Keynote Speaker | Professor Francois StrydomProf Francois Strydom is currently the Senior Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the University of the Free State. He has dedicated his career to promoting quality, equity and student success in higher education through evidence-based innovation. He has been the project leader of the South African Surveys of Student Engagement (SASSE) since 2007. The SASSE project, has been used by 20 public higher education institutions across Southern Africa. He has led grants from international and national donors such as the Kresge Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, the Department of Higher Education, Universities South Africa and the Council on Higher Education. His professional and research interests include student engagement, success and equity, capacity development, quality learning and teaching and evidence-based change in higher education and employability.
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Speaker | Ms Elizabeth BooiMs Elizabeth Booi is a Statistician and Business Intelligence Specialist with over 20 years of experience. She is the Head of Business Intelligence and Data Architect in the Rectorate - Institutional Planning Department at the University of the Western Cape. Elizabeth is the President of the Southern African Association for Institutional Research (SAAIR). Steering Committee member of the African Network for Learning Analytics Research (ANLAR). She is a Siyaphumelela “We Succeed” Coach, part of a South African Student Success National Initiative, where she supports universities in developing evidence-based student support strategies. Her areas of expertise include learning analytics, student success modelling, data governance, and ethical data use. A dedicated advocate for data literacy and capacity development, Elizabeth facilitates workshops, presents at conferences, and mentors analysts and practitioners in leveraging analytics for organisational effectiveness. She is pursuing a PhD in Operations Research, with a focus on AI Safety and Governance in Learning Analytics. Her research aims to develop an AI-based governance framework for student success models, integrating fairness, interpretability, and bias mitigation techniques to ensure the responsible and ethical deployment of AI in higher education.
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Speaker | Professor Paul PrinslooPaul Prinsloo is Professor Extraordinaire at the University of South Africa (Unisa). He is a also a visiting professor at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), a member of the Center for Open Education Research at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (Germany), an elected member of the Fellows' Council and Senior Fellow of the European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN), a member of the the International Advisory Board (IAB) at the Open University Malaysia (OUM) and a Global Fellow at the Centre For Digital Education Futures (CENDEF) at OUM. He has published numerous articles in the fields of teaching and learning, student success in distributed learning contexts, the ethical collection, analysis, and use of student data in learning analytics, algorithmic decision-making systems in education and digital identities. Paul was born curious and in trouble. And nothing has changed since then.
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Speaker | Nompumelelo MazibukoNompumelelo Mazibuko, Evaluation Officer at the University of Witwatersrand, brings extensive experience in higher education, particularly in managing the Explorance system for student learning evaluations. With qualifications including a Bcom Honours and an MBA, Mpumi delivers insightful presentations on curriculum, teaching strategies, and evaluation practices at both national and international forums. Her passion lies in advancing educational methodologies that empower student achievement, and she is eager to explore global trends to further enhance her contributions in the field.
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