Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching

05/01/2026

As we begin 2026, we're reflecting on the people whose work quietly strengthens our institutions and shifts lives in meaningful ways.

UCT has published a wonderful tribute to Douglas Sias, who retired in December 2025 after a long and distinguished career spanning more than a decade in teaching, journalism, digital literacy training, and staff advocacy.

Douglas’s impact has been felt across generations of students and colleagues, grounded in his belief that “learning never ends.”

Read the full article here:
🔗 https://bit.ly/49ki00H

Wishing everyone a grounded and hopeful start to 2026. May the year bring learning, connection and purpose 💫

UCT bids farewell to Douglas Sias, learning technologies consultant, after 15 years of service.

19/11/2025

🌩️ Yes, the internet broke yesterday. But TLC2025 didn’t.

While Cloudflare hit pause on half the internet, we hit play on keynotes, workshops, and conversations that matter.

Today? We're back online, and more connected than ever.

📺 Catch the auditorium sessions via livestream throughout the day: https://bit.ly/3X21f4U

📣 View the full programme: https://bit.ly/3JBVcko

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18/11/2025

📢 Keynote spotlight at TLC2025: What does it take to reimagine student engagement, learning and success in South African higher education?

Professor Francois Strydom, Senior Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of the Free State (UFS), opened today’s hashtag programme with a powerful keynote:
“Data for what? Reimagining engagement, learning and success in South African higher education.”

Drawing on UFS’s award-winning approach, Prof Strydom shared how their institution uses a data-informed, social justice-driven model to support student success and academic quality.

🔍 Some key takeaways:
👉 “If there is no data, it didn’t happen.”
👉 Connecting people through evidence-based design is central to impact.
👉 The #1 skill academics need today? Data analytics.

From tracking engagement to assessing the effectiveness of interventions, UFS is building a collaborative, equity-focused higher education ecosystem, one that puts learning and the student at the centre.

18/11/2025

🌟 TLC2025 is officially underway!

We kicked off with a moving live performance - The Institution and the Human - a poetic, honest portrayal of student life today: navigating ChatGPT and AI in education, dealing with high expectations, and still pushing through inequities and mental health struggles.

UCT Vice-Chancellor Prof Mosa Moshabela asked:
💭 “What does it mean to shape the future of education?”
His message? That in a time of rapid digital advancement, it’s our people, students, educators, and communities who matter most.

📣 DVC Prof Brandon Collier-Reed paid tribute to former DVC for Teaching and Learning, the late Lis Lange - honouring her legacy at UCT. He also celebrated this year’s Distinguished Teacher Award recipients for their exceptional contributions to inclusive, meaningful learning.

📍All plenary and auditorium sessions are being livestreamed today. You can tune in here: https://bit.ly/3X21f4U

View the full programme here: https://bit.ly/3JBVcko

17/11/2025

Just your average Monday at ? Think again.
AI-enhanced data wrangling ✅
Ethics dilemmas in the hotseat ✅
Field walks + creative pedagogy ✅
Gradebooks that actually work ✅

TLC2025 kicked off with a full slate of dynamic, hands-on workshops and some lively debate over coffee. The conversations are only just beginning.

01/10/2025

Today at UCT we open a three-day gathering on Students as Partners 🎓✨
As part of the Designing for Social Justice Partnerships Programme, an inter-institutional UCDG Collab project by Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of the Western Cape and UCT, today kicked-off with a one-day Partner Colloquium, and will be followed by the Global Students as Partners Roundtable on 2 & 3 October.

The programme builds on over a decade of collaboration sparked by the 2015–2016 student protests, centring student voice, co-creation, and socially just learning design in higher education.

Opening the colloquium, UCT’s DVC for Teaching & Learning, Prof Brandon Collier-Reed reminded us:
“We are here because of a shared commitment that began a decade ago, when our sector was called to reimagine higher education. That call gave rise to a movement, a movement that placed student voice and co-creation at the heart of teaching and learning.”

He emphasised that the programme is more than a project, that it affirms that students are not just recipients of knowledge, but co-creators, co-researchers, and partners in shaping the future of higher education.

Over the next three days, student–staff partner teams and global colleagues will reflect, share, and imagine new models for inclusive, equitable, and contextually relevant higher education.

19/09/2025

New Faculty Focus episode of the Learning Exchange podcast! One of our Learning Technologies Consultants, Alicia Ernstzen-Moolow chats to Dr Anandaroop Sen (Historical Studies, UCT) about teaching History at scale in the age of generative AI. From staggered drafts to exams vs coursework and the need for a culture of integrity.

Listen on Spotify:

The Learning Exchange Podcast · Episode

26/07/2025

UCT has made a decisive move in the global education debate on artificial intelligence (AI) by officially adopting a university-wide framework that sets out how AI technologies should be integrated.

04/07/2025

UCT’s Teaching and Learning Conference 2025 is happening on 18–19 November!

Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, Professor Brandon Collier-Reed, has issued a call for proposals and registration. UCT staff and students are encouraged to contribute their insights and innovations around the 2025 theme: Shaping the Future of Education: Data-driven Strategies for Equity and Success

Read the full DVC Desk: https://bit.ly/4037MOv

Professor Brandon Collier-Reed writes to UCT staff to call for proposals for TLC2025.

19/06/2025

Who are the actors in AI innovation for teaching and learning?

At the EDEN 2025 Annual Conference, CILT’s Sukaina Walji and Stephen Marquard presented on how generative AI is shaping the university teaching and learning ecosystem—not just as a tool, but as an active participant.

📲 View the full presentation on our LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7341437959629369346*

23/04/2025

Nominations for the UCT Open Textbook Awards close on Thursday, 31 July 2025.
Not sure how to submit a nomination? Read more here: https://cilt.uct.ac.za/projects-open-education-initiatives/uct-open-textbook-award

15/04/2025

UCT’s Prof François Cilliers delivered his inaugural lecture on 9 April, unpacking the complex relationship between theory, research and practice.