APPLY NOW! CREST ONLINE TRAINING COURSE FOR DOCTORAL SUPERVISORS AT AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES 2023
It is widely accepted that there is growing need for more African scholars and scientists to contribute to innovation and development on the African continent and to enhance Africa’s participation in the knowledge economy. We have also witnessed, in recent years, huge increases in the numbers of doctoral enrolments and graduates at many African universities. As a result, the demand for well-prepared doctoral supervisors has increased significantly. To contribute to meeting the demand for doctoral supervisors, CREST at Stellenbosch University in South Africa offers an online course targeting novice doctoral supervisors. During the last five years more than 450 professors and lecturers affiliated to universities in Africa have already completed the course.
Will you please circulate this letter to colleagues at your institution who may be interested in enrolling for the CREST Course for Doctoral Supervisors at African Universities? The course will be offered from 7 August – 13 November 2023. Applications are invited until 12 June 2023. Successful participants will receive a Certificate of Competence issued by Stellenbosch University.
Details on the course (outcomes, contents, admission, application procedures, fees, etc.) and access to the online application form are available on the CREST web site (click on https://www0.sun.ac.za/crest/dies-crest-online-training-course/)
COMMENTS OF PARTICIPANTS ON THE BENEFITS OF THE CREST ONLINE TRAINING COURSE FOR DOCTORAL SUPERVISORS AT AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES
“I feel I am now ready to start supervising.”
“The course was an eye opener for a young academic like me. It triggered me to think beyond the availed course material, which I think is a very useful stimulus for further interrogation of ideas put forward in the course.”
“I benefited from the entire range of the training. The six modules were quite insightful. The course was much deeper in content than I expected.”
“The course is going to have an important impact on my work. I strongly feel that I made the right choice to enrol in this course. I have successfully influenced my university to enrol more academics on this course.”
“I will be using the course materials to train my students on supervision.”
“The CREST experience on the supervision process created a gateway through which fruitful experiences were shared. Some were new and some were easy to identify with. CREST platform created a community of colleagues igniting discussion around this area of utmost importance. I learned a lot.”
“During the Covid 19 pandemic, I have learnt a lot from the professors on how to effectively facilitate a module online to the extent that the learner can benefit even more than the benefits drawn from the face to face context.”
COMMENTS ON THE LEARNING MATERIAL
“The learning material provided is fantastic and fit for the purpose of the course, how to help us to become good supervisors.”
COMMENTS ON THE FACILITATORS
“The facilitators are experts in the field of doctoral supervision, and they are aware of the current problems being experienced by supervisors in both face-to-face and distance learning platforms. The facilitators are very supportive and explain the objectives of each module at the beginning such that it becomes very easy to follow the tutorials.”
“I really appreciate the scholarship of the facilitators. I have learnt a lot and have started implementing some of the aspects of the course.”
“The facilitators are wonderful and have vast experience in training courses for supervisors of doctoral candidates at African universities. More so, they possess strong expertise and excellent knowledge in the field of postgraduate supervision.
“The facilitators responded to my questions and solved my queries on time.”
“The facilitators were generally very competent, experienced and caring. I have been able to learn some qualities and attributes from them. Especially the way in which they simplify the teaching and learning approaches.”
“I enjoyed the discussion sessions and found these very valuable. This interaction also reflected the facilitators depth of understanding of theory, because all discussion was engaging and co-ordinated.”
COMMENTS ON THE TUTORS
“The tutors were very helpful and active on the discussion boards. They often came with questions on our comments that made one think a little bit more about what you’ve said or the content as a whole.”
COMMENTS ON THE ONLINE LEARNING
“Personally, this online course really suited me. You can work at your own pace, anytime and anywhere you want.”
“The online format was useful and allowed us to work through all the material at our own pace. Especially during those hectic work weeks. It also provides digestion time, giving me the opportunity to think about what was said/read before moving to the next topic.”
“This mode of teaching was the best; I was unable to take the course during the actual periods because of travel and other personal issues. However, I have still been able to complete it a month later. This shows the benefits of online learning.”
It was excellent. Having done some free online courses since 2014, this is one of the best online courses I have undertaken. Keep it up. As a learner I faced no limitations in accessing resources and learning at the same time.
“The technical platform and support are user-friendly, and good.”
“The experience with the learning resources was good. The slides were laid out clearly. The overview of the module that was always given in the left-hand side panel was very useful. At the end of the course, it was very helpful to receive all the course materials well organized under its different modules once again. I was able to cross-check what I could have missed out or mixed up. The discussion board is excellent as one can go back to read the posting by fellow participants. The webinars are an additional plus.”
“The online learning was good with different learning material provided including text, videos and also the group discussions and exchange of different institutional material. Being my first online course, it has changed my perception on online learning and is in many ways even more demanding, educative, interactive, and enriching than the traditional face to face learning!”
Sincerely
Prof Jan Botha
Course Leader
CREST Online Training Course for Supervisors of Doctoral Candidates at African Universities
Kind regards
Rolene Langford
