Exploring special need students’ perceptions of remote learning using the multimodal model of online education

The global pandemic of COVID-19 forced institutions of higher learning to implement emergency remote learning and to change pedagogical approaches to enhance access and success for all students. Students have mixed views about remote learning. The purpose of this study is to examine special educational needs and disabled students’ perspectives of remote learning in the United Arab Emirates. The study was conducted using a qualitative case study within an interpretivist paradigm. Thirty-three special educational needs and disabled students were selected to complete an open-ended questionnaire and participate in semi-structured interviews. It was found that students applauded extraordinary convenience and reasonable accommodation they were getting as a result of remote learning. However, post COVID-19, the majority opted for face-to-face instruction as they described it as ‘irreplaceable’. The study concludes that students’ nature of special needs and disabilities are influential towards their choice of a mode of instruction

Investigating intersections between the further education and training economics curriculum and growth and development frameworks – implications for teaching and learning

Thesis (MEd)--Stellenbosch University, 2012.Includes bibliographyENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis I investigate whether the South African government’s Growth and Development Frameworks (GDFs) are aligned with the learning outcomes of the Further Education and Training (FET) Economics curriculum as presented through the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). Central to the GDFs is the cultivation of social justice, more specifically the eradication of inequalities and the establishment of employment opportunities for all the country’s citizens. Also, the government hopes to achieve social justice through the cultivation of democratic relations amongst people that will hopefully contribute towards economic development in society, more specifically local economic development (LED). Similarly, the four learning outcomes, namely macroeconomics, microeconomics, economic pursuit and contemporary economic issues, emphasise the importance of people contributing towards social justice in their communities. The learning outcomes hope to achieve this by inculcating in learners an affinity for democratic action and the acquisition of economics skills, values, knowledge and attitudes that can engender LED. Consequently, the learning outcomes can be said to be aligned with the GDFs on the basis that the common theme that seems to drive both aspects is social justice through democratic action and economic development. Finally, the alignment between the GDFs and learning outcomes has the effect that teaching and learning will and should be more deliberative, engaging and ‘free’ – a matter of people exercising their capabilities towards the attainment of human freedoms such as equality, solidarity and the exercise of their rights.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis ondersoek ek of daar ‘n verbintenis is tussen die Suid-Afrikaanse regering se Groei en Ontwikkelingsraamwerke (GOR’e) en die leeruitkomste van die Verdere Onderwys en Opleiding (VOO) Ekonomie-kurrikulum soos wat dit in die Nationale Kurrikulumverklaring (NKV) voorgestel word. Sentraal tot die GOR’e is die kultivering van sosiale geregtigheid, meer spesifiek die verwydering van ongelykhede en die skepping van werksgeleenthede vir alle landsburgers. Die regering beoog juis om sosiale geregtigheid te verwesenlik deur die kultivering van demokratiese verhoudinge tussen mense wat hopelik ‘n bydrae kan lewer tot ekonomiese onwikkeling in die samelewing, veral plaaslike ekonomiese onwikkeling (PEO). Terselfdertyd word daar deur die vier leeruitkomstes, naamlik makroekonomie, mikroekonomie, ekonomiese vooruitgang en huidige ekonomiese aangeleenthede, die belangrikheid van mense se bydraes tot sosiale geregtigheid in hulle gemeenskappe beklemtoon. Die leeruitkomstes hoop om laasgenoemde te bereik deurdat in leerders ‘n aangetrokkenheid tot demokratiese aksie en Ekonomie-vaardighede, -waardes, -kennis en -houdings gekweek word wat PEO kan bevorder. Gevolglik kan voorgehou word dat die leeruitkomste met die GOR’e vereenselwig kan word op grond van die gemeenskaplike tema van sosiale geregtigheid deur demokratiese aksie en ekonomiese ontwikkeling wat blykbaar beide aspekte dryf. Laastens, die verwantskap tussen die GOR’e en leeruitkomste het die effek dat onderrig en leer meer beraadslagend, interkatief en ‘vry’ behoort te wees – ‘n geval van mense wat hulle vaardighede uitoefen om menslike vryhede soos gelykheid, solidariteit en die uitoefening van hulle regte te bekom

Nurturing youth film literacy: Post-qualitative arts-based inquiry into critical self-awareness

Post-digital, as a timeframe set, raises specific concerns for young adults engaged in artistic and cultural activities, seeking to establish a sustainable livelihood within a semi-rural South African context. They grapple with issues such as determining their positionality within a world marked by fading boundaries between the physical and digital. To better understand the post-digital impact on experiential learning opportunities for young adults, the authors explored the specific ways and extent to which active engagement in shortfilm-making contributes to developing critical self-awareness among the participating post-school youth. An assemblage of transformative theories and concepts, rather than pre-determined methodologies, guided this inquiry that extended beyond the development of career and workplace competencies. The strengths of spaciousness and in-between boundary positions provided by the spider’s thread metaphor served as a useful methodological tool. Moving beyond the limitations of traditional discourse and content analysis, multimodal discourse analysis in combination with a modified, six-category measuring instrument was used to explore (analyse) the evidence (data) created as products of active participant engagement in a shortfilm-making project, over a 10-month period in 2020. Findings revealed that, for the participants, it was by moving from physical self-centred understandings of reality to experiential creations of authentic reality (shortfilm-productions) and involving an expanded awareness of those alternative possibilities that nurtured their potential transpersonal growth. Transdisciplinary Contribution: A synthesis of arts-based, post-qualitative and developmental phenomenographic approaches was employed to create, explore and communicate evidence in ways that present a holistic picture of alternative pathways to knowledge production

Examining Emergency Remote Teaching Using the Community of Inquiry Framework

The COVID-19 global pandemic has forced many universities worldwide to switch from face-to-face classes to Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) to allow students to continue learning. Using the Community of Inquiry framework, this study aimed to examine a group of lecturers’ experiences of ERT at a university in Kenya. The study was conducted using a qualitative case study design within an interpretive paradigm. Ten lecturers were purposively selected to participate in semi-structured interviews. The findings suggest that these lecturers had established teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence to enhance students’ learning experiences during the time they engaged in ERT. The Community of Inquiry was found to be a useful framework by the researchers for lecturers to use in order to rethink, organize, and guide ERT at the university, which was the site of the study. This study has practical implications for course designers, researchers, and students at universities and other educational institutions concerning curriculum re-design using a CoI as a framework

Assessing cognitive, social and teaching presences during emergency remote teaching at a South African university

Purpose: This study aims to examine how lecturers at a South African university navigated teaching and learning in the current educational landscape obscured by the global pandemic. The authors examine how lecturers employed a community of inquiry (CoI) in their online classrooms within the context of emergency remote teaching (ERT). The study further aims to ascertain students’ feedback concerning current ERT practices at the university toward cultivating a CoI. Doing this would offer more appropriate interventions and support for lecturers and students from, within and for an African context. If not, instructors might risk reproducing and perpetuating the same outdated pedagogies before the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-method research design informed by a pragmatist paradigm was used. Primary data were collected from 40 lecturers at the university through online questionnaires of which 10 lecturers responded to e-mail interviews. The original CoI survey was distributed among 150 students in the Faculty of Education at the university. Findings: The findings revealed that, despite the rushed and trial nature of the use of ERT, there were instances of a CoI among students. The findings further revealed that the majority of the lecturers were not adequately prepared for ERT as a result of limited experience with asynchronous and synchronous online teaching. There was evidence of an absence of a strong active teaching presence that was found to have negatively influenced the development of social and cognitive presences during ERT. Research limitations/implications: Only a single faculty at one university was selected in this single case. Practical implications: The results of the study have significant implications for faculties and academic staff who are currently teaching online in response to the teaching challenges paused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings will assist lecturers in developing appropriate pedagogical intervention strategies to enhance strong and active teaching and social presences necessary for cultivating the cognitive presences among students during ERT. Originality/value: This is one of the first empirical studies to explore the influence of ERT on the cognitive, social and teaching presences at a university in an African context. The findings and conclusion of the study are novel as they relate to the development of appropriate pedagogical practices and intervention strategies suitable for ERT in response to the current education crisis

Philosophy of education in a new key: Cultivating a living philosophy of education to overcome coloniality and violence in African Universities

In this conversational article, we consider cultivating decoloniality in university education by drawing upon Jacques Ranci ere’s (2010) notion of a living philosophy. Ranci ere’s (2010) living philosophy holds the possibility of both a medium and a space for a re-thinking and a re-contemplation of what life is in relation to what it might be. Through engaging and sharing real human experiences from and within African societies and universities, we (re)imagine decoloniality as a fiction brought to life through a living philosophy of education. In this regard, we proffer eight points of departure and reflection

Education for Social Justice through Sustainable Development, Economic Development and Equity

In this article I argue that (higher) education for social justice is an encounter, as it invokes both the capacities and cultural stock of individuals and groups. Considering that social justice is inextricably connected to need, desert and equality, it seems plausible to claim that (higher) education for social justice ought to be responsive to the aforementioned demands. I show how (higher) education for social justice seems to manifest in instances such as sustainable development, economic development and equity (not at the expense of equality, but rather as a shift in focus from striving towards equity in an equal manner). And, drawing on the seminal works of Bell, Hooks and Hackman, cultivating equal participation (through deliberation, self-reflexivity and openness), contesting dominance and privilege, and developing a critical understanding and awareness to enact social change respectively seem to be the ingredients for engendering an education for social justice in and beyond the university classroom. Keywords: Education, Social Justice, Teaching, Learning, Need, Desert, Equality, Sustainable Development, Equity and Economic Developmen

Examining an education for decoloniality and its implication for higher education in South Africa

This book focuses on understandings of higher education in relation to notions of decoloniality and decolonization in southern Africa. The volume draws on a range of case studies in multiple politico-cultural contexts on the African continent, and examines some of the challenges to be overcome in order to achieve education for decolonization and decoloniality. Acknowledging that patterns of exclusion, inequality and injustice are still prevalent in the African higher education landscape, the editors and contributors proffer bold attempts at democratizing education and examine how to cultivate just, equal and diverse pedagogical relations. Featuring case studies from South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, the authors and editors examine how higher education can be further democratized and transformed along the lines of equality, liberty and recognition of diversity. This hopeful and bold collection will be of interest to scholars of decoloniality and decolonization in higher education, as well as higher education in southern Africa more specifically

A discourse analysis of education for social justice focusing on sustainable development, equality and economic development : implications for teaching and learning

Thesis (PhD) -- Stellenbosch University, 2014.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation offers a critical discourse analysis of the Grade 11 Economics Further Education and Training learning goals in relation to the Growth and Development Policy Frameworks promulgated by the democratic government of South Africa. Specifically, through an interpretive analysis of both text and context, this dissertation examines the possibility of an education for social justice in the forms of sustainable development, equity and economic development manifesting in a local high school, more specifically in the teaching and learning in the Economics classroom. With the aid of a critical discourse analysis of three films – An Inconvenient Truth, Into the Wild and The Gods Must Be Crazy – supported by analyses of the learners’ comments on Facebook in relation to the films and the learners’ interview comments, it was found that it is possible to cultivate an education for social justice in a classroom, as is evident from the following justifications: First, the learners and I (as educator) developed a critical awareness and acquired more informed understandings of social injustices, such as unsustainable forms of human experience, societal inequities, and the negative effects of economic under-development that work against issues of need, equality, and desert – all aspects of social justice; second, the learners were initiated into inclusive, deliberative and equal pedagogical relations through which they developed an enhanced cognitive ability to express their points of view; and third, the learners and I came to the distinct realisation that social injustice can only be addressed through an internalisation of the transformative learning goals of the Economics curriculum commensurate with the goals of the Growth and Development Policy Frameworks (GDPFs), which should provoke us into bringing about social change both within and beyond the classroom. Despite the criticism that an education for social justice is not always attentive to the learning goals of the curriculum, this study has found that it is possible to cultivate an autonomous self who is cognisant of social change; pedagogical relations that are constituted by deliberations, inclusivity and the equal expression of informed speech; and a form of human agency that can disrupt societal inequities and oppressions without always having to be told (by an educator) to do so.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif ’n kritiese diskoersanalise van die leerdoelwitte van Verdere Onderwys en Opleiding aan met betrekking tot Graad 11 Ekonomie, in samehang met die Groei- en Ontwikkelingsbeleidsraamwerke wat deur die demokratiese regering van Suid-Afrika gepromulgeer is. Meer spesifiek ondersoek hierdie proefskrif met behulp van ’n verklarende ontleding van beide teks en konteks die moontlikheid dat ’n opvoeding vir sosiale geregtigheid in die vorme van volhoubare ontwikkeling, billikheid, en ekonomiese ontwikkeling in ’n plaaslike hoërskool kan manifesteer, meer spesifiek in die onderrig en leer in ’n Ekonomie klaskamer. Met behulp van ’n kritiese diskoersanalise van drie rolprente – An Inconvenient Truth, Into the Wild, en The Gods Must Be Crazy – ondersteun deur ’n analise van die leerders se kommentaar oor die rolprente op Facebook en die leerders se werkstukke en kommentare in fokusgroeponderhoude, is bevind dat dit moontlik is om ’n opvoeding vir sosiale geregtigheid in ’n klaskamer te ontwikkel, soos uit die volgende regverdigings duidelik is: Eerstens, ek (as opvoeder) en die leerders het ’n kritiese bewussyn ontwikkel en ’n meer ingeligte begrip van sosiale ongeregtighede bekom, naamlik onvolhoubare vorme van menslike ervaring, sosiale onbillikheid, en die negatiewe uitwerkinge van ekonomiese onderontwikkeling wat werk teen aspekte van sosiale geregtigheid soos kwessies van behoefte, gelykheid, en beloning; tweedens, die leerders het hulleself in inklusiewe, beraadslagende en gelyke pedagogiese verhoudings geïnisieer waardeur hulle ’n uitgebreide kognitiewe vermoë ontwikkel het om hulle opinies uit te druk; en derdens, ek en die leerders het tot die unieke besef gekom dat sosiale geregtigheid slegs aangespreek kan word deur middel van ’n internalisering van die transformerende leerdoelwitte van die Ekonomie kurrikulum, in samehang met die doelwitte van die Groei- en Ontwikkelingbeleidsraamwerke (GOBRe), wat ons moet prikkel om sosiale verandering binne en buite die klaskamer te bewerkstellig. Ten spyte van die kritiek dat ’n opvoeding vir sosiale geregtigheid nie noodwendig bedagsaam is teenoor die doelwitte van die kurrikulum nie, het hierdie studie bevind dat dit wel moontlik is om die volgende te ontwikkel: ’n outonome self wat bewus is van sosiale verandering; pedagogiese verhoudings wat bestaan uit beraadslaging, inklusiwiteit en die gelyke uitdrukking van ingeligte spraak; en ’n vorm van menslike agentskap wat sosiale onbillikhede en onderdrukking kan ontwrig sonder dat daar altyd (deur die opvoeder) voorgeskryf moet word

Islamic education and educational technology

This encyclopaedia is a dynamic reference and study place for students, teachers, researchers and professionals in the field of education, philosophy and social sciences, offering both short and long entries on topics of theoretical and practical interest in educational theory and philosophy by authoritative world scholars representing the full ambit of education as a rapidly expanding global field of knowledge and expertise. This is an encyclopaedia that is truly global and while focused mainly on the Western tradition is also respectful and representative of other knowledge traditions. It professes to understand the globalization of knowledge. It is unique in the sense that it is based on theoretical orientations and approaches to the main concepts and theories in education, drawing on the range of disciplines in the social sciences. The encyclopaedia privileges the "theory of practice", recognizing that education as a discipline and activity is mainly a set of professional practices that inherently involves questions of power and expertise for the transmission, socialization and critical debate of competing norms and values