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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference successfully concluded

14 December 2023 | Story Dr Jared McDonald | Photo Supplied

From 21 to 23 November, more than 160 delegates gathered at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in the Eastern Free State for the fourth biennial conference on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL) in the South, dubbed SOTL 4 the South.

This year’s iteration was proudly hosted by the University of the Free State (UFS) and organised by Dr Jared McDonald, Chief of Staff in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor and Principal; Dr Eleanor Bernard, Assistant Director in the Centre for Teaching and Learning on the UFS Qwaqwa Campus; and Prof Zach Simpson, Editor-in-Chief of the SOTL in the South journal. Established and emerging scholars, as well as postgraduate students working in the field of teaching and learning from across disciplines in Southern Africa, came together to share ideas, debate perspectives, and learn from experiences related to the conference theme: Teaching and Learning for Sustainable Futures.

The programme included presentations on a wide variety of topics, such as the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence in higher education, academic literacy, student success, teaching and learning for sustainable development, curriculum design, and digital futures. The programme also included two keynote presentations by leading scholars in education for sustainability, Prof Heila Lotz-Sisitka, Distinguished Professor and SARChI Research Chair in Global Change and Social Learning Systems in the Environmental Learning Research Centre at Rhodes University, and Prof Kasturi Behari-Leak, Associate Professor of Higher Education Studies and Dean of the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Higher Education Development.

The organisers were delighted with the quality of the scholarship that was shared. “This conference has been 18 months in the making, and we are grateful to all the delegates for embracing, and engaging with, the conference’s theme. We are also appreciative to all the reviewers on the Scientific Review Committee who were generous with their time, reflections, and critiques in assisting us to deliver a compelling, impactful programme,” said Dr McDonald. Dr Bernard added that “the conference would not have been possible without the generous support of the University of the Free State’s Executive Management and Centre for Teaching and Learning, as well as the senior management of the Qwaqwa Campus, who have supported the conference from the time it was just an idea”.

Prof Zach Simpson expressed his gratitude to the UFS for its support and assistance. “The last in-person conference of SOTL in the South was in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. It was wonderful to see so many scholars come together in a beautiful location to engage with a compelling and topical conference theme.” Selected papers have been invited to contribute to a special issue of SOTL in the South, edited by the organisers and due for publication in mid-2024.

SOTL is an informal ‘body’ that is not affiliated with any particular parent organisation or institution. Its aim is to advance scholarship in teaching and learning across the Global South – conceived of not just in geographic terms – but as concerned with questions of power, access, inequity, and marginalisation, even where these might be present in the Global ‘North’. Moreover, it aims to give voice to novice SOTL practitioners and to serve as a platform for academics, particularly novice academics, to contribute their scholarly work.

News Archive

Launch of the Africa office of the IIDE

2006-05-25

Attending the launch of the Africa office of the IIDE were from the left Prof Sytse Strijbos (Chairperson of IIDE Europe), Rev Kiepie Jaftha (Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS) and Prof Frederick Fourie (Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS).

Attending the launch were from the left Prof Lucius Botes (Director: Centre of Development Support at the UFS), Dr Samuel Kareithi (Head: Community Development at the Cornerstone Christian College, Cape Town), Rev Kiepie Jaftha (Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS), Prof Sytse Strijbos (Chairperson of IIDE Europe) and Dr Ezekiel Moraka (Vice-Rector: Student Affairs at the UFS).

Africa office of IIDE launched on UFS main campus

The Africa office of the International Institute for Development and Ethics (IIDE) was today (26 May 2006) launched on the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.

“The IIDE specialises in the studying and research of general questions of developmental theory and practices and provides services and support in education, strategic planning, policy formulation, advocacy and capacity building of development agencies,” said Rev Kiepie Jaftha, Chairperson of the IIDE in Africa’s Board of Directors and Chief Director: Community Service at the UFS.

According to Rev Jaftha the IIDE in Africa will focus on the conceptual and normative aspects of developmental processes in Sub-Saharan Africa. “We want to foster local and international partnerships with various relevant role-players in civil society, the private sector and public sector in the SACD region and later expand our operations to the rest of Africa,” said Rev Jaftha.

The IIDE in Africa cooperates with a similar foundation in Europe, functioning as the IIDE Europe. This institute was founded in 2003 and its head office is situated in the Netherlands. The UFS is a funder of the IIDE in Africa together with the Paul Foundation and private sponsors from the Netherlands.

“We have already started with various projects which are in various stages of implementation,” said Rev Jaftha. Some of these projects include, among others, the broadening of the master’s degree in Christian Studies of Science and Society (MACSSS) which is currently housed at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam to tertiary institutions in South Africa such as the UFS, the University of Stellenbosch and the Potchefstroom Campus of the Northwest University.

“Another project is an investigation into the possibility of initiating a broad development initiative in the poverty stricken Qwaqwa area. This initiative will attempt to concentrate on issues like the training and empowerment of prospective entrepreneurs in the region, the identification of prospective entrepreneurs for the rendering of development support and the monitoring of the impact of information and communication technology on local communities during the implementation of sustainable development initiatives,” said Rev Jaftha.

“The establishment of the Africa office of the IIDE on the UFS Main Campus is an indication of one of the aims of the UFS to play a role in South Africa and Africa. It also signifies our aim to contribute meaningfully to research and development and to establish links between the academe and practice,” said Rev Jaftha.

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

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