This study investigated the Information Literacy levels of High School students in Kenya and has examined the relationship between these and the frequency of access to ICT and the internet. The level of teacher training in ICT and its impact on Information Literacy was also explored. An Instrumental case study approach was used to assess the Information Literacy levels of students in 4 High schools in the North Rift of Kenya. Teachers from each school outlined their training and the extent of their ICT use with the students. It was found that the frequency of access that students had to ICT and to the internet had a positive impact on their ability to evaluate information and its sources critically. This correlation was found to be stronger if the access was outside of school. However, students with more frequent access were not better at retrieving information efficiently or at determining the nature and extent of information needed. The 4 schools involved in the study all had at least one teacher with advanced ICT training such as a computer science degree, however the majority of teachers at these school had only received training in the use of software packages or had not received any formal ICT training. The study found that there was a strong correlation between the level of teacher training and the extent to which they allowed students to use ICT in their lessons. The need for teacher training in pedagogic techniques for ICT was highlighted, as was the need for Information Literacy to be explicitly taught within the Kenyan High School Curriculum. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

Since the inception of the Human Genome Project (HGP) there has, and continues to be, rapid changes in genomics, STEM, and human health. Advances, specifically in genomics, continue to be increasingly important as new knowledge in this field has led the trajectory for significant advancements in all biological disciplines. Throughout the scientific community there is an emphasis on increasing and improving genomic concepts and literacy for grades K-12. Numerous research studies report that there is generally a low level of genetic/genomic knowledge among the general public. The purpose of this research is to analyze and document evidence of secondary school students’ participation, and educational outcomes, in a novel course on genomic principles and practices. A mixed methods approach, using qualitative and quantitative methods was used to address three research questions. 1) Based on affective evidence, how did secondary school students perceive and critically judge, content topics learned in a course on modern genomic principles and practices? 2) Based on cognitive evidence, how much of the content did secondary school students learn when they participated in a course on modern genomic principles and practices? 3) Using individual interview evidence, what are the major perceptions that the secondary school students expressed throughout the duration of the course? The results for Research Question 1 demonstrated that the students gained a significant level of new knowledge pertaining to genomics after attending the course sessions, based on their pre-and post-test Likert survey data. More particularly, they expressed more interest in, and understanding of genomic principles and practices. Concurrently, they became much more critically reflective and evaluative about some of the societal and medical implications of its applications. With respect to Research Question 2, the secondary school students’ content knowledge as measured by a 25-question multiple-choice pre-and-post test administered before and after the course demonstrated a significant increase. Lastly, the participants were provided an opportunity to comment on the course through individual and collaborative interviews, in order to find out to what extent they perceived the course to be interesting and challenging. Future inquiry expanding from this research would help to establish the foundational pathway for designing a more inclusive genomics curriculum.

There is always a gap between student learning and classroom teaching in Hong Kong education. The use of information and communication technology has made the situation even worse. It is a common practice for students to work together through digital media like Instagram, WhatsApp, opening online Chat Room and Facebook by using elements like video, music, texts and artistic photography to reflect and discuss ideas for project assignment. During the process, students can further investigate what they have learnt in lessons and construct new knowledge. However, our schools are still concentrating on text-based presentation software for teaching. Schools have been reacting slowly to the appearance of this new popular participatory culture. Therefore it is interesting to study schools’ ICT infrastructure, the digital literacy in classrooms as well as students’ individual usage behavior in digital media. From the study, we are able to realize the reasons for choosing those multimodal elements in the students’ learning as well as posting them online. Then, we can determine the relationship between the participatory culture in creating multimodal artifacts and digital divide in education among students; as well as finding out those factors which lead to the gap and enhance participatory culture in academic purpose for students. Thus, we can improve the situation of students’ learning outcome gap during the use of digital media in teaching and studying. My thesis will employ qualitative research method in case study approach. It consists of 6 students’ interviews as well as teacher’s focus group interviews of three teachers from two schools. The results show that there are different forms of technology and usage gap among the students in using digital tools. Certainly, there are several ways to overcome the barriers. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg, Hune 2017. / In this study, the affordances of a multimodal pedagogy for teaching the prescribed novel, Lord of the Flies, are investigated. The research site is a Grade 10 Visual Art classroom, with six learners serving as the core group. It involves a five-week teaching intervention, whereby participants are required to re-design or re-semiotise a particular scene from the novel into a comic book, or any multimodal narrative that includes both written and visual textual features. Participants’ works are analysed in terms of their modal features − size, shape, colour, contour, texture, written text and overall design − and their semiotic relationship to the original, print-based novel. Finally, the researcher determines which textrelated meanings or interpretations are gained, lost or transformed during this process of resemiotisation, and discusses the possible implications of these for classroom practice. This research may be described as classroom ethnography (Bloome, 2012) within the qualitative paradigm, offering an account of participants’ actions in a real-life, everyday context. Data is collected through ethnographic techniques such as field notes, diary entries, artefact collection and, most crucially, interviews which are conducted before and after the re-semiotisation process. To analyse this data, the researcher draws extensively from literature in the fields of multimodality and social semiotics, particularly the seminal works of Kress (1993; 2000; 2005), Newfield (2009; 2014) and The New London Group (1996). Emphasis is placed on how participants use semiotic resources − in this case, materials acquired in the classroom, from the internet or other domains − to re-shape written texts so that they become more meaningful and accessible for learning. Finally, the findings chapter presents the multimodal pedagogy as a useful outlet for learners’ “own desires, fantasies and interests in the semiotic chain” (Stein, 2003, p. 115). Since participants are positioned centrally within the semiotic space, they can become selfregulated and active agents of meaning making − discovering a canonical text’s themes, symbols, character relations or other sub-textual nuances in and through the visual mode. In the interests of continued research and application in the classroom, a label method is suggested to both track participants’ gains and losses in meaning − upon completion of the entire process − and to determine their level of engagement with the novel’s content. This involves presenting each learner’s artefacts visually, with several labels pointing to the features that speak back most clearly to the source text. Keywords: ● multimodal pedagogy ● social semiotics ● re-semiotisation ● chain of semiosis / meaning-making ● visual and written modes ● literature teaching and learning / LG2018

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

The South African education system is undergoing radical transformation in terms of the curriculum. One of the means in the transformation process is the infusion of computer literacy in the schools’ curriculum. The South African education system is being reshaped and this calls for co-ordination between the school and the workplace, as learners who are taught in schools are going to occupy different positions in different work situations. The school’s task is therefore to equip learners with relevant computer literacy skills required in the workplace. The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) states: “Learners should understand the design process from conceptualisation to realisation. Problem-solving and lateral-thinking skills, creativity and innovation should be explored and developed through the systematic investigation of problems posed by a design brief in order to produce a marketable solution. Learners are given a brief, research the subject, generate ideas, develop concepts, implement, critically reflect on, and then evaluate the design solution. Self-discipline and responsible design ethics, as well as an awareness of aesthetics and functionality, must be evident throughout the design process,” (Asmal, 2003, p. 3). In countries like the United Kingdom, computer literacy is very important in that it is seen as a passport to employment (Bork, as cited by Moodley, 2002). The government of Rwanda’s national goal on ICT is that Rwanda will achieve “middle-income status by 2020 based on an information-rich, knowledge-based society and economy” Farrel (2007, p. 3). Micheuz (2006, p. 1) states: “Schools in Austria providing compulsory education are accountable for imparting IT skills and informatics competencies to their pupils”. There is a shift in the South African education system to eradicate the imbalances of the apartheid education system. Curriculum 2005 has been put in place, however due to some uncertainties that academics have articulated about Curriculum 2005, it has been revised. The principles of the NCS are the same as those of Curriculum 2005 in that they are based on building on the vision and values of the Constitution and Curriculum 2005 (Asmal, 2003, p. 2). The principles include social justice, a healthy environment, human rights and inclusivity (Asmal, 2003, p. 2). The NCS adopts an inclusive approach by specifying minimum requirements for learners. The special educational, emotional, social and physical needs of learners are addressed in the design and the development of appropriate learning programmes. The transition from the apartheid education system to the present education system, i.e. the NCS, has not been without problems. Debates on educational issues are always arguable because they involve many other stakeholders such as politicians and the community (Asmal, 2003). In the past, South African education reflected the fragmented society in which it was based and hardly created conscientious, critical citizens. Education as a means of undemocratic social control created individuals who were not only short changed but were also compartmentalized along racial and cultural lines. The education system also failed to address the democratic principles based on access, full participation and equity (Asmal, 2003). The objectives of the policy on E-education in the schools’ white paper on Eeducation are that every South African learner both in General and Further Education and Training (GET and FET) will be information and communication technology-capable by 2013. Asmal went on to say that every school in General and Further Education and Training will turn into E-schools (Asmal, 2003, p. 4). The GET band here refers to Grades 7, 8 and 9 and the FET refers to Grades 10, 11, and 12. With this as background, the researcher intended to understand whether or not the teaching and learning of computer literacy occurred in a constructive way, and one that will equip learners with relevant computer literacy skills required in the workplace; skills that will enable learners to solve economic, political and societal problems. Meyer, Barber and Pfaffenberger (1999, p. 56) argue that: “Computers play key roles in our societies as they guide aircraft to safe landings, help surgeons perform tricky operations and route calls through a phone system”. The research took place in two high schools in rural areas in the Greytown area. The two high schools have computers and are teaching computer literacy starting from Grade 8 and continuing to Grade 12. This study focused on Grade Nine as this grade is considered to be a preparatory stage when learners need to be shaped for the next grade (Grade 10) and begin to choose their career paths. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

This thesis reports on a collaborative action research case study with Grade 8 learners in a rural high school in Fort Beaufort District, Eastern Cape, South Africa. The goals of the case study were firstly, to understand best practices for promoting extensive reading using a classroom library, and secondly, to use these insights to put an extensive reading programme in place with a view to improving my practice as a language teacher and to gain better understanding of ways of enhancing my Grade 8 learners’ literacy skills. The following qualitative methods were used to collect data: observation, semi-structured interviews, class discussion, questionnaires, journal reflections and document analysis. Analysis of data involved identification of emerging themes and patterns. The findings suggest that the strategies used in the extensive reading intervention improved my learners’ levels of engagement with reading. Putting these strategies into practice, and reflecting critically on how to refine them helped enrich my own professional insight and development in relation to the implementation of extensive reading programmes. Since action research is usually designed in spirals of action, this research serves as a first spiral and a foundation upon which to build second and subsequent spirals (which do not form part of this research). The study highlighted the fact that certain challenges that emerged (for example, shortage of books at the learners’ level, and a lack of parental cooperation) need to be addressed in a second spiral of intervention. The study further suggested that the implementation of effective extensive reading programmes by teachers in the middle and upper phases of secondary schooling requires further investigation.

Examines the use of Information and Communicative Technologies (ICT) by high school students from economically-disadvantaged households to complete homework assignments. Results of a survey of 240 high school students at an urban, inner-city high school located in Southern California, indicated, (1) the Digital Divide is narrowing among social classes, as most students reported having Internet access from their homes, (2) students willingness to embrace new uses of ICT in their studies, (3) the speed of completing homework was increased through the use of ICT multi-tasking and the use of search engines and, (4) computer maintenance issues were not a significant hindrance, as most students have some basic computer literacy skills.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

This study examined the extent to which each computer literacy objective domain, each specific mode of instruction, and each type of question were treated in Thai high school computer literacy text materials. Two textbooks and their accompanying teachers' manuals were examined using three analytical schemes as frameworks for the examinations. The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) computer literacy objectives were used to classify the content in the text materials in order to determine the degree of emphasis on each computer literacy objective domain. The Hawaii state Department of Education (HSDE) instructional modes were used to classify the content in the text materials in order to determine the degree of emphasis on each mode of instruction. Bloom's taxonomy of education, cognitive domain, was used to classify the review questions and exercises in the text materials in order to determine the degree of emphasis on each cognitive level. Detailed findings are given as numerals, percentages, and decimal values. Perspectives are offered on the need for textbooks which reflect the values and feelings objectives. Conclusions were that (a) text materials focus most on the programming/algorithms objectives and tend to exclude the values and feelings objectives; (b) text materials use only three modes of instruction, focusing first on the topic mode, second on the tutee mode, and last on the tool mode; (c) text material questions focus more on higher cognitive than on lower cognitive levels.