CLTD provides research-informed support in higher education learning and teaching. Our programmes and activities aim to enhance the quality of learning and teaching at Wits. We team up with faculties and service departments to support academics by providing:
• Academic professional learning courses, workshops and programmes
• Curriculum renewal and transformation
• Flexible blended and online learning opportunities
• Higher education research and the scholarship of learning and teaching
• Individual and institutional capacity-building in learning and teaching
Scheduling
This prospectus sets out the Centre’s academic professional learning opportunities for 2025. Where dates have already been scheduled, these are stipulated. The c oordina tors ’ contact details are provided in each case if you have any queries about any aspect of the prospectus, including logistics.
Cost
CLTD workshops are offered free to employees of the University. However, when workshops are conducted in contact mode on campus, the Centre incurs considerable costs in terms of catering, printing, and consultants ’ fees. If a participant books a place in a workshop, and does not arrive, the attributable portion of costs so incurred will be recouped from the participant. There will be a penalty fee of R500 for non-attendance at a booked internal workshop, and R2 500 for non-attendance at a booked external workshop, unless we are given two working days’ notice to allow us to fill the place. (External workshops are indicated by means of an asterisk next to the workshop name).
Refreshments
When workshops are conducted in contact mode on campus, we provide tea and coffee at tea-breaks. You are welcome to bring your own food and beverages.
Booking
Bookings for most workshops are done via Oracle. From the Oracle log-in page, click on Employee Self Service, and then on My Learning Gateway, then on My Learning.
All workshops are loaded under CLTD. Please book well in advance. All the workshops have limited capacity, and if your workshop of choice is full, you may need to be wait- listed for the next one scheduled. Only a few workshops of a particular type are offered each year, and these are filled on a first-come-first-served basis. Please be advised that whilst every care is taken with the scheduling of training, due to unforeseen circumstances, there is a chance that dates and times may change.
Venues
All our workshops and courses will be offered in line with the u niversity’s Learning & Teaching plan for 2025. A meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed.
Where workshops and courses are provided in contact mode, they will mostly be in one of the venues in the CLTD Building, West Campus. The nearest gate is Enoch Sontonga Gate 9. (CLTD is diagonally opposite the Flower Hall). The rooms are designated Frog, Tree, and Snow. Only Frog Room is wheelchair accessible.
Please indicate on your booking form if you have specific needs related to being differently abled.
As parking space is limited, it is generally advisable, where possible, to walk to the building rather than drive, particularly when students are writing exams in the Flower Hall.
Website
Please visit the CLTD website at https://www .wits.ac.za/cltd/
As part of the professional learning opportunities, CLTD offers the following core programmes/courses/workshops. These courses aim to offer flexible engagement opportunities, requiring a self-regulated approach to learning, with minimal, strategic contact or virtual sessions. The three recommended learning pathways with associated, differentiated offerings are depicted in Fig 1, some with an added mentoring component, underpinned by Community of Practice (CoP) principles. While learning opportunities for Senior Career academics are still limited, we are in the process of expanding the range of opportunities.
While we identify and recommend two learning pathways, please note that all offerings are open and flexible as per individual need.
Suitable For Emerging and Early Career Academics
• Early Career Academic Development Programme (ECAD)
• Now@Wits
• Curriculum Development (CD0 CD3)
• Designing & building your course on ulwazi
• Design and build your course using a Curriculum Map
• Digital Tools for Assessment
• Overview of Postgraduate Supervision
• Postgraduate Supervision & Feedback
• Postgraduate Supervision: Principles & Practices for Cohort Supervision
• Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoLT)
• Publishing for Impact
LEARNING PATHWAYS
• Project Planning in the Research Context
• Research Project Budgeting
• Planning your Academic Career
• Planning your Sabbatical
• Writing Winning Proposals
• Lunchtime Talk How to Structure an Academic CV
• Students at emotional risk
• Basic Supporter Skills training
Suitable For Mid-Career Academics
• Enhancing Mid – Career Academic Transitions (EMCAT) Programme
• Curriculum Development (CD0 CD3)
• Overview of Postgraduate Supervision
• Postgraduate Supervision & Feedback
• Postgraduate Supervision: Principles & Practices for Cohort Supervision
• Using Gradescope in ulwazi
• Using Mastery Paths in ulwazi
• Publishing for Impact
• Project Planning in the Research Context
• Research Project Budgeting
• Planning your Academic Career
• Planning your Sabbatical
• Writing Winning Proposals
• Lunchtime Talk How to Structure an Academic CV
• Students at emotional risk
• Basic Supporter Skills training
Suitable For Senior Career Academics
• Students at emotional risk
• Basic Supporter Skills training
Differentiated learning pathways
Early Career Academic Development (ECAD) Programme
The Centre for Learning, Teaching and Development (CLTD) and the Wits Research Office have jointly developed a programme to support the professional learning of early career academics (ECAs).
• The programme is intended to nurture early career academics within the Wits context and the specifically aims to:
• Instil and enhance the value of self-directed personal and professional learning to strengthen the teacher, researcher, academic citizenship and scholarly roles.
• Enable engagement with relevant resources, skills, networks and experiences to identify, mediate and negotiate the challenges experienced as early career academics within the Wits and higher education context.
• Provide access to supportive and collegial multidisciplinary and disciplinary opportunities to enable collaborations, mentorship and a community of care.
• Create a dialogical, reflective and reflexive praxis space and platform to explore their academic practices within a continuously changing higher education context.
The programme has a strong multidisciplinary project collaboration that will enable ECADers to experience and explore an action research project, related to early career academics within Wits, as a multidisciplinary collective. The curriculum is also inclusive of an increasing awareness of HE as their professional working sector; individual and group mentoring; professional learning opportunities via the CLTD prospectus, community of practice meetings, a facilitated online writing retreat and the opportunity to present their group project at an ECAD Colloquium.
ECAD programme is a 12-month programme that will run from March 2025 and will close with a colloquium and valedictory session in March 2026. Successful completion of the programme will be based on attendance and active participation during mandatory and selected activities.
The programme will be of particular interest to academics at Wits for 18 months and longer, who are appointed as associate lecturer or lecturer level, who could be still pursuing a PhD, who holds a PhD qualification for 5 years or less as well as those on the NGAP and Diversifying the Academy programmes. The programme can take a capacity of 50 academics in 2025 who will go through an application process based on a motivation letter for wanting to be a part of the programme and how they envisage the programme influencing their teaching, research and academic citizenship role.
Date: Registration for 2025 has closed.
Mode/Venue: Online (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
Coordinators: Dr Robin Drennan robin.drennan@wits.ac.za
Mrs Rieta Ganas rieta.ganas@wits.ac.za
Mrs Natasha Munsamy natasha.munsamy@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Enhancing Mid – Career Academic Transitions (EMCAT) Programme
This Carnegie funded 18-month programme is intended for mid-career academics transitioning into professional and or academic leadership positions. In aiming to cohere the research, teaching and academic citizenship components of the academic role, this programme is a collaboration between the Centre for Learning, Teaching and Development (CLTD), the Wits Research Office and the Transformation and Employment Equity Office (TEEO).
The EMCAT Programme, has been designed with the intention of mid-career academics being able to explore and become more agentic with the process of self- directed being and becoming in leading and leaderful roles. The programme recognises the complex and straddling nature of being an academic who is expected to teach and research while also being involved in multiple levels of leadership activities. As such the programme is designed to work with a cohort mid -career academics (pilot phase) over an 18-month period to provide the time to disrupt their taken for granted assumptions about their transitions and to foster an imagination for various transformative possible selves.
The professional opportunities will include:
• Engagements related to leadership in teaching, research & academic citizenship
• Creation of personally relevant transition plan supported by an academic portfolio writing retreat
• Dialogue, conversation and networking opportunities through Communities of Practice and small group mentorship sessions
• Multidisciplinary Peer Mentoring Project through mentoring cafes
• Leadership conversations and ongoing reflective and reflexive practices
Date: Registration for 2025 will open in November 2024.
Mode/Venue: Online (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
The Now@Wits Programme for new academics works with the “new” academic as they transition within the Wits and higher education context. This programme foregrounds the need to enhance confidence and contextual exploration while being an academic at Wits. The programme aims to work with an academic’s already established identity to provoke stronger confidence in generating selfknowledge to enhance learning and teaching, research and academic citizenship decision making and agency.
The 12-month programme involves an orientation to the Wits context, enhancing a stronger sense of self as an academic with agency within Wits; multidisciplinary and disciplinary Community of Practice meets and mentorship through peer review. Through varied engagements, the programme aims to create the conditions for new academics to continuously reflect on their learning and teaching, research and academic citizenship practices as they work towards a probation portfolio.
This could advantage both the School and Academic with the opportunity to enhance ongoing performance conversations. Through collaboration with Faculty Representatives, the programme complements professional learning opportunities offered by each Faculty.
Date: Registration for 2025 will open in November 2024.
Mode/Venue: In person and online (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
Coordinators: Ms Nozuko Makhuvha nozuko.makhuvha@wits.ac.za
Mrs Rieta Ganas rieta.ganas@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Digital Tools for Assessment ●
Effective education involves the integration and alignment of three core systems, namely curriculum, learning and teaching, and assessment. In this context, ensuring alignment between course outcomes, content and assessment is important for curricular coherence, and contributes to the validity of assessments. Consequently, there is a need for academics to appreciate the role of assessment in student’s learning and to be able to design quality assessments for particular contexts. In addition to the need for authentic, valid assessment practices, more generally, there is a growing need to become familiar with technologies for use with assessments.
This workshop focuses on assessment in the field of Higher Education with special emphasis on assessment tools in ulwazi and other available platforms.
Workshop overview
Session 1
• Discussion tool:
o Setting up graded discussion topics.
o Grading discussion topic using rubrics.
o Grading discussion topic using SpeedGrader.
• Assignment tool:
o Setting up an Assignment link.
o Setting up Peer review & group assignment.
o Grading assignments using rubrics.
o Grading assignments using SpeedGrader
o Setting up assessment weighting linked to Gradebook.
Date
Time
18 Feb 10:00 11:30
18 March 14:00 15:30
30 April 10:00 11:30
27 May 14:00 15:30
30 June 10:00 11:30
Session 2
• New quiz tool
o Setting up a quiz using various question types.
o Setting up question banks.
o Randomising from question banks.
o Moderate function for grading, adjusting attempt and time limit.
o Grading a Quiz (manual grading).
o Re-grading a Quiz.
o Releasing feedback.
• Studio tool
o Embedding a quiz to a video.
o Setting up an assignment with a quiz embedded video.
Date
Time
20 February 10:00 11:30
24 March 14:00 15:30
1 May 10:00 11:30
30 May 14:00 15:30
3 July 10:00 11:30
Mode/Venue: Online (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
Coordinators: Ms Neo Petlele neo.petlele@wits.ac.za
Ms Antoinette Malgas antoinette.malgas@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Using Gradescope in ulwazi ●
Gradescope is an assessment tool that allows lecturers to grade and provide feedback on handwritten paper-based student work, quizzes, and assignments in an online platform. The tool is well suited for grading assessments based on handwritten work, calculations, drawings or chemical structures, cells, circuits, coding, etc. With Gradescope, students can upload written assessments to be graded. Lecturers can mark student assessments with annotation tools using text and pencil comments as feedback with reference to a dynamic rubric. The session will cover the following:
• How to create different question types in Gradescope
• How to enable your students to submit their work to Gradescope.
• How to grade assessments in Gradescope
• How to create rubric items
Mode/Venue: Online, on demand, self-paced Self-enrolment link: TBC
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Using Mastery Paths in ulwazi ●
Mastery Paths allows you to create differentiated assignments that would enable you to customise a learning pathway for your students based on their performance of a particular assessment. The learning pathway could consist of different Content Pages, Quizzes, Discussions and Assignments.
Date Time
27 March 10:00 11:30
8 April 14:00 15:30
Mode/Venue: Online
Coordinators: Ms Neo Petlele neo.petlele@wits.ac.za
Mr Shane Pachagadu shane.pachagadu@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Scholarship of Learning and Teaching (SoLT) ●
In this 3-hour workshop, we interrogate ‘good’ teaching practices, that is, what programme quality enhancement could look like. We will explore an overview of the scholarship of learning and teaching (SoLT) in Higher Education and outline several suggestions through which SoLT may be established and scholarship improved. We invite not only the UCDP SoTL Grant Funded participants but also all interested academics to come and share their thoughts, ideas, and practices on enhancing SoLT. Several open educational resources (OER) will be shared (e.g., infographics, readings/summaries, podcasts) and we invite you to co-create and share more resources going forward.
The rate of change in the world demands that we re-imagine and restructure the foundational learning relationships between students, knowledge, and teacher. New ways of thinking about curriculum are needed if we are to respond to the current challenges and future demands for excellence in Higher Education. Curriculum lies at the heart of what Higher Education institutions do with and for their students and constitutes the main vehicle through which the aims of Higher Education can be achieved. It is thus vitally important for the design, development, implementation, and ongoing renewal of curriculum to be underpinned by sound educational principles, guided by the values espoused by the institution offering the curriculum and fit for clearly articulated purposes. While the fundamental questions around curriculum design and development remain the same, the contexts and challenges keep evolving and changing. It is therefore important to encourage and support academic staff to develop appropriately structured and deepened curricula that promote the Wits key graduate attributes. This programme is structured for academics who wish to evaluate, revise, or develop a curriculum at a course or preferably programme level. The various aspects of the programme will address selected curricular issues, including selecting, sequencing, and aligning the knowledge areas that underpin the discipline or profession and the creation of curricular ‘spaces’ to support and enhance student learning.
Academics can opt to enrol for all 4 curriculum modules within the programme or may enrol for only selected modules as needed. Each CD module runs over one week using the blended approach with both synchronous and asynchronous activities (approximately 2-3 hours per day). Each of the CDs runs two weeks apart.
03 March – 25 April (1 week per module)
Module
Date
CD0 Learning & Teaching Philosophy 03 07 March
CD1 Principles and Pedagogical approaches 17 20 March
Curriculum Development Module 0 (CD 0): Learning and Teaching Philosophy
This fully online component of the curriculum development workshop series kicks off with an exploration of learning theories and how these theories inform personal learning and teaching philosophies. An understanding of how one views knowledge and how one comes to know is important as it shapes methodologies, approaches, and practices. Deep reflection on one’s philosophies (often tacit) goes a long way in being intentional about curriculum design.
Date: 03 07 March
Mode/Venue: Fully online, asynchronous/Ulwazi only
Curriculum Development Module 1 (CD 1): Principles & Pedagogical approaches
Curriculum means different things to different people often based on the historical, structural, and socio-cultural factors that make up the curriculum context they practice in. This makes the concept of curriculum highly contested and socially complex and never value free. The need for institutional curricula to be responsive to the decolonization and transformation calls does require some form of shared working conceptions around curriculum, its orientations, diverse expression with institutional contexts and curriculum principles that can shape the pedagogical choices, decisions and actions taken.
This module will enable you to be reflexive and explore some of your taken for granted assumptions related to curriculum and pedagogical selection, pacing, sequencing, and progression through a combination of theoretical framing and practical considerations. The praxis opportunity to engage as a curriculum practitioner can enhance contextual relevance, responsiveness inclusivity and learning centeredness of the pedagogical approaches used to enable student’s curriculum access and success. Curriculum co-creation together with ways of enabling teaching and learning agency will form part of the discussions.
Date: 14 March (pre-task) and 17 19 March
Mode/Venue: MS Teams/CLTD: 17 19 March (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
Time:
17 March (in-person @CLTD) 09:00 12:30
18 March (online – MS Teams) 09:00 11:00 and 12:00 14:00
19 March (online – MS Teams) 09:00 12:00
Activities and requirements on the Ulwazi course site.
Mode/Venue: Blended mode
Coordinator:
Ms Rieta Ganas rieta.ganas@wits.ac.za
Ms Nozuko Makhuvha nozuko.makhuvha@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Curriculum Development Module 2 (CD 2): Assessment for learning in HE
This module critically examines the role assessments play in learning and considers options for diversifying assessment practices. Diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in assessment design, principles of assessment, and feedback practices are included.
Date: 07 11 April
Mode/Venue: Three synchronous sessions of 2 hours each will be scheduled over the week at the CLTD and on Teams. In addition, there will be activities and requirements on the Ulwazi course, the link to which will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed.
Time: 10:00 12:00
Coordinator:
Ms Natasha Munsamy natasha.munsamy@wits.ac.za
Ms Neo Petlele neo.petlele@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Curriculum Development Module 3 (CD 3): Academic / Teaching Portfolio
Would you like to initiate or enhance your Academic Portfolio? This workshop, made up of two half day sessions takes a practice based and learning focused approach in supporting university teachers to craft their academic portfolio(s). By respectfully engaging in reflective conversations that articulate experiences and strengths, inspirations are brought to the fore whilst simultaneously moving beyond individual and/or institutional gain. This will provide opportunities to explore how to move towards positive social change. The academic portfolio may be used as evidence for formal probation review(s) and for promotion application processes. The portfolio could showcase your own learning trajectory as well as collective gain (such as increased awareness, shifts in attitudes, approaches, practices, or policy
changes) to explicitly extend beyond individual achievements and capture concern for societal well-being.
Date: 22 25 April (2 half days: 9:00—12:00)
Mode/Venue: Blended Mode
Mode/Venue: Asynchronous (Ulwazi) and synchronous
22nd April (online synchronous*): 09:00 12:00
24th April (online synchronous*): 09:00 12:00
Ms Nozuko Makhuvha nozuko.makhuvha@wits.ac.za
Coordinators:
Dr Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
*Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Designing & building your course in ulwazi ●
This webinar will focus mainly on intentionally designing, building, and publishing your course site.
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of the session, you should be able to:
• Identify the principles of learning experience design for learning and teaching
• Identify your course in terms of Programme/Modules/etc
• Describe Learning Outcomes for your course and for Modules
• Navigate ulwazi
o Overview of the dashboard
o Tools & functionalities
• structure your course using the Modules function based on some of the Quality Matters (QM) model:
o Course structure and content
o Creating Modules
o Rich Content Editor (Page)
o Linking Items in a Module
o Files – for content uploading
o Importing Content from previous site/s
• Set up your homepage.
• Upload and manage your files.
• Add content to your course by
o Building activities into a module.
o Outlining your own outcomes
Date Time
11 February 10:30 12:00
13 February 10:30 12:00
11 March 14:00 15:30
13 March 14:00 15:30
15 April 10:30 12:00
13 May 14:00 15:30
Online (Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed)
Coordinators: Ms Antoinette Malgas Antoinette.Malgas@wits.ac.za
Ms Zamalotshwa Mlotshwa Zamalotshwa.Mlotshwa@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Design and build your course using a
Curriculum Map
This workshop is designed to help you plan, build, and evaluate your course taking into consideration grounded learning experience design principles. This includes prioritizing equity and inclusion in blended learning strategies.
To get the best out of this course, we recommend that you attend Designing and Building your course in ulwazi or are familiar with using ulwazi.
Intended Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
Day 1: Plan (In-person)
• Plan learning environments that intentionally accommodates the 3Cs (Communicate, Care, Collaborate)
• Familiarize the concepts of 3Cs in a blended learning environment.
• Using the Quality Matters (QM) rubric to assist you in planning an intentional learning environment.
Day 2: Design (In-person)
• Design a learning environment that is aligned to your outcomes for an engaging learning experience.
• Identify the importance of Storyboard and Curriculum Mapping.
• Demonstrate your intentional planning that accommodates the 3Cs by using
the Curriculum Map (align with QM standards).
Day 3: Build (Online)
• Create your own lesson using given storyboard template or curriculum mapping.
Day 4: Evaluate and Reflect (In-Person)
• Evaluate and reflect on your curriculum map and aligning to outcomes:
• Showcase the curriculum map.
• Facilitators and participants give feedback.
• Self-evaluation by presenters. Date
1st Run 19 22 May 10:00 13:30
2nd Run
Date
17 23 June 13:00 15 00
Mode/Venue: Blended (One session per day over 4 days)
Coordinators: Ms Antoinette Malgas Antoinette.Malgas@wits.ac.za
Ms Zamalotshwa Mlotshwa Zamalotshwa.Mlotshwa@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Overview of Postgraduate Supervision ● ●
Good supervision is central to successful postgraduate research. This halfday workshop explores models and systems of supervision, institutional policy and procedures, and supervisor-student relationships. To ensure authenticity and relevance. Workshop could be offered per Faculty/School upon request.
Date: 28 March 26 May 14 August
Time 09:00 12:00 10:00 14:00 12:00 16:00
Mode/Venue: Online* In person, CLTD In person, CLTD
Coordinator: Dr Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Postgraduate Supervision & Feedback
Good quality feedback to postgraduate students on both the process and product is key to a successful supervision relationship and, ultimately, to the timely throughput of students. This workshop is an opportunity for dialogue and discussion, as well as illustrating principles and strategies for effective and constructive feedback that informs the continuous learning of the student.
Date: 10 June 18 September
Time 12:00 16:00 09:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: Online*
In person, CLTD
Coordinator: Dr Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Postgraduate Supervision: Principles & Practices for Cohort Supervision
Traditional one-on-one supervision models prove unsustainable given the increasing ratio of students to supervisor. Cohort supervision may be a viable alternative to the traditional dyadic, or ‘expert-apprentice’ supervision models. Cohort supervision models in turn, may not only counter the often-isolating journey of research but may also enable multi-directional and generative peer-to-peer learning. This workshop will explore the main principles and practices of cohort supervision with dialogue and conversation for possible implementation at various contexts.
Date: 12 March 30 October
Time 13:00 16:00 09:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: In person, CLTD In person, CLTD
Coordinator: Dr Tania Rauch van der Merwe tania.vandermerwe@wits.ac.za
Dr Nazira Hoosen nazira.hoosen@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Publishing for Impact
● ●
Whether you are driven by altruism and want your research to improve the world, or by a desire to increase your reputation as a research focused scholar, or a combination of both, you need to plan where, when, and how you publish your research. Too often we base our publishing habits on what we picked up from our PhD supervisors and colleagues without giving any thought to a careful strategy. Join Dr Robin Drennan in a workshop that looks at the wide array of possibilities for sharing your knowledge with others. In this workshop you will be exposed to ideas that ma y help you strategically decide where your research output is to be shared and / or published.
Dates: 9 and 10 July 9 and 10 October
Time: 09:00 13:00 09:00 13:00
Venue: CLTD CLTD
Facilitator: Dr Robin Drennan robin.drennan@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Project Planning in the Research Context ● ●
How do you plan a research project? Is it possible to plan research? The classical project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) is often unsuitable for research projects simply because it is impossible to estimate the time for each task. Research is, after all, a step into the unknown. Take heart, this does not mean your research project will descend into chaos. There are other ways of managing research projects that are agile enough to deal with the complexities of volatile research projects. Dr Robin Drennan, the Director for Research Development in the University Research Office, will describe some of these more agile project management techniques that will allow you to plan, in the absence of information and despite uncertainty, for the unknown.
Date: 23 May
Time: 09:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: CLTD
Date: 15 August
Time: 10:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: Online*
Facilitator: Dr Robin Drennan robin.drennan@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Research Project Budgeting
A research project budget is a vital component of any funding proposal. Join Dr Robin Drennan, as he discusses how to develop a budget that supports and enhances your research or consulting proposal. The workshop makes use of PCs and allows delegates to develop their own budgets that account for direct and indirect costs (CORY). It covers issues such as VAT, student bursaries and charge out rates. You need not be an accountant to make sense of these issues; in fact, the course is intended for non-accountants.
Date: 9 May
Time: 9:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: CLTD
Date: 18 July
Time: 10:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: Online*
Facilitator: Dr Robin Drennan robin.drennan@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Planning your Academic Career
Do you know what you need to do today to achieve your career goals in six years ’ time? A successful academic career requires a considerable amount of juggling. Research, teaching, supervision, community engagement, funding, sabbaticals, conferences, promotion, NRF ratings they all need to be factored into your plan. Dr Robin Drennan, the Director for Research Development in the University Research Office, will help you develop a five to seven- year macro plan that will ensure you are well placed to make the best of your career. An emphasis is placed on research throughout this workshop.
Date: 11 April
Time: 9:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: CLTD
Facilitator: Dr Robin Drennan robin.drennan@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Planning your Sabbatical ●
●
A sabbatical comes once every six years so it is vital to make the most of it. Dr Robin Drennan, the Director for Research Development in the University Research Office, will share some pointers on how, when and what to plan for a successful sabbatical. This workshop will help you develop a plan and so make the most of the opportunity. Your sabbatical plan should maximise the impact of the time on your research. Various funding options will also be discussed.
Date: 7 March
Time: 09:00 13:00
Mode/Venue: CLTD
Facilitator: Dr Robin Drennan robin.drennan@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
Writing Winning Proposals
● ●
Discover, with the support of Dr Robin Drennan, Director for Research Development in the University Research Office, how to write a persuasive proposal for research funding. Having understood that every funder is contractually bound to deliver a return of some sort on the funds under their management, it is plain to see several ‘magical buttons ’ that will get you funding. Some of these buttons are explicit but others are not. The trick is to find them. The workshop material also covers the differences between a research plan, a problem statement, rationale and motivation, and aims and objectives, all elements of typical proposals. The importance of selecting appropriate reviewers, leaving nothing to chance and the need to make every part of the proposal supportive of your bid for funding are also discussed. Finally, the workshop explores differences in writing styles: Persuasive writing used in proposals and standard writing techniques used in the publication of research outputs.
Facilitator: Dr Robin Drennan robin.drennan@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Lunchtime Talk—How to Structure an Academic CV
The curriculum vitae, which is Latin for ‘cours e of life’ is a very important tool in the quest for academic achievement. At the simplest level it is a record of your achievements, a trace record, at the other extreme it can take on all the elements of a marketing campaign. Join us for a lunchtime (1 hour) discussion on different ways to layout your CV to best emphasise your achievements.
Date: 16 April 17 September
Time: 13:00 14:00 13:00 14:00
Venue: Online* CLTD
Facilitator: Dr Robin Drennan robin.drennan@wits.ac.za
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
* Meeting link will be e-mailed once bookings are confirmed
Students at emotional risk
The Counselling and Careers Development Unit is offering a half-day workshop to Wits academic and administrative support staff. The workshop covers mental wellness, as well as basic skills to identify, contain and refer students in need of psychological or psychiatric intervention. This includes the identification of certain high-risk charac teristic s/c ircumstanc es associated with the deterioration of the functioning of a student. The primary objectives of this workshop are to provide university staff, who act as first responders for students, with relevant information to assist and support these students during their university career.
The Counselling and Careers Development Unit staff are offering academic, support and residence staff a two-day workshop on supportive skills and basic counselling. The requirement for the attendance of this Supportive Skills course is full attendance of the Students at Emotional Risk workshop. This training includes sections on self-reflection and self-awareness, as well as supporter and counselling skills.
Please note: Staff who are feeling emotionally fragile or who have experienced recent trauma or bereavement are advised not to attend at this point.
Date: 16 and 17 September
Time: 08:30 15:00
Mode/Venue: In person (CLTD building)
Facilitators: Eduarda (Vanessa) Da Trindade & Puleng Rathebe
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
CLTD hosts an annual Learning and Teaching Conference (open to the higher education community). This Conference is planned for the second semester. More information to follow.
Date: TBC
Contact: Connect.CLTD@wits.ac.za
For Semester 1, 2025, we have streamlined some of our usual learning opportunities so that we free up time to meet with HoDs/HoSs to plan more contextually relevant, up to date offerings. Collectively, we aim to align with the Wits Learning and Teaching Plan 2025-2029 to ensure that our work is guided by these six focus areas:
• Providing an environment that supports our students as self-regulated learners
• Supporting and recognising university teachers
• Enhancing the environment for university teaching and student learning
• Driving curriculum design for student engagement and lifelong learning
• Harnessing technology to promote learning
• Strengthening data driven student success.
CLTD reps and Faculty learning and teaching representatives will collaborate to offer learning opportunities as follows:
a. customised learning opportunities (early career, mid-career and senior career) to identified cohorts
b. cus tomise d/faculty specific offerings (if/when needed) to groups/schools on an ad hoc basis
c. staff engagement in reflection/evaluation at the end of each semester (all Faculties)
d. a scholarly approach to learning and teaching
e. the fostering of communities of practice
f. quality improvement and enhancement
Due to capacity constraints, we will focus on working with groups/schools as opposed to individuals, in alignment with faculty priorities
Faculty
CLM
Engineering
Health Sciences
Humanities
Sciences
CLTD Representatives
Ms Rieta Ganas and Ms Neo Petlele
Mrs Nozuko Makhuvha and Mr Shane Pachagadu
Dr Nazira Hoosen and Ms Mei Luo
Mrs Natasha Munsamy and Ms Antoinette Malgas
Ms Natasha Munsamy and Ms Zamalotshwa Mlotshwa
Faculty Representatives
Ms Fiona Macalister, Mr Adriano Giovanelli, and Ms Tshepiso Maleswena
Mr Tebatso Phala
Ms Shirra Moch, Dr Ann George, Dr Carol Hartmann, and Dr Lizelle Crous
Dr Catherine Tam and Dr Nora-Lee Wales
Asst Prof Kershree Padayachee, Dr Ashwini Jadhav, and Ms Phiwokuhle Dlamini
CLTD Faculty reps also assist with:
• Online and blended course design
• University teaching
• New programme applications and/or major/minor curriculum changes
• Peer reviews
• Quinquennial Reviews (QQRs)
• Coordinating the university’s Learning and Teaching Community of Practice
• Workshops on
o Mentoring
o Assessments
o Teaching role
o Academic portfolios
o Curriculum design
NB! While we do peer reviews on request on very limited occasions, we do encourage self-and/or peer reviews from your colleagues in your school/Faculty. We have a process document that we can share with you and are currently working on a self-paced course that could assist.
Our principles and beliefs
We nurture and accept conditions that promote agency and creativity to engage critical thinking, purposeful research-informed trialling or experimenting, re-discovery, renewal, and innovation in African Higher Education contexts. We do this because in the past we have tended to accept learning and teaching solutions borrowed from elsewhere, often divorced from our own contexts.
Our distinctive approach to facilitation, learning, and research promotes a non- judgmental culture as the basis for the cultivation of transformative and creative communities, where tensions and diversities of opinions are welcomed as norms, and where independent thought and opinion are welcomed. In this context, there is a genuine meeting of the minds where knowledge production is inward and outward looking, resulting in authentic collaborations and partnerships locally, nationally, and internationally. Our fundamental ideal is that of trust and acceptance, where we all become culturally, socially, and environmentally responsible in our diverse aspirations of academic support provision. We are rooted in Johannesburg with its strong cosmopolitan heritage, and we intend using this to our advantage, to ensure that the city is both the focus for our teaching and research work, and the platform from which our local and international relationships grow.
Our mandate
The Centre for Learning, Teaching & Development (CLTD) focuses on academic continuous professional learning and support, modelling flexible learning opportunities and evidence-based support practices. As part of a broader curriculum design, development, and implementation strategy, and by applying and engaging in research on facilitation practices, we aim to contribute towards deepening student learning, enhancing university teaching practices, and participating in academic citizenship both at Wits and beyond.
Our vision
To collaboratively lead in transformative and contextually relevant learning and teaching praxis to inspire student success towards positioning Wits University as an innovative hub for scholarly, technology-enhanced, and socially responsive education.
Our mission
The Centre for Learning, Teaching, and Development (CLTD) collaborates to advance transformative and contextually relevant learning and teaching practices. Through evidence-based, scholarly praxis and the integration of technology, the CLTD fosters inclusive, learning- and studentcentred learning experiences.
To achieve the CLTD mission, we strive to:
• Enrich the status of learning and teaching at Wits by engaging with, encouraging, and celebrating Wits teachers
• Support academics as university teachers and researchers, and explore, integrate, evaluate different approaches to learning, teaching, & assessment
• Promote inclusivity and diversity through collaborative curriculum design and renewal
• Promote and support the adoption of flexible blended and online learning and teaching approaches and practices
• Promote a university- wide Learning and Teaching Community of Practice by creating dialogue around and conversations about learning and teaching
• Promote and develop a culture of research and scholarship of learning and teaching (SoLT) in Higher Education
• Anticipate and address evolving issues and opportunities within Higher Education Academic practice by offering expertise locally, nationally, and internationally
Our values
The CLTD’s work is guided by the following core values:
• Excellence: We are committed to promoting learning and teaching practices that achieve the highest standards of quality and impact.
• Equity and Inclusivity: We champion fairness, diversity, and the creation of learning environments where everyone can thrive.
• Innovation: We lead the adoption of emerging technologies and forwardthinking teaching practices to create transformative learning experiences.
• Collaboration: We foster partnerships within and beyond the university to cocreate meaningful, contextually relevant learning and teaching solutions.
• Social Responsiveness: We ensure our work addresses the needs of our communities, aligning with principles of social justice and sustainability.
• Evidence-Based Practice: We ground our initiatives in scholarly research and data-informed strategies to support transformative and inclusive education.
• Continuous Learning: We prioritise professional growth, reflexivity, and lifelong learning for ourselves and those we serve.
• Contextual Relevance: We ensure that all learning and teaching practices are responsive to the cultural, societal, and educational context of Wits University and its broader community.
Foregrounding the strategic and operational plan
In developing our Operational Plan, four drivers have emerged as key in achieving our goals for CLTD. These will underpin our service and support offering over this year, including:
• A ‘D istribu ted Leadership’ (Spillane, 2005, 2012) approach in offering educational programmes in partnership with others locally, nationally, and internationally
• Commitment to the continuous professional learning of CLTD staff
• Our research and its growing impact on the Higher Education landscape, and
• Modelling the application of, and engagement with digital technology in providing flexible blended and online learning opportunities for our course participants.
In order to assess the effectiveness of our courses/workshops, and to gauge future needs, it would be appreciated if you would complete this course evaluation form.
Course name:
Date:
Facilitator details:
What did you expect to gain from the course?
How did the course match your expectations?
What new applied competence have you acquired as a result of your participation in this course?
How will you apply what you have learned in your future facilitation practice?
How would you rate the facilitator & course with regards to:
Subject
Level of interaction
Suggest constructive ways in which CLTD can improve this course to make it more valuable?
Comment on any challenges or tensions regarding timing (timeslot/day) and mode of offering that you may have experienced.
