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Statistics lecturer on Qwaqwa campus, Christa Faber bags Master of Higher Education

07 December 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe

By working with students and being part of their development into successful young adults, Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Lecturer on the Qwaqwa Campus, Christa Faber, soon realised that she would like to proceed with her own studies, and she set her sights on just that. Obtaining her honours degree in Mathematical Statistics at age 40 inspired Faber to continue pursuing an education. She will be receiving her Master of Higher Education Studies degree during the December graduations.

Teaching has always been her passion, Faber shared fondly. She commenced her teaching career as a Mathematics teacher in a small town, Molteno, in the Eastern Cape. After four years of teaching, she worked as a Mathematics supply teacher in the United Kingdom for two years. Upon her return, she continued her teaching career in Harrismith, where she was appointed as a Science teacher at Harrismith High School, before receiving an offer to assist the UFS Qwaqwa Campus as a Statistics facilitator in 2003. She never looked back.

As a researcher, Faber has spent the past eight years using technology as an educational tool to determine whether it can be used to improve students’ performance and understanding of basic statistics. “I believe students learn best when they expect to be successful and see the value of the course for their personal development,” she said.

Faber conducted an experiment on how an online assessment tool (OAT) could be incorporated into the Statistics module to enhance student engagement, and consequently, the performance of students in a rural setting. The transition from face-to-face teaching to online learning has been a topic across all institutions of higher learning, with students’ response to learning on blended platforms being of great importance.

The learning experiment, conducted pre-COVID, showed the benefits that online assessment tools could have on the performance and engagement of students at a rural university. Faber said she considers it important to know how students engaged in key online and general learning practices as a way of managing and developing rural university education. For the experiment, a pragmatic parallel mixed methods design was used to divide students into two groups to compare the performances of those with online assessment tool interventions and those without.

The intervention recently won Faber the Innovative Methods in Assessment Practices award for the Qwaqwa Campus at this year’s Centre for Teaching and Learning awards. The purpose of the category was to showcase how assessment strategies, tools, and assessment activities are used to assess students in new, original, or inventive ways. She said she was grateful to receive recognition for a research project inspired by her passion for teaching and learning, combined with the use of online assessment technology, to enhance students’ learning experience in the field of statistics. “My ongoing research supports the promotion of student engagement in statistics education, as well as in the general educational field.”

News Archive

SASOL TRAC laboratory launched at UFS Qwaqwa Campus

2006-05-08

Some of the guests attending the launch of the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at the University of the Free State's (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus were from the left Prof Peter Mbati (Principal of the Qwaqwa Campus), Mrs Zimbini Zwane ( Communications Manager of Sasol Infrachem), Prof Gerhardt de Klerk (Dean : UFS Faculty of the Humanities), Prof Fred Hugo
Director of TRAC SA) and Prof Jack van der Linde (Director of RIEP at the UFS).

SASOL TRAC laboratory launched at UFS Qwaqwa Campus

The Research Institute for Education Planning (RIEP) of the University of the Free State (UFS) today unveiled the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at its Qwaqwa campus.

The laboratory will be used to help grade 10, 11 and 12 learners and educators from the Qwaqwa region to conduct the experiments from the physical sciences outcome-based curriculum.

“The Sasol TRAC Laboratory introduces learners not only to the latest technology used by engineers and other scientists in practice but also to stimulate the learner’s interest in the field of science in such a way that more of them will enter into science related careers,” says Mr Cobus van Breda, Co-ordinator of the TRAC Free State Regional Centre.

According to Mr van Breda the newly established Sasol TRAC Laboratory will enable RIEP to train learners and their educators in Physical Sciences. The laboratory will consist of six work stations equipped with computers and electronic sensors.

“Learners from the Qwaqwa region will visit the Sasol TRAC Laboratory on regular basis to conduct experiments based on the curriculum. Data will be collected with electronic apparatus and presented as graphs on the computer so that results can be analysed and interpreted,” says Mr van Breda.

“There is a serious shortage of suitable qualified teachers in maths and science in the Qwaqwa region. Many schools in the region are not yet part of the RIEP project and are in dire need of assistance. A large number of these schools are in remote areas not reached regularly by intervention programmes,” says Prof Peter Mbati, Principal of the UFS Qwaqwa Campus.

“The establishment of the Sasol TRAC Laboratory at the Qwaqwa Campus provides us the opportunity to engage with our community and assist in the development and training of these vital education subjects. We are pleased that Sasol agreed to fund the project,” says Prof Mbati.

Students from the Qwaqwa Campus will also benefit from the TRAC programme. “Some promising students will also undergo further training and become assistants for the TRAC programme,” says Prof Mbati.

“Nurturing science and mathematical skills is of great importance in growing our national economy. Annually, Sasol invests more than R50 million in supporting mathematical and science education in South Africa. Our primary aim is to increase the number of learners gaining access to tertiary education in the science fields. Therefore, our Corporate Social Investment (CSI) education interventions at secondary school level focus on educator development and direct learner interventions such as the Sasol TRAC Laboratory,” explains Ms Pamilla Mudhray, CSI and SHARP manager at Sasol.

According to Ms Mudhray the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement for physical sciences in the further education and training (FET) phase from 2006, under resourced schools will need greater access to the tools and equipment necessary to teach the syllabus and fulfil the ideals of the curriculum.

TRAC South Africa is a national non-profit programme focused on supporting and expanding science, mathematics and technology education in secondary schools. The programme was first introduced to South Africa in 1994. In 2005, RIEP established the TRAC Free State regional centre on the UFS Main Campus in Bloemfontein.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
5 May 2006

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