The Collaboration - Authentic Learning - Tool Mediation (CAT) Framework: the design, use and evaluation of an academic professional development workshop

The research uses an educational research design to design and evaluate a professional workshop to support teaching and learning. The workshop was designed to support the institutional goals that learning be conceptualized as becoming a practitioner of a knowledge and professional domain and that Information and Communication Technology tools need to support innovative teaching. The CAT framework includes concepts of social collaboration, tool mediation and authentic learning. This framework is used as a heuristic to design and evaluate the workshop. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of artefacts showed that the framework allowed participants to evaluate the pedagogical design of game-based learning reports, design their own learning activities and evaluate the workshop. However, the concept of tool mediation was not fully understood. Future work in the design of the workshop needs to emphasize tool mediation and specific role for ICT tools as mediators

Pre-service teacher development : a model to develop critical media literacy through computer game play

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the use of game-mediate learning with pre-service teachers, with the view to evaluating the use of a socially mediated knowledge construction to develop appropriate classroom pedagogical practices. Two instrumental case studies are presented in order to explore how pre-service teachers understand the use of computer games in teaching and learning. These cases are part of a collective case study to advance the theory of the use of video games in learning and teaching. Different groups of pre-service teachers participated in the study. The first group included third-year undergraduate education students who played a computer game on the biology of diseases. The second group of participants, postgraduate students reading for their teaching qualification, played computer games designed to address misconceptions related to genetics. The introduction of game puzzles into a learning activity acted as an explicit mediator of learning, and discussions between players implicitly mediated their understanding. Therefore, in a learning context it is argued that computer games as part of a lesson should never be the object of the activity, but should function as a tool that mediates learning outcomes. This approach can be used with any contemporary media that form part of a classroom lesson, to develop critical media literacy

Open Source at the University of Johannesburg

Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) is an important alternative to propriety software. While companies who develop propriety software are often market leaders, users of such software never own the software but only the right to use the software. FLOSS vendors, on the other hand, often grant users rights to own, use, explore and change software to support themselves and their communities. Currently University of Johannesburg members make use of FLOSS to support administrative, teaching and research objectives at the macro, meso and micro levels. However such use of FLOSS is neither supported through appropriate institutional strategic goals, nor is there any support in the use of FLOSS provided. Senate requested that a Task Team explore the present and future use of FLOSS at the University of Johannesburg taking into account local and international trends

Evaluation of e-learning policy, processes and practices in a corporate environment

This study investigates the use of learning technologies as a tool to design, develop and deliver learning interventions within a corporate environment. The study makes use of an acquisition-participation-contribution framework in order to determine how the Training Department designed and delivered learning and to evaluate learner expectations. Questionnaires were conducted on 82 participants, who included learners and trainers from all business entities within the company. Thereafter data collection involved three focus group sessions. Results found differences in what learners want and what the trainers delivered. Learners preferred social and collaborative processes while trainers designed learning that focused on the distribution and acquisition of knowledge. Trainers needs to understand the needs of staff better and that learning is not the consumption of information, but is concerned with knowledge production to support individual and collective transformation

Teaching and learning at the University of Johannesburg: a position paper

In this position paper we focus on four components of teaching and learning at the University of Johannesburg. We begin by situating university education in the complex world of the 21st century. We introduce the notion of “learning to be” – a view of higher education that conceptualises learning as becoming a practitioner of a knowledge and professional domain. We also argue that an information-oriented view of teaching and learning in a university context is not conducive to optimal learning. Coupled with this we introduce the idea of approaching teaching as the design and implementation of “learning tasks”. We then focus on how current Information and Communication Technology (ICT) features in this setting, suggesting that it should extend contact teaching in digitally rich and innovative ways. Lastly we argue for ICT management that supports free access and optimal utilisation

Indonesian Uncertainty on Tourism Components in the New Normal Period and the Ability to Travel Soon

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Indonesia, one of the most-impacted industries was its tourism sector. After the government developed various transmission prevention policies, a press release from the Indonesian president in May 2020 established the new normal terms. These new terms sought to allow Indonesians to return to travel as soon as possible with several protocols in place. However, the post-pandemic situation has made some Indonesians feel an intolerance towards the uncertainty of changes in the tourism component. Through a descriptive quantitative approach using the theory of Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU), this study aimed to determine what Indonesians feel about uncertainty, how they feel about it, and how to reduce these feelings in Camilleri’s five components of tourism. The results showed that Indonesians feel uncertainty in every component of tourist destinations, with accommodation being the most significant factor, followed by financial, protocol readiness, and health factors, particularly the threat of contracting the virus and the number of cases. Therefore, appropriate handling to eliminate the number of affected cases and the uncertainty of crowds in the destination can significantly contribute to creating the ideal situation awaited by most Indonesians before they decide to return to travel

Circular Supply Chains in Emerging Economies – a comparative study of packaging recovery ecosystems in China and Brazil

This paper provides a circular supply chain perspective of packaging recovery ecosystems being implemented by Tetra Pak, a prime global player in the food packaging industry, in two major emerging economies: China and Brazil. The circular supply chain archetype considered in the research allowed a consistent comparative analysis of Tetra Pak’s circular supply chains in both countries. Through a case study approach, the research provides theoretical propositions and learning points that are valuable for academics and practitioners interested in the Chinese and Brazilian markets as well as in the supply chains supporting recovery ecosystems in the packaging industry. In particular, the distinct environments in the Chinese and Brazilian markets render Tetra Pak opportunities to design circular supply chains in different ways showing adaptation and learning to local market characteristics. The industrial perspectives from these emerging economies add to the contributions offered in the paper. Overall, the conceptual considerations and practical recommendations presented in the paper provide useful insights for the development of further studies and implementation of industrial practices advocated by the circular economy

Open Content, Open Access and Open Source?

Higher education institutions have been subjected to two different phases of commodification, in the conversion of intellectual activity into intellectual capital, and in the conversion of instruction itself into commercially viable proprietary products that can be owned and bought and sold in the market. Despite the onslaught of neo-commodification, the scholarly processes of research, teaching and learning are today mostly “born digital”, and exist only in electronic format. Electronic communication presents a growing challenge for the scholarly community to develop new organisational, technical and economic models that address the limitations on access typical of the print information environment. In this paper we will briefly look at a number of issues related to the functions of a university (teaching and learning on the one side and research on the other) that threaten the sustainability and growth of scholarship