Curriculum and Pedagogy

 

1.      Introduction

 

Though pedagogy is rightfully accentuated in the conception of the LKA/GP, the interplay between architecture, pedagogy and curriculum is often underplayed. The importance of pedagogy is thus restated here. One of the overriding objectives of the LKA/GP is to introduce both students and lecturers to a range of new pedagogical tools, and to model a humanizing pedagogical philosophy. There is a commitment to pedagogy that:

 

·         Is peer centred;

·         Is rooted in processes of dialogue and meaning making;

·         Raises the bar of self-discipline and accountability;

·         Focuses on the praxis that combines new knowledge with meaning making through cycles of learning, action and reflection;

·         Recognises the diversity of knowledge and experience of students as they enter the University;

·         Seeks to build bridges and scaffolds between this knowledge and the history of ideas, discourses and literacy’s of academic life;

·         Grapples with the tension between the local and the global in the production of knowledge;

·         Seeks to build bridges between knowledge and the contemporary struggles and choices of young people’s lives.

·         Is built off ideas relating to a humanising pedagogy.

 

The LKA/GP is thus meant to straddle the interface of knowledge, reflection and value formation. Its goals include assisting students in their formation of a set of values and ethics for their lives.  It seeks to do so through exposing students to knowledge and experiences that help them to become more conscious, critical and creative, rather than suggesting a more prescriptive or technical approach to value formation.

 

2.      Pedagogical levels

 

·         In seeking a humanising pedagogy, and the achievement of the objectives of the LKA-GP, one of the most important innovations of the LKA-GP is the use of the different structures of learning engagement – the village lecture, ekhaya, and the imizi.

·         The success of the LKA/GP will depend upon how these levels are experienced (by students, abakhwezeli and lecturers), and how well processes and activities articulate and support each other across the three levels.

·         In this section we lay out some of the basic concepts and principles behind the pedagogic philosophy that provides scaffolding for each learning level – the village lecture, ekhaya, and the imizi (see Table 1).

 

 

Table 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.      The Core Rhythm: Theme Cycle

 

The LKA-GP is organised into essentially 4 theme cycles. The pedagogical rhythm of each cycle is a core learning experience.  The cycle itself models a pedagogy of engagement with knowledge. As a general map, each theme is organised as a meta-learning-cycle of four weeks (see Table 2 below). Given the time constraints of the semester, the first theme cycle is limited to three weeks.) The role of the village lecture provides a structure to this cycle. See Table 3. 

 

Table 2: The Core Rhythm and Theme Cycle

 

Table 3: The Core Rhythm: Village Sessions

 

 

4.      The Village Lecture and Lecturer

Village Sessions are designed for the ‘lecturer’ to provide a new scaffolding for students to see new forms of knowledge – to, in essence, locate the doors and windows for students to enter the new theme.  ‘Scaffold’ is a powerful metaphor. In the same way that a scaffold is not part of the building but is the means used to erect a building and enable the next level of construction, so the lecturer in the grounding programme has to help the student see and experience new ways of thinking, through providing a new map that suggests pathways for explorations.  The lecturer points to the horizon, and identifies what to look for, rather than prescribing the content boundaries of each knowledge step.

 

At the Village Lecture, the ‘lecturer’ has the prime responsibility as the “mediator”. Lecturer is given in parenthesis because the qualities of this person will deviate from what many lecturers do, namely try and fill the student with facts or one ideology. The lecturer at this level has to provide the scaffold to enable the students to see new forms of knowledge. The lecturer in her/his contact with the larger grouping of students has to exemplify a humanizing pedagogy. A pedagogy in which serious attention is given to understanding where the new student is located with regard to the intellectual demands of higher education and is provided with alternate ways of thinking that encourage critical dialogue; an awareness of competing discourses; the value of reading at increasingly higher levels of academic literacy; and the importance of writing for oneself and for others. In order to achieve this, the lecturer has to provide the student with concepts and psychological tools that enable these processes.

 

 

 

5.      The Village Jamboree – Celebration of Ideas

The Village Jamboree is an opportunity for students to reflect and create in relation to the theme they have been engaging with. Each Village Jamboree consists of a ‘Village Gallery’ where students present their essays, poems and other productions related to the theme. The Village Jamboree also includes a session whereby students are able to express their ideas and questions pertaining to their interpretation of the theme. A programme consisting of music, poetry, plays, etc steers the structure of each jamboree.

 

6.      Ekhaya and Abakhwezeli

 

There are 6 Ekhaya in each Village – a total of 12 Amakhaya altogether.  Each Ekhaya consists of 30 students (5 imizi), and is supported by 3 Abakhwezeli. Ekhaya minimally meet for two hours a week and each Abakhwezeli are provided with weekly guides on how to support and facilitate the sessions. The Ekhaya is the most important space for discussion, debate and engagement on the core ideas of the LKA-GP.  The purpose of Ekhaya is to give students an experience of creating and participating in an intellectual community.  The goal of the ekhaya is for a student to say to herself, ‘it is exciting, interesting (even ‘cool’) to engage with my fellow students around ideas.’ The most important purpose of the ekhaya is to provide an environment for students to engage with the material presented in the theme. 

 

At this level, the abakhwezeli is the main mediator for the teaching/learning process. As a senior student who has been able to master the intellectual demands of the university they have skills and knowledge that can potentially provide a resource for the Grounding Programme students. They occupy a pivotal position which is much closer to the students’ needs than the lecturer, but will have sufficient experience to potentially offer a leading edge. In this sense, they occupy a position of a “near peer”. In occupying such a space the abakhwezeli has the responsibility of knowing: what the programme aims to do; what the lecturer’s intentions and learning goals are; and where in the course students are located. Their role is to provide resources from personal experience to mediate across these.

 

7.      Imizi

 

At this level, it is the peer interaction that provides the leading edge for intellectual growth. The mediation process at this level is done by peers. While there will, invariably, be common experiences each person in the imizi will have had unique ones. These potentially provide a resource for learning from each other. The imizi should also offer a safe place for experimenting with new intellectual skills and practising the skills that they learn at other levels. In order for the teaching-learning experience to work at this level the imizi operate under the following practices and, over time create, a ritual around functioning as a peer support group:

 

·         Each student must agree to share their academic problems and hopes and at the same time allow others to share their own thoughts by not dominating processes;

·         Agree to attend all meetings/sessions;

·         Create a social environment which is safe for all to share and respects the others as persons;

·         Be willing to share responsibility for joint activities and share accountability for action required of the imizi;

·         Seek help from the abakhwezeli when there are irresolvable problems at the imizi level.

 

The imizi is a learning space both at the level of ‘content’ and ‘process’.  In terms of ‘content’ it is a place to grapple with new material authentically – what makes sense?  What does not make sense? What new words are we learning? How can we support each other to understand specific notions more deeply? The imizi is a learning space for process in two ways.  First, it seeks to establish a ritual of intellectual support – the very process of which is oriented toward deepening our ability to think and engage with meaning. Secondly, to the extent that problems and tensions emerge at the level of the imizi, these experiences are themselves a learning experience. How do we handle conflict, tension, problems?  What is our role of creating or relieving problems? What ‘tensions’ are helpful because we learn through them, and what tensions are unhelpful because they bring people down? What do we do in a group when we simply do not ‘like’ someone?  How do we create a ‘winning’ team when there is conflict?

 

8.      Assessment[1]

Assessment is based on the following:  a) participation points; b) an individual assignment; and c) a group (umzi) assignment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Individual Assignment:  LKA Essay – Taking a Thoughtful Stand: This is a core focus of the course.  Each student is expected to write an essay across the course of the programme, whereby they experience the PROCESS of writing, receiving critique, and re-writing.  The basic ideas would be to take an issue that relates to LKA, to explore it through new ideas/alternative conceptions, to take a position/make an argument, and suggest an ‘action’ or strategy forward.  The student writes a draft to share with imizi. 

 

Group Project: There is one group project, divided into two parts.  The group project is to be done at the level of the umzi. 

The ‘project’ requires the group to engage in a question that they are interested in; explore different conceptions and different ways of understanding the issues; and lead to some sort of ‘action’ in a surrounding ‘community’.  Each project will have an element of ‘research’ and an element of ‘community engagement’.

 

Each option must outline two stages.  The first stage is, in essence, the PROPOSAL.  This is a written stage whereby the group identifies the issue, explores different ways of thinking about it, and then suggests the proposed ‘action’ emerging.

 

The second stage must be the ‘doing’ combined with some representation of their findings and reflections.  The findings/reflections may take the form of a written report.  Or it may take an alternative form:  a drama, a recorded debate, a ‘book’, etc.  Over time, as we get more access to technology students can be encouraged to use other medium – video, voice, blogs, newspaper editorial, etc.

 

 

9.      Course Map – 2009 (Schedule and Themes)

The course consists of four main themes:

·         Collective Futures (CF)

·         Democracy, Diversity and Identity (DDI)

·         Science, Technology, Environment and Society (STES)

·         Inequality, Poverty and Development (IPD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download Curriculum and Pedagogy as PDF