Law and Management Studies Academic Proud Recipient of UKZN Distinguished Teachers’ Award

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For Information Systems and Technology Lecturer, Ms Rose Quilling, receiving the prestigious 2015 UKZN Distinguished Teachers’ Award was an acknowledgement of her 20 years of dedication and commitment to Higher Education.

The award recognises exceptional and outstanding contribution to Teaching and Learning at UKZN.

Quilling, currently pursuing her doctorate in Education focusing on the use of social computing in Higher Education teaching at UKZN, constantly strives to be innovative in her teaching so was thrilled by the acknowledgement.

‘I view the award as recognition of the sacrifice required to continually innovate in my teaching while maintaining a deep-seated commitment to my students,’ said Quilling.

‘The essence of my teaching is thus grounded in who I am and what I believe. This award does not change my view of my teaching; rather it validates my sense of myself as a teacher.’

Quilling’s long list of impressive teaching and learning innovations and interventions includes:

* Using active learning strategies, such as ink shedding, in large classes. This involves activities modelled from TV shows such as quiz shows with teams competing against each other in a classroom with a variety of scoring and penalty strategies, and also shows such as The Apprentice and Survivor for developing group-based interventions.

* Using international curricula to construct the ISTN101 curriculum and the associated pedagogy on the Open Learning System (OLS) learning management system (LMS) when they were piloted over the period of the merger.

 

 * The use of technological tools in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

 

 * Incorporating virtual world learning as part of a constructionist paradigm at honours level in IS&T which is still relatively new in South Africa

College of Law and Management Studies Dean of Teaching and Learning, Professor Kriben Pillay, said in the many years he had known Quilling, he had always been impressed by her use of technology to enhance teaching.

‘Rose was one of the first College academics I contacted when I became Dean to present at one of our teaching and learning forums. She was unable to do so at the time because of her PhD studies and her plans to take a sabbatical.

‘I trust that she will present to the College now that she has received this prestigious award which was well deserved,’ he said.

Thandiwe Jumo