Platformisation of Education: An Analysis of South African Universities’ Learning Management Systems

Several studies have focused attention on the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact on the traditional face-to-face teaching and learning activities across the globe. There is, however, little research regarding the platformisation of education with the aid of the learning management systems (LMSs) in the contexts of South African universities. With a thematic content analysis of the extant literature and a systematic review of universities’ websites, this study explored and unearthed various LMS platforms which public universities in South Africa adopted and utilized before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and during the lockdown period. The findings revealed that the majority (46%) of South Africa’s public universities used the Blackboard LMS while another 34 percent of the 26 universities used the Moodle LMS. The rest of the public universities in South Africa used one of the following LMS platforms: the Vula, Efundi, ClickUp, RUConnected, Sakai, SunLearn, Canvas, and D2LBrightspace. Furthermore, the study found that a few South African universities had moved from one LMS platform to another, especially during the period of lockdown precipitated by the pandemic; beginning from the year 2020. The LMS platforms serve the pedagogical needs of the universities in terms of facilitation of online interaction between instructors and students, dissemination of course materials, announcements, submissions, assessments, and grading of student assignments electronically. It is recommended that future studies should investigate the challenging factors responsible for the switch from one LMS platform to another across the public universities in South Africa

EFFECTS OF AESTIVATION DURATION ON TESTOSTERONE, HAEMOLYMPH BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS AND REPRODUCTIVE TRACT DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT OF GIANT AFRICAN LAND SNAIL (Archachatina marginata) DURING DRY SEASON

Aestivation is a process of metabolic inactivity under which energy reserve are manipulated for survival. Reproductive apparatus and haemolymph biochemical agents also undergo phase manipulation as the duration continues. To determine the physiological influence on key hormone of reproduction and reproductive apparatus, seventy five A. marginata snails were used for this study. The snails were divided into five treatments with fifteen replicate each. Treatment include: Zero (0) week, Three (3) weeks, Six (6) weeks, nine (9) weeks and six (6) weeks post-aestivation. Parameters measured were: Testosterone concentration, haemolymph biochemical parameters (Total protein, albumin, globulin, Aspartate transaminase (AST) and Alanine transaminase (ALT), dimensions (length) and weight of the organs and tissues of the reproductive tracts (Ovo-testis, penis, vaginal, oviduct, little hermaphrodite duct, common hermaphrodite duct, vas deferens and albumen gland) gonado-somatic index and percentage mortality. Result showed that level of testosterone at three and six weeks of aestivation significantly reduced compared to the control. Also, at nine weeks of aestivation, the reduction was significantly greater than what was recorded at both three and six weeks of aestivation. But the testosterone levels were reversed at nine weeks post aestivation. Total protein and globulin were significantly influenced with both reaching a peak value at 9 weeks of aestivation while ALT, AST and albumin were not significantly affected. So also, of all the reproductive tract parts measured, organ weight, ovo-testis weight, penis weight and length were significantly influenced (P<0.001; P<0.001; P<0.05; P<0.001). Similarly, vaginal weight, oviduct weight, little hermaphrodite duct weight and length were also significantly affected  together with vas deferens  length and albumen gland length while aestivation duration had no significant influence on reproductive tract weight, ovo-testis length, vaginal length, oviduct length, little hermaphrodite duct length, vas deferens weight and albumen gland weight. Similarly, gonado-somatic index was also not significantly affected by aestivation duration. It was also obvious from this study that the highest mortality was recorded at 6 weeks of aestivation, followed by 9 weeks of aestivation while 3weeks and 6 weeks post-aestivation had the least mortality with the control intact. In conclusion, it is clear from this study that aestivation duration significantly influenced testosterone concentration, haemolymph biochemical parameters and some selected reproductive apparatus of A. marginata.       &nbsp

Performance and cost-benefits of weaner rabbits fed graded levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meal

Moringa has been acclaimed to be beneficial especially in livestock production. Its leaves and green fresh pods are said to be rich in carotene and ascorbic acid with a good profile of amino acids while its twigs are reported to be very palatable to ruminants and have appreciable crude protein levels. However, Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) has been observed to contain higher pepsin and total soluble protein than other parts of the plant which makes it more suitable to monogastric animals. MOLM has been widely used in poultry production but with limited use in rabbits� diets; hence this study was conducted to determine the performance of weaner rabbits fed graded levels of MOLM. A total of 48 unsexed weaner rabbits of mean initial weight of 744.56�29.25 g were assigned to 4 experimental diets, namely T1, T2, T3 and T4 containing 0%, 15%, 30% and 45% MOLM, respectively, having 3 replicates and 4 animals per replicate. The results showed that the dry matter intake of T1-T4 ranged 53.17 - 55.31g/day. Though not significant, highest crude protein digestibility coefficient was recorded for experimental animals on diet T4 (71.36%) followed by diets T1 (69.67%), T2 (69.17%), T3 (68.25%), respectively. The keel length for T1, T2, T3, and T4 rabbits were 225.39, 201.64, 246.66 and 217.26cm, respectively Rabbits fed 30% MOLM were found to be most profitable numerically (N1320.10) while the least profit was obtained with 0% MOLM with N1305.40. Hence, it can be concluded that Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) can replace soya bean meal up to 45% in the nutrition of weaner rabbits

Innovation and Technology: A Panacea to Teaching and Learning Challenges during the Covid-19 Lockdown in South Africa

Innovation and technology brought by the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) have become an urgent reality to all teachers because of the need for a virtual classroom. In South Africa, over 13 million students in almost 25,000 schools have been affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. Most school teachers were not trained for online teaching, which was the only safe method of teaching during the lockdown period. This study, therefore, investigated how innovation and technology were utilised to mitigate the virtual classroom problems during the COVID-19 lockdown. This study employed a qualitative research approach using interviews to collect data based on the phenomenological research design. The sample for this study consisted of 12 lecturers purposively drawn from one university in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Thematic content analysis was performed on the data. The findings revealed that a majority of the participants have poor pedagogical skills especially those related to using technologies such as Blackboard, Microsoft Teams, and V-Drive on computers for online teaching engagements during the COVID-19 lockdown; strategies utilised by the participants for their teaching activities during the lockdown included Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp voice notes, email attachments for sending bulky teaching materials to students, and other Computer-instructional resources. Thus, this study recommends an urgent need for capacity development workshops to equip lecturers with computer and ICT skills, knowledge, and strategies for online teaching delivery and increased provision of adequate learning and teaching facilities in all public educational institutions, including those in the rural areas

Feeding value of shrimp meal for growing pigs

En 16 cerdos Large White x Landrace en crecimiento, se estudió el efecto de la harina de gambas (SM) sobre la digestibilidad de los nutrientes, hematología, niveles de crecimiento y calidad de la carne. Se formuló una dieta control a base de soja y maíz con harina de pescado (FM) y otra, en la que la FM se sustituyó por SM. La digestibilidad fecal aparente fue determinada en cuatro cerdos por dieta. El consumo de SM redujo (p<0,05) la digestibilidad fecal aparente de la materia seca, proteína bruta, fibra bruta y cenizas. En la dieta con SM se redujeron (p<0,05) la ganancia de peso y la relación pienso/ganancia. La inclusión de la SM en la dieta no afectó a la calidad de la carne pero redujo la proteína total y albúmina de la sangre. Entre todos los tratamientos los niveles medios de proteína, lípidos y cenizas de la carne fueron respectivamente 72,0; 24,8 y 3,3 p.100. Los resultados indican que la alimentación con SM a alto nivel, para reemplazar a la FM, deprime la producción porcina

Pre and post-gestation blood indices of rabbit does fed graded levels of neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf meal

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of neem leaf meal on the blood status of rabbit does before and after gestation. A total of twenty-four (24) rabbit does of mixed breeds, with initial average live weight of 1975g were randomly allocated into four (4) experimental dietary treatments; each of which was replicated three (3) times with two (2) rabbits per replicate. The rabbits were fed diets containing 0%, 2.5%, 5.0%, and 7.5% neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf meal. Parameters measured included packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin, red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC) and its differentials for haematology while total protein, globulin, albumin, cholesterol, alkaline phosphate (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were measured for biochemical indices. All data generated were subjected to one-way Analysis of Variance in a Completely Randomized Design. The findings from this study at pre-gestation showed that neem leaf meal (NLM) significantly (p&lt;0.05) influenced basophil and serum total protein, globulin and glucose. Basophil was significantly reduced in rabbits fed 5.0% NLM (0.33%) while the serum components were affected in rabbits fed 2.5% NLM. The result at postgestation showed no significant (p&gt;0.05) difference in all the parameters measured exceptneutrophils. Neutrophils were significantly (p&lt;0.05) reduced in rabbits on the control diet (26.67%) while rabbits on NLM diets recorded similar values. From the serum component, cholesterol was significantly (p&lt;0.05) highest in rabbits fed 5.0% NLM (62.33mg/dL) and lowest in those fed 2.5% NLM (49.67mg/dL). It was, therefore, concluded that inclusion of NLM in rabbit does' diet up to 7.5% had no adverse effect on the health status of the animals as the values obtained for neutrophils and cholesterol were still within the normal range of rabbit blood profile

Blood profile, carcass yield and offal weight of growing rabbits subjected to four hours feed withdrawal period

The early-life fast growth rate of modern strains of domestic animals comes with a number of problems which may include high body fat deposition, incidence of metabolic disorders and skeletal diseases, mortality and morbidity. Short term feed restriction might reduce the occurrence of these problems. To this effect, this study was carried out to investigate the effect of four hours feed withdrawal period on blood profile, carcass yield and offal weight of growing rabbits raised in a hot humid environment. Twenty four (24) 6 weeks' old rabbits were randomly assigned to two treatment groups of 4 replicates with three rabbits per replicate. Rabbits on treatment one were fed ad-libitum while those on treatment two were offered their daily ration at 07:00 hour and later withdrew during the hot hours of the day (12:00-16:00 hours) for eight weeks. Data obtained were subjected to Studentized T-test. Haematological and serum biochemical indices considered were not significantly (P? 0.05) influenced by four hours feed withdrawal period. The mean values obtained for packed cell volume, haemoglobin, white blood cell, neutrophil and heterophil:lymphocytes were higher in rabbits on four hours feed withdrawal period compared to ad-libitum fed rabbits whereas, total protein, albumin, glucose, ghrehin and cortisol showed higher values in rabbits fed adlibitum. Four hours feed withdrawal period had no effect (p&gt;0.05) on carcass yield, retail cut and offal except kidney weight. It was concluded that four hours feed withdrawal period could be adopted since welfare indices and carcass characteristics of rabbits were not compromised.Keywords: Ad-libitum, haematology, rabbit, restriction, welfar

Air-dried neem leaf extract: effects on the growth performance and blood profile of broiler chicken

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of aqueous extract of air-dried neem leaves on growth performance and blood profile of broiler chickens. One hundred and sixty (160) broiler chicks were used for the experiment and were intensively managed. The chicks were randomly assigned into four treatment groups administered, 30, 40 and 50mLs of 4% aqueous neem leaf extracts and defined as T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively. Growth parameters (daily weight gain, feed intake, water intake and feed conversion ratio) and both haematological and serum indices were measured. Data were subjected to One-way Analysis of Variance and significant means were separated by Duncan Multiple Range Test at 95% probability. Result showed a significant (p&lt;0.05) influence of aqueous neem leaf extract on feed conversion ratio only at starter phase. The birds on 50 mLs aqueous neem leaf extract had poorest (1.58) feed conversion ratio while best (1.48) values were observed from those in the control and 40 mLs. It also showed that neem leaf extracts had no significant (P&gt;0.05) effect on all the haemetaological parameters and serum indices at both starter and finisher phases. It was concluded that the use of air-dried neem leaf extract can be adopted as a replacement to antibiotics in broiler chicken production without any adverse effect on their growth performance and blood status