2.5 If possible, identify one or more promising practices related to this focus area. Describe the practice and provide evidence for success. Suggest what the key features might be.
Development of Short Courses or Continuous Education Programmes (CEP)
The development of pedagogical competence of the teacher is important as the main classroom-based facilitator of learning. In the light of the fact that most teachers in higher education are discipline experts and given the dynamic higher education context, continuing education is important to facilitate the process of becoming an excellent teacher. Continuing education is also important for the professionalisation of academic staff. At UJ professionalisation of teachers is conceptualised as involving the development of pedagogical competence and pedagogical content knowledge, responsiveness to the broader SA HE context and a commitment to improving practice through reflexivity. As indicated above, the professionalisation of teaching and learning at UJ has received a lot of institutional support. The introduction of short learning programmes or continuing education programmes (CEP) further promotes the professionalisation of academic staff by introducing a more coherent and structured approach to enhancing academics as teachers. In many professional settings, professionals are expected to show evidence of continued professional development aimed at ensuring that they continually improve their practice and stay up to date with the newest developments in their fields of practice. There are currently a wide variety of professional development opportunities available to academic staff at UJ, but they are all voluntary and there is no mechanism to ensure that academics continue to develop as professional teachers. In order to address this UJ has decided to re-engineer some of its professional development offerings into formal Continuing Education Programmes (CEP). It is anticipated that all academic staff who are involved in teaching will be required to attend and participate in CEP activities on a regular basis. Participation and evidence of this informing practice will be evaluated in the teaching portfolios. It is strongly suggested that CEP requirements become part of faculty-based promotion criteria and the performance management system. In terms of teaching and learning the following CEPs will be developed:
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Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
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Curriculum Development
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Assessment for Learning.
The first CEP on Assessment will be offered in the first semester in 2016. Further CEPs, relating to learning with technology and online learning, will also be developed.
The need for supervisors to have deeper knowledge of some aspects of postgraduate research and supervision has led to five short CEPs have been conceptualised and approved by UJ Senate, namely:
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Advanced academic literacies in research supervision
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Supervision of research design: Quantitative research
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Supervision of research design: Qualitative research
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Assessment of postgraduate research
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Research Ethics in Postgraduate Supervision.
The first CEP ‘Assessment of postgraduate research’ will be offered in the first semester of 2017.
The teaching and learning CEPs and the research development CEPs will both contribute towards the Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education and the Postgraduate Diploma in Research Supervision respectively.
The effectiveness of the CEPs is measured by:
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Academics’ feedback on the development programme
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Changes in thinking and practice relating to teaching and learning in the discipline as reflected in the teaching portfolio
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Module and programme reviews.
Support for learning with technology and online learning
The Centre for Academic Technologies (CAT) is involved in the development of workshops that do not only cater for technical aspects of the Learning Management System but also focus on the design and development of blended and online modules during which best practice is showcased. The workshops that are presented by the Teaching and Learning Consultants from the CAT cover a range of topics such as online assessment, development of online activities, online class management and online collaboration. Workshops are also offered to assist staff to develop their contact modules into online or distance modules. The success of these interventions is measured by evaluation surveys. Further success will be ascertained by the quality of modules that are offered online.
2.6 Identify the main challenges the university still faces in relation to this focus area.
The ongoing challenge presented by the tension between completing postgraduate study and coping with large workloads continues to impact on the uptake of professional development opportunities relating to teaching and learning. Junior staff members, for example, report that they often have the largest teaching loads (usually undergraduate classes which are traditionally larger).
Despite the institutional changes to enhance the status of teaching, it is sometimes difficult to encourage staff to develop as teachers. The perception that being a discipline specialist and prolific researcher is more important, valued and more rewarding still prevails in many faculties.
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