scholarly journals The information legislation (PAIA, POPI, RICA) awareness of undergraduate university students: A longitudinal study

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Arthur
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
South African ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
First Year ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Methodological Framework ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Undergraduate University Students ◽  
Data Collection Instrument

Background: Governmental legislation directs and guides the manner in which organisations and individuals manage their information. This has a direct impact on the development of organsiational policy and procedures. An individual’s awareness of such legislation is of utmost importance in order to understand how individuals use information.Objective: The research problem is focussed on the awareness of information legislation by average South African first year student. The study goes on to further investigate how awareness impacts the manner in which users apply the knowledge to everyday use of their personal information.Methods: The study utilised a mono-method and quantitative methodological framework. The data collection instrument was a survey in the form of a questionnaire. The survey was conducted amongst 2017 undergraduate student and repeated in 2018.Results: The young adult demographic, of which the sample of undergraduate university students, findings indicated that the increase in awareness of Protection of Personal Information, Promotion of Access to Information and Regulation of Interception of Communication Act legislative acts directly impacted the students’ ability to manage and share their information more strategically. Students’ knowledge of the acceptance of the acts into legislation was not of great importance; however, the use of the acts concerning their personal information proved to be of greater significance.Conclusion: The study’s findings confirmed that the sample had been introduced to the idea of information legislation and that their awareness of the legislation does in most cases affect their use and management of their personal information. It also revealed that an in-depth knowledge of the legislation was not a necessity rather an overall understanding of the legislation was important. Recommendations for future studies arose from the study.

scholarly journals The mobile application preferences of undergraduate university students: A longitudinal study

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Potgieter
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
Smartphone Apps ◽  
Undergraduate University Students ◽  
Data Collection Instrument ◽  
Research Recommendations

Background: Smartphones and similar mobile devices have changed the way individuals interact with technology and with each other. The app preferences of smartphone users are vitally important to those seeking to understand the motivation behind app downloads and usage.Objective: The research problem of this article is centred on the preferences for smartphone apps by the growing market of smartphone users in South Africa. The study includes a demographic profile of the users to establish what attracts this market into downloading smartphone apps.Methodology: The study employed a mono-method, quantitative methodological framework with an online survey as the data collection instrument. The survey was conducted amongst undergraduate university students in 2013 and repeated again in 2014. Results: It was found that the ‘young adult’ demographic, of which the sample of undergraduate university students formed a part, was discerning about which apps they downloaded and that the frequency of downloads occurred less than once a month in most cases. Information and entertainment needs were amongst the top reasons users indicated as motivations for downloading apps. Conclusion: The study’s findings confirmed that the sample had definite preferences regarding which apps the users were downloading, and these preferences depended on the needs that they wished to fulfil. The study also revealed that, even though users were aware of security threats associated with downloading apps, this knowledge did not deter them from continuing to download apps. Future research recommendations also arose from the study, giving direction to prospective studies.

scholarly journals INSIGHTS ON TEACHING CHESS TO UNDERGRADUATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Bart
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
State University ◽  
Correct Usage ◽  
Undergraduate University Students ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Computer Based

The purpose of this study was to explore how undergraduate university students react to chess instruction. Certain patterns emerged from 10 offerings of a Freshman Seminar entitled “Beginners’ Chess and 21st Century Thinking Skills”. The course enrolled only first-year and second-year undergraduate students at a large public state university in the USA. The students tended to have little or no knowledge of chess prior to the course. The course made extensive use of chess-related websites available on the Internet such as chess.com, lichess.org, and chessgames.com. The instruction involved the projection of a chess-related website projected onto a large classroom screen with the use of an instructor’s computer connected to a projector that projected the computer-based image onto the screen. The course had 10-20 students in each annual offering of the course that lasted 15 weeks. The student evaluations of the course were very positive, indicating that the students enjoyed the course very much. The course involved instruction in chess on topics such as tactics and basic checkmates along with instruction on the cognitive psychological foundations of chess on topics such as problem solving and critical thinking. The primary task in the course was that each student had to prepare a critical evaluation of two of their own chess games that included correct usage of proper algebraic notation for the chess moves. The chess activity that the students enjoyed the most was group competition.

scholarly journals Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Is Associated With Increased Meningococcal Carriage Acquisition Among First-year Students in 2 South African Universities

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Meiring ◽  
Cheryl Cohen ◽  
Linda de Gouveia ◽  
Mignon du Plessis ◽  
Karistha Ganesh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
University Students ◽  
South African ◽  
Relative Risk Ratio ◽  
First Year ◽  
Adjusted Relative Risk ◽  
Vaccination Programs ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
First Year University ◽  
Carriage Prevalence

Abstract Background Invasive meningococcal disease clusters occur among university students and may reflect higher carriage prevalence among this population. We aimed to measure meningococcal carriage prevalence, acquisition, and risk factors among first-year university students in South Africa. Methods In summer–autumn 2017, after consenting to participate, we collected oropharyngeal swabs and questionnaires on carriage risk factors and tested students for HIV at 2 universities, during registration week (survey 1) and 6–8 weeks later (survey 2). Meningococci were detected by culture and polymerase chain reaction. Results We enrolled 2120 students at registration. Mean age was 18.5 years, 59% (1252/2120) were female and 0.8% (16/1984) had HIV. Seventy-eight percent of students returned for survey 2 (1655/2120). Among the cohort, carriage prevalence was 4.7% (77/1655) at registration, increasing to 7.9% (130/1655) at survey 2: 5.0% (83) acquired new carriage, 2.8% (47) had persistent carriage, 1.8% (30) cleared the initial carriage, and 90.3% (1495) remained carriage free. At both surveys, nongenogroupable meningococci predominated, followed by genogroups Y, B, W, and C. On multinomial analysis, risk factors for carriage acquisition included attending nightclubs (adjusted relative risk ratio [aRRR], 2.1; 95% CI, 1.1–4.0), having intimate kissing partners (aRRR, 1.8; 95% CI, 1.1–2.9) and HIV (aRRR, 5.0; 95% CI, 1.1–24.4). Conclusions Meningococcal carriage among first-year university students increased after 2 months. Sociobehavioral risk factors were associated with increased carriage for all analyses. HIV was associated with carriage acquisition. Until vaccination programs become mandatory in South African universities, data suggest that students with HIV could benefit most from meningococcal vaccination.

scholarly journals The Meaning of Leisure and Life Satisfaction: The Sample of University Students

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Yusuf Er ◽  
Mustafa Can KOC ◽  
Mehmet DEMIREL ◽  
Abdullah CUHADAR
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
University Students ◽  
Leisure Time ◽  
Sampling Method ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Recreation Management ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Management Students ◽  
Sports Sciences ◽  
Skewness And Kurtosis

The aim of the study is to examine the meaning of leisure time and life satisfaction levels of university students in general and students studying in faculties of tourism and sports sciences specifically. The sample group was determined from Recreation and Recreation Management students in the faculties of Tourism and Sport Sciences of universities by using appropriate sampling method based on voluntariness. The study included a total of 1345 university students, 507 women (37.7%) and 838 men (62.3%). In the study, Leisure Meanings Inventory (LMI), which included 35 items and 8 sub-dimensions and which was adapted into Turkish by Gürbüz, Özdemir and Karaküçük (2007), and the Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, which was developed by Diener et al. in 1985 and adapted into Turkish by Yetim (1993) and which included 5 items, were used. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistical methods such as percentage and frequency were checked to determine the distribution of the personal information of the participants, and Skewness and Kurtosis values of the data were checked to determine whether the data showed normal distribution. In addition, t-test and Anova test and correlation analysis methods were used (α = 0.05). The limitations of the study and evaluations for future studies were discussed in this sense.

Trends in the prevalence and severity of depressive symptoms among undergraduate students at a South African University, 2016–2019

2020 ◽  
pp. 008124632097775
Author(s):  
Kim-Louise Rousseau ◽  
Sabrina Thompson ◽  
Lea-Ann Pileggi ◽  
Michelle Henry ◽  
Kevin GF Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Suicidal Ideation ◽  
University Students ◽  
Mood Disorders ◽  
South African ◽  
High Income ◽  
First Year ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Low And Middle Income

University students are particularly vulnerable to mood disorders. This vulnerability may be increasing, with recent investigations reporting sharp rises in the prevalence of depression and other psychiatric disorders. Moreover, previous studies indicate that first-year undergraduates tend to show more depression and suicidal ideation than students in subsequent years. However, most studies in the extant literature emerge from high-income countries in the global north; relatively few focus on university students in low- and middle-income countries such as South Africa. Because students in low- and middle-income countries are more likely to be exposed to crime and trauma, and less likely to have easily accessible mental health services, they might be at even higher risk for developing mood disorders than their counterparts in high-income countries. Furthermore, most previous studies of mental health in university students analyse cross-sectional data and therefore cannot comment on longitudinal patterns in the data. To fill these knowledge gaps, the current study aimed to describe recent trends in depression and suicidal ideation among South African university students. We analysed both archival ( n = 2593) and original ( n = 499) Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition reports, sampled between 2016 and 2019. As expected, depression and suicidal ideation scores increased significantly over time, and first-year students reported significantly more depression and suicidal ideation than students in subsequent years of study. These findings suggest that preventive interventions during sensitive periods of undergraduate study are imperative and provide a foundation for treatment strategies tailored to the needs of the most vulnerable South African students.

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