Auxin​

The Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) started this project to accomplish their task of supporting SU academics in their teaching responsibilities.​ To read more about this project, click here.

The Auxin-project therefore has as its aim to create the following growth opportunities for SU academics:

• Windows for innovative teaching and assessment practices on campus
• Opportunities for academics to examine and deepen their knowledge about topics of own interest in the arena of teaching and learning at SU
• A Scholarship of teaching and learning route on the growth route of becoming reflective lecturers.

​For resources of previous Auxins, click here.

​​2019 Auxins​

The last three Auxin sessions for 2019 were held on 23 July, 27 August and 17 September.  

23 July​

On 23 July in the Education Building, Anita Kleinsmidt (Senior lecturer: Centre for Medical Ethics & Law, Tygerberg Campus)  presented an Auxin session on teaching ethics online.  She discussed experienced gained in online ethic teaching and shared some of the modalities available in building such a course.

​Photo: "Why would one teach ethics online" Anita Kleinsmidt asked during the Auxin session of 23 July 2019.​

27 August

On 27 August 2019,  Prof Ingrid Rewitzky presented the Auxin session on the articulation gap​ between school and university mathematics learning.  She proposed an orthogonal plane for teaching mathematics and proposed the Epistemic Plane of the Specialization dimension of Legitimation Code Theory as a conceptual framework for illuminating different insights of mathematical proficiency in terms of know-that, know-why, know-how, know-where, know-for. This framework is shown to provide a systematic approach for guiding individualized curriculum integrated differentiated support to empower students to fill their gaps in mathematical proficiency. The success of such support could then be evaluated in terms of how students navigate between the different insights and in terms of improvement in student success in STEM programmes.

Prof Rewitzky has been involved in educational leadership within and across relatively complex environments through her roles as Professor of Mathematics (since June 2009), Executive Head of the Department of Mathematical Sciences (since 1 January 2010), and Vice-Dean (Learning and Teaching) of the Faculty of Science (since 1 October 2011). She currently also holds a SU Teaching Fellowship.

​Photo: Prof Ingrid Rewitzky engages in interdisciplinary discussion during the Auxin session of 27 August 2019.

 Dr Samantha Adams, senior lecturer in the Department of Industrial Psychology in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences, presented Auxin on 17 September 2019. With the title Fun and gamification in higher education,  this session examined the use of gamification as a pedagogical tool to support student engagement in higher education.  

​Photo: Dr Samantha Adams at Auxin of 17 September 2019.

• ​Click here to read more about Dr Michael Schmeisser's Auxin presentation of 28 May 2019.  He discussed the successful introduction of a non-scientific module in the scientific context of Horticulture.
• Click here to read more about Shona Lombard's Auxin presentation of 23 April 2019.  She shared lessons learnt from mentorship programmes​ with the help of the experiential learning theory of Kolb.