Building Bridges

Building Bridges: Reflecting on Learning and Teaching, Research and Engagement draws on auto-ethnographic methodologies to contribute to the institutionalization of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning at the Nelson Mandela University. The volume celebrates varied ideas of belonging in the South African Higher Education landscape. It centres two perspectives, that of academic staff developers as well as early career academics at the university. The Nelson Mandela University is one of the 26 public universities in South Africa. It's origins are part of the national merger histories that took place as a result of the re-structuring of public universities. Race, gender and disabilities, were amongst the priorities of the national transformation agenda. The chapters included in the book, grapple with the complexity of building bridges between access and participation; academia and practice; as well as crisis and recovery. It uses Wally Morrow's (2009) epistemological access as a framing conceptual tool to critically engage what it means to build such bridges, and ultimately consider, who gets to walk on such bridges? The book locates itself within a transdisciplinary approach with contributions from commerce, education, health sciences and academic development. Building bridges, celebrates efforts towards presenting learning and teaching experiences that are rooted in the intention to contribute meaningfully to society. The volume joins the efforts towards creating an academic environment that is centred in reflective practices. The book, privileged critical reflection approaches in order to explore contextual theorisations about student access and success. These reflections are used to contribute to disciplinary and institutional approaches to teaching, research and engagement practices. This book joins scholarly traditions that are rooted in acknowledging what we have known as daily experiences as now, sources of legitimate knowledge production.

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1 x Book