Innovating Pedagogy, Space And Technology In A South African Engineering Classroom

The use of technology has become ubiquitous in higher education; however, many university teachers, particularly in the global South, are not confident with using technology when teaching. As a result, engineering curricula often maintain the predominance of “chalk and talk” modes of pedagogy, which often leave students disengaged from what they are learning. Technology offers access to new modes of teaching and learning, but needs to be used in pedagogically meaningful ways. Lecturers are required to teach in innovative ways, using innovative technologies, but are required to do so in classrooms designed and built many decades ago. This is problematic because the spaces we operate in lock us into traditional ways of teaching and learning. There is growing recognition that the classroom environment is a central ingredient in determining pedagogical choices and student engagement, as “spaces are themselves agents for change” (Oblinger 2006, 12). Engineering students need to be prepared for a complex world and engineering teachers need to be better capacitated to educate engineers for a sustainable future by adapting their pedagogy towards more innovative teaching methods.