Mr Joseph Jere. Teaching and Learning Electronic Technologies Explored
In an effort to increase the College of Law and Management Studies’ digital footprint, the Teaching and Learning Unit recently appointed Mr Joseph Jere as their e-Technologist.
An e-Technologist is an Information Technology professional who has experience in Higher Education teaching and research within one or more disciplines.
Jere’s main duties involve conceptualising e-technology, interventions, designing and implementing e-technology strategies for teaching and learning, and training and teaching staff and tutors how to use e-technology in teaching methods within the Teaching and Learning Unit and the College overall.
Jere, who has been involved in the College’s Academic Support Programmes since 2008 with a specific focus on the information systems discipline, said exploring and adopting technological teaching and learning methods had many benefits.
‘By acting as a change agent in the e-technology diffusion process amongst staff and students within the College, I am able to conceptualise e-technology tools and maximise the utility of the University’s ICT investment. This enables me to achieve targets such as increasing the number of modules on Moodle and Video lectures,’ he said.
Jere’s position is part of his overall portfolio as an Academic Development Co-ordinator. His accomplishments and vision in respect of e-technology for the College include Initiating the podcasting concept in the Bachelor of Commerce Foundation programme.
Currently the podcasting initiative has been introduced to all the Bachelor of Commerce foundation students both on the Pietermaritzburg and Westville campuses providing podcasts (videos of lectures) in MATHS194, ECONOMICS1C0 and English language development for commerce students (ELDV). It has also been introduced to all first year mainstream students in the College registered for Information Systems and Technology 101.
Jere’s responsibilities also include the development of Moodle sites (on the University Learning Management System) for the entire foundation programme in the College as well as managing the sites on a day to day basis.
Moodle sites are intended to introduce newly-enrolled Bachelor of Commerce foundation students to the University culture and norms in terms of e-learning activities thereby creating a seamless transition into the mainstream programme the following year.
Looking ahead, Jere plans to extend the podcasting concept to the entire college via the use of the UKZNTUBE which is an online data (mainly video hosting) repository.
Thandiwe Jumo
