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Fostering the employability of business studies graduates
Get PDFAbstractHigher education is under pressure to enhance the employability of graduates by ensuringthat they acquire competencies that make them employable in the labour market. Thisresearch project investigated the contribution of higher education towards the employabilityof graduates within a business diploma programme. A Delphi approach was employed withthe Delphi panel consisting of three types of professionals – employers within the corporatesector, academics in the field of business studies, and graduates with workplace experiencein the corporate sector. Both quantitative and qualitative data were obtained from threerounds of surveys. The findings show that disciplinary knowledge of InformationAdministration, Business Administration, Communication and Personnel Management, andthe simulation of workplace practices as well as work-integrated learning opportunities aresignificant to enhancing the employability of office administrators and office managers.These findings provided academics with the opportunity to make improvements to thecurriculum to foster the employability of the graduates
Reconceptualising teaching as transformative practice: Alasdair MacIntyre in the South African context
Get PDFIn its ideal conception the post-Apartheid education landscape is regarded as a site of transformation, promoting democratic ideals such as citizenship, freedom and critical thought. The role of the educator is pivotal in realizing this transformation in the learners she teaches, but this realization extends beyond merely teaching the curriculum to the educator herself, as the site where these democratic ideals are embodied and enacted. The teacher is thus centrally placed as a moral agent whose behaviour, in the classroom space particularly, should ideally represent and communicate the values we aspire to cultivate in post-Apartheid South African society generally. Thus, teaching, in the above conception, fits broadly within the conception of a ‘practice’ in the sense developed by Alasdair MacIntyre, in that it is a transformative activity the enactment of which not only benefits the practitioner, but also extends to and benefits the broader community as well. Furthermore, practices are grounded in features of social or moral life we hold to be significant and, importantly, it is only through their active cultivation that they can be made tangible and further developed. MacIntyre’s theory of virtue is based on a three-fold interrelationship between practices, how they meaningfully narrate and shape an individual life, and how, in turn, this builds and sustains our moral and social traditions. Using these ideas to analyse post-Apartheid South Africa, and the structural transformation paradox it is in, reveals the difficult and complex nature of a society that is in this transitional space. The claim is that attentiveness to practices in the educational space, and the way they shape and inform moral and social traditions, is necessary to more fully understand and guide this societal transformation
The construction of the African being in South African history textbooks
Get PDFAbstractThis study is rooted in the move by the South African government at the turn of the 21stcentury to spearhead the conception of what then President Thabo Mbeki referred to as anAfrican Renaissance. This move entailed cultivating an African consciousness; educationbeing one of the key tools. With textbooks still playing a critical role in the educationsystem, I analysed South African National Curriculum Statement-compliant historytextbooks in order to understand the construction of the African being. I employed a criticaldiscourse analysis methodology to analyse a sample of four contemporary South Africanhistory textbooks with a focus on the chapters that deal with post-colonial Africa. At adescriptive level of analysis, the textbooks construct the African being as five-dimensional:the spatial, the physical, the philosophical, the cultural and the experiential notions. Theinterpretation is that the African being is constructed as multidimensional. I usepostcolonial theory to explain that while the macro-level of power produces the dominantdiscourses, the micro-level of the citizen also contributes to the discourses that permeate thehistory textbooks. Indeed, the production of textbooks is influenced by multifarious factorsthat when the discourses from the top and from below meet at the meso-level of textbookproduction, there is not just articulati
Introducing cooperative learning: students’ attitudes towards learning and the implications for self-directed learning
Get PDFAbstractThis article reports on research that aims to enhance self-directed learning by introducingcooperative learning strategies. The two-fold aim of this research was firstly to determinewhether the implementation of cooperative learning in a Computer Application Technologyclass of first-year students contributed to positive attitudes towards learning, and secondly,whether students’ attitudes towards learning, after completion of the cooperative learningintervention, related to their self-directedness. We conclude that the implementation ofcooperative learning in a Computer Application Technology first-year class positivelycontributes to students’ attitudes towards learning and their attitudes towards learningrelated to their perceived self-directed learning (SDL) readiness
Combating Malnutrition Among Pregnant Women, Mothers and Babies in the Rural Amazonian Forest: What can Telehealth Do?
Get PDFPurpose: Malnutrition is a current public health problem and a leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality among the indigenous population in the Amazon forest. This may be related to the nutritional transition observed among indigenous women in Brazil. This research aims to empower health professionals to promote food and nutritional education for mothers and babies living in the forest of the Brazilian state of Amazonas and its Colombian border. We describe our experience using telehealth to combat malnutrition among pregnant women, mothers and babies in the rural Amazonian forest. Methods: This is a qualitative study that included three interventions: field visits, a scoping review, and online meetings. Data collect from field visits and the scoping review were used to identify demands and incorporate themes discussed in the virtual meetings held at telehealth units. Sessions used the web conferencing platform of the state of Amazonas and were facilitated by Brazilian specialists. Locations were selected according to existence of telehealth site. Results and Conclusions: Seven telehealth sessions were held between April and December in 2018 and three in 2019, including 14 different locations equipped with telehealth points, and lasted 120 minutes each. The main findings were that telehealth services can be an instrument to establish a knowledge exchange between health professionals and indigenous people. The participation of indigenous people in social media could be an instrument to maintain their culture and to promote their healthcare, especially traditional and healthy dietary patterns
Predicting the Future of Healthcare and eHealth with the Futures Wheel Method
Get PDFBy using information and communication technology (ICT), eHealth is a key enabler in improving healthcare, specifically its efficiency, productivity, quality, and patient satisfaction. Whilst eHealth applies technical developments to healthcare services, it is also about managing, finding, using, recording, and transmitting information to support health-related decisions. Moreover, eHealth encompasses a broad approach and commitment to improving healthcare through networking and co-operation. Thus healthcare providers need to have sufficient tools to predict and involve the possible futures of healthcare, specifically in the context of continuous eHealth development, implementation and innovations. This paper introduces the Futures Wheel (FW) method, describes the process for its use and some of its outcomes as a tool by which to achieve these goals. Based on experiences from over 60 FW working groups, the authors suggest that the FW method helps to see the possible futures of healthcare and eases the necessary adaptation inherent in eHealth. The FW method provides information and knowledge that professionals can utilise both to influence their future and to gain knowledge about alternative futures. The FW method is suggested for healthcare professionals who want to predict alternative futures of healthcare and eHealth in order to make important decisions that may have far-reaching consequences
Analysis of Legal and Regulatory Frameworks in Digital Health: A Comparison of Guidelines and Approaches in the European Union and United States
Get PDFThe advent of digital technology in healthcare presents opportunities for the improvement of healthcare systems around the world and the move towards value-based treatment. However, this move must be accompanied by strong legal and regulatory frameworks that will not only facilitate but encourage the good use of technology. The goal of the study was to assess the amenability and furtherance of regulatory frameworks in digital health by evaluating and comparing the processes, effectiveness and outcomes of these frameworks in the European Union and United States. Methods: This study incorporated two research methodologies. The first was a research of current legal and regulatory frameworks in digital health in the European Union and United States. A comprehensive online search for publications was carried out which included laws, regulations, policies, green papers, guidelines and recommendations. This research was complemented with interviews of five purposively sampled key informants in the legal and regulatory landscape. Results: Mind-maps revealed key features and challenges of the digital health field in the topics of the current state of regulation of digital health in the EU, Germany and US, regulatory pathways for digital health devices, protection and privacy of health data, mobile health validation, risk-based classification of medical devices, regulation of clinical decision support systems, telemedicine, artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, reimbursement for digital health services and liability for digital health products. The experts expressed and explained key points where current regulation is deficient. The review of the legal frameworks revealed deficiencies which provide opportunities and recommendations to further develop and strengthen the regulatory landscape. Conclusions: A key element to a robust regulatory framework is the ability to ensure trust and confidence in using digital health technology. Technology must measure the impact on quality of life and burden of disease and not merely involve the collection of data
Knowledge and Skills Sets for Telecare Service Staff in the Context of Digital Health
Get PDFTelecare services have an established place within the United Kingdom. Through using online technologies to help mostly older people to remain at home, they are recognised as having a support role for health as well as social care. This positions telecare services within the broader realm of ‘digital health’. As that position becomes more embedded, it poses questions about the nature of tasks that are (or should be) undertaken by telecare staff, and regarding the knowledge and skills that are required. A convergence of telecare and telehealth services is indicated together with a need for some kind of accord or accommodation. This paper summarises the United Kingdom policy context; references the technologies that are provided by telecare services or can be linked to them; notes briefly the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; and proposes six knowledge and skills sets. Outcomes of the UTOPIA study undertaken in England from 2016 to 2017 are drawn upon: this study provided important information from over 100 local authority telecare managers.  
Considering curriculum change: The case for Portuguese as an additional language in South African higher education
Get PDFThis paper reflects on current discussions regarding curriculum change in South Africa higher education whereas focusing in the specific field of teaching and learning Portuguese as an additional language (PAL) in the country. Articulating on the reality of South Africa multilingualism, we consider the possibility of future theoretical and instructional pedagogies aimed towards creating a space intended for practices of translanguaging in the field of PAL. We argue that unabridged awareness of the full potentialities of multilingualism is advantageous for a more reciprocal teaching and learning process of PAL. In addition, we challenge traditional PAL oral practices and recommend a comprehensive transformation of examinations, one that includes relevant topics, which would improve not only oral skills in the target language but also could prepare students to become more effective local and global citizens. And secondly, we argue that materials for Portuguese culture and literature upper level courses in South Africa should provide postcolonial approaches and interpretations; for this purpose, we analyse the poetry of Mozambican poet Noémia de Sousa as her ouevre is a prospect to reflect on colonization, racism, slavery, black diaspora consciousness, and migration in Southern Africa through the female perspective