The Faculty of Education held a BEd Honours Reflection Seminar on 7 March. At the seminar Prof Stephen Coetzee and Ms Astrid Schmulian from the Department of Accounting in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences made presentations. Prof Coetzee and Ms Schmulian won the Teaching Excellence Award from the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA) last year for their dedicated work with undergraduate Financial Accounting students, encouraging a more interactive approach with students through team-teaching and the flipped classroom approach. Other topics addressed were Pedagogy (flipped classroom, hybrid); optimising workloads (students, tutors and staff) and community of practice (support and training). Through the facilitation of Prof Max Braun, Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Education, the staff who attended the seminar, were motivated in using more innovative means to reach and empower the BEd Honours students. (Source: www.up.ac.za, 2017) The Brigham Young Accounting Research Rankings have been released, reflecting authors and institutions that actively publish in the leading US accounting and related research journals. The Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences congratulates Prof Stephen Coetzee, Ms Astrid Schmulian, Ms Cecile Janse van Rensburg and Ms Lizette Kotze from the Department of Accounting, who have all been ranked on the Brigham Young Accounting Research Rankings for 2016. A summary of the Accounting Education rankings shows the following:
Their passion for student-centred education and innovation has earned Prof Stephen Coetzee and Ms Astrid Schmulian a 2016 National Teaching Excellence Award from the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and the Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA). The two lecturers from UP's Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences were awarded this prestigious prize at a gala dinner held on 24 November 2016, during the annual HELTASA conference in Cape Town. The conference, which was held in conjunction with the International Conference on Education Development this year, aims to highlight the importance of teaching excellence in universities. The award celebrates the work of Prof Coetzee and Ms Schmulian over a number of years, as they strive to make the second-year Financial Accounting module they lecture more engaging for the students. 'Winning the award gives us the reassurance that we are on the right track,' says Prof Coetzee. Some of the exciting innovations they have introduced include team-teaching, where they use their combined strengths to cater for the different learning styles of students, as well as the flipped classroom model. This model encourages students to access lecture content in the form of videos beforehand in order to free up class time for practical exercises, role plays and in-depth discussions. They have also embraced the opportunities presented by technology, offering their students support through webinars, which have aided the continuation of studies in the current conditions faced by the higher education sector across the country. The dynamic pair states that, through attendance of conferences and workshops, they have developed a wide global network of academics with which they can exchange ideas. 'Our teaching methods and innovations are informed by research,' says Ms Schmulian, who reveals that they already have new concepts which they plan to introduce in the coming year. Their research in the field of accounting education has made them the first South African-based authors to publish in Issues in Accounting Education, an A-rated journal in terms of the ABDC ranking list. They also serve on the American Accounting Association's research and teaching committees, and are jointly ranked eighth on the Brigham Young Individual accounting education ranking.
Currently the University of Pretoria presents five extended degree programs, mostly on the UP Mamelodi campus. Due to the intensive nature of these programs, faculty rarely have the opportunity to discuss teaching and learning and share their experiences among colleagues. The teaching and learning day aims to provide a dedicated time to facilitate communication and provide development opportunities. Stephen and Astrid enthusiastically shared their experience of using technology in their teaching to encourage greater student engagement. Stephen and Astrid were invited to share their journey of their development and growth as teachers and as a teaching team with the participants of the University of Pretoria's Academic Staff Induction Program. Their presentation highlighted their shift to evidence-based teaching and the increasingly constructivist approach of their pedagogy. AE Rookies presented a course to 30 accounting faculty from various departments (audit, financial accounting and taxation). The curriculum was designed as a formative experience; insights gained during initial program sessions were applied to those that occurred later in the program. Some pre-work was required to enhance the overall educational experience. The program included the following sessions:
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AuthorStephen & Astrid Archives
August 2018
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