scholarly journals A snapshot of the chalkboard writing experiences of Bachelor of Education students with visual disabilities in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roshanthni Subrayen ◽  
Rubby Dhunpath
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Higher Education Policy ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Visual Disabilities ◽  
Bachelor Of Education

Background: South African higher education policy frameworks highlight renewed interest in equity, access and participation imperatives for students with disabilities (SWDs). However, students with visual disabilities continue to face barriers in their teaching practice school placements.Objectives: This article aims, firstly, to provide early insights into the barriers experienced by students with visual disabilities in their teaching practice school placements in under-resourced schools in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Secondly, it introduces learning communities and a teaching practice pre-placement booklet to enhance equity, access and participation in teaching practice school placements.Method: This study adopted a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews to elicit data from two Bachelor of Education students with visual disabilities, who were part of a teaching practice learning community managed by the Disability Unit at the University. Thematic analysis was used, using Tinto’s Learning Community Model which generated valuable evidence to argue for institutional commitment to achieve equity, access and participation for students with visual disabilities.Results: Through engagement with a teaching practice learning community and a teaching practice pre-placement booklet, two students with visual disabilities responded to and managed the chalkboard in ways that promoted teaching and learning in the classroom. These retention support trajectories provide evidence to support enhanced equity, access and participation. Given the stigma associated with disability and the need for equity at policy level, higher education institutions should seriously consider systemic mechanisms for access, participation and success outcomes in the teaching practice school placements of students with visual disabilities.Conclusion: Barriers to participation signal the need for accessible teaching and learning strategies for use by students with visual disabilities in their teaching practice school placements. Teaching practice assessors should be alerted to contextual differences in resourced and under-resourced school settings and the diverse ways in which SWDs navigate these differences.

scholarly journals Cross-cultural effects of COVID-19 on higher education learning and teaching practice: A case study from Greece

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
Margarita Kefalaki ◽  
◽  
Michael Nevradakis ◽  
Qing Li ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Cultural Effects ◽  
Global Pandemic

COVID-19 has greatly impacted all aspects of our everyday lives. A global pandemic of this magnitude, even as we now emerge from strict measures such as lockdowns and await the potential for a ‘new tomorrow’ with the arrival of vaccines, will certainly have long-lasting consequences. We will have to adapt and learn to live in a different way. Accordingly, teaching and learning have also been greatly impacted. Changes to academic curricula have had tremendous cross-cultural effects on higher education students. This study will investigate, by way of focus groups comprised of students studying at Greek universities during the pandemic, the cross-cultural effects that this ‘global experience’ has had on higher education, and particularly on students in Greek universities. The data collection tools are interviews and observations gathered from focus groups.

scholarly journals Creating, Sustaining and Realising the Value of a Faculty-wide Community of Teaching Practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Honey ◽  
Trudi Aspden ◽  
Anuj Bhargava ◽  
Louise Carrucan-Wood ◽  
Angela Tsai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Shared Interest ◽  
Wide Community

Communities of practice are frequently described and discussed in academic literature and within education. They are depicted as groups of people with a shared interest coming together and in a higher education setting this shared interest relates to the practice of teaching and learning. The establishment of a cross-discipline faculty-wide community of practice to support educators in higher education is novel. This paper describes the establishment of a community of practice within one university faculty uniting educators across multiple disciplines within the Faculty. Data spanning thirty months since the inception of a teaching and learning community are presented. The findings illustrate a growing community of practice, along with perceived benefits and future directions. The creation of an interprofessional faculty-wide community of practice illustrates how educators can be drawn together because of their common passion for teaching and learning and a mutual concern of how to maximise student learning.

scholarly journals The Acceptance of M-Heutagogical Practice in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (22) ◽  
pp. 87-98
Author(s):  
Analisa Hamdan ◽  
Kung-Teck Wong ◽  
Nor Syazwani Mat Salleh ◽  
Hafizul Fahri Hanafi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Student Autonomy ◽  
Emergent Technologies ◽  
Acceptance Model

Mobile Heutagogy (M-Heutagogy) is the teaching practice that emphasizes self-determined learning and student autonomy. Many teachers and academicians have applied M-Heutagogy in their teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The purpose of this study is to synthesize an empirical literature review of the M-Heutagogical practice among Higher Education students and its acceptance. The main objective of this paper is to review the literature on M-Heutagogy practice and its acceptance among Higher Education students. The researcher conducted a systematic review of 60 articles for the period 2007 to 2020. The findings indicate that M-Heutagogy has been applied in HEIs around the world with the support of emergent technologies and mobile applications. Unfortunately, only two M-Heutagogy acceptance studies have been done so far. Future research suggested that the M-Heutagogy acceptance model should be developed to be referred by researchers while doing an acceptance study.

Challenges Posed by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for South African Higher Education Institutions

10.28945/2679 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
ME Herselman ◽  
HR Hay
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Teaching Learning

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are the major driving forces of globalised and knowledge-based societies of a new world era. They will have a profound impact on teaching and learning for two decades to come. The revolutionary change which is taking place in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), has dramatic effects on the way universities carry out their functions of teaching, learning and research, particularly on the creation, dissemination and application of knowledge. These developments pose unprecedented challenges to higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing countries particular in South Africa as South Africa is viewed as the leading country on the continent.

scholarly journals Shape-shifting and pushing against the odds: staff perceptions of the experiences of first generation students in South Africa and the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Forsyth ◽  
Claire Hamshire ◽  
Danny Fontaine-Rainen ◽  
Leza Soldaat
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Staff Perceptions ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
University Life ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe principles of diversity and inclusion are valued across the higher education sector, but the ways in which these principles are translated into pedagogic practice are not always evident. Students who are first in their family to attend university continue to report barriers to full participation in university life. They are more likely to leave their studies early, and to achieve lower grades in their final qualifications, than students whose families have previous experience of higher education. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a mismatch between staff perceptions and students’ experiences might be a possible contributor to these disparities. The study explored and compared staff discourses about the experiences of first generation students at two universities, one in the United Kingdom (UK), and the other in South Africa (SA). One-to-one interviews were carried out with 40 staff members (20 at each institution) to explore their views about first generation students. The results showed that staff were well aware of challenges faced by first generation students; however, they were unsure of their roles in relation to shaping an inclusive environment, and tended not to consider how to use the assets that they believed first generation students bring with them to higher education. This paper explores these staff discourses; and considers proposals for challenging commonly-voiced assumptions about students and university life in a broader context of diversity and inclusive teaching practice.

scholarly journals Characterizing Mathematics Learning in Colombian Higher Distance Education

Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (15) ◽  
pp. 1740
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Martinez-Villarraga ◽  
Isabel Lopez-Cobo ◽  
David Becerra-Alonso ◽  
Francisco Fernández-Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Mathematical Knowledge ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Mathematics Learning ◽  
Sequential Design ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Approach To Learning ◽  
Conditional Knowledge

The aim of this work is to characterize the process of constructing mathematical knowledge by higher education students in a distance learning course. This was done as part of an algebra course within engineering degrees in a Colombian university. The study used a Transformative Sequential Design in mixed methods research. The analysis also determined the kinds of mathematical knowledge attained by the students and its relationship to the Colombian social and cultural context. The students acquired declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge, while the learning strategies were often superficial. In a context where power is distant, students take on a passive approach to learning despite being highly respectful towards the educator. Thus, the educational system has the educator at the center.

scholarly journals Exploring new learning paradigms in ODL: A reflection on the paper of Barber, Donnelly and Rizvi (2013): “An avalanche is coming: Higher education and the revolution ahead”.

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom H Brown
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Learning Theories ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Teaching And Learning Strategies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Revolution

<p class="Paragraph1"><span lang="EN-US">The paper of Barber, Donnelly &amp; Rizvi (2013): “An avalanche is coming: Higher education and the revolution ahead”  addresses some significant issues in higher education and poses some challenging questions to ODL (Open and Distance Learning) administrators, policy makers and of course to ODL faculty in general.  Barber et al.’s paper does not specifically address the area of teaching and learning theories, strategies and methodologies per se.  In this paper I would therefore like to reflect on the impact that the contemporary changes and challenges that Barber et al. describes, have on teaching and learning approaches and paradigms.  In doing so I draw on earlier work about future learning paradigms and navigationism (Brown, 2006).  We need a fresh approach and new skills to survive the revolution ahead.  We need to rethink our teaching and learning strategies to be able to provide meaningful learning opportunities in the future that lies ahead.</span></p>

scholarly journals As Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação e o Desenvolvimento de Estratégias de Resolução de Problemas em Estudantes do Ensino Superior da área da Saúde

EAD em FOCO ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angélica Monteiro ◽  
Rita Manuela Barros
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Problem Based Learning ◽  
Learning Objects ◽  
Teaching Methodology ◽  
Health Course ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Implementation Methodology

O nosso trabalho pretende descrever o processo de desenho e implementação de objetos de aprendizagem orientados para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de resolução de problemas, numa escola superior do ensino politécnico português. Com a apresentação de um caso prático, demonstramos a utilização de um objeto de aprendizagem elaborado no âmbito de uma unidade curricular de Informática e Sistemas de Informação de um curso de licenciatura na área da Saúde, cuja metodologia de implementação se baseou na Problem Based Learning. Enquadrados num modelo de ensino-aprendizagem sustentado na participação ativa dos estudantes e orientado para a resolução de problemas por meio das TIC, o recurso ao método dos 3E permitiu o desenvolvimento de objetos de aprendizagem diversificados e consonantes com o processamento diferencial de informação dos estudantes, garantindo os resultados de aprendizagem definidos.Palavras-chave: Tecnologias da informação e da comunicação, Metodologias de ensino, Objetos de aprendizagem, Ensino superior.? The Information and Communication Technologies and the Development of Problem Based Learning Strategies on Higher Education in the Health AreaAbstractOur work aims to describe the process of design and implementation of Learning Objects to develop strategies for solving problems in a higher education Portuguese institution. We demonstrate a case study prepared under a "Computer and Information Systems" curricular unit of a health course, whose implementation methodology relied in Problem Based Learning. Framed in a model of teaching and learning supported the active participation of students and oriented towards problem solving through ICT, the use of the method of 3E allowed the development of Learning Objects and in line with the students' different information processes, ensuring the settled outcomes. Keywords: Information and communication technology, Teaching methodology, Learning objects, Higher education.

scholarly journals Changing teaching practice: The evolving purpose of the teacher in higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Prue Gonzalez ◽  
◽  
Beate Mueller ◽  
Kevin Merry ◽  
Colin Jone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Future Expectations ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Subject Matter Expertise ◽  
Cultural Historical Activity

In this Editorial, we take the opportunity to expand on the second Journal of University Teaching and Learning theme, Developing Teaching Practice. Building on Editorial 18(4), which articulated changes to higher education in the period roughly between 1980 and 2021, we believe it is pertinent to explore the changing conceptions of academic as ‘teacher’. We use Engeström’s cultural-historical activity theory as a lens to consider how higher education teachers are situated in the current context of rapid changes arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore possible future purposes of higher education to consider flow-on impacts on the purpose of its teachers and how their roles might change to accommodate future expectations. We assert the need to challenge the notion of the academic as a person who is recruited into higher education largely because of their subject matter expertise and maintains strong commitment to teaching expertise that is grounded in scholarship, critical self-reflection, and agency. In our various teaching and leadership roles, and consistent with the literature, we have observed paradoxical outcomes from the nexus between risk, innovation and development, driving risk aversity and risk management, with significant (contradictory) impacts on teaching, teachers and student learning. The barriers to implementing innovative curricula include questions of do students get a standardised and ‘safe’ educational experience or are they challenged and afforded the opportunity to transform and grow? Are they allowed to fail? Related, do teachers have genuine agency, as an educator, or are they positioned as agents of a higher education system? We explore these questions and invite our readers to engage in serious reflexivity and identify strategies that help them question their attitudes, thought processes, and assumptions about teaching and student learning. We welcome papers that contribute values-based conversations seeking to continue exploring ways of dealing with and adapting to change in our teaching practices, case studies of learning through failure, change and adaptation and the development of the field.

scholarly journals Derivation of electronic course templates for use in higher education

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin K. Hill ◽  
Jill W. Fresen ◽  
Fawei Geng
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Technology Support ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Web Technologies ◽  
Learning Platform

Lecturers in higher education often consider the incorporation of web technologies into their teaching practice. Partially structured and populated course site templates could aid them in getting started with creating and deploying webbased materials and activities to enrich the teaching and learning experience. Discussions among instructional technology support staff and lecturers reveal a paucity of robust specifications for possible course site features that could comprise a template. An attempted mapping from the teaching task as understood by the instructor to the envisaged course website properties proves elusive. We conclude that the idea of an initial state for a course site, embodied in a template, remains useful and should be developed not according to a formula but with careful attention to the context and existing pedagogical practice. Any course template provided for the use of lecturers should be enhanced with supporting instructions and examples of how it may be adapted for their particular purposes.Keywords: course template; learning platform; pedagogical dimensions; course site properties(Published: 17 December 2012)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 18665 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.18665

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