A REFLECTION OF STUDENT ENGAGEMENT PRACTICES USED IN A FIRST YEAR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT UNDERGRADUATE CLASS: CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Teaching is a way of imparting knowledge and promoting active learning by students. Active learning involves a process where students participate and do something more than passively listening (Bonwell, 1991) the classroom as a safe space where students can learn, engage with the study material and also ask questions without feeling judged by the teacher or their classmates. Students also learn best through continuous engagement with the study material and this is why in teaching use is made of various teaching strategies such as case studies, online quizzes, audio recordings to accommodate different learning styles. Teaching not only something that occurs in a classroom space but also always aims to challenge my students to view learning as an activity that can occur through multiple avenues. Students should also be provided in my view with an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned. This is in line with the works of Summit and Venables (2011) who state that in order to gain deeper understanding there should be opportunities for reflection. Hodgis and Weber (2015:58) define the flipped classroom as a model where students learn material that would traditionally be taught in class independently which makes provision for class time to be used for application and exercises. As a teacher it is important to promote a learning space where students are taught to be active participants in their own studies. This paper reviews teaching practices used to engage student engagement in a first year undergraduate class at the University of Pretoria in light of student protests in 2016. The paper provides a reflection on the challenges encountered in promoting the use of online teaching and assessment practices