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ABSTRACT
While prior scholarship has theorised on how to incorporate decolonisation in curriculum and pedagogy, there is limited empirical work on how students experience this initiative. With a goal to provide a more diverse and inclusive educational experience, this paper explores ten undergraduate students’ perceptions of their learning in a revised chemical engineering course project designed from a decolonisation standpoint. A thematic analysis of student interviews highlighted a generally positive response to the decolonisation initiative. Specifically, students felt that situating the project in the local context increased access to learning through increased relevance and helped them develop critical awareness about the impact of engineering work. Moreover, a community-driven project design allowed students to pay attention to the power dynamics between engineers and the community. However, there were struggles noted in terms of finding appropriate resources to execute a small-scale project and effectively participating in learning due to background-related linguistic and technical challenges.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Felix Guni and Saphron Brown for conducting the interviews; Prof. Jenni Case for her support and encouragement throughout the research process; and Prof. Harro von Blottnitz and Genevieve Harding for their role in the development of the course project, and support in conducting this study. In addition, the authors acknowledge funding support from the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town for data transcription. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations presented in this paper represent the views of the authors only.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 While racial classification in South Africa originated in the colonial and later Apartheid era, these classifications continue to the present day (often for equity/redress purposes), with the national statistical service asking respondents to describe themselves in the census as Black, Coloured, White, Indian or Other.
Black refers largely to indigenous Africans, though this group is multi-ethnic and not culturally or linguistically homogeneous.
The Coloured population has a diverse range of ethnic backgrounds, including (but not limited to) indigenous South Africans (e.g., Khoisan), those of multiracial heritage (including the Griqua), Asians who were brought to South Africa as slaves during the Dutch colonial era, and ethnic Chinese.
Indian refers predominantly to descendants of migrants from India during the British colonial era.
White refers predominantly to descendants of European settlers.
In the university context, students from outside South Africa are referred to as ‘International,’ regardless of their ethnic origin (nothing that these students are predominantly citizens of SADC).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ashish Agrawal
Ashish Agrawal is an Assistant Professor in the College of Engineering Technology at Rochester Institute of Technology. His research interests include exploring the intricacies of STEM curricula, studying the influence of curricular features on students' experiences, and designing equitable interventions and assessing their influence on student learning. He has taught several introductory engineering courses using student-centric approaches such as project-based learning and flipped classroom.
Hilton Heydenrych
Hilton Heydenrych is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. He has professional experience in chemical engineering and teaches in the undergraduate programme. His research interests include issues related to student development and success, ranging from cohort analysis to curriculum reform to graduate employment.