Best Practice and Collegiality Explored at Teaching and Learning Day

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UKZN’s College of Law and Management Studies hosted its first Teaching and Learning Day which attracted 13 lecturers from the four schools within the College who shared and showcased their teaching and learning practice.

The event, conceptualised by the College’s Dean of Teaching and Learning, Professor Kriben Pillay, aimed to highlight excellence in teaching and learning across the College’s various disciplines with the academics each delivering a 20-minute presentation for a chance to win a share of R40 000 in research prizes.

Presenters were:

* Ms Suhayfa Bhamjee, Mr Maropeng Mpya and Mr Vishal Surbun of the School of Law.

* Ms Kerry McCullough and Ms Patricia Shewell of the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance.

* Dr Fayth Ruffin, Dr Upasana Singh, Dr Moggie Subban, Professor Manoj Maharaj, Mr Doug Engelbrecht and Mr Sanjay Ranjeeth of the School of Management, Information Technology and Governance. 

* Dr Muhammad Hoque and Dr Shamim Bodhanya from the Graduate School of Business and Leadership who covered broad topics such as teaching on the legalities of euthanasia, systems thinking, student engagement and the mathematics of hypotheses.

Bhamjee delivered a presentation titled: “Death and Dying in a Constitutional Democracy – ASSISTED DYING, which considered legal and ethical arguments in relation to ‘euthanasia’”. 

Mpya, who delivered a presentation titled: “The Humanist Teacher”, said: ‘As a young academic I have learned what to do and what not to do in lecturing. I learned about various methods of teaching that include effective use of technology. The event has made me a better Lecturer and enriched my knowledge of teaching and learning.’ 

Ruffin presented on “Student Engagement in Curriculum Delivery: A View from Public Governance”. She described the event as an intellectually stimulating and highly engaging experience where teaching practices were shared through wide and varied lenses. 

Singh delivered a presentation titled: “Fitness Bands and Quizzes…What’s the Link?” she spoke about how to use the Moodle Quizzes tool for Formative Assessment. 

Ranjeeth’s presentation on “An Agile Approach to Software Development: A Pedagogical Intervention”, involved a discussion of the teaching strategy used to underpin the transition to Agile Software Development methodology for the development of an information systems project for final year undergraduate students in the Discipline of Information Technology. 

McCullough’s presentation, titled: “Active Teaching. Active Learning”, addressed the relationship between the activities in teaching and learning within the classroom context with a focus on action research on active teaching. 

Surbun’s presentation was titled: “Developing the Art of Drafting Policy through Class Exercises in the Environmental Law Module”. It revealed that the current LLB curriculum and syllabi, and subsequent professional legal training, offered little emphasis in training students to draft policy and legislation.

Shewell presented on “Financial Statement Analysis: Revealing the Story Behind the Numbers”.

Pillay, who said he was pleased the presentations focused on various aspects of teaching and learning, hopes to make the event bigger and better in 2016.

The College’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Mubangizi, applauded the initiative and emphasised that creating knowledge through research and teaching was right in line with UKZN’s strategic plan.

Thandiwe Jumo