Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree in Master of Technology: Education, Durban University of Technology, 2009. / This study investigated key factors impacting on blended learning delivery with particular focus on socio-cultural and human-computer-interface issues, in the hope that the outcome of this enquiry might contribute positively towards the empowerment of learners and facilitators alike. The study involved a group of first year students enrolled in a Communications Skills Course offered by the (then) Department of English and Communication at the Durban University of Technology. The PRINTS Project, a webquest around which the course activities were based, provided an example of a blended delivery course in practice. While the teaching paradigm used in the course was constructivist, the research orientation employed in this project was critical realist. Critical realism focuses on transformation through praxis and also lends itself to modelling, which provides a way to understand the factors at play within a social system. In the preliminary stages of the research, an exploratory empirical (i.e. applied) model of blended learning delivery was formulated from a theoretical model of course delivery in order to assess which factors in blended learning were systemic and which were variables. The investigation then sought to uncover key factors impacting on the blended delivery system, utilising both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The findings were analysed in terms of the empirical model to gain an understanding of any factors that might be seen to either enhance or inhibit learning in blended delivery mode. The result was that certain core issues in blended learning and teaching could be clarified, including the use, advantages and disadvantages of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in a learning environment. The notion of the digital divide could also be reconceptualised, and the relationship between literacy (be it academic, professional or social), power and culture could be further elucidated, drawing specific attention to the South African educational environment. The notion of iv culture and its relevance in a blended delivery environment was also further clarified, since the findings of this research project suggested how and why certain key socio-cultural factors might impact, as both enhancers and inhibitors, on the blended learning delivery system.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology: Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / Education is constantly challenged by rapid technological changes both in terms of curriculum renewal and in terms of students’ awareness of these new technologies. This is the reason why the aim of this study is to analyse factors affecting computing students’ awareness of the latest ICTs. This aim is further divided into four research sub-aims: the selection of the relevant theories for this research; the design of an appropriate conceptual model to support it; the empirical testing of the above mentioned model; and finally, recommendations arising from the research results. The first research sub-aim is accomplished through selection of the Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) as the theoretical framework of this study after a review of different theories of technology adoption. The second research sub-aim is accomplished through the design of a conceptual model which is an adaptation of the relationship between the prior conditions construct and the knowledge/awareness construct of IDT. The prior conditions that were studied are students’ perceived exposure to career guidance and students’ perceived curriculum currency. These prior conditions were analysed as possible predictors of computing students’ technology awareness. The third sub-aim is accomplished by means of a survey of 116 computing students from the four universities of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, the results of which validated most of the relationships hypothesized by the above mentioned model. Having knowledge/awareness as the main variable of the current study can be seen as its main contribution in view of the fact that only two studies from the reviewed literature on IDT are examining the awareness/knowledge construct. The fourth sub-aim is accomplished by means of some recommendations, one of which is that gender and ethnicity be considered when curriculating computing courses both at the high school level and at the university level.

Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the for the degree of Master of Technology in Photography, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015. / This dissertation is a self-study that involves inquiring into my mentoring practice to change and improve my situation and find a sense of belonging. The centre of the inquiry into 'self' lies in the search and claiming of an identity that consolidates the development of my artistic, mentoring and research practices during my 'first time' employment experience, as a junior lecturer in a Photography program, 2009-2011. I reflect on three years of lecturing experience in a tertiary education setting at the Durban University of Technology, in which doing a Masters was obligatory. I entered this position, with little experience in research and lecturing or photographic expertise. During this study, I made myself known as osmosisliza, the name of the ‘cyborg’ who journeys in cyberspace. I claim to be a ‘photographer horticulturalist’, a mentor concerned with cultivating collective online spaces, to create movement to connect in cyberspace for social learning purposes. I ask “Who is osmosisliza?”. My class motto is “what you think, know and believe helps us all to be more”, a personal belief for building knowledge through exchange and collaboration with others. I employed a variety of free Web 2.0 applications, like Gmail, Blogger, Buzz, Picasa Web Albums, Google Bookmarks and YouTube to create online spaces in which I could position my living educational theory. I called this place the Google Lens (GL). The Google Lens formed the mechanism to cultivate communities of practice for social learning, to develop confidence, motivation and engagement. The Google Lens was also the repository for qualitative and quantitative data. Mostly I analyse verbal and visual text, writings, photographs and video exchanges between learners and myself archived in the Google Lens to address my research question and sub-question. Through the lens of Google I did action research to improve my practice, and analyse my development as a newcomer to academia. I investigate how successful I was in using the Google Lens to achieve my mentoring goals. I also made photographs during the process of this inquiry to visually address abstract identity dilemmas, concerns and thoughts in my place of work, to engage my ‘I’ in my ‘eye’ as photographer. I exhibit these in cyberspace. I call these electronic postcards. Electronic postcards are blog posts in a weblog called osmosisLIZA. I made 98 blog posts and sent 98 electronic postcards in this dissertation. An electronic postcard consists of a photograph, an illustration, labels and a text heading. In this document the electronic postcards run alongside the writings for this self-study, functioning as text and message of the experiences of a developing academic as well as evidence of the developmental questions I was continuously asking to improve my practice.

This study investigated access to and use of Information and Communication Technology by students at the University of the Western Cape. It examined how the issues of access and use play out at the microlevel of a historically disadvantaged institution in South Africa by investigating the institutional arrangements and practices of different computer laboratories.

The Internet is the most common communication and research tool worldwide. Perusal of the World Wide Web quickly reveals the variety of information available. Internet adoption can be considered the late 20th century's most important event. In academic environments today, Internet use among faculty members has been widely expanded, with professors now integrating Internet technology into classroom activities. Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University (IMSU) is a pioneering public university in Saudi Arabia. Until recently, some faculty members at IMSU were unable to access the Internet through the university. It is important to study the effects of this delay on faculty members regarding research and academic activities. This study identified the statistically significant differences in demographic characteristics of Internet adopters and non-adopters among faculty members at IMSU, examined whether faculty members' perceptions of the Internet affected adoption, determined if the university administration's decisions impacted faulty members' decisions to adopt the Internet, identified factors motivating faculty members to adopt the Internet, identified obstacles influencing faculty members' decisions to use the Internet, and determined whether innovation characteristics as perceived by faculty members predicted Internet adoption. Using Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory, the influence of eight attributes were examined regarding Internet adoption among IMSU faculty members. Multiple regression and chi-square techniques were conducted to analyze the data and answer research questions. Statistically significant differences were identified among Internet adopters and non-adopters regarding gender, age, academic rank, discipline, and English proficiency. The data revealed 54.7% of IMSU faulty members used the Internet for research and academic activities twice a month or less, indicating a low Internet adoption rate. Statistically significant differences were noted among adopters and non-adopters relative to income level and English proficiency. Multiple regression analysis showed that all attributes of innovation individually predicted Internet adoption. The combination of all attributes indicated the model could predict Internet adoption among faculty.

Online courses in higher education have a reputation for having a lower course completion or retention rate than face-to-face courses. Much of this reputation is based upon anecdotal evidence, is outdated, or is on a small scale, such as a comparison of individual courses or programs of instruction. A causal-comparative analysis was conducted among 11 large, high research public universities. The universities were compared to each other to determine if differences existed between online and face-to-face course completion; undergraduate and graduation online course completion was analyzed for differences as well. The findings suggested the magnitude of the differences between online and face-to-face completions rates was small or negligible. The area which showed a higher magnitude of difference was in the comparison between undergraduate and graduate online course completion; the practical significance could be worth considering for educational purposes.

This thesis comprises a critical review and suggestions for enhancement of the Community of Inquiry Framework (CoIF), the frequently cited model of collaborative community-based online learning. It combines a systematic engagement of relevant literature and research, with the application of the CoIF thinking to six of my peer-reviewed publications. Although not initially conceived as forming part of a doctorate submission, these publications are drawn upon throughout this narrative, to assist my interrogation of the CoIF. They are also used to provide evidence of my continuing journey as an education researcher. This thesis is therefore not an exegesis – a traditional meta-narrative encompassing this candidate’s publications. It moves beyond my findings in the publications to create and present supplementary concepts, and develop pointed guidance about using the Framework in supporting online learning in tertiary education. My review first critically interrogates the three constituent elements or Presences of the CoIF. Social presence emerges as a highly complex and multi-faceted construct, in which the de-emphasising of the affective in the CoIF seems at variance with current research reporting the strong student emotional response to working online, and particularly in collaborative, community-based groupings. Then, in Cognitive presence, there has been little consideration of, and specificity about, reflection in the CoIF. My critique proposes that reflection and critical thinking are distinct but inter-related concepts; both of which need to be addressed. Teaching presence is renamed ‘Tutoring presence’ informed by my review based upon my emergent understandings of student-centred learning. Two enhancements to the CoIF are then proposed, together with the rationale for establishment of a Tutors’ Network. The first enhancement, referred to as 'the Influences,’ unites and enriches the individual Presences. The second argues for the existence and use of a personal learning retreat at the heart of a community of inquiry, addressing a perceived omission in the CoIF. This learner ‘space’ provides a ‘quiet, safe place’ for the private (internal) world of the learner, as a foil to the shared collaborative space in the CoIF (the external world). Finally, a Tutors’ Network is outlined as a vehicle for advancing their understandings and knowledge of online, collaborative, community-based learning in general, and in particular of communities of inquiry. This should develop the abilities of online tutors, improve their learners’ educational experiences and encourage research and scholarship into the CoIF.

The purpose of this study was to identify the status and challenges of online distance education programs in post-secondary institutions in Ghana. This study was a replication of a similar study conducted in Kenya in 2009, at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University. This present study was conducted with an online survey using Google survey assessment. The survey requested responses from six post-secondary institutions in Ghana. Out of a total of 450 projected student responses, 309 responses were received with a 69% participation rate. A total of 14 responses were received for instructors out of a projected 30 resulting in 47% participation rate. And for administrators, 8 responses were received out of a projected 12 resulting in a 67% participation rate. Overall the study revealed that Ghana post-secondary institutions have established and incorporated online distance education into their programs, offering both online and blended courses. Some of these institutions established regional centers across the country and incorporated foreign instructors into their programs. The survey also revealed that students were satisfied with the overall online distance education program in their institutions which included the level of instruction, feedback and evaluation. However, there were still challenges revealed from the study that included the high cost of education, frequent power outages, school stoppages as a result of instructor strikes and the need to restructure courses to include projects.

A literatura da última década tem revelado a existência de tensões e conflitos, no uso das Tecnologias Digitais de Informação e Comunicação da Internet TDIC por docentes na Educação Superior, que vêm dificultando a adoção do uso dessas tecnologias por eles em seu cotidiano de ensino. A tese que se apresenta resulta de um estudo de caso, realizado em uma Instituição de Ensino Superior: a IES-P, no qual se investigou as representações de seus docentes sobre o uso educacional das TDIC pela perspectiva da Antropologia Dialética de Henry Lefebvre. Essa investigação buscou responder a seguinte questão: Qual seria a natureza das tensões e conflitos no uso educacional das TDIC que predominariam nessas representações? Teve-se como objetivo verificar quais seriam as implicações dessa natureza sobre a relação que se estabelece entre os propósitos e práticas educacionais desenvolvidos pelos docentes. Esse estudo desenvolveu-se em duas fases. Na primeira, aplicou-se um questionário que foi respondido por 62 dos 439 docentes da IES-P, com o objetivo de identificar, descrever e caracterizar o cenário da pesquisa e o perfil dos participantes. Na segunda fase, realizou-se uma entrevista semi-estruturada com 12 docentes participantes da primeira fase, sendo seus dados submetidos à análise de conteúdo com o objetivo oferecer subsídios para a análise das representações desses docentes sobre o uso das TDIC. Os resultados dessa pesquisa revelaram a predominância de uma dupla natureza para essas tensões e conflitos. Apoiando-se em autores como Bruno Latour e Pierre Lévy, chegou-se a uma proposição que explica essa dupla natureza como resultado da coexistência de dois domínios do uso educacional das TDIC: o sociotécnico e o socioeducacional, sendo que neles, atores sociais desses dois domínios associaram-se e interagiram uns com os outros estabelecendo inter-relações entre aspectos que identificam as ações entre eles nesses domínios, que podem ser tanto de tensão e conflito como de articulação e integração. O que se verificou como um dos resultados mais relevantes deste estudo foi que existiram representações, situadas no domínio socioeducacional e em contextos de uso das TDIC abertos na Internet, em que as inter-relações entre atributos da educação formal e informal ocorreram de forma articulada e integrada para um grupo de professores que transformaram seus propósitos e práticas educacionais ao apropriarem-se dessas tecnologias. Desse resultado, concluiu-se que a margem do que se encontrou como representações dominantes, que tendem a reproduzir formas de uso das TDIC programadas por uma cotidianidade, encontraram-se representações que revelaram marcas da presença de uma possível transformação efetiva de propósitos e práticas educacionais desenvolvidos por docentes na Educação Superior atendendo a demandas emergentes da sociedade por mudanças na relação com o saber na atualidade / Literature from last decade has disclosed the existence of tensions and conflicts in the use of Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICTs) from internet by higher education teachers, which have been preventing them from adopting those Technologies in their everyday practice. The thesis that follows presents the results of a case study carried out in a Higher Education Institution: HEU-P, in which the teachers representations about the educational use of DICTs are investigated based on Henri Lefebvre dialectic anthropological theory. It is an attempt to answer the following question: what would be the nature of the tensions and conflicts in the use of educational DICTs that prevailed in those representations? The aim is to check which would be their implications on the relationships that are established between the educational purposes and practices developed by teachers. This study is developed in two parts. In the first, a questionnaire was applied to and answered by 62 of the 439 teachers from HEI-P. The aim was to identify, describe and characterize research scenario and participants profiles. In the second part, a semi-structured interview was carried out with 12 teachers from the first part, their data undergoing content analysis in order to get information for the analysis of their representation on the use of the DICTs. The results of this research reveal the predominance of a two-faced nature for those tensions and conflicts. According to Bruno Latour and Pierre Lévy, it is possible to infer a proposition that explains the two-faced nature because of the coexistence of two domains of the educational use of the DICTs: the socio-technical and the socio-educational. In both of the domains, the social actors got together and interacted, establishing interrelations among aspects that identify actions between them in those domains, which can be either of tension and conflict or of articulation and integration. What was observed as one of the most relevant results of this study was that for a group of teachers, who transformed their educational purposes and practices when they took hold of those technologies, there were representations, located in the socio-educational domain and in contexts of use of open DICTs from internet, in which the interrelations between attributes of formal and informal education occurred in an articulated and integrated way. The conclusion from this result is that, besides the most important representations, which tend to reproduce usages of DICTs programmed by an everydayness, there were representations that revealed clues of the presence of a possible effective transformation of educational purposes and practices developed by teachers of higher education answering society\'s emerging demands for changes in relation with todays knowledges.

The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to understand the experiences of older students' use of web-based student services in a community college setting. For the purpose of this study the term "older student" was defined as people born between the years 1943 and 1960. This group of people, often described as the Baby Boomer generation, would not have had access to computer technologies had they gone to college during their adolescent years. Web-based student services was defined as the range of student services which are placed online, allowing students to access information and services without needing to see someone in-person. There were three major reasons for this study: (a) the increase in the development and use of online student services, (b) the increase of older students in higher education, and (c) further need to understand the unique experiences of older students in higher education. The case study design used an interpretive social science philosophical approach. The study was conducted at a large multi-campus community college in a metropolitan area located in the Northwest. A combination of survey, interviews, institutional data, and student-journals were used to answer the following research questions: (a) What is the experience of older students with web-based technology in a community college setting, (b) How do the older students' overall experiences and use of web-based services affect their community college experience, and (c) How might older students' background and experiences with web-based student services inform community college policy and practice? Close examination of data revealed several major themes of older students' experiences with online student services. These themes are: ��� Student Assumptions ��� Self-Motivation ��� Influence of Prior Work Experiences ��� User Preferences ��� How and What Online Services are Used ��� User Suggestions When these themes are taken into consideration with related literature on the digital divide, technology use in student affairs, older student experiences in the community college, and older students' use of technology, this study offers implications for community college leaders and practitioners in the student affairs and technology development. The implications of this study may impact online service development, assessment of computer literacy, program enhancement or development, and technical changes. / Graduation date: 2013