Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. / Public relations (PR) scholars and industry partners continue to emphasise the importance of a sustainable relationship between PR disciplines and key industry iii partners. This relationship seeks to respond to stakeholders that remain despondent with the quality of engagement between the South African PR academia and industry. Existing literature in this field argues that PR departments at South African universities are experiencing adverse scrutiny by industry as many current academic programmes do not produce students who are industry ready. To address this critical concern, building and sustaining relations with key stakeholders is imperative. This study examines engagement strategies that the PR programme at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology uses to build and sustain relations with key industry partners. The research draws on two Public Relations theories: stakeholder theory and two-way symmetrical communication to make sense of the strategies used by this programme. It is based on a qualitative approach and an exploratory case study research design. Empirical data were collected through one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions with PR programme staffs, final year PR students and employees from two external PR consultancies. The data were coded and thematically analysed. The main finding of the study is that current engagement strategies are ineffective for relationship building purposes between the PR programme and key industry partners. To sustain mutually beneficial relationships, it is recommended that existing strategies be revised in order to improve relations between the PR department at Cape Peninsular University of Technology (CPUT) and its industry partners, as well as to promote the advancement of both PR as an academic discipline and a profession.

Thesis (MEd (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / This study focuses on the cognitive preparation of National Curriculum Statement (NCS) (Grades 10 – 12) Accounting learners for studies at a University of Technology (UoT). The purpose was to determine to what extent NCS cognitively prepares Accounting learners for studies at a UoT, and whether there is a difference in the extent to which NCS (pre-2014) and CAPS (2014) cognitively prepare learners for the first-year National Higher Certificate in Accounting and Financial Information Systems at a selected University of Technology (UoT). This study is contextually situated within the curriculum theories developed by Basil Bernstein‘s ‘code theory’ in the sociology of education. The theoretical framework for this thesis draws on the work of David Conley’s redefining college readiness, in which he argues that Higher Education (HE) readiness is a multi-faceted concept comprising numerous variables. Cognitive preparation for HE Accounting studies is reviewed in terms of the educational objectives of the cognitive domain of Benjamin Bloom. A mixed method approach for the research design was employed. The quantitative approach entailed completion and analysis of questionnaires by first-year Accounting students at a selected UoT to ascertain learners’ levels of Accounting competence as envisioned by the NCS (Grades 10 – 12). Marks for the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination in Accounting were obtained so that these examination marks could be compared with students’ levels of Accounting competence and marks at the end of the first term (March). The qualitative approach entailed document analyses of the Accounting FET (Grades 10 – 12) curriculum, the curriculum of the National Higher Certificate, the NSC Accounting examination of 2014, and the National Higher Certificate in Accounting March 2015 assessment, as well as interviews with the Accounting 1 lecturers at a selected UoT. Data revealed that the NCS (Grades 10 – 12) Accounting curriculum (formal or intended curriculum) adequately prepares learners cognitively for studies at a UoT. There is little evidence that CAPS prepares learners better for tertiary studies than students not trained according to CAPS. There is a statistically significant relationship between the mark obtained in the NSC, the mark in the questionnaire and the formal assessment in March. There are, however, various other factors that contribute to academic success or failure and drop-out in HE. Findings from this study suggest that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and universities could work more closely together in various subject groups to ensure these challenges are met and that universities provide feedback to the DBE on whether the changes implemented are making a difference to the quality of first-year students who enter university.

Thesis (MTech (Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / Student workload is measured by the time it takes to complete the learning activities. This study determines the workload of Design students by determining the time spent on in- and out-of-class learning activities of a Design course at a higher education institution in Cape Town. The Design learning process typically engages students in several of the following learning activities: problem solving; research and development of ideas; and the mastering of various skills relating to visual communication. These afore-mentioned activities span the duration of a design project crossing the boundaries between subjects. The teaching of Design occurs in various locations such as the design studio and site visits. It therefore becomes difficult to unpack the time spent on in- and out-of-class learning activities for the purposes of workload calculations as prescribed and defined by higher education institutions and educational policies worldwide. Workload is a significant variable in the curriculum and is of importance in the quality of the teaching and learning process in higher education. An analysis of the literature determined that student workload could be viewed as objective workload (notional hours), the perceived/estimated hours worked (as highlighted in student course experience surveys) or the actual hours reported over a period of time. The resulting discussions focused on the comparability of students‟ workload to the expected notional hours and grades. Thus far none of the previous studies considered time allocation or the workload of the Design student or Design education. Can it be assumed that notional hours apply to all subject fields and therefore, the time allocated to in- and out-of-class learning activities should be equal as well? A timesheet diary was used to determine the time spent on learning activities. The population consisted of Interior Design students. Participants indicated what they were doing in the class as well as the amount of time spent on learning activities outside of timetabled hours. This study determined that the time reported for text-based subjects aligned with the notional hours and timetabled hours. On the other hand, a drawing-related subject – because of project-based learning and individual crits – is allocated more timetable hours, which does not align with the notional hours. The contact time thus appears to be high in comparison to the notional hours and results in an overloaded timetable (28hrs). However, it was found that the individual average for in-class time (14hrs 54min) reported by the participants aligns with the notional hours. Further analysis of the reported time revealed that class duration should be considered in the light of the teaching methods. In addition the average workload in this study of 53hrs 7 min per week exceeds the notional 40 hours per week. The average workload was compared to the participant‟s term results, the notional 40-hours, and the 50% required for passing a subject. This revealed that participants whose workload exceeded 40 hours were likely to pass. This supports the notion that provision should be made in the curriculum to afford students the time to meet the learning outcomes. However, due to the small sample available the impact of workload on student retention and student success could not be determined.

Thesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / The skill of programming necessitates knowing programming tools, problem solving and effective techniques of program design and implementation. Most students are incapable of fully understanding and utilising the feature set of Integrated Development Environments (IDEs). The feature set of certain IDEs comes with a lot of functionalities and students have to spend a lot of their time studying the features of the IDE without paying much attention to the syntax and semantics of the programming language. The main objective of this study was to examine the perceptions of students on interactive environments for teaching Object-Oriented concepts using the Java programming language in two integrated development environments. This was done by adopting the ISO 9126 model to select generic external system quality characteristics and sub-characteristics that might influence student evaluation of an IDE. The proposed model was applied on NetBeans and JCreator LE 5.0 as IDEs for teaching Java programming using OOP concepts. The study adopted a mixed method research approach using interviews and questionnaires. A single-case study was used for data collection and analysis. The approaches collected data from two groups of students using either NetBeans or JCreator and who were learning OOP concepts. The study further looked at the students’ class tests and exam results in an effort to have an objective overview of how students performed. These groups of students were at two different campuses of the selected University. Each group had already been exposed to the Java syntax. The result from this study was general guidelines to establish an interactive OOP development environment for teaching and learning of Java programming that enhances OOP comprehension. This research study involved human subjects. It was, therefore, a requirement to seek ethics approval. Additionally, the objects involved were students of a selected University and as such a consent letter was sought from the University.

D.Ed. (Didactics) / The purpose of this research project was to ascertain whether the Mathematics curriculum for apprentices comply with scientifically defensible criteria. Important conclusions regarding characteristics of Mathematics, tuition and learning guides, and the aims of Mathematics, were reached ...

M.Ed. (Eucational Media) / The training of student-teachers in media selection, integration and utilization in Venda is not done according to expectations. To investigate this problem it was necessary to identify problem areas in the theoretical and practical training of media of teachers in Venda. In order to reach possible solutions to the set problem in confirmation of the purpose of the study, a literature survey on teacher education with special reference to pre-service education and media training was undertaken. An empirical study was also conducted which included four groups of respondents, namely: Rectors of Colleges and the Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University. Heads of Departments at these institutions. Lecturers at these institutions. Final year student-teachers at colleges and the university. The research as stipulated above yielded the following results: * The lecturer of student-teachers in training cannot use the available teaching media at the College/University because he himself has not been trained in the'use of available teaching media in the didactic situation. * The training programme of student-teachers is congested, which limits the time for training in and practising of the use of media in didactic situations. * The student-teacher completes his training without enough knowledge on how to use teaching media in a teaching-learning situation. * The rejection of using teaching media by lecturers and student-teachers Js il result of lack of knowledge on how to use teaching media. * There is no in-service training for lecturers and teachers to update them in teaching media. * Mainly three teaching media can be used by student teachers, lecturers and teachers, that is Chalkboard, Maps and Wall Charts. * Schools where student-teachers do teaching practice have a lack of audiovisual materials and other equipment. * The period of teaching practice is not enough to practise teaching media in the real teaching-learning situation, is, where some of the teaching media are available. * Teachers at schools cannot offer guidance to student media during practice * Student-teachers have a good theoretical knowledge but no practical knowledge of teaching media in the didactic situation.

M.Cur. (Nursing Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Ed.

Prof. W.J. Hattingh Prof. H. Viviers

M.Cur. / The effective application of learning opportunities for health care necessitates attention for practice. A conceptual guideline has been compiled according to a literature study in order to determine the practice of health education. In this research into learning opportunities for the presentation of the module, mother and child health services in community health nursing, the method adopted was the following: the student nurse was actively involved in the teaching process by way of group discussion, thereby acquiring greater cognitive skill s, through practical guidance the student nurse is given an opportunity to master interpersonal skills, The results have shown that student nurses ought to be exposed to various teaching methods as early in their trainfng as possible in order to exercise in practfce, the mastering of interpersonal skill s, In order to demonstrate the effect of group activity and role play to the student nurse, certain recommendations have been made. The most important include the following: It would appear that' traditional lecture methods .alone are not sufficient for the training of student nurses in the field of rendering health counselling. The student nurse should therefore be actively involved through teaching methods such as group discussions and role play. As early in the student nurse's training as possible the importance of establishing and maintaining sound interpersonal skills for effective health counselling should be emphasized.