Transforming Teaching and Learning Experiences for Helping Professions in Higher Education

Higher education has transformed and continues to transform in this century, because of decolonizing the curriculum and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have added an indelible mark to the methodology of teaching and learning. Learning spaces have become open to more people through privatization, massification, e-learning platforms and internationally mobile academics, allowing individuals from diverse backgrounds to enter the academic and helping professions space.

Educators need to reskill, repurpose, redesign, and reimagine for a world that is rapidly evolving. New ways of teaching need to consider nuances of decolonization of the curriculum, deep understanding of subjects, transformative ways of imparting knowledge and technology-enhanced learning needs to be embraced.

Thus, the teaching and learning spaces in developed and developing environments move beyond the classroom to prepare 21st century citizens to embrace life-long learning. Furthermore, the content as well as processes involved in teaching and learning must be explored thoughtfully that includes the perspectives of a more inclusive wave of educators and students. Thus, this book has implications for a global scholarship, specifically during disruptive times in Higher Education. It is hoped that the book stimulates reflections so that the reader draws inspiration to find contextual relevance that extends into the real-world.

Roshini Pillay, Ph.D. (2017), University of the Western Cape, is a senior lecturer of Social Work at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has published academic journal articles, book chapters and developed a podcast called 'Social Work Khuluma'.

Sibusiso Mkwananzi, Ph.D. (2017), University of the Witwatersrand, is a demographer and senior researcher at the University of South Africa. She has presented at international conferences and published numerous opinion pieces, academic journal articles and book chapters on gender, gender-based violence, the application of quantitative research methods to contextual analysis of phenomena as well as the health of vulnerable populations.

Sharon Moonsamy, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Wits University, Head of the School of Human & Community Development, and a speech-language pathologist. Her teaching and research include areas of child language, literacy and cognition, and is justified on social justice. Her scholarly profile includes conferences, journal and book publications.