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Exploring the influence of lecturers’ teaching on student’s entrepreneurial intentions at a South African TVET College
No full textThe purpose of this study was to ascertain the challenges faced by a group of TVET college students in establishing their own entrepreneurial ventures. It further aimed to explore how lecturers’ current pedagogical approaches were or were not cultivating the entrepreneurial intentions of these students. The study employed a qualitative approach informed by an interpretive design. The sample participants included five (n=5) lecturers employed to teach entrepreneurship and business management across different courses, and thirty students (n=30) at a TVET college. The Theory of Planned Behaviour served as a barometer to both guide and frame the interpretation of results. A combined student- and teacher-centered approach was found, according to the views of the participants, to have a positive impact on the development of the participating students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The findings also suggest that using real-life business challenges as part of pedagogy, has the potential to help TVET college students develop entrepreneurial intentions, together with the appropriate skills, values, and attitudes
Hybrid communities of practice towards developing educators’ TPACK: implications for teacher education
No full textAlthough widely acknowledged for their significance, contemporary Teacher Professional Development (TPD) initiatives have faced growing criticism due to their failure to effectively foster the seamless incorporation of technology into educators’ pedagogical practices. Educators depend on their informal Communities of Practice (CoPs) rather than TPD programmes to acquire the knowledge they need to both competently and meaningfully integrate technology into their pedagogical practices. This study investigates the innovative approaches educators employ in three (n=3) Western Cape public primary schools to create a hybrid CoP in their school to improve their collective technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK). The criticism of TPD efforts extends beyond primary and secondary school contexts. This challenge substantially impacts teacher education and highlights the increasing necessity for developing digital literacy among the professoriate in this discipline. The theoretical basis for this study was Wenger’s (1998) CoP social learning theory and Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) TPACK model. The study employed a qualitative research approach involving a cohort of 12 educators who engaged in open-ended survey questionnaires, one-on-one semi-structured interviews, and observational sessions. Additionally, the research incorporated one (n=1) school principal and two (n=2) deputy principals who actively contributed to all data collection modalities except for the survey questionnaires. Document analysis, specifically from WhatsApp group chat screenshots, was conducted across all three (n=3) schools as part of the research approach. While the data set used in this study originates from a study involving school educators, it aims to extend the findings to determine their significance for teacher education. The results revealed that the sampled educators had established an informal hybrid CoP at their respective schools through innovative approaches, such as joint enterprise, mutual engagement, and shared repertoire. These educators gained TPACK from one another throughout this process. Universities and provincial governments might profit from the findings, the knowledge gained from which could assist in their structuring of TPD programmes in ways which would foster their organic development in educators’ particular employment contexts
Dietary intake and nutrients adequacy among young adults with sickle cell disease in Ile-Ife, Southwest Nigeria
No full textSickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic and genetically mutated disease seen among the African descent, of which the need to study the nutritional status and the socio-demographic characteristics is a challenge. The aim of the study was to determine the dietary intake, level of nutritional status, and sociodemographic characteristics of people with sickle cell disease in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The study involved 100 participants, 50 in the test group (Hb SS patients) and 50 control (other genotypes/non-Hb SS patients) in the control group, recruited at the Obafemi Awolowo University’s health centre in Ile- Ife. A questionnaire was issued to gather information on participants. Dietary data were obtained by the socio-demographic using 24-hour dietary recall, food frequency questionnaire was distributed to the participants. Characteristics, including their body mass index (BMS) height and weight were measured. From the study, about 76.3% of the respondents did not meet the total calorie needed while 23.7% met the expectation of total calorie needed daily. Proteins and carbohydrate as a major micronutrient met the requirement 54.6% and 93.8% respectively. Fibre intake was grossly inadequate with 80.4%, mineral salts and vitamins showed inadequate intake, most especially, folate, retinol, beta carotene and vitamin D. It is evident that nutritional management should go with medical care provided to patients with sickle cell disease. The nutritional management should also focus on conscious selection of food to ensure adequacy of both macronutrients and micronutrients necessary for maximum functioning of the body and maintaining good nutritional status
The effect of demographic variables on international tourist's perception of destination image in the Volta Region of Ghana
No full textThe effect of demographic variables on the perception of destination image among international
tourists has attracted the attention of academics and practitioners, this study aims to evaluate the
effect of demographic variables on the perception of international tourist on destination image.
Using the quantitative research approach, utilising a survey strategy and structured questionnaires
were used to collect data from 403 international tourists randomly in selected key tourist sites in
the Volta region of Ghana. Responses received were analysed with Partial Lease Square
Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). To understand the effect, a further multi-group
analysis was conducted to determine the significant differences in the path coefficients of gender
and education. The study findings revealed that majority of international tourists had a positive
perception towards the destination and key tourists’ attraction sites and were satisfied but had a
negative perception of the destination pull elements. The destination and sites are seen to
influence tourist revisit intentions and recommendations. The demographic variables of gender
and education significantly positively moderate destination image and tourists’ future intentions
to recommend and revisit the destination. Implications of practice opportunities are provided. It
contributes to the role that demographic plays in development of touris
Naringin mitigates testicular injury and associated neuronal toxicity in lead-exposed cockerel chicks
No full textObjective: Lead (Pb) poisoning affects multiple organs including the reproductive system. The experiment was performed to explore the protective effect of naringin on testicular apoptosis, neuronal dysfunction and markers of stress in cockerel chicks.
Materials and Methods: Thirty-six cockerel chicks were used for this study, and randomly grouped into six chicks per group viz. control, Pb only (600 ppm), Pb and naringin (80 mg/kg), Pb and Naringin (160 mg/kg), naringin only (80 mg/kg) and naringin only (160 mg/kg), respectively, for eight weeks. Pb was administered via drinking water while naringin was administered via oral gavage. Oxidative stress indices in the brain and testes were assessed, and immunohistochemistry of TNF-α and caspase 3 was done in the brain and testes, respectively.
Results: Lead administration induced inflammatory and testicular apoptosis cascade accompanied with increased oxidative stress and upregulation of brain and testicular antioxidant enzymes in comparison to the control and Pb-only-treated cockerels. Immunohistochemistry showed significant immunoreactivity of testicular caspase 3 and TNF-α in the brain.
Conclusion: Treatment of Pb-exposed chickens with naringin offered protection to Pb acetate-induced testicular oxidative stress, apoptosis, and neuroinflammation in cockerel chicks
Technology integration in teacher education: challenges and adaptations in the post‑pandemic era
No full textCOVID-19 pandemic experiences have globally accelerated technology use in higher education, including in developing countries like South Africa. The advancements and use of technology during the COVID-19 lockdown led to increased access to knowledge relevant to educational, professional, and personal development. Nonetheless, difficulties with incorporating technology into teaching and learning remain in teacher education, and there are no real-world examples explaining solutions adapted to reflect South African post-pandemic teacher education. This research, conducted at a public university issues, high levels of plagiarism, and load shedding as challenges faced by pre-service teachers and teacher educators in post-pandemic teacher education. The results highlight the need in South Africa, aimed to understand and exemplify technology adaptations and challenges in post-pandemic teacher education through Vygotsky’s social constructivist worldview. Data collected through observation and a focus-group interview session with participants in the Faculty of Education at a university in South Africa revealed technology incompatibility, ad-hoc solutions to socio-economic for continuous, interactive, and practically focused interactions between educators and policymakers, educators and educators, and educators and pre-service teachers to minimize or eradicate obstacles related to technology integration in post-pandemic teacher education programmes
Assessment of explainable tree-based ensemble algorithms for the enhancement of Copernicus digital elevation model in agricultural lands
No full textThere has been a rapid evolution of tree-based ensemble algorithms which have outperformed deep learning in several studies, thus emerging as a competitive solution for many applications. In this study, ten tree-based ensemble algorithms (random forest, bagging meta-estimator, adaptive boosting (AdaBoost), gradient boosting machine (GBM), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), light gradient boosting (LightGBM), histogram-based GBM, categorical boosting (CatBoost), natural gradient boosting (NGBoost), and the regularised greedy forest (RGF)) were comparatively evaluated for the enhancement of Copernicus digital elevation model (DEM) in an agricultural landscape. The enhancement methodology combines elevation and terrain parameters alignment, with feature-level fusion into a DEM enhancement workflow. The training dataset is comprised of eight DEM-derived predictor variables, and the target variable (elevation error). In terms of root mean square error (RMSE) reduction, the best enhancements were achieved by GBM, random forest and the regularised greedy forest at the first, second and third implementation sites respectively. The computational time for training LightGBM was nearly five-hundred times faster than NGBoost, and the speed of LightGBM was closely matched by the histogram-based GBM. Our results provide a knowledge base for other researchers to focus their optimisation strategies on the most promising algorithms
Towards improving class attendance in higher education: a case study of a university of technology in South Africa
No full textThe relationship between absenteeism and academic performance in the higher education environment is extensively documented. In the South African context, this was exacerbated by the institution of emergency measures at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and followed by hybrid adoption in the post-pandemic context. This study, relying on the views of sixteen academics from a university of technology in South Africa, explores the pandemic era considerations by examining pre-, during, and post-pandemic class attendance trends. By adopting a thematic lens, the study's outcomes highlighted a high prevalence trend in class non-attendance numbers from the academics’ viewpoint. Nevertheless, the relationship between attendance figures and students' performance was disproportionate as the academics witnessed slight differences in the performance levels of various categories of students, even in the context of the pandemic, a nuanced suggestion that certain pandemic-related interventions such as lecture recording could have been positively received. The study proposes strategies for potential implementation and suggests recommendations while advancing future researc
Artificial intelligence-powered decision support system for operational decision-making in the ICT department of a selected African university
No full textThis paper aims to explore the effect of an artificial intelligence-enabled decision support system (AIDSS) on decision-making processes within a university setting, focusing on the ICT department of a selected South African university. The research objectives revolve around the effectiveness of AIDSS in enhancing decision-making in higher education institutions. Convenience sampling was employed in this study and a questionnaire administered to 28 participants. These methods were chosen to gather insights into the practical application of AI technology in the context of IT operational decision-making. The major findings of this research reveal that AIDSS has the potential to significantly improve decision-making processes in higher education. Despite these advancements, the research acknowledges the ethical and societal implications arising from AI integration, underscoring the importance of achieving a balance between technical advancement and the upholding of human values. As a major policy implication, this study underscores the importance of embracing AI technologies in higher education institutions to enhance decision-making processes, thus improving the efficiency and effectiveness of IT operations. The original contribution of this research lies in its exploration of the practical use of AIDSS in South African higher education, offering insights into how AI can be harnessed to advance decision-making
A paradigm shift in collaborative learning: insights from the theory of collaborative advantage for inclusive and engaging pedagogical design
No full textCollaborative or group work is a widely-used learning strategy in undergraduate studies, yet it is often met with resistance. Previous research on the topic identified the complexity of collaborative learning strategies as a significant concern for both instructors and students. In response, this paper employs the theory of collaborative advantage (and collaborative inertia) to explore a longitudinal learning event and illuminate the complexities and advantages which students might encounter. Based on the case study method, the paper presents four pedagogical design propositions: (1) design for co-constructing goals, (2) learning-support frameworks as magnifiers, (3) attentiveness to culturally diverse voices, and (4) learning designed for power dynamics. It is argued that these design propositions can assist in fostering collaborative awareness in various disciplines and subject areas