8th Annual Academic Monitoring and Support Colloquium – College Of Law And Management Studies Teaching & Learning

8^th Annual Academic Monitoring and Support Colloquium

The College of Law and Management Studies Teaching and Learning Office in partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal Teaching and Learning Office invites your submission of abstracts for the

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THEME: REFLECTIONS ON STUDENT SUPPORT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Time: 08h00-16h00
Venue: Zoom

Enquiries: Dr Annah Bengesai: Bengesai@ukzn.ac.za

Keynote Speakers

Sid Nair is currently, Executive Dean and the Dean of Learning, Teaching & student experience at the Victorian Institute of Technology (VIT), Australia. In his role he is responsible for the strategic directions, the learning, teaching, student experience and quality matters of the Institution.

Previous to the appointment at VIT Sid was the Executive Director of the Tertiary Education Commission, Mauritius. As Chief Executive Officer of the Commission he was responsible for the formulation and execution of strategies, policies and procedures in the higher education sector in Mauritius. He was instrumental in the development of the National Research agenda for the higher education sector. In this domain he introduced several research schemes to promote and build capacity in research which was in line with the visions of Mauritius.

Prior to joining TEC, he was Professor of Higher Education Development at the Centre for Education Futures (CEF), University of Western Australia. His research work lies in the areas of quality of teaching and learning, classroom and school environments, and the implementation of improvements from stakeholder feedback. His current role is to build capacity of academics in the digital delivery of their teaching.

His career path also had him as Interim Director and Quality Advisor (Evaluations and Research) at the Centre for Higher Education Quality (CHEQ) at Monash University, Australia. In this role as Quality Advisor he headed the evaluation unit at Monash University where he restructured the evaluation framework at the university. The approach to evaluations at Monash has been noted in the first round of the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) audits and is part of the good practice database.

His research work lies in the areas of quality in the Australian higher education system, classroom and school environments, and the implementation of improvements from stakeholder feedback. He has extensive lecturing experience in the applied sciences in Canada, Singapore and Australia. He is an international consultant in quality and evaluations in higher education.

Dr Upasana Singh is the Academic Leader and a Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Information Systems and Technology at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Westville Campus, in Durban South Africa.

She is also appointed as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Victorian Institute of Technology, Australia. Her academic qualifications from South African based Universities, include a PhD in Information Systems from the University of South Africa, a Masters and a B.Com Hons degree in Information Systems and Technology, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and University of Natal respectively. She has over 15 years teaching experience in IT related subjects such as e-Commerce, IT Consulting, IT Strategy, Programming and Research Methodology.

She has a keen interest in Educational Technologies and has served as lead researcher in a number of international research projects on Digital Teaching, Learning and Assessment. Her research profile includes 8 Journal Papers, 5 Book Chapters and 15 Conference Papers in internationally accredited journals and conferences.

Besides serving as a keynote speaker at over 25 international conferences and webinars, she is the convener and Chair of the International Conference on Digital Teaching, Learning and Assessment (digiTAL 2K). Dr Upasana Singh completed her Fellowship in “Teaching Advancement in Universities” (TAU), from the CHE in 2019. Her first edited book brought together researchers from multiple disciplines, sharing their research on topics on Management, Information Technology and Public Governance in an e-World.

She is currently editing a book which contributes to the scholarship on the creative adoption of technology to support online teaching, learning, and assessment by providing a platform to validate the need for, and strengthen, the academic voice, in the continuing transition in higher education.

During the pandemic she has developed 3 conceptual models emerging from her research of the transition to online learning for academics, students and females. She has been the recipient of a number of research grants, the most recent being a substantial grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa, for a collaborative research project focusing on Digital Capital at South African Higher Education Institutions (HEI)s.

College Of Law And Management Studies Teaching & Learning