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Confronting the COVID-19 crisis with curriculum relevance

30 July 2020 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Anja Aucamp

Dr Khanare_read more — Dr Fumane Khanare opted to integrate poetry into her teaching practice, using innovative ways to keep the curriculum afloat and interesting at the same time.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown has severely affected teaching and learning. Lecturers and students alike have been challenged to explore innovative ways to keep the curriculum afloat and interesting at the same time. Dr Fumane Khanare, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, has opted to integrate poetry into her teaching practice. Her Community Psychology students have shifted over the past few months from merely interacting with the course material to generating their own content.

Learning in the times of lockdown

According to Dr Khanare, the psycho-social impact of COVID-19 remains unknown as the world grapples with a backlog of information, accompanied by loss and grief. However, collaborative strides are being made in the right direction, considering that this is unchartered territory. “Recommendations advocating for online teaching and learning, bidding for free data, and laptops for the majority of students, especially those at the peripheries of a mainstream economy – and of course physical distancing-adhering wellness programmes – may enable effective teaching and learning.”

Why poetry?

“Lurched in at the deep end and taking into account the students who are not well-equipped with the integration of information and communications technology in learning, is significant. This realisation led me to seek ways to help my students develop a deeper understanding and critical-thinking skills, as well as becoming self-motivated students amid COVID-19,” explained Dr Khanare.

Students were first tasked with analysing the poetry of Butler-Kisber (2002). Thereafter, they were required to write poems about COVID-19, underpinned by the Community Psychology in Education module. “The activity provided students with an opportunity to use and reinforce concepts learnt prior to the lockdown, monitor their own understanding and progress, plus motivate them to come to the lecture prepared – a function known as co-creators of knowledge,” she said.

The artistic creations of these students were circulated among peers for review, allowing them to move from the peripheries to the centre of knowledge production amid a pandemic.

Digitising the education space

Beyond the classroom, Dr Khanare will attend the 2020 Women Academics in Higher Education Virtual Symposium. As the co-convener of the World Education Research Association-International Research Network, she continues to ensure that research-related activities continue, despite a ban on international travel.

News Archive

Professor awarded by Cardiff University for exceptional teaching and research record

2015-10-20

Prof Pieter Duvenage

Cardiff University is one of the best research universities in the United Kingdom (UK) and the world. In 2014, Cardiff was ranked number 2 and 5 among UK universities in the Research Excellence Framework for impact and quality, respectively.

Annually, Cardiff selects and recruits the most outstanding teachers and researchers from across the globe. This year, this institution bestowed on Professor Pieter Duvenage the title of Honorary Professorship in Political Philosophy for his contribution and commitment to philosophical research in South Africa and internationally. Prof Duvenage is Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Prof Duvenage has authored and co-authored four books, publishing almost 40 accredited articles in journals and books. As a distinguished scholar, he displays immense dedication to the investigation of the political implications of intellectual traditions.

Since 1997, Prof Duvenage has been lecturing philosophy as an associate professor, full professor, or visiting professor at various South African and Australian universities. He was appointed as Head of the Department of Philosophy in 2011, where he continues to explore his interests in Phenomenology, Critical Theory, and South African Intellectual History.

His rich academic history had earned him the prestigious five-year Honorary Professorship at Cardiff’s Department of Politics. In 2014, the same university invited Prof Duvenage to be a Professorial Fellow of the Collingwood and British Idealism Centre for an indefinite period.

Professor David Boucher, Director of the Collingwood and British Idealism Centre, has played a crucial role in initiating both processes. According to Prof Duvenage, “Professor Boucher is a respected British academic and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg.”

When Boucher announced the good news, Prof Duvenage was very surprised. “The appointment came as a total surprise. I never studied there [at Cardiff University], therefore it was purely through academic networks.”

Considering Cardiff’s reputation and Prof Duvenage’s exceptional skill sets and values, his relationship with the world-leading university in research is bound to blossom.

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