1,721,006 research outputs found
Promoting Inclusive Higher Education in the digital age: Wrapping massive open online courses (MOOCs) for youth from marginalised communities in South Africa
Get PDFIn 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic led to the global shutdown of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) forcing the move from residential campuses to online learning. In South Africa, the shutdown further exacerbated the lack of access to Higher Education (HE) amongst youth, which adds to higher unemployment rates and perpetuates the cycle of poverty with detrimental consequences for society. However, in 2020 the forced move to online learning, and the use of freely available Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provided an opportunity to rethink accessto HE for youth from marginalised areas. In some cases, a blended learning approach has been adopted by universities to provide more flexible pathways to HE. The wrapping of MOOCs follows a similar process but can be specifically used to be inclusive of students traditionally excluded from HE. The aim of the research explores the extent to which wrapped MOOCs made in South Africa could serve as effective ‘boundary objects' for students to experience HE. This research aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) specifically in relation to the fourth goal that targets inclusive and quality education and promotes lifelong learning for all. It explores how MOOCs, if wrapped or blended in a face-to-face programmes could prepare young people from marginalised communities for the workplace in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The research aims to explore the characteristics of two wrapped MOOCs made in South Africa to make them more accessible to youth from marginalised communities. The researcher utilised a case study methodology and employed ethnographic methods to explore how MOOCs were wrapped to make them more accessible to youth in marginalised communities in South Africa. The cases were two learning contexts where MOOCs were wrapped for the youth from those communities. The data was analysed using concepts from Wenger-Trayner et al.'s (2015) Landscapes of Practice. One of the key concepts is the boundary object, which can ideally play a mediating role between knowledge practices across contexts. It can thus grant different forms of access to those who would otherwise have been excluded from specific ways of knowing, identity work and experience of digital technologies. The data found that some students were unaware that MOOCs existed. Students desired and accepted that MOOCs could be part of an offering of HE programmes or courses but mostly agreed that they would not take it on their own as they required the digital literacy, computer facilities and Internet to complete it. They preferred that it was wrapped within a face-to-face programme. Still, once they experienced taking it, they saw themselves as knowledgeable in taking MOOCs and the confidence to take online courses in the future. They attributed the social and epistemological access they received more to the programme than to the MOOCs. Most participants did not want MOOCs to replace HE institutions as they valued face-to-face engagement, that the wrapped MOOC format made possible. But the opportunity to learn on a digital platform and work online made them feel more equipped to choose their own pathways in the HE landscape. The study culminated in a set of characteristics that could make wrapped MOOCs effective ‘boundary objects'. The research recommends that future MOOCs be wrapped to be inclusive of these characteristics to enhance social and epistemological access to HE for students from marginalised areas. The contribution of this research would be to create a list of principles that allows for relevant MOOCs out of approximately 13500 MOOCs, that currently exist, to be used, adapted and wrapped by the HE sector or various stakeholders that provide training, education and skills to youth in marginalised or refugee communities. The Covid-19 pandemic shutdown impacted on the popularity of MOOCs where platforms like Coursera, edX, and FutureLearn attracted as many users in one month as they did in an entire year of 2019. The significance of the study was evident during the HE shutdown when access to educational resources became crucial in the remote and online teaching format. The research contributed theoretically in terms of applying a landscapes of practice framework to understand and extend online and blended learning provision to marginalised communities. Future studies can take the recommendations of this research and apply the list of principles to wrap MOOCs and other online courses within particular landscapes of practice to explore their effectiveness in promoting access to HE
Towards an affective pedagogical model for teaching English language and literacy to migrant learners
Get PDFLearning is a process that involves both cognitive and emotional aspects. However, most of the research in education in South Africa tend to focus only on the cognitive side of learning and neglects the very important, emotional side. The consequences of this neglect lie most prominently with migrant learners, especially as the immigration process itself involves high emotional strain, cultural adjustment, and most obvious language barriers. These can negatively influence the learning process. Therefore, if existing teaching practices do not cater for the complexity of a multicultural and multilingual classroom or the emotional needs of migrant learners, the learning process of these learners is likely to be stunted. This thesis is concerned with the role of the emotions in the learning contexts of migrant learners in Cape Town and the strategies used by teachers to manage this. With this in mind, this study looks at the affective aspects of learning in teaching literacy to migrant learners from the Congo in the context of an English-medium school in Cape Town, South Africa. Using a qualitative case study approach, I focused on two layers of the issue. First, I explored the experience of Congolese learners and their emotional needs in an English language and literacy class. With this first layer, I compared the needs between French and English-speaking learners to explore how emotional needs played out in the classroom setting using interviews and observation. I used Krashen's affective filter theory as a lens to understand learners' feelings in the classroom environment. Second, I investigated classroom-teaching styles, in particular, how two Grade 3 teachers incorporated affective strategies in their pedagogy. I conducted this analysis through sociocultural understandings of literacy, using the principles of affective pedagogy. The findings were that English-speaking learners, receiving instructions in English, were less likely to suffer from emotional stress and anxiety in their learning than French-speaking learners learning in English. The French-speaking Congolese learners reported that they experienced emotional distress and anxiety, which affected their literacy learning. Not only were learners experiencing difficulties, but teachers too felt limited in their capacity to deal with learners' emotional needs as the cognitive approach for teaching literacy did not meet the needs nor context of migrant learners. Therefore, teachers felt they were required to go above and beyond what would be considered normal classroom activities to create a holistic learning environment that caters to a learner's emotional challenges, which was not always possible in the context of a prescriptive CAPs curriculum and resources. In this study, I argue that when children learn in a language that is different from their first language, this poses an emotional challenge, which often impacts the learning process. This emotional challenge is likely to be compounded by the circumstances that migrant learners often find themselves in. Therefore, I argue that for children to learn effectively (successfully) in a language that is different from their mother tongue, their emotional needs must be met first. This implies that for literacy learning to be most effective (successful), teachers may take into consideration the emotional aspects of each learner and develop their teaching styles according to the diverse needs of the learners. This study will benefit teachers in multilingual contexts as it takes into consideration the emotional difficulties that come with learning in a language that is not one's primary language, to understand learners' learning styles, and consequently to inform and adjust teaching strategies to fit their needs. The findings suggest a need for teacher training that takes into consideration the affective and cognitive needs of learners from diverse backgrounds, such as migrant learners, for more effective literacy and language education.
The exploration of a performative space to nurture EAL international students' writer identities at a South African university
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.This study is located within the internalisation context at the University of Cape Town (UCT). As an internationalising university, UCT aims among other things to promote the ideals of 'Equity and Institutional culture' for all its students (UCT policy on internationalisation, 2009). The reality on the ground suggests that this may unwittingly reproduce the centre-periphery divide which characterises global knowledge transactions, within UCT's own institutional structures especially for students from developing African nations, the focus here being on Southern African Development Community (SADC) nations. The tension brought about at the institutional level may be partly due to the lack of specific support structures for international students, and partly due to the latter's misguided perceptions of the faculties' expectations. I argue that gradually, this tension begins to permeate students' texts, their production strategies and motivations
2018 Humanities Reference Guide
No full textThe Humanities Reference Guide shares the principles of referencing, and provides an overview of four different styles used across the eighteen Humanities departments, with practical examples. The styles are Harvard, Chicago, APA and MLA. The guide also shares tips on how to manage sources and voices in one's writing, and contains a FAQ section addressing possible queries students may have. The 2018 version has updated the Chicago Reference Style guidelines as per the 17 edition of the Chicago manual. It also contains guidelines on how to reference MOOCs under the FAQ section. Older version is available at: http://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/24031
Week 1 - starting to write: giving feedback on definitions
No full textWeek 1 - starting to write: giving feedback on definition
2017 Humanities Reference Guide for first year students
No full textThe Humanities Reference Guide shares the principles of referencing, and provides an overview of four different styles used across the eighteen Humanities departments, with practical examples. The styles are Harvard, Chicago, APA and MLA. The guide also shares tips on how to manage sources and voices in one's writing, and contains a FAQ section addressing possible queries students may have. This is an old version of the guide, the new up-to-date version is available at: https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/26909
Identity and coping strategies in academic writing : a study of first year Mauritian students at a South African university
No full textIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-133).This study situates itself at the intersection between internationalization issues and students' experiences in academic writing at the University of Cape Town. What the study attempts to do is to place the two issues in a constructive dialogue and tease out how the one informs the other. Throughout, the student is viewed as the focal point of research and the study assesses how the student responds to this dialogue. His/her writing becomes an index of an internalized dialogue between institution, writing, self and community. It informs the researcher of the implications of the internationalization policy and developments in the pedagogy of academic writing on the ground
Writing Your World Week 2 Video 6 - Applying Reading Strategies: Blommaert's Chapter
No full textThis video focuses on the application of the reading strategies on Blommaert's chapter. The video provides the source of the reading and a summary on the book that the academic text comes from. The word 'discourse' is then defined and discussed with a focus on how words change over time and context. The video goes through a preview of the academic text. it then analyses the heading. During the overview sections, the video analyses the highlighted quotes from the reading. The inview of the article provides an in depth analysis of the words written within the academic text. The video provides questions to ask whilst reading through the text. It then touches on the relevance of the article based on the question asked during the initial phase of analysing the academic text. This is video 6/10 in week 2 of the Writing your World course
“Students Make History Every Day Just by Sitting on These Stepsâ€: Performative Spaces and Re-Genring in the South
No full textStudents’ call for decolonising the curriculum has triggered deep reflection about what we teach and how we teach it, but equally, about the role of pedagogic spaces in recognising students as agents in their learning. This paper is situated within the field of academic literacies, where students’ engagement with texts is seen as being context-specific, and involving assertions of agency to various degrees. The added dimension here is the embedding of digital literacies, defined as a set of customised online practices, into a writing-intensive, first year, foundational course at a South African university, to favour the acquisition of academic literacies. The analysis of different spaces becomes crucial in grasping how innovative forms teaching and learning may take place. In his trialectics of space, Lefebvre distinguishes between perceived, conceived and lived spaces. Butler would refer to lived spaces as “performative†ones, “congealing†into form through iterative use. Online learning spaces may well turn into performative spaces as students inhabit them, interact with online resources and explore their spatial boundaries. I perform a discourse analysis of students’ textual practices on the online and physical spaces, to explore how students reproduce or subvert genre categories through processes of “re-genring.†Furthermore, I share the extent to which such pedagogic spaces become performative, the power dynamics that emerge, and their effects on our traditional conception of teaching and learning in higher education
Writing Your World Week 3 Video 4 - Round table discussion on culture
No full textThis video focuses on the roundtable discussion on identity with Moeain, Aditi & Gideon. The participant touch on Woodward's description of identity and how it applies to their own life. The video also touches on how people construct their own identity. It also touches on how there are structures in place that dictate the availability of cultural resources. The roundtable participants then discuss cultural resources and how they enact on the identity of people. The video then touches on how apartheid illustrates the effects of availability of cultural resources on identity. It also touches on how borders and boundaries affect what people perceive as outsiders and insiders. The video then touches on how context helps construct reality. This is explored using the example of the student community. The participants then discuss how people could negotiate the boundaries and resources available. This is video 4/12 in week 3 of the Writing your World course
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