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Annual UFS Teaching and Learning Conference looks to the future of teaching and learning

23 October 2023 | Story Daleen Meintjes | Photo SUPPLED

CTL Conference 2023 — UFS staff took part in the panel presentation and panel discussion at the pre-conference workshop on graduate attributes and employability. From left to right: Lauren Oosthuizen, Gugu Khanye, Chrisna van Heerden, Prof Joel Mokhoathi, Lindi Heyns, Prof Francois Strydom, Dr Anke van der Merwe, Susan Lombaard, Dr Ekaete Benedict, Dr Martie Bloem and Dr Moeketsi Tlali.

The University of the Free State (UFS) recently hosted its annual Teaching and Learning Conference, bringing together educators, students, and thought leaders across the educational spectrum.

This year’s conference focused on reshaping the future of education, emphasising blending traditional teaching methods with innovative technologies to nurture essential graduate attributes through thoughtful, intentional assessment design.

The programme was spread over five days, from 11 to 15 September 2023, and was themed ‘Quality blended learning and teaching: Enhancing graduate attributes through assessment’. It kicked off with two pre-conference workshops: one on graduate attributes and employability, on 11 September, and one on alternative assessment, on 12 September.

The conference served as a platform for sharing ideas and strategies to elevate the quality of education, ultimately enriching students' learning experiences. Discussions revolved around creating adaptable, career-ready graduates capable of navigating an ever-evolving job market.

Graduate attributes and employability

Cathy Sims, Executive Director of the South African Graduate Employers Association (SAGEA), emphasised the institution's importance in facilitating a seamless transition for students from academic institutions to the workforce. She also highlighted the need for collaboration between the institution and employers to ensure that students are equipped with necessary and scarce skills across various industries.

"Institutions must prioritise cultivating graduates with a well-rounded skill set, encompassing technical expertise and strong interpersonal abilities,” she said. “This can be achieved through thorough research and robust partnerships with employers. I admire the proactive approach taken by UFS in this regard, with [UFS Vice-Chancellor and Principal] Prof Francis Petersen actively participating in numerous panel discussions. Events like the 2023 Investing in Mining Indaba exemplify the kind of conversations that address the skills gap head-on."

The panel presentation by lecturers from different faculties highlighted the work being done to promote graduate attributes at the UFS. During the panel discussion led by Prof Francois Strydom, Senior Director at the UFS Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL), lively discussions were held around bridging the gap between industry needs and higher education efforts, as well as practical ways to prepare students for the world of work.

Looking to the future

Attendees heard that the rapidly growing use of technology and applications like ChatGPT has led to a transformative shift in teaching and learning at educational institutions, helping to foster innovative and efficient ways to educate and empower students. However, Prof Johannes Cronjé, from the Department of Information Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, expressed concerns regarding an overreliance on technology, which may lead to the removal of interpersonal skills and understanding of context.

Following the keynote address by Prof Cronjé, Dr Peet van Aardt and Zonnike Coetzer from the CTL addressed ways to deal with ChatGPT in teaching academic literacy. The rest of the programme was dedicated to creative ways to use ChatGPT in assessment, presented by Dr Ina Gouws from the UFS’s Faculty of Humanities, and a practical session on redesigning a module by Dr Michael von Maltitz, from the UFS's Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.

The two pre-conference days paved the way for the virtual conference, which took place from 13 to 15 September via Blackboard Collaborate. The keynote speakers for each of the conference days focused on the theme and provided much food for thought.

On the first conference day, Prof Jillian Kenzie of Indiana University, USA, provided a fresh perspective on how assessment can be used to assure student learning and success. Dr Muki Moeng of Nelson Mandela University started the second day with a discussion on graduate attributes. She highlighted that the higher education sector is faced with worldwide challenges such as rapid technological changes, political turbulence, decolonisation of the curriculum, climate change, and more. Higher education should respond to these changes and reinvent itself while trying to stay true to what a university is “understood to be”, and how it should look in the contemporary world.

Prof Corlia Janse van Vuuren of the UFS’s Faculty of Health Sciences was the keynote speaker on the last day. She talked about the continued theory-practice gap and questions raised regarding the relevance of teaching and learning. “Universities might need to reflect on whether all stakeholders, specifically students, are moving towards the same goal concerning the development of graduate attributes,” she said.

During the conference UFS staff members also showcased the innovative and excellent work they are doing in learning and teaching: 53 papers were delivered in seven different categories over the three conference days.

News Archive

State of our campuses: Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year on UFS students

2016-10-08

Dear Parents/Guardians and Students,

Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year

The University of the Free State (UFS) reiterates its support and commitment to the cause of free higher education. We have stated our position in all the available spaces. We want to work with UFS students to put pressure on the government to commit itself to accept the many suggestions put forward to make free education possible within a negotiated timeframe.

We are also seriously committed to our responsibility of providing education to all students enrolled at the university. We are doing our outmost to ensure that we can resume academic activities next week.

Description: " Academic non-completion 2016 Tags: " Academic non-completion 2016

We want to bring to your attention what will happen to individual students if the UFS cannot resume classes fully on Monday 10 October 2016.

Currently we have extended the academic year by one week. Some faculties are working on Saturdays and Sundays, starting earlier and finishing later to complete the material that needs to be taught and the practical work that students need to do to be able to write exams.

In the three biggest faculties at the university: Education, the Humanities, and Natural Sciences, this is what will happen:

Education will fail to graduate 1 193 students
Humanities will fail to graduate 1 125 students
Natural and Agricultural Sciences will fail to graduate 1 390 students

In the professional faculties: Economic and Management Sciences, Health Sciences, and Law, this will happen:

Economic and Management Sciences will fail to graduate 997 students
Health Sciences will fail to graduate 633 students
Law will fail to graduate 619 students

In total, approximately 6 000 students will not receive complete transcripts of their degrees and the certificates for their qualifications.

The university currently has 3 238 students on NSFAS bursaries. None of these students will be able to apply for bursaries for the lost year. They will be regarded as having failed or not completed their courses. They will not only miss this year, but the opportunity of studying in the future.

These students come from families to which their success in higher education was supposed to mean a change in the future of the entire family. Some parents/guardians hold more than one job to be able to pay tuition fees.

In not allowing the year to continue and students to finish, we are throwing away the efforts that entire families of poor people have made for four or five years to put their children through university. The promise of free education for future generations means nothing to these families who are poor in the present.

In terms of the academic calendar, it is a false argument to say that universities will be able to enrol first-years, because what 2016 students will miss, is the second semester.

We do not have the capacity to teach double the number of students in the second semester. This also misses the point that those students who were completing modules in order to graduate, will waste an entire year (assuming they have funding) to complete their degrees. This argument does not see the knock-on effect that students, not promoting in modules from first to second and second to third year, etc., will have. Finally, this also misses the point of what will happen to students who have to repeat first-semester modules.

In terms of academic staff, students are discounting the willingness of academic staff to teach double or to have the academic year extended by approximately six weeks between teaching and examinations. The same can be said for all the administrative and support staff required for running the university.

In our case, all the students in the University Preparation Programme (UPP) on the South Campus in Bloemfontein will be stuck without being able to move into mainstream modules, preventing a new intake of UPP students for 2017. These are the poorest and most disadvantaged students at the UFS.

It is absolutely necessary to find a means of protest and political action that will not jeopardise the future of current students and the country’s desperate need for critical skills. The interdict against violent protest secured by the UFS is still in force. The police will intervene if the interdict is not respected and the UFS will have no control over police actions.

We trust that parents/guardians and students understand the implications of the situation.

Kind regards,

Prof Nicky Morgan
Acting Rector
University of the Free State

Released by:
Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393

State of our campuses #11: Academic activities on UFS campuses continue

State of our campuses #10: Impact of non-completion of the 2016 academic year on UFS students

State of our campuses #9: Academic programme on all UFS campuses to resume on Monday 10 October 2016

State of our campuses #8: UFS extends vacation as from 28 September until 7 October 2016, 28 September 2016

State of our campuses #7: All three UFS campuses will be closed today, 27 September 2016.

State of our campuses #6: All UFS campuses reopen on Tuesday 27 September 2016

State of our campuses #5: UFS campuses to remain closed on Monday 26 September 2016

State of our campuses #4: Decisions about the UFS academic calendar

State of our campuses #3: UFS campuses closed until Friday 23 September 2016

State of our campuses #2: UFS Bloemfontein and South Campuses closed on Tuesday 20 September 2016 (19 September 2016)

State of our campuses #1: Academic activities suspended on UFS Bloemfontein Campus (19 September 2016)

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