Eli Bitzer

Higher education in South Africa : a scholarly look behind the scenes

CITATION: Bitzer, E. (ed). 2009. Higher Education in South Africa – A scholarly look behind the scenes. Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA. doi:10.18820/9781920338183.

Acquiring academic literacy: a case of first-year extended degree programme students

Abstract The way in which academic literacy is acquired is described in the work of many researchers, some of whom speak of students in higher education serving an apprenticeship during which they become acculturated into the discourse of the discipline. But often weaker first-year students will miss the discipline-specific codes that characterise the discourse, making the process of acquisition more difficult. In this article we report on the findings of an in-depth study that explored the experiences of a specific group of under-prepared first-year students on an extended degree programme in order to determine how they sought to acquire academic literacy - this particularly in view of their having been exposed to a dedicated academic literacy module as part of the programme offering. What emerged was an understanding of students, particularly less prepared students, having to negotiate a series of boundaries in order to assume membership of the larger academic community, on the one hand, as well as the different disciplines, each with its own conventions and discourse, on the other. In this context, the potential of an aligned and integrated academic literacy module to enable such negotiation would appear to have relevance.

Networks, nodes and knowledge: Blogging to support doctoral candidates and supervisors

CITATION: Leibowitz, B., Wisker, G. & Lamberti, P. 2016. Postgraduate Study in Uncharted Territory: A Compartative Study, in M. Fourie-Malherbe, R. Albertyn, C. Aitchison & E. Bitzer. (eds.). Postgraduate Supervision: Future Foci for the Knowledge Society. Stellenbosch: SUN PRESS. 189-202. doi:10.18820/9781928357223/11.

Higher education as a field of study and research

CITATION: Bitzer, E. & Wilkinson, A. 2009. Higher Education as a Field of Study and Research, in E. Bitzer (ed.). Higher Education in South Africa: A Scholarly Look behind the Scenes. Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA. 369-408. doi:10.18820/9781920338183/17.

Journeying with higher education studies and research: A personal perspective

CITATION: Bitzer, E. 2009. Journeying with Higher Education Studies and Research: A Personal Perspective, in E. Bitzer (ed.). Higher Education in South Africa: A Scholarly Look behind the Scenes. Stellenbosch: SUN MeDIA. 305-328. doi:10.18820/9781920338183/14.

Integrating assessment and Recognition of Prior Learning in South African higher education: a university case study

The article reports on the integration of assessment and recognition of prior learning (ARPL) at postgraduate level in one South African university. An analysis of interviews with administrators, lecturers and students who have been involved in the ARPL process provides insight into the implementation practices that accompany the formal introduction of ARPL into the institution. The factors necessary to support ARPL policy implementation, the scope of assessment procedures and the facilitation of ARPL in a learner-centred manner are discussed as focal areas for quality assurance in ARPL integration.

Reciprocal and scholarly service learning: emergent theoretical understandings of the university–community interface in South Africa

This study addresses underlying principles to interpret scholarly-based service-related teaching and learning. Such principles include addressing specific concerns of communities, transforming theoretical knowledge into lived experiences for students, making the knowledge generated within communities meaningful and forging constant growth and learning gain for both students and community members (CMs). Following a grounded theory design, academic staff members, students, community organisation representatives and CMs were involved in service-related projects. These projects involved a South African research-led university which engages with its local communities – some evolving from destitute positions. Seven academic modules from six faculties were analysed over a period of two consecutive years. Results opened up new perspectives on service learning, a concept previously mainly researched as an inward-looking inquiry or implicitly embedded in curricula. New student attributes are suggested which include scholarliness (including taking a stronger research view on undergraduate work) and reciprocity (i.e. students not only learning in communities but also from communities and vice versa). Such innovative emphases on student attributes open up fresh meanings and theory for community engagement and university curricula – particularly in the context of a developing country.

Opening up Spaces for Social Transformation: Critical Citizenship Education in a Post-Conflict South African University Context.

In post-conflict countries such as South Africa, some university students to know anything about the conflict-ridden past. As in other parts of the world that suffered from pasts of discrimination and conflict, it is easier for some students than others to argue like this since an unfortunate past does not concretely affect them any longer. Many students are, however, still benefitting or suffering from a privileged or disadvantaged past, and thus subconscious feelings of guilt or resentment prevail. When triggered by critical citizenship education, some students seem to want to avoid confronting issues. Such avoidance, however, can perpetuate and worsen the existing gap between social differences and/or academic performance. Against this background a critical citizenship module was included into a Visual Communication Design curriculum at a university in South Africa. Through fostering social justice, the module constructs a safe environment where historical and current realities can be unravelled. It also allows for dealing with these issues through art and design – a process that triggers the imagination and hence involves participants to see and experience that which cannot necessarily be seen or experienced in any other way. Through written reflections and interviews the project involved students, lecturers and high school learners in a township to whom art was taught by university students. Results showed that a less hierarchical and more self-motivated approach to critical citizenship education in art, which becomes part of the formal curriculum, results in addressing some of the avoidance and difficulties that were experienced earlier.

Consumer Learning for University Students: A Case for a Curriculum.

This article indicates how the application of a simplified version of the analytical abstraction method (AAM) was used in curriculum development for consumer learning at one higher education institution in South Africa. We used a case study design and qualitative research methodology to generate data through semi‐structured interviews with eight learning facilitators at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. This data set forms the basis of the reported research. Application of basic‐ and higher‐level analysis resulted in the identification of patterns that confirmed the need for consumer learning and informed the situation analysis with regard to a ‘readiness climate’ at the institution. We also gained insight into aspects that need to be considered during curriculum development for consumer learning as the AAM has proved to be a useful guiding tool in developing a structured explanatory framework for curriculum development. The article concludes with the view that the promotion of consumer learning in university curricula has been under‐researched and that, despite current efforts, university curricula are slow to adopt consumer learning as a critical learning outcome. We suggest several possibilities that might assist in overcoming this inertia.

Conceptualising risk in doctoral education: Navigating boundary tensions

CITATION: Frick, L., Albertyn, R. & Bitzer, E. 2014. Conceptualising Risk in Doctoral Education: Navigating Boundary Tensions, in E. Bitzer (eds.). et al. Pushing Boundaries in Postgraduate Supervision. Stellenbosch: SUN PRESS. 53-66. doi:10.18820/9781920689162/05.