Co-teaching and co-research in contexts of inequality: Using networked learning to connect Africa and the world(Series in Education)

There has been a recent surge of interest in the concept of co-teaching and co-research across institutions of HE locally and globally, as a response to limited international mobility due to COVID-19. We see co-teaching and co-research as teaching and research that connects educators and learners across different institutions and different contexts, be it across South Africa, Africa or the world. Co-teaching and co-research is linked in this book to the term ‘networked learning’, following the Networked Learning Editorial Collective’s emphasis on relationships and collaboration rather than technology and foregrounding our strong commitment to social justice. Our collective experiences have shown that co-teaching and co-research are not easy endeavours, especially when they involve differently positioned and differently resourced contexts, students and academics. While these collaborations are enriching and exciting, they need careful support, preparation and time for sustained relationship building – topics that we find are not necessarily discussed in the literature around co-teaching and co-research. This book is an attempt towards closing this gap in knowledge by providing a range of chapters documenting personal experiences of academics and practitioners engaging in co-teaching and co-research across the African continent and beyond, facilitated by various networked learning tools and technologies. Framed by a spirit of sharing and connection, the book provides insights into the benefits and challenges of such collaborations, affordances of technologies to bridge unequal divides, emerging practices of continental collaboration and beyond. Additionally, the book provides an unusually honest and nuanced view on co-teaching and co-research across contexts of inequalities, foregrounding relationship- and community-building rather than technology and emphasising the importance of sustained connection and reflection in these collaborations. Applying a wide range of critical theoretical frameworks, these evidence-based but also reflective and reflexive contributions are a unique and important reminder that behind and through our screens, we connect as humans who yearn to learn from each other, but also need to learn how to learn from each other, when we do not share the same world views.

Table of Contents:
List of tables List of figures Abbreviations Editors Contributors Preface Foreword Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams University of Cape Town, South Africa Chapter 1 - Introduction Daniela Gachago University of Cape Town, South Africa Phindile Zifikile Shangase University of the Free State, South Africa Eunice Ndeto Ivala Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa Section 1: Connecting Africa through co-teaching and co-research Chapter 2 - Enabling inter-institutional co-design and co-facilitation of a postgraduate diploma module in educational technology: Uncovering sites of struggle, negotiation and accommodation among course facilitators Sonja Strydom Stellenbosch University, South Africa Simone Titus University of the Western Cape, South Africa Faiq Waghid Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa Daniela Gachago University of Cape Town, South Africa Chapter 3 - Translating learning into collaborative research: Reflections from a postgraduate cohort Cheryl Brown University of Canterbury, New Zealand Proscovia Namubiru Ssentamu Uganda Management Institute, Uganda Emily Bagarukayo-Ngabirano Makerere University, Uganda Rehema Baguma Makerere University, Uganda Tabisa Mayisela University of Cape Town, South Africa Chapter 4 Looking back, moving forward: University-industry collaboration for architectural education, innovation and transformation Jolanda Morkel STADIO Higher Education, South Africa Eunice Ndeto Ivala Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa Lone Poulsen Open Architecture, South Africa Rodney Harber Open Architecture, South Africa Chapter 5 - Co-researching and technology use in higher education: Benefits,implications, and challenges Nokukhanya Noqiniselo Jili University of Zululand, South Africa Mfundo Mandla Masuku University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa Dina Mashiyane University of the Free State, South Africa Chapter 6 - Exploiting technologies in networked designing, training and research engagement in African universities: A case of the Partnership for African Social and Governance Research Pauline Ngimwa Partnership for African Social and Governance Research, Kenya Proscovia Namubiru Ssentamu Uganda Management Institute, Uganda Connie Nshemereirwe Actualise Africa, Uganda Chapter 7 Co-research and co-teaching in community-based adult education: Promoting information technology and nutrition in rural Limpopo, South Africa Busisiwe Alant University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Rowan Thompson STADIO School of Education, South Africa Section 2: Connecting Africa and the world through co-teaching and co-research Chapter 8 - You map our world; we write yours Kristian D. Stewart University of Michigan Dearborn, United States of America Siddique Motala University of Cape Town, South Africa Chapter 9 Enhancing cultural competence and enriching virtual learning experiences via a collaborative online international learning project Anisa Vahed Durban University of Technology, South Africa Krista M. Rodriguez Monroe Community College, United States Fábio de Souza Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil Chapter 10 - Learning from coronavirus: Design principles for connected co-learning and co-teaching in online and blended global architecture studios Jolanda Morkel STADIO Higher Education, South Africa Lindy Osborne Burton Queensland University of Technology, Australia Mark Olweny University of Lincoln, United Kingdom Steven Feast Curtin University, Australia Chapter 11 - Emerging principles for online cross-cultural, collaborative research Nicola Pallitt Rhodes University, South Africa Hannah M. Grossman UCLA/Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, United States of America Alice Barlow-Zambodla e/merge Africa, South Africa Juhong Christie Liu James Madison University, United States of America Neil Kramm Rhodes University, South Africa Leah Sikoyo Makerere University, Uganda Nompilo Tshuma Stellenbosch University, South Africa Chapter 12 - Participatory action research in digital storytelling: Using mobile technology to co-create social change in Kenya Antonia Liguori Loughborough University, United Kingdom Daniel Onyango Hope Raisers, Kenya Melaneia Warwick Loughborough University, United Kingdom Michael Wilson Loughborough University, United Kingdom Chapter 13 - Understanding our complicity: Reflections on an international collaboration Daniela Gachago University of Cape Town, South Africa Mark Dunford Digitales, Goldsmiths College, University of London, United Kingdom Afterword: Progress, power, pride and pleasure in co-teaching and co-researching Maha Bali American University in Cairo, Egypt Index

About the Author :
Phindile Zifikile Shangase is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Free State, South Africa. She has over 10 years of teaching, supervision and research experience in higher education. Technology is her current passion in the form of technology-enhanced learning, including blended learning and multimodal pedagogies that contribute towards innovative and interactive teaching, learning and assessment practices. Daniela Gachago is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Innovation in Learning at Teaching at the Centre for Higher Education Development at the University of Cape Town. Her research focuses on academic staff development to transform teaching and learning in higher education, with a particular focus on socially just pedagogies such as digital storytelling. She is also interested in innovative course and curriculum design, drawing from co-creative approaches such as design thinking. Eunice Ndeto Ivala is an Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Innovative Educational Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) located in Cape Town, South Africa. Eunice is passionate about staff development into mainstreaming technology in learning and teaching, and her training philosophy is informed by design-based research, design thinking, participatory methods, reflective and reflexive pedagogies. Her research focus is on information and communication technology (ICT)- mediated teaching and learning in developing contexts.

Review :

Rapid globalisation and digitalisation have drawn greater attention from educators and researchers in the Global South to pursue equal international collaboration for sustainable development. However, Western scholars mainly developed the widely adopted theories and literature in the Western context. More comprehensive and contextual studies are needed to enhance the existing conceptual frameworks further and better serve Africa's higher education sectors. The book "Co-teaching and co-research in contexts of inequality" addresses the above knowledge gaps and contributes to the global literature from three main aspects. First, for decision-makers in the higher education sectors of the Global South, this book provides practical guidance through an institutional landscape of recent conceptual and empirical studies on the topic of co-teaching and co-research practices with in-depth reflections in the context of inequality in South Africa and beyond. Second, this book critically discusses the challenges and opportunities of using technology-enhanced online and onsite blended co-teaching, co-learning and co-researching with rich evidence, which would help to inspire more academics and students to be actively engaged in the innovations. Finally, this book highlights the value and potential of thoroughly connecting African higher education institutions with the rest of the world, which opens a new angle of viewing the inequality issues and opportunities for the global society.

Prof. Dr. Na (Lina) Li

Department of Educational Studies, Academy of Future Education (AoFE)

Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China