The digitisation of the world has led to a multitude of far-reaching implications that require students to be prepared for the dynamic era of rapid change, complexity, fluidity, and ubiquity in which they will work at the forefront of technology. To succeed in this environment, students must be able to design and implement digital innovations…

This article explores how relationships of care, trust and hope might be fostered in a social innovation design course at a South African university of technology. Rather than shy away from the challenges of our uncertain world, the paper proposes feminist pedagogical strategies that seek to nurture students' capacity for trust and hope, rather…

With the single descriptive case study reported on here we aimed to explore incorporating indigenous knowledge (IK) into the teaching of graphic design (GD) as a part of Grade 9 Technology lessons. Incorporating IK into GD could make the topic more meaningful -- especially for indigenous learners. The "Curriculum and Assessment Policy…

Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest higher education (HE) participation rate of any region in the world at under 10%. Large numbers of students are entering the various systems, often from non-traditional backgrounds, which contributes to making an already difficult transition even more difficult. In many instances, well-intended interventions and…

This paper explores the notion of "productive risk" as a way of understanding how diverse students can become re-makers of landscape architectural design practices and education. We trace the design trajectories of two first-year students at a South African tertiary institution and examine how the students negotiate the risk of drawing…

Despite the numerous support systems, academic performances in many South African higher institutions continue to experience challenges while some are declining in throughputs. Some of the support mechanisms seem to be black boxed, notwithstanding the deteriorating situation. Thus, there is "prima facie" evidence that the factors that…

We have less time and focus than ever before, while the demand for attention is increasing. Therefore, it is no surprise that when answering questionnaires, we often choose to strongly agree or be neutral, producing problematic and unusable data. The current study investigated forced-choice (ipsative) format compared to the same questions on a…

Extended Curriculum Programmes have a responsibility to validate the resources and experiences students bring to their learning environment. However, designing assessment practices that encourage diverse students to draw on their resources in order to both access and challenge disciplinary discourses can be complex. This article is framed in terms…

Critical Thinking (CT) consists of two components, namely, skills and dispositions. Although there is a fair amount of literature focusing on CT and the development of CT skills, the literature on CT dispositions and, in particular, strategies to promote the dispositional component of CT is lacking. This means that there is insufficient literature…

This article refers to the South African Design teachers' attitudes towards the implementation of the 2020 Section 4 amendments of the Design Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). The purpose of the article is twofold: first to establish the necessity for "awareness" of the teachers' attitudes towards curriculum changes,…

Technology as a school subject has extensive entrepreneurship potential, especially when combined with the practical production aspects that form part of the intended curriculum. The South African Senior Phase Technology curriculum is silent on the topic of entrepreneurship and as a result, this potential is not reaching learners in a country with…

This article sets out design principles to consider when student mathematics teachers are expected to learn mathematical modelling during their formal education. Blum and Leiß's modelling cycle provided the theoretical framework to explain the modelling process. Learning to teach mathematical modelling, and learning to solve modelling tasks, while…

South Africa's higher education system is falling far short of producing the mix of competent graduates required to meet the country's need for social and economic development. The problem of poor patterns of student success is longstanding, and is persisting despite the policy changes and many educationally sound interventions that have taken…

Educators are drawn into a battle for student attention and engagement in any learning environment. This article describes how a learning environment can be changed into a game-based activity to ensure student engagement. Modules aimed at the professional development of students present numerous challenges in the structuring of learning…

This research focused on first-year university students' visuospatial cognition in terms of producing three-dimensional (3D) representations of objects from two-dimensional (2D) views. The research was important since students often had difficulty with 2D to 3D transition activities. A synthesis from the literature established a 2D to 3D…