The Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) recently hosted its three-day Annual Learning and Teaching Imbizo 2024 from Wednesday,16 October to Friday, 18 October 2024 at the Coastlands Umhlanga Hotel.
The Learning and Teaching Imbizo 2024, themed Nurturing Ingenuity: Cultivating Creativity, Transforming Societies, Shaping Futures, aimed to bring together academics, students, researchers, and policymakers to explore and enhance the role of creativity in education. In a world characterised by rapid technological advancements and complex global challenges, nurturing ingenuity within higher educational contexts has become paramount. Ingenuity, characterised by inventive thinking, problem-solving abilities, and innovative approaches, lies at the heart of transformative education for a sustainable and progressive future.
Welcoming and officially opening the Imbizo 2024 was the Vice-Chancellor and Principal: Professor Thandwa Mthembu who emphasised the importance of shaping a future where creative and innovative thinking can contribute to human flourishing and a sustainable future for all.
“We are encouraging the use of curricula that stimulate creativity and innovation to generate new knowledge. DUT’s Philosophy of Education: “Our creativity and innovation shapes adaptive graduates who transform society” calls for a transformation in our approach to teaching and learning. We made it clear last year that we are no longer the university of technology that educates and trains for the world of work”
This Imbizo intended to delve into the concept of nurturing ingenuity, exploring how higher education systems can cultivate creative mindsets capable of transforming societies and shaping futures. The Imbizo provided a platform to explore and share effective learning and teaching strategies for fostering creativity in higher education. It provided opportunities to discuss ways to integrate creative thinking into curricula at all levels and strategies for designing innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to break down traditional silos.
Examining how creativity in education can drive societal transformation and address local and global challenges, simultaneously, the Imbizo also promoted the inclusion of diverse perspectives and knowledge systems in higher education to ensure an equitable and comprehensive learning experience.
Interim Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning Dr Prince Nevhutalu deepened the conversation of nurturing ingenuity within higher education, saying it is extended beyond preparing students for the workforce. “It is about shaping a future where creative and innovative thinking can contribute to human flourishing. Integrating decolonised curricula and diverse knowledge ensures this future is inclusive and representative of our diverse world,” he said.
He further added that this commitment to a distinctive education is evident in the variety of presentation formats at the Imbizo. “The integration of transformative curricula and respect for diverse knowledge reflects our understanding that true innovation emerges from the integration of multiple perspectives and traditions. This approach ensures we are nurturing graduates who don’t just adapt to change but actively create it,” he said.
The variety of presentations included three (3) keynote presentations, fifty-six (56) paper presentations, five (5) workshops, one critical dialogue, one project presentation, twelve (12) artefact and poster presentations and an Executive Deans Panel Discussion. The keynote speakers and the titles of their presentations were as follows:
- Professor André Keet (NMU) – Transformative Ingenuity: Creativity and the Decolonisation Project of South African Universities
- Dr Samia Chasi (IEASA) – Nurturing ingenuity through internationalization
- Dr Puleng Motshoane (UJ) – The mechanisms conditioning the professional development of emerging supervisors
Of the diverse range of presentations, eleven (11) were presented by colleagues from Northwest University, University of Fort Hare, Stellenbosch University, University of Johannesburg and the University of Kwazulu Natal.
The Executive Deans Panel Discussion was facilitated by Professor Nayna Amin (Interim Director of Teaching and Learning at UKZN) and focused on:
- cultivating a culture of creativity and innovation among students and staff while ensuring the mastery of core foundational knowledge
- critical leadership challenges you face in embedding a transformative mindset
- ensuring that curriculum contributions to society are both impactful and sustainable
- integrate real-world problem solving and interdisciplinary projects into the curriculum
- staff and students’ attributes that are needed in a transformed academia
- assessment methods that accurately measure and promote creative and innovative thinking
- leveraging technology in fostering creativity and innovation in the classroom
The presentations at the Imbizo demonstrate how our academic community is breaking down traditional silos, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, creating new paradigms of learning and teaching and developing new emerging fields of study.
At the welcome cocktail event on 16th October 2024, the book entitled Academic Staff Development: Disruptions, Complexities, Change (Envisioning New Futures) was launched by the editors: Mrs Nalini Chitanand (Academic Development Practitioner: CELT and Chair of the LT Imbizo) and Dr Shoba Rathilal (Acting Director: CELT). They dedicated the book to the late Professor Thengani Ngwenya (former Director: CELT). Mr. Romeo Matumba (Librarian: Marketing and Communication) was the Programme Director and Dr Nomcebo Mthombeni (Director: Research) welcomed delegates and guests to the Book Launch. Some of the authors who were present in person delivered a reading of insights from their chapters in the book.
The Imbizo gala dinner was held on 17 October 2024 at which Dr Mzwandile Khumalo (Teaching and Learning Development Practitioner: CELT and Siyaphumelela institutional lead) was the programme director. At the gala dinner, CELT bid farewell to Mrs Nalini Chitanand who will be leaving DUT on 30 October 2024. Mrs Chitanand is a great loss not only to CELT but the University as well. She has initiated and led many distinctive and innovative programmes at DUT. Her work includes the Academic Induction Programme, Curriculum Conversations, Epistemic Decolonisation, Learning and Teaching Imbizo, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Siyaphumelela 2.0 HAMBISA, in addition to other national and international projects.
The Imbizo has made great strides in advancing DUT’s ENVISION2030 by:
- Facilitating knowledge building and knowledge exchange that impacts community development.
- Showcasing innovative teaching methodologies that enhance student competences and future employability.
- Demonstrating how creative approaches to education can address societal challenges.
- Building partnerships that strengthen our capacity for impactful research and teaching.
Pictured: DUT Vice-Chancellor and Principal Prof Thandwa Mthembu and other attendees at the Imbizo 2024.
Thubelihle Dumakude
