SASUF Sustainability Forum 2024

Several trends influencing higher education are highlighted by the World Economic Forum (El-Azar, 2022). The WEF suggests a """"learn from everywhere"""" strategy which focuses on immersion, potentially achieved through a hybrid learning environment not limited by geography and includes active learning (experiential learning) (Halabieh et al., 2022). Such a learning environment can be co-designed with students if it is underpinned by an ethic of care (Corbera et al., 2020) necessary in the Higher Education context. In the shadow of the devastating pandemic, some students struggle to attend in-person lectures on campus, especially post-graduate students, for whom work commitments often take preference. To address this, a pedagogy of care, which focuses on receptiveness and responsiveness (Noddings, 1984) may be used to create immersive experiential experiences for students using 4IR technologies. At the same time, open pedagogy may be combined with a pedagogy of care to help build resilience in students to become life-long learners and global citizens. According to Hegarty (2015), open pedagogy is associated with learner-generated content, collaborative practice, openness, trust, innovation and creativity, sharing of ideas and resources, and peer review.
The aim of this workshop is thus to share ideas around open pedagogy and a pedagogy of care using technology. An example will be shared of how academic literacy is taught in strategic communication among first year students in a blended mode during tutorials. At the same time the application of these pedagogies at a postgraduate level will be workshopped especially focussing on possible international collaborations. These, with a focus on building resiliance, will be positioned as ways in which students are enable to become global citizens using their knowledge fo social change in their respective communities.

It is envisaged that the workshop will provide an opportunity to develop the creation of international hybrid active learning experience to build resilience among undergraduate and postgraduate students in light of limited funding opportunities for student exchange. Industry involvement may provide further opportunity for the exploration of the incorporate of VR technologies. Participants will have the opportunity to co-create programmes in which their students can participate in these active learning experiences as part of their respective university programmes on a voluntary basis.

Corbera, E. et al. (2020) ‘Academia in the Time of COVID-19: Towards an Ethics of Care’, Planning Theory & Practice, 21(2), pp. 191–199. doi: 10.1080/14649357.2020.1757891.
El-Azar, D. (2022). 4 trends that will shape the future of higher education. Available from:https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/02/four-trends-that-will-shape-the-future-of-higher-education/
Halabieh, H., Hawkins, S., Bernstein, A.E., Lewkowict, S., Unaldi Kamel, B., Fleming, L. and Levitin, D., 2022. The futureof higher education: Identifying current educational problems and proposed solutions. Education Sciences, 12(12),p.888.
Noddings, N. (1984) Caring. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Introductions (10 minutes)
Presentation by the University of Johannesburg on open pedagogy and a pedagogy of care (10 minutes)
Presentation by Lund University of building resilience (10 minutes)
Coffee/tea break (20 minutes)
Demonstration of academic literacy application in strategic communication as an example by the University of Johannesburg (10 minutes)
Breakaway groups to discuss possible co-creation of hybrid active learning programmes (40 minutes)
Consolidation and closing (20 minutes)

Keywords: Active learning, resilience, open pedagogy, pedagogy of care