As part of its efforts to empower its students and its staff, the University, through its Teaching and Learning Development Centre (TLDC)’s Writing Centre, has decided to double its efforts. Looking at good academic writing as a core to academic achievement, the Writing Centre has unrolled a plan by which it targets students and staff. Writing Practitioner in the centre, Dr Nondumiso Shabangu, said they decided to communicate directly with the academics to increase the number of students to utilize their services. Dr Shabangu said that students are now awarded for consulting with the centre for their assignments and other academic work.
Dr Nondumiso Shabangu, said they aimed to reach the MUT community in full. “Our main targets are mainly first year students, final year students and postgraduates; lecturers, tutors and staff members that are studying”. Dr Shabangu also said that they wanted to be visible to staff and students. They will have a pop-up event on 7 September 2023, at the Anniversary Lane.
Another practitioner at the centre is Ntuthuko Mhlongo, who has a wealth of experience in higher education. Mhlongo has taught undergraduate and postgraduate Political Science students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Mhlongo, like Dr Shabangu, also worked at the DUT’s Writing Centre where he learned how to use evidence-informed approaches to help students learn to write for their disciplines of study, as well as learn how to enjoy writing for academic purposes. He joined the writing centre at MUT in the Teaching Learning and Development Centre in 2020. Mhlongo says that since joining the MUT Writing Centre he has built successful collaborations with various faculty staff members to expand the reach of the Writing Centre support for students.
Staff and students can contact the Writing Centre via WhatsApp on 079 020 0172; or writingcentre@mut.ac.za The working hours are 8am to 4pm, Monday to Thursday, and 8am to 1pm, on Friday. The centre provides both face-to-face and online sessions.