​​Against the background of a continued challenging year of teaching, learning and assessment at Stellenbosch University (SU) due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, and adapting to Augmented Remote Teaching, Learning and Assessment (ARTLA), conference delegates were afforded the opportunity to attend engaging workshops, keynotes and presentations at the annual SU SoTL Conference. The theme of this year's conference was “(Y)our assessment matters".

“SU values assessment as a driver of learning for both students and lecturers, hence our high success rate and low dropout rate." This was the message of Professor Deresh Ramjugernath, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Learning and Teaching, during the welcoming address. Professor Ramjugernath emphasised that SU's assessment success was not by chance, but through concerted efforts to support teaching, learning and assessment, such as the SoTL Conference.

Every year, the SoTL conference provides a platform where academics share and celebrate teaching and learning practices and research. It also aims to address all aspects of teaching and learning at the University in an open, supportive and intellectually stimulating atmosphere. Scholars and teachers from various faculties at SU have an opportunity to present their research, innovations and reflections, educate one another and inspire emerging scholars at the event, which is organised annually by the Division for Learning and Teaching Enhancement.

One of the highlights of the conference was the keynote address by Professor David Boud, Alfred Deakin Professor and Foundation Director of the Centre for Research in Assessment and Digital Learning at Deakin University, Melbourne, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Technology Sydney in Australia. The topic of Professor Boud's keynote was “Developing students' evaluative judgement: how can assessment and feedback contribute?" Professor Boud suggested that we not place too much emphasis on assessment grades, but rather on enabling students' development of self-assessment capabilities, for lifelong learning.

Participation in the conference has grown exponentially since its inception in 2007, with 56 presentations and 248 registered participants attending this year, all in the online space on MS Teams.

Other highlights of the conference included a keynote panel and a closing panel. During the keynote panel, on the topic of “How care-full assessment can enhance student learning", conference delegates could listen to inputs from management, lecturers, students and support staff. The student voice clearly spoke to the value of transparency and feedback in assessment, the latter being an important consideration in formative assessment. The topic addressed by the closing panel was “Re-imagining assessment culture and practices for a transformative student experience". Here the message that assessment is a two-way conversation between lecturer and student was celebrated and debated.

The conference ended on a high note with the announcement of the best presentations. The following papers were adjudged the best in various categories (click here​ to see photographs of the winners):

• Research track: “Being and becoming a Master of Health Professions Education" – by Ms Mariette Volschenk; Prof Susan van Schalkwyk (both from the Centre for Health Professions Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences) and Prof Eli Bitzer (Centre for Higher and Adult Education, Faculty of Education)
• Innovation track: “Engineering report writing peer learning system" – by Prof Craig McGregor (Faculty of Engineering)
• Reflection Track: “The evolving role of an academic online mentoring programme" – by Mr Juan Ontong; Ms Sher-Lee Arendse and Ms Chrystal Schonken (School of Accountancy)
• Delegates' Choice: “Let's let them 'cheat'! Group work in a summative assessment setting" – by Prof Gareth Arnott; Dr Margaret Blackie and Dr Catherine Kaschula (Faculty of Science)
• Best PREDAC Poster (as voted by the conference delegates): “Interactive content assessment in counter-intelligence theory: assessing cognitive learning in reading, comprehension and writing" by Capt (SAN) Dr Dries A Putter; Lt Col Dr Susan Henrico; Lt Col Dr Marcel Reutener; Col Hlengiwe Mkhize; and Mr Godfrey Ramuhlala (Faculty of Military Science)

All the conference sessions and presentations were recorded and are available in Sharepoint. Also visit the conference website at https://www0.sun.ac.za/sotl/ for more information about the conference programme and to access abstracts from all the presentations.

by Anthea H M Jacobs

SU SoTL Conference Convenor​