Ethical inclusive curricula design: Conversational teaching and learning

Abstract

South African Public Universities are facing transitional challenges as they traverse uncharted territory in decolonising knowledge. The idea of decolonising knowledge brings with it the need to review curricula as well as the lecturer's pedagogy. A cybernetic approach using conversation theory is presented as a viable solution to inclusive and ethical contextual curricula design. Through conversation, contextual enquiries can be achieved which are then used as reference points in revising curricula. In this article, a report back on a recent curriculum redesign is presented. The results of this process have been positive with students demonstrating increased participation, personal responsibility, and higher motivation in performing assignments. Other positive features are that students introduce new and relevant topics into the curriculum. These topics are contextualized by the students (and teacher) allowing for student interpretations of the content in terms of their daily lives, i.e. the students populate the curriculum with experiences they have had within their communities. There is increased social engagement in the classroom with students also dialoging in community with one another and the teacher. The abstraction of the curriculum is reduced in turn increasing the familiarity and personalization of the module content areas. This personalization effect was found to improve memory retention of the module content as the grades were higher for the topics that were proposed by students.

Online conversational strategies in technical advisory meta-learning for socio-spatial groups.

“…Estas estratégias se inserem em uma importante discussão sobre como aumentar a qualidade das conversações e seu caráter crítico (Sweeting, 2014, Mejia, Espinosa, 2007, Herr, 2014, Baron, 2018, algo que precisa ser cuidadosamente trabalhado. Como lembrado por Baron (2018, p.11), "o professor criativo usa as referências dos estudantes para ancorar os tópicos do currículo escolar".…”

Global Perspectives on Inclusive Curricula: Places, Practices and Pedagogy

“…Universities have policies of equity adherence in appointments and student intake and many institutions, including the University of Pretoria, have formed Committees for Transformation and for Curriculum Transformation. Interpretations of inclusivity, inclusive curricula and transformation and Africanization are blurred (Baron, 2018; De Beer & Kriek, 2021; Knoetze, 2021; Themane, 2021). South African universities host students from different indigenous ethnic groups, including Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu, a strong South African Indian cohort, white people including Afrikaans and English‐speaking South Africans and people of color, in addition to strong Asian communities and many students from other African countries, including Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Uganda and Nigeria.…”

Owning one’s epistemology in religious studies research methodology

“…15. A relational definition of this term was provided by Heinz von Foerster (1991), who described reflexivity as an inclusion of the relationship of oneself to the context and to others as well, allowing for a circular loop of contemplation embracing the reflection of others’ reactions to form a wider system (Glanville, 2013). From this viewpoint, reflexivity may be seen as a dynamic recursive aspect that occurs in community with others (Baron 2018a, 2018b). …”