Classroom conversations: the use of dialectical dialogue to facilitate critical thinking

Abstract: Conversation is mandatory in a classroom that aims to develop the learners’ critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is facilitated in general and in nursing education particularly in order to aid learners to render care in diverse multicultural patient care settings. Classroom conversation involves thinking as an interactive process that constitutes the use of dialectics and dialogue. However where the aim is to facilitate critical thinking the conversation cannot be haphazard. Conversation in the classroom must have structure as it happens in dialectical dialogue. Purpose: This paper aims to explore and describe how dialectical dialogue can be used in classroom conversations to facilitate critical thinking. Design: A qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research design was used. Methods: Purposive sampling method was used to draw a sample and Miles, Huberman & Sadana’s methodology of qualitative data analysis was used to analyse data. Trustworthiness: Lincoln and Guba’s strategies were employed to ensure trustworthiness, while Dhai and McQuoid-Mason’s principles of ethical consideration were employed. Findings: The conceptualisation of findings culminated in the formulation of guidelines on how dialectical dialogue can be used to facilitate critical thinking in the classroom

Driving cross selling in South African business to business firms

Thesis (M.M. (Strategic Marketing))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Graduate School of Business Administration, 2015.Cross-selling remains the easier and most cost effective option for companies to grow revenues and achieve profitability as compared to growing revenue by acquisition of new customers. Many firms are seeking to grow their revenue and achieve high levels of customer loyalty. These firms and industries across the world are turning to cross selling as the solution. Many factors, such as merger and takeovers, result in firms having multiple product lines and silos with sales people focused according to these product divisions. What becomes more difficult is identifying which factors will lead to more integrated teams that are motivated to engage in cross selling. This study seeks to address some of the challenges that result in lower motivations levels of sales people to engage in cross selling. Financial incentives, product knowledge and recognition are studies to determine their influence on motivation to cross sell products from other divisions in a firm. A review of literature was conducted to study the influence of financial incentive, product knowledge and personal recognition on work motivation. These three constructs were then extended into a quantitative study of how they influence sales people’s motivation to engage in cross selling. The findings uncovered that salespeople consider product knowledge as a key inhibitor for them to engage in cross selling. The results also revealed a close contest with financial incentives and personal recognition also having positive influence on their motivation to engage in cross selling. Consistent with existing literature from social studies, it cannot be overemphasised that product knowledge empowers sales people and gives them the confidence to cross sell in an industrial sales environment

Development, implementation and evaluation of a programme to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education

D.Cur. (Nursing Education)Abstract: The purpose of the study is to describe the development, implementation and evaluation of a programme to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education. The researcher departed deductively from the recommendation of a Delphi study by exponents of critical thinking that researchers are to develop programmes and assessment tools of critical thinking. They came up with a consensus definition resulting from a concept analysis and defined critical thinking as a purposeful, self-regulatory judgement which results into interpretation, analysis, evaluation and inference including explanation of the critical thinking process of contextual, conceptual, methodological, evidential and criteriological considerations on which the judgment is based. The researcher made use of the critical thinking framework that included contextual, conceptual, methodological, evidential and criteriological dimensions of critical thinking to develop a conceptual framework to facilitate critical thinking. The study is a qualitative, explorative and descriptive design for programme development that is contextual in nature

Skilled labour shortages in construction contractors : a literature review

The aim of this study is to determine the causes of technical skilled labour shortages in the construction sector. Furthermore the study seeks to identify current interventions; the impact of skills shortages and also the problems the construction companies are facing in addressing these shortages

Use of Foundational Knowledge as a Basis to Facilitate Critical Thinking: Nurse Educators’ Perceptions

Abstract: Please refer to full text to view abstrac

Nurses experiences regarding staffing patterns in the Surgical wards of a private hospital in gauteng south Africa.

Abstrac:Background: Staffing patterns refers to the number and types or categories of staff assigned to the particular wards in a hospital. Staffing patterns that accommodate imbalanced patient to nurse ratios affect nursing staff negatively. This is demonstrated by increased emotional stress, physical exhaustion, high nurse turnover and consequences of poor patient outcomes. The high patient to nurse ratios and the profitability factor of private hospitals virtually dictates the type of staffing patterns that are used in these wards. As such, the current staffing patterns appear to require nursing staff to work longer shifts as well as overtime work without a choice, the consequences of which are the effects highlighted above. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe nurses’ experiences regarding staffing patterns in the surgical wards of a private hospital in Gauteng in order to develop recommendations for staffing patterns in these wards. Methodology: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was used. Data was collected by means of in-depth semi structured individual interviews from a purposive sample of professional nurses working in the surgical wards of this hospital. Data was analyzed using Tech’s method of qualitative thematic analysis. Principles of trustworthiness and ethical principles to ensure the protection of human rights were applied throughout the study. Results: The findings of the study revealed one central theme which reflected that participants experienced the staffing patterns of the surgical wards negatively. Two main themes emerged as, nurses had negative experiences as well as negative emotional experiences related to the staffing patterns. Conclusion: It is evident from the findings of the study that nurses are experiencing staffing patterns negatively

The development of biodegradable aerogel scaffolds for the generation of vascularised 3D adipose tissue models

Expected release date-April 201

The use of the Socratic inquiry to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education

Background: Critical thinking is a skill that nurse practitioners are required to have. Socratic inquiry can be used to facilitate critical thinking in nursing. Nurse educators seek methods to infuse into teaching content to facilitate students’ critical thinking skills, and one of such methods is the use of Socratic inquiry as a teaching method. Aim: This article aims to explore and describe how Socratic inquiry can be used to facilitate critical thinking in nursing education. Setting: This study took place in a nursing department at a university in Johannesburg. Methods: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual design was used. Purposive sampling was used to draw a sample of 15 nurse educators determined by data saturation. Miles, Huberman and Saldaña’s methodology of qualitative data analysis was used. Lincoln and Guba’s strategies for trustworthiness and Dhai and McQuoid-Mason’s principles of ethical consideration were used. Results: Three main themes emerged: the context necessary for Socratic inquiry, dispositions in Socratic inquiry and strategies to use in Socratic inquiry to facilitate critical thinking skills of students. Conclusions: Socratic inquiry can be used both in education and practice settings to facilitate the use of critical thinking skills to solve problems

The use of clinical practice to facilitate community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science

Abstract: Aim: This article seeks to describe how clinical practice can be used to facilitate community engagement in the Faculty of Health Science. Design: The study followed a qualitative exploratory, descriptive and contextual design. Methods: The study was conducted in the Faculty of Health Science at a public university in Namibia, Southern Africa. A total of 19 academic staff were purposively selected to participate in the focus group interviews. Thereafter, Giorgi’s method of phenomenological data analysis was used to analyse data. Lincoln and Guba’s strategies were used to establish trustworthiness. The ethical considerations followed Dhai and McQuoid-Mason’s four principles. Results: The three themes that emerged as findings were: facilitation of community engagement through home visits as part of clinical practice; facilitation of community engagement through clinical rural placements; and facilitation of community engagement through interprofessional education and practice. Conclusions: It is concluded that health science students and academic staff should conduct home visits, students’ placement should also include rural based facilities and allow inter-professional education and practice in clinical practice. However, there remains an overall need to explore for community engagement projects that may be conducted in rural settings. Additionally, a generic service-learning course for all undergraduate health science students may help facilitate community engagement through interprofessional education and practice