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05 May 2023 | Story EDZANI NEPHALELA | Photo Supplied

The University of the Free State (UFS), in collaboration with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), South African Centre for Digital Language Resources (SADiLaR), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and Universities South Africa (USAf), will be conducting its Language Resource Audit for the UFS on 2 June 2023. 

This audit process will assess the resources available and required for the implementation of a Language policy framework for higher education (2020) – such as the development of multilingual terminologies, translation services for teaching and learning materials, campus signage, as well as various multimedia collateral – including their quality and relevance to the needs of the students and faculty. The audit will include an assessment of existing resources and whether they are furthering implementation goals, and may also include the gathering of feedback from students and faculty to identify improvement areas.

Dr Nomalungelo Ngubane, Director of the UFS Academy for Multilingualism, said the process will help the UFS identify the essential languages resources that are available for the successful implementation of the 2020 Language Policy for Higher Education framework (LPHE). “The audit will identify how much has been done at the UFS and which institutions we can collaborate with, for example, in the development of Sesotho, so that we do not reinvent the wheel, but we close the gaps.” 

Once the audit is completed, the institution will develop a plan for resource allocation to address the identified gaps. This may involve acquiring new resources, upgrading existing ones, or reallocating existing resources better to meet the needs of students, staff, and faculties.

Due to the impact this audit will have on various stakeholders, all staff and students are encouraged to participate. To attend the audit, please RSVP here by 30 May 2023.

News Archive

Professor lectures class – from his closet!
2013-03-05

 

Prof Vernon Louw recording his lessons in his ‘studio’
Photo: Supplied
05 March 2013

A professor, and lecturer, at the University of the Free State (UFS) nowadays gives ‘class’ in his sleep and from within his walk-in closet.

Prof Vernon Louw from the Department of Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences recently began to make video recordings in which he presents his lessons in his discipline of Internal Medicine and Haematology.

In the mean time, due to the lack of a studio, he does his recordings in his walk-in closet where it is soundproof.

“I started the videos as a personal initiative, since there is great potential to create a completely integrated platform from where the students can watch the videos in their own time. It also provides us with more time to work interactively with our students in the class, since they already watched the videos on their own or can perhaps watch it later.”

The videos, which are viewable on Youtube under the name ‘Vernon Louw – MedEd’, are very specific and concepts are explained step by step with the objective of mastering them in ten-minute videos. There are already five videos uploaded and students from over the world can view them.

“The benefit is that now I can ‘lecture’ while I sleep. It is wonderful to notice in the mornings that another 20 viewers somewhere in the world joined.”

Prof Louw says that most of the videos are currently watched by mainly South-African, American, Indian and British viewers.

The videos can be watched on the Youtube channel: Vernon Louw MedEd

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