Creating a virtual classroom: evaluating the use of online discussion forums to increase teaching and learning activities
- Authors: Bezuidenhout, L Peta
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6070 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004635
- Description: In teaching large classes, the educationally beneficial informal interaction between students and between lecturer and students is generally reduced, while effective use of both students’ and lecturer’s time is often a challenge. During student consultations, especially over the already stressful test and examination periods, many of the questions asked by the students are the same or similar. The lecturer needs to respond to each query by providing the same detailed explanation for the problem, resulting in ineffective use of time for the lecturer, while students waste time waiting for an appointment, or more often, simply don’t bother to follow up on any queries they may have. Having a social presence is important for students’ cognitive development, but in a large class posing questions or interrogating issues during a lecture appears to be challenging for many students. It is often not easy for students to initiate discussions or establish relationships with peers or the lecturer due to feelings of vulnerability and due to the size and impersonal atmosphere of the lecture theatre. This paper deals with the introduction of online discussion forums in an introductory accounting course and the benefits and problems experienced by the students, tutors and lecturer as a result thereof. Feedback received from these participants is discussed. The introduction and use of these forums resulted in a virtual classroom being created, where significantly more teaching and learning activities took place, to the benefit of all participants. Participation could have been peripheral -in the form of simply reading discussions; or active – through posting questions, or responding to questions.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Bezuidenhout, L Peta
- Date: 2009
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6070 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004635
- Description: In teaching large classes, the educationally beneficial informal interaction between students and between lecturer and students is generally reduced, while effective use of both students’ and lecturer’s time is often a challenge. During student consultations, especially over the already stressful test and examination periods, many of the questions asked by the students are the same or similar. The lecturer needs to respond to each query by providing the same detailed explanation for the problem, resulting in ineffective use of time for the lecturer, while students waste time waiting for an appointment, or more often, simply don’t bother to follow up on any queries they may have. Having a social presence is important for students’ cognitive development, but in a large class posing questions or interrogating issues during a lecture appears to be challenging for many students. It is often not easy for students to initiate discussions or establish relationships with peers or the lecturer due to feelings of vulnerability and due to the size and impersonal atmosphere of the lecture theatre. This paper deals with the introduction of online discussion forums in an introductory accounting course and the benefits and problems experienced by the students, tutors and lecturer as a result thereof. Feedback received from these participants is discussed. The introduction and use of these forums resulted in a virtual classroom being created, where significantly more teaching and learning activities took place, to the benefit of all participants. Participation could have been peripheral -in the form of simply reading discussions; or active – through posting questions, or responding to questions.
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De La Rey rides (yet) again : Afrikaner identity politics and nostalgia in post-apartheid South Africa
- Authors: Baines, Gary F
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6158 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007078
- Description: In 2006 a relatively unknown South African artist with the stage name Bok van Blerk released his debut album called “De la Rey”. The album included a music video of the title track that calls upon the legendary Boer War general to save the volk (people) from the wantonly destructive strategies of the British imperial forces: the scorched earth policy and the subsequent internment of women and children in concentration camps. The British justified such extreme – some would say ‘genocidal’ – strategies so as to prevent non-combatants from supporting the irregular Boer soldiers. Although he did not believe that the war could be won on account of the overwhelming odds that the Boer forces faced, De la Rey still fought to the bitter end. Needless to say, he was on the losing side.
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- Authors: Baines, Gary F
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6158 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007078
- Description: In 2006 a relatively unknown South African artist with the stage name Bok van Blerk released his debut album called “De la Rey”. The album included a music video of the title track that calls upon the legendary Boer War general to save the volk (people) from the wantonly destructive strategies of the British imperial forces: the scorched earth policy and the subsequent internment of women and children in concentration camps. The British justified such extreme – some would say ‘genocidal’ – strategies so as to prevent non-combatants from supporting the irregular Boer soldiers. Although he did not believe that the war could be won on account of the overwhelming odds that the Boer forces faced, De la Rey still fought to the bitter end. Needless to say, he was on the losing side.
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Exploring risk related to future climates through role-playing games: the African catchment game
- Rowntree, Kate M, Fraenkel, Linda A, Fox, Roddy C
- Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Fraenkel, Linda A , Fox, Roddy C
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6671 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006807
- Description: Risk is the result of two interacting components: hazard and vulnerability. Climatic hazards are related to extrinsic factors such as drought or severe storms. Vul- nerability is the result of intrinsic factors that often arise from the socio-political- economic context. The interplay of risk and vulnerability is difficult to predict. Although computer models have been widely used to forecast climate related risk, albeit with con- siderable uncertainty, they can never capture sufficiently the vulnerability of human sys- tems to these hazards. Role-playing games can be used more realistically to simulate pos- sible outcomes of different climate change scenarios, and allow players to reflect on their significance. The authors have developed the African Catchment Game to simulate a wa- ter scarce African country. Risk can be modelled mechanistically by changing the nature of the annual rainfall input. Vulnerability can in part be modelled by changing the start- ing parameters (such as access to land and resources) and, secondly, through the unpredictable response of players to game dynamics. Players’ reflections demonstrate that through the game they become more aware of the concept of risk and the complex response of individuals and societies that determine their vulnerability to climatic hazards. This paper reflects on the potential for developing the game further as a tool for participatory learning around climate change, based on the authors’ experience of playing the game with participants from South Africa.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Fraenkel, Linda A , Fox, Roddy C
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6671 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006807
- Description: Risk is the result of two interacting components: hazard and vulnerability. Climatic hazards are related to extrinsic factors such as drought or severe storms. Vul- nerability is the result of intrinsic factors that often arise from the socio-political- economic context. The interplay of risk and vulnerability is difficult to predict. Although computer models have been widely used to forecast climate related risk, albeit with con- siderable uncertainty, they can never capture sufficiently the vulnerability of human sys- tems to these hazards. Role-playing games can be used more realistically to simulate pos- sible outcomes of different climate change scenarios, and allow players to reflect on their significance. The authors have developed the African Catchment Game to simulate a wa- ter scarce African country. Risk can be modelled mechanistically by changing the nature of the annual rainfall input. Vulnerability can in part be modelled by changing the start- ing parameters (such as access to land and resources) and, secondly, through the unpredictable response of players to game dynamics. Players’ reflections demonstrate that through the game they become more aware of the concept of risk and the complex response of individuals and societies that determine their vulnerability to climatic hazards. This paper reflects on the potential for developing the game further as a tool for participatory learning around climate change, based on the authors’ experience of playing the game with participants from South Africa.
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Integrating environmental flow requirements into a stakeholder driven catchment management process
- Rowntree, Kate M, Birkholz, Sharon A, Burt, Jane C, Fox, Helen E
- Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Birkholz, Sharon A , Burt, Jane C , Fox, Helen E
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6670 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006804
- Description: South Africa's National Water Act (NWA no 36 of 1998) recognizes the need for environmental protection through the ecological Reserve, defined in the Act as the quantity and quality of water required to protect aquatic ecosystems in order to secure ecologically sustainable development through the constrained use of the relevant water resource. Further more the NWA stipulates that the allocation of licenses to new water users, or the granting of increased water use to established water users, can only take place once the the Reserve for the river has been determined and approved by the Minister. This means that water users' needs (beyond those required for basic human needs) take second place behind the environment. Whether or not the inclusion of the ecological Reserve in South Africa's water legislation leads to sustainable use of South Africa's water resources depends on its successful implementation. This in turn depends on the will of both the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), the implementing agent, and the end water users who need to be convinced of the priority given to environmental needs. In this paper we look at the process of implementing the ecological Reserve in the Kat Valley in the Eastern Cape of South Africa as part of a stakeholder driven process of developing a water allocation plan for the catchment that prioritized participation by water users. The extent to which DWAF and the water users expedited or thwarted the process is examined in the light of national and international calls for local-level participation in water resource management processes.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Rowntree, Kate M , Birkholz, Sharon A , Burt, Jane C , Fox, Helen E
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6670 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006804
- Description: South Africa's National Water Act (NWA no 36 of 1998) recognizes the need for environmental protection through the ecological Reserve, defined in the Act as the quantity and quality of water required to protect aquatic ecosystems in order to secure ecologically sustainable development through the constrained use of the relevant water resource. Further more the NWA stipulates that the allocation of licenses to new water users, or the granting of increased water use to established water users, can only take place once the the Reserve for the river has been determined and approved by the Minister. This means that water users' needs (beyond those required for basic human needs) take second place behind the environment. Whether or not the inclusion of the ecological Reserve in South Africa's water legislation leads to sustainable use of South Africa's water resources depends on its successful implementation. This in turn depends on the will of both the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF), the implementing agent, and the end water users who need to be convinced of the priority given to environmental needs. In this paper we look at the process of implementing the ecological Reserve in the Kat Valley in the Eastern Cape of South Africa as part of a stakeholder driven process of developing a water allocation plan for the catchment that prioritized participation by water users. The extent to which DWAF and the water users expedited or thwarted the process is examined in the light of national and international calls for local-level participation in water resource management processes.
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Learning about sustainability through experiencing complex, adverse conditions typical of the South : reflections from the African Catchment Games played in Finland 2008
- Fraenkel, Linda A, Fox, Roddy C
- Authors: Fraenkel, Linda A , Fox, Roddy C
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6666 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006678
- Description: The African Catchment Game is an innovative role playing game which was played twice in Finland in 2008 as part of the CIMO funded collaboration between Finland Futures Research Centre and Rhodes University. It simulates a "real imaginary country" and enables participants to explore and experience how southern countries may or may not develop scenarios of sustainable resource extraction and consumption. New processes modelling climatic variability, water management and consumption were introduced for these two game runs. This imaginary country has roles for an urban/industrial sector, the informal sector, trading intermediaries, overseas trade, a government comprised of a president and two ministers, peasant and commercial farmers. Chapman's original game, Green Revolution Game/Exaction, is based on systems and complexity theories from the 1970s and 1980s. Our modifications to Chapman’s game are underpinned by theories of Complex Adaptive Systems and educational approaches based on constructivist, active/experiential learning models. The paper presents an analysis of the two Finnish games from the perspectives of the participants and the game managers. Participants’ information came from pre and post game questionnaires and the focus group discussions that were part of the debriefing pro-cess. These two methods enabled us to examine the local and network processes which de-veloped during the games. Global scale processes of production, consumption, resource utilization, trading and water provision was collected by the game managers as part of their management processes throughout each game run. Our analysis shows that the par-ticipants’ understanding altered and deepened as a result of playing the game. The nature of the game, as a Complex Adaptive System, and the constructivist learning approach through which the game is experienced means that lessons of a more universal nature cannot be extrapolated.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Fraenkel, Linda A , Fox, Roddy C
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6666 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006678
- Description: The African Catchment Game is an innovative role playing game which was played twice in Finland in 2008 as part of the CIMO funded collaboration between Finland Futures Research Centre and Rhodes University. It simulates a "real imaginary country" and enables participants to explore and experience how southern countries may or may not develop scenarios of sustainable resource extraction and consumption. New processes modelling climatic variability, water management and consumption were introduced for these two game runs. This imaginary country has roles for an urban/industrial sector, the informal sector, trading intermediaries, overseas trade, a government comprised of a president and two ministers, peasant and commercial farmers. Chapman's original game, Green Revolution Game/Exaction, is based on systems and complexity theories from the 1970s and 1980s. Our modifications to Chapman’s game are underpinned by theories of Complex Adaptive Systems and educational approaches based on constructivist, active/experiential learning models. The paper presents an analysis of the two Finnish games from the perspectives of the participants and the game managers. Participants’ information came from pre and post game questionnaires and the focus group discussions that were part of the debriefing pro-cess. These two methods enabled us to examine the local and network processes which de-veloped during the games. Global scale processes of production, consumption, resource utilization, trading and water provision was collected by the game managers as part of their management processes throughout each game run. Our analysis shows that the par-ticipants’ understanding altered and deepened as a result of playing the game. The nature of the game, as a Complex Adaptive System, and the constructivist learning approach through which the game is experienced means that lessons of a more universal nature cannot be extrapolated.
- Full Text:
Overcoming marginalisation? Open Access research repositories at a South African and a Swedish University
- Fox, Roddy C, Wihlborg, E, Lawrence, D
- Authors: Fox, Roddy C , Wihlborg, E , Lawrence, D
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6667 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006680
- Description: Open Access Research Repositories have developed very rapidly since c2000 as a global phenomenon in their number, their location, the number and type of resources available in them. The creation of institutional repositories has been affected by different motives. They can serve as collections of a University's research output with the intention of making it 'freely' available. We ask here, just what patterns of access can be analysed, what trends do we see when examining our two institutions? Alternatively they can be seen as ways to raise the research profile of individuals and institutions and citation records. We do not see Open Access Research as being a neutral, value free technological innovation with clear outcomes. Our perspective draws from the fields of socio-technical and complex adaptive systems and so we anticipate that although the future impacts of Open Access research can be discerned they cannot be mechanistically predicted.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Fox, Roddy C , Wihlborg, E , Lawrence, D
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper
- Identifier: vital:6667 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006680
- Description: Open Access Research Repositories have developed very rapidly since c2000 as a global phenomenon in their number, their location, the number and type of resources available in them. The creation of institutional repositories has been affected by different motives. They can serve as collections of a University's research output with the intention of making it 'freely' available. We ask here, just what patterns of access can be analysed, what trends do we see when examining our two institutions? Alternatively they can be seen as ways to raise the research profile of individuals and institutions and citation records. We do not see Open Access Research as being a neutral, value free technological innovation with clear outcomes. Our perspective draws from the fields of socio-technical and complex adaptive systems and so we anticipate that although the future impacts of Open Access research can be discerned they cannot be mechanistically predicted.
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The challenges of education and development in twenty-first century South Africa
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper , text
- Identifier: vital:7121 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006569
- Description: From the introduction: I have chosen to address the theme of The Challenges of Education and Development in the Twenty First Century. This is not only an extremely important theme but also one that is both complex and broad and can be approached in many different ways. With respect to complexity, the concepts of education and development, like the concepts of freedom and democracy, are defined in various ways and have a variety of meanings associated with them. Moreover, notions of education and development are not neutral in that they are embedded in different views of the world and society, including views on what constitutes a just and good society. Further, the choices, policies, actions and practices that are associated with particular conceptions of education and development are not benign in that they have real and differential effects on different social classes and groups in society. , Keynote Address at the 15th Annual Conference of the Headmasters of the Traditional State Boy’s Schools of South Africa’ Queens College, Queenstown, 26 August 2009.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper , text
- Identifier: vital:7121 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006569
- Description: From the introduction: I have chosen to address the theme of The Challenges of Education and Development in the Twenty First Century. This is not only an extremely important theme but also one that is both complex and broad and can be approached in many different ways. With respect to complexity, the concepts of education and development, like the concepts of freedom and democracy, are defined in various ways and have a variety of meanings associated with them. Moreover, notions of education and development are not neutral in that they are embedded in different views of the world and society, including views on what constitutes a just and good society. Further, the choices, policies, actions and practices that are associated with particular conceptions of education and development are not benign in that they have real and differential effects on different social classes and groups in society. , Keynote Address at the 15th Annual Conference of the Headmasters of the Traditional State Boy’s Schools of South Africa’ Queens College, Queenstown, 26 August 2009.
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The role of higher education in society: valuing higher education
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper , text
- Identifier: vital:7122 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006571
- Description: From the introduction: Arthur E. Levine, President of the Teachers College of Columbia University, writes that "In the early years of the Industrial Revolution, the Yale Report of 1828 asked whether the needs of a changing society required either major or minor changes in higher education. The report concluded that it had asked the wrong question. The right question was, What is the purpose of higher education?" Levine goes on to add that questions related to higher education “have their deepest roots in that fundamental question” and that “faced with a society in motion, we must not only ask that question again, but must actively pursue answers, if our colleges and universities are to retain their vitality in a dramatically different world”. I propose to speak about three issues: the first is about our changing world; the second is about the three purposes of higher education; the third is about what I consider to be the five key roles of higher education. Finally, I want to conclude by making some observations on the sometimes unrealistic expectations of higher education. , HERS‐SA Academy 2009, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, Waterfront, Cape Town, 14 September 2009. Stagnant universities are expensive and ineffectual monuments to a status quo which is more likely to be a status quo ante, yesterday’s world preserved in aspic (Ralf Dahrendorf, 2000:106‐7)
- Full Text:
- Authors: Badat, Saleem
- Date: 2009
- Language: English
- Type: Conference paper , text
- Identifier: vital:7122 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006571
- Description: From the introduction: Arthur E. Levine, President of the Teachers College of Columbia University, writes that "In the early years of the Industrial Revolution, the Yale Report of 1828 asked whether the needs of a changing society required either major or minor changes in higher education. The report concluded that it had asked the wrong question. The right question was, What is the purpose of higher education?" Levine goes on to add that questions related to higher education “have their deepest roots in that fundamental question” and that “faced with a society in motion, we must not only ask that question again, but must actively pursue answers, if our colleges and universities are to retain their vitality in a dramatically different world”. I propose to speak about three issues: the first is about our changing world; the second is about the three purposes of higher education; the third is about what I consider to be the five key roles of higher education. Finally, I want to conclude by making some observations on the sometimes unrealistic expectations of higher education. , HERS‐SA Academy 2009, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, Waterfront, Cape Town, 14 September 2009. Stagnant universities are expensive and ineffectual monuments to a status quo which is more likely to be a status quo ante, yesterday’s world preserved in aspic (Ralf Dahrendorf, 2000:106‐7)
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