Attendees at the 10^th annual International conference on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).

 

The 10th Annual International Conference on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning was held from 3-5 October 2024, under the theme: “A Decade of Embracing Theory and Practice in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" by the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT).

SoTL is a research-led form of professional learning launched in 2014 through the University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG). It aims to unearth and contribute to the knowledge base of teaching and learning.

In her remarks, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Pamela Dube, emphasised the profound significance of the 10th anniversary of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. She expressed the university's pride in SoTL’s achievements and the elation in hosting this 10th international conference. The year 2024 is equally important for the university, marking significant growth and achievements over the past 20 years as a university of technology. The institution is endowed with critical human capital, good infrastructure, and a large student intake to accelerate its growth and multiply its graduate and research outputs.

She added that the foundation the institution has built over the last twenty years has been instrumental in its development, enabling it to achieve sevenfold what was accomplished in the previous twenty years. “The theme covers a wide range of exciting topics related to all theoretical and practical aspects. These topics include integrating cross-multidisciplinary perspectives in education and reviewing the current challenges in curriculum transformation, learner-centred teaching, artificial intelligence, and the future of innovative assessment. They provide the foundation for understanding educational phenomena and guiding the development of innovative and evidence-based teaching strategies and instructional designs. This comprehensive coverage ensures that the conference will be engaging for our keynote speakers, presenters, and delegates, allowing them to actively contribute to research outputs such as published papers, case studies, and best practices,” she stated.

Professor Zodwa Thembelihle Motsa Madikane, Vice-Principal: Teaching, Learning, Community Engagement, and Student Support at UNISA, kicked off the conference with a keynote address titled "Navigating the Future of the Global South: Bridging Higher Education, Crisis, and Global Equality through the Integration of Digital and Indigenous Knowledge for Africa's Epistemic Revolution."

“As an academic fraternity in South African higher education, we have two challenges. The one challenge is taking advantage of the upsurge of technology that has swept all areas of the academic enterprise, particularly higher education. How do we carry the students along so that they can embrace this technology? And the second challenge affects a section of our society, the African section. It's a major challenge in the sense that the section of society is immersed in Western knowledge. It speaks English better than English professors. It triumphs, it does a whole lot of things, and yet, its own knowledge systems do not find relevance in the classroom. They go into the classroom with all the Western knowledge that we have all been taught, and some of us are so specialised in it that we are professors of English. But when they go home, they have umalume; a grandmother and a community that has over thousands of years of knowledge that does not find its place in the curricula they encounter in class; so, what are we teaching here? What are we creating here? Are we creating a community of practitioners that can fit in Asia, in England, in Germany, but not as itself?” asked Prof. Motsa Madikane as she encouraged delegates to engage in discussions and research on the matter.

Since its inception, the mission of the SoTL has been to improve the quality of teaching and learning through systematic inquiry of research, encourage academics to reflect on their practices through research, academic staff to actively contribute to the ongoing conversation about teaching and learning in the disciplines; contribute to increasing research outputs for the Institution; and create groups of Communities of Practices (COPs) to work on specific domains of learning and teaching.

From left: Dr Xolani Khohliso, Head: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Prof. Ntsoaki  Malebo, Senior Director: Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching, Prof. Annah Vimbai Bengesai, Director: Teaching and Learning Unit, UKZN; Prof. Pamela Dube, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof. Zodwa Motsa Madikane, Vice-Principal: Teaching, Learning and Community Engagement and Student Support, UNISA; Prof. Wendy Setlalentoa, acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, Prof. Emmanuel Mgqwashu, Director: Centre for Higher Education Professional Development, NWU and Prof. Ermien van Pletzen, CUT Coach - Siyaphumelela Project.

Uploaded: 08 October 2024