The extended programme in foundation statistics, offered by the Department of Statistics on Mamelodi Campus, has been acknowledged as a world class programme at the 2^nd annual Wharton-QS Stars Reimagine Education conference in Philadelphia, USA ( 7- 9 Dec, 2015). As the world sees a constantly-shifting educational landscape, the conference provided a forum for intensive, dynamic discussion into the best ways to use technology for improved educational and economic outcomes.

A project, Empowering ‘weak’ students through a scaffolded learning approach, submitted by the Mamelodi lecturing team and presented by Thea at the conference, was received favourably by a distinguished panel of internationally renowned judges, including William Ranklin, Director of Learning at Apple and Jamie Casap, Chief Education Evangelist at Google. At an awards ceremony, billed as the Oscars of Higher Education, the project was selected as golden winner in the Regional Awards Africa category as well as bronze winner in the Teaching Delivery category. It was received favourably by the panel across all of the judging criteria, and recognized for its outstanding potential to improve pedagogy and employability in a higher education environment, from amongst a quantum leap of over 500 entries in total, 150 shortlisted projects and fourteen highly-contested categories.

The team submission for this competition focused on a reflection of how the programme strives to develop deep learning, with project work at the center of a scaffolded and deliberate approach to develop students’ confidence in achieving set goals. Students are empowered to:

•       respect and nurture intellectual diversity

•       build trust with and among their peers

•       share their ideas comfortably with one another

•       develop critical thinking.

This approach has proven effective in providing students with rewarding, worthwhile and relevant learning experiences that not only build their confidence and self-efficacy but also integrate skills explicitly with content. Three basic skills that are specifically focused on is teamwork, communication and time management.