Browsing by Subject "teaching and learning"

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    The National Benchmark Test in Academic Literacy: How might it be used to support teaching in higher education?
    (Taylor & Francis, 2015) Cliff, Alan
    The National Benchmark Test in Academic Literacy is designed to assess the ability of first-year students to cope with the typical language-of-instruction, academic reading and reasoning demands they will face on entry to higher education. Drawing on quantitative data, this paper reports on the overall performance levels of a large-scale (n = 6500) national sample of test-takers who took the test as applicants for the 2013 intake into higher education. Overall test-taker performance is disaggregated by performance on sub-scales of the overall construct of academic literacy. The argument is made that the National Benchmark Test provides a framework for a nuanced and practicable understanding of test-takers’ academic literacy ‘proficiencies’. The conclusion to the paper evaluates the extent to which the test enables higher education lecturers’ greater engagement with students’ academic literacy shortcomings and with research-led information aimed at the improvement of teaching and learning.
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    Transforming teaching with emerging technologies: implications for higher education institutions
    (Unisa Press, 2013) Bozalek, Vivienne; Ng'ambi, Dick; Gachago, Daniela
    A gulf is widening between the technologies used by students, those used by educators and those provided by institutions. However, knowledge about the impact of so-called emerging technologies on learning or the readiness of higher education institutions (HEIs) to engage with such technologies in the South African context is relatively thin. This article uses Rogers' (2003) diffusion of innovations model as a conceptual framework to examine the diffusion, adoption and appropriation of emerging technologies in South African HEIs. We report on a survey which examined how emerging technologies are used in innovative pedagogical practices to transform teaching and learning across South African HEIs. The article concludes that, in order to foster a greater uptake or more institution-wide diffusion of use of emerging technologies, institutional opinion leaders need to purposefully create an enabling environment by giving recognition to and communicating with change agents, and developing policies that will encourage institutional-wide engagement with emerging technologies.