CPUT hosted an Inter-institutional Extended Curriculum Programmes (ECPs) Symposium at the Granger Bay Hotel School.

The regional conference of Innovative Pedagogical Practices in ECPs saw delegates from all four universities in the Western Cape sharing best practices in teaching ECP students and addressing their academic challenges.

Access to ways of doing and thinking in disciplines has been an ongoing focus in the Department of Extended Curriculum at CPUT, but this year it wished to also highlight the more emotive and social barriers, which first year students may experience as well.

Delivering the symposium’s keynote address, Professor Jenni Case from the Centre for Research in Engineering Education at the University of Cape Town (UCT), addressed academic development in the mainstream by presenting a case study in UCT’s Department of Chemical Engineering.

The study found a demonstration of possible structural shifts in a mainstream undergraduate programme. She asked whether the co-option of industry ideas into the curriculum will be initially enabling however, ultimately, limiting in the broader sense of transformation.

CPUT lecturers Julian Hopley and Alex Noble discussed how a course in visual literacy was developed for foundation Architecture and Interior Design students.

 They said that the development of the course took into cognizance the background information about foundation students, namely, no previous art training nor 3D perception skills and poor mathematical skills.

Papers and discussions presented during the conference fell under a variety of themes, including the following:

Innovative uses of IT
Student personal development
Attitudes and emotions in learning
Innovative teaching methods
Curriculum design
Foundation structures and systems

Written by CPUT News
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Multilingualism in Higher Education was the focus of a recent Language Indaba hosted at CPUT.

Presented by CPUT’s Language Working Group in collaboration with Fundani Centre for Higher Education Development’s Language Unit, the event at the Granger Bay Hotel School attracted about 45 delegates from various parts of the country including curriculum officers, language specialists, academics and researchers.

The event focused on viable strategies and possible interventions that could improve access to learning.

Delivering the keynote address, Prof Russell Kaschula, Head of School of Languages at Rhodes University, said multilingualism underpins academic work.

 “Language is an environmental resource and not just a linguistic one,” Kaschula said when discussing the decrease of users of some indigenous South African languages.

He cited an author who predicted that endangered languages would die in 100 years’ time and that in 500 years’ time only English will be spoken in the world.

He suggested the inclusion of African Language proficiency as a requirement in professional training.  

Welcoming the delegates, Prof Anthony Staak, Deputy VC: Academic, told the gathering that the majority of CPUT students do not have English as their home language but that the university’s official medium of instruction is English.

“We know that this forms a major barrier to a student’s understanding of the difficult concepts in his or her field of study, particularly in the increasingly multilingual context of higher education,” says Staak.

CPUT’s Dr Monwabisi Ralarala and Dr Ernest Pineteh presented a research paper which found that international students struggle to adjust to a new and foreign educational system, both linguistically and culturally.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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