|
Following telephonic discussions as well as a face-to-face
meeting in Potchefstroom, North West University (NWU) requested
SAIDE to develop and facilitate a workshop on programme design with
a particular focus on the development of appropriate purpose statements.
The workshop was run on the University’s main campus over
three days in February 2008 to develop a new comprehensive programme
description for the ACE: Life Orientation and ACE: Mathematics Education
– Tony discusses the process.
Engagement with the staff of North West University, as well
as with staff of other Higher Education Institutions and in subsequent
similar workshops, was informed by four curriculum ‘perspectives’
that were constantly in the forefront of the facilitator’s
mind and which could be characterised as:
• technical,
• developmental,
• philosophical, and
• African.
Technical
The technical perspective helps to ensure that workshop participants
are constantly aware of the need to meet certain criteria set out
for accreditation purposes by the Department of Education, the Council
on Higher Education and SAQA, as well as to use the Internet and
other means to benchmark emerging new programme designs against
the practices of other institutions nationally, regionally and internationally.
Developmental
The developmental perspective represents a reminder to the facilitator
of the tension that exists between accreditation requirements that
are programme-based and institutional structures that are often
more discipline-based. This means that academic participants in
programme design workshops are often needing to adjust to a more
inter-disciplinary perspective so activities need to be carefully
sequenced and scaffolded, sufficient time needs to be allowed for
discussion and feedback and support must be offered continually
throughout. Ideally it is felt that the workshop should model processes
that can be replicated or adapted subsequently within the institution.
Philisophical
The philosophical perspective is a reminder that we tend to act
according to what we believe to be good teaching and learning practice,
whether or not we have consciously articulated our underpinning
assumptions. SAIDE is conscious often of a tension between, for
example, the inductive and interdisciplinary nature of the Nadeosa
quality criteria and the didactic, content-focussed and disciplinary
basis of some current university teaching practice. This creates
interesting opportunities for discussion and debate in a hermeneutic
process of collaborative meaning-making. Helping programme teams
to articulate their own underpinning assumptions and find common
ground can go a long way towards developing programmes that are
coherent rather than disjointed.
African
The African perspective represents a constant reminder to be cognisant
of the context in which teaching and learning happens and the need
to address issues that are of cross-cutting importance. This means,
for example, developing case studies and scenarios that speak to
the lived experiences of the potential learners so that they can
start from a familiar base and be challenged to extend their horizons
and frames of reference progressively in manageable steps. It also
reminds us to pay attention to cross-cutting academic issues, such
as literacy and numeracy development at an appropriate level, as
well as cross-cutting social issues such as HIV and AIDSand the
promotion of the democratic ideals of the constitution.
All four perspectives come into play in the development of the programme
outlines and draft integrated assessment activities that emerge
from a purpose-driven programme design workshop like the one developed
and facilitated for NWU.
Click
here for more details on the workshop process and activities.
|
