The level of access to educational information is pertinent to the attainment of quality education by learners. Librarians play a key role in facilitating access to such information. Access to educational information equips the possessor with the power of knowledge to assert their rights under any right regime, and a right to education cannot be fully exercised without corresponding access to educational information. Set in the Fort Beaufort Education District of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, this study evaluates the level of access to educational information as an enabler of quality education. Research revealed that despite the acclaimed educational improvement in South Africa, the quality of education in many black constituencies and provinces remains low. Therefore, the objectives of this study include inter alia an investigation of the educational information needs of high school learners in the Fort Beaufort Education District, the educational information available and accessible to them, how the learners access information, the services and technologies accessible to the learners, challenges confronting their access and means of improving learners’ access to educational information in the district and by extension in South Africa.

The introduction of the computer into the educational arena is unique as pressure for its inclusion has come not from educationalists, but from public demand based on the conviction that exposure to computers is an essential ingredient of modern education. This has resulted in computers being added to school curricula before there has been careful research into its educational implications, making huge demands on teachers involved in the innovation. South African primary schools involved in computer education have followed international trends in their adoption of computers, initially perceiving computer education as a separate subject added on to the present curriculum. However, changing trends in computer use internationally are now beginning to reflect educators' changing perceptions of the nature of primary education, and educators are calling for the use of computers to be integrated into the curriculum rather than being seen as an area of study in themselves. This investigation attempts to outline general trends and perceptions of computer use in a South African primary school. Despite a high level of computer usage at the observed school, the computer was seen by teachers, in the main, as an extra subject, and has not yet led to any significant changes in teaching styles and methods. The research suggests that two main issues need to be resolved before computer education in primary schools reflects the present paradigm shift towards learner-centered educational practices. Firstly, there is a need to rethink the delivery of the curriculum towards one which promotes a greater degree of problem solving and decision making on the part of the learner. Secondly, it would appear that teachers need to be made more aware of this trend.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become commonplace entities in all aspects of life. Over the past twenty years, the use of ICTs has drastically changed the procedures of almost all forms of endeavour within business and governance. Additionally, throughout the world there is an awareness of the fundamental role of new ICTs in the field of education. Education is a socially oriented activity, and quality education has traditionally been associated with strong teachers having high degrees of personal contact with learners. The use of ICT in education lends itself to learner-centred learning settings. With the world moving rapidly into digital media and information, the role of ICT in education and the influence of ICT in schools cannot be overemphasised as its utility is changing the way learners learn, teachers teach, and how it supports staff work. Whilst ICT is fully integrated into many schools in the urban areas of South Africa, regrettably the same cannot be said about rural high schools. This has created a digital division between rural and urban high schools. Most of these rural high schools still do not have access to these technological tools and educators have not been given the professional training for them to integrate ICT in their lessons. This study explores the effectiveness of integrating ICT into teaching of Environmental Education in selected rural high schools. The quantitative study adopted survey research design with sample randomly selected for the study. From the findings, it can be concluded that integrating ICT in education cannot be comprehended by exploring the pedagogical orientations at play in the teaching and learning situation. It becomes the basis that teachers use ICTs to achieve the determined goals.

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007 / With growing invesbnent in WWW technologies bye-Commerce businesses the measurement of Information Systems (IS) effectiveness in this area has become increasingly important over the last decade. As business users have become reliant on outsourced IS service providers for a wide range of services, the quality of service rendered by the latter is an important issue which impacts on IS effectiveness. Researchers have for many years recognised the importance of service quality as a measure of IS performance. Service quality measurement tools such as SERVQUAL from the marketing field, have been proven to be applicable to the IS domain. However, empirical studies in this regard are concentrated in the context of large, non- eCommerce organisations only. In South Africa, e-Commerce has been recognised as an important driver for growth in SMMEs. The literature suggests that IS service delivery to eCommerce businesses needs to be evaluated differently to that of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. There is however a paucity of research regarding IS evaluation in e-Commerce environments, including that of the application of service quality principles. It is thus difficult for managers of IS service providers in this context to develop a complete picture of the effectiveness of the IS they deliver. Furthermore, because e-Commerce SMMEs are almost wholly reliant on these service providers for the supply of IS and support, their service expectations could be different from those in traditional businesses. The primary objective of this research was to investigate whether IS service quality criteria applied in large traditional businesses, are also applicable to SMME e-Commerce businesses. The applicability of a service quality measurement instrument, based on SERVQUAL, was tested in an ev Commerce SMME context. Specifically, this instrument measures the service quality expectations that e-Commerce SMMEs have of IS service providers. A SERVQUAL measurement scale from a recent MISQ paper was adapted and used to collect data concerning service quality expectations of e· Commerce SMMEs. Using a structured survey method, the research was delineated to e-Commerce enabled bed-and-breakfast and self-catering accommodation businesses in the Western Cape, South Africa. The research results indicate that, although SERVQUAL principles were applicable to the e-Commerce SMME context, the service quality dimensionality was different. There are four derived dimensions for service quality expectations of e-Commerce SMMEs in this research, viz., Credibility, Expertise, Availability and Supportiveness. A fifth dimension is the Tangibles dimension, which is retained from SERVQUAL. Furthermore the results indicate that the Credibility was the most important dimension in this research context, while the Tangibles dimension was the least important.

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Peninsula Technikon, 2003 / This research study is mainly based on the third learning outcome for Technology Education which requires the learners to be able to demonstrate an understanding of interrelationships between science, technology, society and the environment. The purpose of the study is to investigate how Technology Teacher Training Programmes incorporate environmental aspects into technology education and how Technology educators facilitate learning in order to meet environmental requirements that are expressed as learning outcome 3 for Technology Education. In this study an attempt is made to encourage efforts that could lead to the development of new learning frameworks, integrated activities and learning programmes for the technology education curriculum. The study is set against the literature on integrated programmes for curriculum development in general and for environmental and technology education in particular. It also draws on literature that calls for partnerships and closer co-operation between institutions of higher learning and the world of work, on evaluation research and programme evaluation and on the role that could be played by service-learning in promoting attitudes and values that are necessary for the integration of environmental aspects into technology education. Using the naturalistic or qualitative evaluation approach and narrative data production methods in the context of teaching and learning, the lecturers in teacher education institutions and technology educators in schools were interviewed in order to find out how technology teacher education prepared technology educators for the workplace and how technology educators designed learning activities and facilitated learning in their technology classrooms. The curriculum documents for technology teacher education programmes were consulted and classroom observations also made. The research findings have indicated that technology educators find it difficult to integrate environmental education with technology education when teaching technology education and that technology teacher education programmes do not entirely prepare technology educators for the integration process that is required by the Revised National Curriculum documents of the Department of Education and Training.The study therefore calls for partnerships and collaborative efforts of higher education institutions, the Department of Education and Training and various environmental organizations in order to develop work integrated curricula that could enable technology educators to assist their learners to demonstrate an understanding of interrelationships between science, technology, society and the environment.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010. / The company studied is a privately owned textile company, which is part of the CAP Germany Group of companies. It is one of the leading textile knitting mills in Southern Africa and has won several awards in this regard, whilst it has also been subject to quite a few changes over the last few years. The company recently appointed a new Chief Executive Officer to lead the textile mill into the technical market, and extend the range of the fashion apparel, which it focuses on as its main product. With the aim of keeping the company in the forefront of new development, it has become important to keep its management team well informed and for them to make strategic decisions with much focus on analysis of the information that is available to them. The textile mill has a SAP ERP system, which was implemented as to provide a source of information, hence management can analyse this information that is available to aid them in their decision-making.

Thesis (MTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012. / The reason for conducting this research was to evaluate the impact of information technology in the tourism industry, focusing mainly on tourism intermediaries, which include selected travel agencies and tour operators in Cape Town, and their awareness levels of the negative and positive impacts, as well as disintermediation that occurs owing to information technology developments. The research methodology for this thesis comprised a literature search and an empirical survey, which evaluated the impacts of information technology on tourism intermediaries in Cape Town. This research sought to establish whether disintermediation has occurred amongst travel agents and tour operators, whilst recognising strategies, which these tourism intermediaries can use to ensure survival in the competitive tourism industry. Relevant sources were referred to in the literature search. A number of appropriate normative measures were taken from the literature, followed by an empirical survey where randomly selected tourism intermediaries in Cape Town, namely small, medium to large companies were chosen to participate in the research questionnaire. The questionnaire responses were captured by the registered CPUT statistician in the form of frequency distribution analyses, and these were statistically analysed by the researcher and the registered statistician. The interpretations and findings of the statistical analyses were presented in tables and charts and were explained individually according to the statements' similarities, differences and verifications, as per the research questionnaire. A number of recommendations emanated from the literature sources and empirical survey, followed by concluding remarks in the form of conclusions.

M.Comm. (Business Management) / Communication in a business environment is an aspect that cannot be replaced. Theoretical considerations as revealed by literature indicate that the process is a complicated process. In this study, this is proven by the different types such as information theory which is concerned with the transmission aspects of communication process. The impact that information theory has had on the study of communication is analogous to the tremendous influence that quantitative techniques have had on management decision-making. Interpersonal communication emphasises transference of information from one person to another. It has both verbal and non-verbal forms. In verbal communication there is direct contact between parties involved. In non-verbal communication body postures are used as a means of communication. Written communication involves transmitting information through written word. Business communication within organisations is also influenced by other factors related to the diversity of workforce. Intercultural communication covers a wide variety of attitudes, perceptions and values. Language also plays an important role in communication as illustrated by the communicative, explanatory, regulatory and interrogative functions. The differences between American and British English illustrate the complexity of the process. The situation is more complex in South African organisations as there are eleven official languages. Of these only English and Afrikaans are used in workplaces as business languages. The population census conducted in 1996 indicated that about 43% of South Africans are functionally, illiterate and this number can be as high as 52% amongst blacks. As a result the majority of South Africans have poor understanding of these languages as a result of historical problems. In this study business communication is studies in a South African organisation, Mintek, to establish the effectiveness of communication in that organisation. Questionnaires are used to test the opinions of the employees. The results are tabulated and interpreted. Relevant literature is brought in when discussing the results, recommendations are made aiming at improving communication within Mintek.

M.A. (Public Management and Governance) / The Preamble of the South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act 84 of 1996) states that it is the goal of the South African government to provide all learners with a high quality education. However, despite this goal, academics, scholars and social commentators concur that the public education system in South Africa is in crisis. Nevertheless, there is agreement that there has been an improvement in the numbers of learners enrolled at schools and the pass rates in public education, but not in the quality of education. In support of this statement, commentators refer to international surveys that show that the majority of learners are underachieving in key learning areas such as reading, mathematics and science. Many of the commentators ascribe the situation to the underperformance of educators. Research conducted by Van der Berg et al. (2011) suggests that a possible solution to the problem would be to help educators to improve their teaching outputs and outcomes in the classroom. This, in turn, implies that a tool such as a laptop loaded with the relevant and appropriate software and the additional required technology would assist educators in improving their teaching outputs and outcomes. Ms N Pandor, the former Minister of Education, announced the Teacher Laptop Initiative (TLI) in 2009. In his response to the State of the Nation’s address in June 2009 President Zuma endorsed this initiative and stated that the objective of the TLI is to provide every educator with both a laptop and access to the Internet and that the initiative should be seen as an incentive to help educators to improve the quality of education in schools. However, evidence shows that educators have not received the subsidies to procure the laptops as promised by government. The study sets out to investigate the implementation of the TLI and, thus, the aim of the research was to conduct a formative evaluation of the implementation of the TLI. The research was conducted within a qualitative research paradigm and the data were collected using both the TLI policy document and the findings resulting from the purposive, face-to-face interviews that were conducted with key stakeholders. This data were analysed through the application of the content analysis method.

Organisations within the South African automotive industry (SAAI) are always seeking innovative ways to remain globally competitive. In order to keep costs as low as possible, existing facilities are often adapted to either cater for a wider variety of products or, alternatively, to produce larger volumes than they were originally designed to produce. In every instance, some form of change needs to take place. When the change management processes are defined within the system, quick wins need to be identified. These quick wins may include the elimination of non-valueadding time that is spent moving paper work between offices or ensuring the correct checks are in place to prevent the process from moving to the next step until all the requirements for the current steps have been completed. Technology has been identified as a suitable support mechanism that would be able to integrate into the complex system that comprises processes to be followed in an order that can be predefined. Every organisation faces its own unique challenges when technology is introduced. These can include a lack of computer literacy and the unwillingness to accept that change can in fact benefit the organisation. Getting the users to take ownership of the new systems through comprehensive training initiatives will be shown to be the most effective manner in which to ensure that the systems are effective and used to their full potential. This treatise will investigate the change management systems currently being used in the SAAI and compare the most important factors against the perceived best practices of the resources that are involved in change management. Organisations that operate at various levels within the SAAI will be researched. A literature review of the best practices in change management systems combined with an investigation into how technology can assist in supporting these best practices will be conducted. The findings will then be summarised and recommendations based on the collected data and information will be formulated and put forward.