KovsieJournals - University of the Free State (UFS)
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Technology-driven proctoring: Validity, social justice and ethics in higher education
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has led to rapid change, unprecedented in higher education. One such change has been the almost complete shift to online assessment. The simultaneous employment of online assessment and proctoring has not enjoyed the rigorous academic debate and research traditionally associated with such shifts in academia. This engagement is essential and this article aims to discuss aspects of social justice, ethics and the validity of digital proctoring to the burgeoning debate. Digital proctoring is a lucrative industry (Coghlan Miller & Paterson, 2021), notwithstanding the admitted opportunities for cheating, irrespective of the intensity of overwatch. Digital proctoring is marketed and has become entangled with issues of institutional reputation and the legitimacy of qualifications. The student seems to be a secondary consideration compared to the technocratic digital proctoring arena. However, the introduction of online assessment, specifically with digital proctoring, impacts the assessment’s validity by introducing intervening variables into the process. The drive to detect and prevent online cheating has led to algorithmic proliferation. This technologically driven approach has embedded social injustice and questionable ethics and validity into the assessment systems. This article examines the social justice, ethical and validity issues around technological proctoring under the grouped themes: Emotional factors; Racial and/or skin colour; Digital literacy and Technology; and Disability. However, the COVID-19 pandemic driven shifts have provided the unprecedented opportunity to elevate assessment from recall to critical thinking and application based assessment. An opportunity to ensure that our assessment is valid, assesses higher-order learning, and truly evaluates the concepts we wish to assess
A conceptual quality improvement protocol for Free State public works projects
Get PDFMaterials delivered on public works project sites deviate from technical specifications, with detrimental implications for the quality of the construction process and product. When delivered materials differ from specifications, quality issues such as defects and re-work ensue at greater cost to the clients. The inadequate application of concepts and techniques of quality improvement also appears to perpetuate the problems. This study aims to find answers as to which quality improvement protocol would ensure that materials are delivered on construction sites as specified by the engineers. A case-based design with multiple data-collection techniques and points was expedited in the study. The primary data collected through a semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire, semi-structured interviews, and purposive sampling from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure’s technical personnel provided the platform for compiling a quality improvement protocol contextualised for the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure in the Free State, which constituted the case study. The statistical and textual data outlined how the department could address quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement concerning materials delivery for public works projects. The article’s contribution is the proposed quality improvement protocol that should guide the specification and delivery of construction materials for projects
COMFORT WOMEN SURVIVING PANDEMICS: FROM ERASURE TO EMBODIED HOPE TOWARDS A FEMINIST-POSTCOLONIAL THEOLOGY OF RADICAL HOSPITALITY
Get PDFThe article accords epistemic privilege to comfort women as embodiment of the perversion of hospitality. It draws aparallelism between their surviving the pandemics of World War II as forcibly recruited sex slaves and COVID-19.Through their lived experience as survivors of pandemics, a feminist-postcolonial theology of radical hospitality firstcritiques biblical narratives of men’s hospitality to men. The parallel stories of Lot’s offer of his virgin daughters (Gen. 19)and the Levite’s offer of his concubine (Judges 19) expose, first, the hierarchisation of male guests over women, asproperty of men, and secondly, the inviolable creed of hospitality conferred on men by men, that is sustained by the cultural code that marks women’s bodies as violable. Secondly, the article argues that extending hospitality to comfort women (for example, war reparations) goes beyond the “law of ekstasis”, as touted in Fratelli Tutti, as comfort women themselves embody love, reciprocity, and inclusion
MILITARISM AND FEAR IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC IN THE PHILIPPINES: TOWARDS A THEOLOGY OF TRANSGRESSION
Get PDFThe pandemic was an opportunity for authoritarian regimes to intensify militarism and cultivate fear, resulting in the disablement of the most vulnerable in society. Fear dissipates when basic freedoms are at stake. People who once were afraid have learned to transgress, “to step across”, because they just had enough of the Duterte regime’s deception. In light of this context, I argue, like Michel Foucault, that transgression can be a positive notion and not opposed to transcendence. In fact, it belongs to similar semantic cluster. An interruption can be viewed not as seeking attention, but rather as a cessation that aims for communion. Drawing from the lived experiences of persons with disabilities, I suggest a reversal of the negative perception of interruption to be incarnational, which can pave the way to a theology of transgression that is liberative
An Afro-Christian contextual analysis of presidential pardon in post-colonial African politics
Get PDFPresidential or royal pardon is an age-long practice in precolonial Africa as well as in biblical times. This practice has never been without criticisms because of how, and on whom the pardon is granted. The trial of Jesus has been vastly studied within an African theo-interpretive model. However, the demand for the release of Barabbas rather than Jesus has not been adequately studied in a contextual or comparative theo-political manner in Africa. This is the thrust of this article. Using the desktop method, the article argues that presidential pardon granted to convicted criminals who are not allowed to serve judicial punishment is a stimulant for inveterate corruption in the polity. The theoretical argument of this article is that many African political leaders often resort to this kind of pardon that has adversely affected the polity. The significance of this is that this behaviour emboldens political leaders to continue to corrupt the system with dire consequences for the people
‘Sometimes I wonder if our best really is our best’: Tutor reflections on the challenges of shifting to online tutoring during the pandemic
No full textTutors play an important role in higher education, as they may facilitate learning, promote engagement, and assist with student success. Students also often feel more comfortable seeking assistance from them than from lecturers. Yet, tutors tend to be sidelined in the literature on teaching and learning, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper is framed by an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach and seeks to understand how three tutors in an online academic literacy module experienced the shift to online learning. Data, in the form of personal reflections, were collected online and analysed thematically. It was found that the tutors experienced the shift negatively and they raised practical concerns, as well as interpersonal ones. Implications for tutor training are discussed
Reflecting on why transformation students in a comprehensive bursary programme may be academically unsuccessful
Get PDFIt is imperative that higher education institutions reflect on the success of transformation initiatives aimed at providing students with academic, financial, and other support. Programmes such as the Thuthuka Bursary Fund aim to provide students with a comprehensive bursary programme that offers multi-faceted support. By conducting interviews with 11 students who were previously in the Thuthuka bursary programme between 2017 and 2021, and lost their bursary at various stages of their undergraduate degree programme due to poor academic performance, this study qualitatively examined the effectiveness of multi-faceted bursary programmes in an attempt to determine, based on student reflections, what factors were the most prevalent in contributing to their poor academic performance. These students received a comprehensive bursary for student fees, accommodation, and other living expenses. The findings of this study suggest that various factors led to these students losing their bursaries, with the overarching factors including inadequately tailored mental health-focused support and mentoring based on the students’ specific needs. The interview participants noted that many of these support services were offered; however, the students opted not to make use of these. The findings suggest that academic success and the enhancing of wellbeing are interwoven; the specific context of bursary holders should be considered in programme design considerations. Of vital importance is the understanding of students’ backgrounds, as these present unique challenges to their integration into higher education institutions. The stigma ofasking for help should be eradicated as far as possible through specific design choices in the support offered to these students. The findings provide insight that can be used by various bursary programme planners to design their programmes better and to consider the effect of students losing their bursaries in the higher education environment system
Investigating nomophobia as a possible mental health disorder in Gauteng public schools
Get PDFA person’s fear of not having a mobile phone on hand may inhibit certain aspects of a person’s life. This study sought to investigate nomophobia (the irrational fear of not having access to mobile devices) as a possible mental disorder in the Gauteng education sector. To address nomophobia as a possible mental health disorder in Gauteng schools, one needs to understand the usage of mobile devices by both educators and learners in the classroom context. A mixed-methods, single-case research study (MMSCR) was adopted with two phases. In the quantitative phase, data were collected using a close-ended questionnaire, while in the qualitative phase, data were collected using open-ended questions during face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. The data obtained revealed that respondents displayed mild to severe nomophobia; in some cases, educators displayed even higher levels of nomophobia, compared to learners. The findings of the study indicate, inter alia, that educators feel uncomfortable without access to their mobile devices, while learners admit being addicted to playing games and spending time on social media on their mobile devices. Although both educators and learners use their mobile phones to access resources for schoolwork and to keep in touch with family and friends, they also agree that they constantly use their mobile devices for other, non-education purposes. Recommendations include that the Department of Education must recognise that nomophobia does affect teaching and learning and must provide counselling therapists for educators and learners. Furthermore, a policy for the use of mobile phones must be introduced for both educators and learners.
Rethinking urban risk and resettlement in the Global South, edited by Cassidy Johnson, Garima Jain, and Allan Lavell
No full textFacing disproportionately many mankind-induced risks and natural hazards, low-income populations in the Global South are also exposed to another threat, namely resettlement and relocation processes, although they are meant to reduce the risk of disaster. On many occasions, national and local governments as well as international funding agencies regard these as good measures. The problem is: “While this may reduce people’s exposure to hazard, it can lead to numerous other problems, which can leave people more vulnerable or worse off than they were before [given the fact that it is a difficult task to] “reconstitute their livelihoods and their infrastructural, economic, social, cultural and psychological foundations”
Tutor and tutee experiences of same-year/level peer-assisted learning in health sciences’ extended curriculum programmes
Get PDFPeer-assisted learning (PAL) encompasses the active acquisition of knowledge and skills among students in similar social settings where teaching one another enables reciprocal learning. Sameyear/ level PAL (SPAL) is applied in theoretical and clinical teaching across medical disciplines worldwide and is regarded as a teaching and learning strategy promoting self-directed learning. However, it is unclear if SPAL is supporting the academic progress and skills development of students placed on extended curriculum programmes (ECP) in health sciences education (HSE) effectively. This paper focuses on ECP tutors and tutees’ experiences of SPAL on their academic, personal and professional development. Six qualitative, semi-structured group interviews were conducted with 41 ECP students (14 tutors and 27 tutees) after they had participated in SPAL sessions. Findings indicate that SPAL supports ECP students not only academically, but also improves graduate attributes and leadership development, and promotes adapting to higher education through the establishment of communities of learning. Embedding structured SPAL sessions into ECPs in HSE was found to be central to the success of this teaching and learning strategy