2017 Events

15 Aug 2017

Engaging with the assessment of student work in an online or blended space

This webinar will focus on the following three challenges/issues:

• ‘Doing assessment’ online - is it a case of transferring face-to-face assessment to an online environment?
• The affordances and challenges of online assessment - a continuum from formative to summative assessment?
• Online assessment practices - issues of purpose; format; grading; feedback; teaching and learning

Link to Presentation slides and recording: Online Course Design module D webinar Oct 2017 and  University Course Design webinar formative assessment and link to recording.

Taking a closer look at students’ access to disciplinary discourses: Implications for academics’ teaching and assessment practices Seminar.

This seminar attempts to stimulate discussions around matters pertaining to academic literacies and disciplinary discourses, and what these mean for our teaching and assessment practices. In this seminar, Bongi draws on findings from two longitudinal studies on undergraduate students’ experiences as they attempt to become legitimate members of their academic disciplines. Drawing on an Academic Literacies framework, she discusses some of the challenges experienced by these students as they navigate several transitions (from high school to first year, first year to second and third year) and disciplinary discourses. As part of this seminar, participants will discuss ways in which their teaching and assessment practices can respond to students' challenges with disciplinary discourses.

Date: Thursday, 12 October 2017
Time : 13:00 – 14:00

Venue : Green Meeting Room, CILT, Level 7, P D Hahn Building, Upper Campus

Facilitating Online Learning

A growing number of blended and online courses are using online resources and interaction to support student learning. Effective online learning by students requires effective online facilitation by educators. This short workshop is about how we support engaged learning by students across a range of online conversational spaces within and beyond formal course sites. The workshop will involve conceptual and experiential learning. 

You will learn about:
1) Challenges involved in taking learning interactions online
2) Some principles of online facilitation 
3) Tools used for online communication in courses
4) Some strategies to support engagement in online learning

Link to presentation slides

Educating Accounting Professionals: investigating the relevance of an overloaded curriculum

This seminar will focus on the investigation of, complex accounting and business transactions, and calls for employability of students that require curriculum design considerations that will address relevance for the South African economy today.

These challenges raise the question: is the current curriculum still relevant for a professional accounting qualification, given the challenges (such as calls for a decolonised curriculum and providing epistemological access) in higher education in South Africa? In this study the current curriculum outlines, entrance requirements and outcomes of a professionally (SAICA) accredited B Com degree at five institutions in South Africa are investigated and compared, with the aim to identify commonalities, differences and gaps in the curriculum outlines. Bernstein’s (2000) concepts of classification and framing are used as a theoretical framework, with a focus on four analytical categories:

1.         selection (what is taught?),
2.         pacing (how much?),
3.         sequence (what order?) and
4.         evaluation (what counts?).

The analysis highlights the density of the curriculum, the strong control by the profession on the selection of content (what is taught) and the prescriptive structure of the curriculum regarding the sequence of courses, pre-requisites and outcomes.

Date: Thursday, 17 August 2017
Time : 13:00 – 14:00

Venue : Green Meeting Room (7.63), CILT, Level 7, P D Hahn Building, Upper Campus

Link to presentation slides and Link to presentation recording 

Lecturers have used different pedagogical strategies to facilitate participation and enhance learning of students who are at different levels of study. At this session, two lecturers will be sharing about their teaching practices. 

Model for supporting students in Anatomy and Physiology – Dr Amaal Abrahams

As lecturers, we assume that 1st year students have the foundational knowledge developed in school to build upon. Given the variation in the South African schooling system we challenge this assumption as a number of Anatomy and Physiology students consider the course to be content heavy and conceptually complex. One hundred and thirty-four (134) 1st year students in the Anatomy and Physiology course participated in an online assessment to measure their foundational knowledge of life sciences at the start of their academic year. Based on the results of the assessment, students “at risk” were encouraged to participate in peer-facilitated tutorials. This presentation showcases how peer-facilitated tutorials helped improve “at risk” students’ pass rate in the course.

Date: Thursday, 11 May 2017
Time : 13:00 – 14:00

Venue : Green Meeting Room (7.63), CILT, Level 7, P D Hahn Building, Upper Campus

Link to video recording and slides of this presentation

Facilitating classroom participation via a free, mobile-based application - Dr Paul Steyn

Lecturers have used different pedagogical strategies to facilitate participation and enhance learning of students who are at different levels of study. At this session, two lecturers will be sharing about their teaching practices.

Participation is paramount to teaching and learning in the classroom. Many available technology-based systems are expensive and require specialized equipment. However, a free, mobile-based application has been implemented in some lectures. It allows the real-time answering of polls and questionnaires by students. Results are displayed instantly. The lecturer is able to author questions ahead of time or on the fly. This session demonstrates how the application is used and its easy-to- learn functions.

Date: Thursday, 11 May 2017
Time : 13:00 – 14:00

Venue : Green Meeting Room(7.63, CILT, Level 7, P D Hahn Building, Upper Campus

Link to video recording and slides of this presentation