Browsing by Author "Parsons, Phillip"

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    Exploring the association between approaches to studying and course perceptions using the Lancaster inventory : a replicative study at the Cape Technikon
    (1988) Parsons, Phillip; Meyer, JHF
    The aim of this thesis research was to replicate the important work conducted by Noel Entwistle and Paul Ramsden, published in 1983, which sought to establish the relationship between perceived contextual factors and students' approaches to studying. The two instruments that they developed for this purpose, the Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) and the Course Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ), were administered to 1194 English-speaking and 590 Afrikaans-speaking students in 12 disciplinary areas at the Cape Technikon. Alpha factor analysis of the 24 summated sub-scales of the two inventories was conducted separately for the two samples. When these were compared with the factor structure obtained in the Lancaster research programme certain differences were evident. Although the two main study orientation, meaning orientation and reproducing orientation, were present in slightly modified forms, there were no empirical associations between these two orientations and the contextual factors as measured by the sub-scales of the CPQ. In order to explore the differences between the factor structures of the Lancaster programme and the two Technikon samples, the conceptual assumptions regarding the first order factor structure of the two instruments were relaxed. Firstly the 103 items of both instruments together were subjected to alpha factor analysis and subsequently the 63 variables of the ASI and the 40 variables of the CPQ were subjected to separate alpha factor analysis. These analyses confirmed the integrity of the majority of the sub-scales of the ASI while calling into question the composition and indeed the conceptual validity of the sub- scale surface approach. The factor analysis of the CPQ variables confirmed the sub-scale groupings, but the analysis of the 103 variables failed to demonstrate any empirical association between the two instruments. The replicative study concludes that the CPQ is of no value in terms of explaining students' approaches to studying. The ASI, however, appears to be a useful instrument which produces conceptually meaningful results for different population samples with respect to the two main study orientations. Areas which warrant investigation for the refinement of the ASI were identified and alternative methodologies to explore perceived contextual factors in conjunction with the ASI are suggested.
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    Medical education and the importance of teaching medical teachers about teaching
    (1994) Kent, Athol Parkes; Parsons, Phillip; Boonzaier, David
    This is an overview of medical education today. It deals with tertiary education matters pertinent to medical schools in South Africa, the forces that will inevitably cause medical education to change and the responses of other countries to similar circumstances. These forces are medical, educational and political. The medical forces bringing about changes are concerned with the explosion in knowledge in the fields of medical facts, technologies, therapies and informatics. It is an ongoing educational problem as to how the burgeoning sciences can be balanced with the present call for the return to the humanities. Medical schools are being required, through their teaching and learning methodologies, to encourage the qualification of empathetic graduates with generalist (holistic) skills and attitudes to best serve their patients. Educational forces, in particular new curriculum strategies, will need to be explored to assist teachers and students to cope with the demands of communities and individuals for care with expertise. In many First World countries these demands have found expression in moves from Traditional to Innovative curricula. Fundamentally, Traditional schools teach normal Anatomy and Physiology first, then move to the abnormal, before students reach the Clinical Years where these "basic sciences" are applied. Innovative schools, on the other hand, employ Problem-Based Learning with Community-Orientation throughout their curricula, with early patient contact, horizontal and vertical integration of disciplines, group work and community interaction as crucial aspects of their students' learning. Supporters of the Innovative philosophy see as progressive the revising of Flexnerian notions of basic science building blocks, the debalkanising of instruction subject by subject and the motivational impetus achieved when learning takes place in context. Political factors can impinge on staff teaching and student learning by Governmental demands through statutory councils or through the power exerted by the universities. Macro politics dictate financial or other resources that are allocated and may in future directly influence what sort of doctor the various medical schools are expected to graduate. The politics of staffing the teaching institutions, the development of teachers, and the demographics of the student population raise important questions of direction and commitment, and may lead to new realignments. The recognition of the importance of teaching at a professional level is a crucial factor in educating students more appropriately. Teachers versed in the medical pedagogic process will be pivotal in producing a new breed of doctors. This new breed will not be expected to "know everything" but have a core knowledge carefully ascertained by each medical faculty and the ability to find information that is further required. Students will not be expected to acquire all the facts to sustain them through the rest of their professional lives, but to have enquiring minds and the motivation to continue their education, to satisfy their curiosity and provide improved patient care. Their skills in mastery of the behavioural sciences will be more pertinent than ever as preventative medicine becomes as important as curative. They will be expected to formulate ethical attitudes and provide leadership in community and individual dilemmas. These are challenges that will need to be faced critically by our medical teachers who are too often experts in content in ever-narrower sub-specialities. For these challenges to be met, teaching cannot be taken for granted, but must be viewed more seriously by the schools and changes made where appropriate. The University of Cape Town (UCT) has a considerable reputation in the quality of its medical graduates. However, for its medical faculty to remain in the forefront of medical education, it needs to reconsider the knowledge required, the skills and attitudes embodied in its graduates but, as importantly, it must take the lead in undergraduate training. The need for renewing strategies and the action required are the themes of this dissertation.