Browsing by Subject "teaching"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Academic identities and communities of practice in a professional discipline
    (Taylor & Francis, 2009) Jawitz, Jeff
    This paper explores the dynamics surrounding the formation of academic identities in a context where the nature of academic work is contested both as a result of tensions within the discipline and in response to pressure from both the institution and the field of higher education. It is based on a case study which investigated the process of academic identity formation at the micro level of a department at a South African university. The study revealed a complex relationship between identity construction and participation within the particular configuration of teaching, professional and research communities of practice that defined the academic field in the department. Multiple identity trajectories were evident, indicating the role of individual agency, despite the dominance of a professional community of practice within the department. The arrival of new academics in the department without professional practice experience was found to have created the possibility of a changed notion of the academic within the discipline.
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    An analysis of the theory- and employment-demands on mathematics for electrical engineering programmes at technikons
    (1989) Swanepoel, Jonathan E
    A preliminary study indicated a degree of dissatisfaction with the present mathematics curriculum at technikons amongst academic staff members of technikons as well as members of the electrical-engineering industry. The hypothesis of this study is that the present mathematics curricula for electrical-engineering at technikons are not fully compatible with the demands emanating from the theoretical and the industrial-training (in-service or workplace) components of the training of electrical-engineering technicians. The intent of this study is, firstly, to propose a framework of thought supporting engineering-mathematics curriculum-change in the context of electrical-engineering programmes as offered at technikons. The actual formulation of the syllabus content is supported by a curriculum-change model which takes cognisance of both the theoretical-demands and the workplace- demands in accordance with the aims of co-operative education espoused by technikons in South Africa. Secondly, a literature study of relevant past research leads to the development of a research methodology sympathetic to the present philosophy of technikon education for engineering-technicians in the country. The research methodology involves, firstly, a questionnaire response from practising engineers and technicians. Secondly, it involves the gathering of suggestions from technikon academic staff and the analysis thereof by a work-group representative of all technikons, and led by the researcher. Thirdly, seventy-nine (79) reference-texts to the electrical-engineering programmes (study-levels 1 to 4), offered at the Peninsula Technikon, were analysed for its mathematical content. The research findings supports the hypothesis. The thesis culminates in set of recommendations with regard to the applicability and composition of mathematics syllabi for electrical-engineering programmes at technikons.
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    Changing Centres of Teaching and Learning an analytical review
    (UCT, 2021) Czerniewicz, Laura
    This analytical review reflects on the ways that centres for teaching and learning in universities are formulated and how they might change to best respond to and address the changing needs of students, academics and institutions in a post pandemic era. Drawing on discussions with experts, personal experience and grey literature, the key considerations to be addressed are articulated, in order to spell out the options for CTLs in a variety of contexts
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    Open Teaching in a Digital Age
    (2014-09-17) Paskevicius, Michael; Willmers, Michelle; Hodgkinson-Williams, Cheryl
    This powerpoint presentation can be used for reference or in sharing the idea of open educational resources. The digital age has rung in profound changes for the higher education endeavour – not least of which has been a revolution in the way teaching materials are generated, shared and re-appropriated by means of the internet. This is the realm of OER, a new philosophy in teaching and learning which has the potential to open new channels for the flow of knowledge. OER UCT invites you to explore the unlimited potential to boost your individual academic profile as well as that of your department or faculty by sharing your teaching efforts with the global OER community. This informative session will provide you with an introduction to the realm of OER, provide practical suggestions on how to publish your teaching materials on the internet, and cover aspects relating to copyright and licensing.
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    Presence and Absence: Looking for Teaching and Teaching Development in the Website of a 'Research-led' South African University
    (University of the Western Cape, 2015) Jawitz, Jeff; Williams, Kevin
    This article arises out of a broader study into the contextual influences on the professional development of academics as teachers in higher education in South Africa. Using Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis we examine the website of a ‘researchled’ South African university. We examine the choices made in the use of website space and the presence and absence of texts which refer to teaching or the development of teaching. We compare these choices with those made about portraying other aspects of the university’s self-described mission on the website as a proxy for the valuing of teaching. We recognise that marketing spaces cannot be seen to equate to the commitment of institutions, departments or individual academics, but our concern in this project was to understand what publicly accessible claims the university makes about teaching, and whether such claims are borne out by its own self-description. With regard to teaching we found that absences are more frequent than presences, especially in comparison with the way other ‘core functions’ of the university are presented. Taken together it is difficult to find support for the rhetoric of the valuing of teaching that is conveyed in the university’s self-description. We suggest that this lack of valuing of teaching may have an effect on the choices academics make in responding to calls to invest time in developing their teaching.
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    Unearthing white academics’ experience of teaching in higher education in South Africa
    (Taylor & Francis, 2016-06) Jawitz, Jeff
    The real and imagined racial differences and similarities between groups of students and staff have consequences in everyday experiences in South Africa. One aspect of engaging with the challenges facing higher education transformation post-Apartheid is through understanding how the racialized context interacts with the experience of teaching. This paper reports on what the narratives of four white academics reveal about their experience of teaching at the University of Cape Town (UCT). It analyses indicators of their identity as white academics and how they are both positioned and actively position themselves in relation to students and other academics at UCT. Their narratives reveal how academics simultaneously grapple with the privileges and limitations that accompany identifying as white. These tensions are explored through issues of black student development amid an alienating institutional culture and opposition to the behaviour of their white colleagues.