scholarly journals Exploring processes of teaching and learning in African university contexts

Author(s):  
Carmen Pon ◽  
Rebecca Schendel

This review examines recent literature about processes of teaching and learning in African higher education, focusing specifically on studies of teaching ‘for critical thinking’ in Kenya, Ghana, and Botswana. The review findings suggest that practices supporting critical thinking in African universities share a number of similarities to those highlighted in the literature published elsewhere in the world. For example, reviewed studies highlight the importance of curricular alignment, academic development, and varied assessment formats, while also acknowledging important limitations related to infrastructure, workload, and faculty and student attitudes. However, the review also exposes a crucial theoretical gap in the existing literature: the continued reliance on theories of teaching and learning that were initially developed based on studies of Western university contexts. As both teaching and learning are cultural processes, this limitation may be preventing this emerging body of literature from fully supporting universities to develop new ways of teaching that may best benefit their student populations.

Author(s):  
Shane Pachagadu ◽  
Liezel Nel

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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Manosalvas Vaca ◽  
Luis Manosalvas Vaca ◽  
Ruth Barba

La presente investigación, analiza los conceptos más importantes del pensamiento Crítico, así como su importancia y utilidad en los procesos de formación profesional a nivel de Posgrado. Se hace un análisis detallado de los conceptos más ampliamente aceptado y de los factores inmersos en el desarrollo y aplicación de este tipo de pensamiento. Finalmente se propone un modelo que engloba los conceptos y factores analizados y como se interrelacionan entre ellos; el objetivo final es brindar a los docentes y directivos de Instituciones de Educación Superior, una herramienta que posibilite la inclusión de este tipo de pensamiento en sus procesos enseñanza-aprendizaje con el fin último de mejorar la calidad de los procesos de formación. Palabras Clave: Pensamiento Crítico, Educación Superior, Educación ABSTRACT This research analyzes the most important concepts of critical thinking as well as their importance and usefulness for the educational processes at graduate level. A detailed analysis of the most widely accepted concepts and factors involved in the development and application of this kind of thinking has been made. Finally, a model that includes the concepts and analyzed factors and their interrelations is proposed; the ultimate goal is to provide teachers and directors of Institutions in Higher Education, a tool that enables the inclusion of this type of thinking in their teaching and learning processes with the ultimate intention of improving the quality of the training processes. Keywords: Critical thinking, Higher Education, Education Recibido: mayo de 2016Aprobado: septiembre de 2016


Author(s):  
Jane Kotzmann

The Introduction highlights the importance of higher education and the existence of educational disadvantage in society, contextualised within current political events and discussions. It describes the intrinsic importance of education in allowing people to learn about themselves and the world they live in. It details the significant instrumental importance of education in the likelihood people will obtain employment and command higher incomes. It also provides a brief outline of different historical perspectives in relation to how best to provide higher education teaching and learning. The importance of law and policy for higher education is discussed, and the purpose and limitations of the research identified.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Wender ◽  
Valerie J. D’Erman

ABSTRACT Teaching and learning in higher education is occurring, unavoidably, within the broader civic context of today’s extraordinarily polarizing political times. We seek to help students situate themselves with respect to and, above all, thoughtfully assess others’ as well as their own perspectives on issues of profound contention, without contributing to exacerbated polarization ourselves. Specifically, we offer students in our first-year exploratory political science course a vital tool—critical rigor—for navigating but not being inundated by the storm. This article discusses our experiences in teaching the course titled, “The Worlds of Politics,” as we attempt to help students deeply engage in cognitive processes of critical thinking and analysis, without undue infringement from their own—and least of all our own—personal political biases. Our focal learning objective is the cultivation of critical-thinking skills that promote students’ drawing of distinctions between advocacy and analysis, as well as their discerning civic engagement.


2021 ◽  

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.


Author(s):  
Khalil Alsaadat

<p>Technological development  have altered the way we communicate, learn, think, share, and spread information. Mobile technologies are those that make use of wireless technologies to gain some sort of data. As mobile connectedness continues to spread across the world, the value of employing mobile technologies in the arena of learning and teaching seems to be both self-evident and unavoidable The fast deployment of mobile devices and wireless networks in university campuses makes higher education a good environment  to integrate learners-centered m-learning . this paper discusses mobile learning technologies that are being used for educational purposes and the effect they have on teaching and learning methods.</p>


Author(s):  
Gabriele I.E. Strohschen

This chapter corroborates competence-based and social-situational educational practices with the principles of Blended Shore Education (BSE) and Metagogy. These two theorems emerged from several action research projects that engaged Chicago community members, university students, and educators from around the world. The principles, tenets, and descriptions of applied instructional methods in the context of civic and social engagement projects demonstrate how teaching and learning praxes and curricula and program design can be achieved by and with the learners, by the university, and by the community stakeholders to result in relevant and meaningful education models in higher education.


MANUSYA ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-96
Author(s):  
Stephen Evans

A review of recent literature advocating critical thinking as a necessary response to ‘globalizationʼ, gives no clear picture of what critical thinking is. Drawing on Kant and Hermeneutics, this paper proposes a critical definition of critical thinking as an understanding of its subject-matter which questions itself, and a characterization of critical thinking as the tension of standing within the subject-matter while holding it at a distance. Considered against a backdrop of concerns about ‘globalizationʼ, critical thinking is seen, not only as an intellectual method, but also as an existential engagement of the world.


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