肆客足球

Just over ten years ago, I began the process of niche specialisation in forensic facial imaging, after almost twenty years as a practicing artist, curator, and educator in studio art practice within the South African higher education context. These three aspects of my professional identity meant little - or so I first thought - when I found myself as a fellow – albeit ‘mature’ – student and experienced educator in a science lab with mostly (very) young postgraduate students. An MSc and a PhD later, both from UK institutions, I returned to studio art education at SU with the urgent need to engage students in radical curiosity; poke holes in the boundary between the art studio and science lab, and promote a broader understanding of the role of studio art education in the academic project. 

With reference to specific teaching and learning projects, this presentation will reflect on my personal journey of shifting from teacher to student and back again, and how the experience of ‘doing science’ from the perspective of an artist has enabled fresh pedagogical opportunities in both worlds. Engaging with students across visual arts and sciences has shown me how knowledge is constructed within these paradigms, along with the biases, blind spots, and myths each has of the other. This has inspired an ongoing feasibility study called ‘Fostering the Third Culture’, which explores the appetite for art-science interactions at SU.  

Institutional transformation and inclusion have slowly become more prominent in the strategies of historically white institutions in South Africa. Despite these efforts, progress towards these goals has been limited. In this article, we reflect on our conversations about transforming our curricula and teaching practices as an interdisciplinary Community of Practice. Our conversations grappled with the lack of curricular transformation at Stellenbosch 肆客足球, despite its aspirational transformation plan. We argue that difficult interdisciplinary conversations are key to interrupting our teaching practices and are crucial in the decolonising process. These conversations must be ongoing and enduring, because through sharing our stories we support agents of curriculum transformation in our different contexts. Our conceptual conversations explored various theories about decoloniality, and here we employ ubuntu pedagogy, as well as the concepts of redistribution, recognition and representation from social justice theory. We harness the collaborative energy of an interdisciplinary Community of Practice, with its associated storytelling, reading, writing and reflecting to harness the diversity of personal and disciplinary perspectives. We include some reflective vignettes to illustrate our process. The relevance of this study, beyond our contexts, arises from a gap in the decolonising process, from its theory to its practice. We argue that even a good institutional transformation plan will not guarantee the decoloniality of curricula. More is needed. Systemic change is needed, and difficult interdisciplinary conversations are part of this process. There must be recognition and representation of marginalised voices and specific context-related redistribution of curricula, so that transformation plans and theories can take effect. 

Student feedback at SU is a process through which significant amounts of information is collected on various matters related to students’ learning experiences. In order for this information to drive and inform change, it needs to be analyzed. What are the analytical possibilities for this data? This session focuses on the research opportunities for student feedback. In particular a distinction is made between student feedback as the object of research and student feedback as a data instrument for research. The purpose of the session is to encourage academics to undertake student feedback research. 

isiXhosa: Ingxelo yomfundi: Uphando olunokwenziwa
Ingxelo yomfundi eSU yinkqubo apho izixa ezibalulekileyo zolwazi ziqokelelwa kwimiba eyahlukeneyo enxulumene namava okufunda kwabafundi. Ukuze olu lwazi luqhube kwaye luzise utshintsho, kufuneka luhlalutywe. Ngawaphi amathuba anokusetyenziswa ukuhlalutya le datha? Le seshoni igxile kumathuba ophando ngokunikezela ingxelo yabafundi. Ngokukodwa umahluko okhoyo phakathi kwengxelo yomfundi njengento yophando kunye nengxelo yomfundi njengesixhobo sedatha sophando. Injongo yale seshoni kukukhuthaza izifundiswa ukuba zenze uphando ngengxelo yabafundi.

SU students regularly provide feedback on their experiences of lecturers and/or modules. However, most of this feedback comes at the end of a module meaning lecturers have little opportunity to ‘close the loop’ by engaging students on the feedback they provided. And even if lecturers had an opportunity to engage students, there can be uncertainty about how to respond to the feedback. This question – what do I do with feedback once it has been provided by students – is explored by Drs. Marais (Department of Food Science) and Pearce (Genetics Department). It forms part of a series on student feedback, the first of which (28 February 2024) explored alternatives ways to collect student feedback. 

isiXhosa:
Abafundi beSU banika ingxelo rhoqo ngamava abo ngakubahlohli kunye/okanye iimodyuli. Nangona kunjalo, uninzi lwale ngxelo luza ekupheleni kwemodyuli ethetha ukuba abahlohli banethuba elincinci lokuthi 'close the loop (lokuvala umsantsa)' ngokubandakanya abafundi kwingxelo abayinikileyo. Kwaye nokuba abahlohli bebenethuba lokubandakanya abafundi, kunokubakho ukungaqiniseki malunga nendlela yokuphendula kwingxelo. Lo mbuzo - ndenza ntoni ngempendulo xa sele inikezelwe ngabafundi - iphononongwa nguGqr. Marais (iSebe leNzululwazi yoKutya) kunye noGqr Pearce (iSebe lezifundo ngezeMfuzo). Iyinxalenye yoluhlu lweengxelo zabafundi, eyokuqala (28 eyoMdumba 2024) yaphonononga ezinye iindlela zokuqokelela ingxelo yabafundi.

The purposes for which student feedback is collected and the instruments we use to collect this feedback are important aspects to consider in the renewal of student feedback at SU. Traditionally the SU teaching community approaches student feedback as an evaluation of lecturers and their teaching and relies on the formal feedback surveys distributed at the end of modules to hear students’ voices on their experiences. In this session the two presenters will demonstrate an alternative way of collecting feedback – by engaging class representatives. Their presentation will also suggest that collecting feedback this way serves a different purpose – enhancing student learning. Prof Arnott will describe his use of class representatives at the level of an individual module and Prof Blaine will show this can be scaled up to the level of the programme. The purpose of this session is to encourage the SU teaching community to explore different ways of collecting feedback that can ultimately enhance student learning.. 

isiXhosa: Ukuhlaziya iNgxelo yoMfundi eSU: Ukusebenzisa abameli beklasi njengenye indlela yokuqokelela ingxelo?
Iinjongo ekuqokelelelwa yona ingxelo yomfundi kunye nezixhobo esizisebenzisayo ukuqokelela loo ngxelo yimiba ebalulekileyo ekufuneka iqwalaselwe kuhlaziyo lwengxelo yomfundi eSU. Ngokwesiqhelo uluntu lokufundisa laseSU lubona ingxelo yabafundi njengovavanyo lwabahlohli kunye nokufundisa kwabo kwaye luxhomekeke kuphando lwengxelo olusesikweni olusasazwa ekupheleni kweemodyuli ukuva amazwi abafundi ngamava abo. Kule seshoni abanikezeli ngcaciso bobabini baya kubonisa enye indlela yokuqokelela ingxelo - ngokubandakanya abameli beklasi. Iintetho zabo ziya kuphinda zicebise ukuba ukuqokelela ingxelo ngale ndlela kufezekisa injongo eyahlukileyo - ukuphucula ukufunda kwabafundi. UNjing Arnott uya kuchaza ukusebenzisa kwakhe abameli beklasi kwinqanaba lemodyuli nganye kwaye uNjing uBlaine uya kubonisa oku kunokunyuswa kwinqanaba lenkqubo yokufunda. Injongo yale seshoni kukukhuthaza abahlohli baseSU ukuba baphonononge iindlela ezahlukeneyo zokuqokelela ingxelo enokuphucula ukufunda kwabafundi ekugqibeleni.?