14 – 19 July saw the grand finale of TAU 1 which took place at the Karridene Hotel, Durban.
The 50 candidates – academics committed to teaching and learning at 20 South African higher education institutions – engaged with each other about the scholarship of teaching and learning, teaching excellence and change and transformation over a period of 13 months. They have all achieved the requirements of the programme:
managed an individual project
participated in all the face to face and online learning activities
contributed to an enquiry group process and report
and are now officially “TAU Fellows”
The reports of their individual investigations and more details about the cohort are available on this site. The next TAU programme should be advertised via Deputy Vice Chancellors at all South African public higher education institutions during the first half of 2017. Here are some comments on the TAU experience by TAU Fellows:
It has changed the way I view Higher Education, and I finally view myself as an academic and a professional.
… as individual I have started to critically question my perspectives and beliefs and … started a transformative journey.
…these discussions were a source of inspiration for me and incredibly valuable.
By suspending discipline, hierarchy, power relations, and spaces that usually frame my professional identity…. placed me in a different context premised on a commitment to effective and responsible teaching and learning in contemporary South Africa. This was a very liberating experience and eventually one of deep reflection and learning . … We have learnt to shed aside institutional bias , our discipline masks and the importance of our titles and look at the one thing we all have in common – a passion for teaching.
TAU 1 Engagements: Unearthing Tinkerbell: Cultivating reflective practice in SITU
Professor Liqhwa Siziba from the North-West University Mafikeng Campus and TAU 2015 – 2016 Fellow delivered a keynote address at the NWU SOTL Conference on 22 September 2017. The title of her interactive and inspiring talk was: Unearthing Tinkerbell: Cultivating reflective practice in SITU.
TAU Fellows and Advisors, July 2016, Karridene Beach Hotel, Durban
Critical Realism; post-graduate epistemological and ontological access and pedagogy; multilingualism in Higher Education; threshold concepts; concept-mapping for epistemological access; teaching and learning in Higher Education; teaching and learning in Emergency Medical Sciences.
Research interest is the conversion of a recently developed student guide into an interactive E book or mobile application. Radiography students spend weeks off campus at hospitals during work place learning and to have information regarding radiation safety requirements at hand will deepen learning and have the potential to engage the student to master the radiation safety requirements.
Metallographic structure of newly developed dental materials, and the teaching and learning through discipline-specific games to enable students’ access to, and acquisition of, knowledge.
The value and influence of foundational provisioning as a strategy to facilitate student success and address the issues of social redress. How can we broaden the concept of quality education to include citizenry, social justice and redress.
Solution of Differential using the method of Lie symmetries. Impact on the use of technology in the teaching and learning of engineering mathematics at a University of Technology (E-Learning platform).
Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Primary School Mathematics Education with special reference to ICT implementation and integration in education.
Exercise interventions for cardiovascular health promotion in female populations and understanding fatigue mechanisms in intermittent sports such as cricket.
ICTs in education, Advanced Learning Technologies (ALTs) and their relationship to learning styles/gender/culture, E-Learning, early learning, gender, critical sexualities.
Director, Ukwanda Centre for Rural Health, Stellenbosch University
Health service development; health professions education; rural medical education; community-based education; human resources for rural health; family medicine.
The 19th century interaction of colonial authorities, traditional rulers and the Christian missionaries, Wars of Resistance that punctuated most of the 19th century history of the North and South East Cape, and Nguni chieftainships with specific interest in the vicissitudes of abaThembu chieftainship.
Teaching-related Research Interests: • Factors impacting on Student Success • Adjusting Assessment to Enhance Student Learning • Plagiarism Awareness and Improving Student Writing • Establishing Realistic Systems Development Project Environments
Discipline-specific Research Interests: • Enhancing Citizen Participation in e-Government (Thuthuka-funded Project) • Technology Trust Management for Business Improvement/Competitiveness • Social Media and Privacy • Green IT Policy Development
Academic Leader for Research, School of Built Environment and Development Studies
My research interests include the nature, extent and measurement and conceptions of poverty and inequality. I also look at the environment, anthropocene, climate change; community-based tourism, livelihoods and well-being; social protection and development management; project management and financial management.
Dental education (teaching and learning especially) Self-regulated learning Clinical reasoning Bridging the gap between school and university Health services research
The application of organic synthesis for solving biological problems. I am involved in research collaborations with Biochemists where I can apply a chemical viewpoint in the interpretation of biochemical results. The ability to propose mechanisms to explain organic reactions is what I enjoy most about organic chemistry. I am excited about collaborative ventures to combine physical chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry to solve biochemical reaction mechanisms. I am a keen teacher of organic chemistry and want to apply the best education research and practice in my teaching.
Widows’ bereavement and related rituals, siblings of mentally retarded children, coping with special health care needs and parental support towards adolescents’ pregnancy, and adolescents and financial stress in the family.
Current research explores ways in which subject locations structured around biological sex, gender, sexuality, race, class and other salient identities mediate and shape the possibilities for both teaching and learning.
Language and Literacy Education for basic and higher education, especially Teacher Education, with a special focus on multilingualism and multiliteracies and the development and intellectualisation of African languages, particularly for mathematics and science teaching and learning.
Medical: Traumatic Stress and related disorders, Forensic Psychiatry, (particularly female offenders), Psychotherapy (particularly CBT). Teaching and training/education: Resilience, self efficacy and self regulation aspects of teaching and learning.
Working with Indigenous communities – health issues relating to indigenous edible vegetables and herbs and how their views (IKS) can inform nutrition education and food product development as well as how the university and indigenous communities can pollinate each other in terms of sharing information and collaboration in issues of poverty alleviation/Food security.