Towards a more socially-just higher education: widening access and flexibility through micro-credentialing, emergence and professionalisation of the field of Online and Blended Learning Design (BOLD).
Introduction
While online learning is often thought of as outside the reach of many South Africans and Africans, the events of the last few years have made it abundantly clear that such a situation cannot be allowed to continue. The need for higher education ecosystems that open learning has never been more pressing for South Africa and Africa. Blended and online learning, while by no means the whole answer to the problem, has the potential to play an important role in making education across the continent more flexibly available, more responsive, and, over time, more affordable to a wider range of students.
The newly developed Postgraduate Diploma in Blended and Online Learning Design (BOLD) seeks to respond to a growing need for professionals to be able to support educational systems in their online aspirations within, but also outside, the higher education sector. This three-year study (2024-2026) aims to contribute to the literature by reflecting on an attempt to introduce micro-credentials as part of a formal postgraduate diploma, that will be stackable, contribute to a reflective professional learning opportunity, and that has an intentional focus on and is driven by concerns around equity and social justice. This research focuses on the design and facilitation of this innovative qualification, in particular on its potential for widening access through micro-credentialing, while professionalising the field of learning design, and an emergent learning design framed by co-creation approaches, to respond to the rapidly changing landscape.
Framed by Nancy Fraser’s Participatory Parity approach to Social Justice and Veletsianos and Houlden’s concept of Radical Flexibility, this research will explore socially just approaches to making higher education more inclusive and accessible for all.
Research Aims and Questions
This study aims at designing a more socially just higher education experience, by providing more participatory parity, through three separate but interlinked research foci: professionalisation of the field, micro-credentialing, and emergent learning design.
Professionalisation Research Questions
- What is the potential of the programme of BOLD to enable/support a socially just professionalisation of the LD field in South Africa across different contexts?
- What does socially just professionalisation look like? What are the opportunities and tensions?
- What is the potential of the programme to develop critically reflective LD practitioners?
Micro-credentialing Research Questions
- What is the impact of micro-credentialing on curriculum development, pedagogy, student learning/experience?
- How does micro-credentialing support widening access/flexibility?
- How can micro-credentialing create meaningful and deep learning paths?
Emergent Learning Design and Co-creation
- How do you do emergent design?
- How do we do participation and co-creation?
- What are opportunities of tensions?
- What are models of co-creation that support emergent design in our context?
Scholarly Output From This Research
Conference Presentations
Govender, S, Gachago D. et al 2024. A BOLD proposition: Designing for radical flexibility in a PGDip on Blended and Online Learning Design. Heltasa conference, 26-28 November 2024, Polokwane. Link to slides.
Gachago, D., Huang, C.-W. et al. 2024. Designing in the times of AI: Cocreation as a strategy towards emergent learning design. UCT Teaching and Learning Conference, 20-21 November 2025, Cape Town. Link to slides.
Mayisela, T. 2024. Using the BOLD Postgraduate Diploma to pilot the implementation of microcredentials for enhancing lifelong learning: A means of advancing social justice in South Africa. Presented at the OE Global conference held in Brisbane, Australia, 13–15 November 2024. Link to slides.
Publications
Gachago, D., Huang, C.-W., Immenga, C., Cox, G., Mosienyane, T. & Govender, S. 2024. Designing in the Times of AI: Co-Creation as a Strategy towards Emergent Learning Design. African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies (AJIMS), 6 (1), https://journals.dut.ac.za/index.php/ajims/article/view/1536
Contact
For more information, please contact pgbold@uct.ac.za