Eleanor Hendricks, University of Fort Hare, South Africa

Bonginkosi Mutongoza, University of Fort Hare, South

Africa

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ABSTRACT

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions (HEIs) globally were forced to abruptly transition from traditional face-to-face classrooms to online classrooms in order to salvage teaching and learning. This was especially tougher for HEIs in the Global South where little to no infrastructure and technologies had been rolled-out prior to the pandemic. Navigating this ‘new normal’ was even tougher for poor rural institutions and students who were already grappling with several inequalities. Against this background, this study explored the challenges associated with online learning at a rural university in South Africa. The study was grounded in the connectivism learning theory and was underpinned by a qualitative approach. To this end, data were collected using in-depth interviews and analysed thematically. The findings revealed that students and staff were grappling with connectivity problems, lack of technological skills, academic dishonesty, and poor attendance, among other things. Because online learning will remain a feature of HEIs for the foreseeable future, the study thus recommended that governments and non-government actors work together to ensure that learning technologies filter to students in least technologically accessible areas to create a genuinely inclusive pedagogy. The study also recommended that additional support be provided for students and teachers to

ensure effective participation, and that universities actively promote the creation of online communities where students can connect so as to avoid isolation and solitude that have been known to be features of online learning.

Subethra Pather, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Vivienne Lawack, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Vanessa Brown, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

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ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to examine students’ perceptions of their online learning experience during the first wave of COVID-19. The paper highlights the actions taken by the institution in transitioning to online learning and key indicators which influenced students’ perceived online learning and academic performance during the pandemic. The study was conducted at a university and reports on quantitative and qualitative data collected from an online survey of 3257 students. Tinto and Pusser’s (2006) model of

institutional actions was used as a framework to guide the study. The study’s findings forced the university to re-look at student support through new lenses. The findings from the data provided the basis for the institution to re-invent three academic policies to include a more holistic approach to learning, teaching, and student success. The policies developed were: Flexible Learning and Teaching Provision (FLTP), Assessment, and Curriculum Transformation and Renewal, which placed the student at the centre of

university actions.

Tebogo Kefilwe Molotsi, University of South Africa, South Africa

Adele Bezuidenhout, University of Portsmouth, United Kingdom

Yvonne Joubert, University of South Africa, South Africa

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ABSTRACT

This paper reports on a Human Resource risk management conceptual framework for enhancing academic staff retention in an open-distance e-learning higher education institution in South Africa. The study utilised an interpretative phenomenological analysis research design. Data were collected from academics by means of semi-structured individual interviews and focus group interviews guided by an interview schedule. Three superordinate themes emerged from the data analysis, namely: determinants of academic staff retention; human resource risk assessment; and human resource risk management. The findings of this study resulted in the development of a conceptual framework that has practical utility for promoting academic staff retention in an open-distance e-learning higher education institution. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory and it's promoting and hindering factors underpin the study and enabled the development of the Human Resource risk management conceptual framework. The identified risk factors are intrinsically and extrinsically instrumental in influencing and determining academics’ decisions to leave or remain at their respective open-distance e-learning higher education institutions as their place of employment.  

Pakiso Khomokhoana, University of the Free State, South Africa

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ABSTRACT

Computer programming continues to be challenging despite numerous strategies and skills that researchers and instructors have shared over four decades. Using explicit instruction (EI) to help students learn and better understand computer programming presents a promising avenue for tackling this challenge. The aim of this study was twofold. Firstly, to identify elements to consider in an instructional strategy for teaching using the EI principles. Secondly, to identify strengths and challenges presented by the EI interventions in teaching computer programming to postgraduate Computer Science students. Collected data were analyzed through thematic analysis, and the results reveal nine major strengths and five main challenges related to EI. The study followed an integrated methodological approach where narrative data was collected through observations and asking questions. This study informs how improvements can be made in the future teaching of computer programming to enhance the quality of teaching using the principles of EI 

Lorraine Sehole, Tshwane North TVET College, South Africa

David Sekao, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Lindiwe Mokotjo, The Independent Institute of Education, South Africa

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ABSTRACT

In this case study, we explored the conceptual errors that National Certificate (Vocational) Level 2 mathematics students at a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) College in South Africa experience in learning functions. Qualitative data were sourced from a sample of Level 2 (L2) mathematics students (n=17) from a TVET college through test responses and interviews. The findings revealed that the students find it difficult to: recognise a linear function, translate between different representations of a linear function, and identify particular  components of a linear function. The findings generally indicated that the students lack conceptual understanding of the linear function. From the interviews, the students pointed to the teachers’ instructional practices as a major contributory factor to the identified difficulties they experienced. Specifically, a lack of exposure to instruction and assessment tasks that involved all representations of functions hindered a deep conceptual understanding of functions. 

Puleng Dorah Motseki, University of South Africa, South Africa

Kakoma Luneta, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Sarah Cho Coetsee, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

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ABSTRACT

This article is a case study that examines how the different teaching and learning strategies influence mathematical knowledge acquisition at university. The research hinged on how mathematics lecturers at universities teach and how students acquire the disseminated knowledge. Research stresses that most lecturers have teacher-centred teaching approaches and mathematics teaching is with minimal student participation. Research further asserts that teaching approaches that emphasise student participation is critical in enhancing effective classroom interaction. This means that, as students’ learning strategy is dominantly a participatory and collaborative one, lecturers are challenged to create a learning-as participation environment for effective mathematics classroom interaction. The article reports a study that was conducted among university students and lecturers in a mathematics course at a South African university. The findings were that most lecturers at the university use traditional non-interactive teaching approaches that create passive environments in contrast with the predominant participative learning strategies of most students

Mishak Thiza Gumbo, University of South Africa, South Africa

Sethunya Ludo Serefete, Gaborone University College of Law and

Professional Studies, Botswana

Reginald Oats, University of Botswana, Botswana

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ABSTRACT

This study assessed the abilities and competencies of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) graduates in Botswana and their employability. Twelve participants identified from various RPL education and training fields, and hairdressing and beauty therapy services were interviewed. The findings indicate that RPL has overall life-shaping consequences for the learners involved and for this reason, it was highly embraced by participants; RPL gives learners access to post-school education, including other qualifications; RPL benefits learners and it is thus value for money invested by the Botswana Government. Therefore, the promotion of social inclusion should be embraced and adopted as a mode of assessment to capacitate human resource development in Botswana. The article concludes by recommending a partnership between Government and relevant institutions and organisations to audit skills in the country to uncover the unused skills, as well as to design RPL that is relevant to the local needs.

Sharon Margaretta Auld, Varsity College, The Independent Institute of Education, South Africa

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ABSTRACT

Traditional approaches to postgraduate psychological education are inherently reductionistic – drawing on positivist theoretical models designed for understanding our physical bodies rather than our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Taking a decolonial stance, and advocating for critical reflexivity, this paper argues that theatre holds a potential space for students to engage with selfhood in complex ways. Positioned within critical pedagogy, theatre strategies can present vital opportunities to personalise historical eras, enabling intertwined psychodynamic, cultural, economic, and ideological factors to impact sensuously, emotionally, and cognitively on students. Such immersive opportunities can foster students’ awareness of the social embeddedness of subjectivity, prior to their engagement with clinical practice. Drawing on Fugard’s political tragedy, ‘Sorrows and Rejoicings’, possible guidelines are suggested as to how theatre can educate students about the impact of taken-for-granted social-political attitudes, norms, and values on selfhood. 

Mfowabo Maphosa The Independent Institute of Education, Sandton, South Africa

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ABSTRACT

The rise of academic publishing due to the ‘publish or perish’ phenomenon has placed increased scrutiny on African scholars. The limited footprint of African scholars in international open-access journals has led to a drive for Africa to produce and disseminate its research. Publication analytics has become an essential strategy for journals for managing journals. This study uses bibliometric metrics to explore the publications metrics of the Independent Journal of Teaching and Learning, an open-access journal in South Africa. The study analyses bibliometric data from its articles published between 2008 and 2022. The study highlights the research clusters, themes and hotspots in the journal. This study helps obtain a snapshot of the journal’s status. The paper illustrates the development trends of the journal, which provides an essential reference for the future development of this and other similar journals. The journal has made a significant impact on the education landscape in South Africa. 

Margaret Malewaneng Maja, University of South Africa, South Africa

Elize (E.C.) du Plessis, University of South Africa, South Africa

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ABSTRACT 

Classroom libraries have an important function in the development of reading abilities for English First Additional Language (EFAL) learners in the Intermediate Phase (grades 4 to 6). This research aimed at exploring the challenges faced by the Intermediate Phase EFAL teachers in establishing classroom libraries in a rural circuit of the Limpopo Province to promote learners’ reading ability. A qualitative grounded theory approach was employed using observations and an interview schedule with semi structured open-ended questions. Nine participants were purposefully selected. The study found that there was limited relevant reading material, a lack of space for setting up a classroom library in overcrowded classrooms, teachers’ lack of knowledge on organising the classroom library books and a lack of strategies on how to control the checking in and out of books. It is recommended that schools should first allocate funds for buying books and seek donations for reading material from public libraries as well as non-governmental organisations. Inservice training should be conducted to equip teachers with the basic skills of organising and facilitating the checking out and returning of classroom library books.