Gerrie J. Jacobs

Contrasting Faculty Quality Views and Practices over a Five‐year Interval

Abstract This study explores possible changes in the views of six faculty quality committees at a South African university. The initial investigation was replicated after five years and relates to the extent to which these committees perceive: (i) quality improvement as an indicator of faculty effectiveness; and (ii) faculties as the owners of quality. It was found that besides a far greater awareness of quality promotion, the committees also realised that quality must be shown to exist and that the processes of quality improvement are important. However, five years since their inception, most quality committees still view quality as ‘something that exists out there’. The implication of the study is that higher education institutions should not only promote institution‐wide quality cultures internally, but should expect it from each faculty.

Mathematical Modelling Strategies and Attitudes of Third Year Pre-service Teachers

This chapter reports on the thinking and planning strategies of a group of 38 third year mathematics student teachers (preparing to teach Grades 10–12), who were exposed to mathematical modelling for the first time. Participants, in eight comparable groups, attempted a textbook-based traffic flow model-eliciting activity. The open-ended nature of the task, handling intra-group dynamics, construction of appropriate equations and interpretation of findings were the most pressing challenges. Participants’ attitudes towards modelling, attained via a post-questionnaire, were very positive, and all appreciated the mathematics-in-the-real-world exposure. Findings of students’ planning strategies, experiences and attitudes contributed to a set of guidelines aimed at the integration of mathematical modelling into the pre-service education of mathematics teachers.

Contrasting motivation and learning strategies of ex-mathematics and ex-mathematical literacy students

This inquiry contrasts motivation and learning strategies of ex-Mathematics (Maths) and ex-Mathematical Literacy (ML) students. ML ideally delivers candidates who can make sense of and actively participate in a world of numbers and numerical arguments, but ex-ML students are excluded from many undergraduate studies at most South African higher education institutions (HEIs). Institutions employ various strategies in enhancing student transition to higher education (HE), however, such options are rare for ex-ML students. A year-long foundation programme offered by a private HEI is one exception. This inquiry employed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and t-test, detecting significant differences in motivation and learning strategies between 111 ex-Maths and 81 ex-ML students. The intrinsic goal orientation, task value, self-efficacy, effort regulation and test anxiety-handling abilities of ex-Maths students were significantly superior. The article offers insights into strategies that might improve the motivation of ex-ML students in support of their academic development.

Exploring the Initial Convictions and Mindset of Prospective Mathematics Teachers Towards Modelling

Modelling, as a problem solving strategy forms part of the South African mathematics secondary school curriculum since 2011. In many instances, mathematics teachers are incapacitated to teach modelling effectively, although literature also reveals the opposite. This study reports on the convictions (beliefs) and mindset (attitude) of prospective mathematics teachers, based on their initial engagement with a modelling task. Significant attitudinal differences emerged between the two genders, and between participants with diverse mathematics competency levels. Participants enjoyed and valued the modelling task, but seemed to lack confidence and motivation in pursuing it in future. In striving to develop the modelling and mathematical proficiency of prospective teachers, a well-planned programme that gradually nurtures participants’ modelling mindsets and confidence is recommended.

Mathematical Modelling for Engineering Diploma Students: Perspectives on Visualisation

This inquiry aims to determine the influence of mathematical modelling on engineering diploma students’ visualisation when solving differential equations (DE) with a computer algebra system (CAS). In CAS environments, students usually struggle to interpret numerical tables and computer graphs derived from symbolic DEs and often leave interpretative questions unanswered. Participants comprised 80 second year vocational engineering diploma students at a comprehensive university. Students’ abilities to make contextual connections between different representations through a model-eliciting task were assessed using content analysis. By reversing the curricular approach, most participants constructed a meaningful DE that deepened understandings of the world in which they modelled. The modelling environment stimulated development of adequate schema through experimentation with paper-and-pen and CAS technologies.

Quality's Higher Education Dividends: Broadened Custodianship and Global Public Scholarship

ABSTRACT This paper speculates on the possible contribution of the quality movement to higher education and the perceived dividends received from this, in general, over the past two decades but also, more specifically, with reference to the author’s institution in South Africa. The first major quality contribution is a gradual broadening of higher education custodianship, ensuring that academic provision more closely resembles societal expectations. It is hoped that the dividend stemming from this will be renewed public trust in higher education. The quality movement put public scholarship globally into action via its tested strategies of self‐reflection, interrogation, assessment and, especially, via the airing, sharing and exchange of research findings and practices that work. This scholarship, which increasingly contributes to the integration of various higher education subsystems and which is also respectful of contextual difference and institutional identity, is perhaps the quality revolution’s most extraordinary contribution and dividend.