Education Faculty: PGDIP- TVET ‘Fully Online’ Programme [2016-2019]

Education Faculty: PGDIP- TVET ‘Fully Online’ Programme [2016-2019]

Thursday, October 17, 2019

The Director of the Institute for Post-School Studies (IPSS), Prof Papier contacted the CIECT Director in 2016 to conceptualise and implement a ‘fully online’ Programme. CIECT proceeded in collaboration with the IPSS team to advise around the effective use of eTools to support learning and teaching practices; Instructional Design, facilitation, content development and online support. The advisory session was followed-up with hands-on training and familiarisation sessions with the subject matter experts, resulting in the design and development of prototypes (online units of work). It should be noted that the subject matter experts have built good relationships with the CIECT Instructional Design team for continuous support and discussions related to new developments.

Student Orientation: Students (Teacher-Educators) who enroll for this PGDiP:TVET Programme (since 2017), engage from various geographical environments; and are expected to attend two block weeks per year (two year programme).  During the block week sessions, the CIECT team conducts introduction and familiarisation hands-on sessions, prior to the students’ online journey.

Student Engagement, Reflection and Assessment: Students are expected to engage in this ‘Fully Online’ programme which employs a rigorous methodology of reflective practice, supported by the use of online Lessons, Discussion Forums, Assignments and Course Resources. Furthermore, the eTools are directly linked to the assessment criteria for formative and summative purposes; including – theory essays, reflective practice assignments and relevant practicals. Students are also expected to explain and elaborate their understanding of content through online discussions and submission of assignments; allowing lecturers to evaluate student progress.

Structured Online Lessons: Lecturers (Nigel Prinsloo, Timothy Mcbride, Jennifer Martin and Bhekumusa Khuzwayo) created a space within the iKamva platform, whereby module content could be explored through a variety of digital media components. The modules are structured according to weeks, to include sections such as “warm up, introduction, core readings, supplementary readings, questions, tasks and lesson notes”. The lecturers provided students with videos, PowerPoint presentations, articles and online discussions that students are expected to engage in.

New Developments: Recently the IPSS team has contacted the CIECT team to implement the live-video conferencing functionality within iKamva (BigBlueButton). This pilot is currently underway and the students (Teacher-Educators) are engaging in live lecture sessions from different geographical regions (across Provinces). The lessons learnt will be reviewed by CIECT for further roll-out to the wider campus community.

Contact the CIECT Team to create well-designed, interactive distance and blended learning environments.