Dentistry Faculty lecturers, Shaheda Simons and Jos Hille jointly teach 1st year students in the CLD 100 (Clinical Dentistry) Module. This year-long module has been supported by a structured online environment, making use of various assessment and content creation tools offered by iKamva.

Scaffolded & Integrated Lessons

The online environment was developed according to a scaffolded approach which enables students to work through each ‘learning unit’. Each learning unit/lesson – provides students with: an Overview, Contextualisation, Rationale for Learning, Lecture Presentations and other relevant information, including required readings and embedded YouTube videos.

Interactive Assignments: Reinforcement, Team Work & Problem Solving

Students were given an assignment in the form of a crossword puzzle and word searches. The benefits of using this approach are many, including:

●       Reinforcing concepts,

●       Identifying gaps in learning,

●       Develop teamwork skills (peer learning),

●       Problem solving skills, and

●    Develop critical thinking skills.

Lecturers, Simon Beck and Tony Oyowe have created an online interactive environment for their first year Philosophy students (PHI 111). This environment is an information sharing and communicative space between the lecturers and students that entails all the necessary learning material that is needed for the successful completion of the module.

Lesson Weekly Schedule promotes pre-reading and preparation

The lecturers have created a Weekly Schedule that entails everything that will be covered in the lessons during the specific weeks. This also allows students to pre-read so that they can be prepared for their lesson. Content is presented on the pages through various media formats – video, text and links to resources.

Effective weekly communication

The lecturers make use of the Announcements eTool to effectively communicate with the students regarding information pertaining to the module such as lecture times, assessment activities and tutorial sessions).  

Measures taken to combat the impact of loadshedding on classes and assessments

Due to the recurring pandemic, loadshedding – the lecturers have taken necessary measures to make sure that students don’t fall behind on classes and tests.  The lecturer posts a lecture video on iKamva so that students can be able to watch and download the lecture video.

Class tests are setup online and opened up for a window period of time, to allow students to do the tests on times that they are not affected by loadshedding. These tests draws from question pools so that students get random questions to complete

First-year students within the Law Faculty engaged in face-to-face ePortfolio sessions. The lecturers, Karin Chinnian and Caroline Smart requested that students engage in ePortfolio sessions as they would need to design and develop an ePortfolio which forms part of their BSL101 Final examination assessment. 

During the week of 14 – 17 March 2023, a number of 332 students engaged in the hands-on session with the CIECT team. The lecturers provided a structure of what the ePortfolios should include. 

The training sessions included:

1. Create a Google folder 

• Upload files and folders 
• Share files and folders 
• Set permissions for sharing

2. Create ePortfolio

• Select a theme [aesthetics] 
• Create main/sub-pages
• Insert content and text
• Embed relevant resources [linked to Google Drive]

3. Preview and publish ePortfolio
4. Sharing of ePortfolio 

Additional support material

The team also shared the CIECT YouTube channel, consisting of various resources to assist the students with the creation of their ePortfolios. Students were also encouraged to email CIECT if they required additional support.

NB: It should be noted that these students also form part of the CIECT Digital Academic Literacy (DAL) programme.