Academic Orientation Programme 2012

Date Released: Wed, 8 February 2012 10:00 +0200

Over the cusp of January and February CHERTL hosted the annual Academic Orientation Programme. While this programme is aimed at new academics to Rhodes, the programme was open to all academics, the content being of wider relevance and potential interest.

The programme was divided into two distinct sections. The first section, Academic pathways at Rhodes: Scholarship and Transformation, was focussed on the context of Rhodes University and the ways of being within the context. It was intended to convey a sense of what it is to be an academic at Rhodes and offer a space for deliberation around the roles, relationships and responsibilities that that involves. The programme was made up of a series of presentations and spaces for the sharing and discussion of insights and understandings around academic life. The second section of the programme, Teaching and Learning with Technology: Using RU Connected, offered a series of workshops around specific educational technology applications that can be used to support teaching, learning and research.

Academics from across a range of disciplines attended the programme, some new to Rhodes and even South Africa, and some who had been here a while in less permanent positions. Participants engaged around issues of scholarship, transformation and internationalisation in the context of teaching and learning, research and community engagement. Participants heard from the DVCs and met their Deans on a more personal basis. Academics shared their experiences and insights offering much insight and inspiration. Beginning with a welcome by the Vice Chancellor, Saleem Badat, and ending with a guided tour, by Michael Marangxa, of the campus, academics experienced the development of a better understanding of, amongst other things, the university structure, the support systems and the students they would be teaching, giving them a clearer sense of being an academic at Rhodes.