Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Master's Degree of Technology: Information Technology, Durban University of Technology, 2010. / The main purpose of this study was to examine how e-learning can help resolve some of the
most acute problems that are specific to the nature of the outcomes-based education (OBE)
system in developing countries. This was accomplished by investigating the relevant literature on
OBE and by designing an e-learning content prototype for the South African version of OBE,
with the focus on the training of Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy educators.
OBE is an education system centred on the theory of mastery of learning introduced by Bloom in
the 1950s. It has been implemented worldwide in primary and secondary schools and also in
tertiary institutions. Some studies have shown that OBE is problematic, and that both educators
and learners are opposed to this system of education. Existing research also reports that the
quality of education in OBE is very poor as compared to that of the traditional education system.
This study was an attempt to identify the most acute problems experienced by educators and
learners in the OBE context and to design a prototype for e-learning content that can be used in
courses in an attempt to solve these problems.
The research population of the perceptions survey consisted of Mathematics and Mathematical
Literacy educators and learners from the 6 000 primary and secondary schools of the KwaZulu-
Natal (KZN) province of South Africa. Eighteen schools formed part of the research sample,
with an average of two schools per region (the KZN province is divided into nine regions). Both
private and public schools were included in the study. Data for the study were collected from
March 2007 to August 2007 in the form of a perceptions survey of 104 educators and 288
learners, yielding an average of six educators and sixteen learners for each randomly selected
school.
Results from the perceptions survey show that educators and learners do not understand OBE
terminology. In addition, educators claim that they are not sufficiently trained for OBE. Research
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participants also report that schools’ basic infrastructure is unsatisfactory, and that their
classrooms are overcrowded. Mathematics is perceived as the most difficult subject by both
educators and learners. The survey also reveals that most public schools do not have computers
and that neither educators nor learners have access to computers in their public libraries.
A SCORM- (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) compliant e-learning course was
developed in this study to address the most acute problems identified by the survey, based on the
Software Engineering Unified Model. The designed e-course contains OBE terminology such as
learning outcomes, OBE principles, assessment standards, assessment methods, national
curriculum statement and learning fields. The e-learning course content also contains the
Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy curriculum for grades 11 and 12. It was constructed
using 16 documents extracted from the National Department of Education’s website: 7
documents under Further Education and Training, 4 under Teacher Guide, and 5 under General
Education and Training. The evaluation of the e-learning content prototype was conducted
through a survey among 36 educators from different primary and secondary schools of the
Mnquma Municipality of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. They were trained in the
SCORM-compliant e-learning course content at the Walter Sisulu University’s Butterworth
campus. The training took place from 10 to 13 November 2009. After the training, educators
filled out a questionnaire on their perceptions of the effectiveness of the proposed e-learning
content prototype with regard to the practice of OBE.
Results from the SCORM e-course evaluation survey showed that the proposed SCORM
software artefacts allow educators to have a better understanding of OBE terminology. The
proposed software artefact is user-friendly and educators recommended its use not only for
Mathematics but for all subjects.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:dut/oai:localhost:10321/587 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Piyose, Xolisa |
| Contributors | Eyono Obono, Seraphin Desire |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 170 p |
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