WISEUP TO IMPROVING YOUR TEACHING AND LEARNING OUTPUT

A modest-sized group of lecturers from WSU’s Buffalo City Campus congregated at the Chiselhurst Site in East London recently to share their different experiences in working with e-Learning tools available at the institution.

The bone of contention at the gathering – Blackboard Learn, launched at WSU in August 2018, is a virtual learning environment and learning management system which features course management, customizable open architecture, and scalable design that allows integration with student information systems and authentication protocols.

”The University adopted and implemented e-Learning in 2009 as a pedagogy we can use to enhance teaching and learning at the institution. In following that process, we adopted the Blackboard learning tool, which the university terms WiseUp, to encourage staff to utilize it to promote academic excellence in teaching and learning,” said BCC Centre for Learning & Teaching (CLTD) manager Dr Mmampho Gogela-Smith.

Dr Gogela-Smith said as one of their chief mandates, CLTD is charged with training lecturers through one-on-one consultations. As a result, the centre hosted the programme aimed at affording the lecturers a space, opportunity and platform to showcase what they’ve done using the WiseUp.

One of those noteworthy participants was Applied Informatics and Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) department lecturer Gcotyelwa Phingillili, whose endeavours in using WiseUp to improve teaching and learning saw her securing top honours amongst her peers on the day.

“WiseUp has allowed me to upload all my material, including course work and exercises, onto an electronic and digital platform that is available to students at the click of a button. Students can access these materials sitting at the comfort of their homes or residences, and this makes it easier for teaching and learning to continue even during disruptions or recess,” said Phingilili.

She said the students can also use the ‘announcement tool’ on the WiseUp mobile application, which alerts students to any communication or material that has been uploaded by the lecturer.

Department of Mechanical Engineering lecturer, Zamile Mpeta, who teaches manufacturing engineering for all three levels of study, said his decision to join WiseUp was primarily motivated by the loss of teaching time during strikes and protests actions.

“The unfortunate disruptions at the institution often delay my teaching in class and thus leaves me with too much pressure to catch up and finish the curriculum in time when students come back. But since adopting WiseUp as a tool, I’ve been able to design and configure my course in accordance with the tool and thus have been able to interact with students even during the recent student protests,” said Mpeta.

The day was also used as a platform to establish a community of practice amongst the lecturers, all in a bid to maintain and enhance working relations between those interested and invested in using technology to improve teaching and learning at WSU.