Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South

Learning to teach in higher education: Integrating informal conversations in a formal programme of academic development

Hyleen Mariaye — 2023-08-29

This paper reflectively analyses how informal conversational spaces can be pedagogically integrated in a formal structured learning space. We document innovative practice in faculty development by introducing elements of informal conversations, understood as serendipitous, improvised, open-ended, permissive, and including an element of risk into an introductory academic development programme, namely the Post Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGDLTHE). The outcome is one of enhanced opportunities for reflexivity and interdisciplinary dialogue.

Professional psychology training in the COVID-19 era: Reflections on Challenges, Actions, and Lessons

Sibulelo Qhogwana — 2023-08-29

Professional training programmes were, and continue to be, challenged by the implications of Covid-19. Psychology training programmes in South Africa rely on experiential learning as a cornerstone for developing minimum competencies. Covid-19 restrictions meant that teaching and learning, supervision, and work-integrated learning required reconsideration, shifts and upskilling of trainees and trainers. This was particularly important given the emphasis and value of Experiential Learning Theory in training psychologists. This paper uses collaborative autoethnography to reflect on the challenges, lessons, and future recommendations for the navigation of professional training in psychology in the Covid-19 era and beyond. The key reflections highlight the necessity for hybrid learning contexts in circumstances such as Covid-19. Leadership guidance and students’ voices are invaluable assets that could facilitate a comprehensive and inclusive training programme during unprecedented times.

Using Mobile Gaming in Virtual Physical Education: Challenges and Opportunities

Paolo Nino Valdez — 2023-08-29

Recent research into education during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has revealed several structural inequalities leading to problematic implementation of teaching and learning programmes globally. However, while the use of communication technology has been used to bridge the physical distance between teachers and students, certain subjects, such as Physical Education (PE), pose logistical challenges since this entails actual development of physical skills on the part of the learner. This reflective piece examines the use of mobile gaming as an alternative to traditional PE programmes. Specifically, we argue that mobile gaming helps develop peer engagement, critical thinking, and communication skills. On the other hand, challenges such as a need to engage in more physical activities, addiction, and access to technology were encountered.

Higher Education Hauntologies: Living with Ghosts for a Justice-to-Come

Curwyn Mapaling — 2023-08-29

In this review of “Higher Education Hauntologies: Living with Ghosts for a Justice-to-Come,” we traverse an anthology that scrutinises the enduring systemic injustices in higher education. Drawing upon post-humanist theories, the book critiques the colonial legacies, Western-centric knowledge paradigms, and neoliberal ideologies that continue to influence these systems. Amid these critiques, it advocates for a future of justice-to-come, urging a transformative shift towards more inclusive and equitable educational models, thereby resonating with the realities and aspirations of the Global South. To imagine the future of justice-to-come, higher education in the Global South must excogitate the place of knowledge in developing a socially just curriculum to address epistemic in/justices.

Teacher Educators’ Application of Learning from Technology Professional Development: A Case Study

Foster Gondwe — 2023-08-29

This study explored teacher educators’ application of learning from technology professional development (TPD). Participants were drawn from a teacher training college (TTC) and a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) implementing an educational technology programme. The NGO case served as a snapshot to draw lessons that might be useful for teacher educators’ TPD in public teacher education institutions (TEIs). The findings showed that while teacher educators confirmed their application of learning through student teachers’ performance, they reported work environment conditions and individual characteristics as obstacles to application of learning. The findings point to individual motivation, needs, and obstacles concerning teacher educators’ TPD in Malawi.

Perceived life balance, cultural experience, and academic outcomes: A comparative study of first-generation students in South Africa and Canada

Elizabeth Sipiwe Ndofirepi — 2023-08-29

Not much is known about how first-generation students’ cultural experiences, resourcefulness, resilience and their belief that they are able to balance multiple roles affects their academic success. In this North-South comparative study, we examined the impact of culture and perceived ability to balance multiple academic and non-academic roles (balance belief) on academic outcomes experienced by first-generation and non-first-generation students in Canada and South Africa. We also identified the relationship between culture, balance belief, student resilience and resourcefulness and academic outcomes (grades, adjustment and academic self-efficacy). While academic behaviours were similar across countries and similar between students who are and are not first-generation, some non-academic roles differed. Further, for all students, greater balance belief had a small positive effect on grades, university adjustment and academic self-efficacy. When balance belief was combined with students’ academic resourcefulness, predictions of grades, especially for first-generation students from South Africa, were improved. Interventions that improve balance belief may aid students in each country; but understanding cultural experiences related to resourcefulness and resilience is importance since their association with balance belief varies between country and first-generation status.

Pressured to perform: The negative consequences of the ‘publish or perish’ phenomenon among junior academics

Bonginkosi Hardy Mutongoza — 2023-08-29

A growing body of work suggests that junior researchers in universities are often confronted by pressure to conduct research and get published in order to move up the academic ladder. These pressures are often loaded with little to no regard for the welfare of the junior academics and no concern for the career paths they wish to take. Against this background, this study explored the negative consequences associated with the pressure to publish from the unique perspective of junior academics at a rural university in South Africa. The study was underpinned by a qualitative research approach which enabled the utilisation of qualitative interviews with twelve junior academics from four faculties at the university. The findings demonstrated the often-salient bullying and abuse of junior academics that happens under the guise of mentorship from their senior colleagues. The study also revealed the cost at which the pressure to perform comes, namely the cost to mental well-being, the temptation to publish in predatory journals, the rise of unethical publishing, and the sacrifice of quality research. Based on these findings, the study recommended that more considered efforts be made to secure the welfare of emerging academics and that more concerted efforts be instituted in universities to guard against the rise of academic bullying at the hands of senior academics.

Spiritual well-being and mental health among students: Evidence from Indonesia

Muli Noer — 2023-08-29

This research investigates whether and how religiosity (for example, spiritual well-being) influences the mediator variables (student attitude, subjective norm, and behavioural control) in the education field based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). It also examines how these mediator variables affect students’ mental health. 572 students were recruited for a survey study, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the research hypotheses. The empirical results indicate that spiritual well-being has significant and positive effects on students’ attitudes, subjective norms, and behaviour, subsequently influencing their mental health. Furthermore, the mediator variables (for example, students' attitude, subjective norm, and behaviour) partially mediate religiosity and mental health. The results of this study suggest that regulators should collaborate with parents, schools, and teachers to develop a suitable curriculum, based on religiosity principles, which correlates with the current situation.

Exploring the prospects for professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho

Tebello Violet Tlali — 2023-08-29

Higher education developments are gradually enabling the re-conceptualisation of postgraduate research supervision as a teaching and learning practice. This re-conceptualisation has also led to the recognition that postgraduate research supervisors need to be appropriately capacitated so that they can master the supervisory craft. This study sought to explore the prospects for professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho, by examining supervisors’ trajectories of learning how to become supervisors and to identify areas for further professional development. Fifteen supervisors took part in the study. Nine (three associate professors and six senior lecturers) were interviewed through semi-structured interviews while six junior lecturers were interviewed through a focus group interview. The findings revealed that while most supervisors relied mainly on the way they were supervised, they also value the experiential learning accrued in their trajectories as supervisors. The study highlights issues for consideration in advancing professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho.

Perceptions of Chemical Engineering Students on Decolonizing the Curriculum by Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge Practices

Machodi Mathaba — 2023-08-29

The #FeesMustFall movement, which rocked institutions of higher learning in South Africa in 2015/2016, inspired robust engagement around the decolonization of knowledge. Students argued that the epistemological context of higher education in South Africa does not reflect the African context. Activists argued that if the curricula did not speak to local issues, the challenges facing higher education would remain. Incorporating indigenous knowledge practices into mainstream education could signify a shift away from Western dominance in the local episteme. Engineering is not immune to decolonization. This paper attempts to extract the views and observations of 38 chemical engineering students, from second year until PhD level, at the University of Johannesburg on decolonizing the curriculum by incorporating indigenous knowledge practices. The data was generated through an open-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire required that participants briefly describe indigenous practices with the potential for elucidating chemical engineering principles. Participants identified umfuso, which is the process of drying vegetables in the sun, sieving with leselo, which is made up of reeds and is used to separate light materials from heavy ones, drinking cow urine as a remedy to cure various diseases, making traditional mageu, brewing traditional beer (umqombothi) and milling and grinding maize meal, as practices which they believe had potential to reshape the curriculum. The findings of the study show that students concurred with the call for decolonization and transformation of the chemical engineering curriculum, but that there was a lack of consensus on whether incorporating indigenous knowledge practices could help achieve it, as the system of acquiring education itself needs decolonization.