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Mangosuthu University of Technology Annual Report
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in the TLDC coordinated a number of staff development
workshops. These workshops include E-learning seminar,
Assessment in Higher Education, Pedagogical Training,
Learning Materials Development, and MUT First Year
Experience Consultative Workshop (FYE).
These initiatives help to capacitate academics in improving
their teaching practices, and TLDC hopes they will go a
long way in inducting and capacitating the academics
participating in the NewGeneration Academic Programme
(nGAP). The nGAP is a Department of Higher Education
programme which aims at attracting and supporting the
new generation of academics in South Africa. At MUT,
the coordination of the nGAP is the responsibility of the
TLDC and it is delegated to the TPDU. In 2015 the TPDU
successfully led the coordination of the hiring of the nGAP
scholars and all the posts allocated to MUT were filled.
The first ever e-Learning Seminar took place on the 17th
of September 2015. Its focus was to explore possible
approaches to the use of online educational resources at
MUT. Dr Arno Louw, an esteemed researcher in E-learning
from the University of Johannesburg was invited as guest
speaker. The seminar also included reflections from MUT
staff members who were active in using blended learning.
The seminar proved to be a resounding success with an
attendance of approximately 60 academics and academic
support staff members. Subsequently, the project of the
long awaited installation of Smart Classrooms started
in earnest in October 2015 to support the teaching and
learning using the eLearning platforms. This was a pilot
project which saw nine classrooms being configured to be
smart classrooms.
On the 27 March 2015 the TLDC hosted the FYE
Consultative Workshop which took place at the Coastlands
Hotel in Musgrave. FYE have progressively gained a
strong position in South African Higher Education over
the past three years. This is due to global recognition
of the success of the concept in improving retention and
throughput rates in higher education. Mrs Motsabi, the
FYE Coordinator from University of Johannesburg skilfully
facilitated the workshop.
Apart from the workshops and seminars, the TLDC
continued to provide the coordination of the Postgraduate
Diploma in Higher Education (PGDHE) which is offered to
academics through Rhodes University and University of
KwaZulu-Natal. In 2015 eleven academic staff members
completed the PGDHE whilst nine enrolled for the
2015/16 academic year. According to the reflection
reports the participants indicated that the programme
has empowered them with the skills and knowledge they
needed in their own respective disciplines.
Student Development and Support Initiatives
The TLDC continues to facilitate student support initiatives
which is a housed mainly in its two units, i.e. Academic
Literacy and Language (ALLU) unit and Mathematics and
Science Education Unit (MSEU). A number of student
development and support initiatives was undertaken
in the 2015 academic year and are summarized per unit
below:
Mathematics and Science Education Unit (Mseu)
The MSEU discharged the following activities in pursuit of
student development and support:
• The development of a new tutorial manual in a
similar fashion to the material for the Numeracy and
Quantitative Skills Development course for Maths
I. This tutorial manual will supplement the existing
study material and will be undergoing further
reviews in its adoption through the TLDC Material
Development initiative.
• The coordination of the Mentorship Programme
which was successfully run across seven-
programmes in six departments, i.e. Civil
Engineering and Survey; Chemical Engineering;
Chemistry; Agriculture; Nature Conservation and
Mechanical Engineering. The mentorship activities
help to establish the programme as an integral part
of the interventions required for academic support.
• The establishment of the collaboration with SA
Women Engineering programme. This initiative
resulted in MUT participating at the Girl Engineering
Information Session held at UKZN on the 9th of
May 2015. This programme is meant to mentor and
support female students in the Engineering field
nationwide.
• The recruitment of new tutors to replace those who
went for in-service training was taken care of. These
new recruits had Master’s degree and some were
pursuing PhDs in their disciplines. With this, MUT
students stood a change to benefit enormously
from the knowledge and experience of these newly
recruits.
• The continuous identification of at-risk students
using the Higher Education Data Analyzer (HEDA).
HEDA generates data and reports which informs
the monitoring and the support of at-risk students.
• The coordination of the Test of Academic Literacy
Levels (TALL) in the first semester of 2015. Profiling
test. The TALL was administered to first-time
entering students, and was customised to assess
both the academic literacy and basic numeracy
skills. It was administered successfully by the
ICELDA team in collaboration with MUT colleagues
to a cohort of students in February 2015.
Academic Literacy and Language (Allu)
ALLU discharged the following activities in pursuit of
student development and support: