The 10 HELTASA Special Interest Groups play an important role of contributing to the advancement of the main goals of HELTASA. These groups of highly committed HELTASA researchers, scholars and practitioners act as advocates of SOTL in higher education while focusing on their specific individual themes. On an annual basis, the SIGS plan activities or events that address topical teaching and learning and concerns in higher education in southern Africa. Following the 2016 ICED HELTASA conference, the various SIGS have had opportunities to meet and generate activities for the year 2017. The focus of these activities range from enhancing the student experience, research collaboration, technology enhanced teaching and learning and getting published most of which are of importance to the modern academy in South Africa.
The Foundation SIG has adopted a technological savvy approach by publishing a video on their dialogue session during the November ICED- HELTASA conference.
In addition to the link, other related upcoming events that the TEL SIG is organizing are a symposium in Cape Town in August 2017 and a colloquium in Durban in September 2017. As the two events are for purposes of contributing to SOTL, a call for abstract submission will be sent out later in July to the HELTASA Membership. The Writing Centre SIG and the Foundation SIG are also hosting events in the upcoming months.
So, the second semester of the academy year will be a period with a rich variety of academic SIG activities spread across the wide regional landscape of higher education. Each event promise to keep the modern academic, practitioner and researcher appropriately engaged and enthused as they plan for the 2018 academic year.
For more information on the other SIG activities, members and aspiring members are welcome to the HELTASA website. This is an open invitation to broader academic community to support SIG activities by attending and contributing to growing HELTASA into a strong SOTL organisation.
