Conceptualisation of knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes in nursing education

Background: Practices in higher education have been criticised for not developing and preparing students for the expertise required in real environments. Literature reports that educational programmes tend to favour knowledge conformation rather than knowledge construction; however, community service learning (CSL) is a powerful pedagogical strategy that encourages students to make meaningful connections between the content in the classroom and real-life experiences as manifested by the communities. Through CSL, learning is achieved by the active construction of knowledge supported by multiple perspectives within meaningful real contexts, and the social interactions amongst students are seen to play a critical role in the processes of learning and cognition. This article reflects facilitators’ perspective of the knowledge construction process as used with students doing community service learning in basic nursing programmes. Objectives: The aim of this article was to conceptualise the phenomenon of knowledge construction and thereby provide educators with a shared meaning and common understanding, and to analyse the interaction strategies utilised by nurse educators in the process of knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes in basic nursing education. Method: A qualitative research approach based on a grounded theory research design was used in this article. Two nursing education institutions were purposively selected. Structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants. Results: The results revealed that the knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes is conceptualised as having specific determinants, including the use of authentic health-related problems, academic coaching through scaffolding, academic discourse-dialogue, interactive learning in communities of learners, active learning, continuous reflection as well as collaborative and inquiry-based learning. Upon completion of an experience, students create and test generated knowledge in different contextual health settings. Conclusion: It was concluded that knowledge is constructed by students as a result of their interaction with the communities in their socio-cultural context and is mediated by their prior concrete experiences. The implication of this is that students construct knowledge that can be applied in their future work places

IsiZulu Terminology Development in Nursing and Midwifery

Abstract The Education White Paper of 1997 on transformation in higher education in South Africa (South Africa 1997) indicated that because of the multilingual nature of the diverse communities in the new democracy, higher education should play a role in the development of all the official languages including the indigenous languages, as well as the Khoi, Nama, San and Sign languages. The School of Nursing of the University of KwaZulu-Natal took this obligation to heart by participating in the SANTED multilingualism project. This emanated from the needs of the student nurses who are being educated and trained in English, but serve in communities where Zulu is the dominant language. To meet the identified student needs, the nursing and midwifery specialists, in collaboration with various language specialists in KwaZulu-Natal, engaged in a process to develop terminology which enhances isiZulu as a scientific language. This article discusses the language policies and multilingual trends, both locally and globally and describes the experiences of the nursing specialists who participated in the terminology development process. The main categories for deriving terms based on the linguistic decisions made by the team are also described, and examples provided. The challenges are outlined and the recommendations include the importance of institutional buy-in at all academic levels and strategies for the sustainability of the project