Browsing by Subject "UCT"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Open Access
    Case study: Custom-designed virtual experiment in fracture mechanics in Mechanical Engineering
    (2008-11-30) Hodgkinson-Williams, Cheryl
    This case study describes the development and use of a custom-designed virtual experiment in Mechanical Engineering which partially simulates the concept of metal fatigue to help student engage with a complex practical application. It then explores some of the enabling or constraining structures, policies and practices at a national, institutional and personal level that appear to have an impact on making such a simulation available as an open educational resource.
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    Open Access
    Case study: Feminist Africa
    (2009-02-28) Gray, Eve; Willmers, Michelle
    This case study describes the use of ICTs in the publication of a journal, Feminist Africa, in the context of an academic department at the University of Cape Town. The journal is of particular interest, because, being situated in the African Gender Institute (AGI), it provides insights into challenges and opportunities that are faced when a university unit takes on the role of journal publisher. This case study is enriched by the fact that the journal aims to pull together the research dimensions of the AGI’s interests in the development of curriculum and teaching materials for African feminist studies in the context of its outreach work through the GWS African feminist network. The case study reveals the difficulties faced by volunteer editors in a university departmental context. While the journal received donor support, the main difficulty transpires as the lack of support from the university for publishing activities. This leads to a level of ‘invisibility’ except when it comes to bureaucratic control and to levels of overwork in dedicated staff trying to juggle multiple roles.
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    Open Access
    Case study: Interactive spreadsheets
    (2008-11-30) Hodgkinson-Williams, Cheryl
    This paper describes how the Department of Statistics at the University of Cape Town (UCT) currently uses interactive spreadsheets to assist students in analysing and preparing summaries of data. It explores some of the potential benefits of making such resources more freely available to others as Open Educational Resources (OER), and outlines the key issues which would need to be resolved in order to do so. To this end, this paper discusses the pedagogical needs that led to the lecturers using the spreadsheet program MSExcel to encourage students to engage actively with statistical processes. It describes how the lecturers and students use these interactive spreadsheets and examines how well these interactive spreadsheets seemed to have worked, so that others who may have similar pedagogical needs can be alerted to the advantages and disadvantages of using this type of technology. In addition, this paper explores the possibility of these interactive spreadsheets being offered as OER first to other departments at UCT and then to a broader community.
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    Open Access
    Case study: South African Review of Sociology
    (2009-02-28) Gray, Eve; Willmers, Michelle
    This case study describes the use of ICTs in the publication of a scholarly society journal, the South African Review of Sociology, in a context in which the Scientific Editor is a senior member of an academic department at the University of Cape Town. It provides insights into the challenges and opportunities that are faced in society publishing in a South African context.and explores the problems faced when editorship of a journal is held by a senior academic who receives little or no institutional support in the publishing endeavour. The case study reveals the difficulties faced by small society publishers struggling to ensure the survival of established journals that represent significant knowledge capital, but which are undermined by an environment characterised by a lack of national and institutional support for scholarly publishing; rapid technological development; shrinking library budgets and increasing international competition.
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    Case study: UCT Press
    (2009-07-31) Gray, Eve; Willmers, Michelle
    The University of Cape Town (UCT) Press was established in 1994. The modern-day university press presents an interesting mix of challenges and conflicting agendas. The OpeningScholarship project chose UCT Press as a subject for case study in the hope that an examination of the operations and dynamics of such a press would throw some light on the tensions inherent in the academic publishing exercise. UCT Press is unique among South African university presses in that it is owned by a private company – namely, Juta and Company Ltd. Private ownership of a university press which enjoys a close, synergistic relationship with its parent institution is not unique in the global academic context, but it does present interesting challenges in terms of commercial and non-commercial entities working side by side, often with very different markers of success.
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    Determinants of students' academic performance in Corporate Governance I
    (2020) Shamsoodien,Sihaam; Carpenter, Riley
    With the increasing diversity of students attending university, there is a growing interest in the factors predicting academic performance. The objective of this study is to identify student endogenous factors (average Grade 12 grade, Grade 12 mathematics grade, Grade 12 English grade, gender, school quintile, home language, race, university gradepoint-average (GPA), university Accounting I grade and self-efficacy) that impact performance in the module, Corporate Governance I, and to identify any differences in self-efficacy levels of students of different genders and races completing this course. A quantitative research method was used, comprising multiple regression analysis, a Mann-Whitney U test and a Kruskal-Wallis H test. The data was obtained from a sample of students attempting Corporate Governance I in 2018 at the University of Cape Town. The findings indicate that on the first day of entering university, the average grade in the final year of high school was the most significant predictor of final performance in Corporate Governance I. GPA was the most significant predictor of performance at the point of registration for Corporate Governance I, before the student had embarked upon the course, as well as the point when the student had engaged with the course for a few weeks. Another interesting finding was that even though there were no significant statistical differences in the self-efficacy levels of students of different genders and races, females outperformed males while White students outperformed Black and Coloured students. This study adds to the existing literature on student performance in tertiary accounting programmes in South Africa with a particular focus on student endogenous factors. The findings could be useful for the University of Cape Town in determining its approach to teaching these students.
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    National environmental scan of South African scholarly publishing
    (2009-04-30) Gray, Eve
    Undertaken as part of the OpeningScholarship project at the University of Cape Town (UCT), this position paper reviews the national environment for the use of ICTs for research dissemination and publication in the South African higher education sector. Taking UCT as a case study, the paper reviews the use of ICTs for scholarly communications for research, teaching and learning, and community engagement in the university against the background of international developments and best practice.