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Complex digital connectedness: Building networks & relationships (Cancelled)

Presenter

Dr Juliet Stoltenkamp is the Director of the Centre for Innovative Education and Communication Technologies (CIECT) at the University of the Western Cape, managing the integration and implementation of educational technologies; and cultivating leadership on strategic, developmental and operational levels. She has gained valuable working experience over 25 years as an Educator, Instructional Designer, Manager, Director and serving on various academic institutional decision-making bodies in higher education institutions. She contributes to selection committees for institutional and national Teaching-and-Learning awards.

She established and structured the Centre for Innovative Education & Communication Technologies (CIECT), at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). The Centre consists of integrated niche teams of expertise who focus on implementation of innovative teaching and learning practices; and related research-led, teaching and community projects. This Academic Professional Support structure entails key areas, including, Instructional Design, Software Development and Application, Digital Academic Literacy, Materials Development, Audio-Visual Services, and Research. She oversees all teams, and also works closely with teams in her capacity of Instructional Designer, Facilitator and Researcher. This includes initiatives related to the sustainability of a support structure, focusing on teaching, facilitation, assessment, moderation, and design efforts. The Centre for Innovative Education & Communication Technologies (CIECT) promotes the integration of emerging technologies at UWC. As a Leader, she is able to reflect on an integrated professional structure which supports blended and distance learning approaches, within a framework of Teaching-and-Learning; Research; Community Engagement and Collaboration. These areas are underpinned by scholarly outputs, engagements, and research-led projects in alignment with the Institutional Operating Plan (IOP), and national policies and imperatives.

As Director of CIECT, she has to ensure that the current structured Professional Support Centre remains functional and sustainable within a complex higher education setting. Her PhD research focused on an Integrated Approach to Implementing eLearning in a Complex Higher Education Setting. She also contributed to the National eSkills Plan of Action (NESPA). She is the designer and Coordinator of the Digital Inclusion: eCentre Management Programme within the Western Cape Knowledge Production and Coordination Hub, a programme that has been rolled out across eCentres within the Western and Northern Cape provinces in South Africa - with a vision of national rollout. Recently, she completed a PGDIP: Academic Development Programme, where she was able to foreground her practice as a Leader and as an Academic Developer, in her role as Director of CIECT. Furthermore, she has been able to show how it is possible to represent Academic Development work, situated within a Professional Support Centre, in relation to the development of a teaching identity within a research-led university.

Abstract

At the University of the Western Cape (UWC), the Centre for Innovative Education & Communication Technologies (CIECT) is responsible for driving emergent technologies and innovative collaborative projects, to support teaching and learning in Higher Education.  CIECT promotes the importance of the creation of well-designed environments to strengthen partnerships, and an effective learning pathway for student development.

In a model by Jarche, Jarche explores what is means to be socially connected in a techno-social world. In higher education, digitally enabled connections are crucial for student resilience - as genuine relationships are formed, based on how ICTs have revolutionised social and academic life. Digital connections, through hyper-personal relationships (Walther, 1997) and face-to-face engagement are critical in blended and online learning environments to fulfil a wide range of student and lecturer needs, gratifications and desires to meet the outcomes of modular content and institutionally-based, skills-driven interventions.  

This presentation aims to highlight the importance of the creation of a conducive environment for innovative collaborative projects, and the implementation of interactive online spaces. Moreover, this presentation is structured to emphasise the importance of a professional support structure to build networks and relationships and to enhance student resilience in a complex higher education setting.