scholarly journals Learning through Linguistic citizenship: Finding the “I” of the essay

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-86
Author(s):  
Zannie Bock ◽  
Lauren Abrahams ◽  
Keshia Jansen
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
The Body ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Linguistic Citizenship ◽  
Just Society ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
South African Higher Education

In recent years, the South African higher education system has seen growing calls for broadened epistemic access, decolonised curricula and transformed institutions. Scholars across South Africa have taken up the challenge and are working on new theoretical approaches to teaching and learning in higher education. In this paper, we reflect on students’ experiences of a multilingual, multimodal module called Reimagining Multilingualisms, which was jointly offered by the Universities of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch in April and May of 2018. In this paper, we provide an overview of the module and the different types of activities it involved. We reflect on these experiences using the theoretical lenses of decolonial scholar Mignolo (2009) on the ‘locus of enunciation’, and Stroud (2018) on ‘Linguistic Citizenship’. We present extracts from focus group interviews with students from both campuses to illustrate the involvement of ‘the body’ in ‘knowing’ and the ways in which the module enabled different ‘voices’ to emerge. We focus particularly on the role played by students’ perceived ‘vulnerability’ in the transformative benefits of the module and discuss this by way of conclusion. In sum, we suggest how the centring of multilingualism and diversity – not only as core pedagogic principles, but also as a methodology for transformation – may be used to enhance access and recapture voice in the building of a more integrated and just society.

A CUSTOMISED FRAMEWORK FOR EFFECTIVE PODCAST INTEGRATION IN A SOUTH AFRICAN HIGHER EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-32
Author(s):  
Shane Pachagadu ◽  
Liezel Nel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning Environment ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education ◽  
Effective Integration

Numerous studies have explored the potential of podcast integration in teaching and learning environments. This paper first presents and organises perspectives from literature in a conceptual framework for the effective integration of podcasting in higher education. An empirical study is then discussed in which the guidelines presented in the framework were evaluated for applicability in a selected course at a South African University of Technology. Since the results of the study revealed a number of aspects not accounted for in the conceptual framework, the framework was customised to make it more applicable for the particular higher education environment. The customised framework identifies four principles and a series of related guidelines for the effective integration of podcasts in a South African higher education teaching and learning environment. This framework can become a valuable resource for effective podcast integration in similar environments.

scholarly journals The Dimension of the Body in Higher Education: Matrix of Meanings in Students’ Diaries

Human Arenas ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramiro Tau ◽  
Laure Kloetzer ◽  
Simon Henein
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Practice ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
General Process ◽  
Emotional Dimension ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Mind

AbstractIn this paper, we attempt to show some consequences of bringing the body back into higher education, through the use of performing arts in the curricular context of scientific programs. We start by arguing that dominant traditions in higher education reproduced the mind-body dualism that shaped the social matrix of meanings on knowledge transmission. We highlight the limits of the modern disembodied and decontextualized reason and suggest that, considering the students’ and teachers’ bodies as non-relevant aspects, or even obstacles, leads to the invisibilization of fundamental aspects involved in teaching and learning processes. We thus conducted a study, from a socio-cultural perspective, in which we analyse the emerging matrix of meanings given to the body and bodily engagement by students, through a systematic qualitative analysis of 47 personal diaries. We structured the results and the discussion around five interpretative axes: (1) the production of diaries enables historicization, while the richness of bodily experience expands the boundaries of diaries into non-textual modalities; (2) curricular context modulates the emergent meanings of the body; (3) physical and symbolic spaces guide the matrix of bodily meanings; (4) the bodily dimension of the courses facilitates the emergence of an emotional dimension to get in touch with others and to register one's own emotional experiences; and (5) the body functions as a condition for biographical continuity. These axes are discussed under the light of the general process of consciousness-raising and resignification of the situated body in the educational practice.

Covid-19: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Impacts on Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Disciplines ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
Production Knowledge ◽  
South African Higher Education ◽  
The Impact

Premised on the disruption and lessons learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic, and in meticulous response to the impact of the pandemic on higher education – especially in South Africa – this collection of chapters spotlights the effects, consequences, and ramifications of an unprecedented pandemic in the areas of knowledge production, knowledge transfer and innovation. With the pandemic, the traditional way of teaching and learning was completely upended. It is within this context that this book presents interdisciplinary perspectives that focus on what the impact of Covid-19 implies for higher education institutions. Contributors have critically reflected from within their specific academic disciplines in their attempt to proffer solutions to the disruptions brought to the South African higher education space. Academics and education leaders have particularly responded to the objective of this book by focusing on how the academia could tackle the Covid-19 motivated disruption and resuscitate teaching, research, and innovation activities in South African higher education, and the whole of Africa by extension.

scholarly journals Changing teaching practice: The evolving purpose of the teacher in higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Prue Gonzalez ◽  
◽  
Beate Mueller ◽  
Kevin Merry ◽  
Colin Jone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Future Expectations ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Subject Matter Expertise ◽  
Cultural Historical Activity

In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching and Learning theme, Developing Teaching Practice. Building on Editorial 18(4), which articulated changes to higher education in the period roughly between 1980 and 2021, we believe it is pertinent to explore the changing conceptions of academic as ‘teacher’. We use Engeström’s cultural-historical activity theory as a lens to consider how higher education teachers are situated in the current context of rapid changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore possible future purposes of higher education to consider flow-on impacts on the purpose of its teachers and how their roles might change to accommodate future expectations. We assert the need to challenge the notion of the academic as a person who is recruited into higher education largely because of their subject matter expertise and maintains strong commitment to teaching expertise that is grounded in scholarship, critical self-reflection, and agency. In our various teaching and leadership roles, and consistent with the literature, we have observed paradoxical outcomes from the nexus between risk, innovation and development, driving risk aversity and risk management, with significant (contradictory) impacts on teaching, teachers and student learning. The barriers to implementing innovative curricula include questions of do students get a standardised and ‘safe’ educational experience or are they challenged and afforded the opportunity to transform and grow? Are they allowed to fail? Related, do teachers have genuine agency, as an educator, or are they positioned as agents of a higher education system? We explore these questions and invite our readers to engage in serious reflexivity and identify strategies that help them question their attitudes, thought processes, and assumptions about teaching and student learning. We welcome papers that contribute values-based conversations seeking to continue exploring ways of dealing with and adapting to change in our teaching practices, case studies of learning through failure, change and adaptation and the development of the field.

scholarly journals The teacher’s main competencies in modern higher education

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (I) ◽  
pp. 30-42
Author(s):  
Надія СМОЛІКЕВИЧ
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Constructivism ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Creative Potential ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Teachers And Students

The article has analyzed the problems of teaching and learning at a higher educational establishment, reveals the specifics of the teacher's professional activities, the components of his or her teaching skills and deals with the issue on the necessary competencies of the teacher to provide a favorable and successful learning environment for diverse students. The emphasis has been concentrated on the specifics of teaching, research and professional development of the teaching staff, etc. It has also been emphasized the importance of creating the appropriate conditions for the full realization of the creative potential of teachers, ensuring their professional development, etc. The important characteristics of a favorable university environment have been singled out. It has been noted that teachers and students should be free in scientific research, study, evaluation, accumulation of new knowledge and its understanding. The main tasks, professional abilities and responsibilities of teachers in the global educational environment have been identified in order to help recipients of academic services to succeed in the adaptation and academic process. The successful experience of the American centers of pedagogical skill has been described in order to borrow it by the higher education system of Ukraine to ensure the development of the professional and creative potential of the teaching staff of universities. The main competencies of teachers have been determined and described, because they are necessary for providing high-quality educational services based on the educational philosophy of social-constructivism and postmodernism, which support an active role of students, social interaction and diversity in the class.

scholarly journals Student support to enhance student living and learning at a South African University

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Student Support ◽  
Support Structures ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Support Programme ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education

Quantitative measures show that the higher education system in South Africa remains inefficient and this reality poses significant challenges to all universities. The Faculty of Humanities at the Tshwane University of Technology has added a Student Support Programme to the existing institutional student support structures. In this article, the author reflects on the experiences of student supporters who were appointe in 2014 and 2015 for the enhancement of students' living and learnining to improve success in the Faculty of Huanities. The findings indicated that this programme has indeed improved the academic performance and personal circumstances of hundreds of students. The under-preparedness of students entering South African higher education institutions was highlighted as a major obstacle in academic performances. The majority of students who are supported by this programme experience intense personal and social challenges that are by and large brought about by and as the result of severe financial needs. The student supprters were adamant in their departing statement that much more had to be done over and beyond the general and existing approach and support structures at the Tshwane University of Technology to support these students.Keywords: Student support; Student living; Student learning; Social challenges

Leadership and Innovative Approaches in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Sulaiman Olusegun Atiku ◽  
Richmond Anane-simon
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Quality Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Learning Methods ◽  
Innovative Teaching ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Leadership Support ◽  
Higher Institution

The place of leadership support for technological innovation in advancing quality management in higher education cannot be underrated in the fourth industrial revolution. This chapter examines the role of leadership in higher education and innovative teaching and learning methods for quality assurance in higher education system. The literature review approach and author observation were adopted to cross-examine the influence of leadership on innovative teaching/learning methods and quality assurance in higher education. This chapter shows that leadership support for innovative teaching and learning methods is a benchmark for quality assurance in higher education in recent times. Therefore, no meaningful change will happen in any higher institution without a strong leadership support for innovation and quality management. Policymakers in higher education should create a climate that promotes creativity and innovation by ensuring that transformational leaders are at the helm of affairs for quality management.

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