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UCT Research Report '11
566
ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMME
Director: Professor Ian Scott
Departmental Profile
Over the last decade the focus of the Academic
Development Programme (ADP) has changed from
primarily providing direct assistance to individuals from
educationally disadvantaged groups to efforts to improve
the effectiveness of mainstream academic programmes
in catering for student diversity. This involves such means
as curriculum restructuring, integrating AD approaches
into mainstream courses, and seeking to enable regular
academic teaching staff to refine their practice in
accordance with the changing environment of Higher
Education. The research interests of ADP staff are, in
the main, focused on understanding and improving key
aspects of learning, teaching and assessment in Higher
Education, analysing conditions at institutional and national
level that affect learning and teaching, and contributing
to educational policy development and implementation.
Many ADP staff members have a particular interest in the
effects of students’ prior educational experiences.
Departmental Statistics
Permanent and Long-term contract staff
Professors
1
Associate Professors
6
Senior Lecturers
13
Lecturers
20
Part-time Lecturers
2
Professional and Administrative Staff
30
Total
72
Research Fields and Staff
Ms Michelle Abrahams
Academic Development Officer, Education Development
Unit, Faculty of Commerce. Impact of mentoring and
student leadership.
Associate Professor Saalih Allie
ADP Co-ordinator, Faculty of Science. Curriculum
Development; Physics Education Research.
Ms Melanie Alperstein
Senior Lecturer; CurriculumDevelopment Officer, Education
Development Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences. Introducing
Primary Health Care in clinical teaching and assessment;
Problem based learning; Inter-professional community-
based education/service learning; new graduates in rural
health community service.
Dr Arlene Archer
Senior Lecturer; Co-ordinator, Writing Centre, Language
Development Group. Academic Literacies; Multimodality;
Cultural Studies.
Mr Moeain Arend
Lecturer, Language Development Group. Academic literacy;
Language and literacy across contexts; Apprenticeship and
collaborative learning practices.
Ms Abongwe Bangeni
Lecturer, Language Development Group. Academic
Literacy; Writing in the Disciplines; Postgraduate literacies;
Multilingualism; Language Development; Writing and
Identity.
Ms Anita Campbell
Lecturer, ASPECT, Faculty of Engineering and the Built
Environment. Factors affecting first year success; Dr
Math tutoring; facilitation of learning groups using mobile
technology; e-learning.
Mr Jumani Clarke
Lecturer, Numeracy Centre. Excel as a learning
environment; Academic literacies. Student identities in
academic writing.
Dr Alan Cliff
Senior Lecturer, Alternative Admissions Research Project
(AARP). Academic Literacy and Student Learning;
Students’ Conceptions of Learning; Admissions Testing;
Diagnostic Profiling of Students’ Academic Literacies and
Numeracies.
Dr Tracy Craig
Senior Lecturer, ASPECT, Faculty of Engineering and the Built
Environment. Tertiary mathematics education; Mathematical
problem-solving; Language and mathematics; Engineering
mathematics education; Piagetian theory.
Associate Professor Bette Davidowitz
Chemistry; Convener: General Entry for Programmes in
Science (GEPS). Chemical Education; Curriculum Design;
Learning in Laboratories; Writing across the Curriculum;
Improving Adjustment to Higher Education, Using student-
generated drawings to probe understanding of basic
concepts in chemistry.
Dr Joyce Lowry Ellyne
Research Fellow, Alternative Admissions Research Project
(AARP).