In this edition of our Facilitator Spotlight Series, we sat down with Dr. Mariette Fourie-Jardim as she shares tips and transformative takeaways from the neroscience workshops she leads with OLC.
Q: What do you see as the value of facilitating and participating in OLC workshops?
A: As the Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is a globally recognized leader in online professional development, it is indeed such a great privilege to be facilitating and participating in OLC workshops. These workshops provide a unique opportunity to engage with evidence-based strategies, emerging research, and technological advancements in multimodal learning. These workshops foster a collaborative environment where participants can refine their pedagogical approaches, share best practices, and enhance student engagement through efficacious and responsive instructional design approaches. Additionally, the workshops offer valuable networking opportunities and opportunities for professional growth while encouraging reflexivity and reflective practice, empowering participants to critically evaluate and continuously improve relevant methodologies, strategies and approaches for maximum impact on student success.
Q: What are some tips from the neuroscience workshops you lead that are transformative for you and participants in the teaching and learning environment?
A: The neuroscience workshops integrate cutting-edge research from the neuro, cognitive, and learning sciences to enhance teaching, assessment, and instructional design, ensuring that learning is efficacious, epistemic and transferable to real-world applications. These workshops emphasize an evidence-based framework for brain-based learning, debunking prevalent neuromyths and promoting strategies that deepen cognitive engagement. By incorporating growth mindset principles, participants develop resilience, viewing challenges as opportunities for intellectual growth, and become empowered to design learning experiences that are dynamic, research-informed, and impactful. The transdisciplinary approach of neuropedagogy, grounded in the Learning Sciences and Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE) Science, along with neuroplasticity and neurodiversity, supports the creation of responsive curricula, culturally responsive pedagogies, a socio-epistemic approach to assessment, and inclusive learning environments. A definite choice for participants who wish to elevate their teaching praxis to the next level!
Dr. Mariette Fourie-Jardim, Ed.D., is the Learning and Teaching Specialist in the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa. With over 20 years of experience, she specializes in neuroeducation, instructional design, curriculum development, quality reviews, and faculty development, advancing social justice and transformation in higher education. An expert in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Dr. Fourie-Jardim is an internationally recognized facilitator for the Online Learning Consortium and serves on the advisory board for the Freddie Reisman Center for Translational Research in Creativity and Motivation at Drexel University. She is also an affiliated researcher with Drexel’s Education, Learning, and Brain Sciences (E-LaBS) group and an extraordinary researcher at North-West University’s Optentia Research Unit. Her research integrates artificial intelligence (AI) with Academic Integrity (AI), and subsequently developed an AI2 Competency Framework for higher education. Dr Fourie-Jardim has also developed an Integrated Framework for Facilitating Epistemological Access in Higher Education which advocates for a student-centered, transformative, and epistemically just approach to higher education, prioritizing a “learning-first” philosophy that shifts the focus from teaching to facilitating meaningful, active student engagement. She has contributed to international studies on online learning and educational neuroscience and has supported postgraduate students and academics in quantitative and mixed-method research for over a decade. Dr. Fourie-Jardim’s doctoral research developed the MEIPAC (Model to Engender Information Processing Ability in the Classroom), integrating Positive Psychology, Cognition, and Educational Neuroscience, while her master’s research introduced the SELOC (Teacher Efficacy and Locus of Control Scale) to assess teacher efficacy and locus of control. Committed to ethical and inclusive education, Dr. Fourie-Jardim’s work continues to shape global higher education practices, emphasizing the intersection of neuroscience, instructional design, pedagogy, and transformative learning.
