Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-[138]) Also available via the World Wide Web.

This thesis investigates the process of peer collaborative learning in three Supplemental Instruction (SI) groups at Rhodes University. The roles of the SI leader, the students and the task in the peer-collaborative learning-teaching process were researched. The research is rooted in sociocultural theories of learning and development. The notion of activity is thus central to this investigation. The tasks, goals and interactions in the SI sessions were analysed in order to arrive at an understanding of the process of learning-teaching in each of the three SI sessions. A method of analysis devised by Van Vlaenderen to study the process of everyday cognition in the problem solving activities of community activists (1997) was adapted for this study. The method of analysis was used to study the interaction processes of participants in the SI groups. Each interaction between the SI participants was broken into its constituent parts and labeled in terms of the goals of the interactions in relation to the preceding interaction or operation, the task or subtask under discussion, and the SI session as a whole. Data from the analysis of the activity were quantified in order to assess the quality of the learning-teaching process. A qualitative analysis of the patterns of mediation was used in conjunction with the quantified data of interaction patterns to draw conclusions about the nature of the peer collaborative learning-teaching process in the three SI sessions. The research findings indicate that the nature of the SI task is crucial; students in SI need to be able and willing to participate; and the facilitation style of the SI leader plays a role in determining the quality of the activity in the SI session. The thesis explicates learning-teaching activity that results in higher order learning.

M.Ed. / Information and communication technologies are effecting widespread changes in all spheres of life including the educational context of South African higher education. While a great deal of emphasis is placed on the issue of bandwidth, and rightly so, the broader context in which the mediation of learning with computers takes place is still to a large degree neglected. It is within this context that the learning experiences of first time e-learners who had participated in the online semester course Education 2A at the R.A.U. University were examined. These students initially appeared to experience great difficulty adapting to the mode of participation in e-learning activity, suggesting that there was a mismatch between the values and priorities of learning as mediated by the web medium and the epistemology of learners situated in cultural practice. The initial problem of struggling to adapt to e-learning, was contextualised as a reciprocal process of interactivity in which the e-learner establishes a relationship with the cultural practice as the result of epistemological, methodological and ontological change. Sociocultural and activity theory provided the main theoretical foundation of this inquiry. In this theory there is a distinction between operations, actions and the overall activity that governs these and that situate the actions. The inquiry was therefore motivated by the need to understand and give substance to the learning experiences of first time e-learners within a systemic view of human computer interaction, as opposed to a cognitive approach to systems design (Kapetelinin in Nardi, 1996:46). Consequently, the inquiry examined the dynamic, reciprocal relationship of interactivity as mediated by the web medium, and epistemological, methodological and ontological transformation of the elearner, as she interacts in this ecosocial system. Motivated by the nature of the research problem and the socioconstructivist theoretical framework which framed my thinking around this problem, the inquiry was designed as a component of a larger action inquiry (Henning, Fortuin, Grobler & Brown, in progress), based on the principle of "communicative rationality" as proposed by Habermas (Ewert, 199 I :34) and conducted as qualitative and interpretive research. It was aimed not so much at monitoring and evaluating the course, but more at capturing and assessing the nature of student learning, specifically the processes of student communication and reflection in their lived experience in the course.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Doctor of Philosophy: Clinical Technology, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / The key aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the student-centric Integrated Teaching and Learning Model Using Assessment (ITLMUA) to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of student learning and teaching in a Clinical Technology programme. The ITLMUA provides a pragmatic theoretical framework for developing and enhancing perceptions and conceptions of pedagogics and associated educational and psychological theories, particulary assessment information to review, reflect and improve educational constructs of teaching, learning, assessment and educational research. The efficacy of ITLMUA uses effectiveness, usability and participants’ satisfaction as the key criteria in evaluating the impact of ITLMUA on the quality of student learning. The ITLMUA’s efficacy is judged in terms of participants finding it academically beneficial, valuable, suitable, useful and meaningful to instructional strategies and practices in higher education (HE). The motivation for the study is premise on lecturers’ adherence to conventional instructional strategies and practices and lack of instructional model that guides and measures the effectiveness and the quality of student learning and teaching. Increased workloads and superfluity of academic gatherings are some of the factors that exacerbate adherence to conventional instructional practices, including lack of academic qualification to understand the princples of educational practice in HE. This study promote and encourage integrated, authentic, dynamic and innovative instructional practices that demonstrate theoretical interest and practical relevance, such as active learning (AL) that is underpinned by learning theories and pedagogical principles. Furthermore, the study analyzed and identified some of the implementation challenges in introducing the integrated instructional model in a conventional learning environment in order to justify how and why it is imperative to adopt an integrated performance-based instructional model in the face-to-face (F2F) learning environment. The study proposed to provide an instrument that can be utilized to enhance the quality of student learning and teaching. The integrated instructional model can assist lecturers to reflect on their pedagogical practices with the intention of enhancing their subsequent pedagogical practices and strategies. The theoretical and conceptual framework of ITLMUA offered the lecturers an opportunity to integrate conventional and contemporary instructional practices. These frameworks have previously been underpinned by learning theories and pedagogical principles to enhance the quality of learning and teaching. Design-based research (DBR) methodology was utilized as it offered a systematic, flexible methodology that is theory-driven, and involves contextually-sensitive design principles and theories of the learning environment. It also offers the opportunity to review and redesign the ITLMUA as the research process develops, and new theoretical and conceptual framework information emerges. In addition, the DBR integrates research, design and practice into a single useful process which results into a usable product that is supported by a theoretical framework. Active learning is one of the teaching strategies that is supported and promoted by this study to improve quality learning and teaching in order for students to comply with and satisfy the academic quality standards and learning outcomes expected of them. This is can be achieved through meaningful engagement and active involvement in academic activities that promote critical analytical skills and competencies through collaborative and cooperative learning, and within a structured, supportive and facilitated learning environment. The learning environment should be characterized by student-centered and lecturer-facilitated instructional practices such as active learning teaching strategies. To enhance the quality of learning and teaching, lecturers attempt to match and modify their teaching strategies to accommodate the wide range of students in their classes, all of whom have different needs and expectations. Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used to gather data. Data analysis techniques included content analysis, the constant comparative method, factor analysis (FA) to reduce data in order to correlate and relate variables to components. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine reliability of items. The study has demonstrated the utility, usability and efficacy of the ITLMUA as indicated, in the main, by participants’ satisfaction with the instructional model. The study reports on some of the enablers and barriers in the implementation and evaluation of the integrated instructional model and articulated the lessons that have been learned in this academic journey. / D

A significant event of the last two decades has been the appearance and subsequent explosive growth of the World Wide Web and related technologies that have had a notable effect on higher education and learning in particular (Crossman, 1997:19; Hall & White, 1997:22; Alessi & Trollip, 2001:5: Oliver 2002). Information and communication technology (ICT) or ‘elearning’ as it is known in some countries, has emerged both locally and worldwide as a prominent phenomenon in education (Oliver & Herrington, 2001) and the ensuing scramble by educators to adopt the new technologies (compare Rogers, 1995) can be seen by looking at the number of courses that have recently evolved under the banner of e-learning, web-based education or online education. The rush to implement ICT is particularly evident in Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) where technology has come to be seen as a potentially valuable tool for educational reform in higher education (Poole, 1997:2; Surrey & Land, 2000:145; Bates, 2000:7; Rosenberg, 2001:10). Educational reform at Higher Education Institutions worldwide over the past two decades is often ascribed to trends such as increased competition, decreased enrolments, greater numbers of non-traditional students, changing societal expectations and decreased government funding (Simonson & Thompson, 1997:4; Surrey & Land, 2000:145). The dwindling student base and loss of university students to corporate training programmes in South Africa is in line with these trends and is seen as a major area of concern (McKenna, 1999:[online]). The use of ICT in higher education, which is also progressively taking root in emerging nations such as South Africa, adds another perspective to the issue of educational reform (Hilliard & Kemp, 2000:22). Van Buren-Schele and Odendaal (2001:[online]) put the local situation into perspective by affirming that the introduction of ICT at institutions in developing countries like South Africa can be far more challenging than it is for their counterparts in developed countries. Factors that impact on the implementation of ICT normally include financial, logistic, and technological aspects, but in many areas in South Africa, requirements on a basic level such as access to electricity, computers and the Internet place unique demands on some educational institutions. Local institutions are therefore hard-pressed to improve teaching practice in order, firstly, to live up to consumer expectations, then to show continual improvement and innovations in the changing field of education (Cronjé & Murdoch, 2001:online). / Prof. D. van der Westhuizen

I am an English Second Language (L2) lecturer teaching English Second Language students. Most of my colleagues are L2 lecturers teaching L2 students. My reading and study into the subject has revealed, that there are more L2 teachers and lecturers who teach L2 students in South Africa, and indeed in the world than there are native speakers of English. These considerations have prompted me to investigate English Second Language lecturers’ mediation of learning. My study describes the methodological and pedagogical experiences of L2 lecturers mediating learning to L2 students and the effect of the combined cultural and language differences between the L2 lecturers and students on the mediation of learning. The literature reviewed, related to research carried out in the United States of America, Hungary, Canada, India, Japan, Turkey, Hong Kong, Holland and Russia among others . The research design was an interpretive descriptive design which used a qualitative approach for data collection. Through observations and in depth interviews, I gleaned data about how the participants, seven English Second Language lecturers, have mediated learning to their English Second Language learners, in the Department of the University where I work. The most notable findings of the research was that in mediating learning to L2 learners, the participants in the study (L2 lecturers) were to a large extent, linguistically competent, aware of the communicative and informative aspects of pragmatics and able to negotiate meaning with their learners at an appropriate level. They were also empathetic and culturally aware. I conclude, by making recommendations, to improve the mediation of learning by English Second Language Lecturers to English Second Language learners. / Dr. E.U. Pather

M.Ed. / This study focuses on a tutor development programme within an academic literacies module called Language for the Economic Sciences (LES). Coordination of the LES module encompasses tutor development as tutors are the primary facilitators of the module. LES forms part of an Extended Degree Programme within the Faculty of Economic Sciences devised to meet the needs of “underprepared” first year students at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). To this end, LES falls within the ambit of academic development at UJ as it is designed and coordinated by an Academic Development practitioner. Higher Education in South Africa has in the recent past shifted from relatively elitist to a mass system of education with the aim to foster democratic nation building. One of the major changes that has occurred is the merger of a number of institutions of higher learning. As a result of the mergers, a new type of comprehensive institution offering a broad spectrum of academic formative, as well as vocationally oriented programmes, has been established. This study focuses on the UJ, as an example of a merged institution, and will examine how teaching and learning has been effected by the changes at UJ. This research is informed by the notion that the interface between tutor and student is vital for students to attain literacy as well as academic language and skills proficiency in their chosen field. Thus, the research problem posed in this study is: What is the role of tutor development in an academic literacies module? Much of the literature on tutoring practice discusses the need to train tutors and offers various means through which this can be done. Using an Action Research design and a global analysis of the data collected, the findings of this study suggest that in addition to the appropriate, focused and rigorous training of tutors, they also need to be developed for effective tutoring to occur. Moreover, the sustained support and mentorship of both individual tutors and tutor groups allows for the maximum benefits of tutoring to be realized by all stakeholders.

In this study I am concerned with understanding how the emergence of participatory or, broadly understood, existential approaches to education has shifted the nature of the student/lecturer relationship. Historically, the difference was represented through the in loco parentis trope which contains implicit understandings as to the nature of the lecturer's authority and the ethical parameters of the relationship. With the emergence of more participatory approaches this relationship and its constitutive elements have to be re-imagined. In the first chapter I place this enquiry in the contemporary context in which the very identity of the university is changing as a result of massification and the accountability regime. In the second chapter I look at bell hooks' pedagogy as an example of such a participatory approach to education at higher education institutions. I describe her practice as a deconstructive pedagogy that is as powerful as it is because of the operation of a difference constitutive of it. In the third chapter I ask whether representing this difference in terms of the pre-modern master/apprentice offers a useful response to the questions raised by an existential praxis.

D. Litt. et Phil. / As the world moved from an industrial society to a knowledge society where people tend to work smarter and not harder, knowledge (implicit and explicit) became the main asset of a modern organisation. Human assets took precedence over financial assets. However, the rate at which the knowledge bank was increased owing to the progress in information technology was so fast that it became humanly impossible for one or two people to possess all knowledge. The notion of “knowledge is power” changed to one of “knowledge sharing is power”. While explicit knowledge can be quantified, saved and reused, tacit knowledge can only be shared voluntarily. This sharing of knowledge has given rise to communities of practice (CoPs). This study investigates the phenomenon of CoPs in an academic higher education (HE) institution such as a university. The aim was to establish criteria that could be used to identify the existence of such communities and their contribution to the institution, why CoPs are formed or not and how the formation of a CoP can enrich the knowledge bank of the institution. Once these objectives were achieved, it was hoped that it would be possible to create or encourage existing CoPs and ultimately ways to manage them.

M.Ed. / In this study attention was paid to factors influencing students in their evaluation of the teaching skills of their lecturers. The problem addressed is that of the increase in student numbers and the relatively high failure rate at South African universities which accompanies it. Due to the fact that the lecturer is responsible for teaching, it follows that a solution to this problem lies partly with him/her. Universities are forced to seriously address this problem and to supply possible solutions. As a result research programs are often conducted in order to establish those factors which have an influence on a student's evaluation of a lecturer's teaching (for example Malan, 1979; Strydom & Helm, 1981; Malan,1983; Vlok & Sewell, 1985 and Marais & Van Tonder, 1986, etc.). The purpose of this project is threefold: to present an overview of literature pertaining to techniques of teaching evaluation applied locally and internationally; to identify factors which could possibly influence students' evaluation of teaching, using available literature; to determine to what extent these factors apply to male and female students of different seniority levels and in various fields of study. In the study of relevant literature specific attention was paid to those characteristics of a lecturer earmarking him/her as effective. These characteristics include both personal and teaching practice characteristics. The study also includes teaching evaluation as a facet of teaching development, addressing various techniques of evaluation and focusing upon evaluation by students ...