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08 December 2021 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied
UFS loveLife Computer Graduations
The group of 90 members of the Botshabelo community who successfully completed the 12-week ICT Services short-learning course through a collaboration between the UFS Directorate Community Engagement, the Department of Computer Science and Informatics, and the youth leadership organisation, loveLife.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many people will look back at 2020 and 2021 with emotions of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. But for a group of close to 200 community members in Botshabelo, the past two years have not only signified one of their biggest achievements in life; for them, the day that they graduated is also holding the promise of a new beginning.

Both this year’s group and the group of 100 community members who enrolled for the two ICT short learning courses in 2020, successfully completed the programme.

“After 12 weeks of training, the community members were very happy to receive their certificates,” says Alfi Moolman of the Directorate Community Engagement at the University of the Free State (UFS).

According to Moolman, this Information Technology service-learning project is a wonderful example of how the UFS responds to the needs of the community and addresses the digital divide through its Service-Learning programme.

Aiming for 100% digital literacy

Rouxan Fouché, Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Informatics who is also doing his PhD in Computer Information Systems, is focusing on the digital divide in his research study, titled: An exploration of service-learning strategies to address the South African digital divide: A Critical Utopian Action Research Approach. He quotes Molawa, who defines the digital divide as the separation of those who have access to digital information and communications technology and those who do not. “Molawa has confirmed that some of the challenges to information and communication technology (ICT) access in Africa have been caused by poverty due to high levels of unemployment, illiteracy, and skills shortage.”

In his study, Fouché states that South Africa is aiming for 100% digital literacy and skills to leverage the power of modern ICT for economic appropriation and to address inequity.

In his investigation, Fouché found that increasing the level of digital skills is the responsibility of many different stakeholders, from governments to universities. “Universities may play a vital role in helping to bridge the digital divide by providing free or affordable access to digital skills training and qualifications focused on groups from marginalised areas.”

He is currently concluding the last phase of his PhD study, which included the implementation of the service-learning action plan with the Botshabelo community – engaging them to strengthen the response to digital literacy.

Equipped with 21st century computer literacy skills

Moolman says they had to think of innovative ways to ensure that students continue to achieve their learning outcomes during lockdown. “A blended learning approach was decided on, where we introduced videos of the sessions that would have been facilitated face to face in the past.”

“As a collective change facilitator in the process, I connected Fouché and loveLife, a youth leadership organisation that has a Cyber Y lab at their youth centre in Botshabelo.”

“The match was a win. loveLife was equipping their target audience with 21st century computer literacy skills, Fouché could continue with his PhD, and his students have achieved their learning outcomes.”

Felix Morobe, the provincial manager of loveLife, believes the skills development opportunities provided by the UFS through their service-learning programmes are benefiting and growing young people in the community.

He says this programme has meant a great deal to the community, as it adds to their CVs. “Moreover, it also carries the logo of one of the best and most well-recognised universities. This course was a big motivation for the members of the community who attended; saying to them, ‘yes you can do it, despite the challenges that the country is facing in terms of youth unemployment’.”

Feedback from some of the attendees of the course, include, “I wish this course could continue and benefit others”; "I am one step ahead of those who did not attend the course"; and "I am going to apply for work now that I have this additional certificate".

“This is a brilliant example of engaged scholarship,” concludes Moolman.

News Archive

Prestigious Helgaard Steyn Prize to be awarded to UFS composer
2010-11-08

 Hans Huyssen.

The composer Hans Huyssen, affiliated with the Department of Music at the University of the Free State (UFS), is to be the current recipient of the prestigious 2010 Helgaard Steyn Prize, the prize-winning work being Huyssen’s Proteus Variations (2006).Annually this award is administered and presented to a selected composer, painter, author, or sculptor by the Universities of the Free State and the North-West on a rotating basis. The judges for this year’s prize were Prof. Bertha Spies, Research Fellow, North-West University, and Professor Extraordinary, University of Pretoria, and Mr Noel Stockton, Senior Lecturer at the University of the Free State.

Hans Huyssen’s musical activities encompass the diverse poles of early and contemporary Western and African music, often in an attempt to assimilate the essential qualities from all these fields. His intense focus on contextuality suggests that he approaches music as a profoundly social force which has a particular role to play in our ‘new’ diversified South African society.

The Proteus Variations were commissioned by the Deutsche Welle Radio for the South African National Youth Orchestra 2006, and were premiered at the Beethoven Bonn Festival during 2006. These variations are described by the composer as “a musical representation of South Africa’s manifold Proteaceae”, named for the Greek god Proteus who, at will, was capable of assuming a spectrum of shapes and appearances. As the composer states: “It is worth noticing that a Protea is South Africa’s national flower. What could be more appropriate in providing a key to an opposite perception and understanding of the country’s diverse cultural expressions? In this regard it is my hope that the Proteus Variations may contribute a little to the wide scope of cultural responses necessary to begin to do justice to the extremely rich tapestry of our immediate cultural and natural surroundings”.

The prize of R170 000 will be awarded to Hans Huyssen by a representative of ABSA Trust, who is one of the trustees of the Helgaard Steyn Trust, in Bloemfontein on 8 November 2010.

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