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21 May 2019 | Story Igno van Niekerk | Photo Stephen Collett
Digital storytelling
Collaborating for the common good are from left: Willem Ellis, Karen Venter, Dr Deidre van Rooyen, Prof Hendri Kroukamp, Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele, and Dr Johan van Zyl.
Prof Hendri Kroukamp, Dean of the Faculty of Management Sciences quoted the Cat Stevens song I can’t keep it in, to capture the excitement surrounding the opening of a Digital Storytelling Lab on the Bloemfontein Campus on 10 May 2019.

After months of hard work by Dr Deidre van Rooyen, Willem Ellis, Karen Venter, as well as the staff of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Centre for Development Support, the Common Good First lab was completed just in time for the launch attended by about 50 delegates from other South African universities, as well as private and public institutions.

Stories meet technology

In a message, from Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs, and Community Engagement, informed the audience that the launch heralded the joining of the old world of stories with the new world of digital technology. Julie Adair, Director of Digital Collaboration at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, welcomed the UFS as a partner to this international social innovation collaborative project in a video message. 

Dr Van Rooyen, the project manager for the UFS, explained how she got involved in the Common Good First project, what the benefits of digital storytelling are, as well as what opportunities the lab creates for cooperation between role players involved in social innovation projects. 

Why the Common Good First lab?

The purpose of the lab is to create a digital network to identify, showcase and connect social innovation projects in South Africa to one another and to universities around the world for research, student engagement and learning and teaching. The lab has been fitted with state-of-the-art equipment for recording and digitising the stories that result from social innovation projects.

In a live Skype session with Dr Il-Haam Petersen, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), and some of the recent successes of the digital stories in Philippi in the Western Cape were shared.

Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele, UFS Director Community Engagement did the final honours by cutting the ribbon, declaring the lab open, and sharing the dream that the work done in this lab will contribute to positive relationships and cooperation between the university and the community, in making not only the university, but the country and the world a better place.


News Archive

New modern dissection hall ensures optimal learning experience for medical students
2015-12-14

New Dissection Hall in the Francois Retief Building on the Bloemfontein Campus.
Photo: Stephen Collett

The School of Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the university opened its doors on 6 June 1969. Three years later, a dissection hall for anatomy training was added to the school. This year, because of the prospective growth in the number of medical students as well as in changing methods of teaching and training, a new modern Dissection Hall has been completed on the Bloemfontein Campus. This ensures that students receive an optimal learning experience during dissection tuition.

The Dissection Hall was built as a double-storey wing to the existing Francois Retief Building. Covering 733m², the new facility is on the first floor - the same level as the existing hall - to allow easy access between the two facilities. The ground floor, totalling 465m², houses various offices for 16 people.

The new hall has special lighting and modern equipment for the training of second-year medical students in dissection. The hall also has high-quality sound and computer equipment. A unique camera system allows students to follow dissection demonstrations on 10 screens in the hall. Dissection demonstrations are recorded, enabling lecturers to compile new visual aid material for teaching and learning.

The dissection programme for medical students is of critical importance, not only for acquiring anatomical knowledge, but also for developing critical skills in medical students.

The new hall is also used for clinical workshops and postgraduate teaching seminars, as well as workshops in orthopaedics (shoulder, hip, and knee), otorhinolaryngology, cardiothoracic surgery (valve and endoscopy), and anaesthesiology, among others.

Both present and future generations of medical students will benefit from this new world-class facility.

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