University of the Western Cape

Title of the project: Transforming postgraduate supervision through communities of learning based on ubuntu

Team: Karin Chinnian and Shunelle Grosch

This project is aimed at implementing socially just and humanising pedagogies in the Masters in Law programme, particularly the thesis writing and supervision aspect of the degree. At previous forums, the Department of Criminal Justice and Procedure (in the Faculty of Law, UWC) recognised that LLM students required additional support. Likewise, emerging supervisors needed mentoring and guidance in supervising postgraduate theses. Communities of practice, based on the African philosophy of Ubuntu is proposed as an alternative or complementary framework for postgraduate supervision and, as a means of achieving socially just pedagogies. In dedicated sessions, students would receive support from several participating supervisors. In addition, supervisors would receive peer support and mentorship. This project is based on four key areas: building and rebuilding relationships between students and supervisors; the creation and development of sustainable communities of practice with multiple supervisors and multiple students; underpinning the supervisory process with African philosophy; and lastly, the consideration of the feasibility of transitioning these ideas from theory to practice.

Transition Podcast

Team: Carlin-Leigh Jaftha and Tina Hlanjwa

The Transition Podcast is a project that offers valuable insights, practical advice, and emotional support to individuals navigating life changes. By addressing both the challenges and opportunities of transitions, the podcast empowers listeners with actionable strategies, success stories, and tools for emotional resilience. It fosters a supportive community, reducing isolation and encouraging personal growth. With expert advice and curated resources, the podcast helps listeners approach transitions with confidence, adapt to change, and achieve positive outcomes, ultimately inspiring transformation and empowerment throughout their journey

Academic Student Success Advising – High Priority Modules

Team: Lathitha Hlanjwa and Brittany Adams

Academic Advising (AA) is widely recognized as a high-impact practice that significantly contributes to student retention and success. Typically, AA is seen primarily as curricular advising, focusing on course selection and academic requirements, rather than encompassing a broader, holistic approach that addresses academic, social, and career-related factors. However, in the current higher education landscape, it is evident that various non-academic issues can also influence students' academic performance. Despite this, institutions often limit their support to academic matters alone. It is crucial to provide students with a support system that extends beyond academics to include personal and social aspects as well.

The proposed solution is to offer mandatory Academic Student Success Advising for all students enrolled in high-priority courses, with a primary focus on those repeating the course or at risk of failing. This support involves one-on-one meetings between students and advisors to address challenges both within and beyond the lecture rooms. These sessions serve as a platform to discuss issues, explore solutions, and equip students with tools to better manage their coursework, thereby fostering student independence rather than dependence on the advisor for solutions. These would also not just be one time sessions but there will be space to allow for continuous follow up and monitoring of these students

Title: Enhancing student/staff partnerships through ubuntugogy at UWC: towards “medemenslikheid”.

Team: Logan Adams and Siyabulela Sibata

The Enhancing student-staff partnerships through ubuntugogy at UWC: towards “medemenslikheid” project, is a project that aims to educate, inform, and provide cultural and educational expertise to ensure the strengthening of student-staff partnerships. By creating a platform where students can have a voice and equitable relationships with staff, we ensure the improvement of academic excellence through the practices of ubuntugogy. By addressing the several challenges faced by students and staff members, we craft greater relationships between staff and students to ensure the success of education in our university. This project aims to empower, inform, and provide expert advice through student-staff partnerships by practicing compassion, equity and epistemic justice.

Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Title: Including CPUT First-year student voices into teaching and learning practices.

Team: Linda Manashe, Yanelisa Bija, Sinovuyo Ncuku, Sakhile Mzila, Qaqamba Siphunzi and Iviwe Mhlanga

The project aims to foster a collaborative environment between students and staff to enhance inclusivity and equity within the learning community. Recognizing the value of student voices, particularly from first-year students who may be underprivileged or underrepresented, the initiative seeks to ensure that diverse perspectives are acknowledged and addressed. By involving students directly in the decision-making process, the project aims to create a more inclusive and equitable learning environment that reflects the needs and experiences of first-year students.

This partnership will focus on identifying and overcoming barriers to inclusion and equity, thereby enhancing the overall educational and psychosocial experiences and support systems for first-year students.

The challenges of academic adjustment, academic and social integration, navigating university resources, mental health and financial stress will be addressed with a blackboard course providing a variety of resources and a series of workshops relating to these challenges.

Title: Supporting the Well-Being of Advanced Diploma Students: An Engagement Initiative

Team: Sweta Patnaik and Love Bossa

The intervention takes place in an educational setting where Advanced Diploma students often face unique challenges that can impact their well-being. These challenges include increased academic pressure, balancing jobs or internships, and transitioning to more advanced coursework. Recognizing the importance of holistic support, the lecturer (who is also the department curriculum officer) aims to create an environment where students' mental, and emotional well-being is prioritized alongside their academic success.

The primary design challenge is to develop an effective strategy that engages Advanced Diploma students and thoroughly addresses their well-being. The initiative must overcome barriers such as students' busy schedules, varying levels of awareness and willingness to participate, and the need for tailored support that resonates with their specific needs and concerns. Additionally, it is essential to create a sustainable and scalable model that can be integrated into the existing educational framework without overwhelming resources.

The project will attempt to address this challenge through wellness workshops and seminars, peer support networks, personalised well-being plans, online resources and support and continuous feedback and improvement.

Academic and social support for learners to enhance wellbeing and wellness

Team: Whaldine Mothibi, June van der Merwe, Monalene Barends, Willmary Cyster and Hanlie Dippenaar

The Academic and social support for learners to enhance wellbeing and wellness project will be a support programme developed to enhance academic progress and holistic wellbeing of learners from a children’s home in Tulbach, in the Western Cape. This will also be in conjunction with a reading project presented by Dr Q. Gray, English Language Fellow who is hosted by the Faculty of Education, CPUT, who has started a reading programme at another children’s home in Wellington, and who will assist in orientating the CPUT students. The projects will aim to improve learners’ reading and academic progress to enhance their academic success. The CPUT students who will be teachers soon, will learn and implement vital skills needed to assist learners who struggle with academic progress in especially Maths and Languages, and learners who cannot read fluently or with comprehension.

This is a pilot project which will be extended into a longitudinal, annual project for students from the Wellington campus. The pilot project will take place over a long week-end in September, when a group of students will be taken by bus to the children’s home to tutor the learners. The project is driven by a group of four students in the 4th year of their B Ed degree. They will plan the logistics, recruit students and design the programme. In addition they will plan accommodation, meals and transport. This is an opportunity for these students to develop very important skills before they start their teaching careers. The project addresses final year students’ graduate attributes and aligns with the outcomes of the academic programme. It also speaks to the institutional goal of social responsibility and citizenship.

University of Cape Town

Title: Bridging the gap – Where teaching meets learning in Undergraduate preclinical medical education

Team: Jaisubash Jayakumar, Danika Govender, Sayuran Pillay and Ramonde Patientia

This project aims to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the MBChB program by fostering a collaborative partnership between students and staff. Through a co-designed pedagogical framework, we seek to address diverse learning styles, improve lecture delivery, and implement a continuous course evaluation system. By integrating student perspectives and innovative teaching practices, we aim to create an inclusive and adaptive educational environment that supports all learners and drives academic success. There are three proposed solutions to be implemented. Firstly gaining student perspectives on teaching practices through surveys, feedback forms and student input. Secondly, designing a guideline for effective lecturing which will assist both students and lecturers in improving engagement. Lastly, developing an ongoing course evaluation framework to ensure that teaching methods consistently meet students’ needs.

Transition to university: understanding how diversity could impact ‘belonging’ and wellness of first year undergraduate students

Team: Roshan Sonday, Kevin Shoba, Ramonde Patientia and Dhiya Ramadhar

This project will examine how diverse factors affect first-year students around their sense of belonging and wellbeing at the University of Cape Town, a historically advantaged institution located in the Western Cape. It aims to understand the challenges faced by students from diverse backgrounds, including those related to invisible disabilities, cultural and language diversity, social integration, family responsibilities, and mental health issues. We use the term ‘invisible disabilities’ which refers to health issues such as mental health issues, anxiety, and ADHD etc, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed. Our focus (as part of tightening our scope) will be to either specifically address ONLY mental health and invisible disabilities or to include a broader range of diversity. By acknowledging these factors, the initiative seeks to improve students' ability to cope with university life, reduce feelings of alienation, and promote positive peer interactions and mentorship. We hope to achieve this by strengthening university support structures, developing self-awareness in students, equipping students with the skills to navigate uncertainty and promoting empathetic approaches. We would also like enhance the student and alumni network and support students in exploring different career paths for the future. Supporting first-year students in adapting to new environments beyond academics is critical for their overall wellbeing and success.

Student Leadership Starter Pack

Team: Abicha Tshiamala, Naledi Mohale and Christine Immenga

The South African Higher Education system is underpinned by the principle of co-operative governance. To realise this principle, the Higher Education Act requires that a Higher Education Institution be composed of a Council, a Senate, an Institutional Forum and an SRC. The SRCs role is to represent the student voice in university committees and advocate for student interest within this co-operative governance model. SRCs rely on their substructures such as Faculty Councils to support the system of co-operative governance especially with regard to academic representation. These student leaders are full time students who take up this leadership position over and above their academic course load and other personal commitments such as part time jobs, family commitments and other hobbies and past-times. Our intention is to better prepare student leaders who run and serve on the Faculty Council for their term of office and to provide them with the tools to hit the ground running when they start their term. We propose achieving this with a course which will be integrated into existing induction programmes but will focus on skills such as strategic planning, time management, balancing competing interests and evaluating the impact of activities. Our team consists of two previous student leaders who will provide first hand experience and guidance on the project.

Building Care

Team: Wrixon Mpanang’ombe, Tania Katzschner, Dylan Snyders, Lailah Davids, Siphelele Conjwa Kwanele and Kgosi Mabalane

The design challenge is to grow and enhance the Building Care initiative of the UCT planning school community building a more healthy commons and compassion. The project is literally about growing care and compassion and cultivating a different way of being together. The initiative involves both students, academic and non-academic staff, and friends of the UCT planning programme within the UCT School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics. Therefore, through our participation in the DSJP programme, we want to further grow and develop this existing Building Care initiative to improve co-ownership, participation and joy.

The project is unpinned by the following values:

• care, everyday, together
• compassion, listening still, humility, vulnerability, integrity, equality,
• Leading by example, Presence of presence, radical attentiveness, interdependence

The Project anticipates to overcome the following challenges:

• Lack of interest and commitment by staff and students
• Lack of ability to slow down in a context of urgency and academic pressure and deadlines
• Sense of belonging/not belonging
• Continuity

DOT4D Student Fellowship Programme

Team: Bianca Masuku and Nico Pampier

There is an increased need in higher education for student participation and student voices in varied aspects of teaching and learning and an increased demand from students to be part of this work. As such, we are in a partnership in order to create a student-centred and student-led space within our open textbook initiative, the Digital Open Textbooks for Development project (DOT4D) through designing a student fellowship programme that will allow interested students to participate and contribute to our work around open education and open textbook development and social justice and promote inclusivity, equity and student voice.

Our plan is to create a student fellowship programme within the DOT4D initiative that will be a platform/ space in which students that are interested in open education and open textbooks and issues around social justice in higher education are able to participate and contribute to the work that the initiative does in various capacities and share their perspectives, insights, expertise and experiences as students. The fellowship programme aims to provide an opportunity for students to learn more about open education practices that address social justice imperatives in higher education. In this programme, students will be periodically recruited to voluntarily participate in a range of planned activities and events within the DOT4D initiative, with a few opportunities available for paid work (depending on available funds)

Towards Guidelines for AI Use: Facilitating co-design processes for SSP Institution(s) UCT

Team: Cheng-Wen Huang, Love-Joy Marozhe, Andrew Deacon, Asemahle Notshulwana and Nadia Waggie

UCT departments and entities are requesting guidelines and policies on appropriate and ethical AI use for course assessments, research projects and practices. The context of departments and entities vary, meaning any university-wide policy is unlikely to respond to all of the contextual issues. The university strategy currently being adopted involves devolving the decision-making on whether and how to use generative AI in the course to individual lecturers and entities. A consequence of this approach is that many lecturers and entities remain uncertain about how to engage students in thinking about AI use in their context, as they themselves are also still coming to an understanding of what is generative AI and the implications of its broader implications. As there is no uniformity, students often remain confused navigating between different rules in different courses and contexts.

Grounded on the premise that trust is crucial in upholding policies and that this is a shared responsibility between students and staff (Eaton, 2024), we seek to foster conversations between students and staff that can be meaningful in producing practical guides for AI use. By involving students as partners in developing guidelines on AI use, staff and students can be partners in achieving common objectives (Mercer-Mapstone & Marie, 2019). To this end, we propose developing facilitated workshops which bring staff and students in conversation to explore the gains and losses of AI use in their context, with the aim of developing a tailored guideline of AI use within their contexts. As an academic staff development intervention, we also aim to design the workshops to enable the participants to develop some level of AI literacy, equipping them with the knowledge to understand the implication of use.