DREAM 2021
Achieving the DREAM will be hosting its 17th annual convening xwhich will take place online on the 16 – 19, February 2021. foundation. South African delegates can visit the link below to find out more about the customised programme tailored for the delegation.
The five themes of DREAM 2021 are:
- Anchoring a bold, new access agenda: by creating onramps for adult learners, disconnected youth, and unique populations to achieve socioeconomic mobility in the communities the college serves.
- Centering racial equity: by being intentional and action-oriented in removing racial inequities that impede social justice.
- Fostering teaching and learning excellence: by creating new opportunities for professional development and leveraging evidence-based practices that support student learning.
- Leveraging our localness: by developing innovative partnerships that build thriving and equitable communities.
- Listening in new ways in the age of big data: by embedding resilience, sensemaking, and agility into the culture of our institutions and radically moving the student voice into the middle of redesign.

Coaching for student success
Universities worldwide are facing challenging times as the COVID pandemic has upended the traditional operations of the academe. South African universities face an even more arduous trial, compounded by historical inequalities, that hamper an enforced transition to digitally mediated experiences. These factors pose a serious challenge to student success.
Coaching and mentoring that empowers data-enabled leadership to counter these challenges may well be one way to assist institutions navigate these turbulent times and turn the tide, as evidenced by Georgia State University in the US, an institution with similar challenges to most of the SA universities, which has seen an increase in their student pass rate during the pandemic.
Recents stories
- Siyaphumelela’s maiden online conference
- Siyaphumelela initiative aims to expand use of data-driven approaches to student success
- Siyaphumelela Network 2.0's first virtual convening meeting
- Siyaphumelela Network 2.0 – the next phase of Siyaphumelela’s work
- A global scan of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT)
- Become a Participant in the Siyaphumelela Network 2020-2022
- Siyaphumelela Initiative Expands
- Looking back and looking forward for purposeful planning
- First Year Experience Research Burgeons
- Blended Learning during #FeesMustFall
- Evaluating the 2018 Siyaphumelela Conference
- Moving to successful Maths Pathways
- The case of a student support initiative by a student success programme at the University of Witwatersrand
- Reflections on Siyaphumelela Conference 2017
- Siyaphumelela Conference 2017 underway
- Invitation to collaborate on research with UMALUSI: NSC Results as Predictors of Success
- Vacancies at SALDRU
- Saide Site visits to Wits and NMMU
- Understanding First-Year Student Success based on School and Home Background
- Ethics Symposium Oct 2016
- Siyaphumelela 2016 goes deeper in Durban
- Feedback from first-year undergraduate students -The Wits experience
- Achieving the Dream support
- Using evidence to improve and support student transitions at the University of the Free State.
- Siyaphumelela Conference 2016 presentations and videos now available
- Resources from the February 2016 visit of the Siyaphumelela partners to GSU and Achieving the Dream conference
- South African Higher Education Dreaming!
- App.tizer
- Reconceptualising equality and equity in relation to student success
- Siyaphumelela Conference 2016
- Siyaphumelela Network 2.0 Launch
Aug 28, 2020. Webinar of the launch of the Siyaphumelela Network 2.0 launch. - IP Problems
May 19, 2020. Copyright ownership concerns abound in the rapid shift to remote instruction. - Open Educational Resources: OERs/Tools for Teaching/Learning
Sep 05, 2019. - Student Support through Success Tutoring at the University of the Witwatersrand
Apr 10, 2019. - An ode to the teacher-led writing classroom
Jan 03, 2019. - #TheModiseNetwork: State of Higher Education in SA – Part 1
Oct 22, 2018. - Let's Transform Work
Oct 03, 2018. A report, published by the Hans Böckler Foundation (HBS), on the recommendations of the “Commission on the Work of the Future” which comprise 55 thought-provoking impulses - Design Thinking for Leading and Learning | MITx on edX
Aug 24, 2018. A hands-on course for education leaders to learn about design thinking and explore how it can transform classroom learning. - Academic Advising and the Learning Effectiveness Program
Aug 02, 2018. - Teaching for Meaning and Purpose
Aug 24, 2018.
- Siyaphumelela Network 2.0 Launch Webinar - 26 August 2020
- Siyaphumelela News Alerts 30 July 2020
- Siyaphumelela News Alerts July 2020
- Siyaphumelela News Alerts May 2020
- Siyaphumelela News Alerts April 2020
- Siyaphumelela Network 2020-2022 Invitation
- Siyaphumelela Network 2020: Call for Proposals
- Siyaphumelela News Alerts December 2019
- Siyaphumelela News Alerts 1st November 2019
- Siyaphumelela News Alert 16 October 2019
Conferences
- The Institute of Design (D.school) at Stanford
- OERu
The OERu makes education accessible to everyone. Coordinated by the OER Foundation, we are an independent, not-for-profit network that offers free online courses for students worldwide. We also provide affordable ways for learners to gain a - Collaboration for Impact
Collaboration for Impact (CFI) is Australia’s leading organisation for learning how to respond to complexity through effective collaboration. - Learning Analytics Report Card
This project asks: ‘How can University teaching teams develop critical and participatory approaches to educational data analysis?’ It seeks to develop ways of involving students as research partners and active participants in their own data - Digital Ethics Lab
Based at Oxford University, the lab seeks to tackle the ethical challenges posed by digital innovation. The goal is to identify the benefits and enhance the positive opportunities of digital innovation as a force for good, and avoid or mitigate its risks and shortcomings. - Carnegie Maths Pathways
A website dedicated to the Carnegie Math Pathways which allows one to sign up as an Explorer to learn more about their approach and impact, review their curriculum and instructor resources, and more. - Higher Education Data Analyser
HEMIS Data presented through a dashboard - Student Success Plan (SSP)
SSP is designed to improve retention, academic performance, persistence, graduation rates, and time to degree. The open source SSP case management software supports a holistic coaching and counseling model which expedites proactive interventions for stude - Council on Higher Education (CHE)
The Council on Higher Education (CHE) is an independent statutory body established in May 1998 in terms of the Higher Education Act (Act No 101 of 1997),and it functions as the Quality Council for Higher Education in South Africa. - Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET)
The Department of Higher Education was created in 2009 and is responsible for tertiary education, post-schooling and skills development in South Africa.