99 research outputs found
Students' experiences and expectations of technologies: an Australian study designed to inform planning and development decisions
No full textThe pace of technological change accompanied by an evolution in social, work-based and study behaviours and norms poses particular challenges for universities as they strive to develop high quality and sustainable technology-rich learning environments. Maintaining currency with the latest advances is resource intensive, hence the costs incurred in upgrading existing and introducing new technologies need to be carefully weighed up against the potential benefits to students. This calls for a multidimensional approach to planning, with the student voice being an important dimension. Three Australian universities have recently completed a project to gain a better understanding of students\u27 experiences and expectations of technologies in everyday life and for study purposes. The LMS and 25 other technologies ranging from established university offerings (email, learning management systems) to freely available social networking technologies (YouTube, Facebook) were surveyed. More than 10,000 students responded. This paper discusses the development of the survey and presents the broad trends that have emerged in relation to the current use of technologies and desired future use of these for learning purposes. The implications of the survey findings for developing institutional infrastructure to engage students and support their learning are highlighted
Using Integrative Career Construction Counselling to Promote Autobiographicity and Transform Tension into Intention and Action
No full textThis article reports on the use of integrative career counselling to promote autobiographical reasoning in a purposively sampled gifted 16-year-old female learner with moratorium career identity status. I implemented an explanatory, mixed-methods (QUALITATIVE-quantitative; uppercase denoting the bigger weighting given to the qualitative aspect) research design and used qualitative and quantitative career construction counselling techniques and methods and quantitative career construction counselling techniques and methods and strategies to construct data. The Maree Career Matrix (MCM) was used to gather the participant’s career interests (“scores”) quantitatively, and the Career Interest Profile (CIP) was used to elicit her micro-narratives (“stories”) qualitatively. An adapted version of thematic data analysis was used to analyse the data. The intervention promoted the participant’s (self-)reflection and reflexivity, transformed her tension into intention, led to an increase in her career options, and helped her revitalise her sense of meaning, purpose, and positivity. While the findings are encouraging, future (longitudinal) research is needed to establish the long-term influence of the intervention espoused here
Innovating Towards Career Learning Environments:Changes in Teachers’ Role Perception Regarding Career Guidance
No full textTo realise a career learning environment for students that is more focused on careers and ‘life-long learning’, as opposed to concentrating primarily on gaining a diploma, teachers are increasingly supposed to approach their students dialogically in Dutch vocational education. A change in attitude and behaviour, however, is only sustainable if a change in the teachers’ own role perception is established. In this chapter, the aims and design of the COG/SVE project and the results of previous studies regarding the project is explained, as well as the methods used for the current longitudinal qualitative study. Interviews were conducted with 47 selected teachers participating in the project 4 times over a period of 3 years. The results of the study show that considerable development was achieved by many of the teachers from being primarily diploma focused to being primarily career focused. However, within the schools represented in our study, the change patterns of the individual teachers differed. The changes on the level of the organisation, as initiated by the innovation project, therefore appeared to exert different influences on the individual change processes of the teachers. We conclude that a change in role perception is a collective matter in communication and team learning, but it seems to require individual support and guidance. Thus, our recommendation is to support collective learning as well as the needs of individual members of teams of teachers in a dialogical manner
BARRIERS TO ACCESS TO AND SUCCESS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: INTERVENTION GUIDELINES
No full textLow throughput rates at schools and universities across South Africa are cause for great concern because of the resultant financial burden on the state; the increase in unemployment; and the inadequate delivery of much-needed highly skilled professionals. The advent of the fourth economic wave – accompanied as it is by fundamental changes in the workplace globally – has called for a judicious response from theorists, practitioners, researchers and learners. This article surveys the extent and possible causes of the low throughput rates in higher education and draws on the results of recent research projects to design intervention guidelines aimed at facilitating access to and success in higher education. An integrated, quantitative and qualitative approach is recommended
Difference in Orientation towards Studying Mathematics of South African High School Students: Developing a Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics
No full text The Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics was developed as a diagnostic measure for teachers and counsellors to help students improve their orientation towards the study of mathematics and consequently achieve at a higher level. During the standardisation 60 students from all children in secondary schools in South Africa were administered the provisional questionnaire. Analysis showed students whose mother tongues were African languages in Grades 10 and 11 in general score as external on a measure of Locus of control in mathematics classes in South Africa. They displayed more positive study habits than their English- and Afrikaans-speaking peers. </jats:p
Rekindling hope and purpose in resource-constrained areas during COVID-19: The merits of counselling for career construction.
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic has widened the gap between the career and life chances of learners with sufficient and those with insufficient access to personal and educational resources and structures. This article draws on an adapted, qualitative, systematic literature search to shed light on the effect of the pandemic on learners in resource-constrained areas especially. It discusses the merits of counselling for career construction as an intervention that can bring about transformative change, thereby rekindling learners’ sense of hope and purpose. It also reflects on how counselling for career construction can help counsellors and teachers assist learners to deal with inadequate ‘mastering of passive suffering’ as well as inadequate mastering of developmental tasks during COVID-19. The article concludes with the view that ‘hope-, purpose-, and action’-enhancing counselling for self and career counselling can bolster the sense of agency, empowerment, dignity, and self-worth of learners in underprivileged contexts in particular. It is argued that such counselling can promote career adaptability, improve present and future employability, and enhance the meaning-making of disadvantaged South African as well as other African learners.Significance:• Disadvantaged learners and the unemployed were more negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than their more privileged counterparts.• More than 2 years into the COVID-19 pandemic, very little has been reported on the need to bolster the sense of agency, empowerment, dignity, and self-worth of learners in underprivileged contexts in particular.• The pandemic has amplified the divide between the career-life prospects of learners with sufficient access to educational resources and support and those without such access.• Steps need to be taken urgently to implement interventions that can bring about transformative change in our schools to rekindle learners’ sense of hope and purpose. This will help eliminate existing disparities and improve these learners’ work–life future, with positive benefits for the stability and economy of the country
Using Life Design Counseling for Career Construction to Facilitate Sustainable Employability and Decent Work in a Developing Country Context
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