The Department for Education Innovation serves and leads the University of Pretoria’s vision for teaching excellence and innovation. EI helps lecturers to be prepared for their curriculum, teaching and assessment roles, to engage their students and to reflect on their practices. Students are the beneficiaries of these processes.
International good practice currently is to use blended environments – contact with lecturers, peer learning, text, multimedia, computer-based, online, service learning, etc. – to promote engaged learning. Teaching then becomes the intellectual and practical engagement of students in their disciplines and fields of study. Technology, multimedia and multiple modes of delivery enhance teaching, facilitate learning and support assessment.
We always maintain that technology must support the curriculum and serve teaching and learning. However, the explosion of technology and the diverse ways in which it is used is altering how the ‘net generation’, the ‘digital native’, the ‘networker’ learns. Students also have access to such rich resources through the internet that the gap between planned curricula and what students with such access learn is widening. We also live with the ‘digital divide’. We shall have to adapt teaching to accommodate how students learn and student diversity to remain relevant.
News
FABI Director elected as next President of IUFRO - 19/06/2013
Prof Mike Wingfield, the Director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) in the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, was elected early in June 2013 to serve as the next President of the International Union of Forestry Research Organisations (IUFRO).
He is the first ever African to be elected to this prestigious position, which has a five-year term running from October 2014 to 2019.
[Read More]
Faculty of Humanities’ Mandela Day project: Prof De la Rey donates books - 19/06/2013
During a ceremony held on 4 June 2013, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Cheryl de la Rey, donated four books to the Faculty of Humanities as a contribution to their Mandela Day project.
The books she donated were her favourite books during her childhood. She congratulated the Faculty for initiating such a worthy project that would continue to encourage children to read even long after the Mandela Day celebrations have ended. She emphasised the importance of reading as a window to the world and quoted Mr Nelson Mandela, who once remarked that ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’.
[Read More]
New Chair in Department of Mining Engineering to help save lives - 18/06/2013
Research on a safer working environment in the hard-rock mining industry will henceforth be a very specific focus area at the University of Pretoria. This is the result of a donation of R4.7 million over 3 years by Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (Harmony) to UP in order to establish a Chair in Rock Engineering and Numerical Modelling in the mining industry. The Harmony chair will be housed in the Department of Mining Engineering of the University’s Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology.
[Read More]
TuksRugby reigns supreme in 2013 Carlton League - 16/06/2013
On 15 June, TuksRugby proved their supremacy in Blue Bulls club rugby by claiming all five championship titles on offer in the 2013 Carlton League.
The top prize at stake was the coveted Carlton Cup, the piece of silverware that eluded UP-Tuks 1 last year when they went down 23–27 to Police in the final.
[Read More]
New Poultry Disease Management Agency (PDMA) and UP Research Poultry Chair launched in the Faculty of Veterinary Science - 13/06/2013
The new PDMA-UP Poultry Research Chair in the Faculty of Veterinary Science was recently launched by the Faculty and the South African Poultry Association (SAPA). This exciting collaborative partnership aims among other things, at conducting research on poultry diseases that have an impact on our economy.
The first incumbent of this Chair, Prof Celia Abolnik, who was recently appointed by the Production Animal Studies Department, will be conducting research projects in conjunction with the Poultry Disease Management Agency (PDMA), the government as well as other relevant stakeholders.
[Read More]
Theatre highlights: Chasing and As Night Falls - 11/06/2013
There are performances of the shows Chasing (based on the life of Ingrid Jonker) and As Night Falls (based on the life of Helen Martins) at the Masker Theatre at the University of Pretoria.
These shows are collaborations between the Drama Department and Matchbox Theatre Collective and both shows are choreographed by Nicola Haskins. Make sure you don't miss these shows before they head to perform at Smithfield and at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. As Night falls won a Standard Bank Ovation Award in 2011.
[Read More]
Marketing honours students impress Newsclip - 10/06/2013
Part of the BComHons (Marketing Management) programme is to equip students with practical skills that they will need as young marketers in the industry. In order to meet this goal, the Department of Marketing Management partnered with Newsclip.
The partnership enabled students to conduct media monitoring in the print, broadcast, online and social media environments, by utilising the various Newsclip delivery and media platforms available.
[Read More]
Student Feedback Questionnaire
In your opinion does the student feedback questionnaire on modules improve teaching?
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Prof Mike Wingfield, the Director of the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) in the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, was elected early in June 2013 to serve as the next President of the International Union of Forestry Research Organisations (IUFRO).
He is the first ever African to be elected to this prestigious position, which has a five-year term running from October 2014 to 2019.
.jpg)
During a ceremony held on 4 June 2013, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Prof Cheryl de la Rey, donated four books to the Faculty of Humanities as a contribution to their Mandela Day project.
The books she donated were her favourite books during her childhood. She congratulated the Faculty for initiating such a worthy project that would continue to encourage children to read even long after the Mandela Day celebrations have ended. She emphasised the importance of reading as a window to the world and quoted Mr Nelson Mandela, who once remarked that ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’.
.jpg)
Research on a safer working environment in the hard-rock mining industry will henceforth be a very specific focus area at the University of Pretoria. This is the result of a donation of R4.7 million over 3 years by Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (Harmony) to UP in order to establish a Chair in Rock Engineering and Numerical Modelling in the mining industry. The Harmony chair will be housed in the Department of Mining Engineering of the University’s Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology.
On 15 June, TuksRugby proved their supremacy in Blue Bulls club rugby by claiming all five championship titles on offer in the 2013 Carlton League.
The top prize at stake was the coveted Carlton Cup, the piece of silverware that eluded UP-Tuks 1 last year when they went down 23–27 to Police in the final.
.jpg)
The new PDMA-UP Poultry Research Chair in the Faculty of Veterinary Science was recently launched by the Faculty and the South African Poultry Association (SAPA). This exciting collaborative partnership aims among other things, at conducting research on poultry diseases that have an impact on our economy.
The first incumbent of this Chair, Prof Celia Abolnik, who was recently appointed by the Production Animal Studies Department, will be conducting research projects in conjunction with the Poultry Disease Management Agency (PDMA), the government as well as other relevant stakeholders.
.jpg)
Part of the BComHons (Marketing Management) programme is to equip students with practical skills that they will need as young marketers in the industry. In order to meet this goal, the Department of Marketing Management partnered with Newsclip.
The partnership enabled students to conduct media monitoring in the print, broadcast, online and social media environments, by utilising the various Newsclip delivery and media platforms available.
Last edited by: Marietha Hicks