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28 February 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs
Student Affairs Dialogue
Long-term goals of the Dialogues Programme are to have students trained as strategic facilitators who can facilitate dialogue. Pictured here with students is Shawn Stützner.

A word can start a war, it is said; but it could also build peace. The Student Affairs Dialogue Programme at the University of the Free State aims to create a framework for peacebuilding dialogue between students – both on and off campus. This project relates to Social Inclusion, Social Cohesion, and Critical Diversity as part of the larger UFS Integrated Transformation Plan (ITP). “We deeply care about and commit ourselves to create a campus climate that is socially just,” explains Shawn Stützner from the UFS Dialogue Programme.

Movement on a mission

The long-term goals of the Dialogues Programme are to have students trained as strategic facilitators who can facilitate dialogue. The vigorous training that these facilitators go through, also gives them incredible graduate skills, Stützner explains. For example, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, communication skills, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, peacebuilding and conflict analysis. Such skills will not only benefit the students and their workplace, but also the community in which they serve.

Training to take the lead

“Currently, we are in the middle of our training process of about 25 strategic facilitators, and the participation has remained consistent. Our students are eager to be part of meaningful and engaging projects. This pilot project is aligned with the Institute for Reconciliation and Social Justice, exposing students to practical opportunities as part of their training,” says Stützner.

 

Through this dialogue initiative, the team hopes to eradicate all forms of unearned power and privilege, internalised oppression, internalised domination, and discrimination.

Get involved

“We encourage students to look out for the advertising of the Campus-Wide Dialogues, and for all to participate,” Stützner urges. “We will be having a build-up to the Campus-Wide Dialogues Day, with interaction in demarcated areas on campus culminating toward the Campus-Wide Dialogue in the Centenary Hall. With this first dialogue session, we also hope to close the gap between the co-curricular activities of residence students and off-campus students.”

News Archive

CTL experiments with mobile technology in teaching and learning
2016-05-23

Description: CTL experiments with mobile technology Tags: CTL experiments with mobile technology

On the left is Nokukhanya Nkosi, Researcher and Project manager at the Centre for Teaching and Learning presenting Annah Nggoepe her brand new laptop as part of the project which assesses the impact of personal mobile devices on teaching and learning.
Photo: Supplied

Video clip

Same curriculum. Add technology. Wait and see what happens. This research project which is funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) seeks to understand the impact of personal mobile devices (PMD) in teaching and learning.

The University of the Free State (UFS), in conjunction with the University of Cape Town, the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Johannesburg, and Sol Plaatje University, was approached by the DHET to spearhead this national collaborative project. Investigating whether the financial investment of a PMD on either the part of a university or of students adds value to the teaching and learning experience is the overall objective of the project.

Contemporary education
The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at the UFS have been taking an active part in the project since 2015, focusing specifically on the use of personal mobile devices in teaching and learning by both staff and students.

At the student level, the study will focus specifically on not just the obstacles that first-generation students face in terms of using technology in teaching and learning, but how institutions can support these students through access to these devices.  “In 2015, the CTL conducted the Digital Identity Study of students which highlighted the view that students at the UFS deemed laptops to be the most important PMD in their studies,” said Nokukhanya Nkosi, Researcher and Project manager at the CTL.   

In April 2016, thirty students were presented with laptops funded by the project grant. For the next two years, the CTL will assess whether these laptops enable greater flexibility and effectiveness of teaching and learning, both inside and out of the classroom for these students.  

Rise of the digital classroom
Annah Ngoepe, a second-year Geography and Environmental Management student taking part in this study, commends the shift from using only textbooks in the past to incorporating technology. “The laptop has the latest applications and programmes, which are convenient for me as a student, because they help in my learning. I can also download textbooks, get summaries of the textbooks, and even other people’s views on a particular subject online.”

Tiana van der Merwe, Deputy Director at the CTL, anticipates that, after two years, the Centre would be able to make not only institutional recommendations, but also recommendations to the National Department of Higher Education.

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