Addressing adolescent healthcare environment through responsive architecture : a youth and community health centre for Durban.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Architecture has the capacity to have either a positive or negative impact on its users. Designing architecture which is responsive to the needs of its users is therefore of import and is particularly relevant to healthcare environments which rely on the built environment to provide spaces which promote healing and foster spaces which cater for patients’ physical, psychological and social health needs. However, the importance which architecture holds beyond facilitating functional spaces is often overlooked which has implications on the patients who tend to feel more miserable and uncomfortable in these environments, thereby affecting their healing processes. This is of particular concern to adolescent patients as they fall into a transitional stage of development during which, they experience biological, psychological and social changes which impact their development, decision making and life trajectory. As adolescents may present needs which differ from the child or adult patient, providing healthcare environments which are responsive to their specific needs is therefore necessary to maximize healing and ensure quality healthcare. The purpose of this study is therefore to explore how architecture which is responsive to the adolescent patient can be fully utilised towards creating a healthcare environment which promotes holistic wellbeing. The theoretical framework is made up of socio-developmental theories, environmental psychology theories and place theories, which together with the literature, relevant precedents and case studies highlight the connection between the physical, spatial, social and personal environments of the adolescent patient and healing. A qualitative research methodology approach is taken from a phenomenological perspective, as the research focuses on the experiences and interpretations of participants. Participants include built environment professionals experienced in designing healthcare facilities, healthcare professionals who have provided care to adolescents and young adults and adolescents who have utilised healthcare facilities during their adolescence. Research instruments include interviews which use imagery to convey ideas and which allows for the adolescents to express their own ideas through illustrations. The analysis of research findings further cement ideas brought forward in the theoretical frameworks, literature, precedents and case studies, using the concept of healing and sub-concepts of symbiotic architecture, responsive architecture and generative architecture, as means to connect these aspects. Cumulatively, these inform design guidelines which present ways in which healthcare environments can consider the physical, social and psychological needs of the adolescent patient, towards a youth and community health centre

Teacher education students engaging with digital identity narratives

Teaching English with digital technology has exacerbated the process of teaching and learning. In youth leisure, computers are more than information devices: they convey stories, images, identities, and fantasies through providing imaginative opportunities for play, and as cultural and ideological forms. In this paper, I report on a project conducted with teacher education students at a university in Johannesburg, South Africa. The focus of the project is to examine how students construct their identities digitally through the multimodal narratives they create in the English classroom. To do this I report on two narratives, as well as a recurring theme, decolonisation. The latter theme is significant because it was during the time of this project that South African universities found themselves in the grip of decolonisation and free education protests. I use New Literacy Studies as a framework to theorise literacy practices, and the work of Hall and others to theorise identity. The paper presents further possible implications of digital identity construction for teaching and learning.Keywords: decolonization; digital identities; digital literacies; digital narratives; higher education; South Afric

Teacher education students engaging with digital identity narratives

Abstract: Teaching English with digital technology has exacerbated the process of teaching and learning. In youth leisure, computers are more than information devices: they convey stories, images, identities, and fantasies through providing imaginative opportunities for play, and as cultural and ideological forms. In this paper, I report on a project conducted with teacher education students at a university in Johannesburg, South Africa. The focus of the project is to examine how students construct their identities digitally through the multimodal narratives they create in the English classroom. To do this I report on two narratives, as well as a recurring theme, decolonisation. The latter theme is significant because it was during the time of this project that South African universities found themselves in the grip of decolonisation and free education protests. I use New Literacy Studies as a framework to theorise literacy practices, and the work of Hall and others to theorise identity. The paper presents further possible implications of digital identity construction for teaching and learning

Learn Conference, Barcelona (July 2009) : Negotiating challenges and constructing digital identities : suggestions for pedagogy and practice

This article reports on a technology-based English course that incorporates face-to-face and online modes of delivery at a South African university. The aim of the paper is to examine how the only blind participant among a group of sighted participants positions herself and engages with the technological practices of the university, as well as the course, given the recommendations of the policies. Included is a discussion of how she constructs her identity and negotiates meaning in the course. The construction of identity is explored from a post-modern view that old identities, which stabilised the social world are in decline, giving rise to new identities and fragmenting the modern individual as a unified subject (Hall, 1992). I explore Norton (Pierce's)' (1995,1997,2000) views of identity as how people understand their relationship in the world, how that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how people understand their possibilities for the future. I also draw on Davies and Harre's (1990) discussion of positioning and self. Finally, I suggest implications such a study might have for pedagogy, practice, and policy in higher education institutions in South Africa

Looking down on Johannesburg: an exploration of rooftop spaces in the regenerated city

Research report Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of a Masters of Arts by Coursework and Research Report in Social Anthropology University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg 28 May 2015Exclusive rooftop spaces in Johannesburg have become popular within the city, particularly owing to the ongoing processes of regeneration occurring within it. Their existence is based on the need for the upper to middle classes to experience what it means to be in the city. By attending events at rooftop spaces in the areas of the Maboneng Precinct and Braamfontein, I sought to read the city from above, in order to understanding how these spaces contribute to how the city is experienced. The four chosen field sites of Dukes, Seascape, the InterUrban Rooftop and the Open Air Cinema all enable a different reading of what it is to be in the city. The process of research revealed an interesting discussion about the temporal entry into the city, the new forms of gated communities, the capitalisation of the deep house genre of music at rooftop spaces, the right to the city, and the surprisingly profound role that social media plays in how the virtual and real worlds manifest in order to promote rooftop spaces as popular places to visit. These themes along with an insight into how the experiences and views of each field site enables one to reflect on the city of Johannesburg are explored. Overall, it can be said that rooftop spaces enable the middle to upper class a subjective experience of city life, one that posits Johannesburg as an object over which to gaze

An exploration of ESL- English as a Second Language students’ experiences of academic writing in the discipline of Psychology

Faculty of Humanities School of Human and Community Development/Psychology 9503776d [email protected] study investigated English Second Language (ESL) students’ experiences of academic writing in a tertiary institution. It focused particularly on ESL students’ interpretations of what is expected in academic writing. Consequently, ESL students’ expectations were compared and contrasted to the academic writing expectations of a group of academics in the same institution. The study aimed to explore how the concepts of Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) were manifest in the students’ expectations and writing. The main aim was to identify the BICS and CALP distinction in ESL students as explanatory of their ability to write academically. In other words, the assumption was that ESL students experience difficulty with writing because they achieve surface fluency in terms of BICS but do not seem to develop sufficient levels of CALP to cope with the demands of the curricula in academic study. The sample consisted of thirty first year ESL Psychology students and six academics who taught on the first year Psychology course. ESL student volunteers were organized into focus groups, while academics were asked to participate in semi-structured, individual interviews. The participants’ responses were recorded and subsequently analyzed using thematic content analysis. It was found that academic writing was conceptualized in terms of structure and content. Through this distinction, ESL students recognized that, although they are able to operate at surface levels of language proficiency they find it problematic to operate at deeper levels of cognitive academic language proficiency. This in turn explained why they found it difficult to perform higher order academic tasks that go beyond the rote recall of content to analysis, synthesis, evaluation and application of concepts and theory. Further findings were extrapolated that lie at the level of the ESL student and the tertiary institution. It was found that academic writing expectations needed to be communicated to students by academics in more distinct terms. The internalization of academic discourse by ESL students, and students in general, seemed to require further facilitation by academics in the tertiary community of practice. Furthermore, the study raised the issue of English Second Language as a label impacting on ESL student’s confidence, self-esteem and overall attitude towards transcending challenges associated with academic writing

Literacy journeys : home and family literacy practices in immigrant households and their congruence with schooled literacy

Major sociocultural contexts of learning such as families, communities and schools are imbued with power, and power favours some more than others. Given that schools are important sites of social and cultural reproduction, one of their major tasks is to teach learners to be literate. However, literacy is often viewed only as schooled literacy in the dominant language, and the role of the home has been undervalued in the past. In this paper I examine, through a sociocultural lens, the role played by the home and community in literacy learning. Through data elicited from observations of family interactions and conversations, as well as interviews with family members in two immigrant households, I examine their home and community literacy practices and ask how these practices intersect with schooled literacy. I conclude that immigrant children have far greater language and literacy skills than presumed, and that schools need to recognize language and literacy practices that children engage in at home and in the community, and emphasize that social justice for all requires educational shifts

Violence in nursing : perceived prevalence and impact in community health clinics in Cape Town

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-113).The paper will be focusing on violence against nurses working in community health clinics in Cape Town. The study is a replication of Prof Doris Deedei Khalil's (principle researcher) larger studies on violence in all areas of nursing including general, paediatric and psychiatric nursing, midwifery and undergraduate nursing schools. Aim and objectives: to explore violence in nursing within community health care settings. Some of the objectives of the study examined the extent and frequency of violence against nursing staff in community health clinics. Research design: phenomenological approach was selected to capture experiences and views of nurses working in selected health centres

Mapping the literate lives of two Cameroonian families living in Johannesburg : implications for language and literacy education

Abstract: The language and literacy practices of two French-speaking Cameroonian families living in South Africa are the focus of this paper. Since its democracy, there has been an influx of immigrants from all over the world into South Africa. This influx has inevitable consequences for education. The aim of this research was to map the language and literacy practices of two immigrant Cameroonian families residing in Johannesburg, South Africa. The case study utilised interviews with the parents and children, as well as home observations. The research findings reveal that little linguistic congruence exists between the home and school, and that the parents and children serve as language brokers at different points. The study concludes that, if South Africa wants to live up to its democratic status, inclusive to all who live in it, teachers need to be versed in the multiple layers of literacy practices of learners from diverse backgrounds and consider initiatives such as family and community literacy programmes. This is vital not only for immigrant children, but for the South African education system as well

ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL) STUDENTS AS NEW MEMBERS OF A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE: SOME THOUGHTS FOR LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT

This article reports on English second language (ESL) students’ experiences of academic writing in a university setting. It draws on the notion of community of practice to explain that it is not sufficient for academic literacy courses to concern themselves only with the questions relating to the development of student academic literacy. Rather they should also be concerned with how students learn in social contexts and what knowledge is included and what knowledge is excluded. Such an orientation is vital because academic writing in the context of the university is more than just the ability to read and write, it is often the basis for the evaluation of students and, as such, becomes a powerful gatekeeper