Call for Participation and Proposals
Classics and Classical Studies Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Indaba
The Classical Association of South Africa
&
The University of the Free State
The 1st Classics Teaching and Learning Indaba
27-28 September 2024
University of the Free State, Bloemfontein
More information:
The organising committee would like to accommodate as many participants as possible. To this end it will accept almost any proposal within the scope of the Indaba from people working in Classics or related fields.
We also invite interested CASA members to participate in the Indaba in general, without the intention to present or lead a discussion.
The final programme of the event may have events or sessions run in parallel in order to accommodate as many people as possible. As this is a first attempt, the format and content of the Indaba aims at inclusivity.
The Indaba imagines three different types of events:
- Round table meetings for current lecturers and teachers of Latin, Greek and Classical Studies in the southern African context.
These will comprise of 90-minute sessions structured around a topic or constellation of topics suggested by the abstracts of participants. The sessions will give enough time for 5-minute impulse talks (less than 30 minutes per session) and discussion from the floor. Topics for these discussions might typically include issues that are pertinent, and which will benefit from an extended discussion among peers. Examples include: How to teach gender or ethnicity in the Ancient Cultures Classroom; What texts we can use in teaching second year Greek; The relevance of Classics in contemporary South Africa; Criteria for exit-level modules.
- Teaching, Learning, and Assessment workshops for current and prospective lecturers and teachers focused on the different subjects: Latin, Greek and Classical Studies.
Ideally, we would like proposals for running such a workshop from one or more person. These workshops will be scheduled for 30-60 minutes. We imagine that the chairperson of the workshop come prepared with a solution (or partial solution) to an existing issue in the teaching of Classics and share this knowledge in an interactive collegial way with a workgroup.
Topics may include: Creating AI generated translation tests; How to use existing resources to help students reference classical texts (from the Loeb series, for instance); Choosing a first-year textbook (Greek/Latin); Inclusive Classics.
- Academic panels for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies.
These are traditional academic panels and will be arranged in 90 minute sessions according to topic or theme. We imagine these to be 20-minute papers in the traditional sense of the word, intended for publication. Papers may be based on teaching methodologies and quantitative data for publication in the field now called the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or may have a more classical slant.
- Keynotes
We are happy to announce a keynote speaker at the Indaba, who will lead some of the roundtable discussions and workshops:
Steven Hunt is Associate Teaching Professor in Classics Education at the University of Cambridge. He is the Editor of the Journal of Classics Teaching, author and editor of six books published by Bloomsbury Academic, and regularly provides consultancy and training services on behalf of the educational charity Classics for All. Steven has a particular interest in the teaching of Latin language and the ways in which pupils can access and develop their understanding of the Roman world through exposure to original source material. He is also interested in the design and use of materials for teaching and learning Classical Civilisation courses.
The organising committee hopes to receive proposals more creative or useful than the ones suggested in the examples above and we are keen on entertaining different ideas. Feel free to engage personally with any or all the members of the organising committee.
Dr. Annemarie de Villiers (Stellenbosch) amdev@sun.ac.za
Dr. John Meyer (Free State) meyerjc@ufs.ac.za
Dr. Johan Steenkamp (North-West) johan.steenkamp@nwu.ac.za
Please send your proposed title and abstract to amdev@sun.ac.za
Deadline: 30 June 2024
(Detail on the venue and accommodation will follow shorty).