The University seeks to provide an environment where students can succeed and flourish. The University is fully committed to supporting and assisting students and eliminating obstacles to success. At the same time, students should take responsibility for their own success and career development. The first step towards enhancing student success is providing quality teaching and learning opportunities for students to engage actively and authentically with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values of a particular discipline/field. Some of the specific academic initiatives include the FLY@UP student success awareness campaign, the orientation of first-year students, the UP Readiness Survey, the Academic Success Coaches (FSAs), tutor support, the HIMs project, and the provision of a digital student success support ecosystem to drive and support data-driven student access and success initiatives. The document "Student Success at UP: EIs Roles and Responsibilities" explains these initiatives in more detail. You can find the contact details for student support services by referring to the following link.
Student success initiatives coordinated by the Department for Education Innovation include the following:
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Tutoring (Download the Flyer & Tutoring Guidelines) |
To ensure that the tutors are trained and know how to tutor face-to-face and online, they have to complete the following self-enrol online course: https://clickup.up.ac.za/ultra/courses/_172910_1/outline The course takes about 4 hours to complete. Upon completing the online course, tutors receive a letter of participation. |
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Advising: Academic Success Coaches (FSAs) |
The Academic success coaches (FSAs) use data from the UP Readiness Survey, clickUP, PeopleSoft, and Blackboard Predict (AI system) to identify students who are at risk of failing and to arrange one-to-one sessions with these students. The FSAs use the online Learner Case Management System to electronically capture their interactions with students. For more information, visit the website or contact Dr Hestie Byles (Manager: Academic Advising). | |
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Peer Advisors |
Peer Advisors assist students with basic advising questions and serve as a resource to connect students with the Faculty Student Advisors (FSAs) and/or general campus resources. | |
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Bb Ally & Bb Assist | The University aims to create a more inclusive and supportive environment and broaden students’ access to learning material. To achieve this, the University uses Blackboard Ally to enhance digital content for access and learning and helps institutions build a more inclusive learning environment. It improves the student experience by assisting students in controlling course content with usability, accessibility, and quality in mind. For students to manage their own needs and contact the many different support services offered by the University, we use Blackboard Assist in clickUP as a central information hub. | |
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The orientation of first-year students |
The Academic Orientation Programme consists of the following:
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Introduction to clickUP course for first-year students |
The aim of the clickUP introductory course is for all new students to familiarise themselves with clickUP (Blackboard - the University's Learning Management System). Please encourage your students to register as soon as possible in the new year so they have access to the online self-paced course. |
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Student Feedback on Teaching Survey (SFTS) |
The University of Pretoria is committed to improving teaching and learning through dedicated support to lecturers and students. Students are essential participants in improving lecturers' teaching practices, and as such, your feedback on the SFTS will be of value to the lecturer. EvaluationKIT enables students to provide feedback on the SFTS through a single sign-on in clickUP; anywhere and from any device, including phones. For more information, click here. |
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High Impact Modules: HIMs project |
The HIMs project is an initiative of the Tshebi Committee to improve the module success rate of a selected number of modules on the High Impact Modules (HIMs) list. The project aims to provide a holistic evaluation of the modules with targeted interventions to increase the module success rate. For more information, click here. |
Overcoming the coronavirus (student support page)
To build a more inclusive environment, broaden student access to learning material and support students, the University is implementing the following:
All the data from the various electronic platforms flow into one central system via the LMS, Blackboard, except for the Learner Case Management System. It is crucial to align the data strategy with the digital process. The integration of a digital teaching, learning and student success software package with the LMS means not just connecting applications; it also requires careful planning of the flow of learning and student success data. The University uses Pyramid Analytics software to collect all the data and to develop user-friendly student success dashboards for management, lecturers, and students.
There are several data functions embedded in clickUP (Blackboard). The first essential requirement is using the Bb Grade Center (see the Grade Center clickUP help site). The following are important links: create calculated columns and set up a meaningful external grade column. The use of the Grade Center will allow a lecturer to monitor their students' performance using the:
Blackboard Analytics for Learn Student Report allows students to compare their activity and progress with their peers in the same course.
Each undergraduate course has access to the Student Risk Reports under Evaluation in the Course management links. Blackboard Engage (formerly Blackboard Predict) is a student success solution that leverages LMS activity and student biographical data, and advanced analytics to identify students at risk, making early intervention possible. The Instructor Report provides an integrated dashboard at the aggregated and individual student levels.
There are online courses on using the Grade Center and data in clickUP. The Metrical course focuses on using data in clickUP to monitor student participation. In contrast, the Grade Center course includes relevant information, such as allowing students to monitor their progress using a progress mark, etc. Lecturers cannot register for these courses; they can enrol and continue. On completion of a course, they will receive a letter of participation. If you need a practice clickUP course, contact the e-support office ([email protected]) and request a “practice” course. Provide your EMPLID in the email as well.
Students value caring and encouraging messages from their lecturers and the communication of administration/learning-related matters. Use the clickUP Announcements tool for one-to-many, one-way communication from the lecturer to the whole class. Use the Retention Center in clickUP to check which students have not logged in the past five days and contact these students. Using the Discussion Tool in clickUP will create a sense of immediacy. A more powerful way is to use Blackboard Collaborate to be virtually available during scheduled classes.
All the new UP students must work through the introduction to clickUP course at their own time and pace. The document entitled clickUP login and self-orientation course contains more information on logging into clickUP, navigating in clickUP and how to access the course. The course has built-in exercises to let students click on the correct places to simulate uploading of Turnitin assignments, for example.
Students can also work through the resources available on the clickUP Student Help Site before and after being formally registered. Please encourage your students to register as soon as possible in the new year so they can access the clickUP Online Self-paced Student Orientation course for them to work through. Students can start by watching the YouTube video explaining how to navigate inside a clickUP course.
Some of the valuable resources on the clickUP Student Help Site include:
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