Insufficiency in literacy is seen as a worldwide problem. The scope of the problem is confirmed by the fact that the United Nations declared the years 2003–2012 as International Literacy Decade. Literacy is seen as a necessary skill – the cornerstone of human capital development – and a fundamental competency on which the mastering of all other skills depends. Fundamental skills such as reading, writing and numeric skills and technological literacy influence the economic prosperity of any country in different ways. The language and numeric skills of learners are declining, and employers are of the opinion that candidates applying for work do not have sufficient basic skills for available jobs. The above has led to the decision to focus in this study on the development of a teaching framework for the improvement of job access skills for Grade 10 Computer Applications Technology (CAT) learners. The concepts of “literacy” and “job access” are discussed in the literature review. Job access skills are anchored in literacy. An analysis of the Grade 10 CAT learning programme and work schedule was done to determine to which degree literacy skills are addressed in the assessment standards. A framework and an accompanying workbook were developed in this study to address the gaps that were identified during the analysis of the Grade 10 teaching and learning programme and work schedule. Various requirements and determinants for the development of a teaching framework were studied. These requirements and determinants were considered for the development of the suggested teaching framework. A workbook containing literacy tasks was used to improve literacy skills of learners and was used as the instrument for the implementation of the teaching framework. The empirical study being reported here was aimed at determining to which degree the use of the workbook that had been developed as the instrument for the integration of the teaching framework, contributed to the improvement of the learners’ literacy skills. During the qualitative study, it was revealed that the teachers at the schools participating in this study were very positive about the workbook, and also that they were of the opinion that it could contribute to the improvement of the literacy skills of the learners. A practical significant influence with a large effect regarding general literacy and a small effect on general numeracy were reported. The analysis of the quantitative data showed that completion of the learning tasks in the workbook does indeed have an influence on improving the literacy level of the learners, and it is thus recommended that literacy skills be integrated into the existing CAT learning programme. / PhD (Teaching and Learning), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Univ., 2003. / Härtill 6 uppsatser.

Die tesis is voorgelê ter verwerwing van die graad: Magister in Opvoedkunde aan die: Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012. Afrikaanse abstrak: Hierdie navorsing het die gebruik van probleemoplossings-onderrigtegnieke deur onderwysers in die Rekenaartoepassingstegnologie (RTT) –klaskamer ondersoek. Kriteria ten opsigte van probleemoplossingsvaardighede soos uiteengesit in die Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring (NKV ) en die Nasionale Kurrikulum- en Assesserings- Beleidsverklaring (NKABV) vir RTT was toegepas in hierdie studie. RTT word slegs vanaf graad 10 in die verdere onderwys- en opleidingfase (VOO) as „n keusevak aangebied. Dus was die navorser se fokus op die omliggende sekondêre skole wat RTT aanbied. Die navorsing konsentreer op die onderwyser en sy toepassing van probleemoplossings-onderrigtegnieke. Die navorser het gebruik gemaak van gevallestudie as navorsingsontwerp en konstruktivisme as raamwerk toegepas. Klaskamer-observasies, onderhoude en beide formele en onderwyser - geskepte dokumente het gedien as bronne vir data. Die data was tematies ontleed om die betekenis daarvan te ontgin. Die analise van die data dui aan dat respondente nie aan die vereistes gestel deur die NKABV en NKV, ten opsigte van die aanbieding en assessering van probleemoplossings-onderrigtegnieke, voldoen nie. Die navorser beveel aan dat „n moontlike oplossing vir die onderwyser-respondente se gebrek aan kennis en onderrigvaardighede met betrekking tot probleemoplossings-onderrigtegnieke kan wees dat daar spesifieke kursusse oor hierdie onderwerp aangebied word. Die navorsing skep ook ʼn geleentheid vir tersiêre instellings om hulle kurrikula en opleidingsprogramme sodanig aan te pas ten einde die leemtes, soos uitgewys deur die navorsing, aan te spreek. / This research explored the utilization of problem solving techniques by Computer Applications Technology (CAT) teachers in grade 11. The requirements and criteria as set out in the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) and the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), were applied in this study. CAT is only introduced in grade 10 in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase. The researcher thus focussed on the surrounding schools that offer CAT as a subject. The research focussed on the teacher and the teaching of problem solving techniques in CAT. The researcher used a case study design and employed a constructivism as the theoretical framework. Classroom observations, interviews and both teacher generated and formal documents served as data sources. A thematic analysis approach was adopted to make sense of the data. The analysis of the different data sources indicated that the respondents did not fully comply with the requirements set by the NCS and CAPA with reference to the teaching of problem solving techniques in CAT. The researcher recommends that courses are presented to address the gaps in the knowledge and skills of teachers in CAT referring to problem solving techniques. This creates both the opportunity and challenge to tertiary institutions to align their curricula and training programmes to address the gaps identified by this research.

This thesis is intended to give a panorama of technology in foreign language pedagogy. Although my field of study is French, the computer applications under scrutiny do not relate solely to the teaching of French. This paper begins with a criticism of the rigid listen-and-repeat language laboratory concept while tracking the rise of communicative language learning theory; follows the microprocessor revolution in language consoles; documents the development of computer-assisted instruction; showcases software evaluations of computer-assisted language learning; explores telecommunications; discusses satellite dishes and other computer peripherals; presents the results of a survey of Texas universities; and concludes with the presentation of the evolving language media center.

In this educational study, the research problem was that each semester a variable number of community college students are unable to complete an introductory computer applications course at a community college in the state of Mississippi with a successful course letter grade. Course failure, or non-success, at the collegiate level is a negative event for students and is a factor that leads to high attrition but does not always receive much research (Haynes Stewart et al., 2011). The purpose of this study was to see if a relationship existed between ACT scores (i.e., English, reading, mathematics, science reasoning, and composite) and student success in a computer applications course at a Mississippi community college. The first research question examined to see if the ACT composite test score was a statistically significant predictor of success in a computer applications course at a Mississippi community college. The second research question studied the ACT sub scores in English, reading, mathematics, and science reasoning to see if they were statistically significant predictors of success in the same course. Demographics of the sample were gathered from a multi-campus Mississippi community college along with the ACT scores and final grade in the computer applications class of the sample. Descriptive statistics were run and reported on the demographic data while bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were utilized to examine predictability of the ACT scores in relation to course final grade. The time period covered by this study was from fall 2010 through spring 2012 excluding the summer semesters. The study showed that while the ACT scores were excellent predictors of inclusion in the success category, the ACT scores did a very poor job of predicting non-success. The study concluded with a summary of the findings as well as limitations of the study. Also discussed were recommendations for practitioners and policy makers to include making the information available to students, teachers, advisors, and administration as an advisement tool when deciding to take the computer applications class. As well, recommendations for future research include treating withdrawals separately, examining multiple schools for differences, and increasing internal validity.

The Dynamic Distributed Dependable Real-Time Industrial communication Protocol (D3RIP) provides service guarantees for Real-Time traffic and integrates the dynamically changing requirements of automation applications in their operation to efficiently utilize the resources. The protocol dynamically allocates the network resources according to the respective system state. To this end, the protocol architecture consists of an Interface Layer that provides time-slotted operation and a Coordination Layer that assigns each time slot to a unique transmitter device based on a distributed computation. In this thesis, a software simulator for D3RIP is developed. Using the D3RIP Simulator, modifications in D3RIP can be easily examined without facing complexities in real implementations and extensive effort in terms of time and cost. The simulator simulates the Interface Layer, the Coordination Layer and additionally, the Shared Medium. Hence, using the simulator, the system-protocol couple can be easily analyzed, tested and further improvements on D3RIP can be achieved with the least amount of effort. The simulator implements the Timed Input Output Automata (TIOA) models of the D3RIP stack components using C++. The resulting code is compiled on GCC (Gnu Compiler Collection). The logs of the simulation runs and the real system with 2 devices connected via cross 100MbE cables are compared. In a 3ms time slot, the simulator and the system incidents differ about 135&micro / s on the average, causing no asynchronousity in their instantaneous operational states. The D3RIP Simulator is useful in keeping track of any variable in the D3RIP system automaton at any instant up to 1&micro / s resolution.

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