During the seminar series, scholars from higher education institutions in the Western Cape will talk on the theme of “Digital technology as mediator in decolonising practices in education: A South African perspective". By contributing their different viewpoints and considerations, we hope that participating scholars will stimulate further discussions and assist in debating important aspects of the interplay between digital technology and decolonisation in the African context.
Please join us virtually for the first two seminars by Prof Dick Ng'ambi (UCT) and Prof Candice Livingston (CPUT) by registering your online attendance: https://bit.ly/decoledtech.
The format of the one-hour online seminar will be a 30-minute input from the presenter, followed by further discussions with the audience.
Prof Dick Ng'ambi (UCT)
- Programme Head: BEd Honours | Educational Technology
- Convenor: PGDip in Educational Technology; Master's in Educational Technology
17 August 2023
13:00 – 14:00
ChatGPT mediated indigenous games-based learning: decolonising educational technology.
Abstract:
This paper proposes a ChatGPT mediated model to decolonise educational technology based on indigenous games-based learning in a social context. ChatGPT is used to generate algorithms of an indigenous game, and an indigenous community with experiential knowledge of the game critique the algorithms. The study is showing how ChatGPT, used as a pedagogical tool, has potential to decolonise acquisition of computational thinking skills. The work reported is part of a large project, the Open Educational Resources of Indigenous Games (OERiGA) that is documenting indigenous games in Africa and sharing them as an Open Educational Resource (OER). The project has 25 collaborators located in 11 African countries.
Prof Candice Livingston (CPUT)
- Associate Professor and C3 NRF-rated researcher.
- Research co-ordinator, the Faculty Language coordinator and B.Ed. Hons coordinator.
- Member of the English National Language Body and council member of the English Academy of Southern Africa
12 September 2023
13:00 – 14:00
Reimagining assessment with ChatGPT
Abstract:
The legacy of colonialism is still pervasive in our Higher Educational institutions, and this is evident in our assessment practices, which often still reflect biased attitudes towards the design of summative and formative assessment tasks. AI language models are forcing us to rethink our punitive approach, while still advocating for academic integrity in assessments. ChatGPT is a tool that allows Teacher Education lecturers to embrace diverse assessment formats which support experiential learning and pragmatic assessment, based on real world problems. By approaching ChatGPT as a decolonising agent in Teacher Education, lecturers can use the AI language model to create assessments in diverse subjects like Second Language learning, Science Education, Research and Academic Literacy writing programmes and Teaching Practice. This paper aims to describe how academics at the Faculty of Education at the Cape Peninsula 万博体育官网 of Technology use ChatGPT to confront the repressive structures that still exist within the assessment practices of Teacher Education. These academics have sought to emphasise an organic approach to assessment, which sees technology being infused with authentic tasks in a truly pragmatic approach, as ChatGPT can simulate real world scenarios and allow for higher order thinking which is crucial in higher education. ChatGPT allows for assessment that reconsiders standard assessment practices which might disadvantage students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, and which empowers students, inspires empathy and truly leads to reflective practices in assessment.?
