scholarly journals A socially just pedagogy in the use of mobile devices in higher education? The case of Humanities first-year students at a South African university

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Carina Van Rooyen ◽  
Ingrid Estha Marais
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
South African ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Humanities Students

In a highly unequal society such as South Africa, higher education is seen as having a social justice mandate to widen participation, and using technology is one way to achieve this. One university in South Africa made mobile devices compulsory for all first-year students since 2014. This article, drawing on data collected from first-year Humanities students at this university, attempts to understand whether the use of mobile devices for learning met requirements for a socially just pedagogy. We used a sequential mixed methods research design, first surveying the first-year Humanities students in late 2015, and then followed up with focus group discussions in 2016 and early 2017. We utilise Nancy Fraser’s idea of ‘participatory parity’ to unpack a socially just pedagogy, and specifically focus on the component of access to resources. We found that most students had functional access to devices and on-campus data. The manner in which these were accessed was affirmative, rather than transformative. By extending the notion of access beyond just opportunity (functional access as owning or having access to a device and data), to also knowing how to use the opportunity (digital access through digital literacies and fluencies), we found that our case study fell short of being socially just pedagogy. We urge that lecturers take up a central role in enabling students to use their devices for transformative learning.   How to cite this article:VAN ROOYEN, Carina; MARAIS, Ingrid Estha. A socially just pedagogy in the use of mobile devices in higher education? The case of Humanities first-year students at a South African university. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South v. 2, n. 2, p. 53-70, Sept. 2018. Available at: http://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=66   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

scholarly journals Supplemental Instruction as a Tool for Students' Academic Performance in Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oyinlola Omolara Adebola
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
South African ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Academic Support ◽  
Supplemental Instruction ◽  
Dropout Rate ◽  
First Year ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
First Year Students

Supplemental instruction (SI), which can be referred to as academic support has been linked to the successful academic performance of university students both locally and internationally. This study explores the successful implementation of SI to encourage students toward academic performance in a South African university. Constructivism theory (CT) was adopted as the theoretical framework for the study while Participatory Research (PR) was the research design. A focused group interview was used to collect data because of its relevance and assumptions of academic support such as supplemental instruction. Two lecturers, two tutors, two tutees, and two SI personnel were selected for the study from a selected university. At the same time, thematic analysis was chosen to analyse the data generated. The findings showed that through the intervention of SI, first-year students' academic performance increased while the dropout rate has also reduced.

scholarly journals Learning Experiences of Students Who Are Hard of Hearing in Higher Education: Case Study of a South African University

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 137-148
Author(s):  
Diane Bell ◽  
Estelle Swart
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Academic Experience ◽  
Body Of Knowledge

Students who are hard of hearing (HOH) are being granted access to university increasingly, yet they remain significantly under-represented and under-supported, often resulting in poor academic outcomes with elevated levels of attrition. This situation places a growing obligation on universities to improve the support provided to these students in order to have a positive influence on their overall academic experience and eventual economic independence. This trend is relevant to South Africa, where Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are accepting and registering students with a hearing loss but are not providing adequate academic support and inclusive curricula. Furthermore, in South Africa, almost no research has been conducted concerning students who are HOH in higher education regarding their teaching and learning needs or the coping strategies which they use to survive academically. However, what is known is that, of those HOH students who do enter higher education, many do not graduate successfully (up to 75%) and, of those that do graduate, many continue to be excluded from professions. The aims of this article were to report on the teaching and learning experiences of students who are HOH at a South African university, who prefer to make use of spoken language, to share the daily barriers with which they are faced, and to provide recommendations for teaching and learning, as well as curricula transformation. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on this topic in South Africa and could be relevant in similar contexts.

scholarly journals Present-Day Dillemas And Challenges Of The South African Tertiary System

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 285 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Mouton ◽  
G. P. Louw ◽  
G. L. Strydom
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Education System ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
School Level ◽  
First Year ◽  
Exit Point ◽  
The South ◽  
Higher Education System

The Education White Paper 3 on Higher Education aimed to transform the higher education system. Change within tertiary education included adjusting the size and shape of institutions, the meaning of autonomy and accountability, the nature of higher education, the character of student demographic distribution, management and governance, roles of student politics, models of delivery, the notion of higher education in terms of the relationship between free trade and public good, programme changes and the nature of the academic workplace. At this stage, transformation in higher education is leaping outwards to fulfil the criteria set by international competitiveness and related efficiency criteria that can be attributed to globalisation pressures and to deeper factors inherent in the nature of higher education, especially in terms of its resistance to change and modernization. In this regard, the tertiary higher education system in South Africa is faced with many multi-dimensional challenges that need to be addressed in this article. This includes stating whether Grade 12 results as the outcome of this exit point at school level are, internationally speaking, a reasonable predictor of first-year academic success at university. In South Africa, there is no benchmarking of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination; therefore, first-year students have difficulty in adapting to the university environment as they find themselves devoid of indispensable bases for the pursuit of their studies and the weakness of the level of education given at school level in a large number of instances. Furthermore, five universities were placed under administration in the 2011-2012 period because of appallingly poor levels of management, which adds extra layers of suspicion to the notion of the impact of higher education in South Africa. Many other challenges are facing the South African tertiary education system, which will be analysed and recommendations arrived at that will attempt to contribute to an enhancement of tertiary education in South Africa.

scholarly journals First year students' experiences with technology: Are they really digital natives?

2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor E. Kennedy ◽  
Terry S. Judd ◽  
Anna Churchward ◽  
Kathleen Gray ◽  
Kerri-Lee Krause
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
University Students ◽  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Digital Natives ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students

<span>This paper reports on a study conducted in 2006 with more than 2,000 incoming first-year Australian university students. Students were asked about their access to, use of and preferences for an array of established and emerging technologies and technology based tools. The results show that many first year students are highly tech-savvy. However, when one moves beyond entrenched technologies and tools (e.g. computers, mobile phones, email), the patterns of access and use of a range of other technologies show considerable variation. The findings are discussed in light of Prensky's (2001a) notions of the 'Digital Natives' and the implications for using technology to support teaching and learning in higher education.</span>

scholarly journals Enlivening pedagogical methods in the classroom through visual arts

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Berman ◽  
Shonisani Netshia
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Visual Arts ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
African Students ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Creative Commons ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Pedagogical Methods

The call for ‘decolonising’ the curricula by the #FeesMustFall student-led protest movement, in response to an increase of fees at South African universities from 2015, presents educators with the challenge of engaging more relevant methodologies for teaching and learning local content that are appropriate for revised approaches in higher education. Our question in response to this challenge is: how do we enliven curricula and develop pedagogical approaches that can engender a sense of belonging for incoming first-year students and prevent polarising tendencies in the classroom? The visual arts are well positioned to disrupt divisions and stereotypes and offer creative ways to explore patriarchal and colonial power relations. Arts provide safe and empathetic ways for incoming students to gain perspective on their situations from both insider and outsider positions, and to develop a compassionate and enlarged view of the world. In this paper, we introduce some definitions and theoretical positions of decolonising frameworks in the classroom and present a series of first-year classroom interventions as examples of praxis. It is our contention that the arts create the conditions for equalising a classroom space through directing visual processes to engage issues such as the polarisation of race and class. Students are able to engage with ways of responding to their own understandings of how they see themselves as African students. How to cite this article: BERMAN, Kim; NETSHIA, Shonisani. Enlivening pedagogical methods in the classroom through visual arts. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South, v. 2, n. 1, p. 4-20, Apr. 2018. Available at: http://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=26   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

scholarly journals MANAGING INFORMATION FOR WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-28
Author(s):  
Roelien Brink ◽  
Martie Mearns ◽  
Tanya Du Plessis
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Information Management ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Integrated Learning ◽  
Phenomenological Research Design ◽  
Work Integrated Learning

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in South Africa require teaching and learning to include work-integrated learning (WIL) within specific learning offerings. The different learning options provided by various faculties have unique and diverse procedures which justify different WIL approaches at HEIs. A lack of structure regarding the information management (IM) for WIL across departments results in different processes being followed, which can impact negatively on the optimal utilisation of WIL. Frameworks for IM for WIL, however, have been developed at international HEIs. Using a qualitative approach and phenomenological research design and working with these frameworks as well as the Theory of Motivated Information Management, the researchers collected data using semi-structured individual interviews and group discussions from the University of Cincinnati (UC) and the Northwestern University (NWU) in Illinois, United States (US). This article presents the findings of an IM framework from these two US universities. After research was conducted at a South African university, a conceptual framework was developed for the IM for WIL based on the framework from the international universities that may be implemented at HEIs in South Africa. With time this framework could betested in a number of settings that could lead to the development of a model for IM for WIL in the South African context. The article, however, reports on the findings of the two international universities only and the conceptual framework requires further testing and validation before it can be published.

scholarly journals Student Attitudes Towards Cooperative Construction Education Experiences

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theo Haupt
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Student Attitudes ◽  
Cooperative Education ◽  
First Year ◽  
Predominantly Black ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Construction Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
Real Value

This paper reports on the findings of a study that examined the attitudes of students at a historically disadvantaged institution (HOI) compared with those at a previously advantaged institution (PAl) in South Africa. PAis in South Africa have been almost exclusively white in the past while HOls have been predominantly black-both with respect to their academic staffing and student population. It is argued that higher education institutions have given students in general too little that will be of real value beyond a credential that will help them get their first jobs. The opinions of first year students were surveyed before, and third and final year students after, their practical periods of employment in construction. The study concludes that all the cooperative partners in cooperative education can do much more to improve this approach to construction education.

scholarly journals Higher education leadership responses applied in two South African comprehensive universities during the COVID-19 pandemic: A critical discourse analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamvalethu Kele ◽  
Pedro Mzileni
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
South African ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Comprehensive Universities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Justice Theory

Background: This article explored the leadership responses that were used by two comprehensive universities in South Africa (Nelson Mandela University and University of Johannesburg) during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in continuing with the rolling out of their teaching and learning programmes safely and digitally under disruptive conditions.Aim: Whilst universities in the developing world such as South Africa were expected to face challenges during the pandemic, this article showed that the leadership executives and general staff in two of its large universities, instead, crafted equitable and flexible improvisations to overcome the social challenges that could have posed a threat to their academic project.Setting: The selection of these two specific universities provided a unique opportunity to engage with comprehensive, massified and post-merger former Technikon-university institutions that mainly cater for working-class students.Methods: The social justice theory was utilised to frame the study, whilst critical narrative analysis was the methodology.Results: This research reveals that South African comprehensive universities possess capacity to adapt and innovate in the middle of an institutional crisis using their flexible systems and agile personnel to drive the academy under such circumstances. The study also reveals that the process of social justice is full of contradictions. As the universities created equitable measures to assist underprivileged students, these measures also generated injustices for others.Conclusion: This generated admirable and productive systematic traits to observe about some of our universities, as the South African higher education sector continued to engage with difficult conversations such as transformation.

scholarly journals Intersection of Ubuntu pedagogy and social justice: Transforming South African higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nomalungelo I. Ngubane ◽  
Manyane J. Makua
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
Philosophical Framework ◽  
Social Justice Theory ◽  
South African Higher Education

Background: Universities, globally, and in South Africa, continue to be confronted with demands for transformation, humanisation of pedagogical practices and to embrace social justice.Aim: In this article, we bring to the surface possibilities of Ubuntu pedagogy within a social justice framework. We intersect Collective Fingers Theory and Social Justice Theory to propose the notion of Ubuntu pedagogy, which draws from African philosophy of Ubuntu. We argue that Ubuntu pedagogy provides an alternation to the current pedagogies that draw from European theories for teaching and learning in the South African higher education context. We put forward that, Ubuntu pedagogy, when embraced with understanding and dignity it deserves, has the potential, firstly, of initiating students from other cultures other than African cultures to the values of Ubuntu and, secondly, of reconnecting students with their values and cultures, but it has a capacity to cultivate social justice values of equity, recognition and fair participation amongst students from diverse social backgrounds.Setting: South African Higher Education.Methodology: The authors draw from literature to position the article within Ubuntu philosophical framework and social justice lenses. Themes emerging from literature are as follows: Intersection of Ubuntu philosophy and social justice, Ubuntu pedagogy and transformation in higher education and guiding principles for possible implementation of Ubuntu pedagogy.Results: At the intersection of Ubuntu pedagogy and social justice, classroom practices are designed to respond to students’ cultural competencies and to embrace all linguistic repertoires that students bring to the classroom for learning. Students are treated equally and with dignity and respect regardless of their social backgrounds.Conclusion: We argue that higher education classrooms in post-apartheid South Africa should enable equal access, equity and inclusivity for all students. We therefore recommend Ubuntu pedagogy as a culturally and socially just pedagogy for transformative higher education classrooms. This article contributes to the continuing dialogues about transformative pedagogies, decolonisation and social justice in South African higher education.

scholarly journals Understanding Higher Education: Alternative Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Global Order ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Higher Education Policies ◽  
Social Account ◽  
The University

Drawing on the South African case, this book looks at shifts in higher education around the world in the last two decades. In South Africa, calls for transformation have been heard in the university since the last days of apartheid. Similar claims for quality higher education to be made available to all have been made across the African continent. In spite of this, inequalities remain and many would argue that these have been exacerbated during the Covid pandemic. Understanding Higher Education: Alternative Perspectives responds to these calls by arguing for a social account of teaching and learning by contesting dominant understandings of students as ‘decontextualised learners’ premised on the idea that the university is a meritocracy. This book tackles the issue of teaching and learning by looking both within and beyond the classroom. It looks at how higher education policies emerged from the notion of the knowledge economy in the newly democratic South Africa, and how national qualification frameworks and other processes brought the country more closely into conversation with the global order. The effects of this on staffing and curriculum structures are considered alongside a proposition for alternative ways of understanding the role of higher education in society.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document