Hibridiese Leer

SU is a registered contact institution. Our credit-bearing offerings (modules or programmes) must therefore adhere to the minimum contact requirements. The only modes of provision that can be used are therefore full-contact or hybrid learning. For more information, please click here. 

Where to start?​

1. Request the funding documentation via the HL website, via the HL Project Manager or via your faculty learning and teaching advisor. Even if you do not decide to apply for funding, the application form provides useful guidance on what to consider and whom to approach for more information.
2. Once you have read the information, you should have a better sense of whether your potential offering will align with the key criteria listed in the forms. If you are still unsure, you can contact your faculty learning and teaching advisor, your blended learning coordinator (BLC) or the HL Project Manager.
3. The next step (before you start completing the form) is to have further internal discussions within your faculty. Funding nominations should be endorsed by faculty management. The HL Steering Committee will be looking for a confirmation that the potential funding will be invested in developing an offering that is of strategic value to the faculty. It is recommended that the Head of Department bring the intent to apply for funding to the attention of the Vice-Dean: Learning and Teaching. In some faculties, this will lead to discussions with the faculty's Academic Planning Committee or other role players such as the Faculty Manager.
4. Once you have had these discussions, you can start completing the form. The form contains a 'checklist' section that refers you to colleagues or other sources of information to assist you to complete the form.
5. Once the form is completed and signed by all the required colleagues, your Vice-Dean: Learning and Teaching can submit it before the deadline of the latest funding call.
6. After the Steering Committee has met to review all the nominations, the outcome will be communicated via a letter from the Vice-Rector: Learning and Teaching.
7. Once HL funding is approved, you will start to work more closely with the HL te​am to design, develop and market your HL offering.

No. SU is not registered to offer any credit-bearing aspects fully online, and feedback from students and graduates indicates that there is still a preference for spending some time on campus. 

More detailed information is available here.

The HL website provides valuable resources to assist academics in designing online teaching and learning activities, and shares examples of HL programmes and modules offered at SU, amongst other information. You are also welcome to contact the HL team who can direct you to relevant resources/opportunities based on your specific query.

The onset of Covid-19 during 2020 necessitated the immediate replacement of F2F interaction with students by FOL or Emergency Remote Teaching, Learning and Assessment (ERTLA). Augmented Remote Teaching, Learning and Assessment (ARTLA) was a differentiated approach whereby faculties could offer a mix of F2F, FOL and HL approaches to accommodate students' return to campus. Both ERTLA and ARTLA were emergency response initiatives allowed by special dispensation from the Minister of Higher Education to ensure that teaching, learning and assessment could continue. This special dispensation was only applicable for a limited time and has not been renewed in 2022. 

HL requires the intentional curriculum design of a module/programme as a combination of full calendar blocks of (mostly online) scaffolded asynchronous learning and a combination of online and blocks of on-campus real-time sessions. These real-time sessions contribute to the minimum required contact time (CHE, 2014) required by the DHET.

More detailed information is available here.

HL funding is not required to implement a HL module or programme. The HL funding is aimed at providing financial support and the buy-in of design support from the HL Office. However, many resources are available via the HL website that will provide academics with ideas. Additionally, individual support is available via the Centre for Learning Technologies and the BLC of your faculty. 

However, for a module or programme to be changed from a contact mode of delivery to a hybrid mode of delivery, the reporting of these changes and institutional approval are required. A module specification (Form B) for each module is required as a new module must be registered on the Student Information System (SIS) to differentiate between the contact and HL version, and to ensure that HL curriculum design aspects are incorporated.

HL offers ample instructional design support and (limited) funding to partially buy in lecturer time to allow for development capacity of HL offerings but only during the first-round development and implementation stage. The viability of the programme and the associated financial risk are therefore a key consideration for the faculty.

Staff context: Department chairs, lecturers and other academic staff who will be involved in the process should further consider the following:

1. Do you have sufficient capacity and time to commit to the curriculum design and technical HL development process? (If you are unsure of how much time this will take, please contact the HL team and/or your CTL advisor.)
2. If you foresee that you will need some support to make time for HL development, what kind of support intervention will help you? For example: Do you need to alleviate your teaching load or request teaching assistant/tutor support? Will you need to identify external subject matter experts to help develop some of the course material? HL funding may not be able to address all these needs, but an awareness of your unique context should certainly inform both your discussions with faculty leadership and the HL team as you apply for funding.
3. When would you like to implement the hybrid offering? Does your timeline allow for the administrative process of registering a programme/module or updating and resubmitting module registration forms? Please contact the Centre for Academic Planning and Quality Assurance or your CTL advisor if you need to better understand the typical timelines involved.
4. Do you have buy-in and support from the rest of your department and faculty (including the faculty manager, vice-deans and dean)?
5. Is the offering (and HL in general) aligned with the vision of your department and faculty? 

It is just as important to consider your prospective students' context. HL requires students to have sufficient access to the internet and personal devices and to possess a basic level of digital literacy in order to learn online. The technical and curricular design of the module/programme can be adapted to be as responsive as possible to students' context, but the HL funding application should first demonstrate that you are aware of their learning needs (in terms of how, when and where the cohort will be learning) even if these needs are quite diverse.

More key considerations are available here and on the HL website. 

Yes, the Language Centre's Interpreting Service is fully equipped to interpret real-time online lectures and F2F blocks, as long as they are streamed online. Students have the option of using the service remotely or in class by using their cellphone or laptop. For more information, contact Juanli Theron or Christine Joubert or visit our webpage here.

The Language Centre's Interpreting Service can also provide audio translations of asynchronous audio lectures or resources. For more information, contact Juanli Theron or Christine Joubert or visit the Language Centre's webpage here.

'StellenboschX' refers to the partnership between SU and edX, a leading global online learning platform from 2U, Inc. 

The StellenboschX course portfolio (hosted on the international edX platform) is set to include a wide range of disciplines. These offerings will both showcase SU's academic and research expertise and demonstrate a responsiveness to the evolving needs of contemporary adult students. The portfolios will include both paid-for (certificate-bearing) professional certificates and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)​ that can be completed at no charge. 

If you would like to know more about SU's partnership with edX and/or are interested in potentially presenting a course on edX, please contact the HL team.

For more information regarding this, please refer to the newsletter announcing the SU/edX partnership. Click here to access the announcement. 

All communication regarding (potential) StellenboschX offerings go through the HL team. Before a programme proposal is submitted to edX, we have several internal discussions with you to gauge your ideas, gain high-level market insights and give you a practical overview of the process. 

Please contact the HL team to set up a discussion.

ATTRIBUTION: Image courtesy of Stellenbosch University