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04 April 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Varsity Cup
Lubabalo Dobela
Flyhalf Lubabalo Dobela will be an important cog in the wheel for the Shimlas against the Maties in the semi-final stage of the Varsity Cup. He has been named Player that Rocks twice this year.
The Shimlas (University of the Free State) will go into the semi-final against the unbeaten Maties with confidence, knowing that they can compete against them, said coach Hendro Scholtz.

The Shimlas will travel to Stellenbosch for the Varsity Cup clash on Monday (8 April). They qualified for the play-offs thanks to a 38-14 victory over the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in the final round of the competition on Monday 1 April 2019.

The Free State students lost to the Maties by 59-14 two weeks ago, and although the score reflects a big hiding, the Shimlas stood tall for most of the encounter.

“With 18 minutes remaining, we trailed by only ten points (14-24). We can gain confidence from that. We learned a couple of things about them. We will have to stop their driving mall and be sharp when it comes to our discipline. They will hurt us if we concede penalties,” said Scholtz.

According to him, it is important to get off to a good start. “You often sit with students who have other things to think about apart from rugby, such as upcoming tests, which can hamper their concentration. Against UJ in the wet, it was important to play the conditions right, and I think it made the players concentrate that little bit more.”

The Shimlas won four of their eight group matches and will look back on their defeats against the Pukke and Ixias as matches that they could easily have won on another day.

It is the fifth time in the 12 years of the Varsity Cup that the Shimlas have reached the final-four stage, with one win in 2015 over the Ikeys.

The Shimlas will be without two of their key men among the forwards – the injured flank Janco Cloete and hooker Hanno Snyman.

News Archive

Project aims to boost science pass rate
2009-01-19

 
Attending the launch of the HP grant of about R1 million to the UFS are, from the left: Mr Leon Erasmus, Country Manager for HP Technology Services in South Africa, Prof. Teuns Verschoor, Acting Rector of the UFS, and Mr Cobus van Breda, researcher at the UFS's Centre for Education Development and manager of the project.
Photo: Lacea Loader
The University of the Free State (UFS), in partnership with computer giant Hewlett Packard (HP), wants to boost the pass rate of its science students by using mobile technology.

The UFS is one of only 15 universities across Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the only university in South Africa to receive a grant from HP to promote mobile technology for teaching in higher education valued at USD$ 100,000 (or about R1 million). Altogether 80 universities from 28 countries applied for the grant.

“Last year HP invited a number of selected universities to submit proposals in which they had to explain how they are going to utilise mobile technologies in the redesign of a course that is presented at the university. The proposal of the Centre for Education Development (CED) at the UFS entitled “Understanding Physics through data logging” was accepted,” says Mr Cobus van Breda, researcher at CED and manager of the project.

According to Mr van Breda, students who do not meet the entrance requirements for the three-year B.Sc. programme have to enroll for the four-year curriculum with the first year actually preparing them for the three-year curriculum.

In order to increase the success rate of these students, the project envisages to enhance their understanding of science principles by utilising the advantages of personal computer (PC) tablet technology and other information and communication technologies (ICT) to support effective teaching and learning methodology.

“By using PC tablet technology in collaboration with data-logging software, a personal response system, the internet and other interactive ICT applications, an environment different from a traditional teaching milieu is created. This will consequently result in a different approach to addressing students’ learning issues,” says Mr van Breda.

The pilot project was launched during the fourth term of 2008 when 130 first-year B.Sc. students (of the four-year curriculum) did the practical component of the physics section of the Concepts in General Science (CGS) module by conducting experiments in a computerised laboratory, using data-logging software amongst other technology applications. “The pilot project delivered good results and students found the interactive application very helpful,” says Mr van Breda.

”The unique feature of the latter is the fact that real-life data can be collected with electronic sensors and instantly presented as computer graphs. It can then be analysed and interpreted immediately, thus more time can be devoted to actual Science principles and phenomena and less time on time-consuming data processing,” says Mr van Breda.

The CGS module can be seen as a prerequisite for further studies in physics at university level and in this regard it is of essence to keep looking for new models of learning and teaching which can result in student success. This year the theoretical and practical component of the physics section of the CGS programme will be done in an integrated manner.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
16 January 2009
 

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