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Large-scale experiential learning (community engagement) practice

The Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT at the University of Pretoria has a compulsory 2nd year module called Joint Community Projects (JCP). Typically, we have approximately 1650 students, working on 350 community projects across Gauteng, South Africa. The programme covers 18 degrees in the Faculty and works with more than 50 different community sites, using 50 senior undergraduate trained mentors. The first 40 hours of the module students are exposed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a variety of coaching models to allows for self-exploration and development of self-awareness of individual motivation for their behaviour in different situations (handling conflict, receiving or giving critical feedback etc) as well as strategies to support an effective approach to this. The second 40 hours require them to collaborate and work with a community partner on a variety of projects ranging from educational to design. This experiential learning module intends for the student to develop, through reflection, understanding of their own experience in a team-based works space as well as a broader understanding of the application of their discipline knowledge and its potential impact in their communities in this way also enhancing their sense of civic responsibility. The framework of the mentorship development as well as the structure and roles of the mentors enable a scaled experiential learning module.

Presenter

Dr. Lelanie Smith is the project representative of the 2022 GEDC Diversity Award winner.  She is a full-time senior lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and IT (EBIT) at the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa. Currently her main responsibilities are coordinating the Community Engagement Projects for the Faculty as well as the Vertically Integrated Projects. In addition, she is the principle investigator on the cross institutional project “Bringing life to our Engineering Curricula” (iecurricula.co.za) in South Africa as well as the Chair for the Development Committee in EBIT. She is also co-founder and director of the Engineering Education Research Network Africa. Read more here.

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