1,720,956 research outputs found
The use of technology to facilitate teaching and learning in studio-based spaces in the aftermath of COVID-19
Get PDFEducation technology has become increasingly important in South African higher education institutions. However, the efficacy of these technological innovations has not been unanimously acknowledged in the departments of Applied Design and Multimedia at CPUT. Lecturers and students have experienced difficulty in integrating education technology systems into all facets of studio-based learning. Aim: This study investigated the role of education technology tools in arts education and the extent, to which learning management systems (LMSs), such as Blackboard, are used in studio-based teaching and learning environments at CPUT. Methods: Owing to the exploratory nature of this study, the researcher adopted a qualitative approach in the form of a multiple case study as the study’s research design. Data analysis was used to analyse the data that was obtained from the interviews and relevant supporting documents. Results: The findings revealed that several lecturers were reluctant to make extensive use of education technology systems due to their perceptions of the primacy of traditional face-to-face teaching methods. Implications: The findings may provide vital information for education technologists, policy makers, and curriculum and instructional designers looking to benefit from education technology in the current fourth industrial revolution. Recommendation: The study recommends extensive use of education technology tools in discipline-specific settings, such as studio-based spaces, and close collaboration between lecturers and instructional designers when developing education technology systems for studio-based courses. The study also concluded that the e-learning system, used at the time of the study, needed to be optimally designed to meet the needs of studio-based disciplines. It is highly likely, that failure to do so would preclude the possibility of successfully integrating future technological innovations into studio-based teaching and learning environments in the post-COVID-19 era and a debilitating failure to prepare students to work in technologically advanced environments would be an inevitable consequence
Online studios and digital literacy skills among undergraduate students: An Activity Theory Perspective
Get PDFRecently, most higher education institutions have undergone significant technological transformation, largely attributed to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent rise in online education and the use of emerging technology tools . Consequently, the prevailing discourse no longer revolves solely around the feasibility of online education as a tool but pivots towards an inquiry into the extent of its usefulness in specialised domains such as design and technology fields. Research on the implementation of online education in design and technology fields is scant and yields inconclusive results, particularly concerning the pedagogical methods and the practicality of online instruction. As a result, investigating the practicality of online studios in enhancing digital literacy skills within the design and technology fields has , thus, become significant and urgent. Success in this endeavour hinges upon lecturers' proficiency with technological tools that facilitate cognitive development. This could necessitate the shift away from the traditional ‘master-apprentice' model to a more ‘cognitiveapprentice' model, which emphasises deeper understanding of the underlying principles, problemsolving techniques, and decision-making processes used by experts. The research question posed by the study was: What digital literacy skills do online studios promote among undergraduate students in a discipline-specific setting such design and information technology fields? The goal was to explore how educators in visual communication design programme and multimedia could transition from traditional studio methods to an online studio-based curriculum infused with technology. Theoretically, the study drew on Cultural Historical Activity theory (CHAT) sociocultural learning theory of Vygotsky, its influence on the three generations of activity that Engeström propounded, and the expansive learning model that Engeström developed. CHAT considered studio practices as a system of activities wherein collective work is undertaken by individual and group actors in pursuit of a common goal. Adopting an empirical exploratory case study approach, the study was conducted in a real-world context in real time, using multi-site, multi-method strategy for data collection and analysis. Data collection methods included interviews, focus groups and participant observations from students and lecturers at university of technology's faculty of Informatics and Design. The findings of this study reveal contradictions and tensions within the visual communication design programme and multimedia programme activity systems. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the transition to remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic presented an opportunity for lecturers to explore alternative methods to facilitate a studio pedagogy, most of which involve digital modalities of content delivery. The emergence of expansive learning fused with blended learning approach emerged as a ‘great-promise' for integrating technology into the studio. This approach is considered crucial in equipping students with relevant 21st century skills and enhancing their digital literacy, thereby addressing the evolving demands of design and technology education in the contemporary digital era
Savings and credit cooperatives and sustainable livelihoods in Chivi District (1996-2013): a case of Chivi SACCO
No full textThe purpose of the research was to examine the role played by Savings and Credit Cooperatives in sustaining the local communities in Chivi District. In conducting the study, the descriptive survey design was used and both the questionnaire and interviews were employed as the main research instruments. The purposive sampling technique was used in the study and the sample from which the data was collected was made up of ordinary as well as members of the management committee drawn from the Chivi SACCO. The Cooperative Development Officer from the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development was also part and parcel of the sample that participated in the study. Tables were used to show the responses and inferences which were drawn from the quantified data. Findings of the study revealed that rural communities in Chivi faced a number of socio-economic challenges in their day to day lives. Chivi SACCO was established as a way of trying to sustain the livelihoods of the rural populace in the face of the socio-economic challenges they faced. However, in trying to sustain the livelihoods of the rural populace, the SACCO also faced numerous challenges that inhibit them to fully maximize their capacity to sustain their local communities
Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the usefulness of LMSs in studio-based teaching and learning spaces at a University of Technology
No full textThesis (MTech (Graphic Design))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018.Rapid advances in information technology and the Internet continue to create higher education learning
solutions for the networked-world learner. Given the potential of these resources, opportunities and initiatives must be seized to promote the enhancement of student learning in higher education. The promise of faster communication networks and changes in students’ expectations have rendered urgent the understanding of technology and online learning for use in studio-based teaching and learning spaces in the networked global village of the 21st century. Paradoxically, however, the use of e-learning solutions in design-related education remains limited. In studio-based courses such as graphic and architectural design, for example, the facilitation of learning through electronic media at South African universities ranges from the minimal to the non-existent. A hands-on approach to studio-based teaching and learning is preferred, supported by the argument that it is hard to facilitate experiential learning through semi-synchronous online tools. The danger of this unsubstantiated model of thinking is that it is likely to lead to under-usage of Learning Management System (LMS) tools by educators in studio-based teaching and learning spaces. The problem is that no research has been done on this area in South Africa that is capable of providing conclusive evidence on which corrective measures can be based. Hence, the aim of this study is to understand the reasons for the limited adoption and use of LMSs in studio-based teaching and learning in South African higher education design-related disciplines. Within the interpretive epistemological paradigm, a qualitative research approach was adopted to source and analyse interview data from design students and lecturers at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). An Activity Theory (AT) analytical framework was employed. The findings suggest that reservations regarding the use of LMSs are more a function of prevailing perceptions than they are substantive. Unfounded negative assumptions about the functionality, relevance (usefulness), accessibility and ease of use of the systems emerged as the leading constructions of and explanations for the challenges faced. The study provides not only clarity on LMS usage patterns in studio-based educational spaces, but also useful comparative data on how an activity theory-grounded in ActAD framework can enhance the analysis
of LMS activities in studio-based teaching and learning within the curricula for subjects like graphic design
and architecture
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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