This research is an investigation of the potential means to make the Information Systems (IS) course more accessible to Walter Sisulu University (WSU) students. As some IS students at this institution are unable to attend classes on a regular basis, this study aims to establish if and how the WSU Accounting Department (which offers the IS course) could use e-Iearning to support the teaching, learning and assessment of IS. This qualitative study was approached from an interpretive perspective. The study has undergone one cycle of an action research approach. The methods used in the study include surveys, an expert review and focus group interviews. The data was elicited from participants using questionnaires and an interview schedule. A staff questionnaire was used to elicit information from IS staff from four contact universities in South Africa to determine their experience of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for e-learning in an IS course. A student questionnaire was used to determine the WSU IS students' reasons for absenteeism, their learning needs, and their current computer access and skills. Data from both of these surveys informed the development of the WSU IS pilot website. An expert review questionnaire ascertained the subject expert's opinions about the newly developed WSU IS pilot website. The website was found to be of good quality with respect to the four aspects that Harvey and Green (J 993 cited in Lomas 2002) use to define quality. Some modifications were made to the WSU IS pilot website as a result of the expert's comments. After the website was used by the IS students, two focus group interviews were conducted to determine the students' perceptions of the value of the website. The data was analyzed, interpreted and linked to the literature surveyed. The main findings indicate that the WSU IS pilot website could be part of a more globalised higher education offering than the paper-based IS course offered before. However, the staff and the student surveys revealed that ICT has opened the gap in equity at the higher education institutions, highlighting that access to a university does not mean equal access to lectures and computers. The WSU IS pilot website endeavoured to capitalise on students' physical access to computers by supporting epistemological access to the curriculum, by encouraging them to exercise control over their learning. This study has ideally enabled the Accounting Department to deliver its services to students and this in turn will hopefully help WSU retain its part-time students and improve the student pass rates.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are capable of expanding access to quality education, educational resources, and also provide teachers with new skills. Nevertheless, a majority of rural public schools have limited ICTs, mainly due to geographical landscape, lack of service delivery and poverty. As a result, they currently seem not to be adequately benefiting from current advancements in ICTs. The main objective of this research study was to investigate an appropriate broadband services delivery model using wireless access technologies, such as a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) and Enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) to deliver electronic-based educational information to resource-constrained public high schools. An exploratory case study approach was adopted to identify and understand the challenges faced by rural schools in the Greater Tubatse Municipality (GTM), including educational services and content considered by the schools as relevant and useful. The research results indicate that resource-constrained schools in the GTM are facing challenges of lack of access to electronic educational information and services, and as a result, teaching and learning becomes limiting and challenging. Based on the research findings, the results show that having access to learning material via electronic platforms could afford educators and learners the opportunity to interact with the outside world, improve learning and teaching and benefit the community as a whole. The broadband services delivery conceptual model (BSDCM) was proposed, developed and evaluated to address the lack of electronic educational information and services for resource-constrained public high schools. The BSDCM is composed of both technical and non-technical components that consider requirements of all role players, ICT challenges, policy makers and Information Communication Technology for Education (ICT4ED) interventions. The proposed model addressed some of the challenges regarding lack of access to educational content. However, it is recommended that the ICT4ED policies governing the use of mobile devices in the classrooms be introduced by the relevant authorities. In addition, a comparative analysis of other network technologies should be conducted to establish if the TCP/IP header compression on Point to Point Protocol (PPP) improves the performance of the network in resource-constrained environments. Furthermore, it is recommended that further research and experiments be conducted to determine if other various third party content providers could create and deploy various educational services and content for different computing platforms using the proposed BSDCM. / School of Computing / M. Tech (Information Technology)

Text in Afrikaans / 'n Bewustheid van die bruikbaarheid van rekenaarfasiliteite om die onderrigproses en die administrasie van die onderwys meer effektief te maak het in Transvaal posgevat. Rekenaarstudie is reeds as 'n buitekurrikulere vak gevestig en op die administratiewe gebied is verskeie substelsels reeds onafhanklik van mekaar gerekenariseer. Met 'n moontlike uitbreiding van rekenaardienste in die onderwys in gedagte is 'n literatuurstudie onderneem om die inligtingsbehoeftes van die verskillende besluitnemingsvlakke te peil. Die belangrikheid van die stelselbenadering om hierdie inligtingsbehoeftes te bevredig het na vore getree. 'n Historiese oorsig het egter getoon dat onlangse ontwikkeling met betrekking tot die gebruik van die rekenaar in die Transvaalse Onderwysdepartement nie die stelselbenadering volg nie. Bywyse is gevind dat leerintegrasie 'n belangrike bydrae tot die voorkoming van suboptimering van die inligtingstelsel lewer. Dit het geblyk dat die voorgestelde gedistribueerde stelsel 'n ekonomiese en effektiewe manier was om leerintegrasie te bewerkstellig. / An awareness of the usefulness of computer facilities to make teaching and administration in education more effective, has taken root in Transvaal. In the instructional field Computer study is being offered as an extra curricular subject. For administration purpose various subsystems are being computerized independent of one another. With an imminent expansion of computer services to a wider field in education, a literature study was undertaken to determine the informational needs of the various levels of decision making. The importance of the systems approach towards satisfying these informational needs was distinct. A review revealed that recent developments regarding the use of the computer in the Transvaal Education Department did not heed this approach. File integration proved to be an important factor to prevent suboptimation of the information system. A proposed distributed system, using microprocessors as terminals, was shown to be an effective and economic method to achieve file integration. / Computer Science / M. Sc. (Computer Science)

Text in Afrikaans / Die Suid-Afrikaanse Nasionale Weermag (SANW) beskou effektiewe opleiding as 'n noodsaaklike voorvereiste vir paraatheid. Instruksionele ontwerp - 'n benadering wat uit onderrigtegnologie ontwikkel het - word gebruik om nuwe kursusse daar te stel wat effektiewe 'n instruksionele ontwerpprojek uitgevoer behoort teword. Die fokus van die studie het vervolgens verskuif na die talle veranderinge wat sedert die ontstaan van die SANW op 26 April 1994, na die eerste ten voile demokratiese verkiesing in die Republiek van Suid-Afrika. ingetree het. In vergelyking met sy voorganger het die SANW nuwe en meer uitgebreide sekondere rolle, wat hoer eise aan opleiding stel en evaluering ook meer kompleks maak. Dit bevestig inderdaad die behoefte aan 'n evalueringstelsel wat volgens sisteembeginsels bedryf word. Teen die agtergrond van die voorgaande is oorgegaan tot die ontwerp van 'n oorkoepelende instruksionele evalueringsisteem vir die SANW. Aangesien die suksesvolle implementering en funksionering van die sisteem grootliks beinvloed sal word deur die wyse waarop die instruksionele evalueerder sy taak volvoer, is daar ten slotte ook aandag geskenk aan die ontwerp van 'n instruksionele evalueerderskursus. opleiding moontlik maak. Om effektiwiteit te beoordeel, word evaluering vereis en derhalwe behoort instruksionele evaluering 'n integrale komponent van die instruksionele ontwerpgebeure te vorm. Die SANW beskik nog nie oor toereikende kundigheid om hierdie komponent tot sy reg te laat kom nie en die doel van die studie was om hierdie leemte aan te vul. Daar is eerstens gepoog om, deur middel van 'n literatuurstudie, die didakties-wetenskaplike basis te bepaal waarop evaluering binne 'n sisteembenadering tot opleiding behoort te berus. Daarna is die aard en rol van instruksionele evaluering in die instruksionele ontwerpsisteem binne 'n militere opleidingsmilieu verken, ten einde te kon bepaal wat die funksies van instruksionele evaluering behels en welke evalueringstake in die verskillende fases van 'n instruksionele ontwerpprojek uitgevoer behoort te word. Die fokus van die studie het vervolgens verskuif na die talle veranderinge wat sedert die ontstaan van die SANW op 26 April 1994, na die eerste ten volle demokratiese verkiesing in die Republiek van Suid-Afrika, ingetree het. In vergelyking met sy voorganger het die SANW nuwe en meer uitgebreide sekondere rolle, wat hoer eise aan opleiding stel en evaluering ook meer kompleks maak. Dit bevestig inderdaad die behoefte aan 'n evalueringstelsel wat volgens sisteembeginsels bedryf word. Teen die agtergrond van die voorgaande is oorgegaan tot die ontwerp van 'n oorkoepelende instruksionele evalueringsisteem vir die SANW. Aangesien die suksesvolle implementering en funksionering van die sisteem grootliks beinvloed sal word deur die wyse waarop die instruksionele evalueerder sy taak volvoer, is daar ten slotte ook aandag geskenk aan die ontwerp van 'n instruksionele evalueerderskursus. / The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) regards effective training as an essential prerequisite for preparedness. Instructional design - an approach that has developed from instructional technology - is used to establish new courses that facilitate effective training. Evaluation is essential for assessing effectiveness and therefore instructional evaluation should form an integral part of the learning events. The SANDF does not as yet have the expertise to do justice to this component, and the aim of this study was to fill this gap. Firstly, it was attempted to determine, by means of a literature study, the didactic scientific foundation on which evaluation within a systems approach towards training should rest. The nature and role of instructional evaluation in the instructional design system within a military training milieu was subsequently investigated. This was done to determine what the functions of instructional evaluation comprise and what evaluation tasks should be carried out in the different phases of an instructional design project. The focus of the study then shifted to the numerous changes that took place since the inception of the SANDF on 26 April 1994, after the first democratic election in the Republic of South Africa. Compared to its predecessor the SANDF has new and more extensive secondary roles that demand higher standards of training and make evaluation a more complicated task This indeed confirms the need for an evaluation system that is practised according to system principles. Against the background of the afore-mentioned, the design of an overall instructional evaluation system for the SANDF was proceeded with. As the successful implementation and functioning of the system is, to a large extent, influenced by the way in which the instructional evaluator carries out this task, attention was finally given to the design of a course for instructional evaluators. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didaktiek)

M.Ed. (Information and Communication Technologies in Education) / The use of ICT at all levels in the schools has been shown to have a positive impact on teaching and learning, in particular of Mathematics. In South Africa, Dinaledi schools have been given ICT resources by the former Department of Education (South Africa) with the aim of improving Grade 12 results, particularly in Mathematics. This study aims to assess the use of ICT for learning in the selected Dinaledi School, with an additional focus on Mathematics learning in grade 8 to 12, and to provide guidelines for the use of ICT in the Dinaledi schools, and specifically to support Mathematics learning. The ‘mixed–method’ study comprised several sets of data, both quantitative and qualitative, using a sequential-mixed-method-explanatory design for the case of the selected Dinaledi School, Kone High School (Fictitious name), situated in the Limpopo Province, to determine how ICT resources are used in the teaching and learning, and also for Mathematics. In the quantitative phase, quantitative data was collected by means of structured questionnaires on the use of ICT from the principal, teachers and students. The University of Johannesburg’s STATKON unit analysed the data, and confirmed the latent theoretical constructs that were embedded in the questionnaire. To clarify the results, in the follow-up qualitative phase, the principal, teachers and students were interviewed on the use of computers. Other quantitative data were sourced from official end-of-year matric results. Both teachers and students pointed that the ICT resources were not sufficiently used in teaching and learning, in particular for Mathematics, although in contrast it appeared that the principal believed that the ICT resources were sufficiently used for teaching and learning. The study concluded that ICT was not an important driver of teaching and learning in this Dinaledi school and it did not play the role in teaching and learning at Kone High School, as is envisioned for Dinaledi schools.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been in a state of change, and in South Africa, the term “transformation” is used to describe the changes occurring. These changes have implications for the structure, processes and focus of HEIs, and as such have implications for Information Technology (IS/ICT) support for HEIs. IS/ICT support for organisations is predicated on several factors, such as effective informational and technical support at all levels of the organisation, but especially support for the strategic goals of the organisation (alignment). For organisations in a state of rapid change other issues need to be considered, such as flexibility, and new and diverse information and communication needs. This paper investigates the use of Information Technology to support HEIs in transformation. The research examines factors that make HEIs less amenable to rationalist techniques such as mixed management styles and a “different” value chain. The difficulties for IS/ICT support of HEIs at all managerial levels is discussed, especially the issue of alignment with institutional goals. Thereafter, transformation of HEIs and the possibility of IS/ICT support in achieving the ill-defined goal of transformation is examined. The research uses management and IS/ICT theories such as the widely used and reported Porter’s value chain, Anthony’s information model, and Minzberg’s organisational model to suggest an analysis model for HEIs (Applegate, McFarlan and McKenney, 1996; Minzberg, 1979; Ward and Peppard, 2002). Furthermore, from the analysis of the literature, a model of antecedent factors for successful HEI transformation supported by IS/ICT is proposed. The research makes use of a comparative case study approach in which 3 (three) South African HEIs are investigated through the “lens” of the developed model. The major finding of the research is that the potential use of IS/ICT support for HEIs is not optimal in the three cases examined. Results of the analysis suggest that: • IS/ICT alignment with organisational goals at HEIs is low and holistic IS/ICT strategic management is lacking. The areas of Knowledge Management and Communication Management are conducted informally and Knowledge Management, especially, is not fully exploited. • The greatest area of concern is the lack of IS/ICT support for academic management, where academics are increasingly required to perform administrative and managerial tasks. • The merger/incorporation information needs have not caused major system problems, but other intangible aspects of the mergers/incorporations could be better supported by IS/ICT. The research concludes with a set of actions that should ensure a higher level of support, amongst which are the more holistic management of IS/ICT especially for Academic management needs, and particularly the use of IS/ICT in innovative ways to overcome the challenges of the “transformed” Universities: There are areas of excellence but the full possibilities afforded by technology are not exploited maximally in support of transformation. Research suggests that the reasons for this are mainly the lack of holistic strategic management of IS/ICT.

This study captures the process and methods used in selecting and organising content for an ontology. In the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) field ontology refers to a way of organising and storing information and facilitating interaction between the system and its users. Ontologies are being used more frequently to provide services that deal with complex information. In this study, I record my experience of developing content for an HIV and AIDS ontology for Rhodes University students. Using several different methods, I started the process of selecting and organising HIV and AIDS information, free of scientific jargon and prescriptive language, and consisting only of relevant information. I used data derived from interviews with six HIV and AIDS experts to develop questions for a survey that was open to all Rhodes University students. The 689 people who responded to the survey indicated that they needed more information on testing, treatment and living with HIV. Responses also showed that students had a lot of information on HIV prevention and transmission. Four focus group discussions revealed that students were tired of repetitions of the „same‟ information on HIV and AIDS and wanted to know more about life after contracting HIV. Using this data, I propose some guidelines to populate HIV and AIDS ontology. Ontologies can be customized for particular groups of users, for example according to gender, race, year of study etc. Another advantage of the ontology is that it can be expanded or contracted depending on the scope of one‟s intervention.

Thesis (M.A. Education (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The emergence of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 resulted with digital classroom technology that changed learning spaces into interactive digital spaces. Changes in classroom digital technology has caused education ministries to make a substantial investment in digital technology infrastructure and teacher training, to prepare teachers to venture into the 4th Industrial Revolution. The advent of tablet and smart phone technologies created a platform for schools within developing economies to change from traditional classroom practices to digital classroom technology. The problem this study examined is the lack of classroom technology and connectivity, and teachers’ circumstances that makes them fail to transition to digital pedagogies. The purpose of the study was to investigate the levels of digital classroom technologies and teacher’s usage of technology in selected schools in Limpopo Province. This study was guided by three main research questions, namely, “What is the level of classroom digital technologies in schools? What is the teachers’ perceived level of usefulness of using digital classroom technology? Do teachers possess competencies required to influence teaching and student learning?” The study is qualitative in nature and the interpretivism paradigm and a theory of technology acceptance model were used to guide in assessment of this phenomenon. The study was premised within the interpretivism paradigm and qualitative case study approach was used. Interviews and document studies were used to collect data from 4 teachers, 4 heads of department (HoD) and 4 principals, who were selected from four case schools that participated in Limpopo CoLab school project. The findings of this study identified a low level of digital classroom technology integration in Limpopo project schools due to inadequacies of digital classroom technologies and lack of internet connectivity. Furthermore, teachers’ resistance to transit from teacher-centred pedagogy to learner-centred pedagogy; a lack of adequate teacher training on digital classroom technology; and failure in the implementation of e-education policy by case schools were identified as challenges faced by Limpopo Project Schools. The study concludes that schools that were serviced by Limpopo CoLab project lack digital classroom facilities to practice what were learnt during training. This study recommends the vi Department of Basic Education provides Limpopo schools with school connectivity and digital technologies. This study further recommends that training of teachers on the use of digital classroom technologies should be made a priority.

There is a paramount need for online university education to effectively contribute in the development of students' ability to construct and create new knowledge. Online learning should thus go beyond the production of knowledge for knowledge's sake, but should result in relevant and meaningful learning on the part of the online learner. In addition, online learning ought to result in the application of knowledge to practice. While gains made by constructivism and observational learning are well documented, research addressing online media blends that best encourage constructivist and observational learning in open and distance and e-learning (ODeL) contexts is limited. In addition, guidelines that can be used by online learning facilitators and policy makers regarding media for constructivist and observational learning were lacking when this research was conducted. The research was deemed significant in contributing to the development of an online learning framework that could be used to guide policy formulation and practice in the area of online course implementation in ODeL institutions. Using an explorative qualitative approach, this study explored online media blends for constructivist and observational learning. The study comprised three phases. The first phase was a meta-ethnography study whose objective was to synthesise previous research theses in order to gain an understanding of lecturers' and students' experiences of online media, constructivism and observational learning. The second phase consisted of a phenomenological study conducted at the University of South Africa, to explore lecturers' experiences of online media in the facilitation of constructivism and observational learning. The final phase of the research was the development of a framework based on constructivism and observational learning to guide online teaching and learning. The findings of this research study revealed that lecturers did not use media blends to a large extent in their interaction with students. The study indicated that some cognitive processes need to be exercised on the part of the facilitators when online learning is offered. It is concluded that during the curriculum planning phase, lecturers should decide on methods and media to arouse the students' attention during online courses. This also implies a more reasonable lecturer­ student ratio because large numbers of students per lecturer is not feasible in online learning. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The purpose of the research was to investigate the effectiveness of using multimedia as a means of teaching physical science to learners. The underlying theoretical assumption was that a multimedia presentation would help to reduce the cognitive load experienced by learners when they learn physical science content, compared to a traditional mode of presentation, and that this reduction may have a positive effect on the ease with which they master the content. Physical science learners in Grade 11 viewed a presentation consisting of multimedia screens and screens depicting the learning content in a traditional layout – in order to compare the level of knowledge gained as well as the cognitive load experienced for the multimedia and traditional instructions. Pre- and post-test questionnaires were used to determine the knowledge gained, while cognitive load was measured using a dual-task methodology. A multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyse the data. The results did not reveal a statistically significant increase in knowledge gained via the multimedia approach when compared to the traditional mode of instruction, but when focussing the analysis on learners with a lower-knowledge base in physical science though, statistically significant results were found. However, no significant results were found to support the hypothesis that multimedia would help to reduce learners’ cognitive load. It was concluded that the multimedia design principles are more effective in increasing knowledge for physical science learners of low-knowledge than traditional instructional designs. / M. Sc. (Psychology)