Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning (CriSTaL)

Editorial

Andrea Abbas — 2022-12-15

Using partial justice to interrogate the meanings and applications of social justice in service-learning

Ntimi Mtawa — 2022-11-28

This paper provides an account of the concept of social justice and how it is loosely and uncritically defined and applied in service-learning context. Social justice is deemed as an approach to service-learning, which allows all actors to actively participate in decision-making, share power and benefit equally. This framing of social justice in service-learning is largely within the realm of John Rawls’ perfect justice. There is relatively little attention given to small and actionable changes yielded in and through service-learning. As such, this paper uses the concept of ‘partial justice’ as purported by Amartya Sen to interrogate the meanings and applications of social justice in service-learning. The paper draws on qualitative data collected through document analysis, focus groups and semi-structured interviews with students, staff, and community members. The focus and contribution of the paper is timely and pertinent given the unexamined conceptions and use of social justice in service-learning context.

Reconceptualising ‘caring’ in e-tutor-student interactions during the Covid-19 pandemic in an ODeL university in South Africa

Thembeka Shange — 2022-12-06

In South Africa and elsewhere, the outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020 and the lockdown regulations forced both academics and students to adapt to a new reality of fully online modules and assessments. This catapulted relations in higher education into the spotlight. The concern of this paper is how e-tutors in an Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) university in South Africa have enacted care in online interaction with the students during this period. Available research focuses on online interaction; however, there is a paucity when it comes to care cultivated by e-tutors on students to increase online interactions during the covid-19 pandemic. Through the lens of Relational Care, this paper seeks to reconceptualise care during e-tutor-student interaction in one of the English modules at a mega South African ODeL university. Data were collected through a survey completed by e-tutors (n = 8) and lecturers (n = 4) of one of the English modules at this university. Through content analysis, patterns and categories emanating from the data were extracted. Findings indicated that e-tutors and lecturers had minimal understanding of how to enact care in this environment during the covid-19 pandemic. Future research should focus on how to manage student online interaction in an OdeL environment during crises.

Hybrid approaches to teaching: Re-imagining the teaching of a foundational science course during a global pandemic

Daniel Parker — 2022-11-28

Access to scientific knowledge, and teaching in the sciences, is believed to be about training because scientific knowledge is, generally, specialised. However, for students to gain full epistemological access in the sciences, they also need to be inducted as scientists and learners of science. We use Bernstein’s regulative and instructional discourse to engage with the notion of epistemological access and effectiveness of a foundational science course. We examine how the course can cultivate scientific identities amongst first year students at a recently established South African university. Our analysis assesses the impact of the forced shift from contact teaching to Emergency Remote Teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We demonstrate that the course was able to begin to facilitate the cultivation of different kinds of knowers in science. However, several gaps remain. Thus, we argue that foundational science lecturers should focus on hybrid teaching approaches to promote enhanced learning amongst students.

Institutionalisation of academic integrity: Experiences at a distance education university in South Africa during COVID-19

Ingrid Marais — 2022-12-06

Academic integrity is an ongoing concern in higher education. Research dating back to the 1960s shows students self-reporting cheating, and with the advent of more online education, concerns about the integrity of degrees have become even more widespread. Due to this concern about academic integrity, especially in view of the changes brought about by COVID-19, I launched a research project that aimed to holistically understand how academics understand and teach academic integrity and institutional policies around academic integrity, and how these policies are employed through analysing five years’ worth of student disciplinary records at a distance education university. I interviewed twenty-eight academics and academic managers and analysed sixty-six documents, as well as 3 383 student disciplinary records. Flowing from that larger project, I argue in this paper that there has not yet been institutionalisation of academic integrity at this university. I end by offering suggestions for how institutionalisation could occur.

Inclusion of students as key stakeholders and agents in the induction of new university teachers: Disrupting the induction status quo

Fhatuwani Ravhuhali — 2022-11-28

Ample research exists on the induction of new academics (NAs) or new university teachers (NUTs), but scholars are silent on students’ inclusion in such inductions. It is on this basis that this paper prompted the views of NAs on the inclusion of students in the induction of new academics. As academic development practitioners, who are part of the New Academics’ Transitioning into Higher Education Project (NATHEP) from 2019 and 2022, we submit and argue that the inclusion of students as partners in the induction of NAs empowers students to take ownership of their learning as students and affords them an opportunity to amplify their voices and contribute meaningfully to higher education spaces. This paper, underpinned by the Theory of Human Care and the Ethics of Care Theory, adopted a qualitative research approach in which both exploratory and explanatory research designs were triangulated. Utilising thematic data analysis, the findings of this paper were drawn from the induction questionnaires distributed and collected from NAs during induction. This paper found that the inclusion of students during induction provides NAs with an opportunity to interact with students and understand students’ challenges and expectations regarding critical teaching and learning issues. This paper has implications for both AD practitioners and higher education institutions on how the inclusion of students should be understood concerning professional development initiatives such as the induction of NAs.

Decoloniality, Language and Literacy: Conversations with Teacher Educators.

Lizzi O'Milligan — 2022-12-13

McKinney, C. & Christie, P. 2021. Decoloniality, Language and Literacy: Conversations with Teacher Educators. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.