Research in Social Sciences and Technology
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University Students’ Learning Disruption and Affordance in a Contested Learning Environment
Get PDFThis study investigates how university students engage with their learning affordances in a contested environment due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This qualitative research employed a case study approach involving 136 participants. Data analysis was conducted using qualitative analysis as a circular process to describe, classify, and perceive the phenomenon and how the learning, affordances, and society were interconnected. The main framework of the research was the theory of affordance and how it was available for university students in their learning environment that changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected in the first semester of 2020 through an online survey on Google form. The findings indicate the importance of the social environment to provide affordance for the students to adjust with them. Four kinds of affordances emerged from the study; internet affordance, assignment affordance, domestic affordance, and distance learning affordance. The role of the social environment is definitive in changing how students manage their affordances
A journey through digital storytelling during COVID-19 Students preparedness to use technology for learning in the language classroom
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has forced lecturers at South African universities to reconceptualise their teaching and learning activities. Universities had to embark on remote teaching to salvage the 2020 academic year. This created the opportunity to draw on students’ creative and digital skills to promote digital storytelling as a way of enhancing their learning experience. This article describes the journey of a teacher educator and a group of students registered for a language didactics module in an initial teacher education programme. Film study was traditionally presented through lively conversations in a contact session where students could exchange their perceptions and opinions regarding various aspects of film. Because of the COVID-19 lockdown this approach had to be reviewed. The lecturer in question employed digital learning competencies to transform learning through the innovative use of digital tools and resources to rethink student engagement with film. Students were invited to create digital stories. The outcome of the process not only improved their understanding of teaching film but also promoted their digital competencies and empowered them to create resources they could use in their careers
COVID-19 induced psychosocial challenges in South African higher education: Experiences of staff and students at two rural universities
Get PDFAlthough the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the education and mental health of the university environment is relatively unknown, it is expected to be very significant considering the high incidence of emotional reactions amongst university students and staff. While fears around COVID-19 exposure, anxieties, and the challenges of support normalize stress, anxiety, and depression as emotional reactions in the face of the pandemic, this psychosocial impact has negative consequences for the university community. Thus, in order to salvage the higher education institutions from the debilitating effects of the pandemic, there is a clear need to safeguard the welfare of students and staff. Hence, it becomes vital to examine the experience of members of the university community during the COVID-19 crisis in order to develop measures and implement interventions that will assist in navigating psychosocial challenges. To achieve this objective, the study employed a mixed-method research approach in which data was collected using web-based survey and online interviews. Concurrent triangulation sampling technique was employed to select a sample of fifteen (15) students, five (5) university managers, and five (5) lecturers – making twenty-five (25) respondents at each of the two universities, thus making a cumulative total of fifty (50) at two (2) rural universities in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Thus, qualitative and quantitative data collected were analysed concurrently by first reporting the qualitative findings and then comparing them to the quantitative findings. Findings revealed that although the university environment traditionally provided opportunities for strengthening social ties which satisfy the universal need to belong to a community, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered rural university life, thus, significantly impacting on psychosocial wellbeing. The study recommends that rural institutions must facilitate psychosocial wellness programming with the assistance of wider stakeholders such as the government and the private sector who can assist in financing this initiative
The Use of Technology in Accounting Classrooms During COVID-19: What Do Accounting Teachers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, Have to Say?
Get PDFIt was mentioned that accounting classrooms must keep pace with rapidly changing technology, which is influencing all aspects of our daily lives. This study examined accounting teachers’ views on the use of technology in their classrooms during Covid-19. To this end, the researchers employed a qualitative approach and a case study. Data were obtained from accounting teachers through interviews, with the sample of ten participants having been purposively selected. The results indicated that allowing learners to bring their own personal technological devices to the classroom represented a contravention of the school’s constitution. Another result was that when technology is optimally used in the classroom, it makes available different forms of assistance which change the way learners learn. Researchers conclude that use of technology in accounting implemented compulsory if teachers want to keep up with changes accounting profession. Furthermore, schools’ constitutions need to be amended to promote the use of available technologies in the classroom, albeit in a highly structured, managed, and efficient way. Researchers recommend that learners be allowed to use their own personal devices in the classroom, to enhance learning. School principal be encouraged to develop school plans outlining how s/he would support use of technology in school
Together but Not Together: Challenges of Remote Learning for Students Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rural South African Universities
Get PDFThe purpose of the study was to examine the challenges of remote learning that were faced by students in four rural institutions of higher learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It is well documented that in South Africa as well as globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the teaching and learning in higher institutions of education. A call was made by the Department of Higher Education and Training that mandated universities to adopt remote learning to save the academic year. That call was a blanket statement that did not consider the context of different universities, given the inequalities that existed prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 between the historically disadvantaged universities and the well-established ones. The study adopted a qualitative approach that made use of a desktop research methodology, as well as the media (Television, radio and newspapers), and social media as sources of data gathering to document the challenges. One of the key findings was that some students studying at rural institutions of higher learning experienced challenges of limited skills as well as the convenience of and access to technology and other tools of trade. The paper concludes that such students were proposing that, ‘we are together but not together”. The root of such grievance is that they were grossly affected by the geographical and historical position of the universities they were enrolled at and the situation was deepened and exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper recommends the equal redistribution of resources especially to previously disadvantaged Black universities. The paper further recommends that the Department of Education introduce online learning to students from as early as high school so that there will be continuity and ease in remoting learning
Shifting Paradigms: Rethinking Education During and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic
Get PDFIt is uncontested that education systems globally are under constant pressure to respond to the changing needs of societies. The outbreak of Covid-19 has reminded us that the complexity of education needs responsive practices to facilitate effective teaching and learning across all levels of schooling globally. All over the world, the normative ways of teaching and learning evolved drastically in the first quarter of the 2020 academic year when teachers and students found online offerings to be the dominant option available as a consequence of the pandemic conditions. In South Africa specifically, students and teachers were thrust into virtual teaching and learning situations with the majority of them having no preparation for this shift. This conceptual paper considers education in the current and post-Covid-19 era as the greatest paradigm shift in the history of education. I examine measures taken by higher education institutions to support the provision of education to ensure learning continuation. In this paper, I provide some suggestions for carrying out educational activities during the continuing Covid-19 situation. Educational leaders need to rethink content creation and content sharing and establish working communities to meet the demands of the new paradigm in education
Editorial: Reflecting in the shade of pandemic
Get PDFI hope this editorial note finds you well and healthy, especially amid the uncertainty due to COVID-19. We are concerned about our children, families, neighbors, colleagues, and ourselves. We are contending with daily reports of death presented as the centerpiece headline news while we are dealing with grief and uncertainty. The impact of this current pandemic on society, in general, is increasingly visible, and we find ourselves in a permanent state of transformation due to the dizzying proliferation of technologies. This pandemic expedites the vital role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that drives the modern world in education as well as in all other areas. On the other hand, as schools and higher education institutions rapidly move their learning, teaching, and assessment online in response to the worldwide pandemic, academics feel improvised, inefficiently supported, and deeply fearful
The Impact of Teacher-Initiated Activities on Identifying and Verbalizing Ways of Metacognitive Monitoring and Control in Six-Year-Old Children
Get PDFThe qualitative research presented in this article attempts to show the impact of teacher-initiated activities on six-year-old children’s metacognitive monitoring and control abilities. The metacognitive model is discussed, research findings that substantiate the development of separate components of metacognitive regulation are analyzed, and the educational ways that promote metacognitive development in children are systematized. The outcomes of the research show that teacher-initiated activities stimulate and encourage children to find and apply more diverse ways of metacognitive monitoring and control. After teacher-initiated activities, the target group children demonstrated, identified, and verbalized the following ways of acting and learning that had not been noticed in their self-initiated activities in the area of metacognitive monitoring, namely, thinking while doing, modelling, acting by scheme/without a scheme, and activity by self-created strategies. In the area of metacognitive control, the children showed the ability to challenge themselves to do better than before, think and do as a continuous, unbroken control and implementation process, and control performance consistency
Scaffolding Problem Solving in Teaching and Learning The DPACE Model - A Design Thinking Approach
Get PDFProblem solving is a basic skill needed to function effectively in the working environment. Teachers are no exception to this professional demand. It is of utmost importance for teacher education programs to prepare pre-service teachers with this fundamental competency. The DPACE model is a preliminary effort by two teacher educators to enhance the problem-solving skills among pre-service teachers. The model was developed using the design thinking approach with reference to Vygotsky’s constructivism and grounded by questions as scaffolds to facilitate internalization of knowledge that teachers need to assist them in addressing and expanding their problem-solving boundaries. The main structure of the model consists of five domains developed with reference to computational thinking concepts. Each domain consists of open-ended questions formulated according to Bloom’s ordering of cognitive skills, taking pre-service teachers progressively toward better understanding of the problem and creating an efficient solution. This model was applied among 62 pre-service teachers enrolled in the TSLB3152 course at the Teacher Education Institute International Languages Campus, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In total, 86.67% of the respondents reported that the DPACE model helped them in their problem-solving task and almost 78% of them scored an A grade in their coursework tasks facilitated using the DPACE model. Efforts are needed to further refine the questions and field test the model in other courses or situations with the hope that this ongoing teacher education effort will create a paradigm shift in the quest toward mastery of 21st century skills among pre-service teachers
Re/coding Global Citizenship: How Information and Communication Technologies have Altered Humanity… and Created New Questions for Global Citizenship Education
Get PDFIn the broadest sense, the concept of global citizenship education (GCE) includes many facets of a rapidly changing world and concepts in education. The information and communication technology (ICT) advances of the last few decades have created opportunities for educational connection and interaction through digital spaces at all levels, local and global. In linking technology with global citizenship, neither GCE nor ICTs can be assumed to be mutually progressive and/or mutually beneficial. In recent years, governments have moved to centralize ICT technologies exacting more control over their use for surveillance, including the weaponization of ICTs for strategic gains. This complicates the work of GCE scholars and practitioners in unforeseen ways as centralized control limits decentralized interactions. ICT concepts and philosophical stances are explored and defined to address how GCE scholars and practitioners can reimagine and reframe the tenets of the field within this informational world. Key topics discussed include complications of GCE in the infosphere, digital citizenship & GCE, and teaching GCE in the age of “inforgs” & digital identities