Eunice Ivala

Social media for enhancing student engagement : the use of Facebook and blogs at a University of Technology

This work investigates the promise of Facebook and blogs for enhancing students’ levels of engagement in learning. This issue warrants investigation because there is little published empirical work on the subject. The researchers applied a learning ecology perspective to study the potential of Facebook and blogs in enhancing student levels of engagement in learning. In-depth interviews with lecturers who use Facebook and blogs and focus groups with their respective students were carried out to establish: usage in teaching and learning; the context of use; challenges encountered in usage; and whether these technologies enhanced student learning. A significant finding of the study was that appropriate use of blogs and Facebook groups, if accepted by students as a learning tool, enhances students’ engagement in learning activities of an academic nature on- and off-campus. The article also suggests strategies for the implementation of Facebook and blogs in ways that are likely to have a positive impact on student levels

The use of emerging technologies for authentic learning: A South African study in higher education

It is now widely accepted that the transmission of disciplinary knowledge is insufficient to prepare students leaving higher education for the workplace. Authentic learning has been suggested as a way to bring the necessary complexity into learning to deal with challenges in professional practice after graduation. This study investigates how South African higher educators have used emerging technologies to achieve the characteristics of authentic learning. A survey was administered to a population of 265 higher educators in South Africa who self-identified as engaging with emerging technologies. From this survey, a sample of 21 respondents were selected to further investigate their practice through in-depth interviewing using Herrington, Reeves and Olivers nine characteristics of authentic learning as a framework. Interrater analysis undertaken by five members of the research team revealed both consistencies and differences among the twenty one cases across the nine elements of authentic learning. The highest levels of authenticity were found for the elements authentic context and task, and the lowest for articulation. Furthermore, there was a moderate correlation identified between levels of authenticity and the role played by emerging technologies in achieving the authenticity, showing a potentially symbiotic relationship between them.

'All stories bring hope because stories bring awareness': students' perceptions of digital storytelling for social justice education

Although becoming a more racially-integrated society, the legacy of Apartheid still affects learners’ social engagements in and outside their classrooms. Adopting Nussbaum’s (2010) capabilities framework for a socially just democracy, this paper examines 27 pre-service teacher education students’ perceptions of a digital storytelling project and its potential for recognising and honouring capabilities necessary for engaging empathetically with the ‘other’. Using narrative inquiry, and specifically Bamberg’s (2006) ‘small stories’ approach, the research team analysed 30 stories students constructed in four focus group conversations at the end of the project. In these stories, most of Nussbaum’s (2010) capabilities were evident. We found that, in the collective sharing of their stories, students positioned themselves as agentive selves, displaying the belief that they can make a difference, not only individually within their own classrooms, but also as a collective of teachers. Keywords: capabilities approach; digital stories; digital storytelling; pre-service teacher education; social justice education

Globalisation: The role of new information and communication technologies in distance education

Abstract The rapid changes and convergence of new information and communication technologies over the past decade have changed the way distance education is employed. The new information and communication technology revolution has enabled academic institutions to provide a flexible and more open learning environment to students and has brought distant sites into an electronic web of information. As a result, the gist of this paper is to examine the promise of new information and communication technologies and public service broadcasting (particularly television broadcast-based distance education) in Africa in the face of globalisation.

Towards the development of digital storytelling practices for use in resource-poor environments, across disciplines and with students from diverse backgrounds

Digital storytelling has entered Higher Education as a pedagogical tool for enhancing students digital literacies in digitally saturated contexts. Increasing access to freely available software programs for video production and the ubiquity of mobile technologies have made digital storytelling viable in resource-poor environments. This paper reports on an on-going project at a university of technology in South Africa employing both quantitative and qualitative research approaches, with the aim of understanding students perceptions of context-specific digital storytelling practices across various disciplines and student backgrounds. Pierre Bourdieus notions of field, habitus and capital as well as Tara Yossos community cultural wealth were applied to understand students perceptions of practices of digital storytelling that emerged from this project. We argue that complex technology projects, such as digital storytelling, are potentially viable in poorly-resourced environments, across disciplines and with students with diverse digital literacies and backgrounds, provided that: 1. technical barriers are lowered to the minimum and technologies are adopted that are freely available, owned by or easily accessible to students, 2. that the appropriate model is chosen based on these students social and cultural capital, and 3. that the community cultural wealth of students is considered in curriculum delivery.

Educational Technology Training: Staff Development Approaches

Abstract Globally, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are seen as one way of solving societal and business challenges. As a result, the South African Government identifies the use of ICTs in teaching and learning as one way of addressing societal and business challenges. Due to this call from the government, higher education institutions (HEIs) have invested and adopted ICTs, and the manner in which ICTs are understood and used (or not used) are institution-specific. However, adoption of ICTs has not been without challenges. As a result of these challenges, most HEIs have established a Directorate for e-learning that is tasked with staff development. Staff development approaches adopted are institution-specific and aimed at achieving a critical mass of staff that are competent to infuse and enhance the institution’s capability to sustain the integration of technology. This paper presents staff development strategies currently being employed globally and at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in preparing for integration of technology in teaching and learning, and CPUT lecturers’ experiences of the initiatives. Qualitative methods were used to gather data and they were analysed inductively. A major finding was that CPUT uses strategies utilised elsewhere in other HEIs globally, and lecturers find them invaluable. The findings of this study may offer staff development options and insights for use by other HEIs in South Africa and elsewhere.

Podcasts: A technology for all?

While the pedagogical benefits and challenges of podcasting as a teaching and learning practice are well researched, sometimes with contradictory results, literature on the potential of podcasting as a socially inclusive technology is scanty. Using a quantitative survey design, framed by concepts such as emerging technologies, low-threshold applications and nontraditional students, this study investigated students perceptions at a large institution in South Africa on the access and use of podcasts. Findings indicate that podcasting was well received by all students. Particularly nontraditional students, with specific reference to gender, age and home language, were the ones who engaged most extensively with podcasts. Regular recordings of difficult, content-heavy lectures were perceived as the most effective use of podcasting, showing that course design matters in terms of podcasting usage. Findings also challenged the view of podcasting as facilitating passive learning. In our context, which is defined by severe resource constraints and fear of technology among both lecturers and students, the simplicity and accessibility of podcasts promises a successful mainstream adoption of a low-threshold technology for African higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital Storytelling in Industrial Design

With the massification of higher education (HE) globally, widening access to education has changed the face of the student population. Post-apartheid South Africa in particular has seen a rapid increase in so-called Non-Traditional Students (NTSs). These students are often first-generation HE matriculants, mature, juggling work, family and academic responsibilities, and viewed as academically underprepared. Most suggestions for dealing with NTSs are based on a deficiency model—offering remedial and additional support to struggling students. The authors suggest a move away from this deficit approach to one that focuses on designing and offering innovative teaching and learning practices that are meaningful and accessible to all students, including NTSs. This study examined how digital storytelling would mediate some of the challenges NTSs in a first-year Industrial Design course face. How did the digital storytelling practice help the students deal with some of the challenges they face? In particular, the elements of collaboration and flexibility stood out in terms of mediating the challenges the students reported. Instead of negatively labelling NTSs as problematic, the authors call for disrupting current teaching and learning, concluding that learning activities should be designed to engage all students, offer inclusivity, flexibility and choice.

Developing eLearning champions: a design thinking approach

Against the backdrop of a complex Higher Education (HE) landscape, particularly in a developing country context where the relevance of current HE structures is questioned through student protests, and decolonisation of education practices is called for, traditional thinking is losing ground. This study focuses on lecturers identified as eLearning champions, who display shared dispositions that mirror what the literature terms a ‘design thinking mindset’, such as collaboration, empathy for the learner and problem orientation. We argue that promoting this mindset in academic staff development interventions around the use of technology in teaching and learning could support more academics to innovate their practices. Recommendations for how findings of this study may inform the design of such learning interventions conclude the paper.

Silence, voice, and “other languages”: Digital storytelling as a site for resistance and restoration in a South African higher education classroom

In order to investigate the composing practices of digital storytellers in a South African context, a qualitative case study, set within a university of technology in South Africa and framed by literature stemming from the disciplines of digital storytelling and composition and rhetoric, was implemented as part of a larger dissertation project initiated in 2014. This study spanned a year and included participant observation and the collection of interviews as primary methods of investigation. Findings linked digital storytelling to creating a liberating classroom space where students could redefine themselves outside of historicized representations. Within a digital storytelling praxis, the story circle component has proven to be an effective means to engage students in both a reflective and critical engagement of their own writing practices, highlighting the synergy between the spoken word, process-based writing, and digital formats for composing. However, questions remain surrounding the ethical practice of digital storytelling in classrooms especially when students share personal stories and those stories are both publicly consumed and graded. Implications for practice cover themes relating to the integration of technology that supports the democratization of varied voices in the public sphere, which is particularly important in post-conflict zone environments like South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]