Text in Afrikaans / Die Rektoraatsomsendskrywe word binne die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika (Unisa) gebruik as mondstuk vir die Bestuur, maar ook terselfdertyd om inligting van en/of oor Departemente, Afde lings en Institute aan ander Departement, Afde lings en Institute oor te dra. Veral inligting betreffende personeelaangeleenthede, departemente le aange l eenthede, gel eenthede aangebi ed deur 'n Departement, verandering in diensvoorwaardes, die beleid van Unisa, die eksterne publieke van Unisa en die verbetering van die algemene welstand van die personeel word versprei. Die vraag het ontstaan in welke mate hierdie kommunikasiekanaal effektief funksioneer. Daar wil ook vasgestel word hoe belangrik die Rektoraatsomsendskrywes as kommunikasiekanaal beskou word in die totale kommunikasiesisteem van Unisa. 1.3 PROBLEEMFORMULERING Die doel van hierdie studie is om die Rektoraatsomsendskrywe as kommunikasiekanaal binne Unisa te evalueer. 1.4 AANNAMES Die volgende aannames ten opsigte van die huidige status van die Rektoraatsomsendskrywe as kommunikasiekanaal aan Unisa gaan geverifieer en vergelyk word met die riglyne soos wat dit onder punt 3 uiteengesit word. Die Rektoraatsomsendskrywe word beskou as die belangrikste kommunikasiekanaal waardeur die Bestuur vinnig met alle Personeel gelyktydig kan kommunikeer. Die Rektoraatsomsendskrywe funksioneer nie optimaal nie. Personeel verkies Rektoraatsomsendskrywe in ten minste Afrikaans en Engels. Die uitleg van die Rektoraatsomsendskrywe voldoen nie aan die behoeftes van die personeel nie. 3 Te veel Rektoraatsomsendskrywe het gedurende 1995 verskyn, dit wil se oorlading het voorgekom. Die gedrukte formaat Rektoraatsomsendskrywe word verkies bo die Rektoraatsomsendskrywe in elektroniese formaat. Die verspreiding van sekere reekse Rektoraatsomsendskrywe aan sekere teikengroepe het tot gevolg dat inligting wat van toepassing is op alle personeel, slegs aan sekere groepe personeel gestuur word. Daar is nie konsekwentheid in die tipe inligting wat aan die verskillende teikengroepe gestuur word nie. / Communication Science / Unknown

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.

This thesis proposes a conceptual framework for the discussion of concepts of academic freedom and institutional autonomy in a South African higher education context. A four-cell matrix is presented at the start of the thesis that distinguishes four types of understandings of these concepts. Having discussed these concepts-in-use in different contexts, the grid is used as a framework to explicate local debates on academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Beyond the conceptual exploration, the thesis traces a variety of broader debates in higher education in an attempt to add a richness to the South African conversations relating to academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Postmodernism and its implications for higher education in South Africa is explored, as is the more recent phenomenon (or ideology) of globalisation. Finally, the advent of external quality assurance in South Africa is considered and its role in changing perceptions of academic work and academic identity through the potential circumscribing of the academic domain is explored. My hope is that this thesis will contribute to a broadening and deepening of the current South African debates, and at the same time, offer a uniquely South African perspective on global conversations on academic freedom and institutional autonomy. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.

No summary available / Mathematical Sciences/Teacher Education / D.Phil.

Text in Afrikaans / Die probleem wat in hierdie studie aangespreek word, is die gebrek aan 'n didakties gefundeerde mediabenuttingstrategie vir afstandsonderwys. So 'n mediabenuttingstrategie behoort op 'n wetenskaplike ondersoek wat bestaande kennis en navorsing met 'n didaktiese besinning oor die moontlikhede en beperkinge van mediabenutting integreer, gebaseer te wees. Om hierdie probleem te oorkom word daar gepoog om 'n didakties verantwoorde grondslag vir die mediakundige ontwerp van mediabenutting in afstandsonderwys daar te stel waaruit 'n mediabenuttingstrategie vir afstandsonderwys saamgestel kan word wat ook binne die konteks van die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika toegepas kan word. Daar word dus vanuit 'n didaktiese perspektief na mediabenutting in afstandsonderwys gekyk. Daar word gepoog om aan te dui dat mediabenutting (van die mees eenvoudige tot die mees ingewikkelde) voorafgegaan behoort te word deur didakties gefundeerde mediakundige ontwerp. Eerstens word 'n aantal basiese uitgangspunte ten opsigte van didaktiese fundering en mediabenutting geformuleer. Die belangrikste aspekte wat aangespreek word, is die didaktiese situasie en mediabenutting, enkele grondliggende didaktiese riglyne, leerervarings, leergeleenthede en leerstofverwerking. Hierdie aspekte word as die onderbou beskou waarop doeltreffende mediakundige ontwerp in afstandsonderwys gefundeer behoort te word. Daarna word daar teen die agtergrond van didaktiese ontwerpmodelle, kommunikatiewe beeldeienskappe en media-eienskappe aangetoon dat mediakundige ontwerp 'n integrale deel van didaktiese ontwerp behoort te wees. 'n Uitgebreide model vir die beplanning van doeltreffende mediabenutting word daargestel om benut te kan word as 'n kontrole-instrument vir die mediakundige ontwerp van doeltreffende didaktiese gesprekke. In hierdie verband word daar klem gelê daarop dat 'n verskeidenheid van kundighede (vakinhoudelik, didaktiese fundering, afstandsonderwys, mediakundige antwerp, praktiese en tegniese mediakundige aspekte, en so meer) nodig is om op 'n doeltreffende wyse sinvolle mediabenutting tydens didaktiese gesprekke te verseker. Enkele aspekte rakende afstandsonderwys in die algemeen word daarna vanuit 'n mediakundige perspektief ondersoek met verwysing na die kernaspekte wat in definisies en beskrywings van afstandsonderwys voorkom. Enkele aspekte, spesifiek ten opsigte van mediabenutting in afstandsonderwys, word bespreek en 'n aantal tendense uit die literatuur word geidentifiseer. 'n Moontlike scenario ten opsigte van mediabenutting in afstandsonderwys word voorgestel met spesiale verwysing na die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika. Die tersiere afstandsonderwyssituasie en mediabenuttingsmoontlikhede in afstandsonderwys word ook binne die konteks van die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika verbesonder. Hieruit word 'n didakties verantwoorde strategiese plan vir mediabenutting aan die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika gesintetiseer. Laastens word aandag geskenk aan 'n aantal verbandhoudende bevindings, gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings wat uit die studie voortvloei. Hierdie aspekte gee dan ook aanleiding tot aanbevelings vir toekomstige navorsing binne die veld van mediabenutting in afstandsonderwys. / The problem addressed in this study is the lack of a didactically based strategy for media utilisation in distance education. A strategy such as this should be based on a scientific investigation integrating existing knowledge and research with didactic reflection on the prospects for and limitations of media utilisation. To surmount this problem, an attempt is made to create a didactically responsible basis for media design for media utilisation in distance education. It is pointed out that media utilisation should be preceded by didactically based media design. First, a number of basic points of departure are formulated with regard to didactic grounding and media utilisation. The most important aspects that are addressed are basic didactic guidelines, learning experiences, opportunities for learning and the processing of the learning material. These aspects are regarded as the substructure on which effective media utilisation in distance education should be based. Next, against the background of didactic design models, communicative image characteristics and media characteristics, it is demonstrated that media design should be an integral part of didactic design. An expanded model for planning effective media utilisation is proposed. In this connection emphasis is placed on the need for a variety of skills in order to ensure effective and significant media utilisation during didactic discourse. Some aspects of distance education in general are then investigated from a media-related perspective, with reference to the central aspects that appear in definitions and descriptions of distance education. Some aspects that specifically relate to media utilisation in distance education are discussed and a number of trends in the literature are identified. A proposal is made regarding a possible scenario regarding media utilisation in distance education, with special reference to the University of South Africa. Tertiary distance education and the prospects for media utilisation in distance education are also highlighted within the context of the University of South Africa. Finally, attention is given to a number of related findings, conclusions and recommendations that emanate from the study. These aspects also lead to recommendations for future research within the field of media utilisation in distance education. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didaktiek)

This twofold study is concerned with the status of library skills within the realm of undergraduate students' information handling skills. The main problem under investigation is whether students require library skills in order to be information literate. In the first phase of the study, a conceptual analysis is done of information literacy and information skills, and a typology of information skills is drawn up. The skills in the typology range from lower level locating skills to higher level cognitive skills such as synthesizing and evaluating. Library skills (as taught in user education programmes) are identified and placed within the information skills typology, resulting in a model of library and information skills. This model indicates that library skills can be subsumed under generic information skills but that they fall only within the lower level of information handling skills. It therefore cannot be concluded that library skills are integral to information literacy. However, it is proposed that library skills represent a prototype of information gathering strategies, and if taught as such they would be more relevant to the lifelong learning aspect of information literacy. The second phase of the project consists of three empirical studies, where the role of library skills at first year level in a distance learning institution is investigated, using the University of South Africa (Unisa) as an illustrative example. The grounded theory style of qualitative research is used to explore the attitudes of lecturers towards the need for library skills in students. Based on the findings, two grounded theories of library skills requirements are proposed: a theory of library skills nescience at Unisa, and a generalized theory of library skills requirements at a distance learning institution. It is suggested that if librarians intend to be involved in information literacy teaching, they need to convince lecturers of the importance of independent information seeking for students, should promote the prototype of information gathering strategies, and form a partnership between themselves and lecturers with the intention of teaching information gathering strategies across the subject curriculum. / Information Science / D. Bibl.

Bibliography: pages 181-189. / The construction of macro level policy is made more difficult by the absence of a reservoir of analytical accounts which raise issues which policy at that level must address. This study is concerned with the development of policy within a very specific context and as such it is a modest and limited contribution to the development of that reservoir of theorised practice of adult education in South Africa. In this it is both a documentary record of the development of adult education at the University of Natal and an exploration of the dynamics of the policies which were evolved to direct that development. The study is thus a descriptive and analytical account of the work of the Centre for Adult Education at the University of Natal over the 20 year period from 1971 to 1991 set against the context of the broad development of adult education in South Africa in general and developments in university based adult education development in particular.

The aim of this research is to evaluate the process of the 2005 Excellence in Tuition Awards at the University of South Africa. To achieve this aim an investigation was undertaken into (a) the strengths and weaknesses of the 2005 Awards process and (b) possible ways to improve it for the future. The literature study sought to place the rewarding of quality teaching in the broader framework of international excellence in tuition awards, current criteria (both locally and globally) used in evaluating teaching in higher education, and principles of business process management. The qualitative investigation attempted to provide a contextual understanding of Unisa's experience of awarding excellence in tuition, through an exploration of the experiences of those who were directly involved in the 2005 Excellence in Tuition Awards process at Unisa. The findings serve as basis for guidelines for future Awards processes. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.(Open and Distance Learning)

In this study, research was conducted on the information needs of Unisa students. Most distance students do not personally visit the library, which makes it difficult for librarians to determine whether or not they are meeting their needs. The library plays an important support role in any university, especially in the open distance learning context. It is therefore important for librarians serving distance learners to continually evaluate their services in order to see if they are still meeting their client’s needs. The aim of this study was to determine if students are aware of the library services to which they are entitled, and if the library is successfully reaching and assisting remote students, and how its services can be improved. Questionnaires were posted to students, and interviews were conducted with on-campus students and staff. Chapter 1 covers the orientation and background to the study. Chapter 2 discusses the research methods used to collect information. In Chapter 3, the library needs of distance learners were discussed, while Chapter 4 presented a discussion of the findings drawn from the questionnaires and interviews, and Chapter 5 makes recommendations based upon these findings. It was found that some of the students surveyed were not aware of their library privileges. It is recommended that the Unisa library employ better strategies to market the library services available to students. Furthermore, the library needs to find better ways to reach out to remote students who have no access to information and communications technology upon which the modern library is so reliant.

The aim of this research is to evaluate the process of the 2005 Excellence in Tuition Awards at the University of South Africa. To achieve this aim an investigation was undertaken into (a) the strengths and weaknesses of the 2005 Awards process and (b) possible ways to improve it for the future. The literature study sought to place the rewarding of quality teaching in the broader framework of international excellence in tuition awards, current criteria (both locally and globally) used in evaluating teaching in higher education, and principles of business process management. The qualitative investigation attempted to provide a contextual understanding of Unisa's experience of awarding excellence in tuition, through an exploration of the experiences of those who were directly involved in the 2005 Excellence in Tuition Awards process at Unisa. The findings serve as basis for guidelines for future Awards processes. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.(Open and Distance Learning)