The rapid changes in the higher education sector — such as the increasing student population, the rise of new academic institutions, advancements in technology, greater internationalisation, and wider diversity — underscore the need to better prepare students for the workforce. In light of these challenges, there is pressure to equip students for the job market and encourage lecturers to enhance their creativity and innovation in teaching and learning.

Teaching and learning entails how teachers impart knowledge, skills, and experiences, as well as how students acquire them. The primary goal of learning is to foster improvements in one’s life and within the community. It’s important to note that many educators teach without a formal understanding of how students learn. Learning involves perceiving and understanding the world while creating meaning; it is not a singular process. Instead, it encompasses mastering abstract principles, understanding proofs, remembering factual information, acquiring methods and techniques, recognising patterns, reasoning, debating ideas, and developing behaviours appropriate to specific situations. Ultimately, learning is about change.

Without digressing from the topic under discussion, we must acknowledge that the world is evolving, and there is a need to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Most importantly, the ultimate goal is to cultivate relevant and practical attributes in graduates. Many graduates possess strong academic backgrounds but struggle to apply their knowledge in real-life situations. This may indicate an outdated education system that prioritises theory over practical application. In this article, we will discuss the approaches taken by various academic departments at the University of the Free State (UFS) to close the gap between theory and practice, ultimately enhancing graduate attributes.

More robust, innovative, and creative teaching and learning methods

The Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa (DiMTEC) believes that South Africa is facing grave and complex hazardous occurrences, most of which turn into disasters like the recent inclement June weather in the Eastern Cape, which saw more than 90 lives lost.

This highlights the need for more robust, innovative, and creative teaching and learning methods, as lecturers are under pressure to produce graduates equipped to manage various incidents and develop proactive strategies that contribute to building disaster-resilient communities. To address this need, the centre has established a master’s practical examination in which students are organised into groups. In each group, students apply the theoretical knowledge gained from their elective modules to practical scenarios provided to them. They engage in this exercise over the course of a week, culminating in a report that presents practical solutions to the scenario, which they then present at the end of the week. The scenarios are supplied by practitioners from the disaster management industry, who further engage with the students regarding their findings and the implementation of their proposed solutions. Since 2008, DiMTEC has invited several practitioners from various organisations, including the National Disaster Management Centre and the City of Johannesburg, as well as disaster management centres in KwaZulu-Natal and North West, among others. The scenarios provided have included issues such as xenophobic attacks, sinkholes in Gauteng, drought, COVID-19, and the load-shedding crisis, among many others.

The Centre for Environmental Management, which focuses on teaching and learning about environmental challenges and water management, engages its students in an exercise similar to that of DiMTEC. The centre provided their master’s students with a case study on the waste management challenges in Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality and invited the Mangaung Solid Waste Department to engage with the students.

From the Faculty of Education, whose focus is on developing both pre-service and in-service teachers, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to facilitate learning effectively, bridges the theory and practice gap by sending the second-year education students for teaching familiarity in the first two weeks before commencing with the semester, and the third-year students go just after the mid-semester break for six weeks to indulge in experiential learning. Lastly, the fourth year goes on for six weeks of teaching practice as part of their final year. The lecturers are assigned students to assess, and the mentor teachers also assist with the informal assessments and reflections.

Critically examine current teaching environments