Browsing by Subject "students"
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- ItemOpen AccessAvoiding frustrations of unprepared students with online quizzes(Clute Institute, 2013) Campbell, Anita; Rajaratnam, KanshukanThe hierarchical nature of many degrees enables higher-level courses to build on knowledge that has been developed in earlier courses. However, when students enter with weak prior knowledge, lecturers have to spend time addressing this before starting with the new material. This adds time pressure and frustration to lecturers as well as students who have strong prior knowledge. In this paper, we discuss a strategy that we implemented in order to encourage students to revise or learn prerequisite material at the beginning of a master's level module. Students were asked to take an online quiz on the prerequisite topics. Immediate feedback directed the students to resources which could enhance their knowledge and understanding of the material prior to course commencement. We discuss the multiple benefits this had, for both students and the lecturer, drawing on students' written responses to reflective questions about the experience and reflections from the lecturer on the use of online quizzes.
- ItemOpen AccessDigital professionalism(2012) Mitchell, Veronica; Southgate, NicoleThe rapid, expansive and evolving use of social media has prompted the need to interrogate its impact for future health professionals. A new initiative teaching first year health science students about their online identity has proven valuable. The importance of communication skills and respect for others through social media is identified and explained.
- ItemOpen AccessDikakapa everday heroes - African journeys to success(2013) Xulu, Khethelo; Kiravu, Agano; Nofemela, Andile; Ndlovu, Hlumani; Moholisa, Retsilisitsoe; Abera, AronThis book, Dikakapa Everyday Heroes: African journeys to success, is the proud initiative of a social intervention project called Dikakapa: Every-day Heroes. "Dikakapa Everyday Heroes: African journeys to success" is a collection of short personal stories by young Africans. In the book, the authors exercise self introspection and examination to reflect on how they navigated the formal education system (matric and/or tertiary level) to emerge as winners in their chosen career paths. It is a motivational tool for those aspiring to join tertiary institutions and is an invaluable resource for new university entrants who often struggle to balance their new found independence with the demands and discipline that varsity requires.
- ItemOpen AccessEnhancing professionalism: human rights & me @ the University of Cape Town(2012) Mitchell, VeronicaThis handout aims to promote professionalism and social accountability in health care. Human Rights Education has become an integral part of the curricula in the Health Sciences Faculty at the University of Cape Town. As students develop their knowledge and skills to promote respect for human rights and quality health care they learn to be advocates for social justice, valuing the link between human rights and health. However students frequently report witnessing disturbing situations in their clinical encounters where the disjuncture between the theory and practice is challenging. They find themselves faced with dissonance, uncertain how to react towards positive change.
- ItemOpen AccessStudent Experiences of Emergency Remote Learning and Teaching During COVID-19(2021) Nzala, Athenkosi; Czerniewicz, LauraThis study aimed to explore and understand the University of Cape Town student perceptions and lived experiences of Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL) during COVID-19. COVID-19 is a communicable disease instigated by a novel virus (SARS CoV-2 virus). After the inevitable subsequent national lockdown of South Africa, the university placed ERTL measures in place for the second quarter of the first semester to curb the impact of the virus on its students while also enabling learning and teaching activities to continue remotely. ERTL meant that learning and teaching activities were ‘rapidly' shifted from face-to-face learning to remote learning. This study reports on the 707 students who responded to an online survey while engaged in their online courses. The Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) and Andersons' Online Learning Model were used to engage with students on the use of technology that enabled their interaction with lecturers, each other, learning and teaching activities, and other remote learning resources. Understanding the student experiences was achieved through a mixed-method study approach that involved undergraduate and postgraduate students. The Google form online surveys, with both open and closed ended questions with some using the 5-point Likert scale ratings, were distributed using social media platforms and university email system to students in order to collect the data. MAXQDA and Excel software were later utilised to analyse and code the data. Findings for this study indicate that the ERTL experience of the participants during the COVID-19 pandemic presented both opportunities and barriers. Some of the perceived opportunities by students were flexibility and convenience, pedagogical improvements, time saving, self-directed learning (working anytime they want and creating and managing their working schedule), and spending time with family. Interestingly enough, some of these benefits turned out to be challenges for some of the students. Hence, some of the barriers students perceived were distractions, internet connectivity and technical issues, inequitable living and environment conditions, lack of hands-on experience and how this made their degree feel incomplete and difficult, mental health issues, and many other barriers. The disciplinary faculties that experienced most of the obstacles and difficulties associated with ERTL were those whose academic experience depended on practical work in labs and studios or needed software that can only be accessed through labs and would need a specific operating system. The carrying out of this research will help ensure the effectiveness, investment, and continual integration of technology in future programs that involve learning and teaching.
- ItemOpen AccessStudent practices in copyright culture: Accessing learning resources(2016-03-17) Czerniewicz, LauraUsing Schatzki’s practices framework as a lens, this paper reports on the practices of university students accessing learning resources at a research-intensive university in South Africa. Using a mixed methods approach, 1001 survey responses and six focus groups were analysed to explore how students in three professional disciplines access learning resources, with the focus on digitally-mediated piracy practices. The findings suggest a blurring between the legal and the illegal and indicate the normalcy of piracy practices, with nuanced distinctions and understandings manifest.
- ItemRestrictedStudent practices in copyright culture: accessing learning resources(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Czerniewicz, LauraUsing Schatzki’s practices framework as a lens, this paper reports on the practices of university students accessing learning resources at a research-intensive university in South Africa. Using a mixed-methods approach, 1001 survey responses and 6 focus groups were analysed to explore how students in three professional disciplines access learning resources, with the focus on digitally mediated piracy practices. The findings suggest a blurring between the legal and the illegal and indicate the normalcy of piracy practices, with nuanced distinctions and understandings manifest.
- ItemOpen AccessStudents make a plan: understanding student agency in constraining conditions(Taylor & Francis, 2009) Czerniewicz, Laura; Williams, Kevin; Brown, CherylDrawing on Archer's perspectives on the agency/structure relationship, this paper explains situations where students in varied, challenging circumstances find ways to negotiate difficult conditions. It reports on a 2007 study undertaken through a survey at three quite different universities in three South African provinces, addressing inter-related questions on access and use. Our findings are that on-campus access is generally reported favourably, and off-campus access is problematic and uneven. There is a cluster of students using their cell phones to access the Internet, and using their cell phones for academic purposes, and this is true across socio-economic groups (SEGs). It is especially striking that students from low SEGs do so. The findings show the choices students are prepared to make and the strategies which they find in order to engage online or access the Internet to support their studies. Archer's nuanced approach to agency and structure helps us begin to make sense of the way that students exhibit a more complex and nuanced way of engaging with the availability of different kinds of technologies, as well as making considered decisions about using ubiquitous technologies in unexpected ways and for purposes for which they may not have been intended. Her concept of reflexivity provides a way of describing how those choices are made in relation to structural conditions and enables us to explain how students are 'persons' showing an inventive capacity to circumvent the constraints imposed by structures.
- ItemOpen AccessThe habitus and technological practices of rural students: a case study(2014) Czerniewicz, Laura; Brown, CherylThis paper describes the habitus and technological practices of a South African rural student in his first year at university. This student is one of five self-declared rural students, from a group of 23 first-years in four South African universities, whose access to, and use of, technologies in their learning and everyday lives was investigated in 2011 using a 'digital ethnography' approach. Their digital practices, in the form of their activities in context, were collected through multiple strategies in order to provide a nuanced description of the role of technologies in their lives. The student reported on here came from a school and a community with very little access to information and communication technologies (ICTs). While the adjustment to first year can be challenging for all students, the findings show that this can be especially acute for students from rural backgrounds. The study provides an analysis of one student's negotiation of a range of technologies six to nine months into his first year at university. Earlier theoretical concepts provide a lens for describing his practices through a consideration of his habitus, and access to and use of various forms of capitals in relation to the fields - especially that of higher education - in which he was situated.
- ItemOpen AccessThe Role of Socioeconomic Status on Students' Employment Expectations in South Africa(2021) Weaver, Michaela; Bagraim, Jeffrey; Sait, ZaakiyahThe influence of students' socioeconomic statuses (SES) on their employment expectations is a largely understudied topic in the context of South Africa. There has additionally been little focus on the extent to which students' SESs affect their willingness to settle for lower earnings and their anticipation of socioeconomic discrimination in the workplace. With South Africa's unique SES makeup, as spurred on by the remnants of apartheid, it is important to investigate the effect that students' SESs may have upon their 1) earnings expectations 2) employment expectations 3) anticipated socioeconomic status discrimination and 4) willingness to settle for lower earnings. Bandura's (1977) Social Cognitive Learning Theory (SCLT) was used to investigate how students' employment expectations differ based on their environments and core self-evaluations. This theory was therefore used to ground and inform this research. In a quantitative, cross-sectional study with a South Africa student sample (N = 346), this study obtained the following results: 1) SES does not significantly predict students' earning expectations and employment expectations over and above the control variables 2) SES significantly predicts students' anticipated socioeconomic status discrimination and willingness to settle for lower earnings 3) core self-evaluation significantly moderates the relationships between socioeconomic status and students' earning expectations as well as between socioeconomic status and willingness to settle for lower earnings 4) core self-evaluation does not significantly moderate the relationships between socioeconomic status and students' employment expectations as well as between socioeconomic status and anticipated socioeconomic status discrimination. This study has important implications for organizational policy concerning the advocation and implementation of work free from discrimination in South Africa. Through this research, organizations may be provided with insight into how individuals' work expectations may differ based on their SESs, potentially leading to the creation of more inclusive policies and practices. Limitations and future recommendations are outlined.