Takeoff! Week 1 of the DSJP Short course

 And off we go! But to where? Although we were not ready to admit it, many of us were nervous and anxious about the brand new “Designing for Social Justice Partnerships: Co-Creating across Difference” short course. This course is a product of many late afternoon meetings, fancy brainstorms by the waterfront and hard conversations within the cold brutalist architecture of our respective South African universities. But still - will this course land? Will power dynamics between students and staff undermine engagement? Will the technology fail? 

Hindsight is 20/20. It was only after the first workshop we all exhaled and came clean. 

Joe-Dean “It was a moment of relief to see how all the months of planning paid off in that one session alone. I hope we will be able to keep up the numbers.”

Dee “I’m not afraid to admit I felt totally unprepared initially, but because of the trust I had in the team and the leads, I felt confident that we’d hit the mark. I’ve also realised that I AM LEARNING HERE too - imposter syndrome is real! :smile:”

What were we afraid of? There were over 50 participants with close to no one dropping off. The transitions were smooth, the break out rooms worked well and there was engagement. Even Eskom obliged! The first session was led by Xena, Asanda, Lukhona and Zweli. Between them, there is a considerable amount of teaching and facilitating experience. 

Lukhona “Initially, I was still determining how the participants would receive the content.

However, any apprehension quickly dissipated as I witnessed the genuine openness and enthusiasm of the participants.”

Sue “The breakout rooms really works in connecting individuals and allowing them to learn more about each other and from each other but more importantly they were able to voice their opinions. The number of participants per group and the time allocated allowed everyone to share, so it wasn't rushed…”

The workshop itself was an introduction to Student Staff Partnerships, and to ourselves as the DJSP team. Participants were separated into breakout groups, where they visually shared their expectations and experiences with co-creation. The workshop structure consisted of a course overview, introduction to SSPs, introduction to the team and an emotional grounding session. 

Once participants were a little more oriented, the workshop gave an overview of the DSJP programme and how it is a Collaborative project funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) through the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP) at CPUT. The team at all three universities introduced themselves and their roles. We walked them through our history with our SSP, and where we see the future of SSPs and thinking about partnerships in general. 

Asanda led then led the workshop into an emotional grounding session, and co-developed the rules of engagement. Groups were made to discuss core values they feel would be useful going forwards. When groups came to consensus, the chosen values were put up on a padlet and shared with the larger workshop. Much of the course touches on emotional and sensitive topics, including those of power, space and privilege; it is important to have set up a foundation of respectful participation around difficult conversations.

While the first session was success, there are some thing we need to work on. In break out groups, lecturers and staff automatically assumed the role of facilitator or leader. We wondered whether this impacted student voice and participation. Maybe the make up of groups influenced this? The workshop runs the risk of being a lecture space, rather than a collaborative discussion space. How do we resolve this? Much to work on.

Sue “For me there was meaningful engagement. Maybe we can be more intentional on how we divide or create breakout groups, so we have a good mix. In the report back sessions, I would prefer participants taking the lead than one of us”

Ashley “I was amazed by how willing all the participants were when participating, sharing, and making themselves vulnerable. They were enthusiastic about the course and cannot wait to see what is to follow.”

However, as a team, we have left the virtual spaces with renewed optimism and every other cliche. Presenters were natural and phenomenal. There is a clear hunger for SSPs. We’ve got this!

Written by: Tefo Mosienyane