scholarly journals Rethinking Curriculum for Competency-Based on Contests Hampering Student Support in Open Distance Learning Space: South African Perspectives

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudzani Israel Lumadi
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
South African ◽  
Student Support ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Competency Based

scholarly journals Design, Implementation and Evaluation of a Distance Learning Framework to Expedite Medical Education during COVID-19 pandemic: A Proof-of-Concept Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 238212052110003
Author(s):  
Aida J Azar ◽  
Amar Hassan Khamis ◽  
Nerissa Naidoo ◽  
Marjam Lindsbro ◽  
Juliana Helena Boukhaled ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Student Autonomy ◽  
Learning Framework ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
Competency Based ◽  
Medical Educators

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced medical schools to suspend on-campus live-sessions and shift to distance-learning (DL). This precipitous shift presented medical educators with a challenge, ‘to create a “ simulacrum” of the learning environment that students experience in classroom, in DL’. This requires the design of an adaptable and versatile DL-framework bearing in mind the theoretical underpinnings associated with DL. Additionally, effectiveness of such a DL-framework in content-delivery followed by its evaluation at the user-level, and in cognitive development needs to be pursued such that medical educators can be convinced to effectively adopt the framework in a competency-based medical programme. Main: In this study, we define a DL-framework that provides a ‘ simulacrum’ of classroom experience. The framework’s blueprint was designed amalgamating principles of: Garrison’s community inquiry, Siemens’ connectivism and Harasim’s online-collaborative-learning; and improved using Anderson’s DL-model. Effectiveness of the DL-framework in course delivery was demonstrated using the exemplar of fundamentals in epidemiology and biostatistics (FEB) course during COVID-19 lockdown. Virtual live-sessions integrated in the framework employed a blended-approach informed by instructional-design strategies of Gagne and Peyton. The efficiency of the framework was evaluated using first 2 levels of Kirkpatrick’s framework. Of 60 students, 51 (85%) responded to the survey assessing perception towards DL (Kirkpatrick’s Level 1). The survey-items, validated using exploratory factor analysis, were classified into 4-categories: computer expertise; DL-flexibility; DL-usefulness; and DL-satisfaction. The overall perception for the 4 categories, highlighted respondents’ overall satisfaction with the framework. Scores for specific survey-items attested that the framework promoted collaborative-learning and student-autonomy. For, Kirkpatrick’s Level 2 that is, cognitive-development, performance in FEB’s summative-assessment of students experiencing DL was compared with students taught using traditional methods. Similar, mean-scores for both groups indicated that shift to DL didn’t have an adverse effect on students’ learning. Conclusion: In conclusion, we present here the design, implementation and evaluation of a DL-framework, which is an efficient pedagogical approach, pertinent for medical schools to adopt (elaborated using Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice) to address students’ learning trajectories during unprecedented times such as that during the COVID-19 pandemia.

scholarly journals Student access to and skills in using technology in an open and distance learning context

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanlie Liebenberg ◽  
Yuraisha Chetty ◽  
Paul Prinsloo
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
South African ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Access To Technology ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
South African Higher Education

<p>Amidst the different challenges facing higher education, and particularly distance education (DE) and open distance learning (ODL), access to information and communication technology (ICT) and students’ abilities to use ICTs are highly contested issues in the South African higher education landscape. While there are various opinions about the scope and definition of the digital divide, increasing empirical evidence questions the uncritical use of the notion of the digital divide in South African and international higher education discourses.</p><p>In the context of the University of South Africa (Unisa) as a mega ODL institution, students’ access to technology and their functional competence are some of the critical issues to consider as Unisa prepares our graduates for an increasingly digital and networked world.</p><p>This paper discusses a descriptive study that investigated students’ access to technology and their capabilities in using technology, within the broader discourse of the “digital divide.” Results support literature that challenges a simplistic understanding of the notion of the “digital divide” and reveal that the nature of access is varied.</p>

scholarly journals Portraits of primary school pre-service teachers at a South African university: Implications for nuanced student support

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarita Ramsaroop ◽  
Nadine Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Primary School ◽  
South African ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
Student Support ◽  
Primary School Teacher ◽  
First Year ◽  
Student Groups ◽  
Primary School Teacher Education

In this article, we report on a study of two South African primary school teacher education cohorts undertaken to investigate and understand their readiness to succeed in higher education and to plan support accordingly. Using the methodology of portraiture, we generated data from a combination of student questionnaires and examination results. Qualitative content analysis enabled the construction of six personas and three main themes. The portraits helped with an understanding of the complexity of the themes, in particular with how an identification of both the malleable and non-malleable elements affecting students' lives could inform and shape interventions for successful transition into university. More specifically, the dominance of particular characteristics in the personas provided information about which student groups required the most psychosocial and academic support and where it was required. The portraits also helped us to gauge the value of existing first-year initiatives, such as the educational excursion, for promoting student enculturation and in overcoming their initial anxieties and preconceptions. We argue for more nuanced information about students to inform a multi-pronged approach to student support that may extend much longer than teacher educators anticipate.

scholarly journals ALGORITHM FOR THE FORMATION OF A PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT BY MEANS OF STRUCTURING THE EDUCATIONAL SPACE OF THE UNIVERSITY BASED ON OFFICE365 AND MS TEAMS SERVICES

2020 ◽  
pp. 26-40
Author(s):  
Natalya Ivankova ◽  
Oleksii Ryzhov ◽  
Oleksii Androsov
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Learning Environment ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
Main Element ◽  
Learning Space ◽  
Flexible Tool ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Personal Learning Environment ◽  
The University

The algorithm of formation of a personal learning environment (PLE) and learning group environment for the organization of electronic distance learning in medical higher education institutions is offered. It was noted that the introduction of the COVID-19 quarantine raised the issue of reorganization of the learning space and accelerated the process of introducing the distance learning model. The experience gained by the authors during quarantine made it possible to form the stages of deploying the learning environment in the medical higher education institution and to define the educational space of the group as the main element of this environment. The main technological steps of creating subsystems of the educational space of the university for using cloud services MSO365 were considered using the example of Zaporizhzhia State Medical University. The conditions that allow creating a hierarchy of the learning environment were defined, namely: a project of the structure of the learning environment with the coordination of departments; registration of all participants of the learning process and creation of their accounts in Active Directory of the university; automated procedure of transferring group members to AD MSO365. The paper provides an example of a hierarchy of names, which is a reflection of the structure of university departments in terms of staffing and determines the rights of access to the usage of services that ensure the implementation of the corresponding functions. The authors found that the user account is the first integrating service that allows the user to form a personal learning environment using OneDrive, web-site MS SharePoint, MS Forms and other office applications. It was noted that the user account is the lowest level of the hierarchy of the learning environment, the usage of which provides a learning space for groups. According to the authors, it is reasonable to use MS Groups to form academic groups. Using MS Teams, a teacher gets a flexible tool to form a learning environment for various organizational forms, namely: lectures, seminars, practical classes, independent work, etc. The authors proposed rules for forming group names in MS Groups and MS Teams. They presented an algorithm for deploying the department's learning environment and proposed a suggestion of structuring the subject's learning environment using MS Teams channels for a small number of groups in the department.

scholarly journals Student support to enhance student living and learning at a South African University

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabella Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South African ◽  
Student Support ◽  
Support Structures ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Support Programme ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
South African Higher Education

Quantitative measures show that the higher education system in South Africa remains inefficient and this reality poses significant challenges to all universities. The Faculty of Humanities at the Tshwane University of Technology has added a Student Support Programme to the existing institutional student support structures. In this article, the author reflects on the experiences of student supporters who were appointe in 2014 and 2015 for the enhancement of students' living and learnining to improve success in the Faculty of Huanities. The findings indicated that this programme has indeed improved the academic performance and personal circumstances of hundreds of students. The under-preparedness of students entering South African higher education institutions was highlighted as a major obstacle in academic performances. The majority of students who are supported by this programme experience intense personal and social challenges that are by and large brought about by and as the result of severe financial needs. The student supprters were adamant in their departing statement that much more had to be done over and beyond the general and existing approach and support structures at the Tshwane University of Technology to support these students.Keywords: Student support; Student living; Student learning; Social challenges

scholarly journals Competency Based Approach: Modeling and Implementation

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malika Sedra ◽  
Samir Bennani
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
Computer Networks ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Learning Systems ◽  
Educational Content ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Competency Based

The expansion of computer networks has at the same time given impetus to the distance learning environments. E-learning systems are also advanced and more efficient. However, these platforms offer such complex teaching functionalities that designers find themselves poorly equipped to succeed in their engineering processes. This article presents a tool that makes it easier for designers to produce educational content according to the Competency-Based Approach (CBA). We propose an implementation of the CBA after its modeling via ontology. Our module can be grafted to any author system oriented pedagogy based skills. We have advocated for Service for Oriented Architecture as a software solution to model our business process that consists of a set of interconnected services that are modeled and implemented. The proposed system is the result of a coordina-tion of, services, incorporating the order of competences explained by a distance education, which integrates and interacts according to an orchestration plan.

Postgraduate training in health education/promotion: the demand from potential students for distance learning

1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gellisse Bagnall
Keyword(s):  
Distance Learning ◽  
Health Education ◽  
Postgraduate Training ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Student Support ◽  
Perceived Benefits ◽  
Learning Materials ◽  
Flexible Approach ◽  
Professional Study ◽  
Employer Support

This paper reports the findings from a survey on the demand among health education/promotion specialists for postgraduate professional study at Diploma or Masters level by distance learning methods. The purpose of the survey was to clarify perceived benefits and disadvantages of this flexible approach to study, along with information about appropriate structure and content of distance learning materials, student support systems, access to resources and predicted employer support. The results suggest that potential students among health education/promotion specialists throughout Scotland strongly favour the introduction of distance learning, with the need to negotiate adequate support (from employers) for such study being clearly recognised.

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