Abstract

The learning process is a challenging and complex one with many different role players and a variety of different factors that need to be taken into account. Successful learning for students at higher education institutions requires that all the role players must bring their part. The objective in this paper is to discuss the role of one such role player, that of the lecturer in the learning process, and to arrive at a possible learning-centred approach that views the learning process as a partnership between the student as the learner, and the lecturer as mediator and facilitator of the learning process. The theoretical framework of the paper is based on the learning theories of Dewey, Bandura and Vygotsky (among others) that view the learning process as a socially constructed one. An analysis is presented on how some lecturers at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa view their role in the learning process, and on how they facilitate learning in the classroom. It is hoped that this paper will contribute to a better and for some (renewed) understanding of the important role that academics fulfill in the learning process, and the responsibility that higher education institutions have towards all students that they admit into their respective degree programmes.