Two young University of Johannesburg (UJ) academics, Mr Zafeer Nagdee and Mr Husain Coovadia, recently presented their research on integrating teaching and learning with the latest technology solutions at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA. The Ivy League Institution is home to the Wharton Business School which is ranked as the world’s number one business school according to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) report on the best business schools. During December 2015, Wharton played host to the prestigious “Re-imagine Education” conference at which the duo presented their research findings.
They presented details around the development and implementation of a hybrid learning solution dubbed “Enabling New Age Classroom Technology (e-NACT)”, which allows for educators to meaningfully integrate technology into the teaching and learning processes of resource constrained environments.
WATCH: More information on “The e-NACT Solution”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eW2z3A9afI
“In the midst of the rising cost of higher education and the economic pressures our students face, we have developed e-NACT as an educational solution. E-NACT will not only lessen cost pressures, but also to provides learners with the benefits of becoming capable in the use of leading technologies. This reduces the use of traditional paper-based studying system one that is fully electronic.”
Mr Nagdee further explained that he, together with Mr Coovadia, is strongly informed of the building up of the economic challenges in South Africa. Therefore, the two young academics have always been committed to improving the education landscape of South Africa. “With our work on e-NACT, we hope that the academic community will embrace and further develop as we move towards making quality education more affordable and accessible,” he said.
Mr Coovadia added that presenting at an international level provided them with “the opportunity to enhance our understanding of international trends within the scope of contemporary education practice. As such, we are grateful to have built on our existing body of experience which we intend to use in contributing to internationalisation efforts both within the university and across the country as well.”
Mr Nagdee and Mr Coovadia are Chartered Accountants and currently work as senior lecturers within the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Economic and Financial Sciences (FEFS).