PORTFOLIO
I’m Stephanie — an academic programme designer and learning designer with a PhD in English Literature and a decade inside South African higher education. I design curricula, courses, and the quiet scaffolding that lets people learn well.
10+
Years in higher ed
5
Institutions worked with
2
Peer-reviewed publications
1
PhD English Literature
— 01 / About
Background
I came to learning design through teaching — through eight years of tutoring undergraduate English students online at UNISA, lecturing academic literacy at Pretoria, and helping students with the writing and constructions of their written assignments at the writing centre. The design work is better for it.
Today I conduct curriculum and programme design at Red & Yellow Creative School of Business in Cape Town. I’m interested in education as a means of building confidence and opportunity — particularly for learners for whom the room was not designed.
What I do well
Curriculum & programme architecture
CHE accreditation submissions
Articulate Rise & blended courses
Facilitator guides & staff training
Academic review & editing
Feedback design at scale
How I work
Close reading of the brief before the brief.
Plain language; honest scope.
Designs you can hand to a facilitator.
— 02 / Selected work
01 / E-Learning · Shipped
Articulate Rise course suite
Red & Yellow · 2025
Designed and built Articulate Rise courses for blended delivery, paired with facilitator guides and staff training so tutors and learners actually meet inside the design.
Mode: Blended & online
Tools: Articulate Rise
02 / Equity in HE · Long-running
Academic review for refugee & displaced-learner programmes
Reviewed academic content and student submissions across a partnership delivering accredited US degrees to refugee and displaced learners — holding quality standards without flattening the humanity of feedback.
Quality & Equity
Role: Academic Reviewer
03 / Tutoring at scale · Eight years
Online tutoring & marking · UNISA English Studies
University of South Africa · 2017–2025
A long, patient line of work: tutoring undergraduate English online and marking across the curriculum at one of the world’s largest distance universities.
Discipline: English Studies
Scale: Mega-distance
Mode: Online, asynchronous
— 03 / Writing
Also a peer reviewer for Interdisciplinary Literary Studies, English Studies in Africa, and Imbizo.
2019
Metaphors of Madness: Sylvia Plath’s Rejection of Patriarchal Language in The Bell Jar
English Studies in Africa, 62(2)
2018
Remembering the Future: The Temporal Relationship between Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea
JLS/TLW, 34(4)
— 04 / Field notes
Short posts from events I’ve attended, books I’m reading, and things I’m learning in practice.
Reading
Workshops
Reflections
Events
All
— July 2026 · Pretoria · Event
Presenting at the English Academy of Southern Africa conference
English Academy of South Africa. Sponsored by Red & Yellow Creative School of Business.
A few weeks ago, I attended the The English Academy of Southern Africa conference in Pretoria, on the theme of Peripheral Identities and Entanglement, and presented a paper on Akwaeke Emezi's debut novel, Freshwater.
There was something particular about walking back onto the campus where I studied from undergraduate to master's, and worked for 9 years. I felt very emotional walking around on campus and seeing spots that are both very familiar and feel very far away.
The conference itself was a wonderful experience, and I loved being there as a confident PhD, as opposed to the wide-eyed youth I once was.
— Jun 2026 · Athens · Event
Presenting at the ATINER Annual International Conference on History & Literature
Athens Institute for Education and Research. Sponsored by Red & Yellow Creative School of Business.
I’ve recently returned from the ATINER conference in Athens, and I’m still processing what a remarkable few days it was. I presented my paper on immigration status, gender dynamics, and mental illness in contemporary fiction — grateful for the warm reception and thoughtful questions that followed.
— May 2026 · Cape Town · Event
Notes from Co-Creation and Creativity: Arts Education in Dialogue
Hosted by Open Window and Cape Town Creative Academy. Attended with Nadia Ellis.
A rich day. Across keynotes, panels, and workshops, educators from the creative arts sector wrestled with questions that feel urgent to all of us: how do we keep classrooms alive, and design for student agency rather than content delivery alone?
Follow on LinkedIn
— 05 / Experience
Roles & degrees. Roles in steel blue, degrees and qualifications in white.
Red & Yellow Creative School of Business · Cape Town
Apr — Oct 2025
Freelance Learning Designer
Red & Yellow Creative School of Business · Cape Town
2024 — 2025
Academic Reviewer
New Africa Centre · SNHU Global Education Movement
2017 — 2025
E-tutor & Marker, English Studies
University of South Africa (UNISA)
2023
Training & Development (Short Course)
GetSmarter · University of Cape Town
Feb — Aug 2023
EdTech Intern · R&D and Learning Design
SAGE Research
2021 — 2023
PhD English Literature
Stellenbosch University
2020, 2022
First-Year English Teaching Assistant
Stellenbosch University, Dept. of English
2018
TEFL Level 5 (Certificate)
The TEFL Academy
2016 — 2019
Contract Lecturer, Academic Literacy
University of Pretoria
2015 — 2017
MA English (with Distinction)
University of Pretoria
2014 — 2016
Writing Centre Consultant & English Tutor
University of Pretoria, Humanities Writing Centre
2014
BA Honours, English
University of Pretoria
2011 — 2013
BIS (Publishing)
University of Pretoria
— 06 / Talks & workshops
Available for workshops on programme design, accreditation as a writing problem, feedback at distance scale, as well as English literature.
2026
Pretoria, ZA
EASA Triennial International Conference 2026
English Academy of Southern Africa
"Take the Mother Away": An Analysis of Madness, Magical Realism, and the Mother in Akwaeke Emezi's Freshwater
2026
Athens, GR
ATINER Annual International Conference on History & Literature
Athens Institute for Education and Research
“When the Power Shifts”: Immigration Status, Gender Dynamics, and Mental Illness in Mira T. Lee’s Everything Here is Beautiful
2022
Venice, IT
VIU Summer School on Migration & Gender
Venice International University
A legal & literary perspective
2019
London, UK
Gender & Mobility
London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research · Birkbeck, University of London
“The Failure of Language: Margaret Atwood’s Portrayal of the Language of Gender Power Structures in Surfacing”
2017
Belfast, UK
Sylvia Plath: Letters, Words & Fragments
University of Ulster
“Metaphors of Madness: Sylvia Plath’s Rejection of Patriarchal Language in The Bell Jar”
2016
Pretoria, ZA
UNISA Third International Interdisciplinary Biennial Conference
University of South Africa
“Remembering the Future: The Temporal Relationship between Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea”
— 07 / Services
For institutions, EdTech teams, and L&D leads who want a thoughtful collaborator. Available for project work alongside my current role.
ii.
CHE accreditation support
Submission packages, QA documentation, and the editorial work that turns evidence into argument.
iii.
E-learning & Articulate Rise
Design and build of blended and fully online courses — pacing, assessment, and the small craft details.
iv.
Facilitator & staff resources
Facilitator guides, training decks, and internal documentation that lets a programme actually be taught.
v.
Academic review & editing
Peer review, content review, and editorial work for academic writing and student-facing texts.
vi.
Learning design consultation
A second pair of eyes on a curriculum question, an assessment redesign, or an EdTech product brief.
Get in touch
Based
Cape Town, South Africa
© 2026 Stephanie de Villiers · Cape Town