Wits peer review tools and complete an authentic peer review in your own department.
The course carries a notional time commitment of approximately 30 hours, spread across in-person workshops, online activities and engagement, and an authentic peer review in your faculty. This is an accredited short course, and participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Competence.
Date:
23 February, 24 February and 30 May (1st Run)
19 August, 20 August and 20 November (2nd Run)
Time: 9:00 – 13:00 (in-person session)
Mode/Venue: Two half-day in person and structured online activities and engagements
Coordinator: Ms Mei Luo mei.luo@wits.ac.za
Ms Fatima Rahiman fatima.rahiman@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoLT)
In this 3-hour workshop, we interrogate ‘good’ teaching practices, that is, what programme quality enhancement could look like. We will explore an overview of the scholarship of learning and teaching (SoLT) in Higher Education and outline several suggestions through which SoLT may be established and scholarship improved. We invite not only the UCDP SoLT Grant Funded participants but also all interested academics to come and share their thoughts, ideas, and practices on enhancing SoLT. Several open educational resources (OER) will be shared (e.g., infographics,
Being a University Teacher
readings/summaries, podcasts) and we invite you to co-create and share more resources going forward.
Date: 05 May 2026
Time: 09:00 12:00
Mode/Venue: Hybrid (in-person and online)
Date: 03 September 2026
Time: 09:00 12:00
Coordinator: Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Ms Mei Luo mei.luo@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Crafting Academic Practice Philosophy Statement
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This fully online course kicks off with an exploration of learning theories and how these theories inform academic practice philosophies. An understanding of how one views knowledge and how one comes to know is important as it shapes methodologies, approaches, and practices. Although this is fully online course, two synchronous check-in sessions have been scheduled. See dates below.
Date: 9 13 March 14 18 September
Mode/Venue: Fully online Fully online
Synchronous Teams session dates: 9 March & 12 March 14 September & 17 September
Time: 10:00 11:00 10:00 11:00
Coordinators:
Ms Nozuko Makhuvha nozuko.makhuvha@wits.ac.za
Ms Mei Luo mei.luo@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Drafting an Academic Portfolio
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Being an academic constitutes being a university teacher as well as a researcher, scholar, and playing an active role in academic citizenship inclusive of community engagement. Often university teaching is research informed and an enactment of scholarship, the dissemination of research in a particular domain. Considering all three academic missions as equally important, an academic portfolio offers the opportunity to deeply engage as a reflective and reflexive HE practitioner and consider the coherence, interdependence and shaping of all three domains on the being and
becoming of a scholarly academic or HE practitioner. This offering is spread over three half-day synchronous sessions to allow for moments of critical reflection and reflexivity to stimulate the emergence of authentic ideas.
Date: 20 24 April
Mode/Venue: Asynchronous (Ulwazi)
Synchronous:
21 April (online synchronous*): 09:00 12:30
22 April (online synchronous*): 09:00 12:30
23 April (online synchronous*): 09:00 12:30
Coordinators: Ms Nozuko Makhuvha nozuko.makhuvha@wits.ac.za
Prof Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Ms Rieta Ganas rieta.ganas@wits.ac.za
Date: 05 October 09October
Mode/Venue: Asynchronous (Ulwazi)
Synchronous:
06 October (online synchronous*): 13:00 16:30
07 October (online synchronous*): 13:00 16:30
08 October (online synchronous*): 13:00 16:30
Coordinators: Ms Nozuko Makhuvha nozuko.makhuvha@wits.ac.za
Prof Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Ms Rieta Ganas rieta.ganas@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
*Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Self-paced: A.I.² for Teachers
● ●
To support you in this evolving landscape of GenAI, the CLTD has developed a new resource on ulwazi, A.I.² for Teachers. This resource was developed using an Academic Integrity-Based Framework for the Fair and Productive Use of AI at Wits as its guiding framework and is grounded in principles that promote responsible, ethical, transparent, and socially conscious engagement with AI in higher education.
The course resources have been designed to support academic and professional staff in developing AI literacy and exploring the ethical, institutional, practical, and teaching implications of AI use at Wits and within higher education.
The resource explores key themes including:
• AI literacy and emerging practices in higher education
• Academic integrity and accountability
• Human oversight and responsible AI use
• Institutional risks and responsible implementation
• Equity, inclusion, and socially just AI practices
The course site also includes practical examples, reflective activities, and guidance on the fair and productive use of AI in university teaching, student learning, assessment of learning, research, and administrative contexts.
Gradescope is an assessment tool that allows lecturers to assessment and provide feedback on handwritten paper-based student work, quizzes, and assignments in an online platform. The tool is well suited for facilitating assessment of handwritten submissions, calculations, drawings or chemical structures, cells, circuits, coding, etc. With Gradescope, students can upload written submissions to be assessed. Text and freehand feedback comments on submissions can be provided with annotation tools with reference to a dynamic rubric. The session will cover the following:
• How to create different question types in Gradescope
• How to enable your students to submit their work to Gradescope.
• How to assess and provide feedback on submissions in Gradescope
Research with Impact: Bridging Knowledge and Society
This half-day workshop explores how research can extend beyond academic outputs to generate meaningful societal, policy, and economic change. Participants will learn practical strategies to design and implement research that demonstrates real-world relevance and measurable outcomes.
Through interactive discussions and case studies, the session will cover:
• Defining and framing research impact in various disciplines
• Developing pathways to impact through effective stakeholder engagement
• Integrating impact planning into project proposals and reports
• Tools for tracking, evidencing, and communicating impact
Ideal for academics, researchers, and postgraduate students, this workshop equips participants with the knowledge and frameworks to ensure their research contributes to solving pressing challenges and advancing sustainable development goals.
Dates: 19 June 2026
18 September 2026
Time: 09:00 13:00 10:00 13:00
Venue: CLTD Online
Facilitator: Dr Yolanda Davids
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Planning your Academic Career ● ●
Do you know what you need to do today to achieve your career goals in six years’ time? A successful academic career requires a considerable amount of juggling. Research, teaching, supervision, community engagement, funding, sabbaticals, conferences, promotion, NRF ratings they all need to be factored into your plan. This workshop will help you develop a five to sevenyear macro plan that will ensure you are well placed to make the best of your career. An emphasis is placed on research throughout this workshop.
Date: TBA
Time: TBA
Mode/Venue: CLTD
Facilitator: TBA
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Writing Winning Proposals ● ●
Discover, with the support of Thashni Pillay from the University Research Office, how to write a persuasive proposal for research funding. Having understood that every funder is contractually bound to deliver a return of some sort on the funds under their management, it is plain to see several ‘magical buttons ’ that will get you funding. Some of these buttons are explicit but others are not. The trick is to find them. The workshop material also covers the differences between a research plan, a problem statement, rationale and motivation, and aims and objectives, all elements of typical proposals. The importance of selecting appropriate reviewers, leaving nothing to chance and the need to make every part of the proposal supportive of your bid for funding are also discussed. Finally, the workshop explores differences in writing styles: Persuasive writing used in proposals and standard writing techniques used in the publication of research outputs.
Date: 26 March 2026
Time: 09:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: Online
Facilitator: Thashni Pillay
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Lunchtime Talk – How to Structure an Academic CV ●
The curriculum vitae, which is Latin for ‘course of life’ is a very important tool in the quest for academic achievement. At the simplest level it is a record of your achievements, a trace record, at the other extreme it can take on all the elements of a marketing campaign. Join us for a lunchtime (1 hour) discussion on different ways to layout your CV to best emphasise your achievements.
Date: 16 April 2026 (online)
Time: 13:00 14:00
Venue: Online
Facilitator: Thashni Pillay
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Zotero ●
The library offers this virtual workshop that will introduce you to Zotero, a free, opensource alternative to reference manager systems. Zotero allows you to easily save bibliographic details, comments, indexing terms, and direct links to webpages, word documents, and even articles that are in library subscription databases. You will be shown how you can use Zotero to integrate your references into your research in many citation styles using Microsoft Word. For more information, please visit Library Libguides.at http://libguides.wits.ac.za/zotero
Date: 22 April 2026 12 June 2026 17 September 2026
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
All other research related learning opportunities have been merged with the Professional Launchpad Advancing Talent, Innovation and Mentorship (PLATINUM) programme through the Research Office. PLATINUM's learning opportunities are available at https://issuu.com/witsmarketing/docs/guide_to_ulwazi_platinum
Self-enrolment link for these courses: https://ulwazi.wits.ac.za/enroll/LD63K7
Students at emotional risk
●
The Counselling and Careers Development Unit is offering a half-day workshop to Wits academic and administrative support staff. The workshop covers mental wellness, as well as basic skills to identify, contain and refer students in need of psychological or psychiatric intervention. This includes the identification of certain high-risk characteristics/circumstances associated with the deterioration of the functioning of a student. The primary objectives of this workshop are to provide university staff, who act as first responders for students, with relevant information to assist and support these students during their university career.
Dates: 11 March 2026 14 May 2026 21 July 2026
Time: 08:30 12:30 08:30 12:30 08:30 12:30
Mode/Venue: In person (CLTD building)
Coordinators: TBA
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Basic Supporter Skills training
The Counselling and Careers Development Unit staff are offering academic, support and residence staff a two-day workshop on supportive skills and basic counselling. The requirement for the attendance of this Supportive Skills course is full attendance of the Students at Emotional Risk workshop. This training includes sections on selfreflection and self-awareness, as well as supporter and counselling skills.
Please note: Staff who are feeling emotionally fragile or who have experienced recent trauma or bereavement are advised not to attend at this point.
Date: 11 and 12 August 2026
Time: Day 1 08:30 15:30 Day 2 08:30 16:00
Mode/Venue: In person (CLTD building)
Coordinators: TBA
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
CLTD hosts an annual Learning and Teaching Conference (open to the higher education community). This Conference is planned for the second semester. More information to follow.
Date: TBC
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
For Semester 1, 2026, we have streamlined some of our usual learning opportunities so that we free up time to meet with HoDs/HoSs to plan more contextually relevant, up to date offerings. Collectively, we aim to align with the Wits Learning and Teaching Plan 2025-2029 to ensure that our work is guided by these six focus areas:
• Providing an environment that supports our students as self-regulated learners
• Supporting and recognising university teachers
• Enhancing the environment for university teaching and student learning
• Driving curriculum design for student engagement and lifelong learning
• Harnessing technology to promote learning
• Strengthening data driven student success.
CLTD reps and Faculty learning and teaching representatives will collaborate to offer learning opportunities as follows:
a. customised learning opportunities (early career, mid-career and senior career) to identified cohorts
b. customise d/faculty specific offerings to groups/schools on an ad hoc basis
c. staff engagement in reflection/evaluation at the end of each semester (all Faculties)
d. a scholarly approach to learning and teaching
e. the fostering of communities of practice
f. quality improvement and enhancement
Due to capacity constraints, we will focus on working with groups/schools as opposed to individuals, in alignment with faculty priorities
Faculty
CLTD Representatives
CLM UG: Ms Rieta Ganas; PG: Ms Neo Petlele
Engineering Mrs Nozuko Makhuvha
Health Sciences Dr Nazira Hoosen Alternate: Ms Mei Luo)
Humanities Mrs Natasha Munsamy (Alternate: Ms Antoinette Malgas)
Sciences Ms Zamalotshwa Mlotshwa
CLTD Faculty reps also assist with:
• Online and blended course design
• Planning your university teaching
• New programme applications and/or major/minor curriculum changes
• Coordinating the university’s Learning and Teaching Community of Practice
• Workshops on
o Assessments
o Your teaching role
o Academic portfolios
o Curriculum design
Our principles and beliefs
We nurture and accept conditions that promote agency and creativity to engage critical thinking, purposeful research-informed trialling or experimenting, re-discovery, renewal, and innovation in African Higher Education contexts. We do this because in the past we have tended to accept learning and teaching solutions borrowed from elsewhere, often divorced from our own contexts.
Our distinctive approach to facilitation, learning, and research promotes a non- judgmental culture as the basis for the cultivation of transformative and creative communities, where tensions and diversities of opinions are welcomed as norms, and where independent thought and opinion are welcomed. In this context, there is a genuine meeting of the minds where knowledge production is inward and outward looking, resulting in authentic collaborations and partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally. Our fundamental ideal is that of trust and acceptance, where we all become culturally, socially, and environmentally responsible in our diverse aspirations of academic support provision. We are rooted in Johannesburg with its strong cosmopolitan heritage, and we intend using this to our advantage, to ensure that the city is both the focus for our teaching and research work, and the platform from which our local and international relationships grow.
Our mandate
The Centre for Learning, Teaching & Development (CLTD) focuses on academic continuous professional learning and support, modelling flexible learning opportunities and evidence-based support practices. As part of a broader curriculum design, development, and implementation strategy, and by applying and engaging in research on facilitation practices, we aim to contribute towards deepening student learning, enhancing university teaching practices, and participating in academic citizenship both at Wits and beyond.
Our vision
To collaboratively lead in transformative and contextually relevant learning and teaching praxis to inspire student success towards positioning Wits University as an innovative hub for scholarly, technology-enhanced, and socially responsive university teaching
Our mission
The Centre for Learning, Teaching, and Development (CLTD) collaborates to advance transformative and contextually relevant learning and teaching practices. Through evidence-based, scholarly praxis and the integration of technology, the CLTD fosters inclusive, learning and student-centred learning experiences.
To achieve the CLTD mission, we strive to:
• Enrich the status of learning and teaching at Wits by engaging with, encouraging, and celebrating Wits teachers
• Support academics as university teachers and researchers, and explore, integrate, evaluate different approaches to learning, teaching, and assessment
• Promote inclusivity and diversity through collaborative curriculum design and renewal
• Promote and support the adoption of flexible blended and online learning and teaching approaches and practices
• Promote a university-wide Learning and Teaching Community of Practice by creating dialogue around and conversations about learning and teaching
• Promote and develop a culture of research and scholarship of learning and teaching (SoL T) in Higher Education
• Anticipate and address evolving issues and opportunities within Higher Education Academic practice by offering expertise locally, nationally, and internationally
Our values
The CLTD’s work is guided by the following core values:
• Excellence: We are committed to promoting learning and teaching practices that achieve the highest standards of quality and impact.
• Equity and Inclusivity: We champion fairness, diversity, and the creation of learning environments where everyone can thrive.
• Innovation: We lead the adoption of emerging technologies and forwardthinking teaching practices to create transformative learning experiences.
• Collaboration: We foster partnerships within and beyond the university to cocreate meaningful, contextually relevant learning and teaching solutions.
• Social Responsiveness: We ensure our work addresses the needs of our communities, aligning with principles of social justice and sustainability.
• Evidence-Based Practice: We ground our initiatives in scholarly research and
data-informed strategies to support transformative and inclusive education.
• Continuous Learning: We prioritise professional growth, reflexivity, and lifelong learning for ourselves and those we serve.
• Contextual Relevance: We ensure that all learning and teaching practices are responsive to the cultural, societal, and educational context of Wits University and its broader community.
Foregrounding the strategic and operational plan
In developing our Operational Plan, four drivers have emerged as key in achieving our goals for CLTD. These will underpin our service and support offering over this year, including:
• A ‘D istributed Leadership’ (Spillane, 2005, 2012) approach in offering educational programmes in partnership with others locally, nationally, and internationally
• Commitment to the continuous professional learning of CLTD staff
• Our research and its growing impact on the Higher Education landscape, and
• Modelling the application of, and engagement with digital technology in providing flexible blended and online learning opportunities for our course participants.
