Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in Health Professions Education

We actively support and conduct SoTL research to advance evidence-based teaching practices in health professions education. Our projects focus on:

Innovative Teaching, Learning, & Assessment – Exploring blended learning, flipped classrooms, and team-based learning to improve large-class teaching and assessment.
Interprofessional Education (IPE) – Examining the impact of interdisciplinary collaboration in health professions education.
Faculty Development & Mentorship – Studying how mentorship and continuous professional development enhance teaching practices.

Recent SoTL Research Outputs:

Heymans, Y., Pool, J., Koch, R., Bisschoff, C., Christmals, C., Ebrahim, B., & Olivier, J. (2022). Second-year health students’ perspectives on developing open educational resources. In J. Olivier, C. Du Toit-Brits, A. Dhakulkar, & B. Bunt (Eds.), Contextualised open educational practices: Towards student agency and self-directed learning. AOSIS Scholarly Books.  

Heymans, Y., Strosnider, C., Pool, J., & Jansen van Vuuren, M. (2024). Intercultural competence through virtual exchange: Perspectives of undergraduate health student. Open Praxis, 16(2), 119–129. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.55982/openpraxis.16.2.607  

Pool, J., Fourie, M., Heymans, Y., & Christmals, C. (2022). The potential of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research towards transformative pedagogies in higher education: An approach to ethical mindedness. In J. Pool, M. Fernandes-Martins, & M. Fourie (Eds.), Teaching and learning research in higher education (Vol. 2). Axiom Publishers.  

Pool, J., Heymans, Y., Koch, R., & Mokwatsi, G. (2023). Pedagogy of play in a virtual excursion to foster self-directed learning in health care students. In N. Petersen, A. Du Toit, E. Mentz, & R. Balfour (Eds.), Innovative curriculum design: Bridging the theory-practice divide in work integrated learning to foster self-directed learning (pp. 327). AOSIS Scholarly Books. https://books.aosis.co.za/index.php/ob/catalog/book/367  

Reitsma, G., Koch, R., Heymans, Y., Mokwatsi, G., Brits, S., & Hanekom, G. (2022). Design thinking in developing a virtual work-integrated experience for Health Sciences students. In J. De Beer, N. Petersen, E. Mentz, & R. Balfour (Eds.), Self-directed learning in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic: Research on the affordances of online virtual excursions (pp. 327). AOSIS Scholarly Books. https://books.aosis.co.za/index.php/ob/catalog/book/367  

Heymans, Y. (2023, 30 November 2024). ChatGPT one year later: Working with GenAI to ensure authentic assessments Learning LandsCAPE Online Symposium,   

Heymans, Y., Joseph, M., Ramani, E., & Lubbe, A. (2024, 10-12 September). Can multilingual assessment be the answer to multilingualism in Higher Education? North-West University Teaching and Learning Conference, Mahikeng, South Africa.  

Heymans, Y., & Pool, J. (2023, 5-6 October). Bridging borders, building minds: Exploring the potential of virtual exchange programs in undergraduate health students' personal development and learning 8th annual International Conference on Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) in higher education, Central University of Technology, Free State  

Heymans, Y., Pool, J., & Koch, R. (2023, 24-26 October). Using generative AI to design an authentic assessment for undergraduate health and social care students Higher Education Learning & Teaching Association of Southern Africa (HELTASA), Vanderbijlpark.  

Heymans, Y., Pool, J., Lubbe, A., Bisschoff, C., Bekker, C., & Christmals, C. (2024, 26-28 June). Design an authentic assessment for undergraduate healthcare students using Generative AI Southern African Association of Health Educationalists (SAAHE), Durban, KwaZulu Natal.  

Heymans, Y., Pool, J., Strosnider, C., & Jansen van Vuuren, M. (2024, 20-22 November). Exploring the potential of virtual exchange programs in undergraduate health students' personal development and learning International Conference on Education Research (ICER), Cape Town, South Africa.  

Lubbe, A., Heymans, Y., Pool, J., & Bekker, C. (2024, 6-8 November). Affordances of authentic pedagogy toward developing health sciences as self-directed, interprofessional individuals 7th International Self-Directed Learning Conference, Hartebeespoortdam, South Africa.   

Interested in SoTL Research? The SoTL FAQ webpage is here!

Link: http://services.nwu.ac.za/centre-teaching-and-learning-ctl/scholarship-teaching-and-learning-sotl

Global Engagement: WHO Collaboration & Health Systems Research

CHPE is proud to be involved in international projects and collaborations, contributing to global health education and research.

Quality Enhancement & Educational Innovation

CHPE is committed to continuous improvement in teaching and learning by developing high-impact educational strategies.

📌 Multilingual Pedagogies – Supporting language inclusivity by developing Setswana and isiXhosa study materials.

Upcoming Projects & Future Directions

CHPE is continuously evolving, with new projects in development, including:

Development of a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Professions Education
Short Course: Feedback Literacy in Health Professions Education
Further expansion of interprofessional education initiatives

Stay Connected

We invite faculty members and researchers to collaborate with us on teaching and learning innovations, research projects, and faculty development initiatives.

For more information or to contribute to any of these projects, don't hesitate to contact the CHPE team.