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17 July 2020 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo UFS photo archive
Education researchers dominated the recent CTL Excellence in Teaching and Learning Awards on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus.

The Faculty of Education on the Qwaqwa Campus has recently dominated the Centre for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards, as well as the Research Awards for 2019/2020. The faculty’s Drs Bunmi Omodan and Maria Tsakeni were placed first and second respectively in the category Research in Teaching and Learning. This was on top of the faculty’s accolade in the category Faculty/Department that is the most involved in Teaching and Learning events and practices on the Qwaqwa Campus.

“The faculty is indeed proud to be associated with these fine scholars and the excellence they represent,” said Faculty of Education Dean,Prof Loyiso Jita, in a congratulatory message to the faculty members.

“To the winners, please continue to live our emerging vision of ‘Representing and using our diversity, excellence in scholarship on research and teaching, and an ethic of care and service’ to produce teachers with balanced knowledge and skills and a consciousness to serve all of society in its diversity,” he added.

Winners from the faculty for the Research Awards were Dr Bekithemba Dube as the Most Prolific Researcher in the Faculty of Education and Dr Sekitla Makhasane in the category Best Emerging Researcher in the Faculty of Education.
It is the first time in years that all four faculties received Learning and Teaching Awards. Institutional awards are scheduled for September 2020. 

The full list of winners is as follows:

Excellence in Learning and Teaching Awards:

Category: Research in Learning and Teaching:
Position 1: Dr Bunmi Omodan (Faculty of Education)
Position 2: Dr Maria Tsakeni (Faculty of Education)

Category: Innovation in Learning and Teaching:
Position 1: Dr Diana Breshears and Rentia Engelbrecht (The Humanities)
Position 2: Prof Aliza le Roux (Natural and Agricultural Sciences)
Position 3: Lebohang Masoabi (Economic and Management Sciences)
Position 4: Dr Maria Tsakeni (Faculty of Education)

Category: Faculty / Departmental Award
Faculty of Education (with special mention of Dr Cias Tsotetsi; Dr Maria Tsakeni; Thabiso Motsoeneng; and Dr Sekitla Makhasane).

Research Awards per faculty:
Education
Most Prolific Researcher: Dr Bekithemba Dube (School of Education Studies)
Best Emerging Researcher: Dr Sekitla Makhasane (School of Education Studies)

The Humanities
Most Prolific Researcher: Dr Oliver Nyambi (Department of English)
Best Emerging Researcher: Dr Tshepo Moloi (Department of History)

Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Most Prolific Researcher: Prof Francis Dejene (Department of Physics)
Best Emerging Researcher: Dr Lehlohonolo Koao (Department of Physics)

Economic and Management Sciences
Most Prolific Researcher: Dr Calvin Mudzingiri (Department of Economics and Finance)
Best Emerging Researcher: Dr Charity Gomo (Department of Economics and Finance)

News Archive

Babies need time on their tummies
2009-08-07

 
Babies who spend more time on their tummies (in the prone position) when they are awake are more advanced in their motor development than children who are not allowed to lie on their tummies, or only for short periods, shows research published by Ms Dorothy Russell in the South African Journal of Occupational Therapy. Ms Russell is a senior occupational therapist in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health in the Faculty of Heath Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS). The study shows there were significant differences in the active movements of the arms and the pushing-up on the arms between prone and non-prone infants.

She says research and clinical evidence indicate that parents are not well educated regarding the value of placing their infants in the prone position during the early stages of infancy. The supine position where babies lie on the backs, leads to a decrease in the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and mothers steer away of putting their babies in the prone position because of that. However, lack of exposure to prone position can result in deceased opportunities to learn functions such as rolling over, sitting up, crawling and pulling to the standing position.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar

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