A buoyant and celebratory atmosphere characterised the official launch event of the book, despite the rather muggy Cape Town weather. Over 40 guests, who represented all of the regional universities in Cape Town, joined the authors to celebrate the publication of the book on Tuesday 19 February at CPUT’s District Six campus. Rather encouraging was that the event attracted the attention of various Deans and Deputy Deans: Prof Linda Ronnie, Dean, Commerce (UCT); Prof Johannes Cronje, Dean and Prof Bennett Alexander, Deputy Dean, FID (CPUT); Ivan vd Heerver, Deputy Dean, Business, (CPUT) and key institutional ECP roleplayers – like Prof Francios Cilliers, UCT Medical School; Prof Delia Marshall, UWC and Prof James Garraway, CPUT. Additionally colleagues from Unisa (Dr Keith Jacobs) and Cornerstone (Noel Daniels) were also in attendance.
Prof Ian Scott led an interesting and stimulating panel discussion with some of the authors. Authors were asked to comment on how their writing contribution to the book had impacted on their identities and practices as ECP teachers and also the significance of the book to the wider university community. The audience was left with an awareness of how the book has been able to turn the spotlight onto what is often a ‘dark’ and private space in the university – the classroom. What was also highlighted in the discussion was that through their authentic and honest reflective insights captured in the book, the authors have taken some courageous steps to make public their scholarly thinking and practices.
