A move towards heutagogy to empower theology students

Abstract

Society is transforming from the industrial era to an information based, network society. There is widespread consensus that due to this revolution in society, education needs to make a paradigm shift in order to stay relevant to the changing needs of society. Although this paradigm shift is promoted widely in academic literature, it seems as if in practice there are stumbling blocks preventing higher education to make positive strides into a new direction within the South African context. This research highlights some of the hurdles that Open Distance Learning higher education in South Africa is experiencing and also suggests a possible way forward to overcome these obstacles through the implementation of selfdetermined learning (heutagogy). In order for heutagogy to be implemented successfully, student support is of the upmost importance both in the curriculum design and the actual teaching and presenting of courses.