M.A. / This study concerns the evaluation of the Further Diploma in Environmental Education at the Rand Afrikaans University’s Center for Distance Education, by exploring former students’ experiences and critical viewpoints pertaining the course. The investigation took place in Gauteng Province and Northern Province, and involved students who had graduated from the course. My intention in carrying out this inquiry was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Further Diploma in Environmental Education in training teachers and people in the Environmental Education field, so that they could continue with the environmental instruction. The course was introduced at the center in 1995, and is offered as distance learning. Ever since the course was introduced, no research had been done to evaluate its effectiveness. Therefore, there was a need to conduct an inquiry, hopefully identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the course, while suggesting various forms of improvement. The two traditional methods of research, quantitative and qualitative methods, including questionnaires, interviews and observations, were used to collect data, followed by data analysis representing the results from all the instruments utilised. The research findings showed that the Further Diploma in Environmental Education can be rated as effective in training teachers and people in the Environmental Education field to carry on environmental instruction. The course content was found to be relevant, and it incorporated important Environmental Education teaching methods, including teaching ‘about’, ‘in’ and ‘for’ the environment. It was also found that other parts of the course are not clearly presented and need restructuring to include more recent environmental issues. / Prof. H.G. Van Rooyen

D.Ed.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The study attempts to understand how distance education practices influence the learning of calculus. Understanding student learning in a distance education environment is an important factor to consider in improving the learning experiences of students who for one reason or the other opt not to study in conventional institutional of higher education. On one hand, understanding student learning may illuminate the influences that the learning environment has on student learning and on the other hand, it may inform on how learning experiences can be improved. The aim of this study is to acquire a deeper understanding of the diverse manner in which distance students learn calculus, Specific focus is also placed on the distance education contect of the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) influences student learning. The study describes a group of student's experiences of learning calculus in the ZOU distance education environment. / South Africa

The ubiquity of Web 2.0 technologies has led to a seismic shift in the way educational services are delivered. It comes as no surprise then that e-tutoring—otherwise known as electronic or online tutoring—is quickly supplanting face-to-face tuition for reasons of both cost and convenience. While e-tutoring is an effective form of academic support for many students, its efficacy remains tenuous for those confronted with a digital divide that figures predominantly around geographic barriers, socio-economic status, and educational levels. Premised on diffusion research, this master's dissertation explores the implementation of an e-tutoring service known as Homework Help that has effected relatively low adoption rates. It uses a concurrent mixed-methods approach—including surveys, interviews, and focus groups—to examine the factors that have led to this low adoption rate. The results are presented via two journal articles situated within a larger meta-talk: The first article contrasts the adoption patterns apparent between rural and urban students, while the second article looks at the utility of diffusion research in examining educational technologies, as it explores the use of e-tutoring for applied stream students. The findings of this study suggest that rural and urban, as well as applied and academic student subgroups, differ in terms of their perception and adoption of e-tutoring. Implications for educational policy, especially in regards to rural education, are discussed.

Despite the growth in the size and acceptance of distance education, there have been persistent criticisms of this form of education because it often fails to provide for interaction among students and between students and instructors. Without this, it is suggested, distance education can only be an inferior imitation of the best face-to-face education because learners are unable to clarify and challenge assumptions and to construct meaning through dialogue. Some critics believe distance education's inability to reproduce a critical dialogue among students and between students and instructor can be addressed through the use of two-way communication technologies such as text-based, asynchronous (i.e., not in real time) computer conferencing. Appropriately-designed computer conferencing, it is argued, will facilitate interaction among students and between the instructor and students thus making distance education more appropriate for the higher-level cognitive goals of college and university education. At the same time, using this' technology will retain the flexibility of time and place-independence that is characteristic of distance education. The literature on educational computer conferencing is replete with references to its potential to create a new paradigm of education characterized by interactive group knowledge-building and critical thinking, but there are few empirical studies that have substantiated this view. Little is known about how and why learners participate and what factors may affect their participation. Similarly there has been little empirical study of the quality of computer conferencing interaction. This case study of a university-level course delivered by computer conferencing was designed to address these issues. It was guided by two purposes: 1) to determine whether the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of participation in this online course were consistent with key aspects of the new paradigm of networked learning as articulated in the literature, that is, if students were actively participating, building on each others contributions and thinking critically about the discussion topics; and 2) to determine what factors affected student participation and critical thinking. The results of this study suggest that some of the claims about the potential of this technology to transform conventional and distance education may be overstated. The emergence of a dynamic and interactive educational process that facilitates critical thinking was shown to be contingent on a variety of factors. The results suggest, however, that with the appropriate course design, instructor interventions, content, and students, computer conferencing can be used for these purposes and should be given serious consideration by distance educators as a way of facilitating interaction and critical thinking in distance education. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Bibliography: pages 141-151. / Distance education promises to broaden access to education to an increasing number and variety of learners in the "new South Africa". The construction and presentation of course texts is a critical factor in whether that promise is fulfilled. The producers of texts, working in their specific socio-cultural contexts, select and sequence the concepts they teach and create voices in the text which work in place of actual teachers. These textual voices interact with readers in a variety of communicative and educative ways, opening to greater or fewer styles of learning, and constructing a wider or narrower range of identities for readers. This results in learning styles being more or less able to be engaged, and learners being more or less able to identify with identities constructed for them by the text. The learner identities so constructed are sustained by combinations of political, educational and global discourses which reflect, challenge or perpetuate social power relations, such as gender

This dissertation discovered the factors influencing how students value asynchronous Web-based courses through the use of qualitative methods. Data was collected through surveys, observations, interviews, email correspondence, chat room and bulletin board transcripts. Instruments were tested in pilot studies of previous semesters. Factors were identified for two class formats. The asynchronous CD/Internet class format and the synchronous online Web based class format. Also, factors were uncovered for two of the instructional tools used in the course: the WebCT forum and WebCT testing. Factors were grouped accordingly as advantages or disadvantages under major categories. For the asynchronous CD/Internet class format the advantages were Convenience, Flexibility, Learning Enhancement, and Psychology. The disadvantages included Isolation, Learning Environment, and Technology. For the synchronous online Web based class format the advantages were Convenience, Flexibility, Human Interaction, Learning Enhancement and Psychology, whereas the disadvantages included Isolation, Learning Environment and Technology. Concurrently, the study revealed the following factors as advantages of the WebCT Forum: Help Each Other, Interaction, Socialization, Classroom News, and Time Independent. The disadvantages uncovered were Complaints, Technical Problems and Isolation. Finally, advantages specified for the WebCT testing tool were Convenience, Flexibility and Innovations, and its disadvantages were Surroundings Not Conducive to Learning, and Technical Problems. Results indicate that not only classroom preference, learning style and personality type influence how students value a Web based course, but, most importantly, a student's lifestyle (number of personal commitments, how far they live, and life's priorities). The WebCT forum or bulletin board, and the WebCT testing or computerized testing were seen mostly by students, as good tools for encouraging classroom communication and testing because of the convenience and flexibility offered. Still, further research is needed both quantitatively and qualitatively to ascertain the true weight of the factors discovered in this study.

No abstract available. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether external conditions, in the form of an e-learning tool, impact the learning motivation of adult learners in a distance education environment. This study also tested the use of Voice-over-PowerPoint™ technology as a suitable medium to deliver motivational instruction as supplementary content to the course curriculum. This empirical study was conducted over a period of approximately two months on a sample of 57 adult learners who were enrolled for a distance education course for non-degree purposes at a tertiary education institution. Quantitative research methods were applied and data was collected using two motivation measuring surveys: (1) The Course Interest Survey, and (2) The Instructional Materials Motivation Survey, which were both developed by Keller. Motivational strategies were designed for the chosen educational technology, Voice-over-PowerPoint™ (VoP) videos, using Keller's Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction (ARCS) model of motivation. These strategies were then delivered via the learner management system for learners to use at their convenience. This research suggests that overall, learner motivation can be affected by external conditions (VoP videos), and further supports the ARCS model. Furthermore, the use of VoP videos as a viable medium for delivering motivational strategies in a distance learning environment was validated. / Mini Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Taxation / MCom / Unrestricted

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