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There is a paucity of research on the efficacy of online asynchronous discussion forums in fostering critical thinking, social justice awareness and empathy in pre-service teachers. This study adopted a case study design rooted in the social constructivist/interpretive paradigm. South African university pre-service teachers comprised the study's sample. To examine how online discussions about Global Citizenship Education (GCE) affected the critical thinking and social justice awareness of a group of pre-service teachers ( n = 31), a questionnaire based on Andreotti's (2006) Soft vs Critical GCE framework was used. To further understand how their involvement in online discussions on global issues influenced their sense of social justice awareness, empathy and critical thinking, certain pre-service teachers' ( n = 9) reflective essays were used. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers' responses were more consistent with the soft GCE approach. The Soft vs Critical GCE framework was useful for identifying which aspects of online interactions require a more critical understanding of GCE. The findings showed that pre-service teachers who participated in the online GCE conversations had increased social justice awareness, critical thinking skills and empathy.

In 2015 the Western Cape Government (WCG) in South Africa introduced the e-Learning Game Changer initiative to offer teachers in public schools information and communications technology (ICT) resources to improve their pedagogy. Despite the efforts by the WCG to improve ICT use for teaching in public schools, successful ICT integration hardly takes place in several historically disadvantaged (albeit affluent) schools, which constitute a minority of schools in the Western Cape. The primary aim of this study was to investigate those conversion factors allowing or impeding teachers in two public primary schools in the Western Cape from attaining the potential capabilities required for successful ICT integration. Amartya Sen's capability approach was used as the study's theoretical framework. The study employed a qualitative research method involving 10 educators observed during their lessons and interviewed. The findings confirmed that only a few conversion factors, such as the attainment of ICT skills through a community of practice and university training by the teachers, provided them with capabilities to use ICT to deliver curriculum content and perform basic ICT skills effectively. Several conversion factors, including teachers' age, provincial and school policies, infrastructure and resources, prevented these teachers from realising their ICT potential. This study contends that the White Paper on e-Education (2004) policy might benefit from the results, which could help to build or rethink programmes that encourage continual teacher training.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: This research shows that policymakers need to take into consideration the conversion factors that may impact teachers' capabilities to deliver curriculum utilising ICTs. This study's findings provide new light on how these conversion factors limit or expand teachers' ICT capabilities.

When the #RhodesMustFall movement called for the decolonization of the university curriculum in South Africa in 2015, academics were soon under pressure to begin to explore various ways to go about beginning such a complex process. One possible approach to this would be to explore whether Afrofuturism could practically liberate the mind towards addressing any forms of cognitive injustice that students may experience as a result of a colonized curriculum, and in what ways it might do so. A literature review has found a paucity of empirical research exploring ways in which a film that employs Afrofuturism could be used to advance the decolonization project in teaching and learning practices in South African higher education. This article aims to contribute to this discourse through a case study which attempted to uncover the attitudes and emotions of a group of students who, after viewing the film Black Panther, which employs Afrofuturism, were or were not, able to make sense of and/or re-imagine their identities and relationships with others in the context of Afrofuturism, and to what extent. The article thus reports on a case study at a university of technology (UoT) in South Africa in which the film was used to attempt to advance the idea of Afrofuturism in the university curriculum and to uncover the lived experiences, social realities and ideas of self/identity of particular students from marginalized communities.

Article ; The social, political, and economic inequalities embedded and reflected in all social life in South Africa continue to shape the higher education landscape of the country. Calls for the? higher? education? curricula? in? South? Africa? to? be? transformed? under? the? guide? of? decolonisation requires primarily a reform of the colonising spaces in which teaching in higher? education? takes? place.? Using? a? case? study? at? a? university? of? technology? that? explicates teaching and learning through the use of creative illustrations as a form and means? of? defamiliarisation,? the? authors? show? how? spaces? can? be? created? to? facilitate? deliberative engagement and contestation regarding instances of colonisation in higher education and society. The authors conclude that defamiliarisation should be considered a possible pedagogical technique in higher education as a way of deepening students? social, economic, political, and cultural awareness in relation to identity, language, and hierarchies of power amongst students and higher education educators.

This edited collection explores how democratic citizenship education manifests across the African continent. A recognition of rights and responsibilities coupled with an emphasis on deliberative engagement among citizens, while not uniquely African, provides ample evidence that the concept can most appropriately be realised in relation to its connectedness with experiences of people living on the continent. Focussing on a diverse collection of voices, the editors and authors examine countries that have an overwhelming allegiance to democratic citizenship education. In doing so, they acknowledge that this concept, enveloped by a certain Africanness, has the potential to manifest in practices across the African continent. By highlighting the success of democratic citizenship education, the diverse and varied contributions from across this vast continent address the malaise in its implementation in countries where autocratic rule prevails. This pioneering volume will be an invaluable resource for researchers and students working in the fields of education and sociology, particularly those with an interest in education policy, philosophy of education and global citizenship initiatives.

In South Africa, the economic, social, and political institutions designed to provide for the basic needs and fundamental rights of all citizens in society are failing to address the escalating socioeconomic problems for large segments of the population. Studies suggest that the provision of entrepreneurship education strengthens the entrepreneurial capacity of students to launch new ventures, which has economic implications in society (Mars, Slaughter, & Rhoades, 2008). Although much progress has been made, the authors argue that social entrepreneurship (SE) is not adequately taught in South African schools, and that this could be partially addressed by introducing SE education into the curriculum for preservice educators. In this regard, teaching and learning activities should be directed towards enhancing preservice teachers? sense of SE theory, and practical knowledge to inculcate an awareness of how SE can help deal with social injustices. Using a distinct case study that explicates teaching and learning through the use of film and online discussion groups, the authors show how spaces can be created to facilitate deliberative pedagogical engagement. The authors conclude that SE education offers valuable opportunities for dialogical (deliberative) pedagogical engagement, and should be considered as a constitutive element of higher education.

The public understanding of scientific, economic, political and ethical issues is becoming increasingly important as students are confronted with socio-economic issues impacting their everyday lives. Grappling with these issues requires critical, deliberative and autonomous students. According to Wankle (2011, 7), the use of digital technology in education may serve as a catalyst for cultivating excitement, interaction and sharing in students. In this article, the authors, using two distinct research methodologies, argue that using Facebook as a digital technological methodology in (higher) education could provide a means of mediating and communicating in today?s modern society, so that (higher) educationists can engage with students both deliberatively and critically so as to enhance students? understanding of current economic, political and cultural issues autonomously. The authors posit that the application of digital technology can be implemented successfully if students and (higher) educationists possess the capabilities to do so.

This book examines African philosophy of education and the enactment of ubuntu justice through a massive open online course on Teaching for Change. The authors argue that such pedagogic encounters have the potential to stimulate just and democratic human relations: encounters that are critical, deliberate, reflective and compassionate could enable just and democratic human relations to flourish, thus inducing decolonisation and decoloniality. Exploring arguments for imaginative and tolerant pedagogic encounters that could help cultivate an African university where educators and students can engender morally and politically responsible pedagogical actions, the authors offer pathways for thinking more imaginatively about higher education in a globalised African context. This work will be of value for researchers and students of philosophy of education, higher education and democratic citizenship education.

This book is an attempt to do something else in the realm of educational technology in the field of teacher education. Nowadays too much is being made of educational technology, often valorising it as a saviour of educational institutions, in particular in relation to teacher education programmes. The reasoning quite too often is: If educational technology ?is used? in the training of teachers for primary and secondary education, then teachers possessing such capacities and skills might just be the panacea education systems require to respond to the challenges of learning, teaching and management in the modern era. We however are less optimistic if educational technology is perceived as an instrumental impetus for change in educational contexts. Such a technical view of education would be equally unresponsive to the demands of good education, because educational change cannot just be envisaged at the level of practice ? that is, if we change the practices of teaching, such as altering the techniques we use to teach, then the theories (thoughts and concepts) that guide such practices have to be attended to as well. As Jacques Derrida (2004, p. 153) aptly reminds us, theory (theoria) informs practice (praxis) and, in turn, practice modifies theory. By implication, just looking at how educational technology manifests in certain practices would be remiss of giving credence to the significant role of theory in guiding practice. Consequently, this book looks at both the underlying theories of educational technology, and the ways in which practice is guided. Moreover, our work throughout this book is not devoid of producing ends. As for Derrida (2004, p. 148), ?end-orientation? is not necessarily bad in itself, as the ?end? in itself can prepare students to undertake new analyses and evaluations that can result in new possibilities. So, our understanding and situatedness within educational technology (means) ? as opposed to using or applying educational technology ? is aimed at cultivating practices (ends) that open up possibilities for new ways of democratic action. In other words, we do not pledge in advance that our embeddedness within educational technology has a utilitarian end in mind, but rather that our situatedness within educational technology (a practice itself) leaves open possibilities for new ways of understanding democratic education.