Press Pause

Group Support for Improved Performance in Online Learning

I teach ICT Literacy to a first year course with 400 students who joined the university with no basic computer skills. The course is aimed at equipping them with ICT skills they need to integrate ICTs into their subjects. This entails teaching them technical skills in the context of teaching practice. A blended approach was used to deliver the course. Lectures were for demonstrating how to navigate and use the tools they were introduced to. Six tutors supported them in their groups. At the move to ERT, the university advised lecturers to avoid using video conferencing and that meant that I could not do the demonstrations and tutors could not support them on face-to-face sessions. The first announcement made clear the cascade approach to communication that was going to be used which was from student-to-group; group rep-to-tutor; tutor-to-tutor group with lecturer and lecturer to the class through announcements on Sakai. This strategy made it possible to manage the large class and to follow up on students' participation. Student successful completion rate for the semester improved by 10% from the previous year. I would like to propose that this group support structure be adopted for large classes as a way of tracing and supporting students learning online.

FVPA tutor training: pause briefly and quickly reflect

Film, Visual and Performing Arts (FVPA) is the compulsory theory course for first year students entering professional degrees in the Wits School of Arts.

The course caters to around 350 students each year. Pre-Covid-19, students attended two double lectures per week and one 45-minute weekly tutorial where they worked in small groups of 20. There were weekly tutor training sessions in which tutors trained each other. There is a longer history to this peer-led process which is an interesting innovation in itself, and which is the subject of a paper currently in development. This proposal is to describe and examine what happened to that training process, and to the tutorials themselves, in the move online.

Supporting the lecture programme, the tutorial programme is centred on the acquisition of academic writing skills and they provided learning opportunities that were student-centred in their participatory, discussion and activity oriented format.

A true community of practice, this tutor group will share some of the challenges, losses and gains experienced in attempting to keep this vital process alive and intact, and they will share some of the shifts and amendments that were necessarily made along the way/on the fly: their reflections are from the frontline!

From Embodied learning to WhatsApp - not quite what anyone imagined

Strategic Narrative Embodiment is an E-learning course that piloted in 2019 to a target community of professional coaches and facilitators engaged in varied degrees of practice within the realm of transformative engagement or change-oriented work in and with organisations. Mixed results, following the culmination of this first iteration of release, resulted in a review and redesign process that is now, in our 2020 reality, seeing the second iteration tested with a community of developing facilitator practitioners within the umbrella specialties of applied arts practices, through the post-graduate division that is Drama for Life. Through these targeted release processes, we are evaluating response, engagement, effectiveness and impact on the following levels:

• e-learning platform appropriateness testing;
• interdisciplinary collaboration on the part of bodies invested in the e-learning venture before it was a pandemic propelled and therefore compulsory reality – the SNE programme originator, Dr Petro Janse van Vuuren and Wits CLTD (Centre for Learning, Teaching and Development) and Practitioners Tshego Khutsoane and Alison Gitelson;
• and grappling with the emergent and complex needs – pointing primarily to access and accessibility and intergenerational cultures of tutelage in both target communities engaged with so far in the offering of the SNE course.

Remote online practical training incorporating WI strategies

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the department of Speech Language Pathology, like all other departments in the University, had to develop innovative strategies to clinically train students. We had to train the students in a manner that addressed gaps in knowledge, addressed their clinical competencies and bridged the gap between theory and practice. Using action research methods, we implemented a second-year online clinical training program that encompassed both synchronous and asynchronous activities. Mid-year academic examination marks, semester 1 students’ clinical marks, clinical feedback from clinical educators and the clinical outcomes of the course informed the structure of the online activities. Writing of integrated clinical reports was cited as a critical area of grave concern so WI strategies were implemented on a weekly basis, linked to the planned activities for each week. A preliminary evaluation of the remote clinical online course was conducted by obtaining tutor and student feedback, and comparing clinical reports written in first semester to third block. Tutor feedback revealed writing of reports has improved, students are less stressed, and there is more integration of theory with practice. Students were grateful for the opportunity to consolidate theory with application. Students’ confidence in writing reports has increased.

When More is Less: Juggling Content & Judgement Creep in Emergency Remote Assessments

In the advent of emergency remote teaching, the most common advice in educational media was for academics to change assessment methods to suit the online environment and to prepare students for the requirements of the assessment methods. So, I designed application-based take home assessment task for first- and third-year students.

First-year students were a big class (300) and so there was a voluntary exam consultation forum after receiving the question paper. Third-year students were a small class (25). So, I created a compulsory one-on-one sessions with students to discuss their ideas of how they intended to approach the assessment questions. At the time of making these decisions, I thought I was only changing assessment methods. However, in hindsight, I think I was inadvertently engaging in content creep and assessment creep.

Content creep refers to additional learning activities and material as a module progresses. Assessment creep refers to changes in assessment judgement over time due to changes in educational context. My two reflections are: Firstly, content and judgement creep are contrary to the principles of constructive alignment yet they seemed to work in this context. Secondly, dialogic assessment preparation for third-year students seemed to be effective because there was a noticeable improvement in the quality of answers. Thus, I am left thinking about the role of content creep and judgement creep in constructive alignment and in planning a unit of study.

Presenter:

Rajohane
Matshediso
Sociology
School of Social Sciences

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Is learning in an online environment better than in a face-to-face environment? Why this is a bad question to ask

The questions people frequently ask include: Do students learn better with tablets or textbooks?” or “Is learning in a face-to-face environment more effective than learning online?” These are bad questions to ask because they focus to the first two Ms, namely medium and modality respectively. Research has shown that the last M, Method, is the most important of the three Ms. Method refers to the strategies and pedagogies used by the teacher and this has a significant impact on student learning. I am currently involved in overseeing and providing support for students completing online courses presented by Brigham Young University (specifically the course titled ‘Pathways Connect’) and would like to share what I recently learnt, namely how good teachers can overcome poor quality mediums and modalities with the methods they use.

At the heart of the practice: a reimagining of theatre as activism assessments

The MA course titled Theatre as Activism, Education and Therapy, applies an integrated and theoretical and experiential approach in examining theatre as a force for personal, social, cultural and political change. The course is a practice-based study of the principles guiding Applied Theatre. At the heart of this course is an embodied, experiential, practice-based pedagogy. Students in this course must undertake two practicum projects as part of their learning. In a time when theatre had essentially come to a halt – when performance had to be reimagined online – it seemed too complicated for interventionist theatre to take shape with very little dialogue as to how it could happen. Lecturers in the Applied Theatre field not only needed time to reimagine online teaching, but time to reimagine the practice in the field itself. This webinar presentation will share the experiences of the first practicum project undertaken by students. It will not only address the importance of such assessment but also share the complexities in translating fieldwork practice to online platforms. How do we ensure that what is at the heart of the practice does not get lost in the learning of the practice due to a change in the learning platform?

When More is Less: Juggling Content & Judgement Creep in Emergency Remote Assessments

In the advent of emergency remote teaching, the most common advice in educational media was for academics to change assessment methods to suit the online environment and to prepare students for the requirements of the assessment methods. So, I designed application-based take home assessment task for first- and third-year students.

First-year students were a big class (300) and so there was a voluntary exam consultation forum after receiving the question paper. Third-year students were a small class (25). So, I created a compulsory one-on-one sessions with students to discuss their ideas of how they intended to approach the assessment questions. At the time of making these decisions, I thought I was only changing assessment methods. However, in hindsight, I think I was inadvertently engaging in content creep and assessment creep.

Content creep refers to additional learning activities and material as a module progresses. Assessment creep refers to changes in assessment judgement over time due to changes in educational context. My two reflections are: Firstly, content and judgement creep are contrary to the principles of constructive alignment yet they seemed to work in this context. Secondly, dialogic assessment preparation for third-year students seemed to be effective because there was a noticeable improvement in the quality of answers. Thus, I am left thinking about the role of content creep and judgement creep in constructive alignment and in planning a unit of study.

Presenter:

Rajohane
Matshediso
Wits School of Arts and
Wits School of Education
Drama for Life and
Foundation Studies

Hope, health and Wellbeing Course during Covid 19

First-year Social Work Students The hopes of pedagogical design using technology-enhanced learning were almost dashed when learning became Emergency Remote Learning due to Covid 19. In this presentation I share my mistakes and successes on how I taught a Health and Wellbeing course to 57 first- year students during April and May this year. Making use of real-world writing-intensive activities, four writing fellows and I navigated these choppy waters. The student voice is incorporated from a google survey completed by 29 of the students. Design of writing intensive tasks that included aspects of Covid 19 were developed for students to work in groups. The Authentic Learning framework of Herrington, Oliver and Reeves ( 2020) provided the theoretical framework that underpinned the course design. Opportunities and recommendations for flexible learning incorporating writing-intensive course design are provided for future iterations.

How Covid-19 impacted on the authentic assessment of a masters writing intensive course – reflections from the field

Recognizing the chaos of the moment and the huge challenges faced by students (panic, overwhelm, lack of privacy, data connectivity and finances), we adapted our WI course to ensure that critical features remained. Writing includes subject matter knowledge (both conceptual and procedural) as well as knowledge of discipline’s primary genres. To ensure that we retained the core elements of expert insider prose (MacDonald, 1994), we reconfigured the learning keeping a shorter, synchronous session once a week (remixed as a guided tour of key concepts, authors and chronologies rather than a discursive seminar) and added a second weekly session to work as a group for a writing submission addressing both the engagement with content (group) and the reflective elements so necessary for writing (reflections on group work or on submission). In this paper I will assess the impact of Covid-19 on the authentic assessments that are integrating into the curriculum design and constructively aligned (Bean, 1996; Biggs, 2014). I ask what worked, and what didn’t, where our assessments produced deep critical reflection and where they didn’t. Given that we will be living with the virus for the foreseeable future, it is important to assess where further adaptations need to be made. I will also reflect on the scope, pace, frequency and depth of summative assignments from a three-point view (writing fellows, students and myself as the lecturer) and the uptake of feedback to achieve assessment for learning (Carless and Boud, 2018). The paper will suggest that the place of the writing intensive is likely to gain more importance as it enables a form of remote learning that is deeply interactive, with many opportunities for authentic assessment.

Heightened Text, Embodiment and Verbatim Performance: An intersectional and interdisciplinary trauma Informed approach to living and learning in catastrophic times

This presentation will explore the following: * the creation of a pedagogy climate that was trauma informed * the creation of a new set of discourse rules for social media * the creation of a dual investigation, in order to assimilate the present reality through performance research, and to give metaphorical expression to the catastrophic circumstances * the creation of live performance through a multifaceted and multifocussed media as a form of performance ethnographic research.

Developing clinical critical thinking skills on an online platform

In a professional degree, hands-on clinical experience is required in order to effectively determine competence in a particular area. In Speech Pathology, the final year students are required to engage with a variety of complex and vulnerable populations ranging from children with multiple disabilities to adults with neurological complications. The sudden enforcement of lockdown meant for a re-thinking of how to teach and encourage the development of clinical critical thinking skills using a completely online platform. This required a shift in thinking from lecturers, clinical supervisors and students alike. New approaches to teaching as well as the evaluation of these clinical skills needed to be developed in a short space of time. With the introduction of certain aspects of teletherapy in the SA context has further highlighted some challenges but allowed for a creative re-thinking of patient management approaches. After discussions with students and supervisors, there have been some interesting lessons learnt. The COVID-19 situation has in fact assisted in this re-conceptualising of contextual curriculum relevance to help in the transformation agenda. That said, this is an ever-changing situation, and everyone needs to be flexible and there are lots more conversations that need to be had.

Possibilities for Critical Literacy in Large Group Online Teaching in South African Higher Education

The COVID-19 pandemic has required a shift to online teaching, even in contexts where students have very limited access to sufficient ICT technology, internet, reliable electricity or cell phone data/ signal. Critical literacy, where texts and contexts are examined for how they reproduce or challenge dominant structures of power, is vital in the South African context due to the country’s history of racial violence and systemic discrimination, and the current context of widespread gender-based violence, homophobia and divisions in terms of class and privilege. However, with the move to online teaching, critical literacy might seem particularly challenging to implement; critical literacy is linked to pedagogies of discomfort, is seen as dialogical, and challenges hierarchies in education by placing the ‘educator’ and ‘student’ as collaborators in the learning process. Thus, critical literacy seems suited to synchronous and face-to-face engagement where these processes are easier to implement. Additionally, a central tenet of critical literacy is questioning ideas of access in texts and contexts, and the material lack of access of some students might be a point of contention that could undermine online critical pedagogy. My presentation explores possibilities for a critical literacy approach in online teaching in higher education, using examples from two of my courses that were taught online this year. I show how forum discussions that link texts to contexts, multi-option multiple choice questions on the interpretation of texts, and requiring students to source and unpack their own texts can be useful tools in bringing critical literacy online.

(Anti) dialogic teaching during ERT

One of the modules that I have had to teach during ERT is Paulo Freire, in an education theory course. I was at first completely panicked about how to teach this anti-banking education theorist in an ERT climate that seemed to so enforce banking education. I was inspired by a UCT colleague to explore the medium of podcast – in an interview format, I created four podcast by four experts in the field of education and Freire, focusing on different aspects and readings in each podcast. I propose to present and talk through the process of the podcasts. This will include talking through and theorizing what the students gained through the process of accessing theory in different ways, through different voices and in different conversations. It also explores the anti-dialogic teaching that was prevalent in the ERT format and if it is possible to combat this with large classes – through any format.

Can narrated PowerPoint videos support a critical dialogic pedagogy in ERT?

At the start of our move to ERT, we were advised to plan for asynchronous teaching and to confine ourselves to Wits-e/Sakai. I needed to take an existing undergraduate English literature course that taught two controversial texts in a critical but open-ended and dialogic way, and redesign it for online teaching. In this presentation, I focus on the pedagogy of narrated PowerPoint videos, interrogating the extent to which a visually dominant design mediated by the lecturer voice could encourage student engagement and critical, dialogic thinking. Using a multimodal analytical framework, I suggest that it may indeed be possible to exploit the modal affordances of recorded electronic presentations for critical dialogic pedagogy providing other aspects of the course align with and reinforce this pedagogy.

Professor Laura Czerniewicz

Professor Laura Czerniewicz is the Director of the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), at the University of Cape Town. She has worked in education in a number of positions including academic, researcher, teacher, teacher-trainer and educational publisher. Threaded through all roles has been a focus on equity and digital inequality. These have permeated her research interests which include the changing nature of higher education in a digitally-mediated society and new forms of teaching and learning provision as well as student and academic technological practices. She has played a key strategic and scholarly role in the areas of blended and online learning as well as open education.

Associate Professor Catherine Kell

Catherine Kell is the Director of the School of Education at UCT, and an Associate Professor, specializing in language and literacy in education. She has worked in the field of literacy and language education since the early 1980s, across the University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, and various universities in New Zealand, which included a period working as an e-learning designer in the Centre for Academic Development at the University of Auckland. Her work in literacy education spans the contexts of adult education, worker education, schooling, higher education and academic development. Much of her recent work has focused on digital technologies and literacy education in early schooling.

Dr Sherran Clarence

Dr Sherran Clarence is an Honorary Research Associate in the Centre for Higher Education, Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL) at Rhodes University, in South Africa. Before moving into Education, after her MA, her research focused on gender and immigration studies, particularly the experiences of women migrants in the EU. Between 2009 and 2014 she was the coordinator of the UWC Writing Centre at the University of the Western Cape, where she focused on tutor development and mentoring, academic writing development with students and staff, and pedagogic practices in the disciplines. Currently, her practical work revolves around academic writing at postgraduate and postdoctoral level, and developing theorised, practical approaches to helping students make sense of the ‘rules of the game’ and produce more successful written texts. Her current research, building on her PhD work, looks at how teaching and learning, and student success, can be enhanced through theorising pedagogic practice using the work of Basil Bernstein, Academic Literacies theory, and Legitimation Code Theory. She supervises students working in higher education and gender studies, and writes a blog for doctoral students and supervisors entitled ‘How to write your PhD in a hundred steps or more’ ( https://phdinahundredsteps.com ). She holds a Y2 rating from the National Research Foundation.

Navan Govender

Navan Govender is a lecturer at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, United Kingdom, where they teach on the PGDE English programme. Working in the field of Applied (English) Language and Literacy Education, Navan’s research explores the relationship between language and power in education by working at the interface of critical literacies, multimodality and transmodality, and diverse (queer) identities. Their two most recent articles include Critical literacy & Critically Reflective Writing: Navigating Gender & Sexual Diversity and Critical Transmodal Pedagogies: Student Teachers Play with Genre Conventions. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6764-1169

Webinar summary: Supporting Learning, Capacity & Community During ERT

“We are here to press pause and reflect,” said Ana Ferreira, welcoming 57 webinar attendees to discuss the past six months of emergency remote teaching (ERT). “Does technology drive pedagogy or the other way around? We have been forced to really, really think about pedagogy from completely new angles. What is it that we've learned during this time that we want to take with us, moving forward?”

In his opening address, Wits University Dean Garth Stevens encouraged participation in the School of Education’s initiative, the Press Pause Webinar Series. He commented that despite the challenges, technology and ERT have opened possibilities for new collaborations, new distributional regimes in knowledge, and the possibility to rethink the very nature of education and creation of a global knowledge commons.

Nokulunga Ndlovu began with her presentation, Group Support for Improved Performance in Online Learning”. She was followed by Joni Brenner, Masechaba Phakela, Sizwe Hlophe and Revai Boterere who shared insights about FVPA tutor training. Tshego Khutsoane, Alison Gitelson and Petro Janse Van Vuuren from the School of Arts’ Drama for Life programme then spoke about the transition “from embodied learning to WhatsApp”. Anniah Mupawose and Khetsiwe Masuku wrapped up the presentation section by sharing their experience of “remote online practical training incorporating WI strategies”.

“The presentations were inspirational,” said Lynn Quinn. “Fabulous insights and deep reflections,” said Avril Joffe. Discussant Laura Czerniewicz from the University of Cape Town agreed and commended the presenters on their efforts.

The QnA that followed made it clear there is much to discuss, review, share and learn about the unprecedented experience of ERT in the South African pedagogical context. The series continues with three more webinars: Rethinking Teaching & Assessment Online; Authentic Learning; and (Im)possibilities of Critical or Dialogic Pedagogies Online.

Webinar summary: Rethinking Teaching & Assessment Online

Laura Dison kicked off day two of the interactive Press Pause Webinar Series series by echoing Dean Garth Stevens and thanking the presenters for their generosity in sharing their experiences and what they’ve learnt about ERT over the past six months. To the 46 webinar participants in attendance, Laura explained the focus for the plenary by quoting higher education specialist David Bowd: “Students can escape bad teaching, but they cannot escape bad assessment.”

Speaking to that, Priscilla Gerrand from Social Work, School of Human & Community Development; Cheraé Halley from Drama for Life, School of Arts; and Rajohane Matshediso from Sociology, School of Social Sciences presented pedagogical theories and shared practical methodologies based on their highly personal insights.

Priscilla Gerrand said, “Modality (the software we use) is important, but the method (our teaching skills and commitment) is more important.” This and other comments were voiced in the safe space that the Press Pause Webinar Series created. Presenters bravely shared their own experiences of vulnerability and doubt during the demanding time of ERT. They also demonstrated their agility in the practice of being effective while teaching and assessing students in an online environment.

“Thank you for a very informative session,” said Lauren Rembach. Shabir Moosa said, “Great to be here!

Webinar summary: Authentic Learning

“Losses and gains” were a running theme during the third plenary of the Press Pause Webinar Series. Tony Essien opened the discussion by introducing presenters Roshini Pillay from Social Work, School of Human & Community Development; Avril Joffe from Cultural Policy & Management, School of Arts; and Warren Nebe from Drama for Life, School of Arts, as well as discussant Catherine Kell, who is the Director of the School of Education at UCT.

Roshini Pillay explained that “Failure to understand effective teaching and learning will definitely exacerbate the injustices [that we see in South African education]. However, these interactive webinars prove that there is a portal of hope.”

With 36 viewers in attendance, the knowledge-sharing and conversation made for real understanding of ERT – and authentic learning against all odds. Maria Prozesky moderated an engaging Q&A session with positive feedback from attendees.

“A really stimulating session,” said Lynn Hewitt. Smangaliso Ngwenya said, “Thank you!” Laura Dison said, “The presentations were all so inspiring and deeply reflective.”

Webinar summary: (Im)possibilities of Critical or Dialogic Pedagogies Online

Moderator Thanesha Rajoo opened the final plenary of the Press Pause Webinar Series, saying that the initiative has “allowed us to reflect [on ERT] while still in the moment”. Attendee Thobeka Nkomo agreed, “Indeed this was the time to pause and reflect. [The webinars] have brought [attention to] the way forward in implementation to strengthen ERT, while taking care of the needs of our diverse student population.”

With 53 people joining the plenary, four presentations were delivered by Kim Coutts from Speech Pathology, School of Human & Community Development; Grant Andrews from Languages, Literacies & Literatures, School of Education; Sarah Godsell from Social & Economic Sciences, School of Education; and Ana Ferreira from Literacies & Literatures, School of Education. Discussant Dr Navan Govender from Strathclyde University joined the conversation all the way from Scotland. “I'm excited, not only by the content of the presentations and the questions that they raised, but also by the format of the series,” he said.

After a thought-provoking Q&A, led by moderator Nokulunga Ndlovu, Laura Dison and Maria Prozesky reflected on lessons learned, as well as the future. “We've learned to work in embodied ways even though it is virtual. During this time, both within and across disciplines, we've heard about systematic course design, processes and innovations,” said Laura. “I think many of us have discovered things about how online teaching can be useful and we will never go back. We are moving forward in the way we've always done, which is prioritising the pedagogy,” said Maria.

Felix Maringe closed the series commenting that, “The Press Pause events, in my view, are an excellent example of what we should do as professionals – even in the middle of the disruption. Although I think all of you will probably agree that we were not prepared for this, I think we have come to know ourselves better as people and have actually been effective players in a moment of disruption.”

“We are all affirmed and nurtured through this set of discussions,” commented Avril Joffe. “Thank you for an engaging and informative webinar,” said Ashwini Jadhav. Catherine Kell said, “I’ve so enjoyed all of this.” “Really stimulating,” agreed Lynn Hewlett.