LEARNING, TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT

 

ACADEMIC INDUCTION

The Academic Induction Programme provides professional development opportunities for newly appointed academic staff and is part of a suite of Induction Programmes at the DUT. The programme introduces new staff to learning, teaching and assessment policies, approaches and practices at DUT and in higher education and is underpinned by a transformative intention that promotes critical reflexivity and participants researching their own practice. Please click here to get a more detailed document about this programme.

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAMME

A call for participation is sent out in April and October of each year. HoDs are requested to assist the new staff by ensuring that no teaching or other duties are scheduled during the Induction times.

MENTORING OF NEW LECTURERS

All newly appointed academic staff are advised to find a suitable mentor. Heads of Departments are requested to assist staff, especially those new to teaching in higher education, to find a suitable mentor. CELT will be able to provide training for mentors and mentees (new staff) and can provide support during the mentoring relationships. This support can be provided via the online induction classroom (if available) or through workshops if necessary. The new staff should be mentored for at least six months.

ACADEMIC LITERACY

Academic Literacies is considered as an essential component of the higher education curriculum to ensure student success. These literacies are particular to higher education but also different within each discipline or programme.

Academic Literacies is viewed as social practices of particular disciplinary communities. This encompasses the values, attitudes, habits of mind that are germane to the particular academic discipline in given contexts. It also includes ways of solving problems, reading, writing and making meaning of text and constructing knowledge in that discipline.

The purpose of this project is to explore different models of academic literacies by examining the theories and practices of AL, provide staff with the opportunity to raise to consciousness the academic disciplinary expectations of their professions, critique the appropriateness of these academic expectations and explore ways of designing curricula and revising teaching practices and materials to facilitate the development of the necessary literacies in their students. This is intended to assist students in accessing the discourse of the programme, discipline and profession leading to graduates with necessary knowledge, skills and attributes. At the same time the project provides a space to “unpack”, reasons why disciplinary knowledge and practices have particular norms and values, so these reasons are made explicit to students.

The project works at the institutional level in terms of strategic policies and decisions that enable academic literacies development, at faculty levels in terms of faculty operational plans for student success, and at programme level in terms of curriculum design and implementation that embed academic literacies. This is done through institution wide workshops, an annual symposium, faculty and programme based workshops and consultations.

The following questions are useful in “unpacking” the academic literacies of your programme and profession:

• What counts as knowledge in the discipline
• The principles through which new knowledge is created
• The disciplinary norms and conventions (rules of the game)
• How specific disciplines structure knowledge and produce text
• What attributes and disposition is valued in the profession
• How do we provide opportunity in the curriculum design and LTA practices to develop the above knowledge and practices (literacies)?

ACCESS FOR SUCCESS

Higher education participation rates in South Africa are below targeted proportions. Large dropout rates and low throughput rates further reduces the number of successful graduates from the sector.

It is crucial that we provide opportunity for “successful” access for students to DUT. The purpose of this project is to contribute to access and placement decisions and learning and teaching interventions that is most likely to lead to graduation. The project engages with activities that:

• provide information about students entering higher education so that we can provide responsive curricula that is student centred.
• examine selection and placement criteria that are used for access to programmes
• contribute to the design, interrogation and review of entrance tests both institutional wide and departmental specific
• are research driven both institutionally and nationally.

This is achieved through:

• Design and review of the SATAPs
• Administration of institution wide tests, viz. NBTs and SATAPs
• Diagnostic Analysis of entrance tests to explore implications for curriculum design, professional development and student support
• Institutional and National research on the NSC, NBT and university entrance criteria. Currently participating in the collaborative project with Umalusi on the above
• Discussions with departments on specific entrance requirements
• Workshops on design and review of departmental entrance tests
• Research on the use of APS scores for admissions at DUT
Please click here to get a more detailed document about the use of SATAP tests.

CURRICULUM RENEWAL PROGRAMME (CRP)

Curriculum renewal is one of the defining projects at DUT and is a key activity to achieve transformation in higher education and society. As a university DUT is involved in the production of knowledge, the re-contextualisation of knowledge of fields into curricula (curriculum design) and the teaching and learning practices (curriculum implementation) that will facilitate students’ epistemological access to the field.

The following guidelines by Clarence-Finsham and Naidoo (2013: 89) based on the work of Basil Bernstein provides a useful framework to engage in conversations in curriculum renewal. CELT facilitates this process through departmental consultations, workshops and seminars on curriculum design and implementation.

 

CELT will provide institution-wide workshops and seminars based on curriculum design and implementation. For specific needs faculties/departments may contact CELT.

EXTENDED CURRICULUM PROGRAMME (ECP)

DUT has embraced the use of Foundational Provision to ensure the success of differently prepared students through structured and integrated extended programmes. The need for foundational provision is increasing due to the increased number of first generation higher education students who are differently prepared.

The focus of these provisions is on structuring student academic development, integrated into the overall curriculum rather than as add-on interventions. The provisions are intended for long-term student success and graduation, and not to just address access. The underlying curriculum structure of these provisions is to curriculate for knowledge, values and skills that are embedded in educational programmes that are traditionally problematic. Within the Foundational Provisions, projects/modules are designed to address the core-practices embedded within high-risk subjects. The model adopted by most programmes at DUT is the extended programme hence they are called Extended Curriculum Programmes (ECPs). DUT currently has thirty six approved ECPs across five faculties.

Extended programme students enrol for a four year diploma rather than the usual three year diploma. The first year is extended over two years with substantial foundational support in the first two years, which focuses on developing the independent learning practices necessary for academic success. Further but less intensive support is provided in the third year. In all cases, the ECP students register for their diplomas (and not for a separate foundation course. In some cases ECP students attend some of the same classes as fellow students not undertaking the extended programme. The placement of students within the program is done by using complementary access tools, such as entrance tests, interviews, manual dexterity test, questionnaires, etc. Each extended programme has an ECP co-ordinator and the central co-ordination of ECPs is done in CELT.
The ECP co-ordination within CELT aims to:

• Promote and share information about ECPs.
• Assist with proposal writing for submission to DHET.
• Assist in the design and development of these programs.
• Assist with the ongoing curriculum review for ECPs.
• Collate individual reports and provide a comprehensive report to DHET on ECPs at DUT.
• Facilitate opportunities for staff development for academics teaching on ECPs.
• Collect narratives from ECP staff and students and other institutions for continual review and improvement of ECPs.

PROCEDURES

Should departments wish to develop an ECP for their programme/s, please contact CELT for assistance with the writing of the ECP proposal for submission to DHET. ECP proposals are submitted to DHET for approval in August of each year. The proposal takes approximately 3 months to put together therefore, the process should ideally begin in May/June.

REPRESENTATION OF CELT IN FACULTIES

Faculty Academic Development Officers will be based in faculties and report to Executive Deans but will also be answerable to the Director (CELT) for purposes of institutional monitoring and co-ordination.

Faculty Academic Development Officers will fulfil the following roles within Faculties:

• Liaise with Faculty Management Structures and attend Faculty Board meetings.
• Identify AD needs in Faculties and Departments.
• Communicate AD needs to the LTA Unit Co-ordinator.
• Facilitate the provision of AD interventions where appropriate.
• Facilitate collaboration between the central units of CELT and faculty management.

Contact:

Ms Nalini Chitanand
+27 031-373 2277
nalinic@dut.ac.za

Faculty Based Academic Practitioners:

Dr Rosaline Govender
Faculty: Accounting and Informatics
+27 031-373 5643
rosalineg@dut.ac.za

Mr Serathi Molokwane
Faculty: Management Sciences
+27 031-373 2277
revelationm@dut.ac.za

Mr Nivar Somaru
+27 031-373 3042
nivars@dut.ac.za

 

STAFF DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOPS

The LTA unit offers a series of Learning, Teaching and Assessment workshops that are aimed at engaging staff in conversations around their classroom learning, teaching and assessment practices with a view to enhancing and/or transforming these practices. There are two kinds of workshops depending on the amount of further support that is required by staff. The shorter workshops consist of one 2 hour session on a relevant LTA topic, for example, roles of the lecturer, exploring different teaching methods and their underpinning philosophy, designing assessment rubrics, researching your practice etc. Other workshops consist of a series of two hour sessions that are aimed at responding to the specific needs of lecturers in a particular faculty or department. CELT also hosts Staff Seminars on topics related to the scholarship of teaching and learning in post secondary education.

Contact: Thengani Ngwenya & Nalini Chitanand
031 373 2277
nalinic@dut.ac.za

 

Unit Members