This research report is about a study into formerly Technikon Natal (now DIT) 'at risk' students' perceptions of learning (deep or surface), learning styles and use of self-regulating learning strategies (level of metacognitive knowledge). The aim of the study is to get a deeper understanding of how this category of student approaches learning. The literature study explored issues on the interdependent relationship between language and learning, how socialisation shapes language and learning, perceptions of learning, learning styles and metacognition. However these issues and interrelationships are shown to be much more complex when learners are 'at risk', that is, come from disadvantaged backgrounds and learn using English as an additional language. The research paradigm chosen is interpretive because the researcher has a practical interest and seeks contextualised understanding of 'at risk' students' subjective experiences of learning. The researcher's central disposition is to make a judgment on 'at risk' students' perceptions of learning, their learning styles and self-regulating learning strategies (metacognitive behaviour) elicited from their responses in questionnaires. Although there are limitations with collecting and analyzing data mainly using questionnaires, key findings in the study show that high achieving (HA) first year of study 'at risk' students seem more likely to be associated with a) emerging deep perceptions of learning b) emerging less active and more reflective learning styles and c) a greater ability to communicate knowledge and express their understanding using English as an additional language. A key recommendation is to abandon a separate and special Academic Literacy course for 'at risk' students in the DIT and rather to integrate academic literacy development into the mainstream. / Thesis(M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu Natal, Pietermaritzburg,2004.

The aim of this study is to explore the views of recent optometry graduates, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, towards the professional education and training program they had experienced. The optometry program aims to produce graduates who are equipped with the necessary knowledge and clinical skills to contribute to the health care needs of society within the field of eye care (Discipline of optometry, 2005). Within this program, individual modules are evaluated biannually by registered students. Thus far, there has been no attempt to explore the views of graduates once they have entered professional practice. Previous studies involving optometry students and graduates focused more on expectations and perceptions of the profession with little emphasis on perceptions of their education and training experiences in preparing them for professional practice. This study is an attempt to find out the relevance of the educational program in preparing graduates for professional practice. In addition, graduates are asked to make recommendations for ways in which the educational program can be strengthened to assist novice professionals to meet the demands of professional practice. This study involved the graduating class of 2009 presently working in professional practice. Of all participants who were willing to participate in the study, 8 were selected using purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews are used to explore graduates‟ perceptions of their undergraduate educational experiences as preparation for professional practice and their recommendations for strengthening the program to provide for the needs of novice professionals. These interviews are conducted individually and last between 35 and 72 minutes. They are analysed qualitatively using the conceptual framework of communities of practice (Wenger, 1998) in which learning is considered as a four-fold concept: learning as (1) engaging in practice, (2) belonging to a community, (3) interrogating the meanings of experiences, (4) becoming and thus creating an identity. The findings reveal that in general graduates find the content of their professional education and training program to be relevant to their preparation for professional practice and were able to make suggestions for improvement. They were particularly satisfied with their clinical experiences as it allows them to engage with, gain exposure and develop professional identities. Additionally participants value these experiences for the development of other work related skills such as communication, time management, team work and problem solving. Recommendations for strengthening the optometry program are made in light of the proposed program restructuring. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

This study, which is set in a Faculty of Management Studies at a higher education institution in South Africa, is concerned with facilitating students‟ epistemological access to the discipline of Marketing. It takes the position that each discipline has its own Discourse or 'ways of being' (Gee, 2005), and that this is influenced by the discipline‟s underlying knowledge structure (Maton, 2003). The ability of Marketing lecturers to help students to become effective participants in the Discourse of Marketing rests on an understanding of what legitimate participation in the Discourse of Marketing entails. However, because such understandings are often tacit and contested, inducting students into disciplinary Discourses is made difficult. Thus the first research question that this study seeks to address is: What constitutes epistemological access to the discipline of Marketing? The second question is: How do educational practices in Marketing at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) impact on the achievement of epistemological access to the discipline? Theoretically, the study draws on Maton‟s (2005a) Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) and work undertaken from a New Literacy Studies (NLS) perspective, such as Gee‟s theory of Discourse (2005) and „academic literacies‟ research. LCT allows for an analysis of the underlying principles that structure the discipline of Marketing, thus conceptualising the „rules of the game‟ of the discipline and highlighting what counts as relevant meaning in Marketing. This analysis is therefore pertinent in addressing the first research question. NLS allows for an understanding of how lecturers and students operate in the discipline to construct legitimate meaning by engaging in appropriate practices and communication. Methodologically, the analysis of data also draws on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). An understanding of the „rules of the game‟ of Marketing, given by the LCT analysis, provides a backdrop against which educational practices in the discipline of Marketing at UKZN are explored. The analysis using CDA gives insight into how students‟ Marketing identities are being built in the discipline of Marketing at UKZN and what the ramifications are for their epistemological access to the discipline, thus addressing the second research question. In combination, these analyses reveal that students‟ Marketing identities are not being specialised in ways that are appropriate to the disciplinary Discourse. Possible reasons for the inconsistency between the type of knower espoused and the type of knower actually produced in the discipline are explored. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2012.

In this thesis I explore the effect of introducing group work as one of the methods of teaching and learning in Business Administration I at the Durban University of Technology. Introducing group work was also an attempt to satisfy the needs of the workplace and at the same time incorporate the critical cross-field outcomes in the teaching of this particular subject. I explore the benefits and problems of using group work in higher education. The study was conducted at the Durban University of Technology Riverside Campus with a sample of Business Administration I students, Business Administration III students as well as three lecturers in the Department of Office Management and Technology who lecture at the Durban Campus. The research involved the implementation and the reflections of exposing students to group work over the two cycles. The study was developed with the aim of using more innovative teaching methods than just lecturing. Learners were engaged in the group work project which involved searching for information as a group, doing group presentations, evaluating the presentations and reflecting on the whole process. After analysis of data collected, the process was revised and implemented again with another group of students in the second cycle followed by analysis of long term implications of group work. An exploration of the lecturers' perceptions of using group work as a teaching method was also done. Data was gathered from observations, questionnaires, focus group interviews and analysis of students' test results. Results indicated that despite some problems associated with this method, there is scope for considering a variety of approaches to teaching of the subject Business Administration I, and group work can be one of the methods used. The findings showed that staff and students held positive perceptions on group work, and there were similarities in the benefits of using group work in education as identified by students, lecturers and the literature. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Students' poor performance in the quantity surveying course at the Durban Institute of Technology appeared to be due to the lack of basic key competence in certain key areas such as mathematics and arithmetic. The students' weaknesses in key competencies were validated in the pre-tests with both the 2003 and 2004 cohorts where few students, only two out of sixteen and one out of eight respectively, displayed mastery in these key areas. Mastery learning was identified as a methodology to use for helping students because it benefited slow and fast learners alike. This study investigates the use of an e-mastery learning system to help students improve their competence in some of the key areas identified. An experiment was conducted, using the 2003 fourth-year quantity surveying students as a control group and the 2004 fourth-year quantity surveying students as the experimental group. The control group took a pre-test, were subjected to a face-to-face intervention and then they took a post-test. The experimental group took the same pre-test, were exposed to a mastery learning system, which was then followed by the same post-test. The results of this experiment showed that the mastery learning intervention helped the students, but not to the extent expected by the author. The experiment indicated that the e-based system was only marginally more helpful than the face-to-face intervention which the control group received. This quantitative aspect of the experiment was hampered by small sample sizes and was further constrained by difficulties in accessing the e-mastery system. Following this outcome, a qualitative study was undertaken, in the form of semi-structured interviews, to ascertain why the e-based system was not as successful as expected. Although the quantitative analysis indicated that the e-based system was more helpful, the interviews revealed the underlying problems were related to access to the e-based system and students' limited computer literacy skills. The conclusion drawn from these findings is that an e-based mastery learning system would help students improve their key competencies provided the computer literacy problems and access problems were solved, the mastery learning system was more comprehensively developed, and that the students were motivated enough to devote themselves to using the system on a regular basis. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Performance of individual students in a course at a tertiary institution is usually reflected in a final mark that determines their progress and transfer to higher courses. Performance of students in a first year course, Bioscience at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg (UNP) was examined to determine if there were any patterns emerging in differential performance between students, particularly the performance of subgroups within the class. Of particular interest were English second language (ESL) students, and previous Science Foundation Programme (SFP) students. The latter are mainly previously disadvantaged Black students. Performance ofstudents was compared in Bioscience 110 for the years 1995-2000 using Repeated Measures ANOVA. All subgroups of students showed similar trends in performance in Bioscience assessment tasks and final marks. However, the SFP students ' final marks were lower than the other subgroups, and showed a decreased performance for the same period. Most students, excluding SFP students, fell in the 50-59% category for the final Bioscience 110 marks obtained for the period 1995-2000. There was no correlation between students' SFP final mark and their final mark in Bioscience 110. The final Bioscience 110 mark is a combination of a class mark, practical examination and a theory examination and performance in these was investigated and compared to determine any patterns. Students performed best in class marks. All students performed poorly in the theory examinations. Theory examinations were investigated further, and were analysed in their component parts, namely multiple choice (MCQ), short questions and essay. Students performed best and consistently in MCQ. In contrast, students performed poorly in the short question and essay sections. Although the different ethnic subgroupings showed similar trends in performance, the SFP students showed the poorest performance. In particular, they scored lowest in the theory examinations where they performed more poorly than the other subgroupings in short questions and essays that require higher order cognitive skills. As SFP students are the main source of Black students who enrol for Bioscience at UNP, the performance of these students in their SFP Biology was assessed across years (1995-2000). Assessment marks were analysed to determine if they showed trends in the mastery of the skills and knowledge tested. Given the trends found by the study, there needs to be ongoing curriculum development in both courses examined. In particular, the types of teaching and the assessment used to award a final grade need to be examined. For example, the contribution ofessay writing, how it is taught and assessed needs to be monitored. The quality of test questions and writing assignments needs to be examined as part of course design and development. In addition, development of higher order thinking skills and the levels of these need to be examined at both SFP Biology and Bioscience levels. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002. / National Research Foundation.

This study is aimed at investigating how quality of teaching in higher educational institutions can be improved and how staff development programmes can play a role in the enhancement of the tertiary teaching profession. Over the years, the field of Academic Development has (AD) undergone many changes and has faced enormous challenges as the South African higher education terrain has shifted in the wake of political transformation. The field of Academic Development has grown into a multidisciplinary endeavour with practitioners working in areas such as curriculum and staff development, assessment of student learning, evaluation, educational technology and student development. In recent years, the demise of soft funding and the financial constraints caused by falling student numbers have resulted in a situation where many Academic Development units have faced job losses and even closure. At the same time, challenges facing the higher education system have opened opportunities for AD practitioners to use their expertise to cope with the demands of teaching and learning. The Academic Development programme contributes to the assurance of this performance by supporting staff in meeting the demands of teaching at a Southern African university with international standards. It does this by running an on-going staff development programme and by providing assistance with curriculum development, assessment and evaluation. The Institute for Higher Education Policy engages in research and provides practical advice and background on key issues in higher education policy for a clientele comprised of public and private organisations, individuals and government structures within South Africa as well as abroad. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

Higher education in South Africa faces severe challenges due to the under preparedness of many students entering the system. Research (Perkins 1991; Pretorius 2000, 2005; Balfour 2002) has shown that many students who enter higher education do not have the required academic literacy knowledge and strategies to engage meaningfully with the relevant texts in their disciplines. A major obstacle to students’ success is their limited reading strategies. A significantly large number of students are not able to read at the appropriate grade and/or age level. Yet, reading is one of the most important academic tasks encountered by students. This thesis focuses on the use of reading strategy interventions together with integrated reading/writing activities to enhance reading comprehension. The study is located at the Durban University of Technology, using as participants the students who were registered on the first year extended Dental Technology programme in 2004. The interventions are implemented through an action research project. The piloting phase of the interventions reveals the need for an understanding of the students’ backgrounds in, amongst others, their reading and writing practices, attitudes, approaches to learning, and motivational factors. Consequently, the action research project was conducted in parallel with an ethnographic inquiry into students’ reading worlds and practices. Given that reading and writing are complementary processes whereby the enhancement of the one has a positive effect on the other, the ethnographic inquiry also explores students’ attitudes and practices towards writing. Using the ideological model (Street 1984) and, in particular, the new literacy approach to teaching and learning as a framework for the thesis, I argue that the students’ early childhood and schooling experiences of reading and writing impact on their current attitudes and practices. I further suggest that for children from disadvantaged backgrounds learning and retaining literacy is more difficult than for children from advantaged, middle class backgrounds. The ethnographic inquiry involved a series of interviews with students, as well as a questionnaire to ascertain students’ attitudes and practices towards reading and writing. In addition, a questionnaire was designed for lecturers to obtain their attitudes and practices towards reading and writing in their disciplines. A major finding of the ethnographic inquiry was that the majority of participants in the study come from a background that can be described as traditionally oral in the sense that it is one in which very little or no emphasis is placed on reading. For some participants story telling was a more common form of interaction or communication with the elders. Also, the majority of participants come from lower socio-economic backgrounds where the purchasing of reading materials is considered a luxury. In addition, for many of the English additional language students, their school environment and experiences were not adequate enough to foster the need for reading and/or any engagement in reading. Based on my research, as well as the findings of other researchers, I argue that reading strategy interventions are essential in order to raise awareness and promote the use of reading strategies so as to enhance the learning (reading) process. The review of literature on reading development and the findings from the interviews indicate that the explicit teaching of reading strategies is essential for students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds (Heath 1983; Delpit 1986; Cope and Kalantzis 1993). To this end the action research component of the study was implemented through the explicit teaching of three reading strategies, namely, identifying the main idea in a paragraph, using context clues to guess the meaning of unknown words in a text, and summarization. The focus of the intervention was on the process and on raising students’ levels of metacognitive awareness. The approach is novel in two ways. First, via the process approach to reading the chosen reading strategies were initially taught independently to the students using the explicit explanation approach which involved scaffolded tasks involving explanations, modeling (using the think-aloud protocol), practice, and transfer exercises. Thereafter, using the cognitive apprenticeship approach, students were taught to use all three strategies simultaneously during reading. Second, discipline specific materials were used as reading sources during the interventions which were conducted with integrated reading/writing activities. Data was collected by means of a language proficiency pre-and post-test, a reading strategy pre-and post-test, worksheets, student reflective pieces, portfolios, and observations. An analysis of the pre-and post-test data showed that the reading strategy interventions were highly successful. Students performed better in the reading strategy post-test than in the pre-test. Furthermore, their performance was better than that of a control group of students who were registered for the first year mainstream programme and who wrote only the reading strategy post-test. A marked improvement was also noted in the language proficiency post-test. These results stress the need for the teaching of reading strategies through integrated reading and writing activities. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

No abstract available. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1983.

The training of agricultural extension graduates is an important contributor to agricultural / The training of agricultural extension graduates is an important contributor to agricultural development in both developed and developing countries. Extension workers help small holder farmers uplift their food production. In most African countries, the curriculum of agricultural extension institutions has been adopted from other countries. This causes higher education institutions to produce graduates with inadequate skills to meet the needs of African countries. With the transformation in South Africa, and the resultant unification of the extension system, the curriculum needs to be reviewed to meet the current needs of the employers. This research explores the potential of including structured experiential learning into the curriculum with the aim of bridging the gap that exists within the extension training systems in South Africa. The alumni from two institutions, one with an unstructured experiential learning programme and the other with a structured experiential learning programme were interviewed to find out the skills that they feel are needed and whether those skills can be effectively taught during the academic training of students. A convenience sampling method was used. The employer’s perceptions regarding the skills for effective extension work were also solicited. Both the alumni and the employers indicated that well planned and supervised experiential learning would help students acquire practical agriculture skills, and also orientate them to the new work environment. The educators indicated that the curriculum structure at times impedes the effective implementation of an experiential learning programme due to semester system and demands from other courses The research revealed that for effective experiential learning, it is important that universities work with communities in development programmes and to forge links with the industry. Although service providers may be willing to offer experiential learning to students, they are also limited in terms of resources. They cannot always accommodate students from tertiary institutions as there are number of them requiring experiential learning opportunities. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.