Faculty of Education - rising star

Dr Nosisi Dlamini

Pandemic opened ‘goldmine’ of professional development opportunities

The onset of the pandemic challenged Dr Nosisi Dlamini to rethink and transform her teaching, learning and research strategies. She felt like she was being confronted with the need to create a clear line of vision and an execution roadmap, as well as an urgent need to upskill and adapt to changing conditions, and match new roles and activities.

“In 2020, I enrolled for a Postgraduate Diploma in Immersive Technologies at the University of the Western Cape. Through this course, I have amassed a wealth of knowledge and adapted to the demands of virtual instruction. My students have also gained access to a wealth of useful digital tools in the form of online collaboration tools, live video sessions and digital learning resource development.”

Dr Dlamini’s responsibilities include curriculum design and renewal, exam moderation, postgraduate research supervision and much more. her interests in early literacy development, early childhood education and virtual instruction in language education, all benefited greatly from the new digital skills she acquired. As she made the transition to virtual instruction, all around her she saw the increased need for women to juggle multiple academic and professional demands with increases in housework responsibilities.

“For example, homeschooling poses extra demands on women who were already weighed down by academic expectations. Female academics are expected to juggle their workload and absorb additional domestic duties at the same time, including childcare, cleaning and cooking. As a result, they are affected by the disproportionate reduction in time dedicated to research and other academic demands.”

Yet, Dr Dlamini has trained herself to see silver linings in the current situation.

“I believe that despite the Covid-19 challenges, the pandemic opened a goldmine of academic and professional development opportunities.”

She won the emerging Lecturer Award at UWC in June 2020, just as the pandemic was wreaking havoc – which only goes to prove her point that there are always positives to be found. As far as managing her worklife balance, she has a few strategies that she uses to great effect.

“At the beginning of each academic year, I design and keep a digital daily planner to keep track of my goals, priorities, activities and family commitments. I have also invested in equipment that supports my daily work activities to avoid disruptions during work hours. I also take small breaks throughout the day to re-energise and recharge. This increases productivity, concentration and focus. I also avoid procrastination. When faced with a big project at work or home, I divide it into smaller tasks. Whenever I am overwhelmed, I re-strategise. In the constantly evolving academic terrain, I try to continuously innovate to stay upbeat with the rapidly-evolving academic environment.”