With the advent of globalisation driving the People.s Republic of China to embrace its future, the local government has shown great enthusiasm promulgating one of the oldest industries. Foreign higher educational providers that operate in China through the mode of joint venture cooperatives between a Chinese and foreign institution of higher learning are becoming increasingly .knowledgeable-hungry. public or private universities and colleges. Such operations commonly known as Sino-foreign educational cooperatives (SFEC), are hotly spawned on the mainland, enrolling Chinese students through the division of responsibilities, roles and resources. The Chinese party is mostly responsible for the hardware support, supplying facilities and logistics as the part of the bargain, whereas the foreign party provides the intellectual software of academic programs. The locus of this qualitative study aims to present and investigate a distinct phenomenon of learning in SFEC through the theories of sociocultural perspective encumbered in a transitional context; Sino-foreign (SF) graduates to other workplace communities. Without common interests of social interaction, co-participation, and transformation, SFEC are often discredited due to various factors. The learning aims will feature participative and transformative themes that feature qualitative and interpretive methods. Thus, this research involves interviewing four relevant participants from the likes of two Chinese nationals and two non-Chinese, and how they view learning in SFEC applied to a transitional context, the workplace. My furtherance of analysis will generally stress learning, co-participation and transformative learning in activities that circumvents discriminatory elements of artifacts, identity profiling, relationships, commitment and workplace employment for the necessary transition. In the initial research phase, it did seem that putting learning into community practice in China was essential. In the closing stages, thoughts will flow to the legitimisation of participative and transformative learning, which forms the backdrop of this original theme of research gathered through previous works of similar purview. Prawatt and Floden (1994) remark that knowledge, and the belief that knowledge is the result of social interaction and language usage, and thus is a shared, rather than an individual, experience. Presumably, my chosen theories frame the interactive and shared communal nature of the Chinese society and learning systems. / na

My research studies immigrants’ learning experiences as socially organized practices. Informed by the sociocultural approach of learning and institutional ethnography, I treat learning as a material and relational phenomenon. I start by examining how fourteen Chinese immigrants learn to fit into the engineering market in Canada. I then trace the social discourses and relations that shape immigrants’ learning experiences, particularly their changing perceptions and practices and personal and professional investments. I contend that immigrants’ learning is produced through social processes of differentiation that naturalize immigrants as a secondary labour pool, which is dismissible and desirable at the same time. My investigation unfolds around four areas of learning. The first is related to immigrants’ self-marketing practices. I show that core to immigrants’ marketing strategies is to speak to the skill discourse or employers’ skill expectations at the “right” time and place. The skill discourse, I argue, is culturally-charged and class-based. It cloaks a complex of hiring relations where “skill” is discursively constructed and differentially invoked to preserve the privilege and power of the dominant group. The second area is immigrants’ work-related learning. I find that workplace training is part of the corporate agenda to organize work and manage workers. Amid this picture, workers’ opportunity to access corporate sponsorship for professional development is contingent on their membership within the engineering community. To expand their professional space, the immigrants resorted to learning and consolidating their knowledge in codes and standards, which serve as a textual organizer of engineering work. The third area is related to workplace communication. My participants reported an individualistic communication ‘culture’, which celebrates individual excellence and discourages close interpersonal relations. Such a perception, I argue, obscures the gender, race and class relations that privilege white and male power. It also leaves out the organizational relations, such as the project-based deployment of the engineering workforce that perpetuate individualistic communicative practices. My last area of investigation focuses on immigrants’ efforts to acquire Canadian credentials and professional licence. Their heavy learning loads direct my attention to the ideological and administrative licensure practices that valorize Canadian credentials and certificates to the exclusion of others.

Literature on lifelong learning indicates that major life transitions lead to significant learning. However, compared to learning in paid jobs, learning in and through household work has received little attention, given the unpaid nature and the private sphere where the learning occurs. The current study examined the changes and the learning involved in three aspects of household work: food work, childcare/parenting, and emotion work among recent Chinese immigrants in Canada. This study draws on data from a Canadian Survey on Work and Lifelong Learning (WALL), 20 individual interviews, a focus group, and a discussion group with new Chinese professional immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area. The results indicate that food work and childcare increased dramatically after immigration due to a sudden decline of economic resources and the lack of social support network for childcare. Emotion work intensified due to the challenges in paid jobs and the absence of extended families in the new homeland. To adapt to the changes in their social and economic situations, and to integrate into the Canadian society, Chinese immigrants learned new beliefs and practices about food and childrearing, developed new knowledge and skills in cooking and grocery shopping, in childcare and disciplining, in solving conflicts with children and spouses, and in transnational kin maintenance. In addition, the Chinese immigrants also developed new views about family, paid and unpaid work, meaning of life, and new gender and ethnic identities. However, these dramatic changes did not shatter the gendered division of household work. Both the qualitative and the quantitative data suggest that women not only do more but also different types of household tasks. As a result, it is not surprising that both the content and the ways of learning associated with household work varied by gender, class, and ethnicity. By exploring learning involved in the four dimensions of household work: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, this dissertation demonstrates that learning is both lifelong and lifewide. By making household work visible, this research helps make visible the value of the unpaid work and the learning involved in it.

My research studies immigrants’ learning experiences as socially organized practices. Informed by the sociocultural approach of learning and institutional ethnography, I treat learning as a material and relational phenomenon. I start by examining how fourteen Chinese immigrants learn to fit into the engineering market in Canada. I then trace the social discourses and relations that shape immigrants’ learning experiences, particularly their changing perceptions and practices and personal and professional investments. I contend that immigrants’ learning is produced through social processes of differentiation that naturalize immigrants as a secondary labour pool, which is dismissible and desirable at the same time. My investigation unfolds around four areas of learning. The first is related to immigrants’ self-marketing practices. I show that core to immigrants’ marketing strategies is to speak to the skill discourse or employers’ skill expectations at the “right” time and place. The skill discourse, I argue, is culturally-charged and class-based. It cloaks a complex of hiring relations where “skill” is discursively constructed and differentially invoked to preserve the privilege and power of the dominant group. The second area is immigrants’ work-related learning. I find that workplace training is part of the corporate agenda to organize work and manage workers. Amid this picture, workers’ opportunity to access corporate sponsorship for professional development is contingent on their membership within the engineering community. To expand their professional space, the immigrants resorted to learning and consolidating their knowledge in codes and standards, which serve as a textual organizer of engineering work. The third area is related to workplace communication. My participants reported an individualistic communication ‘culture’, which celebrates individual excellence and discourages close interpersonal relations. Such a perception, I argue, obscures the gender, race and class relations that privilege white and male power. It also leaves out the organizational relations, such as the project-based deployment of the engineering workforce that perpetuate individualistic communicative practices. My last area of investigation focuses on immigrants’ efforts to acquire Canadian credentials and professional licence. Their heavy learning loads direct my attention to the ideological and administrative licensure practices that valorize Canadian credentials and certificates to the exclusion of others.

Literature on lifelong learning indicates that major life transitions lead to significant learning. However, compared to learning in paid jobs, learning in and through household work has received little attention, given the unpaid nature and the private sphere where the learning occurs. The current study examined the changes and the learning involved in three aspects of household work: food work, childcare/parenting, and emotion work among recent Chinese immigrants in Canada. This study draws on data from a Canadian Survey on Work and Lifelong Learning (WALL), 20 individual interviews, a focus group, and a discussion group with new Chinese professional immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area. The results indicate that food work and childcare increased dramatically after immigration due to a sudden decline of economic resources and the lack of social support network for childcare. Emotion work intensified due to the challenges in paid jobs and the absence of extended families in the new homeland. To adapt to the changes in their social and economic situations, and to integrate into the Canadian society, Chinese immigrants learned new beliefs and practices about food and childrearing, developed new knowledge and skills in cooking and grocery shopping, in childcare and disciplining, in solving conflicts with children and spouses, and in transnational kin maintenance. In addition, the Chinese immigrants also developed new views about family, paid and unpaid work, meaning of life, and new gender and ethnic identities. However, these dramatic changes did not shatter the gendered division of household work. Both the qualitative and the quantitative data suggest that women not only do more but also different types of household tasks. As a result, it is not surprising that both the content and the ways of learning associated with household work varied by gender, class, and ethnicity. By exploring learning involved in the four dimensions of household work: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, this dissertation demonstrates that learning is both lifelong and lifewide. By making household work visible, this research helps make visible the value of the unpaid work and the learning involved in it.

<p>^{With the advent of globalisation driving the People.s Republic of China to embrace its future,}^{the local government has shown great enthusiasm promulgating one of the oldest industries.}^{Foreign higher educational providers that operate in China through the mode of joint venture}^{cooperatives between a Chinese and foreign institution of higher learning are becoming}^{increasingly .knowledgeable-hungry. public or private universities and colleges. Such}^{operations commonly known as Sino-foreign educational cooperatives}</p><p>^(SFEC)^{, are hotly}^{spawned on the mainland, enrolling Chinese students through the division of responsibilities,}^{roles and resources. The Chinese party is mostly responsible for the hardware support,}^{supplying facilities and logistics as the part of the bargain, whereas the foreign party provides}^{the intellectual software of academic programs.}^{The locus of this qualitative study aims to present and investigate a distinct phenomenon of}^{learning in SFEC through the theories of sociocultural perspective encumbered in a transitional}^{context; Sino-foreign}^(SF)^{graduates to other workplace communities. Without common}^{interests of social interaction, co-participation, and transformation, SFEC are often discredited}^{due to various factors. The learning aims will feature participative and transformative themes}^{that feature qualitative and interpretive methods. Thus, this research involves interviewing four}^{relevant participants from the likes of two Chinese nationals and two non-Chinese, and how}^{they view learning in SFEC applied to a transitional context, the workplace.}^{My furtherance of analysis will generally stress learning, co-participation and transformative}^{learning in activities that circumvents discriminatory elements of artifacts, identity profiling,}^{relationships, commitment and workplace employment for the necessary transition. In the}^{initial research phase, it did seem that putting learning into community practice in China was}^{essential. In the closing stages, thoughts will flow to the legitimisation of participative and}^{transformative learning, which forms the backdrop of this original theme of research gathered}^{through previous works of similar purview. Prawatt and Floden (1994) remark that knowledge,}^{and the belief that knowledge is the result of social interaction and language usage, and thus is}^{a shared, rather than an individual, experience. Presumably, my chosen theories frame the}^{interactive and shared communal nature of the Chinese society and learning systems.}</p> / na

<p>A literature study focusing on teaching and learning in higher education in South Africa was conducted. Theories relevant to adult learning were also examined. These included behaviourist, cognitive, humanistic and social learning theories which were found to be relevant for the adult learner. The learning styles, which form the foundation for this study, were explored. Nine learning style theories and instruments were examined for possible adaptation in the South African higher education context. These were: Kolb Learning Style Index, Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Index, Honey and Mumford Learning Style Questionnaire, Felder and Silverman Index of Learning Style, Gregorc Style Delineator, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Grasha Reichmann Student Learning Styles Scales, Vermunt Inventory of Learning Styles, and the Centre for Innovative Teaching Experiences. From the nine learning style instruments, the Centre for Innovative Teaching Experiences instrument was selected for adaptation for the South African higher education sector.</p>

Avhandlingen beskriver och analyserar ett regionalt utvecklingsinitiativ i nätverksform, genom vilket de kommunala lärcentrumen i Örebro län samverkar för att utveckla en gemensam infrastruktur för vuxnas lärande. Detta innebär, exempelvis, att utveckla former för samverkan mellan olika regionala aktörer inom området, öka samordningen och samverkan inom den kommunala vuxenutbildningen och utveckla metoder för lärande med fokus på arbetet och arbetsplatsen. Den övergripande forskningsfrågan kan formuleras på följande sätt: Vilka är förutsättningarna för att genom regional samverkan, med en horisontell organisering i nätverksform, utveckla politiken, planeringen och organiseringen för vuxnas lärande, och med vilka teoretiska och metodologiska perspektiv kan vi förstå såväl problem som möjligheter? Två övergripande teoretiska perspektiv presenteras i avhandlingen, som relateras till det studerade fallet. Det gäller å ena sidan ett traditionellt planeringsperspektiv och å andra sidan ett evolutionärt lärandeperspektiv. Dessa perspektiv utgör både kontraster och komplement till varandra. Planeringsperspektivet har ’policysändaren’ som utgångspunkt, medan lärandeperspektivet har ’policymottagaren’ som utgångspunkt. Diskussionen i avhandlingen behandlar också de möjligheter som finns att kombinera de båda övergripande perspektiven, både som analytiska och strategiska perspektiv. Sammantaget kan studien av nätverket beskrivas som en kvalitativt inriktad fallstudie, där mitt kontinuerliga deltagande över tid i nätverkets sammankomster är ett centralt inslag. Intervjuer, en enkätundersökning, diskussioner och dokumentstudier utgör också material till studien. En interaktiv forskningsansats har tillämpats, som syftar till en gemensam kunskapsbildning och lärprocess mellan deltagarna och forskaren. Metodologiskt hämtar studien inspiration från den vetenskapsfilosofiska inriktning som kallas kritisk realism. En hastig överblick över studiens resultat ger vid handen att mycket av det som diskuterats i nätverket har stannat vid intentioner och har inte blivit omsatt i en praktik. Nätverket har också förblivit ganska internt, med en krets av lärcentrum- och vuxenutbildningschefer. Lite tillspetsat kan man säga att nätverket varken arbetat sig ’nedåt’ i respektive lokal organisation eller ’uppåt’ mot den politiska sfären, eller ’utåt’ mot det omgivande samhället och arbetslivet. Nätverket har onekligen ändå skapat nya och bättre förutsättningar för samarbete mellan lärcentrumen. Det finns nu betydligt mer av en gemensam förståelse och någonting att bygga vidare på, regionalt och lokalt. Det är också hoppfullt att se att nätverket fortsätter sitt arbete trots att det inte längre har externt stöd. Nätverket har, förefaller det, etablerat sig som en gemensam utvecklingsorganisation för deltagarna, och har nått ett stadium där mer konkreta och påtagliga former av samverkan börjar äga rum. / The thesis describes and analyses a regional development initiative in network form, through which the municipal learning centres in the County of Örebro are collaborating in order to develop a common infrastructure for adult learning. This involves, for example, developing forms for collaboration between various regional players in the field, increasing co-ordination and collaboration in municipal adult education and developing learning methods with a focus on work and the workplace. The overriding research question can be expressed as follows: What is the potential for developing adult learning policies, planning and organisation by means of regional collaboration entailing a horizontal organisation in network form, and what theoretical and methodological perspectives can we apply to understand both the problems and the opportunities? Two overriding theoretical perspectives are presented in the thesis and are related to the case studied. These are, on the one hand, a traditional planning perspective and on the other an evolutional learning perspective. These perspectives both contrast and complement each other. The staring point for the planning perspective is the ’policy transmitter’, while the starting point for the learning perspective is the ’policy receiver’. The discussion in this thesis also addresses the opportunities that exist to combine the two overriding perspectives, both as analytical and strategic perspectives. Overall, the study of the network can be described as a qualitatively-oriented case study, in which ongoing participation in the meetings of the network over a period of time is a central element.Interviews, a questionnaire, discussions and studies of documentation also form part of the material for the study. An interactive research approach has been used, that aims to establish a joint knowledgeacquisition and learning process between the participants and the researcher. Methodologically the study takes inspiration from the philosophical concept of critical realism. A brief review of the results of the study suggests that many of the ideas and proposals discussed in the network have come to nothing but good intentions. The network has also remained rather internal, consisting of a circle of learning-centre and adult-education managers. The network has neither worked much ’downwards’ in the respective local organisations, nor ’upwards’ towards the political sphere, nor ’outwards’ towards society and working life at large. Still, the network has undoubtedly created new and better conditions for collaboration between the learning centres. Mutual understanding has increased significantly and a base for further efforts, both regionally and locally, has been created. It also inspires hope to see that the network is continuing its work even though it no longer has external support. It appears that the network has established itself as a joint development organisation for the participants, and has reached a stage where more concrete and tangible forms of collaboration are beginning to take place.

The problem being investigated in this thesis is to understand and explain why some Setswana speaking students in the ACE-programme for Life Orientation who have voluntarily registered for a decentralised off-campus education programme at the NWU, continue to demand personal, face-to-face communication with their lecturers during the course of their studies. „Off-campus education‟ (also known as „distance education‟ and / or „decentralised education‟) is usually implemented in an attempt to afford more students the opportunity to improve their qualifications and skills – especially in the case of those students who, for a variety of reasons, may not be in a position to enrol for fulltime contact training. Off-campus education could help to serve the divergent education-related needs of poor, less privileged, geographically isolated, difficult-to-reach and deep rural communities. It could also assist with the teaching and learning of new knowledge and skills as far as its integrated use of contemporary technological developments is concerned. Besides UNISA, the North-West University is at present the biggest supplier of off-campus education programmes to practising teachers in the country. Despite the exponential increase in educational and technological developments in the late 20th and early 21st century, information and communication technology – within a broader South African context – is still not within reach of all the NWU‟s off-campus education students. Recent attempts to integrate contact education principles in off-campus education, led to the development of the (well-known) hybrid, namely „flexi-education‟. Over the past seven years or so, this state of affairs has slowly developed to the point where the number of registered, off-campus African education students at the NWU who insist (despite paper-based, electronic and mobile learning support) on demanding personal, face-to-face contact with their lecturers, has increased rapidly. It would furthermore seem that the use of, for example, internet and communication technology is increasing the existing gap between the African education student and his / her lecturer. This growing gap has already resulted in some registered African education students feeling increasingly isolated. The problem with the use of ICT in off-campus education is understood by some as leading to a situation where the ICT being implemented may, one day soon, replace the lecturer during scheduled contact facilitation sessions. Should that happen, it could mean that interactive communication and the social presence of the lecturer during scheduled contact facilitation sessions may be compromised and even permanently forfeited. The available body of scholarship does not adequately address the perceptions of students with regard to the importance of (a) the temporal-spatial, simultaneous presence of their lecturers and (b) social interactions during scheduled contact facilitation sessions. From the available literature, it is also not clear: why some students may want to entertain and maintain such perceptions, what the attitude of students with regard to social interaction and the social presence of their lecturers might be, or what role ICT could be playing in the life-world of off-campus students in South Africa. In an attempt to solve this intellectual conundrum and with a view to effecting naturalistic generalisation (and not statistical generalisation) I have decided, in light of the above, to implement and follow a multi-analytical research design (mixed methods, multi-analysis design) (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2009: passim; 117). Instead of me seeking to generalise my own research findings, I have decided to leave it to my readers to generalise the findings from their own experiences in the past (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2009: 120). This approach represents a kind of „fuzzy generalisation‟ (Ekiz, 2006:73) in the sense that something that has happened in one place could just as well be demonstrated to have happened somewhere else as well (ibid.). I have, therefore, undertaken both a quantitative as well as qualitative study in order to understand why Setswana speaking education students in the ACE-programme in Life Orientation would continue to demand personal, face-to-face contact with their lecturers, despite all the teaching and learning support that they are offered along the way. I have completed my research on the basis of (and in view of) my research aims. The same applies to the data that I have managed to capture and interpret. On the basis of these data, certain strategic guidelines for effective education in off-campus education programmes for practising teachers have then been drafted. My most important research findings include: Off-campus education is purposively delivered to the client, e.g. to the Setswana speaking student in his / her natural surroundings. Off-campus education should strive to care for the student and his / her contextualised needs. An authentic encounter between the off-campus lecturer and student should be allowed to take place. These encountering opportunities could assist in liberating the Setswana speaking student from all moral and ethical obligation of having to meet his / her lecturer and talking to him / her personally. No more moral burdening or social indebtedness should be placed on students to attend the scheduled contact facilitation sessions. The Setswana speaking student should be accompanied to feel and experience that s/he is unconditionally accepted and respected in his / her particular situation and locale. The Setswana speaking student should be able to feel and experience on a particularly deep interpersonal level the security that s/he has the right to belong to a particular off-campus education community (that is not only viewed as a communal society, but also managed as one). The University as service provider ought to create intimate, interactive spaces during scheduled contact facilitation sessions for all off-campus lecturers in order to afford their Setswana speaking students the opportunity to realise their ontic, social yearning for belonghesion. The Setswana speaking student experiences off-campus education as a process of social unity, as well as a social, communal learning community, together with his / her lecturers and fellow students. For this reason, scheduled contact facilitation sessions should be focusing (given the transactional nature of off-campus education) on communal, „perfect-fit education for us‟. Within a communal „perfect-fit‟ education community, the Setswana speaking student should be accompanied to adopt his / her reason for existence in the following manner: “We are, therefore I am.” Given the transactional nature of scheduled contact facilitation sessions (that should be focusing on transactional proximity, openness and sincerity within this communal „perfect-fit education for us‟) the Setswana speaking student does not wish the use of computer and internet technology to replace their ontic and socially cohesive, essential yearning for communal humanity and fellowship. It would seem that Setswana speaking students may not, necessarily, be less than ready for the implementation of ICT in their off-campus education programmes because they cannot afford it, but mainly because they do not yet regard computer and internet technology as part of their cultural furniture. Any attempt at implementing ICT in off-campus education should be considered and managed by universities with great circumspect, so that these students‟ social, ontic, and cohesively essential yearning and ever intensifying, deepening, socially-mutual attaching, fixative and reciprocally trusting attraction could be properly accounted for, and so that it may be managed satisfactorily on a curricular level. Off-campus education should, therefore, be based on the realisation of ontic „We-ness‟ where the members of this community continue to depend on each other and where the supply and delivery of off-campus education is constantly reformed and fine-tuned so that it may reflect an authentic collective learning community. Off-campus education should be focusing on a collectivist, communally searching, epistemological approach where human beings are constantly relating to their fellow human beings, playing different social roles and taking full responsibility for whatever may be needed to realise these students‟ off-campus studies successfully. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The problem being investigated in this thesis is to understand and explain why some Setswana speaking students in the ACE-programme for Life Orientation who have voluntarily registered for a decentralised off-campus education programme at the NWU, continue to demand personal, face-to-face communication with their lecturers during the course of their studies. „Off-campus education‟ (also known as „distance education‟ and / or „decentralised education‟) is usually implemented in an attempt to afford more students the opportunity to improve their qualifications and skills – especially in the case of those students who, for a variety of reasons, may not be in a position to enrol for fulltime contact training. Off-campus education could help to serve the divergent education-related needs of poor, less privileged, geographically isolated, difficult-to-reach and deep rural communities. It could also assist with the teaching and learning of new knowledge and skills as far as its integrated use of contemporary technological developments is concerned. Besides UNISA, the North-West University is at present the biggest supplier of off-campus education programmes to practising teachers in the country. Despite the exponential increase in educational and technological developments in the late 20th and early 21st century, information and communication technology – within a broader South African context – is still not within reach of all the NWU‟s off-campus education students. Recent attempts to integrate contact education principles in off-campus education, led to the development of the (well-known) hybrid, namely „flexi-education‟. Over the past seven years or so, this state of affairs has slowly developed to the point where the number of registered, off-campus African education students at the NWU who insist (despite paper-based, electronic and mobile learning support) on demanding personal, face-to-face contact with their lecturers, has increased rapidly. It would furthermore seem that the use of, for example, internet and communication technology is increasing the existing gap between the African education student and his / her lecturer. This growing gap has already resulted in some registered African education students feeling increasingly isolated. The problem with the use of ICT in off-campus education is understood by some as leading to a situation where the ICT being implemented may, one day soon, replace the lecturer during scheduled contact facilitation sessions. Should that happen, it could mean that interactive communication and the social presence of the lecturer during scheduled contact facilitation sessions may be compromised and even permanently forfeited. The available body of scholarship does not adequately address the perceptions of students with regard to the importance of (a) the temporal-spatial, simultaneous presence of their lecturers and (b) social interactions during scheduled contact facilitation sessions. From the available literature, it is also not clear: why some students may want to entertain and maintain such perceptions, what the attitude of students with regard to social interaction and the social presence of their lecturers might be, or what role ICT could be playing in the life-world of off-campus students in South Africa. In an attempt to solve this intellectual conundrum and with a view to effecting naturalistic generalisation (and not statistical generalisation) I have decided, in light of the above, to implement and follow a multi-analytical research design (mixed methods, multi-analysis design) (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2009: passim; 117). Instead of me seeking to generalise my own research findings, I have decided to leave it to my readers to generalise the findings from their own experiences in the past (Onwuegbuzie et al., 2009: 120). This approach represents a kind of „fuzzy generalisation‟ (Ekiz, 2006:73) in the sense that something that has happened in one place could just as well be demonstrated to have happened somewhere else as well (ibid.). I have, therefore, undertaken both a quantitative as well as qualitative study in order to understand why Setswana speaking education students in the ACE-programme in Life Orientation would continue to demand personal, face-to-face contact with their lecturers, despite all the teaching and learning support that they are offered along the way. I have completed my research on the basis of (and in view of) my research aims. The same applies to the data that I have managed to capture and interpret. On the basis of these data, certain strategic guidelines for effective education in off-campus education programmes for practising teachers have then been drafted. My most important research findings include: Off-campus education is purposively delivered to the client, e.g. to the Setswana speaking student in his / her natural surroundings. Off-campus education should strive to care for the student and his / her contextualised needs. An authentic encounter between the off-campus lecturer and student should be allowed to take place. These encountering opportunities could assist in liberating the Setswana speaking student from all moral and ethical obligation of having to meet his / her lecturer and talking to him / her personally. No more moral burdening or social indebtedness should be placed on students to attend the scheduled contact facilitation sessions. The Setswana speaking student should be accompanied to feel and experience that s/he is unconditionally accepted and respected in his / her particular situation and locale. The Setswana speaking student should be able to feel and experience on a particularly deep interpersonal level the security that s/he has the right to belong to a particular off-campus education community (that is not only viewed as a communal society, but also managed as one). The University as service provider ought to create intimate, interactive spaces during scheduled contact facilitation sessions for all off-campus lecturers in order to afford their Setswana speaking students the opportunity to realise their ontic, social yearning for belonghesion. The Setswana speaking student experiences off-campus education as a process of social unity, as well as a social, communal learning community, together with his / her lecturers and fellow students. For this reason, scheduled contact facilitation sessions should be focusing (given the transactional nature of off-campus education) on communal, „perfect-fit education for us‟. Within a communal „perfect-fit‟ education community, the Setswana speaking student should be accompanied to adopt his / her reason for existence in the following manner: “We are, therefore I am.” Given the transactional nature of scheduled contact facilitation sessions (that should be focusing on transactional proximity, openness and sincerity within this communal „perfect-fit education for us‟) the Setswana speaking student does not wish the use of computer and internet technology to replace their ontic and socially cohesive, essential yearning for communal humanity and fellowship. It would seem that Setswana speaking students may not, necessarily, be less than ready for the implementation of ICT in their off-campus education programmes because they cannot afford it, but mainly because they do not yet regard computer and internet technology as part of their cultural furniture. Any attempt at implementing ICT in off-campus education should be considered and managed by universities with great circumspect, so that these students‟ social, ontic, and cohesively essential yearning and ever intensifying, deepening, socially-mutual attaching, fixative and reciprocally trusting attraction could be properly accounted for, and so that it may be managed satisfactorily on a curricular level. Off-campus education should, therefore, be based on the realisation of ontic „We-ness‟ where the members of this community continue to depend on each other and where the supply and delivery of off-campus education is constantly reformed and fine-tuned so that it may reflect an authentic collective learning community. Off-campus education should be focusing on a collectivist, communally searching, epistemological approach where human beings are constantly relating to their fellow human beings, playing different social roles and taking full responsibility for whatever may be needed to realise these students‟ off-campus studies successfully. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.