Learning through doing is the gold standard

Mr Gideon Potgieter proudly began his presentation with a picture of a beaming young man standing in front of a row of computer numeric controlled machines, sporting a gold medal. “I trained Jared Moonsamy and he won South Africa’s first gold medal at the 45th Worldskills 2019 competition in Russia,” said Potgieter, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Resolution Circle, a training hub that provides experiential learning for undergraduate engineering students.

Everything, the academics agreed, was in a state of flux. Clarity was being sought around the definition of WIL. New management models to support current programmes were being looked at and funding schemes were being considered.

Dr Henri Jacobs, Deputy Director of Work Integrated Learning and Skills Development at the Central University of Technology (CUT), defined Work Integrated Learning as “the practical workplace application of a combination of educational activities and academic learning.” WIL, he said, was crucial for students to develop their employability as the world segued into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

“The Council of Higher Education guidelines refer to WIL as an educational approach that aligns academic and workplace practices for the benefit of students and workplaces.” He said WIL was used as an umbrella term to describe “curricular, pedagogic and assessment practices across a range of academic disciplines that integrate formal learning and workplace concerns.”

But not everyone was satisfied with the successful implementation of WIL. Resolution Circle’s Potgieter raised a concern that “University of Technology graduates are often untrained, inexperienced and are not ready for the challenges and demands of the workplace. What is missing is non-technical training – like how to act in the workplace – as well as technical training where skills needed to do the job are mastered,” Potgieter said. He said more on-the-job training opportunities – such as apprenticeships for artisans — were needed from private sector companies or State Owned Corporations. “Collaboration with training facilities in the private sector and SOCs is important.”

According to Potgieter, universities were responsible for training graduate engineers as well as future lecturers in the field, who would then implement WIL. “In the field of engineering, you have to have a wide range of skills. Not only do you need to understand how to design and how to draw; you also need knowledge of electronics; of the Internet of Things.” Yet universities seemed to be lacking in engineering skills and, therefore, were ill-equipped to meet industry needs. “At the moment, maybe two or three South African universities are focusing on robotics. Things are so bad that the automotive factories have set up their own training centres because universities are not meeting that need,” Potgieter said.

To this end, Dr Jacobs recommended what he called a “tripartite curriculum strategy” that enhanced the value of learning through “the alignment and integration of academic learning with learning in the workplace.” This, he said, could include simulated learning, work-directed theoretical learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning and workplace-based learning.

It emerged in this discussion, that most funding available for WIL programmes was coming through the 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAS) through mandatory and discretionary grants. Dr Jacobs proposed enhanced cooperation with the SETAS, saying that the biggest hurdle was in the area of administration. “There are big questions: what is certified and by whom? There needs to be role clarity: the university owns and awards the qualifications or certificates, and the SETAs are there as the funders. The distinction must be made,” Dr Jacobs said.

Dr Jeanette Du Plessis from CUT’s Department of Clinical Sciences said she believed that experience – actual, physical experience – trumped any other kind of learning.

“Our motto in our CUT radiology training department is: What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand.” How she had structured the practical component of training was informed by this belief — to ensure that they produced professionals who could do the job and solve complex clinical problems on their own.

“Gone are the days of medical students being given one human cadaver to work on for the duration of their first year of training, ” Dr Du Plessis said, adding that modern simulator technology (dummies) had heartbeats, blood pressure and human body functions that were so real that “I have seen students faint when working with them.”

She outlined a host of new technologies that had enhanced the student experience and improved the safety aspects of training. Among them she mentioned virtual technology, which protects students from radiation. “Using virtual radiography does away with harmful exposure to radiation. Assessments can also be done in this virtual environment,” Dr Du Plessis said.

During the discussion session, several participants asked what provision was made for students with disabilities and those falling pregnant along the way. Dr Du Plessis said that in radiography, cases were looked at individually. “One of our students was blind in one eye and we accepted them into the programme. But we can’t take blind students. Imaging science needs sight,” she said. Also, students in wheel chairs would have a problem – as they need to move into small spaces and move fast. “But there are places where such students can be involved. The Centre for Innovative Learning helps us get a full profile of a student before we say yes or no to them.”

With regard to students falling pregnant, another academic said there was unfortunately no room for pregnancy in radiology studies. Anyone falling pregnant was forced to suspend their work in the labs and only resume once the baby was born.

Another question was raised on institutions’ experience in placing international students in work-based learning or internships programmes in South Africa. Potgieter said there was a real challenge in terms of getting placements for international students. Dr Du Plessis added that “as much as we need to attract foreign investment to South Africa, we also need to attract foreign students. Many Africans from across the continent would like to study here, but are not able to because of the difficulty of obtaining study/work permits.”

Potgieter did point out, though, that if internship was clearly positioned as an integral part of the student’s study programme and a requirement to graduate, it had proven to not pose problems. Dr Jacobs added that to facilitate easier student mobility across borders, memoranda of understanding needed to be drawn between the admitting university and the sending country. It was important to have a simple agreement, one that was not tied up in so much red tape that it became a futile exercise for the student wanting to study in South Africa.

One delegate did add from the audience, though, that the SETAs, which were sponsoring students’ stipends during their internship period and doing so as part of their redress responsibility in South Africa, did not quite favour covering international students in this regard.

Another general point was raised about industry becoming reluctant to pay students’ stipends during internship. A delegate from the Mangosuthu University of Technology said come companies were increasingly capitalising on the SETA’s contribution to save themselves costs in this regard.

Ms Fundiswa Nofemela, Director: Cooperative Education at Mangosotho University of Technology in Durban raised the urgent need for pre-preparation. “We need to be mindful of the need to thoroughly prepare students for the work environment,” she said. Dr Du Plessis was in full agreement, but added that this went one step further: “In our environment it is becoming a real ethical issue where some patients do not want students to do their imaging examination. At the end of first year, our students have to complete a clinical readiness assessment. They have to be able to act ethically, professionally and know the patients’ rights. It is one of the reasons why simulation is so important before you send them to deal with real patients.”

Dr Du Plessis said talks had recently been held in her department on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in radiography and the threat of automation replacing technicians. “We need to change the job function by creating critical thinkers instead of technicians.” She said inter-professional collaboration is necessary. “At present, we collaborate with engineering; we provide the medical imaging while they manufacture prosthesis. We need complex problem solvers working across disciplines. Otherwise, radiographers will become button pushers.”

Written by Charmain Naidoo, an independent writer commissioned by Universities South Africa.