Zach Simpson

Combining autoethnography and multimodal social semiotics: potentials for theory and method

ABSTRACT Different methodological approaches allow varying access to the objects of inquiry and enable one to ask different kinds of questions. This paper explores the possibilities that emerge through the combination of multimodal social semiotics and autoethnography. We discuss the epistemological and methodological bases for each approach and show the potentials in combining them. Drawing on an autoethnographic study in civil engineering, we argue that three aspects of research inquiry are enhanced through the combination of these approaches. These three aspects include a greater understanding of social context and its impact on meaning-making; an awareness of the multimodal nature of meaning-making; and an understanding of the ways in which the “interest” of the researcher (as participant) manifests in texts. Overall, we argue that these approaches augment each other in generative ways and allow for an in-depth look at how texts are embedded in particular practices and communities.

STUDENTS' EXPECTATIONS OF FEEDBACK GIVEN ON DRAFT WRITING

Academic writing is the primary means of assessing university students and feedback (oral or written responses) on writing can contribute significantly to student learning and success (Ferris, 2003; Hyland & Hyland, 2006). This study explores students’ expectations of feedback on draft writing. The research design was two-pronged. The initial quantitative aspect employed a questionnaire which students completed after receiving feedback from Writing Centre consultants who aim to give developmental feedback. A subsequent phase involved focus groups with volunteer students. This mixed methods design allowed for greater depth of understanding as the qualitative findings extended the quantitative results. The study concludes that students expect feedback to be understandable, encouraging and to focus on both positive and negative aspects of their writing. Importantly, students expect feedback to ‘unpack’ the conventions of academic literacy while still encouraging independence and originality.

Action Research to Enhance Student Engagement in Geotechnical Engineering

In recent decades, much attention has been given to students’ classroom participation, with many academicians and institutions arguing that the traditional lecture format is no longer conducive to student learning in higher education. This has prompted much investigation into alternative methods of teaching, including online learning, and others. This research takes places in a large university in Johannesburg, South Africa, where student exam results, as well as feedback obtained through teaching and module evaluations, indicate that undergraduate students lacked interest in geotechnical engineering and felt that course content was poorly communicated. In order to address problems of teaching and learning, this study applies an action research methodology aimed at enhancing student engagement in geotechnical engineering study. Action research is a cyclical approach to research, in which a series of interventions are designed, implemented and assessed, before being re-designed. Generally, a number of such iterations are undertaken. In this study, these interventions were aimed at improving teaching practice, enhancing student satisfaction, instilling confidence within the students, and improving the teaching and learning experience for both the lecturer and students. The interventions designed include: in-class participation, interactive lecturing, strategies to relate current learning to future practice, increased use of software applications, and weekly quizzes. The interventions were assessed through student surveys, teaching evaluations, and the lecturer’s personal reflection journal. In this paper, the results of the first iteration of this action research are presented, wherein the preliminary results are encouraging regarding increased student engagement in geotechnical engineering study.

Semiotic technologies: a case study of discipline-based practices and pedagogy

ABSTRACT This paper examines semiotic technologies, both in terms of the resources they harness and the practices developed around their use. It draws on data collected as part of an ethnographic investigation into the meaning-making practices deployed within civil engineering study. The data is used as a case study for examining semiotic technologies as socially situated resources for disciplinary practices. Using a multimodal social semiotic approach, we argue that technologies are not self-evident, and that their use constitutes specific social practices that require development in the classroom. In order to deploy technologies in pedagogically effective ways, we need to understand the semiotic resources they draw on (including embodied resources). Awareness that technologies are not neutral or value-free, but are socially situated and ideologically laden, may enable meta-level understanding of the discipline, thus creating the possibility for improved pedagogical practices.

Engineering students' visual metaphors for mentorship: Implications for the candidacy period

Mentorship is important to engineering activity. Yet, little attention is paid to this process within the engineering domain. This paper seeks to remedy this by analyzing the metaphors for mentorship produced by engineering students employed to work as mentors to young adults tasked with training residents in their communities regarding specific digital skills. Metaphors are used because they provide unique insight into the underlying conceptions that individuals hold about a topic or issue. The paper shows not only that metaphors are useful in garnering understanding as to how students conceive of the mentor-mentee relationship, but also that there is scope for using these understandings to provide more focused mentoring during their future candidacy period.

Driving responsible research and innovation: Science, society and the energy movement

South Africa faces the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality, as well as looming problems regarding water, energy and food. Science, technology and engineering are able to address some of these challenges but are often inaccessible and unfamiliar to the general public. Research and innovation in these fields needs to be increased, and undertaken in partnership with multidisciplinary stakeholders. This article uses the example of an engineering education initiative, the African Solar Drive, to illustrate how this may be achieved. It discusses recent developments in the philosophy of science that have emphasised responsibility in research and development, the similarities of these with action research methodologies and the relevance of these for the concerns South Africa faces at the moment. It presents a general methodology for science-society engagement and locates the African Solar Drive as a prelude to such engagement between higher education and the general public.

Spatial politics and infrastructure development: Analysis of historical transportation data in Gauteng - South Africa (1975–2003)

Abstract If South Africa’s Gauteng Province is to become a more ‘sustainable’, urbanised region, attention needs to be paid to building a transportation network that aligns with sustainable development principles. Currently, public transport passenger levels are low, whilst the geographical area it serves is large and becoming larger. This study analysed the long term, historical transportation trends of Gauteng by comparing four transport studies undertaken between 1975 and 2003. It reveals that an adherence to the ‘predict and provide’ transportation planning model has systematically enhanced road infrastructure over rail, and private over public transport. Effective, efficient and low cost public transport has been systematically under-provisioned; while a reliance on private vehicles is now entrenched and systemic. Racial segregation, spatial apartheid and weak urban land use planning, has resulted in an entrenched, low-density urban sprawl. Lastly, there is the need to collect comparable, longitudinal transportation data, if the successes and failures of policies are to be monitored.

Cognitive Demand and Student Achievement in Concrete Technology Study

AbstractEngineering graduates require high-level cognitive abilities such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation to fulfill their obligations to society. But universities have not always been successful in developing such abilities. This paper questions whether engineering students in a civil engineering degree program at a university in South Africa are being adequately prepared to engage in higher-order cognitive activities such as reasoning, predicting, analyzing, and problem solving. The paper deploys the structure of the observed learning outcome (SOLO) taxonomy to classify assessment questions according to cognitive demand and compares first- and second-year students’ abilities to deal with questions of varying cognitive complexity. The results show that the second-year cohort performed substantively better on questions requiring mathematical calculation but not in other question types. In fact, they performed slightly worse on high-cognitive-demand questions and substantially worse on questions requ...

Understanding the Impact of Engineering Through Appropriate Technology Development

This research describes a pilot project which aimed to introduce CDIO-type (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate), project-based learning through a community-based project in a third year Material Science module. The project formed part of an agriculture research initiative, and relied on interdisciplinary research collaboration between engineering, social sciences, management, entrepreneurship, and industrial arts. The initiative seeks to develop an agribusiness solution that will create an open-market, growth-oriented food economy. As part of the initiative, engineering students, participating in teams, worked alongside a community of urban farmers, most of whom are working poor, so as to develop appropriate, intermediate technology/ies that could support the farmers. This was informed by the need to have students demonstrate high level understanding of disciplinary content, but also to engage in human-centered design thinking and practice.Copyright

Developing Students as Higher-Order Thinkers: Analyzing Student Performance Against Levels of Cognitive Demand in a Material Science Course

Today’s increasingly complex engineering workplace demands skill in evaluation, reasoning and critical thinking; however, engineering curricula often test lower-order learning at the expense of higher-order reasoning. This paper analyzes the level of cognitive demand in a course on Material Science in the Department of Mechanical Engineering Science at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. This is done by applying Biggs’ SOLO taxonomy to classify test and exam questions in the course and then analyzing student performance against this taxonomy of higher- and lower-order learning. The results demonstrate that many students battle with questions that require extended abstract reasoning (argument, evaluation, hypothesizing and generalization). Similarly, relational thinking (through comparison, contrast, application and so on) proves to be a significant problem for weaker students. The paper recommends that engineering lecturers build higher-order thinking into course outcomes, teaching and assessment and that engineering qualifications work systematically towards developing students as higher-order thinkers.Copyright