Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree MEd education in the faculty of education at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / Teaching methods in the higher education sector has changed over the years from traditional teaching methods (also known as talk and chalk) to that of a more participatory level. The private higher education institution that I selected to do my study at was of the opinion that it is in order to appoint lecturers who have completed a degree and have the necessary industry experience in the field of the programme (course) to be taught at the institution. Very few, if any, lecturers have completed an education qualification such as a post graduate certificate in education or have little or no teaching experience. Moving with the challenges that education sets for educators today, it became clear that the students at this institution were no longer satisfied with the teaching methods that the lecturers used to present their classes. This information was gathered from the quarterly lecturer evaluations that were done at the institution. It is done by means of criteria in the form of a questionnaire to all students. This questionnaire was drawn up by professional educators in management and was piloted and adjustments were made before it was handed to the students. One student asked the question in the additional comment box whether the lecturers at the institution were ready for the first cohort of students who matriculated with the outcomes based education system. This was discussed with the management team of the institution and a decision was made to do a research project on the teaching methods currently used by lecturers at this institution and to underpin the study with the activity theory that originated with Vygotsky. The institution gave me the necessary ethical clearance to do the study in the business faculty. Only the business faculty and not the art, design and information technology faculty was considered when gathering information from the quarterly questionnaires issued to the students. The reason being that the feedback indicated that there were problems regarding teaching methods in only the business faculty and not in the art, design and technology information faculty. The aim and objectives of this study were to determine (1) what teaching methods are currently used by lecturers in the business faculty; (2) what the perception is of the lecturers and students towards teaching methods currently being used in theoretical subjects in the business faculty; and (3) could participatory (active) teaching methods possibly bring about the emancipation of students in the business faculty. The research methodology used to collect this information was of a quantitative and qualitative nature. Section A of the questionnaires to the lecturers and questions in section A for the focus group interviews for the students were used as quantitative data collection. Qualitative data collection was gathered from section B and C in the questionnaires for the lecturers and section B which contained the questions asked to the students in the focus group interviews. To triangulate the data collected from the lecturers (questionnaires) and that of the students (focus group interviews), observation as a qualitative method of data collection was used where at least one lecture of each lecturer who participated in this study was observed. All lecturers in the business faculty were asked to participate in this study. The total number of lecturers who participated in the study was 9 (n=9). The total number of students in the business faculty at the time of the study was 241 of which four students (n=4) from the business management programme, eleven students (n=11) from the secretarial studies programme, eleven (n=11) from the event management programme and five (n=5) from the business marketing programme were selected to form part of the focus group interviews. All questionnaires and observation sheets were piloted before the study took place and the necessary adjustments were made. All lecturers and students were assured of their anonymity and no one’s names will be revealed to the management team of this institution. It was found that some lecturers in fact do use participatory teaching methods and one lecturer in particular made use of a method that could be likened to the flipped classroom concept. However, from the results of the questionnaire it was evident that the teaching methods of two staff members in particular were cause for. There is therefore scope for staff training to improve the teaching methods at this institution to deliver a far better service to its clients: the students, parents and industry. Recommendations for staff development as well as an improved induction programme for the novice students will be given to the management team of the institution.

Community college transfer students may have to repeat one or more courses at the four-year institution or may have to take more than the required number of courses to obtain a baccalaureate degree. This uncertainty about the transfer of credits and the extra cost in higher education that goes along with it, has come about mainly due to the lack of a working definition for college-level course work. Community colleges need to insure that every course designated as a transfer course will be transferable to a receiving institution. Four-year colleges and universities should expect the courses they accept in transfer to meet the same standards required within their own curricula. The defining characteristics of "college-level" should be identified to facilitate equitable transfer of course credit and insure that transfer students are prepared academically to continue their baccalaureate studies. This study explored the defining characteristics of lower-level college course work in two North Carolina community college and universities, specifically in the areas of study in accounting and business management. Simultaneously, the characteristics of community college-level course work were compared with those of the university. The data gathering methodology utilized the qualitative research method of semi-structured elite-interviewing which allowed for in-dept exploration of the opinions of the knowledgeable individuals involved in the issue being studied. A set of broad, open-ended interview questions were designed to gather information from community college and university professors of accounting and business management. A total of 16 professors were interviewed. The analysis of the interviews included organizing the data into domains; generating categories, themes, and patterns; and comparing and contrasting the two-year analysis with the four-year analysis and the areas of study against each other. There are more similarities than differences in the comments among and between the groups, and the analysis resulted in the identification of ten categories of characteristics defining college-level course work. They include (a) Problem solving using higher level thinking skills, (b) Mastery of the subject matter, (c) Connections within and across disciplines, (d) Student maturity, (e) Essential knowledge base from high school, (f) Course content/professor expectations, (g) Pedagogical issues which include writing, reading, mathematics, student evaluation and textbook, (h) Rigor, (i) Application of the subject matter, and (j) Interpersonal skills. / Ph. D.

A number of benefits have been associated with using computer mediated communication (CMC) to improve instruction. CMC is a blend of computer and telecommunication networks, which are used to compose, store, deliver, and process communication. CMC has the potential of becoming a powerful means of merging information from a variety of sources. CMC is relevant to collaboration, student participation, and individualized instruction. It can be used for daily information exchange among colleagues, between faculty and their students, among students, for delivering distance education, and for providing access to resources and information. The purpose of the study was to determine the perceived values of CMC use for instructional purposes, perceptions of its use as they relate to Rogers' theory, and extent of its use as reported by business faculty at four North Carolina universities. The population for the study consisted of all business faculty from four colleges or schools of business at North Carolina universities. Business deans at these four universities provided 290 names of business faculty. Of these, 172 (59%) responded to the survey, 121 (42%) indicated that they used computer-mediated communication, and 51 (17%) indicated they did not use CMC for instructional purposes. Demographically, randomly selected non-respondents and randomly selected late respondents were similar to randomly selected early respondents. The Diffusion of Innovations Theory provided the theoretical framework or paradigm for the study. Developed by Rogers, it was used to evaluate the extent to which computer-mediated communication was accepted by business faculty for instructional use. Data were collected by a mail survey. The findings revealed that for business faculty to adopt CMC in their instruction, they need adequate support, training, equipment, and software. Business faculty's perceptions of CMC, as it relates to Rogers' five characteristics (compatibility, complexity, observability, relative advantage, and triability), show that complexity, observability, and triability are the least important in their adoption of CMC use for classroom instructional purposes. Most business faculty made limited use of CMC for instructional purposes. Their main uses of CMC were personal messaging and conducting research. / Ph. D.

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