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Centre for Innovative Educational Technology
Prof Eunice Ndeto Ivala
ivalae@cput.ac.za
CENTRE FOR INNOVATIVE EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY (CIET)
CIET has been given a mandate to support the academic project through staff development into innovative integration and use of technologies and pedagogies, with the aim of promoting holistic student success.
To achieve this mandate, the centre’s work is informed by design-based research. Results are used to improve staff development training programmes and student learning. Staff development activities include workshops, a short course on blended learning, learner analytics and various other projects. The centre also mentors academics towards design-based research and writing for publications. It also coaches them in the delivery of conference presentations. During 2020, some CIET staff members were involved in designing and delivering some of the short courses offered by the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC).
RESEARCH OUTPUTS
The 2020 academic year was a difficult year research-wise as CIET focused heavily on enabling academic staff members to teach effectively in emergency remote teaching and learning. However, CIET staff still managed to produce several research outputs. JOURNAL ARTICLES
• ‘A wake-up call: Equity, inequality and Covid-19 emergency remote teaching and learning’, in Postdigital Science and Education • ‘Step into the discomfort: (Re)orienting the white gaze and strategies to disrupt whiteness in educational spaces’, in Whiteness and Education • ‘The elephant in the room: Tensions between normative research and an ethics of care for digital storytelling in higher education’, in Reading & Writing
BOOK CHAPTERS
• ‘An impact study with reference to isiXhosa and Afrikaans multilingual glossaries for first-year Law of Contracts students at Cape Peninsula University of
Technology’, in From Postcolonial to Knowledge Societies in Africa (in The
Transformative Power of Language) • ‘Re-examining instances of cognitive damage in South African universities:
Invoking democratic action through educational technology’, in University
Education, Controversy and Democratic Citizenship • ‘Cosmopolitan norms and the art of deliberation: Beyond forgiveness’, in Cosmopolitan Education and Inclusion • ‘Philosophy of education in a new key: Cultivating a living philosophy of education to overcome coloniality and violence in African universities’, in
Educational Philosophy and Theory
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
The following papers were presented at the 12th International Conference on Networked Learning, in Kodling, Denmark in May, and published in the proceedings:
• ‘No size fits all: Design considerations for networked learning across contexts in higher education’ • ‘Nurturing creative confidence and learner empathy: Design principles for innovative academic staff development’
COLLABORATION ON RESEARCH PROJECTS
CIET staff members were involved in collaboration with various researchers at CPUT and at other higher education institutions in the region on one RIFTALfunded research project, two NRF projects and three EU funded projects:
• ‘Promoting the use of flexible pedagogical approaches and innovative educational technologies as a thoughtful fusion of programme/curriculum design and programme deliver’ (RIFTAL funded, presentations at curriculum officers’ forum, curriculum officers’ short course and CPUT blended learning short course) • ‘Reconceptualisation of socially just pedagogies across diverse geopolitical settings in higher education’ (NRF project 2017-2020) • ‘A multidimensional and integrated exploration of inequalities in South African higher education: Effects on students’ (NRF project 2017-2020) • ‘Personalised engineering education in Southern Africa (PEESA) III’ project (2013-present, EU funded) • ‘Training the teachers of the future: Language policy and literacy’ (2018-2021, EU funded) • ‘Internationalisation of the curriculum in order to prepare pupils/students and equip them for their global citizenship (both personal and professional)’ (EU funded)
The centre also led a research project titled ‘Development of open educational resources (OERs)’.
REVIEW OF RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS AND GRANT PROPOSALS
CIET staff members were involved as editors and reviewers for DHET-accredited and ISSN journals and in reviewing of NRF and URF grant proposals.
Staff members attended various national and international conferences (mostly virtual), where they presented papers which were published in the proceedings. These included amongst others the 12th International Conference on Networked Learning, held in Kodling, Denmark in May.
PROMOTIONS AND AWARDS
Dr Faiq Waghid was awarded a Y2 rating by the NRF, a recognition by the reviewers as having the potential to establish himself as a researcher, as demonstrated by his recent research outputs.
Prof Daniela Gachago won a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research while based at Pennsylvania State University (PennState) in the Schreyer Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. The focus of her research was to understand how innovation happens in institutions of higher learning, with a particular focus on how principles of design thinking and other emerging models and approaches can be applied in academic staff development.
Prof Eunice Ndeto Ivala won the 2020 Donald H Wulff Diversity Fellowship travel grant awarded by the Professional and Organisational Development Network (POD) (USA) Diversity Committee. The grant was US$330 towards POD’s 2020 conference registration and a year of membership in POD, as there were no travel expenses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. She was also appointed as a Donald H Wulff Diversity Fellow and assigned three American scholars to mentor in staff development, research and issues of diversity.
FUNDING
SOURCE AMOUNT
National Research Foundation (NRF): Grant-Holder linked Publication 2018 Chapter in Book Contribution Publication 2018 Conference Contribution
49 786 20 196 36 482 Publication 2018 Faculty Contribution 89 122 Publication 2018 Journal Article Contribution 81 109 TOTAL 276 694
RESEARCH OUTPUT
2020 PUBLICATIONS (SUBMITTED TO THE DHET IN MAY 2021)
Books (submitted) Book chapters (submitted) Conference proceedings (submitted) Journal articles (audited)
TOTAL UNITS
1.00 0.50 0.67 0.50
2.67
Prof Daniela Gachago receives Fulbright scholarship
ACADEMIC AWARDED FULBRIGHT SCHOLARSHIP
CIET’s Prof Daniela Gachago has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to conduct research in the United States. In her quest to broaden and deepen her research, and also promote innovation in teaching and learning, Prof Gachago will be based at PennState University. The focus of her research is to understand how innovation happens in institutions of higher learning.
Prof Gachago is particularly interested in how design thinking can support academic staff development. “We are looking at how design thinking has been adopted, used and adjusted for higher education across different institutions and contexts,” she said.
She has worked with e-learning champions across different faculties. Her research has displayed what she called an ‘e-learning mindset’, characterised by a focus on learners’ needs, a desire to collaborate, a penchant for risk-taking and experimentation, and most importantly, a shared concern to see problems as an opportunity to innovate.
“In the project proposal I submitted to Fulbright, I would like to explore whether and how one can promote this mindset in academic staff development… I am excited about the opportunity to spend some time in the US,” Prof Gachago remarked.
She intends to continue working on her research on innovation and academic staff development by exploring how PennState supports the teaching and learning project, with a particular focus on the integration of technology in teaching and learning. “PennState has a huge network of instructional designers and I will interview and work with them.”
