OpenUCT :: Browsing by Subject "Higher Education Studies"

Browsing by Subject "Higher Education Studies"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 20

Open Access
Beyond academics - is community engagement possible through work integrated learning?
(2016) Budd, Jean; McMillan, Janice; Cooper, Linda
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether two work integrated learning modules were the appropriate means to achieve community engagement ends, and to what extent the introduction of an NGO component in the WIL curriculum raised awareness or understanding of community engagement amongst the students at a private higher educational institution. Theoretical fields that guided the research included community engagement studies by Butin(2010) and Lazarus (2008), experiential learning literature encompassing work integrated learning, and the literature on service learning and transformative learning with a particular focus on Kolb's (1984) experiential learning cycle and the important role of critical reflection. This was a single case study conducted at a private higher education institution, which employed qualitative research methodology to analyse two work integrated learning modules. McCowan's (2008) curricular transposition framework was used to analyse whether the community engagement ideal was realised, and to identify any disjunctures that inhibited its implementation and realisation. To accomplish this four groups of participants were interviewed, each representing a different stage in McCowan's model. These were curriculum developers, work integrated learning lecturers, students from each work integrated learning module and a representative from the chosen NGO. From their perspectives key themes emerged revolving around levels of conviction of all stakeholders, forms of learning and degrees of student transformation. All of these indicated disjunctures between the "ideal" and what was actually achieved, and these acted as constraining factors which affected the transposition from ideal to real. My data suggests that WIL modules can be an appropriate means to achieve community engagement ends, but the "ideal" needs to have the support of all stakeholders and should be embedded firmly in the curriculum. The data also shows that because of the lack of conviction on the part of all stakeholders the community engagement awareness or understanding happened almost implicitly, as part of the hidden curriculum. Additionally, even though some awareness of community engagement did occur for students, the superficiality of the NGO engagement provided a superficial student experience. The evidence points to the conclusion that the use of work integrated learning modules as a means to promote community engagement awareness was moderately successful, but a lot more needs to be done to make it a viable and worthwhile option. Belief in the concept, clarity on goals and objectives, proper training and development of lecturers, constructive feedback loops, more intensive NGO engagement and support from all stakeholders involved are issues that need to be addressed to move towards realisation of the "ideal".
Open Access
Conceptualising design knowledge and its recontextualisation in the studiowork component of a design foundation curriculum
(2012) Steyn, Diane; Shay, Suellen; Carter, Francis
Universities of Technology have traditionally prepared students for the world of work and their close ties with industry directly impact on vocational curriculum, which has to impart subject knowledge and specialized knowledge valued by industry, whilst simultaneously encouraging the acquisition of vocational identity. This study of a Design Foundation Course’s curriculum is located at a University of Technology which is currently undergoing a process of re-curriculation, which has initiated a process of examining subject knowledge and its structuring in various course’s curricula. In the light of these developments, an examination of the nature of design knowledge and the role of the foundation curriculum in the transfer of core disciplinary knowledge to underprepared students appeared both timely and necessary.
Open Access
The constitution of the field of higher education institutions in Mozambique
(2006) Langa, Patrício Vitorino; Muller, Johan
The aim of this study is to investigate the implications of the expansion and diversification of public and private higher education institutions in Mozambique. There are two distinct stages of that expansion. The first stage is characterised by the establishment of two public higher education institutions, namely, the Higher Pedagogic Institute (ISP) in 1985, and the Higher Institute for International Relations (ISRI) in 1986, joining the University Eduardo Mondlane (UEM) founded in 1962. The second stage is characterised by the emergence both of more public higher education institutions, but particularly by the emergence of a new type of higher education service supplier, the private higher education institution. An accelerated process of expansion and diversification of higher education institutions begins in the mid 1990's. The first non-governmental higher education institution to open was the Higher Polytechnic and University Institute (ISPU), and the second was the Catholic University (UCM), a religious institution, both established in 1995. ISPU and UCM were followed in 1998 by Higher Institute of Science and Technology of Mozambique (ISCTEM) , a technological institute, and by the Mussa Bin Bique University (UMBB), an Islamic university. In 2000 the Higher Institute of Transport and Communication (ISUTC) was also established. Currently; there are 23 legal higher education institutions both public and private. Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of social field, this study analyses whether the constellation of higher institutions is functioning as a field. I hypothesise that as a result of the expansion and diversification of higher education institutions a very specific constellation is taking place leading to constitutive patterns and forms of interaction which resemble those identified by Bourdieu as typical of a field. The empirical work takes the form of an exploratory study designed to establish the structure of positions of higher education institutions in a social space of capital. The dissertation finds that institutions can be positioned in a hierarchical and structured space of capital on the basis of the differential distribution of different form of capital (cultural, economic, scientific, and social).The findings also suggest that well-established institutions are likely to have more capital and thus to be positioned in a dominant position in terms of symbolic capital. This is the case of UEM amongst the public institutions, displaying a high level of cultural capital (highly qualified academic staff), with significant number of its academic staff in higher positions in the academy, as also having a relatively larger number of income sources compared to Pedagogic University (UP), Higher Institute of International relations (ISRI) and the Police Academy (ACIPOL).
Open Access
An exploration into the interpretive frameworks of assessors in an interior design moderation event
(2008) Lewis, Mari; Shay, Suellen
How do multiple perspectives enable or disturb the reaching of sound classifications? The question underlying the study arose out of the ostensibly conflicting paradigms that a multi-disciplinary assessor panel imputed to an interior design moderation event. The study seeks to understand how disciplinary specialisations shape their judgements. Given assessors' plausible susceptibility to their individual schemas, the study explores the manner by which a heterogeneous social milieu approximates sound assessment practices and identifies legitimate interior design productions. For the study, the multi-disciplines were explicated as an organised community of individually-embodied social practices upon which coherent discourse and the exercise of power were dependent. Bourdieu's social theory is drawn upon to make sense as to how the theoretical constructs of capital and habitus are located within particular disciplinary groups and, how they are reproduced as the recursive internalisations endemic to individual specialisations. Capital and habitus are used to position the individually specialised assessors within the field. The specialist positions are premised as sites of opposition where dispositions are coterminous with position taking and competition for legitimacy. In this way, the study interrogates whether the act of assessment may be a function of how assessors operationalise their social practices. The assessor values and their corresponding knowledge and attitudes were seen as constituting the means by which appraisals and classifications were being made and calibrated. This necessitated a qualitative analysis of the complex aggregations of values and behaviours, typical of the socially differentiated panel. Primary to the investigation was the need to penetrate the actual moderation debates to access the tacit habitus and pervasive power that lay embedded and thus obscured from scrutiny. These deliberations represent a symbolic, structuring system - produced and interpreted against a common social field. For this reason four moderation cruces, seen as illumining the assessors' habitus that their particular capital resources advocated, were identified as relevant samples. The analysis hones into what the assessors draw on in order to make sense of the productions, i.e. their primary informants, or as encapsulated by Shay, their interpretive frameworks.
Open Access
Fractured pedagogy: the design and implementation fault line in architectural knowledge - a conceptual and historical analysis
(2007) Carter, Francis; Muller, Johan
There appears to be a gap in architectural knowledge between design theory and implementation practice which is difficult to bridge in teaching, learning and work. As evidence of the existence of this gap two sources of data are contrasted: exhibition catalogues which convey what individual architects say to each other about their work, and official reports which convey what institutional representatives of the organised profession say about failures in the work of architects. These data sets are contradictory, reinforcing the possibility of a fault-line between design knowledge and implementation. The question then arises as to whether this tension in professional knowledge in the field of production is reflected in the pedagogisation of the knowledge, reinforced through its transmission. As the architectural curriculum in Commonwealth countries has a generic format, this generic curriculum is analysed next, in terms of Bernstein's concepts of classification/ framing, and integration I collection. The analysis is ambiguous, as both strong and weak criteria co-exist with dual coding, complicated by the horizontality and tacit nature of spatial design knowledge on the one hand, and the extent of regionalised knowledge on the other which recontextualises contradictory knowledge systems from sources in arts and sciences. Tacit implementation knowledge sits uncomfortably in this mix as a largely segmental horizontal discourse. To understand the default pattern in this pedagogy more clearly, the research then tracks back to the initial definition of the knowledge system at the time of the formation of the modern profession. In this analysis Bernstein's pedagogic device is used as the framework for locating and unraveling the historic data in terms of the production and recontextualisation of knowledge, distributive rules and power relations between agents. The history maps neatly onto this theoretical model, confirming in-built tensions in the knowledge system which marginalise knowledge of implementation and which construct a professional consciousness centered around spatial imagination primarily and technical innovation secondarily. The research is thus an initial attempt at a historical analysis of a region of professional knowledge.
Open Access
From art to artefact: meaning-making processes across the three major subjects in a Diploma in Fashion
(2011) Grasser, Hildegard Irene; Thesen, Lucia
Investigations in the field of Fashion design education have not taken into account that students need to negotiate three very different subjects. In particular the technical side, namely pattern making and garment construction have not received enough attention. Over the years I have found the same difficulties among students as they negotiate the three main subjects. Their encounter with the technical subjects, presents particular difficulties. In order to explore these difficulties, this study investigates the meaning-making processes of beginner students as they move from drawing and designing to production of a garment. By identifying and analysing the practices of a beginner, I examine how students become multimodally literate across the three subjects.
Open Access
From novice to expert: assessment of the levels of expertise of South African Chartered Accountants and Auditors in an academic and professional programme using the Dreyfus's Five-Stage Model of Skills Acquisition
(2016) West, Sumaya; Jacklin, Heather; Lubbe, Ilse
Knowledge in professional and business related courses are grounded in real-world business contexts, which influence the theoretical aspects of an academic programme. Most students in South Africa lack prior business and auditing knowledge, which makes it difficult for them to transfer the theoretical business knowledge, skills and attributes acquired in an educational setting, to the workplace setting. The challenge for auditing educators is to facilitate the acquisition and transfer of theoretical auditing knowledge in preparation of and application for the workplace. Research studies suggest that there is a key dilemma within continuing professional education and development, which mainly relates to the tension between the academic knowledge, skills and attributes and the knowledge, skills and attributes required in professional auditing practice. The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess and compare the development of professional competencies and related expertise of different individuals at different stages in their professional auditing careers. The Dreyfus's five-stage model of skill acquisition (Dreyfus's model) offers a useful theoretical framework for understanding how individuals acquire knowledge and skills through formal instruction and experience. The five stages of the Dreyfus model are identified as novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert. In this study, the adapted Dreyfus's model was used to assess the knowledge and skills needed of auditors at various stages in an academic and professional training programme in South Africa. Using ten semi-structured interviews, this study highlights the differences in the levels of expertise between experienced auditors and auditors at the novice stage of proficiency. Participants in this study included audit graduates, audit trainees and audit managers. The study found that there were distinct stages in skills development, generally in line with those suggested by the Dreyfus's model, and that there were major shifts in individuals' practice with the development of professional expertise. Central to the movement from one stage to the next is the way in which meaningful connections are made between what is already known (theory) and its application (practice). In developing a framework for understanding what auditing knowledge, skills and experiences are required at various stages, this study informs further development plans for educational workplace settings that are specifically designed for individuals to progress from one developmental stage to another.
Open Access
How international students navigate the social and academic practices of a South African university
(2009) Gieser, James D; Thesen, Lucia
The aim of this thesis is to qualitatively explore how international students navigated the social and academic practices of a South African university. A sample of thirteen students was selected from the Humanities faculty at the University of Cape Town, each of whom was a visiting student for either one semester or a full academic year. Participants volunteered for one-hour, face-to-face interviews which were tape-recorded for later analysis. The interviews were semi-structured, as the author hoped to elicit particular critical moments in the student's study-abroad journey. Two groups of students were sought for purposes of validation and comparison: Group 1 consisted of nine American students; Group 2 consisted of four students from other countries. The focus, however, was primarily upon the experiences of the students from the U.S. The theoretical framework for the study was drawn from the work of social theorists James Gee and Pierre Bourdieu. Their interest in the differential distribution of power in the social world - particularly within academia - and in how the individual gains or loses power as s/he moves in that world provided helpful frames for exploring how international students negotiated often unfamiliar contexts encountered while studying abroad. To operationalize the theoretical framework, Anthony Giddens' concept of "fateful moments" was utilized. Following other researchers, the concept was altered to "critical moments." Critical moments are moments in a subject's narrative which cause disjunctures to arise in the life journey; they are moments of crisis which demand navigational choices to be made. In analysis of the data, these moments were located either by the interviewee's identification or the author's interpretation. In order to aid analysis practices were split into two domains: social and academic. Data was then clustered according to themes which arose in the interviews. In relation to social practices, common themes were related to "with whom to socialize" and to national and racial identities. American students in particular were deliberate in stating their intent to meet "local" students and to create distance from other Americans. Issues related to national and racial identity arose strongly across all of the interviews and influenced both their practices as well as those of "local" students. In relation to academic practices, themes related to academic support, academic expectations, and tacit academic procedures were predominant. When faced with unknown practices students often engaged in a compare-and-contrast activity, drawing upon known practices from their home institutions to serve as the standard by vhich ncv practiccs were judged. However, although splitting practices into two domains was helpful for analysis, students' practices often cut across them. For example, issues related to national and racial identity often occurred both in and out of the classroom. Based on the findings of this thesis as well as the literature, the author concludes with suggestions for future study-abroad programmes. Specifically, hc focuses upon the pre-orientation component of such programmes, suggesting that students may be more fully prepared to engage their study-abroad experience by being introduced to a particular perspective of the social world based on the social theories of Gee and Bourdieu.
Open Access
Integrating multidisciplinary engineering knowledge in a final year technical university diploma programme : an analysis of student praxis
(2011) Wolff, Karin; Luckett, Kathy
In order to determine two distinct engineering qualification levels for an existing University of Technology (UoT) programme, empirical evidence based on the current diploma is necessary to inform decisions as to qualification-appropriate curriculum design. This evidence needs to shed light on the nature of and the relationship between the contextual and conceptual elements underpinning a multidisciplinary engineering curriculum.
Open Access
An investigation into the practices of academics in Departments of Accounting at South African universities : the pressures on educators of professionals to meet the requirements of their profession and those of an academic institution simultaneously
(2010) Lubbe, Ilse
This study investigates and describes the practices of academics in Departments of Accounting at South African universities in order to identify and analyse pressures on educators of professionals. The strong control exercised by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) on the curriculum of undergraduate and post-graduate programmes offered at South African universities leading to the Chartered Accountant (CA) qualification and the requirement by research-led universities for academics to produce quality research together create tension between the academic titles of research and teaching, in the context of educating for a profession.
Open Access
Judging essays : factors that influence markers
(2006) Olckers, Lorna; Shay, Suellen
This thesis is an exploration of assessment with particular focus on the marking of essay assignments and the validity or soundness of that process.
Open Access
Lights camera lesson plan : higher education programme design in the film and media environment
(2005) De Beer, Adam; Shay, Suellen
The primary aim of this this research is to explore the question of how learning programmes in higher education are constructed by craft-specific film, television and media industry professionals. This research gathers information from these professionals, tasked with the development and design of their relevant programmes, and focuses on uncovering the influences on their decision-making in the programme design process, and relating these influences of pedagogic theory.
Open Access
MBA student's engagement with the proposal process: implications for access
(2019) Allison, Gadija; Bangeni, Abongwe
The research component of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) is often cited by MBA students and graduates as the most daunting and challenging part of the MBA programme. This thesis draws on the tools of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2009) and insights from Academic Literacies to understand how novice researchers on the MBA programme at a South African Business School experience the proposal process which aims to prepare them for the writing of the research proposal and, by extension, the dissertation. The CDA assists in highlighting how students, as novice researchers, are positioned and expected to engage as researchers within a key document, the Dissertation Outline, which outlines the rules that govern the research process at the school. Discourse at the level of text shows how the undertaking of research, as well as assuming a specific researcher identity, is foregrounded through the use of textual features that reflect the values and dominant discourses within the programme and the School. The interview data illustrate how students’ actual experiences of the proposal process sit alongside these valued ways of doing and being that are foregrounded in the official documentation and the ways in which the students’ cultural capital impact their engagement with the process. The students’ interview data indicate how they experienced the proposal process as “challenging”, “anxiety-inducing” and “overwhelming”. This is evident in three main factors which shaped their experiences of the research process: the interlinked process of selecting a topic and securing a suitable supervisor; reconciling professional development goals with the valued types of research which are prioritised within the Research Methods course which forms part of the proposal process; and the impact of forms of cultural capital on their experiences of the proposal process. This results in a situation where the researcher identity which is explicitly foregrounded in the Dissertation Outline is questioned. This study illustrates the ways in which the data problematise the School’s assumptions about students’ levels of preparedness for the research process and, more specifically, for the writing of the proposal. The data highlight the importance of recognising that students’ experiences of the proposal process and challenges therein are not only influenced by academic literacy factors that are directly linked to the writing of the proposal, but also by non-textual factors which precede or happen alongside the writing of the proposal. The data further demonstrate how institutional practices impact on the students’ agency and power in the proposal process. This is due to the fact that while some forms of research are foregrounded as valued types of research in the Dissertation Outline, students’ experiences point to limited support in terms of available instruction and supervision for this type of research. The study’s findings highlight the importance of the nature of support provided to students navigating the transition from workplaces and different disciplinary contexts into the research component of the MBA. Based on the study’s findings, it is important that this support take the form of an ongoing dialogue between stakeholders such as supervisors, lecturers, Academic Support, and the Writing Centre. This would serve to address students’ access at various levels, from the nature of pedagogical practices on key courses such as the Research Methods course and how these function to prepare students, to the extent to which students are able to access and enact the valued ways that come with conducting research on the MBA programme.
Open Access
Stakeholder perceptions of the efficacy of a capstone course introduced to assist accounting students in developing pervasive skills
(2016) Maughan, Paul; Davidowitz, Bette
A capstone course, Business Analysis and Governance (BAG), compulsory for all students studying towards becoming chartered accountants, was introduced at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2012. It was designed to develop pervasive skills in response to the competency framework that was developed in 2008 by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA), the professional accounting body. This study explored whether or not the capstone course has assisted in developing the pervasive skills of students. The effectiveness of specific interventions namely a Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) project, the inclusion of current business research area questions in assessments as well as company analysis was also investigated. Research was conducted in the critical theory tradition, in particular following the work done by the prominent psychologist, Kurt Lewin who is considered as one of the founders of social psychology. He is also often credited as being pivotal to the emergence of Action Research which was used in this research project. Action Research required an annual cycle of observation, action, reflection and planning over the initial four year period of the capstone course.
Open Access
Student negotiation of an undergraduate accounting assessment
(2017) Hyland, Tarryn; Paxton, Moragh; Le Roux, Kate
In South Africa (SA), access to the accounting profession is characterised by inequality, resulting from a multitude of socio-economic and historical issues. Assessment serves as the primary gate-keeping mechanism of the profession. However, more than twenty years after the end of apartheid, pass rates remain skewed by factors such as language and race. Accounting education research offers some quantitative studies which investigate diversity in academic performance by school-leaving results or by race, for example, and a number of studies which consider language in the accounting curriculum. The quantitative studies, however, do not provide insight into the complex socio-cultural issues operating in accounting education, and the work on language in accounting education is largely focused on action research projects and the documentation of communication interventions. While some accounting education studies acknowledge that specific disciplinary conventions exist, these practices are not analysed or described. This study asks the question: how do students negotiate undergraduate accounting assessments? To explore this problem, the academic communication practices in a second-year accounting assessment at a wellestablished, English-medium university in SA are investigated by analysing what is valued in accounting assessments, what students are doing in the assessment event, and why. Academic literacies research and a theory of language as social practice, including the work of Theresa Lillis and Norman Fairclough, are used to develop the theoretical framework of this study. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is used to analyse the assessment texts, explore the dominant disciplinary practices in accounting higher education and explain the power behind professional accounting education discourse. This study outlines elements of the valued disciplinary literacy, such as the genres of accounting assessments and the accounting discussion answer, and specialised test-taking reading practices, including how to identify the valued task response. The overarching feature of the dominant disciplinary practices is its linguistic complexity, largely shaped by professional accounting institutions. To investigate students' literacy practices, the answer texts of three students from different backgrounds are analysed using CDA, together with ethnographic data from "talk around text" (Lillis, 2008: 355) and "literacy history" (Lillis, 2008: 362) interviews with students. This study shows that students with language practices aligned to the valued professional education discourse have power in the assessment, while English additional language students from poorer schooling backgrounds in particular struggle to grasp and demonstrate the valued discourse. This study contributes to research on language practices and student experiences in a professional curriculum. It is my hope that the insights offered by this paper can be used to improve teaching and learning by encouraging educators to be aware of, and facilitate access to, the dominant accounting disciplinary practices. Educators need to acknowledge the diverse language practices of students, make explicit the complex elements of the valued disciplinary practices in the teaching and provide opportunities to develop students' knowledge of business and legal concepts, for example, which are recontextualised in the accounting curriculum. Until these steps are taken to make the epistemology of the discipline clearer, access to the accounting profession will remain unequal.
Open Access
Teaching communicative competence in Health Sciences Education: An analysis of medical students' first biopsychosocial interview in a clinical setting
(2017) Moller, Natalie; Van Pletzen, Ermien; Gunston, Geney D
Objective: Communicative competence is recognised as essential for establishing an effective doctorpatient relationship. A Primary Health Care-led curriculum places this established relationship at the heart of all interactions and interventions between the patient and the health professional. Medical students at the University of Cape Town are taught in the Clinical Skills Department how to communicate and interact with patients in the pre-clinical years of training using primarily role play. This study examines how medical students transform classroom-based teaching into authentic clinical practice that follows Primary Health care principles in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the Clinical Skills strategy for teaching communicative competence. Methodology: Video recordings of three authentic clinical interviews conducted by medical students taking their first comprehensive biopsychosocial interview in a clinical area were analysed. This data was supported by scrutiny of the intended learning outcomes of all pre-clinical courses in which aspects of communication competence was taught as well as teaching observations made of the students within the classroom Conclusion: The study revealed that although the students could structure a biopsychosocial interview the nuances of building a professional relationship with the patient as envisioned in a Primary Health Care-led curriculum proved difficult for them. These findings suggest that using a single pedagogical method in the Clinical Skills department, namely role play, may not be sufficient for teaching medical students how to place the needs of the patient first above their need to learn, diagnose and treat the patient.
Open Access
Towards a qualitative framework for blending equity and excellence in transforming South African higher education to achieve development
(2022) January, Chanaaz Charmain; Soudien, Crain
South Africa has been on a difficult journey over the last two decades in its attempts to transform its higher education system. The key question around which major debates have revolved relates to achieving development within the context of a post-apartheid South Africa. At the heart of this question stand the twin imperatives of equity and excellence. This potential trade-off features extensively in the early theoretical work of Wolpe and Badat and is reflected in subsequent frameworks and policies. If the country had favoured excellence, as it was defined globally, the system's elite features would have been reproduced. Instead, South Africa aspired towards both excellence and equity. This choice has been critical, but it has not been easy for institutions to develop their own management strategies. Here, two critical global theories used to explain the drivers for human development, known as the human capital and human capability theories, were used to frame the research question. This study made use of these theoretical perspectives to understand the South African approach to the role of higher education in society. The political, social, economic, and ideological dimensions of development were thus deconstructed. With this background, the concepts of excellence and equity were further explored in relation to the higher education system's experience of massification and differentiation. Terms such as “quality”, “fitness for purpose”, “social justice”, and “equality” are relevant to this discussion and provide meaning for the concepts of excellence and equity. A grounded theory approach was used to gather data and sixteen leading experts in the field were participants representing an elite sample. These data provided the basis for the themes used to construct a qualitative framework for higher education transformation that reconciles both equity and excellence. This study led to the conclusion that transformation is founded on five key measurable indicators: individual transformation, student success, institutional culture, demographic representivity of staff and students, and defining and operationalising the South African knowledge project. The framework provides suggestions for understanding the project of higher education transformation and realising it through an ongoing process of consultation, action, and reflection.
Open Access
Understanding the experiences of students who enter the MBChB programme from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds and either succeed or fail in passing the first semester
(2008) Gunston, Geney; Paxton, Moragh
This qualitative study was conducted during 2005 in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town. Drawing on the theoretical framework of the New Literacy Studies and, in particular, Gee's notion of Discourse acquisition, I sought to better understand the issues that impacted on success for students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds who entered the MBChB programme.
Open Access
Web design discourse and access : a case study of student entry into a web design Discourse in the Multimedia Technology programme at CPUT
(2006) Coleman, Lynn; Thesen, Lucia
This thesis represents an instance of my engagement as a reflective practitioner to explore how access opportunities into a web design Discourse can be enhanced. The study is located in the Multimedia Skills subject which is part of the Certificate in Multimedia Technology at Cape Peninsula University of Technology. In describing student entry into a web design environment, insights into academic literacy practices within the multimedia and web design environment are provided. The theoretical concepts of Discourse, interest, intertextuality, literacy, acquisition and learning are used to ground the conceptual framework of the study, while an interpretative case study is utilized as research methodology. Using the notion of recontextualisation, how the professional Discourse of web design was appropriate into the curriculum of the Multimedia Skills subject and the Multimedia Technology programme is described. This analysis identifies a core identity distinction between web designers (who have a strong visual focus) and web developers (who foreground technical competencies) which is supported by the subject focus in the programme. The research considers two key data sources, personal websites and semi-structured interviews. These account for student performances in and meta-knowledge of the web design Discourse and reveal evidence of how Discourses were reflected in student design decision-making in their personal websites. The differential experiences of student access to the web design Discourse prompt the consideration of how learning and acquisition activities could be used in the classroom to facilitate more balanced performance and meta-knowledge expression.
Open Access
Writer performance ranges on the NBT Academic Literacy Test: an analysis through a Semantics lens
(2019) Msusa, Naomi; Cliff, Alan
Karl Maton argues that Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) not only allows knowledge practices to be seen and analysed; it also brings them into relation with the analysis of students themselves. In other words, it views educational experiences as an outcome of the dispositions brought by actors to a knowledge context, and the nature of the context itself. My dissertation research addressed the question of how LCT can be used to analyse student performance of a higher education applicant cohort on a National Benchmark Test (NBT) Academic Literacy assessment. This was done in order to glean more information that can be used firstly as a predictive tool for future success, and as an identifier of specific areas that reveal student academic under-preparedness. The study also attempted to show how this information might play a role in the development of interventions intended for students identified in this way. I argued that an appropriately designed tool can enable the lecturer to surface additional information from the NBTs that may be of further use after admission and placement, particularly when applied to an aspect of the curriculum of an extended or support programme. I proceeded by analysing the performance patterns of an NBT Academic Literacy test-taker cohort. I focused on the semantic gravity and semantic density ranges of these test-takers' performance, and used this analysis as a tool to gauge the level of performance of the NBT test-taker against what is considered to be the 'legitimate' indicator for success: status and achievement in this domain in a first year classroom. I demonstrated how, by using this tool, the lecturer might be able to determine what information from the NBT AL may be deemed to be of value to complement existing provision of support in this domain

Browsing by Subject "Higher Education Studies"

Results Per Page

Sort Options