Professionalization of teaching and learning
I enjoy participating in professional learning opportunities, which extend my knowledge of teaching and learning. I attended an online Excellence in Teaching and Learning Conference in UFS in 2020, where my collaborators, Drs Matthew Huber and Martin Clark, won an award in the category of “Innovation in Technology Enhanced Learning.”
In 2021-2022, I attended two UWC professionalization courses, “Teaching and Learning Online Induction Professionalization Programme” and “Towards the Professionalization of Learning and Teaching.” Both were very useful and insightful for my teaching practices and for adapting to the UWC environment as a lecturer.
In 2022-2024, I participated in the Departmental curriculum review workshop, where a discussion was held about optimizing the curriculum of the Applied Geology Section of the Department of Earth Sciences. The goal of this discussion was to understand how to improve the quality of the graduating students and facilitate the teaching and learning process at the Department by creating an integrated and aligned program from the 1st year to the Honors level according to the constructive alignment principles (Biggs, 1999; 2003). We plan to continue this conversation and restructure the program and the ways we teach.
I regularly attend the UWC Academic Week, which is a series of workshops and talks on a variety of topics related to teaching and learning practices, such as student support; assessment and feedback; blended teaching and learning; renewal, transformation, and decolonization of the curriculum; and scholarship of teaching and learning. This event provided me with a lot of material for thought and integrated me better into the UWC culture and teaching practices.
Other professionalization courses and workshops attended:
1. Institutional CIECT Colloquium: Artificial Intelligence (ChatGPT), UWC, July 2023.
2. Organized and attended the workshop “FIB/TEM: Basics of the Method and its Applications in (Bio)Geosciences” by Dr. Richard Wirth (GFZ-Potsdam, Germany) in UWC, June 2023.
3. Pressure‐temperature constraints, phase equilibria and open system modelling of geological processes with Rcrust, Stellenbosch University, Jan 2023.
4. UWC Academic Week 2022, Aug-Sept 2022.
5. Towards the Professionalization of Learning and Teaching Course, UWC, Feb-July 2022.
6. Teaching and Learning Online Induction Professionalization Programme, UWC, Aug-Sept 2021.
7. Workshop on the hand-held XRF, Department of Earth Sciences, UWC, Feb 2021.
8. Workshop “Postgraduate supervision,” Postgraduate School, UFS, Nov 2020.
9. Short Workshop “Multiple Choice Training,” Center for Teaching and Learning, UFS, Oct 2020.
10. Workshop “Interactive .pdf’s”, Postgraduate School, UFS, Aug 2020.
11. Springer Nature Webinar “Step-by-step Guide on How to Prepare a Successful Paper,” June 2020.
12. Workshop “Questionnaire design”, Postgraduate School, UFS, March 2020.
13. Short Workshop “Blackboard Basics,” Center for Teaching and Learning, UFS, Feb 2020.
14. Workshop “New Academic Staff Orientation,” Center for Teaching and Learning, UFS, Jan 2020.
15. Workshop “Postgraduate supervision,” Postgraduate School, UFS, Jan 2020.
16. Writing Retreat organized by the Scholarship for Teaching and Learning, UFS at Summerwood, Bloemfontein, Jan 2020.
17. Organized and attended a Writing Retreat for the Department of Geology, UFS at the Golden Gate National Park, South Africa, Nov 2019.
18. Workshop “Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and geochronology,” University of Brasília, Brasília, Brazil, Sept 2019.
19. New Academic Staff Orientation Workshop, Academic Staff and Leadership Development, University of the Free State, July 2019.
20. Article Refinement Workshop, University of the Free State, South Africa, Apr 2019.
21. NRF Mock Rating Workshop and Exercise, University of the Free State, 2017.
22. Workshop “Research Article – writing for Publication,” University of the Free State, Postgraduate Centre, Bloemfontein, South Africa, Nov 2015.
23. Seminar “Academic Writing and how to spin it,” University of Vienna, Personal Entwicklung, Austria, Apr 2014.
24. Seminar “BrainRead English” by “Immediate Effects,” University of Vienna, Personal Entwicklung, Austria, Nov 2013.
25. Seminar “ProWrite English” by “Immediate Effects,” University of Vienna, Personal Entwicklung, Austria, Nov 2013.
26. Summer School IK “DOGMA,” Greece, Serifos, organized by University of Vienna, Sept 2013.
27. Seminar on Presentation Techniques, University of Vienna, Personal Entwicklung, Austria, May 2013.
28. Doctoral School “Texture Analysis with MTEX emphasizing EBSD Data Analysis,” Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany, March 2013.
29. Workshop in Experimental Petrology at the Institute of Experimental Mineralogy Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka, Russia, June 2008.