The study presented in this thesis was motivated by the poor academic performance of many entrants to the School of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The premise behind the study is that the learning practices of students – the way they typically go about studying and learning – has a significant bearing on the quality of their learning and consequently on their academic prospects at university. Accordingly, the objective of the study was to develop an evidence-based understanding of the learning practices of our students. The kind of understanding sought was one which could inform interventions and/or curriculum re-design that aim to improve the quality of our students’ learning by facilitating an improvement in the quality of their learning practices and, thereby, to reduce attrition. To the extent that our students are representative of entrants to engineering education in the country, the findings of the study could have relevance beyond the context of our school. The methodology employed to achieve the study’s objective was phenomenography. Based on interviews with 31 students from the 2008 entering cohort, qualitatively different types of learning practice were found in 6 different contexts of studying and learning. The variation in the learning practices in four of these contexts was investigated in detail. The practice that was found to exert the most direct influence on the quality of a student’s learning was their ‘mastering-practice’ – i.e. how a student typically relates to and engages with studying and learning when they focus exclusively on the mastering of the requisite knowledge, understanding and skills. Six levels of sophistication in mastering-practice were identified. Three other types of learning practice were also investigated in depth: learning management practice; class-room practice (how students engage with verbal input of course material); and test-focused study practice (how they typically prepare for tests and exams). The study identified five categories of variation in learning management practice, five categories of variation in classroom practice, and four categories of variation in test-focused study practice. It also found that these practices could influence the quality of a student’s learning by the way in which they constrained their mastering-practice or diverted attention away from the exercise of their mastering-practice. The inter-relations between the different types of practice are discussed. The findings from the phenomenographic studies were augmented by investigations into the dynamics associated with how the students learning practices changed during their first year at university. In addition, the study developed a number of pedagogical tools or procedures for interpreting findings of the kind developed in the study and for using them to guide the design of pedagogical measures for improving students’ learning by helping those students to modify their learning practices. Apart from some theoretical developments that emerged and the specific findings about the nature of the learning practices of our students, the study’s contribution to knowledge consists of a methodology for identifying the qualitative essentials of the developmental pathways which students need to negotiate if they are to develop their learning practice to a more sophisticated level.

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People are exposed to and influenced by persuasive tactics on a daily basis. Greater knowledge on the processes of persuasion would allow for the development of mechanisms that can assist in building people’s resistance to corrupt persuasive attempts and to heighten the use of persuasion for purposes that are beneficial. Despite the extensive amount of research that has been dedicated to investigating these dynamics, understandings remain predominantly inconclusive. It is for these reasons that this study sought to gain a greater understanding of the role of source credibility in persuasive processes. ‘Time’ and ‘source credibility’ were manipulated as the independent variables and used to assess changes in the dependent variable of ‘global warming opinions’. Results showed a general decline in global warming concern across the control and experimental conditions. These results highlighted the role of other interacting variables in persuasive contexts, while also further highlighting the great need for future studies in this domain.

This research study explored the dimensions of motivation that may exist for mature psychology graduates when completing their postgraduate degree. And because it is widely acknowledged that stress is often a close companion to motivation, specifically in the pursuit of academic goals, the study also investigated those aspects of coping skills these individuals employed to sustain their motivation in completing their studies. Eight mature female psychology postgraduates from four different South African public universities were identified using a non probability sampling technique. Semi structured interviews were then carried out with the eight participants; the interviews were then transcribed and analysed using content analysis. The results of the study indicated that self efficacy; intrinsic motivation, attribution and achievement goals all play a role in the students’ motivation. It further indentified perseverance as an important factor in the students’ completion of their studies. Positive beliefs, problem solving strategies and social support appeared to be the most widely used coping skills by this sample.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Education (Educational Psychology), 2003 / Previous studies have addressed the question whether intellectual ability (as measured by the Raven's Progressivp Matrices Tests) is related to academic performance in engineering (Rushton & Skuy, 2000; Rushton, Skuy & Fridjhon, 2002; Rushton, Skuy & Fridjhon, 2003). The question arose of whether nonintellective (personality and attitudinal factors) playa larger role at this level, than intelligence, in determining academic performance in engineering university students. Accordingly, data were yielded for 93 percent (N=100) of the second year Chemical Engineering class in terms of their performance on various measures. These included two measures of intellectual ability, namely the Ravens Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) and the Organiser (of The Learning Propensity Assessment Device), together with a measure of learning strategies and attitudes (Learning and Study Strategies Inventory), locus of control (Locus of Control Inventory) and self-esteem (Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory). The students' academic results comprised the December 2002 and June 2003 examination results. The current research results demonstrated that while neither the RAPM nor the Organiser yielded any significant correlations with academic results, certain of the non-intellective measures did, and were able to differentiate between high and low academic performers. Motivation, Autonomy and Freedom from Anxiety were found to be significantly related to academic performance, and contributed 26 percent of the variance. This indicates that these factors play a role in academic achievement, and that exploration of personality and motivational factors constitutes a potentially fruitful avenue of research. However, it also seems that 74 percent of variance was unaccounted for, and therefore future studies should explore other factors, not included in this study, in relation to engineering students' academic performance. Furthermore, it emerged that it is unrealistic to attempt to predict academic performance at midyear (June results). KEY WORDS: Intelligence, learning strategies, locus of control, self-esteem, engineering students, second year, and academic performance. / AC2017

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Johannesburg, South Africa June, 2015 / This doctoral thesis investigates highly emotive and topical aspects of student learning in higher education namely, assessment and feedback. The study deals with the complexities and barriers to using learning-oriented assessment approaches to equip students with skills needed to thrive within the uncertainty, demands and challenges of rapidly changing societies. In the current research literature, views about assessment, and in particular formative assessment, are diverse and in some instances contradictory. The argument I make in this thesis is that assessment is situated within a local context, comprised of students and their teachers, which is regulated by disciplinary, professional and institutional traditions, expectations and needs. This research study was impelled by the realisation that most research into pedagogical views held by teachers and their students in higher education has examined them in isolation of each other. In recognition of this disparity in the literature, a more comprehensive study on teachers' and students’ views, expectations, and experiences of assessment was undertaken in the South African context. The study was conducted at a research-intensive university and investigated the aforementioned assessment aspects in students and teachers involved in second year compulsory bioscience courses. Using an exploratory, interpretative, mixed method research approach, data were collected through a combination of interviews, questionnaires and document analysis. An in-depth examination of documents from the selected courses, including students’ marked work, provided evidence of assessment and feedback practices experienced by the students registered in the courses. Teachers were interviewed about their assessment practices and their rationale for using these practices. Students' views and their reactions to assessment and feedback were ascertained through questionnaires and interviews. Interpretations that emerged from using a socio-cultural-historical theoretical lens were helpful in understanding the factors that present challenges to the implementation of learning-oriented assessment approaches. From the characterisation of assessment environments based on learning-oriented assessment principles it was apparent that there was limited active involvement of students in the process. The data highlighted a complex array of factors influencing teachers’ conceptions of assessment and subsequently their practices. Significant about the study was the identification of the effects of existing course level assessment cultures and histories on teachers’ assessment practices. Program and course factors had more influence on teachers’ practice than their subject expertise, pedagogical beliefs and values. The main highlights emerging from the study were the multiplicity of students’ and teachers’ views of assessment and feedback with a number of convergent and divergent perspectives. Notably, the cause of dissonance between academics and students stems from the tension between the competing needs of facilitating students’ independence and the desire to give them detailed corrective feedback. This dissonance translated into varied emotional responses to feedback from students. Although the focus of the study was on the comparison between students’ and teachers’ understanding of assessment, the preponderance of students’ emotional reactions to assessment feedback that emerged offered an important insight into an unpredicted social-relational dimension of assessment. My original contribution to research knowledge is the generation of the Assessment-Systems-for-Practice (ASP) framework, a reflection and methodological tool for investigating and analysing assessment practices. This framework provides a holistic way of dealing with the complex nature of assessment in higher education. The framework thus has implications for assessment design that would take into consideration cognitive, structural and social-relational dimensions, and its use could have a positive impact on teachers’ individual assessment practices.

Higher education in South Africa faces a variety of challenges including poor pass rates, large numbers of students dependent on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, intrapersonal and socioeconomic challenges of students and vast numbers of applicants vying for limited places in institutions. The primary method of selection and screening of applicants is the Academic Points Score (APS), calculated on Grade 12 achievement levels. However, large numbers of applicants exhibit similar or identical scores which meet minimum requirements. This makes effective selection difficult in terms of potential to succeed in the tertiary education context. Therefore, additional selection instruments may be useful in determining high from low potential candidates. Cognitive instruments are one option available to institutions and have been investigated to a certain extent, particularly in conjunction with alternative achievement based assessments. The present study examined a cognitive instrument utilised for selections at a University of Technology. The instrument is based on verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills, basic calculative ability, reading comprehension, memory and spatial reasoning. The results on the sub-tests of this instrument were examined in relation to APS and average mark achieved during study for National Diploma courses at the institution. Although statistically significant relationships did exist, as well as some demographic differences, effect sizes and correlation coefficients were small. Concerningly, APS did not explain a large percentage of variance in average mark. This finding is important in light of current selection procedures. Multiple regression and logistic regression models indicated that two specific sub-tests, in combination with APS, did contribute to predictive power in determining average mark. A number of themes in terms of this prediction are explored. These include English language ability, gender differences, specific cognitive skills and the general validity of utilisation of APS and/or cognitive testing as predictors of tertiary education success. In light of poor success rates in tertiary institutions across South Africa, further research into effective selection procedures should be prioritised.

Degree of Master of Science by research only: A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Signed on September 10, 2015 in Johannesburg / The past few years have seen an increase in the number of first year students registering in the School of Computer Science at Wits University. These students come from different backgrounds both academically and socially. As do many other institutions, Wits University collects and stores vast amounts of data about the students they enrol and teach. However this data is not always used after being stored. The area of Educational Data Mining (EDM) focuses on using this stored data to find trends and patterns that could enhance the knowledge about the student’s behavior, their academic performance and the learning environment. This longitudinal study focuses on the application of EDM techniques to obtain a better understanding of some of the factors that influence the academic performance of first year computer science students at the University of the Witwatersrand. Knowledge obtained using these techniques could assist in increasing the number of students who complete their studies successfully and identifying students who are at risk of failing and ensuring that early intervention processes can be put into place. A modified version of the CRISP-DM (CRoss-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining) was used, with three data mining techniques, namely: Classification, Clustering and Association Rule Mining. Three algorithms were compared in the first two techniques while only one algorithm was used in the Association Rule Mining. For the classification technique, the three algorithms that were compared were the J48 Classifier, Decision Table and Na¨ıve Bayes algorithm. The clustering algorithms used included the Simple K-means, Expectation Maximization (EM) and the Farthest First algorithm. Finally, the Predictive Apriori algorithm was selected as the Association Rule Mining technique. Historical Computer Science I data, from 2006 to 2011, was used as the training data. This set of data was used to find relationships within the data that could assist with predictive modeling. For each of the selected techniques a model was created using the training data set. These models were incorporated in a tool, the Success or Failure Determiner (SOFD), that was created specifically as part of this research. Thereafter, the test data set was put through the SOFD tool in the testing phase. Test data sets usually contain a variable whose value is predicted using the models built during the training phase. The 2012 Computer Science I data instances were used during the testing phase. The investigations brought forth both expected and interesting results. A good relationship was found between academic performance in Computer Science and three of the factors investigated: Mathematics I, mid-year mark and the module perceived to be the most difficult in the course. The relationship between Mathematics and Computer Science was expected, However, the other two factors (mid-year mark and most difficult module) are new, and may need to be further investigated in other courses or in future studies. An interesting finding from the Mathematics investigation was the better relationship between Computer Science and Algebra rather than Calculus. Using these three factors to predict Computer Science performance could assist in improving throughput and retention rates by identifying students at risk of failing, before they write their final examinations. The Association Rule Mining technique assisted in identifying the selection of courses that could yield the best academic performance overall, in first year. This finding is important, since the information obtained could be used during the registration process to assist students in making the correct decisions when selecting the courses they would like to do. The overall results show that using data mining techniques and historical data collected atWits University about first year Computer Science (CS-1) students can assist in obtaining meaningful information and knowledge, from which a better unii derstanding of present and future generations of CS-1 students can be derived, and solutions found to some of the academic problems and challenges facing them. Additionally this can assist in obtaining a better understanding of the students and factors that influence their academic performance. This study can be extended to include more courses withinWits University and other higher educational institutions. Keywords. Educational Data Mining, CRISP-DM, Classification, Clustering, Association Rule Mining, J48 Classifier, Decision Table, Na¨ıve Bayes, Simple K-means, Expectation Maximization, Farthest First, Predictive Apriori

Language, schooling and self have always been inextricably intertwined in the life of high school adolescents. Yet, there has been a paucity of research that investigates the relationship between language, identity, and language-in-education policies that often contradict multiple and fluid identity expressions of young adolescents. The aim of this study project was to explore the relationship between multilingualism and identity construction among urban black youth in two heteroglossic schools of Soweto township and to understand identity of black urban youth in South Africa. Two phases of data collection were carried out. First, a baseline survey of language patterns was administered to a total of 138 (n=138) grade 11 adolescent youth ranging from 15-19 years old. The second phase involved focus group discussions comprising 10 and 7 self-selected multilingual adolescents per school in order to approximate out of school multilingual spaces to explore a full range of language use, identity expressions and language attitudes. The results of the study are two pronged. The survey revealed a high degree of multilingualism and multilayered identities among the participants as manifested in all spheres of their lives such as the school yard, home, and conversation with friends. However, this complex identity matrix is constrained by classroom practices that are torn between monolingual policy preferences and actual language mixing. Correspondingly, focus group-based language performance and metacognitive reflections on multilingual performance also revealed that a fluid, mobile and versatile communicative practice referred to as translanguaging, which goes a step further from traditional code-switching, is a norm among these urban youth adolescents. The study concludes by highlighting tensions on identity constructions of highly multilingual urban youth. The pervasiveness of identity construction through the translanguaging phenomenon suggests cross-language boundaries and emergence of new urban identities that are expressed through hybrid varieties such as ‘kasitaal’. Multilingually sensitive education approaches that are considerate of the inextricable relationship between age of identity construction, language and education as well as new areas for further research are recommended.

<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate plagiarism among undergraduate students at a higher education institution in South Africa. There is evidence from previous studies that plagiarism is increasing world wide among higher education students. The emergence of the Internet has made plagiarizing worse as students can easily copy and paste information from the World Wide Web. This study investigated the occurrence, causes and trends of plagiarism among students in the Faculty of Applied Science at a higher education institution. It also examines student awareness of institutional policies and guidelines regarding plagiarism.</p>