UJ Press Journals
Not a member yet
2155 research outputs found
Sort by
On the Failed State, Artificial Arguments, and Artificial Intelligence: A Non-Contribution
Get PDFThe narrative of a failed South African state has gained currency among some prominent prophets of Armageddon as well as shadowy influencers who have penned an assortment of articles and editorials in this regard. The idea is propounded as a certainty at the high tea gatherings of lightly shaded Afro-pessimists, oppositionists, and patrons of local barber shops. Transitory moments and anecdotal realities are theatrically played out to fit a propensity towards tabloid absurdity. When violent crimes are televised live, when we witness extended hours of load-shedding, we as the elite pursue all avenues to avoid assuming responsibility for some of the current excesses of capitalism and governance failures. Instead, our common refrain is that the state has failed. There is another emergent plot point in this narrative which we do not address here, namely that of the national political scene moving from Ramaphoria to Ramaphobia (when I told a colleague four years ago that we should guard against sliding into Ramaphobia, she/he found this really objectionable)
Driving political issues with political brand storytelling on social media: an online brand persona perspective
Get PDFNumerous South African political parties have a social media presence to create more awareness around the political issues which they stand for, and thus to attract more voters. Nowadays political parties act as political brands and adopt brand strategies to gain a competitive advantage over opposition parties. This article proposes adopting a social identity theory as a novel approach to how political brands could drive political issues on social media. It is further suggested that due to the complexity of the South African political scene, more attention could be paid to how political brands could leverage political brand stories in conjunction with an online political brand persona on social media to position themselves in a chaotic online political space. To test this, semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with communication professionals in South African public relations agencies who were responsible for creating content for political parties’ Facebook and Twitter accounts. Four themes that became evident in the data collectively indicate that political brands will successfully drive political issues on social media only when they are able to connect emotionally with the political consumer. In this regard, an online political brand persona may be critical in not only eliciting an emotional reaction from political consumers, but also establishing a long-term connection with them based on how credible the political brand is in terms of what they care about and their ability to solve issues
Is ChatGPT a friend or foe in the war on misinformation? : A South African perspective
Get PDFThe release of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 met with fears and optimism. One particularly important avenue of research that is emerging revolves around ChatGPT\u27s ability to provide accurate and unbiased information on a variety of topics. Given the interest that Google and Microsoft have shown in similar technologies, it is likely that Large Language Models such as ChatGPT could become new gateways to information, and if this is the case, what kind of information this technology provides needs to be investigated. The current study examines the usefulness of ChatGPT as a source of information in a South African context by first investigating ChatGPT\u27s responses to ten South African conspiracy theories in terms of truthfulness, before employing bias classification as well as sentiment analysis to evaluate whether ChatGPT exhibits bias when presenting eight South African political topics. We found that, overall, ChatGPT did not spread conspiracy theories. However, the tool generated falsehoods around one conspiracy theory and generally presented a left bias, albeit not to the extreme. Sentiment analysis showed that ChatGPT\u27s responses were mostly neutral and, when more emotive, were more often positive than negative. The implications of the findings for academics and students are discussed, as are a number of recommendations for future research
Editorial
Get PDFIn November 2022, ChatGPT was released into the public domain and took the world by storm, causing a variety of responses ranging from alarming scenarios of artificial intelligence (AI) posing an existential threat to humanity to more optimistic views that it opens immense new possibilities for advancement in various fields including healthcare and education
Transferring While Black: Intersectional Experiences of Black College-to-University Transfer Students in Canada
Get PDFIn the Canadian province of Ontario, higher education institutions have amplified their efforts to advance social equity and inclusion by establishing transfer programmes between colleges and universities. However, transitioning between these institutions continues to present challenges for the policy objectives assumed in transfer programmes. Few studies have analysed how students from historically marginalised backgrounds experience the transfer process, and how these experiences present a challenge for the ability of transfer pathways to function as a mechanism of equity and inclusion. Our study sheds light on the experiences of an important section of this population: Black college-to-university transfer students. Underpinned by the theory of intersectionality, our study critically explores the challenges that Black transfer students encounter in their transferring and settling into Canadian universities. Utilising in-depth interviews, our exploratory qualitative analysis shows that Black transfer students face a host of challenges linked to their race, class, and gender. These experiences impact students’ ability to transfer smoothly into their new school and pursue their academic goals in a timely fashion. Major issues include, but not limited to, the racism of low expectations, lack of representation within the transfer ecosystem, lack of support that considers the diversity within Black transfer students, and information asymmetry. Although we focus on the narratives of Black transfer students in the Canadian academy, this research advances the cause of equity by helping the higher education communities worldwide to reflect on how educational pathways can help higher education become a meaningful corrective of social disadvantage
Voice Recognition in the Era of Virtual Reality: Disruption of Normative Social Meaning Making
Get PDFThe teaching and working world has been disrupted by developments known as the 4th Industrial Revolution. As we grappled with the Covid-19 epidemic the world saw massive disruptions in how and where we work, teach, learn and socialize. As moves to continue the social via virtual platforms increased as a result of Covid-19 restrictions we saw disruptions in everyday social meaning making. This article via reflections from personal observation and conversations with colleagues engages with the idea of voice recognition as an important social cue in virtual interactions. The article shows how taken for granted social markers of engagement can be rendered useless in context were the only connector to the people you are interacting with is their voice. The article challenges us to engage with the following questions: What impacts does the move to virtuality have on social engagements that allow us to humanize each other? What can we do to maintain the important social cues important for meaning making in context of teaching, counseling, consultation as we see many of these roles move to the virtual space?
 
Editorial
Get PDFThe pending graduation of the ten pioneering South African art therapists from the Department of Visual Art (DOVA) at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a case for celebration and a long-nurtured dream for many involved in this training. I am not an art therapist and am not familiar enough with the field of practice and literature. I consider myself an artist, art activist, and educator. As the professor in charge of postgraduate studies in our department, as well as a fierce advocate for enhancing arts education for social impact, I found myself holding and facilitating the first visual art therapy training in South Africa, which is also, as I understand, a first for the continent
Propositions for a counter-economy of assessment: Adventures in the assessment of creative arts in higher education
Get PDFThis article considers assessment practices within the neoliberal conditions of higher education by posing questions to conceptions of value. As a motivating thrust, this article asks: might there be generative potential that remains unexplored, due to assessment’s direct linkage to the production of human capital? With its central emphasis on value, this article turns towards Brian Massumi’s Postcapitalist Manifesto: 99 Theses on the Revaluation of Value (2018). Guided by Massumi, I compose speculative propositions with which to explore the potential for a postcapitalist reworking of value within the context of assessment. The propositions offered in this paper by no means exhaust the emergent potential of re-thinking assessment, yet my aim is to sow but a few generative seeds that might expand on the potential of what (else) assessment might do. In engaging assessment otherwise, this article foregrounds assessment practices that are pertinent to the creative arts (with particular interest in the pedagogical convention of the studio crit), not as a means to suggest that arts-based disciplines have a superior and well-resolved approach to assessment, but rather to leverage the already tenuous relationship between arts education and assessment. As its objectives, this article aims to (1) contribute to the underrepresented discourse on the assessment of creative arts in higher education and to (2) explore the potential for re-imaginings of arts-based assessment practices to leak into the wider discourse of assessment as a whole. The intention is not to deliver fully formed methodological formulae but to think through assessment with propositions that might be expanded upon through speculative experimentation and future inquiries
Applying effective feedback principles to promote the ethics of care and justice during emergency remote teaching and learning in three chemical engineering modules
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic lockdown disrupted higher education practices and forced students and lecturers to rapidly migrate to emergency remote teaching and learning (ERT&L). Initially, ERT&L robustly focused on teaching and assessment to complete syllabi, without fully considering care and justice to students who were no longer consolidated in one location. During the lockdown, students were exposed to socio-economic plights, and mental health challenges, among others. Hence, this article aimed to consider how the pedagogical tool of effective feedback could promote the ethics of care and justice to support students during ERT&L. The feedback practices implemented during the lockdown were maintained after contact lectures resumed, and their effects were quantified to determine the overall impacts on optimizing T&L and ensuring a conducive learning environment- regardless of whether T&L occurs at university or remotely. Effective feedback practices, recommended by the literature, were applied by two lecturers within three undergraduate chemical engineering modules. Lecturer 1 adopted a blended learning approach in modules 1 and 2 before the lockdown, while lecturer 2 functioned as a full contact module. A quantitative research approach was adopted in which module and teaching evaluations were used to quantify the effects of the feedback interventions on T&L in the three modules. The results indicated an overall positive effect, with significant student satisfaction with the feedback interventions adopted from the literature to promote the ethics of care and justice during ERT&L. Based on the methodology and results, an empirical model is proposed to optimize any pedagogical intervention that education practitioners may strive to use to improve their assessment practices
Professional psychology training in the COVID-19 era : Reflections on Challenges, Actions and Lessons
Get PDFProfessional training programmes were, and continue to be, challenged by the implications of Covid-19. Psychology training programmes in South Africa rely on experiential learning as a cornerstone for developing minimum competencies. Covid-19 restrictions meant that teaching and learning, supervision, and work-integrated learning required reconsideration, shifts and upskilling of trainees and trainers. This was particularly important given the emphasis and value of Experiential Learning Theory in training psychologists. This paper uses collaborative autoethnography to reflect on the challenges, lessons, and future recommendations for the navigation of professional training in psychology in the Covid-19 era and beyond. The key reflections highlight the necessity for hybrid learning contexts in circumstances such as Covid-19. Leadership guidance and students’ voices are invaluable assets that could facilitate a comprehensive and inclusive training programme during unprecedented times