WhatsApp use among African international distance education (IDE) students: transferring,translating and transforming educational experiences

ABSTRACT

Much of the research on how social media is embedded into the educational practices of higher education students has a Western orientation. In concentrating on a case study of the varied ways in which African International Distance Education (IDE) students actively use social media to shape their learning experiences, we discuss an under-researched group. The paper draws on analysis of 1295 online questionnaires and 165 in-depth interviews with IDE students at UNISA, South Africa, one of the largest providers of IDE globally. WhatsApp emerges as ‘the’ key social media tool that opens up opportunities for IDE students to transfer, translate and transform their educational journey when studying ‘at a distance’. Although WhatsApp does provide a ‘space of opportunity’ for some students, this is framed through socio-technical marginalisation, itself a reflection of demographic legacies of inequality. Exploring social media practices though the case of African IDE students places these students centre stage and adds to the awareness of the multiple centres from which international education is practiced.     

The HPT model applied to a kayak company's registration process

This case study describes the step‐by‐step application of the traditional human performance technology (HPT) model at a premier kayak company located on the coast of North Carolina. The HPT model was applied to address lost revenues related to three specific business issues: misinformed customers, dissatisfied customers, and guides not showing up for tours or lessons at the kayak company. The case study includes problem statements, organizational analysis, environmental analysis, gap analysis, cause analysis, and proposed interventions.     

Life on Mars: headteachers before the National College

In the hit BBC TV drama Life on Mars Sam Tyler had an accident and woke up in 1973. Is he mad, in a coma or actually back in time? As the drama unfolds he experiences a world without performance audits but also one without the safeguards for arrest, detention and the interviewing of suspects mandated by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984). The acclaimed series has led to flights of nostalgia, not least for a world in which police could get on with ‘real policing’ without ‘unnecessary’ paperwork. In this article, we will metaphorically go back in time to contemporary and historical practices of headship in English schools. If a headteacher from 2009 were to wake up in 1973 what would they understand about their work, what would be the same, what would be different? What taken‐for‐granted current practices might get them into trouble, what might frustrate them – and what might delight them that they would bring back to the current job if they could? Mobilising Bourdieu’s thinking tools, we will examine these questions through an analysis of published and unpublished texts produced by heads about their work.     

Types and Qualities of Knowledge and their Relations to Problem Solving in Physics

Based on empirical findings and theoretical considerations related to the field of expertise research, the importance of “types” and “qualities” of knowledge in relation to problem solving in physics was investigated. The students (N =138) in this study had a level of competence that corresponds to an intensive beginner college course in physics. It was found that conceptual declarative knowledge and problem scheme knowledge are excellent predictors of problem solving performance. However, a detailed analysis shows that the first knowledge type is more typical for low achievers (novices) in physics problem solving whereas the second type is predominately used by high achievers (experts). Regarding types and qualities of knowledge and their relations to problem solving, the results of a multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) indicate that two dimensions of knowledge can be distinguished. On the extreme limits of the first dimension, which could be named “problem solving relevance vs. structure of discipline”, are the types of knowledge and the qualities of knowledge, respectively. The second dimension of knowledge could be named “single knowledge elements vs. organised knowledge units”. There are types of knowledge as well as qualities of knowledge distributed along this dimension. Consequences of these results for improving physics education are discussed.     

REMEMBERING TELEVISED NEWS:EFFECTS OF VISUAL FORMAT ON INFORMATION GAIN

Nine television news stories were presented to 60 college students under three different visual format treatment conditions: newscaster‐only presentation, newscaster‐plus‐film or newscaster‐plus‐stills. Detailed information gain from the news stories was tested using a 27‐item multiple‐choice questionnaire which was administered immediately after viewing. It was found that overall learning was slightly, though not significantly, poorer from stories accompanied by picture materials than from those presented by the newscaster alone. It is suggested that news editors assumptions about the effects of pictorial material upon news impact may be only partially correct.     

Making A Difference: Using Emerging Technologies and Teaching Strategies to Restructure an Undergraduate Technology Course for Pre-service Teachers

To prepare educators for the twenty-first century, colleges of education must be leaders of change by providing pre-service teachers with a technology-enriched curriculum. Many pre-service teachers continue to enter institutions of higher learning lacking positive attitudes, proper skills, and knowledge of the use of computers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate both quantitatively and qualitatively the effectiveness of a completely redesigned introduction to technology course for pre-service teachers. The intent of this article is to share information, provide guidance for faculty considering upgrading or beginning an introduction to technology course for pre-service teachers, and to demonstrate effective instructional strategies and techniques. Data analysis revealed students had statistically significantly less anxiety after completion of the redesigned Web enhanced course and that the teaching strategies made a difference and were effective.

Etablir une différence ‐ Utiliser les technologies émergeantes et les stratégies d'enseignements pour restructurer un cours de technologie « undergraduate » pour les maîtres en formation.

Pour préparer les enseignants au 21ième siècle, les collèges d'éducation devaient être les leaders au changement pour fournir aux maîtres en formation un curriculum enrichi de technologie. Beaucoup de maîtres en formation initiale continuent à entrer dans des institutions de l'enseignement supérieur manquant d'attitudes positives, des aptitudes adéquats et des connaissances dans l'emploi des ordinateurs. Le but de cette étude a été d'évaluer du point de vue qualitatif et quantitatif l'efficacité d'une introduction complètement revue par les coures de technologie pour les maîtres auxquels ils sont destinés. Le but de cet article est de partager l'information de donner des conseils à la faculté pour augmenter la qualité ou commencer une introduction aux cours de technologie, et pour démontrer l'efficacité des stratégies et techniques d'instruction. L'exemple des données révèle que les étudiants avaient moins d'anxiété (de facon statistiquement significative) après avoir suivi le cours reconcu du Web et que les stratégies d'enseignement étaient différentes et efficaces.

Neuer Ansatz ‐ Wie die neu aufkommenden Technologien und Lehrmethoden genutzt werden können, um einen Technologie Kurs an der Universität für werdende Lehrer umzubauen.

Um Erzieher auf das 21. Jahrhundert vorzubereiten, müssen Erziehungs-Colleges damit vorangehen, “preservice teachers” (Lehrer-Praktikanten) mit einem mit Technologie angereichertem Curriculum zu konfrontieren. Viele “preservice teachers” (Lehrer-Praktikanten) treten weiterhin in höhere Bildungseinrichtungen ein, ohne eine positive Einstellungen, ordentliche Fertigkeiten und Wissen im Gebrauch von Computern zu haben. Diese Studie hat den Zweck, sowohl quantitativ wie qualitativ die Effektivität einer vollständig überarbeiteten Einführung eines Technologiekurses für “preservice teachers” (Lehrer-Praktikanten) zu bewerten. Damit wird beabsichtigt, Informationen weiterzugeben, um ähnliche Ansätze und Vorhaben zu unterstützen und effektive Lehrstrategien und-techniken zu demonstrieren. Die Analyse der Daten ergab, dass Studenten signifikant weniger Angst nach dem Absolvieren des überarbeiteten, mehr Webanteile enthaltenen Kurses hatten und dass ihre Lehrstrategien effektiver geworden waren.     

Researching and conceptualising the field

This concluding paper examines the contributions in this Guest Issue by locating them within the ongoing debates about the role and contribution of social science research, particularly through the production of journals. Set in the context of on-going attacks on the relevance of social science research and the failure to respond to major crises that affect us all, I argue that the field of educational leadership is an important site for showing the dangers of becoming relevant and accepting that a constructed crisis is a crisis. I argue for intellectual work within the field of educational leadership, and use the critical and socially critical traditions to illuminate this. The papers in this Guest Issue are located in these traditions, and so I examine the contribution made through problematising educational leadership, examining the realities of working lives in schools and conceptualising alternative ways of thinking about professional practice.     

Whitehead's Contribution to Ecological Thought: Some Unrealized Possibilities

The organizers of this conference have given me a difficult task: that of finding heretofore unfound implications of Whitehead's philosophy for environmental thought. The task is not difficult because implications of Whitehead's philosophy for environmental thought are hard to find. They are easy to find. The problem is that so many people have found them that finding something new to say is not easy.In what follows, however, some new implications are actually ferreted out. They fall under three headings: a) the interrelations between three ways of thinking about the environment: bioregionalism, land ethics, and the philosophy of organism; b) the implications of Whitehead's philosophy of organism for environmental aesthetics; and c) the implications of Whitehead's philosophy of organism for human communities (sustainable communities) viewed as interfused with living nature.     

Experimental study of the critical speed response,of a jeffcott rotor with acceleration

A small, lightly damped rotor (ζ=0.0088) was experimentally tested for a variety of acceleration and deceleration rates. In each case, the amplitude response was plotted as a function of operating speed, with the acceleration rate considered. In each case the results are compared with theoretical predictions. The results agree within 6% at the peak response. The results of the analysis indicate that for high acceleration rates the critical amplitude response may be reduced by a factor of four or more. The frequency of the effective critical speed may be shifted by up to 20%. Furthermore, a beating frequency was observed in the amplitude data after the rotor had passed through the critical speed. This phenomenon is shown to be the vector sum of a synchronous component of amplitude and a nonsynchronous transient component (at the critical speed). The transient nonsynchronous component is shown explicitly via electronic band-pass filtering, as is the forced response component. Finally, spectral analyses were performed over a range of operating speeds, yielding waterfall diagrams and further verification of the existence of the two components.