Empirical study on e-learning adoption at institutions of higher learning in South Africa

Published ArticleAlthough the familiarity of technology in general among academics may not be a problem, research has shown that many course instructors are still lagging behind on the uptake of the new technologies, e.g. eLearning platforms for curriculum delivery. This paper aims at investigating the factors that are affecting the uptake of eLearning platforms by course instructors at tertiary level. The paper answers the question: "Why aren't eLearning platforms used more by instructors for curriculum delivery at tertiary level?" A qualitative research approach was employed whereby conversations with purposively selected academics were the data collection technique. Analysis shows that the uptake of the eLearning platforms by course instructors is affected by their level of confidence to use the technologies for teaching and learning. The confidence here is a combination of computer self-efficacy and teacher efficacy. The study can contribute to a better understanding of determining constructs of lecturers' uptake of new technologies

Work-Integrated Learning for lecturers at a TVET college in the Western Cape

TVET colleges in South Africa are primarily tasked with preparing students for the workplace. However, employers noted dissatisfaction in the skills and abilities of students entering the workplace. A possible reason for the poor preparation of students may have been found in past research. The curriculum at TVET colleges, as elsewhere in higher education, is very Eurocentric and theoretical in nature. The need for decolonisation of the curriculum thus arises. A decolonized curriculum prepares students to work in a variety of social contexts and considers issues like poverty, inequality and unemployment. A decolonized curriculum needs to include content and context derived from local sources, and need to connect theory with practice. It is thus expected of TVET lecturers to interpret and link theoretical content from the curriculum to the needs of local sources, workplaces and industry. TVET lecturers thus need to have knowledge and experiences from a variety of backgrounds. Past research indicated certain lecturers lack workplace experience and qualifications. It was found that intermediate and FET (grade 10‒11) qualified teachers and graduates from universities who lack workplace experience are employed at TVET colleges. Lecturers who lack workplace experience may find it difficult to link content with the needs of the industry for which they have to prepare their students and may not know how to link theory with practice during lessons. Teaching and learning at TVET colleges require concrete experiences and deliberate encounters. Actual, concrete experiences change the perspectives of students and lecturers and affects them profoundly, which can be seen as a pedagogic piligrimage (Davids and Waghid 2019, 7). To address the latter, SSACI, a Swiss-South African initiative launched a work-integrated learning (WIL) project to identify lecturers that are only equipped with a teaching qualification and lack workplace experience. The work-integrated learning program flared up lecturer’s experience of work-integrated learning and increased motivation and enthusiasm, as they were able to integrate the examples learned from the workplace, to make lessons and lesson preparation more interesting. In addition, lecturers were able to tell students what to expect after graduation when they enter the workplace. A factor that negatively influences the effectiveness of work-integrated learning is the lack of policy supporting the program

Crafting, Communality, and Computing: Building on Existing Strengths To Support a Vulnerable Population

In Nepal, sex-trafficking survivors and the organizations that support them have limited resources to assist the survivors in their on-going journey towards reintegration. We take an asset-based approach wherein we identify and build on the strengths possessed by such groups. In this work, we present reflections from introducing a voice-annotated web application to a group of survivors. The web application tapped into and built upon two elements of pre-existing strengths possessed by the survivors -- the social bond between them and knowledge of crafting as taught to them by the organization. Our findings provide insight into the array of factors influencing how the survivors act in relation to one another as they created novel use practices and adapted the technology. Experience with the application seemed to open knowledge of computing as a potential source of strength. Finally, we articulate three design desiderata that could help promote communal spaces: make activity perceptible to the group, create appropriable steps, and build in fun choices.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI'20

Predictors of nurses’ and midwives’ intentions to provide maternal and child healthcare services to adolescents in South Africa

BACKGROUND: Adolescent mothers are at a much higher risk for maternal mortality compared to mothers aged 20 years and above. Newborns born to adolescent mothers are also more likely to have low birth weight, with the risk of long-term effects such as early onset of adult diabetes than newborns of older mothers. Few studies have investigated the determinants of adequate quality maternal and child healthcare services to pregnant adolescents. This study was conducted to gain an understanding of nurses’ and midwives’ intentions to provide maternal and child healthcare and family planning services to adolescents in South Africa. METHODS: A total of 190 nurses and midwives completed a cross-sectional survey. The survey included components on demographics, knowledge of maternal and child healthcare (MCH) and family planning (FP) services, attitude towards family planning services, subjective norms regarding maternal and child healthcare and family planning services, self-efficacy with maternal and child healthcare and family planning services, and intentions to provide maternal and child healthcare and family planning services to adolescents. Pearson’s correlation analysis was conducted to determine the association between knowledge, attitude, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and intention variables for FP and MCH services. A 2-step linear regression analysis was then conducted for both FP and MCH services to predict the intentions to provide FP and MCH services to adolescents. RESULTS: Self-efficacy to conduct MCH services (β = 0.55, p < 0.01) and years of experience as a nurse- midwife (β = 0.14, p < 0.05) were associated with stronger intentions to provide the services. Self-efficacy to provide FP services (β = 0.30, p < 0.01) was associated with stronger intentions to provide FP services. CONCLUSIONS: Self-efficacy has a strong and positive association with the intentions to provide both MCH and FP services, while there is a moderate association with attitude and norms. There is a need to improve and strengthen nurses’ and midwives’ self-efficacy in conducting both MCH and FP services in order to improve the quality and utilization of the services by adolescents in South Africa.IS

Teenage pregnancy rates and associations with other health risk behaviours: a threewave cross-sectional study among South African school-going adolescents

BACKGROUND: Teenage pregnancy still remains high in low and middle-income countries (LMIC), as well as in highincome countries (HIC). It is a major contributor to maternal and child morbidity and mortality rates. Furthermore, it has social consequences, such as perpetuating the cycle of poverty including early school dropout by the pregnant adolescent, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Few studies in SSA have investigated the trends in teenage pregnancy and the associated factors, while this is critical in fully understanding teenage pregnancy and for promotion of reproductive health among adolescents at large in SSA. METHODS: To examine the trends in teenage pregnancy and to identify associations with other health risk behaviours in South Africa (SA), a total of 31 816 South African school-going adolescents between 11 to 19 years of age were interviewed in three cross-sectional surveys. Data from the first (2002, n = 10 549), second (2008, n = 10 270) and the third (2011, n = 10 997) nationally representative South African youth risk behaviour surveys (YRBS) were used for this study. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of having ever been pregnant among the combined 3-survey sample was selfreported to be 11.0 % and stable across the three surveys. Sexual intercourse among adolescents in SA has decreased from 41.9 % in 2002 to 36.9 % in 2011. However, pregnancy among girls who ever had sex increased from 17.3 % (95 % CI: 0.16–0.19) in 2002, to 23.6 % (95 % CI: 0.21–0.26) in 2008 and decreased to 21.3 % (95 % CI: 0.19–0.23) in 2011. The odds for ever been pregnant were higher for girls who had 2 or more sexual partners (OR: 1.250, 95 % CI: 1.039–1.503), girls who ever used alcohol before sex (OR: 1.373, 95 % CI: 1.004–1.878), practised binge-drinking during the last month (OR: 0.624, 95 % CI: 0.503–0.774), and girls who used mandrax (OR: 1.968, 95 % CI: 1,243–3.117). The odds for never been pregnant were lower for those who used condoms (OR: 0.462, 95 % CI: 0.309–0.691). CONCLUSIONS: Girls continue to become pregnant at unacceptably high rates in SA. Sexual intercourse among adolescents in SA has decreased slightly. However, among those who are sexually active pregnancy prevalence rates have increased. More over, this is in the context of high prevalence of HIV and other STI. There is a need to address adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health, and several health risk behaviours, including substance use, that are associated with teenage pregnancy in SA.IS

Digital storytelling as a tool for teaching: Perceptions of pre-service teachers

It has been shown that teachers are reluctant to use technology despite the South African (SA) government’s huge expenditure on technological equipment. This might be the result of teachers being unable to select appropriate technology that will yield positive learning outcomes as well as being ill-equipped to integrate technology into their pedagogy. To this end, pre-service teachers at a University were trained on how to integrate digital storytelling (DST) effectively into their teaching. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the potential benefits of DST for teaching and learning and to determine factors that may prevent pre-service teachers’ uptake of DST during in-service practice. This is a qualitative study in which fifty pre-service teachers were divided into five groups for focus group interviews. Data were analysed, and the results show that pre- service teachers perceived DST to be beneficial in the classroom as it has the potential to (i) motivate and engage learners, (ii) promote voice/self-expression, and (iii) promote collaborative learning and acquisition of multiple skills. Pre-service teachers are of the opinion that a lack of resources, self-confidence and time owing to restrictive curricula may prevent uptake of DST during in-service teaching. It was recommended that school stakeholders create a balance between intrinsic and extrinsic factors that will promote the adoption and integration of DST into teaching. Also, the education institution concerned strives to balance all three strands of knowledge: technology, pedagogy and content

Digital storytelling as a tool for teaching: Perceptions of pre-service teachers

It has been shown that teachers are reluctant to use technology despite the South African (SA) government’s huge expenditure on technological equipment. This might be the result of teachers being unable to select appropriate technology that will yield positive learning outcomes as well as being ill-equipped to integrate technology into their pedagogy. To this end, pre-service teachers at a University were trained on how to integrate digital storytelling (DST) effectively into their teaching. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the potential benefits of DST for teaching and learning and to determine factors that may prevent pre-service teachers’ uptake of DST during in-service practice. This is a qualitative study in which fifty pre-service teachers were divided into five groups for focus group interviews. Data were analysed, and the results show that pre- service teachers perceived DST to be beneficial in the classroom as it has the potential to (i) motivate and engage learners, (ii) promote voice/self-expression, and (iii) promote collaborative learning and acquisition of multiple skills. Pre-service teachers are of the opinion that a lack of resources, self-confidence and time owing to restrictive curricula may prevent uptake of DST during in-service teaching. It was recommended that school stakeholders create a balance between intrinsic and extrinsic factors that will promote the adoption and integration of DST into teaching. Also, the education institution concerned strives to balance all three strands of knowledge: technology, pedagogy and content

Pre-Service Teachers’ Acquisition of Technology Skills in a Digital Storytelling Project

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference, Mar 21, 2016 in Savannah, GA, United States ISBN 978-1-939797-13-1 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Chesapeake, VAPre-service teachers’ e-skills are important for instruction in the 21st century digital classrooms. One hundred final year pre-service teachers participated in a digital story telling project. Ten student facilitators were appointed and trained to assist throughout the digital story telling video production project. The facilitators used Microsoft Photo Story 3 to demonstrate how to put together a digital story into a video-recorded story. The pre-service teachers worked individually to produce their own digital story which they showcased on “Show day”. A qualitative methodology was used to interpret pre-service teachers’ technology skills acquisition for the project. Fifteen participants were randomly picked for a focus group discussion. The pre-service teachers said the video making process easy, as they were assisted by peers and family. The study urges teacher training institutions to innovate digital literacy skills to prepare pre-service teachers for the 21st century learners

Technology integration : exploring interactive whiteboards as dialogic spaces in the foundation phase classroom

Among its many affordances, the interactive whiteboard (IWB) as a digital space for children's dialogic engagement in the Foundation Phase classroom remains largely under-exploited. This paper emanates from a study which was undertaken in an attempt to understand how teachers acquire knowledge of emerging technologies and how this shapes their classroom practices when employing technology as a pedagogic tool. The findings of this ethnographic case study show that, while teachers have become technically skilled through continuous professional teacher development (CPTD), they have also begun to reflect more rigorously on constructivism as a learning theory. Data was generated through semi-structured interviews and classroom observations with digital video recordings. Observations revealed a perceived gap in the use of the IWB as a promising space to generate reciprocal dialogue in classrooms to influence curriculum delivery and learning. This paper argues, therefore, that IWBs can become spaces for dialogic engagement to expand learners’ participation and higher order thinking skills through pedagogic strategies. Thus, there is a need to introduce Foundation Phase teachers to dialogic teaching methodologies and the potential impact thereof on learner engagement and learning