M.Ed. (Multiculturalism and Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Media Science) / In 1981 the Human Sciences Research Council published the findings of its comprehensive investigation into all aspects of education in the Republic of South Africa. The work committee on educational technology made, inter alia, two recommendations that are pertinent to this study, namely: "Educational technology should be accepted as a fundamental factor in the planning, development and implementation of the educational system at all levels (1981:36). " and "In order to expedite the extension of educational technology in solving problems confronting education, the concepts of educational technology should form part of the pre- and continuing training of all categories of personnel involved with teaching, training and extension services (1981: 37) " Aspects of these two recommendations were also taken up in the White Paper on the Provision of Education in RSA. "The Government accepts the importance of educational technology as one of the modern and potentially extremely valuable aids in education.

M.Cur. / The manager is responsible for quality education, research and appropriate community service. The aim of this study is to provide guidelines for the purpose of excellent management of a nursing department at a distance education technikon with a view to facilitating the achievement of one of these responsibilities, that is to provide quality education. In South Africa increasing demands are being made on educational structures as everyone needs to be afforded the opportunity for education and training. This also implies demands on the training of nursing staff. Theoretical and vocational training are combined in technikon training. Therefore a nursing department at a distance education technikon should be managed excellent to meet all the demands. In an attempt to make nurse training more accessible, this study focuses on management in the context of a distance education technikon. The paradigmatic perspective guiding this study is described by means of metatheoretical, theoretical and methodological assumptions. The Nursing Theory for the Whole Person is used to state the methodological and theoretical assumptions. The methodological assumptions of this study are based on Botes's research model (1994), which implies that a functional approach has been used. In phase I of the research the experience of managers of distance education nursing departments are investigated and described on the basis of individual interviews. The data is used to formulate propositions to create a tentative conceptual framework. In phase II the experience of managers of departments at a distance education technikon is investigated and described by using a focus group interview. Propositions are formulated by using the data and, together with the statements from phase I, serve as a basis for creating a refined conceptual framework. In phase III of the research a conceptual framework based on the propositions from phase I and II as well as other literature, is described. From this the final conceptual framework is formulated. Phase IV, derived from phase III, sets out guidelines for managing a nursing department at a distance education technikon.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Management Sciences in Administration and Information Management, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / The secretarial/administrative profession is faced with the challenge of rapid advancement in office technology, organisational restructuring and changes in the global economy. This challenge does not only affect employees who are already working as secretaries/administrative staff in the workplace, it also affects institutions of higher education and students who are studying towards an administrative profession. This requires both the institutions of higher education and industry to better prepare students to meet the requirements of the workplace. Given this background, this study examines the current status of the Office Management and Technology curriculum to discover whether it meets the demands of the workplace. The study also investigates learning opportunities offered to Office Management & Technology (OMT) students during Work-integrated Learning (WIL) and the implications for the curriculum, with the aim of improving both classroom learning and workplace learning, and to suggest improvements in the OMT curriculum in Universities of Technology (UoTs). This study investigates and provides information on the skills, attributes and competencies OMT graduates are required to possess in the 21st century world of work. It therefore provides the departments of office technology in UoT’s with an in-depth study of the strengths and weaknesses of their current curriculum so that improvement can be implemented wherever necessary. This study is a case study that involves Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) and Durban University of Technology (DUT). The method used was very largely a quantitative method because it was based purely on questionnaires, however, there was a small qualitative element which grew up on the open ended questions. The qualitative questions were used to provide participants with an opportunity to express their own opinions and to clarify the quantitative data within the questionnaire. The study utilised two sets of questionnaires which were distributed to two different groups within the targeted population – to industry supervisors who supervise OMT students at DUT and MUT, and to third year OMT students from MUT who underwent work integrated learning in 2015. The study shows that the current OMT curriculum is reasonably well in line with core industry needs. However, there was evidence that improvement is needed in both classroom learning and in workplace learning. The study also revealed new skills and attributes that need to be incorporated in OMT curriculum in order to be more responsive and relevant in the 21st century world of work. The study recommends that the Office Management and Technology curriculum should be reviewed regularly and that both university and industry should play a significant role in better preparing students to meet the requirements of the workplace. / M

In nursing education, experiential learning is an important part of the curriculum and accounts for almost half of the requirements for the nursing programmes. A positive relationship with and collaboration between the training institutions and clinical placement facilities are vital for student achievement. Nurse educators are also expected to involve themselves in clinical accompaniment to bridge the theory-practice gap. Student nurses placed in midwifery clinical learning environments experience difficulty in meeting their experiential learning outcomes and programme requirements. Due to the overcrowded clinical facilities, they compete for the limited learning opportunities and resources which make the integration of theory and practice difficult. Therefore, this leads to delay in the commencement of community service by some of the nursing students as they do not graduate because of not achieving midwifery clinical outcomes and programme requirements. The purpose of the study is to assess factors affecting experiential learning for midwifery students at the public college of nursing in the Eastern Cape and the main objectives of the study were to: • Identify the challenges affecting the quality of learning in the clinical learning environment. • Determine the nature of supervision for experiential learning of midwifery students. • Determine the role of a nurse educator in the experiential learning of student nurses in midwifery clinical learning environment. Methods and analysis A quantitative, descriptive survey was conducted by making use of the Clinical Learning Environment, Supervision and Nurse Teacher (CLES+T) evaluation scale. The CLES+T is a reliable and valid evaluation scale for the gathering of information on the clinical learning environment and supervision of student nurses. The CLES+T evaluation scale was completed by 115 student nurses within the selected sites. The CLES+T evaluation scale is subdivided into three main sections with additional sub-sections: (1) the learning environment (2) the supervisory relationship and (3) the role of the nurse teacher (lecturer).

M.A. (Applied Linguistics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Media Science) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / Women and authority therefore form the central theme of this research. The problematic nature of authority as experienced by female principals has led to the researcher addressing this issue and thereby establish guidelines to improve this problem. The value and uniqueness of this study lies in the empirical investigation which will use focus group interviews to identify the essential characteristics of the female principal's authority as experienced by her colleagues. 2 In the ensuing paragraphs, a concise statement of the research problem is given, facilitating the formulation of two queries, which in turn, underscore the specification of the central and specific aims of this research. Further explication of the research design follows, with reference to the nature of the literature and empirical studies conducted and finally to the sequence of this project.

M.Ed. (Educational Management) / The Department of Basic Education initiated continuing professional development (CPD) for quality professional development aimed at supporting and revitalising teaching. Also, to encourage teachers to engage continually in life-long career development leading to improvement of learner achievement. Current research studies indicate that there is lack of knowledge and skills among teachers to internalise goals for professional growth and expand capacity to create the desired performance. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the following question: What are teachers’ experiences of continuing professional development in a secondary school in Tembisa, in order to improve their teaching practices and school effectiveness? The study employed organisational behaviour in education and experiential learning as a theoretical framework. A qualitative research approach was applied and an instrumental case study employed as a strategy to focus on a group of six teachers and four School Management Team (SMT) members. Data was collected through three focus group interview sessions with secondary school teachers and an interview with the SMT as a group. A thematic data analysis was applied. Four main themes emerged as a result of the thematic analysis and interpretation, and revealed teachers’ understanding of CPD, the experiences with CPD as teachers engaged in CPD programmes such as content-subject-based training workshops and the CAPS training programme, improvement of teaching practice, and the SMT creating opportunities for teacher learning and development. A thematic analysis of the interview data with the SMT as a group revealed two themes which were: understanding CPD, and SMT views on creating opportunities for teacher learning and development. Continuing professional development (CPD) in education is reflected as an ongoing experiential learning process by which teachers participate in learning through continual attendance of content-subject-based training programmes, curriculum training workshops, and through registering for those certificates and degree programmes offered by universities. Teacher learning takes place in a cyclical process that consists of experiencing, reflecting, thinking and acting on experiences through the application of acquired knowledge, improved skills and changed attitudes. The findings of the study revealed that teachers experienced CPD as an ongoing process in which learning took place through attendance of content-subject-based training and CAPS training workshops in which collaborative learning played an important role. Even though teachers indicated that their teaching practice was improved, they highlighted the challenges experienced regarding CPD programmes. These challenges included the limited time allocated for CAPS training and content/subject training meetings held after working hours. It was clear that the allocated times for teacher training workshops were not realistic for adequately empowering teachers with knowledge and teaching skills for effective teaching practice in real classroom settings. Teachers took ownership and leadership in their CPD by going an extra mile to seek assistance from professionals with specialised knowledge in Mathematics and commercial subjects, and they collaborated with colleagues from other schools to learn different approaches to teaching. CPD enhances teachers’ ability to set their goals for teaching and it broadens their knowledge and teaching skills, giving them the opportunity to reflect continually on their professional growth and experiment in teaching practice.

M.Ed. (Tertiary Didactics) / Please refer to full text to view abstract