To enhance a social presence, students also engage in playful group challenges, such as ‘Selfie Show and Tell Tik Tok’ for bonus points, plus a virtual, animated study buddy and a virtual café to strengthen a social presence. Introduction Academic performance is said to be dependent on the ability to read and make meaning from discipline-specific texts. Sadly, school leavers lack the required academic literacy skills to cope with university studies (Van Zyl, 2016). To exacerbate the problem, English is the second, third or fourth language spoken by most local and international students (Arends & Petersen, 2018). For many, English was also not the language of instruction in school. Due to our colonial heritage, academic English conventions alienate African students (Boughey & McKenna, 2016). Unless academic literacy is discipline-specific, students view interventions as a repetition of English classes in school (Mihindou, 2019). Often, the workshops and online academic development programmes offered by universities are frowned upon as extra work for those already feeling overwhelmed by the demands of academic life. Interventions need to address dense discipline-related texts (Gunn, Hearne & Sibthorpe, 2011), subject threshold concepts and discourses (Boakey & May, 2016). An academic literacy application is being developed in phases over five years to address the academic literacy development of first-year strategic communication (specifically public relations) students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The first phase prototype of a Blackboard SCORM module was developed to test the prototype in a first-year class at UJ. This application aims to make literacy skills training student-friendly, discipline focused and fun for students in their profession. This is done using scaffolded micro-learning episodes in an authentic learning space in the field of public relations, with a relatable character engaging in real-world public relations activities/tasks (using academic literacies to complete these activities/tasks). In Figure 1, screenshots are presented of what the SCORM interface looks like. Figure 1: Gamification and a virtual study buddy to add elements of fun and a social presence. A relatable story of a public relations intern is told in scaffolded micro-learning episodes alongside game-based learning incentives. Elements such as a leaderboard and bonus points make learning academic literacy fun. To enhance a social presence, students also engage in playful group challenges, such as ‘Selfie Show and Tell Tik Tok’ for bonus points, plus a virtual, animated study buddy and a virtual café to strengthen a social presence. In the project’s second phase, it is envisaged that the SCORM module will be developed as a webbased application, as an open educational resource (OER) in a multi-lingual format for other institutions and students. Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching Innovation Projects 2022 46
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