“Wearing that Hard Hat and Those Boots and Being There with all the Dust”: Students’ Conceptions of Becoming a Civil Engineer

After graduating from the University of Cape Town, I worked in both the public (as an educator) and private sectors before returning to postgraduate study and embarking on an academic career. As with many South Africans, growing up under Apartheid has had a profound impact on my worldview and life choices. This has included influencing the choice of a career in education, both as a practitioner and scholar. I currently convene a postgraduate programme in Engineering Management and teach undergraduate courses in Engineering Management. I draw on multiple theoretical constructs for the design of learning contexts, including complexity and systems theory. My research is primarily focussed on student experience of learning events and student learning more broadly both in formal settings and the workplace.