scholarly journals The #FeesMustFall protests in South Africa: Exploring first-year students’ experiences at a peri-urban university campus

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Greeff ◽  
K. Mostert ◽  
C. Kahl ◽  
C. Jonker
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
First Year ◽  
University Campus ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Urban University

scholarly journals Investigating health factors as predictor of early drop-out of first year accounting students at the University of the Free State, South Africa

Afrika Focus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Christa Beyers ◽  
Hanli Joubert
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Drop Out ◽  
Free State ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Health Factors ◽  
The University

Introduction: The future of the South African workforce looks bleak given the challenges posed, not only by health factors, including HIV and AIDS, but also the success and throughput rate of first year university students. Methodology: The research in this study was conducted in 2013 using a post-positivist approach and applying an interpretive stance using a mixed method approach, which included a quantitative non-experimental predictive multivariate design as well as focus group interviews to triangulate the findings. Results: We present findings that psychosocial background factors, physical health and emotional health influence success and non-completion rates among first year students at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Conclusion: We argue that early identification of poor psychosocial background, including health factors, can assist in empowering youths helping them to make healthy decisions and deal with stressful situations in a way that will not compromise their academic success.

scholarly journals Exploring Formative Assessment Possibilities: Building a 'Teamwork Discourse' with First-Year Engineering Students Online

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Senna Fouché ◽  
Erika Müller
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Professional Orientation ◽  
Engineering Degree ◽  
Residential University

Effective teamwork is one of the Engineering Council of South Africa’s (ECSA) exit-level outcomes. To achieve this outcome, one has to learn specific discourses and behaviours related to teamwork. Professional Orientation is a first-year engineering module offered in an extended engineering degree programme at a residential university in South Africa. This module assists students in developing a ‘teamwork discourse’, using engineering-based projects that follow the CDIO framework. In 2020, these projects transitioned fully to a virtual environment due to Covid-19 restrictions. The iPeer Learning Management System tool for peer- and self-assessment was used in this research to investigate whether first-year students were able to apply the teamwork discourses taught to them when completing the projects online. A quantitative analysis of the iPeer results reflected that while 54% of the students remained consistent in the two projects, 16% showed an improvement, and 30% showed a decrease. The reasons for these results could be varied. Thus, a qualitative analysis of the students’ comments for increased and decreased marks was also conducted to assess how the relevant teamwork discourses were applied and to what extent. These findings confirmed that teamwork discourses could effectively be applied by a smaller percentage of first-year students.

scholarly journals A socially just pedagogy in the use of mobile devices in higher education? The case of Humanities first-year students at a South African university

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Carina Van Rooyen ◽  
Ingrid Estha Marais
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
South African ◽  
Mobile Devices ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Humanities Students

In a highly unequal society such as South Africa, higher education is seen as having a social justice mandate to widen participation, and using technology is one way to achieve this. One university in South Africa made mobile devices compulsory for all first-year students since 2014. This article, drawing on data collected from first-year Humanities students at this university, attempts to understand whether the use of mobile devices for learning met requirements for a socially just pedagogy. We used a sequential mixed methods research design, first surveying the first-year Humanities students in late 2015, and then followed up with focus group discussions in 2016 and early 2017. We utilise Nancy Fraser’s idea of ‘participatory parity’ to unpack a socially just pedagogy, and specifically focus on the component of access to resources. We found that most students had functional access to devices and on-campus data. The manner in which these were accessed was affirmative, rather than transformative. By extending the notion of access beyond just opportunity (functional access as owning or having access to a device and data), to also knowing how to use the opportunity (digital access through digital literacies and fluencies), we found that our case study fell short of being socially just pedagogy. We urge that lecturers take up a central role in enabling students to use their devices for transformative learning.   How to cite this article:VAN ROOYEN, Carina; MARAIS, Ingrid Estha. A socially just pedagogy in the use of mobile devices in higher education? The case of Humanities first-year students at a South African university. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South v. 2, n. 2, p. 53-70, Sept. 2018. Available at: http://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=66   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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