Navigating curriculum transformation: charting our course

The 2015 student-led #FeesMustFall campaign in South Africa initiated at some universities, and accelerated at others, indepth discussions and reflections about curriculum transformation within the perceived ivory towers of learning. Three years later, the mandate to implement transformation is clear from all levels but what is uncertain is the operationalization of the official transformation framework at the University of Pretoria. The aim of the project presented is to chart the process followed by one of the four Schools of the Faculty of Health Sciences to deconstruct this transformation framework. As part of a three phased programme, a workshop of diverse staff using a modified nominal technique was held in 2018. It resulted in a visual tool of 19 specific statements considered evidence of personal practice that supports and advances the drive for transformation. This tool will be used to share practices and instil individual and School accountability for everone’s role in curriculum transformation. In conclusion, complex policy ideals and technical terminology can be translated into practical, appropriate actions by a diverse group of staff and students. The use of a modified nominal group technique was an efficient way to do this by generating an easy to use visual tool.

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The Pretoria Bone Collection: A 21st Century Skeletal Collection in South Africa

Forensic Sciences ◽

10.3390/forensicsci1030020 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 220-227

Author(s):

Ericka N. L’Abbé ◽

Gabriele C. Krüger ◽

Charlotte E. G. Theye ◽

Alieske C. Hagg ◽

Okuhle Sapo

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Large City ◽

Health Sciences ◽

Ethics Committee ◽

Digital Repository ◽

Online Application ◽

South Africans ◽

Human Research Ethics ◽

University Of Pretoria ◽

The University

The Pretoria Bone Collection (PBC) began in 1942 with the opening of a medical school at the University of Pretoria (UP) in Pretoria, South Africa, where this skeletal collection is housed in the Department of Anatomy. The purpose of this paper is to provide information on the national legislation associated with obtaining, curating and researching skeletal remains in South Africa, the demographic composition of the PBC, and the inclusion of a portion of these remains into a digital repository known as Bakeng se Afrika (BsA). The PBC comprises 873 complete skeletons, 344 complete postcrania without crania, and 308 complete crania without postcrania. Skeletal contents are reflective of the population statistics of South Africa, with a smaller proportion of White (32%) than Black (65%) South Africans. Unlike the population profile, males in the PBC are greater in number (75.5%) than females (24.5%), which may be explained by the number of migrant labourers traveling into a large city such as Pretoria. From this sample, crania (206), maxillae (141), mandibulae (408), femora (137), and radii (134), as well as several other skeletal elements were micro-XCT scanned and are available on the BsA server. A researcher needs to submit an online application to the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria for access to these collections.

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Korištenje normativnog psihološkog ugovora u funkciji postizanja kvalitetnijeg obrazovnog procesa

Obrazovanje odraslih/Adult Education ◽

10.53617/issn2744-2047.2015.15.2.69 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 69-100

Author(s):

Mirna Marković

Keyword(s):

Psychological Contract ◽

Nominal Group Technique ◽

Educational Process ◽

Nominal Group ◽

Adult Educators ◽

The Common ◽

Modified Nominal Group Technique ◽

The University ◽

Academic Year

Upon entering in each relatively unknown and new context, such as new course, students enter with certain expectations which they may not always be fully aware of. Like the students, the teachers and assistants also generate certain expectations, mostly based on psychological aggregation of past experience. The fact is that especially the implicit expectation of both will somehow shape their behaviour and attitudes about this course. The expectations from both parties usually represent a range of very specific, mostly implicit, expectations that form the basis of the psychological contract. This contract is often defined as a „tacit”agreement between the parties (students and teachers/assistants) on the nature of their exchanges and the way they realize their relationship in the process of teaching. This paper attempts to examine the content of the normative psychological contract that defines the common expectations of students and assistants related to the rights and obligations that implies the role of the student, as wells as the rights and obligations that implies the role of assistants in relation to the student – assistant relationship in one of the teaching courses. The study was conducted on a sample of N = 38 students in the fifth academic year of the Department of Psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Sarajevo. The modified nominal group technique was used to collect individual data and achieve a group consensus on the content of the normative psychological contract. In particular, the attention was drawn to the efficient way of collecting and using information about students’ expectations, which can be considered when defining and clarifying mutual expectation on the role of students and teachers/assistants in the educational process. An effort was made to point out on the example of concrete steps the acceptability and applicability of the method in defining the normative psychological contract of any educational group. Finally, the study resulted in a proposal of a Scale for the evaluation of the fulfilment of psychological contract. This scale would be useful to the adult educators in creating of individualized Scale for the evaluation of the fulfilment of psychological contract in a specific educational context.

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Humanistic Psychology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e512652011-003 ◽

1972 ◽

Author(s):

B. F. Nel

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Humanistic Psychology ◽

University Of Pretoria ◽

The University

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Ontstaan en eerste periode van die Hervormde teologiese opleiding aan die Universiteit van Pretoria

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v45i2.2284 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 45 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J. A. Loader

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Nineteenth Century ◽

University Of Pretoria ◽

The University ◽

The Church ◽

Theological Training

Establishment and first period of the Hervormde theological training at the University of Pretoria In this study the establishment of the Hervormde theological training at the University of Pretoria is researched with the purpose of identifying the ecclesiastical, religious and theological factors that influenced the emergence and development of a typical Hervormde type of theology in South Africa. It is argued that the resistance of the Transvaal Afrikaners to religious encroachment of th e ir independence in the Boer Republic of the nineteenth century caused distrust of the church and theology associated with Stellenbosch in the British Cape Colony, and that opposition to trends from there determined the association of the Transvaal Hervormers with certain Dutch circles. From the joining of these two forces - what the Transvaal Hervormers required and what the contemporary Dutch theologies could offer - sprang the roots of what Hervormde theology came to be.

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Early Presbyterian influences at the University of Pretoria

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v64i1.11 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Graham Duncan

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

South Africa ◽

Twentieth Century ◽

The State ◽

Early Years ◽

Institutional Level ◽

University Of Pretoria ◽

The University

Presbyterianism, through two significant personalities, provided an important impetus to the formation and development of the early University of Pretoria. Their contribution has to be understood in terms of the contexts of their Scottish Presbyterian heritage, South Africa in the early years of the twentieth century and the state of higher education prevalent at that time. Together these contexts may be described as political, religious and educational. Prof AC Paterson made significant contributions both in teaching and administration at the institutional level. Prof E Macmillan made his contribution in the field of teaching, but never divorced from the very context where ministry has to be exercised.

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A Modified Nominal Group Technique (mNGT) – Finding Priorities in Research

American Journal of Health Behavior ◽

10.5993/ajhb.44.3.7 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 44 (3) ◽

pp. 345-352

Author(s):

Sa'Nealdra T. Wiggins ◽

Sarah Colby ◽

Lauren Moret ◽

Marissa McElrone ◽

Melissa D. Olfert ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nominal Group Technique ◽

Nominal Group ◽

Health Priorities ◽

Response Sheet ◽

Scoring Method ◽

Qualitative Feedback ◽

Prevention Project ◽

Modified Nominal Group Technique ◽

Insight Into ◽

Group Technique

Objectives: The objective of this study was to describe a modified nominal group technique (mNGT) approach to assess community health priorities and its application to a childhood obesity prevention project conducted with the high school population. Methods: This manuscript provides detailed information of a mNGT separately conducted with 3 cohorts, (students, teachers/administration, parents). Participants used a response sheet to brainstorm, document top 5 responses, and rank each response individually. We also used a unique reverse scoring method to quantify the qualitative data and within and between group scores for comparison against other cohorts. Summaries provided additional insight into the participants' perceptions. Results: The mNGT process successfully reduced limitations common to the traditional nominal group technique by providing an in-depth understanding of perceptions and understanding priorities. Conclusions: mNGT can be useful across other disciplines as a method of gathering rich qualitative feedback that can be transformed into a more quantitative form for analysis.

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Working with people with personality disorder: utilising service users' views

Psychiatric Bulletin ◽

10.1192/pb.bp.105.007203 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 31 (3) ◽

pp. 85-88 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kimberley Barlow ◽

Stephen Miller ◽

Kingsley Norton

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Qualitative Methodology ◽

Group Discussion ◽

Nominal Group Technique ◽

Nominal Group ◽

Service Users ◽

Further Training ◽

Modified Nominal Group Technique ◽

Clinical Interactions

Aims and MethodTo ascertain the views of people with personality disorder on their clinical interactions with professionals, to identify potential solutions to problematic interactions and to compile guidelines on how professionals could improve their interactions with these service users. Qualitative methodology was employed, comprising a modified nominal group technique with two iterative groups and ranking by importance the issues and themes raised.ResultsThere were 13 service users from three separate personality disorder services who actively participated in a group discussion and iterative process. Collectively they indicated considerable areas of deficiency in the quality of their interaction and communication with professionals. These deficits were defined clearly enough to allow the construction of guidelines aimed at preventing or remedying such deficiencies.ConclusionsThe contribution of those people with personality disorder who took part in this study was sufficiently thoughtful to allow the development of guidelines that might help staff improve their interactions with such service users. From these guidelines, further training tools are being developed, which will be evaluated in the future. However, because not all those approached chose to participate, the views expressed might not be representative of this group as a whole.

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Colloquium on Youth Day 16 June 2017: The Commission of Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches in association with the Faculty of Theology of the University of Pretoria and its centennial celebration in 2017

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies ◽

10.4102/hts.v73i1.4749 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 73 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Andries G. Van Aarde ◽

L. Wiseman Nkuhlu ◽

Johan Buitendag ◽

Olav F. Tveit ◽

Jerry Pillay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

World Council Of Churches ◽

Centennial Celebration ◽

University Of Pretoria ◽

The World ◽

World Council ◽

Reformed Churches ◽

The University

This article represents the contributions of ecclesiastical and academic office bearers participating in the centennial celebration of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Pretoria on Youth Day 16 June 2017, in collaboration with the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. This Youth Day commemoration showcases the profound way of transformation at the University of Pretoria and, in particular, its theological faculty in democratic South Africa since 1994. It presents a truly historic event, highlighting a global participation of specifically the Reformed churches in South Africa after a period of ecumenical isolation because of a formerly endorsement of apartheid, nowadays confessed as a theological and humanitarian heresy.

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A practitioner behaviour change intervention for deprescribing in the hospital setting

Age and Ageing ◽

10.1093/ageing/afaa169 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sion Scott ◽

Helen May ◽

Martyn Patel ◽

David J Wright ◽

Debi Bhattacharya

Keyword(s):

Action Plan ◽

Hospital Setting ◽

Nominal Group Technique ◽

Nominal Group ◽

Trial Period ◽

Intervention Component ◽

Implementation Framework ◽

Term Trial ◽

Training Activities ◽

Modified Nominal Group Technique

Abstract Background hospital deprescribing trials have demonstrated marginal increases in deprescribing activity that are not sustained beyond the trial period. The hospital deprescribing implementation framework (hDIF) links barriers and enablers of deprescribing in hospital with 44 potential intervention components. This study aimed to support geriatricians and pharmacists to select and characterise hDIF components according to affordability, practicability, effectiveness, acceptability, safety and equity (APEASE) to design a deprescribing intervention in the English hospital setting. Methods we convened a modified Nominal Group Technique with a panel of nine geriatricians and pharmacists representing five English hospitals. Panel members selected and characterised intervention components from the hDIF based on the APEASE criteria. We set a consensus threshold of 80% agreement per APEASE criterion in order for the intervention component to be included. Results the panel selected five intervention components supporting engagement with deprescribing: an organisational action plan to prioritise deprescribing, two training activities to address pharmacists’ beliefs about negative deprescribing consequences, restructuring pharmacists’ working patterns to facilitate their contribution to deprescribing decisions, and sharing experiences of successfully engaging patients/family in deprescribing conversations to support others to do the same. A sixth component was selected to sustain engagement with deprescribing through measuring and sharing deprescribing activity achieved between teams. Conclusions deprescribing interventions targeting geriatricians’ and pharmacists’ behaviour in the English hospital context should include the six characterised components. A component to sustain deprescribing activity is a notable omission from previously reported deprescribing interventions and may explain their failure to maintain efficacy beyond the short-term trial period.

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