Narratives Countering the Democratising Ideal of Discourse in an Online Forum of a Higher Education Institution

This paper describes power inequalities among participants in an online forum at a higher education institution in South Africa. Critical poststructuralist theory informs the study as it investigates how hegemony influences the strategic interaction of participants. An interpretive analysis uncovered elements of a cyclic process of intensified exclusion, inequality and oppression. This took place within a virtual space which is theoretically idealized as an equalizer and promoter of freedom of speech. The process involved in the eliciting of voices is described and the interpretation of subjective accounts tells of the disillusioned experiences of a potential liberating form of technology. Instead of alleviating conflict, the potential of the online forum is subverted and intensifies the alienation of and animosity between participants. Proposals for moderation are made to change the forum to a democratic, inclusive space

Instructional dissonance during interactive television support broadcasts - a South African experience

This case study focused on a community outreach initiative in South Africa and sought to explain why – despite technology that permits bi-directional oral communication during televised instruction – viewer participation was poor. A small-scale quantitative approach established how prevalent poor participation was, while rich experiential interviews and video data identified why viewers refrained from participating overtly. The use of Atlas.tiTM to analyse systematically the volume of unstructured data as a single unit not only facilitated analysis, but also enhanced the validity of the inquiry. Key findings suggested that the rate of viewer participation during telelessons was not directly influenced by their English proficiency, as initially anticipated, but by a combination of variables related to technical limitations and inappropriate methodological design. This article focuses specifically on the instructional dissonance created by telepresenters, and how this accounted for viewers not responding as expected during televised instructional episodes. Implications for practice are deemed applicable in any blended learning environment

Using readability, comprehensibility and lexical coverage to evaluate the suitability of an introductory accountancy textbook to its readership

At universities, textbooks are still a primary source of course content. However, this can only be efficacious if the intended readers are able to comprehend the content of the textbooks adequately. This study investigated three possible approaches to determining whether the intended readership of a prescribed Introductory Accountancy textbook (Cornelius & Weyers 2011) will be able to make meaning of that textbook. Such an investigation has important implications for authors, publishers of textbooks and subject lecturers prescribing the texts. Readability of the textbook was determined by using the Flesch Reading Ease and Flesch-Kinkaid Grade Level indices, as well as the average of five conveniently calculated grade level reading indices. A Cloze procedure test was administered to a selection of students to determine their reading comprehension of a reading text. Finally, Nations’ Vocabulary Size Test (Nation and Beglar 2007: 9, 11) was used to determine whether the vocabulary size of the selection of students provides adequate lexical coverage of the lexis used in the textbook to enable comprehension of the text. The findings were somewhat conflicting. The readability indices, and to a lesser extent the vocabulary size test, indicated suitability of the textbook to its intended readership. The Cloze test results suggested contradictory findings that users of the textbook will be reading at their frustration level. These conflicting findings are discussed.Keywords: readability, reading comprehension, vocabulary size, higher educatio

Technological pedagogical content knowledge in South African mathematics classrooms: A secondary analysis of SITES 2006 data

This article reports on a secondary data analysis conducted on the South African mathematics teachers’ dataset of the Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES 2006). The sample consisted of a stratified sample of 640 mathematics teachers from 504 randomly selected computer-using and non–computer-using schools that completed the SITES 2006 teachers’ questionnaire, which investigated their pedagogical use of Information Communication Technology (ICT). The purpose of the current investigation was to investigate the level of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) of mathematics teachers, and how TPACK attributes contribute towards more effective Grade 8 mathematics teaching in South African schools, using the TPACK conceptual framework. The findings are presented according to the three clusters identified through the association between the main variables of the TPACK model and other variables on the SITES 2006 teachers’ questionnaire: (1) impact of ICT use, (2) teacher practices and (3) barriers. A Cramér V of between 0.3 and 0.4 was considered to signal a medium effect that tended towards practically significant association, and a Cramér V of 0.4 or larger was considered to signal a large effect with practically significant association. The results indicate that the TPACK of mathematics teachers contributes towards more effective Grade 8 mathematics teaching in South African schools

Towards a Research Framework for ICT Use in Developing Contexts

The digital divide describes the gap among individuals, house- holds, businesses and geographic areas on socio-economic level, as well as unequal opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs). Castells holds the view that informationalism of shifting global networks creates a vola- tile and ruthless world. Those who do not contribute to the new world economies are discarded. Consequently, much of Africa is condemned to information black holes as Africa becomes the graveyard of failed ICT development programmes. However, by sharing expertise and goodwill, worldwide university networks of science and technology can reverse the inequities brought about by informationalism. We have a shared academic respon- sibility to explore feasible research frameworks on the use of ICT in developing contexts. Bronfenbrenner maintains that the ecology of human development is experimental by nature and design. From his Human Ecological Systems Theory we propose a research framework for the development of socially transfor- mative ICT goals for implementation and validation at the School for Continuing Teacher Education at the North-West University, South Africa

FaceFunda: a taxi ride with teacher-students towards social media literacy in the rural Eastern Cape Province of South Africa

This paper explores and describes how teacher-students from rural communities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, enrolled for a BEd Honours programme, experienced social media support to assist and guide them to compile an individual research proposal. Kruger’s (2012) conceptual framework addressed issues relating to 21st century learning skills of supporting teacher-students in an open distance learning environment. The researchers compiled a support group, FaceFunda on Facebook, according to the metaphor of a taxi—a well-known object to the participants—in order to enhance their learning experience while they interacted supportively with one another and the facilitator towards compiling their research proposals. None of the participants had previously used Facebook and they experienced many challenges. A constant comparative qualitative methodology analysed the integrated dataset and three themes emerged. Recommendations to the Unit of Open Distance learning related to four support aspects to foster social media literacy of rural teacher-students.https://www.learntechlib.org/p/147601

Silencing dissent in an online discussion forum of a higher education institution

In an online forum at a higher education institution in South Africa, interventions from management in order to moderate discussions, result in antagonism and the smothering of dissident discourse. Critical poststructuralist theory, the model of communicative democratic discourse as held by Iris Marion Young, and the tenets of ideal speech as held by Jürgen Habermas, inform the study while it investigates how the internal and external moderation of the forum limit and terminate essential discourse which could be instrumental in the critical construction of meaning and the exercise of freedom of speech. The methodology of grounded theory and the approach of critical discourse analysis direct the exploration of interview transcripts and forum text. In the analysis of characteristics displayed in discursive moderating strategies, the researchers are enabled to propose a form of emancipatory moderation within the discourse which could result in better understanding among opposing parties. The hegemonous and distant character as seen in the discourse concerning current moderation is subversed to allow participatory and equal moderation for the establishment of an enabling, accepting and diverse online environment.https://doi.org/10.4102/td.v9i2.20

Identifying elements of social identity development for mathematics teachers in the Western Cape, South Africa for professional online engagement

This paper reports on the analyses of a custom-made questionnaire distributed to systematic random selected teachers in 179 schools in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. The purpose of the analysis was to enquire what Mathematics in the Western Cape Education Department regard as essential elements to develop their social professional identity for online professional engagement. The Statistical Consultation Services of the North-West University conducted a principal axis factor analysis to validate the correlation coefficient between the factors of the questionnaire and cluster the factors into eleven essential elements. A Cronbach Alpha of 0.7 for most of the factors validated the reliability of the extracted factors. Engelström’s Third Generation Activity Theory Model conceptualized the factors. Mathematics teachers regard the provision of resources, access to personal and virtual learning environments and adequate professional development models and framework as components for the transformations of the social professional identity for professional online engagement.https://www.learntechlib.org/p/14750

Silencing dissent in an online discussion forum of a higher education institution

In an online forum at a higher education institution in South Africa, interventions from management in order to moderate discussions, result in antagonism and the smothering of dissident discourse. Critical poststructuralist theory, the model of communicative democratic discourse as held by Iris Marion Young, and the tenets of ideal speech as held by Jürgen Habermas, inform the study while it investigates how the internal and external moderation of the forum limit and terminate essential discourse which could be instrumental in the critical construction of meaning and the exercise of freedom of speech. The methodology of grounded theory and the approach of critical discourse analysis direct the exploration of interview transcripts and forum text. In the analysis of characteristics displayed in discursive moderating strategies, the researchers are enabled to propose a form of emancipatory moderation within the discourse which could result in better understanding among opposing parties. The hegemonous and distant character as seen in the discourse concerning current moderation is subversed to allow participatory and equal moderation for the establishment of an enabling, accepting and diverse online environment. Keywords: moderation of online forum; higher education institution; freedom of speech; censorship; democratic discours

Towards using e-portfolios in an ODL development state

http://www.sabinet.co.za/abstracts/progress/progress_v32_n1_a7.htm