Page 18 - Transformation Report

Relationships
Relationships between the Institution’s role players are valued and nurtured because Higher Education Learning and Teaching
is a deliberative encounter. A space will be created to strengthen the relationships amongst all the role players to promote
ownership, the sense of belonging, connectedness, support and hence the student’s success.

Space
Create spaces that are intentionally conducive to their purpose while remaining sensitive to our unique context.

Processes
Create processes that ensure all role-players can engage in a continuous cycle of reflection and renewal.

2. Enabling Curriculum Development

The organisational redesign process provided an opportunity to reimage our academic development configurations. The
reimagining work resulted in the following emergent elements:

• A new overarching Learning and Teaching Collaborative for Success (LT Collab) structure in which LT enabling
opportunities to take the form of collaborative partnerships between students, academics, and other institutional
services to learn together, socially construct knowledge, develop understanding or personal insights, and care for
our students. These collaborations are facilitated by LT staff, selected from a range of disciplines with different
roles and expertise, who work together for the mutual benefit of fostering LT success. Thus, the revised purpose is:
“Enabling learning and teaching development, innovation and success to change the world”, a function in line with
Mandela University’s strategic priority of “access for success”.

• The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated our digital transformation trajectory of learning and
teaching within a global context where social distancing, blended learning, and digitalised service delivery have
become the norm. To ensure student success, the University has been developing the pedagogical, curriculum
development, and assessment competencies of lecturers, particularly in response to the rapid transition to hybrid
approaches to learning and teaching.

• As part of the development of teachers and teaching, academic staff are provided with a range of opportunities
and spaces to develop their teaching practice and to improve staff capability relating to curriculum development
as part of efforts to actively engage students in learning. Teaching development continues to focus on creating
platforms to support academics in transitioning to online teaching and assessment, including the use of tools
to counter plagiarism and promote academic integrity. As an example, the University reimagined the induction
programme for new lecturers, now known as Beginning Your Journey (BYJ) @ Mandela University. Lecturing
personnel benefit from the Teaching Enhancement Programme which provides ongoing workshops
and consultations relating to topical issues such as curriculum development, academic literacies
and multilingualism, assessment of student learning, blended learning, teaching large classes, and developing a
teaching portfolio. Annexure 1 provides a summary of key teaching and curriculum development activities offered
during the period under review.

2.1 Digital Transformation of Learning and Teaching
The University has recognised the importance of preparing for the Digital Transformation of Learning and Teaching. A specific
project called; Digital Learning Design and Innovation was initiated in late 2018. The goal of the project was to scan the South
African and global Digital Learning and Teaching landscape to correctly position our University for Learning and Teaching in
the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution. A key aspect of digital transformation is that it places people at the centre of the
transformation process - technology is simply an enabler, and the project will strategically guide the process of transforming
Learning and Teaching at both human and technological levels. The project dovetails with and informs the institution-wide
organisational redesign process. The redesign is a ‘fit-for-purpose’ exercise and the establishment of a Learning Experience
Design and Innovation cluster in the LT Collab has been key to the conception and implementation of a coherent institutional
response to educational landscape changes stemming from technological changes in Learning and Teaching.

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