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30 March 2021 | Story Cornelle Scheltema-Van Wyk
A cover image of the Perspectives in Education journal

Perspectives in Education (PiE) is one of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) accredited academic journals. Hosted on KovsieJournals with eight other accredited titles published by the UFS, PiE is a fully open-access journal, which means that all articles are freely available on the internet immediately after publication. A professional, peer-reviewed journal, PiE represents a variety of cross-disciplinary interests, both theoretical and practical, seeking to stimulate important dialogue and intellectual exchange on education and democratic transition with respect to schools, colleges, non-governmental organisations, universities, and universities of technology in South Africa and beyond.

Moving to the South Campus for Open Distance Learning 

The latest issue looked at the seismic disruptions brought about by COVID-19 in 2020, and the global challenges for education systems to promote and continue meaningful learning. Schools and colleges across the globe were closed, and teachers, students, schools, universities, and education planners had to create contingency plans. In the scholarly community, COVID-19 unsettled what we know, how we come to know, and how we should proceed from here onwards. It was the opportune moment for re-invigorated interrogation, rethinking discussion, and replanning education. An opportunity to rethink teaching and learning, the organisation of educational institutions, and the structure and workings of education systems, as well as to reflect once again on the objectives of education, and the interrelationship between education and society.

The issue features many national and international authors – from the UFS to authors from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Israel, Brazil, and Haiti. Its diverse content comes from a relatively new editorial team. Prof Jan Nieuwenhuis’ first issue as editor-in chief was published in 2020. The move to the South Campus for Open Distance Learning was accompanied by the journal’s application to be included in the internationally renowned accreditation list, Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The DOAJ has strict inclusion criteria, and to be included on this list is a mark of a high-quality open-access academic journal. 

Just over a year after moving, PiE is now included in the DOAJ list and appears on four accredited lists (also DHET, IBSS, and Scopus). The journal has firmly cemented its place in the field of education and is broadening the reach of research for the University of the Free State

News Archive

Internet Broadcast Project wins international award
2014-05-05

The Enterprise Video Awards (EVA) named Kovsies’ Internet Broadcast Project (IBP) the winner of the Innovation in Pedagogy category. During a glitzy ceremony on 28 April 2014 in Madison, USA, Edward Musgrave, Deputy Director of the ICTISE Division, took to the stage to receive the award.

The IBP makes use of the best teachers in the Free State to broadcast lessons on more than ten subjects to school learners who do not have access to quality education. And it is not only the learners who benefit. Their teachers receive invaluable training in the process as well.

This remarkable programme provided the judges with plentiful evidence to be named the winner. The IBP team had to come up with highly innovative solutions to overcome the costs of local bandwidth constraints. The result? High definition videos being streamed in real time across a 1Meg line. Simultaneously to 70 centres across the Free State. Added to that is the fact that multiple images are broadcast as one, reaching 43 000 learners and 1 250 teachers per week. To top it all, the broadcast is interactive – the learners can ask questions directly to the teacher during the lesson.

All of this at no cost to the schools.

“It is remarkable for a South African university to receive this international recognition,” said Sarietjie Musgrave, heading up the ICTISE programme at the South Campus. “It raises awareness, not only for the work we do, but also the community work the university does,” she said.

And now the Free State has the highest pass rate of matriculants in South Africa.

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