Die Universiteit Stellenbosch (US) het 'n paar inisiatiewe van stapel gestuur wat kwaliteit onderrig erken, beloon en bevorder. Dit sluit in die US Toekennings vir Uitnemendheid in Onderrig, die Onderrig Genootskappe en die FIRLT-beurse vir kleinskaalse, klaskamer-gebaseerde navorsing en innovasie. Dosente neem vrywillig deel aan hierdie professionele onderrig-geleenthede wat die ruimte verskaf vir die deurlopende ontwikkeling van akademici as onderwysers. Deur hierdie drie inisiatiewe, voeg die instelling kwaliteit onderrig by tot die hoër onderwys-stelsel.
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SU Teaching Excellence Awards
In the course of 2017 the institution will be making available a number of awards for teaching excellence and introducing the teaching portfolio as the vehicle by which teaching excellence will be judged.
The 'SU Teaching Excellence Award', approved by Senate in 2016, will be offered in two categories – namely the Developing Teacher award and the Distinguished Teacher award.
Faculties can submit their applications until the deadline of 31 August.
"These awards are an opportunity to value reflective and contextually-aware teaching," said Cecilia Jacobs, Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning. "The aims of these awards are to show support for excellence in teaching and learning in higher education and to generate debate and public awareness about what constitutes teaching excellence."
The award amount is R25,000 each. All staff are eligible for these awards and the criteria for measuring the teaching portfolios are derived from the current HELTASA National Excellence in Teaching and Learning Awards criteria.
Interested members of staff can contact Karin Cattell, of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at kcattell@sun.ac.za, for more information.
Teaching fellowships awarded
The Teaching Fellowship scheme aims to enhance the stature of teaching and learning at SU, develop academics' teaching expertise and stimulate the growth of the SoTL at the University. The Teaching Fellowship scheme provides the opportunity for excellent teachers and scholars of teaching and learning to spend more consistent periods of time, with various forms of support, to focus on aspects of renewal, exploration and dissemination of good practice within Departments and Faculties.
A call for applications has gone out each year since 2009 and eleven fellowships have been awarded to date. There are eight fellows currently in the system, of which three were awarded in 2017. These three newest Teaching Fellows are: Dr Elize Archer of the Centre for Health Professions Education and Prof Ingrid Rewitzky (Mathematical Sciences) and Dr Michael Schmeisser (Horticultural Science).
"This fellowship scheme is intended to convey prestige and provide support for these academics to focus on the practice and scholarship of teaching for a period of time," Jacobs said. "This fellowship programme is an excellent opportunity for these academics to consolidate and extend their expertise, and will provide the opportunity for a systematic, rigorous and reflective approach towards teaching and teaching innovation at the University."
FIRLT applications approved
The Fund for Innovation and Research into Learning and Teaching (FIRLT) was established by SU in 2005 to provide an opportunity for lecturers to innovate and evaluate effective practices and processes. These grants provide seed funding for small-scale classroom-based research and innovation.
"Through these grants, lecturers can reflect on and evaluate their teaching with a view to improving their practice. We also encourage FIRLT grantees to disseminate the results of their investigations at university forums such as the annual SoTL conference," Jacobs added.
20 FIRLT Applications were approved in the November 2016 application cycle. Applications were received from 5 faculties and a total amount of approximately R756 564 has been approved by the FIRLT committee towards the respective proposals.
Initiatives such as the SU Teaching Excellence Awards, the Teaching Fellowships and the FIRLT grants open up pathways for lecturers who wish to focus their research and career development on the teaching of their disciplines.
