An examination into the role of a peer academic online mentoring programme during Emergency Remote Teaching at a South African residential university

For residential universities, the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2020 academic year necessitated the suspension of in-person lectures and a swift transition of classes and other in-person activities to emergency remote teaching (ERT). This included the academic module mentoring programme, cognisant of the potential challenges experienced by first-year students during a period of ERT. The role of an in-person module mentoring programme before ERT was only to provide academic support to first-year students within an introductory financial accounting module to promote student success. This study investigated the role of an academic online mentoring programme for students in an introductory financial accounting module during ERT. A web-based survey was conducted to source the perceptions of both mentors and mentees who participated in an introductory module academic mentoring programme both before and during ERT to analyse whether the role of the academic module mentoring programme had shifted beyond that of academic support in an ERT environment. While academic support remained at the forefront as the main perceived benefit of the online mentoring programme, with the transition to ERT, the findings of this study illustrate an altering role that is more inclusive of additional psychological and peer support and engagement perceived benefits for first-year students who participated in an academic mentoring programme for students in an introductory financial accounting module during a period of ERT. Understanding student perceptions of the value derived for first-year students from an academic online mentoring programme is important in understanding first-year student needs and to provide relevant and applicable training to first-year students to promote student success during ERT. The findings of this study provide insight to institutions and in considering the addition of academic interventions such as offering academic online mentoring programmes during ERT and highlight the perceived value-add from both a mentor and mentee perspective

An investigation of the perceptions of South African students with regards to accelerated learning courses

The cost of repeating a module has both financial and social implications. The social implications include increased workloads when repeating a module and students often not being able to graduate within the prescribed minimum course period. A possible solution for this is the use of accelerated learning courses, in the form of summer or winter schools. These schools provide students with another opportunity to pass a module, during the summer or winter recess, using an accelerated learning mode, and consequently complete modules with prerequisites of failed modules in the following year. Using an accelerated learning approach, a summer or winter school covers a large portion of the content in semester or year modules in a shortened timeframe outside the normal academic period. Using a questionnaire approach, the various perceptions of first year students at the end of the academic year regarding the use of these schools were obtained and analysed. The timing of the end of the academic year allows students to familiarise themselves with the various accelerated learning courses offered to them throughout the academic year. The findings suggest that students have a positive perception of these schools despite most of them not having had previous experience of completing an accelerated learning course. Although previous literature has indicated that students are hesitant to complete finance-related modules in an accelerated learning format versus traditional semester and year modules, the perceptions indicate that students are willing to engage in financial modules, with the students identifying that the benefits of these accelerated learning courses exceed the cost. The findings suggest that students who are presented with various non-academic obstacles throughout the traditional module are able to use summer or winter schools as a way to reduce exposure to these obstacles and complete an accelerated learning course. The use of these schools therefore presents an area for module developers to consider when implementing these schools as a way to improve throughput rates, thereby contributing in a positive way to students’ financial and social health

Low-stakes assessments : an effective tool to improve marks in higher-stakes summative assessments? Evidence from commerce students at a South African university

CITATION: Ontong, J. M. 2021. Low-stakes assessments : an effective tool to improve marks in higher-stakes summative assessments? Evidence from commerce students at a South African university. South African Journal of Higher Education, 35(5):234-255, doi:10.20853/35-5-4140.The original publication is available at http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajheThe concept of practice makes perfect is often embedded in the decision to provide students with low-stakes formative and summative assessments with the intention of providing practice for higher-stakes summative assessments. The assumption is that participation in low-stakes formative and summative assessments will result in higher grades obtained in subsequent higher-stakes summative assessments. Using a quantitative approach, this study examined whether participation in low-stakes formative and summative assessments resulted in higher marks obtained in higher-stakes summative assessments. The findings of the study suggest that although in the majority of cases the participation of students in low-stakes formative or summative assessments resulted in higher marks obtained in subsequent summative assessments, an important planning consideration is the scope of the formative and summative assessments. The study found that when a low-stakes formative assessment does not cover the majority of the scope of the higher-stakes summative assessment, firstly, the participation percentage decreases significantly in comparison to other assessments that cover a larger portion of the scope of the following assessment. Secondly, the findings suggest that having a small, perhaps trivial, stake in terms of an assessment’s contribution to final mark versus no stake has a significant impact on the students’ participation levels, as well as the potential value added from participation in such assessments for future assessments. The findings also show that the quantity of low-stakes assessments does not necessarily need to be increased to increase the effectiveness of these interventions; instead, particular focus should be placed on ensuring that formative assessments cover the scope sufficiently of higher-stakes summative assessments if the intended purpose of these is to assist in improving marks in higher-stakes assessments. The findings suggest that the design of low-stakes formative and summative assessments are integral into the potential contribution these have on student performance in subsequent higher-stakes summative assessments.https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/view/4140Publisher's versio

An exploratory study of first-year accounting students’ perceptions on the socio-economic challenges of the transition to emergency remote teaching at a residential university

CITATION: Ontong, J. M. & Mbonambi, S. 2021. An exploratory study of first-year accounting students’ perceptions on the socio-economic challenges of the transition to emergency remote teaching at a residential university. South African Journal of Higher Education, 35(5):256-276, doi:10.20853/35-5-4174.The original publication is available at http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajheFor many higher education institutions, the emergency remote teaching (ERT) environment is unchartered territory. The move to ERT for residential universities during a pandemic has highlighted the necessity of understanding students’ needs in order to be able to successfully transition to an ERT environment. Performing an exploratory study, this study aims to identify possible socio-economic challenges to the ERT environment should another pandemic or an extended period of ERT take place. Using a questionnaire, this study obtained the perceptions of first-year accounting students regarding their adaptation to the ERT environment ERT. The findings suggest that a wide lens should be used when assessing residential university students’ adaptation to ERT. It appears that lecturers and the content offered may be quicker to adapt to the new learning environment; however, restrictions such as access to resources required for ERT may pose a significant obstacle to students engaging in ERT. The results of this study can be used by course planners to consider the impact of ERT on their students and further to potentially implement interventions or changes to their modules to create a larger area of inclusivity.https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/view/4174Publisher's versio

How accounting students within the Thuthuka Bursary Fund perceive academic support offered at one South African university

CITATION: Ontong, J. M., De Waal, T. & Wentzel, W. 2020. How accounting students within the Thuthuka Bursary Fund perceive academic support offered at one South African university. South African Journal of Higher Education, 34(1):197-212, doi:10.20853/34-1-3722.The original publication is available at http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajheRecent academic performance of students in their chartered accountancy professional examinations has been under scrutiny by the business community in South Africa, especially examination performance amongst Black, Coloured and Indian (BCI) students (SAICA, 2019a; Ryan, 2019). Noting the importance of preparing higher education students for future professional examinations, this study focused on Thuthuka Bursary Fund (TBF) students in accounting. The study participants were all from BCI groups whilst the study aimed to gain insight into TBF students’ perceptions regarding the value of two academic support structures. These structures involved additional tutorials, only offered to TBF students and individual learning program sessions, offered to all accounting students. The study aimed to understand the support format required to equip students to better prepare for examinations. Student perceptions were analysed to identify those aspects which could potentially make the offered support structures more conducive to the learning needs of students. Understanding student perceptions about the effectiveness of academic support is critical in promoting the study success of students and meeting their learning objectives. The study found that certain aspects of academic support are judged to positively contribute to students’ learning, while others can be improved upon. Students seem to prefer smaller support class sizes, language-specific facilitators, support classes being scheduled during normal class hours instead of after hours, an emphasis on exam writing techniques and, to a lesser extent, course content being covered. The findings suggest more regular student feedback about the academic support offered which could result in revisions to existing support structures. Such revisions might contribute to better assistance to students, potentially increasing their performance – also in continued professional learning after graduation.https://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe/article/view/3722Publisher's versio

Functional, Antigen-Specific Stem Cell Memory (TSCM) CD4+ T Cells Are Induced by Human Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection

BackgroundMaintenance of long-lasting immunity is thought to depend on stem cell memory T cells (TSCM), which have superior self-renewing capacity, longevity and proliferative potential compared with central memory (TCM) or effector (TEFF) T cells. Our knowledge of TSCM derives primarily from studies of virus-specific CD8+ TSCM. We aimed to determine if infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), the etiological agent of tuberculosis, generates antigen-specific CD4+ TSCM and to characterize their functional ontology.MethodsWe studied T cell responses to natural M. tb infection in a longitudinal adolescent cohort of recent QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT) converters and three cross-sectional QFT+ adult cohorts; and to bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) vaccination in infants. M. tb and/or BCG-specific CD4 T cells were detected by flow cytometry using major histocompatibility complex class II tetramers bearing Ag85, CFP-10, or ESAT-6 peptides, or by intracellular cytokine staining. Transcriptomic analyses of M. tb-specific tetramer+ CD4+ TSCM (CD45RA+ CCR7+ CD27+) were performed by microfluidic qRT-PCR, and functional and phenotypic characteristics were confirmed by measuring expression of chemokine receptors, cytotoxic molecules and cytokines using flow cytometry.ResultsM. tb-specific TSCM were not detected in QFT-negative persons. After QFT conversion frequencies of TSCM increased to measurable levels and remained detectable thereafter, suggesting that primary M. tb infection induces TSCM cells. Gene expression (GE) profiling of tetramer+ TSCM showed that these cells were distinct from bulk CD4+ naïve T cells (TN) and shared features of bulk TSCM and M. tb-specific tetramer+ TCM and TEFF cells. These TSCM were predominantly CD95+ and CXCR3+, markers typical of CD8+ TSCM. Tetramer+ TSCM expressed significantly higher protein levels of CCR5, CCR6, CXCR3, granzyme A, granzyme K, and granulysin than bulk TN and TSCM cells. M. tb-specific TSCM were also functional, producing IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α upon antigen stimulation, and their frequencies correlated positively with long-term BCG-specific CD4+ T cell proliferative potential after infant vaccination.ConclusionHuman infection with M. tb induced distinct, antigen-specific CD4+ TSCM cells endowed with effector functions, including expression of cytotoxic molecules and Th1 cytokines, and displayed chemokine receptor profiles consistent with memory Th1/17 cells. Induction of CD4+ TSCM should be considered for vaccination approaches that aim to generate long-lived memory T cells against M. tb