learner support
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2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 54-68
Author(s):  
Nyarai CHINYAMA ◽  
Octavia SIBANDA ◽  
Shingirayi CHAMISA ◽  
Happy Mathew TIRIVANGASI

School-based peer groups have been identified as a popular and effective method   of providing health education and psychosocial support in schools. Children in developing countries as well as some of the poorest children in developing countries like South Africa face daily risks related to poverty, street crime and violence, poor health, lack or low-quality housing, inadequate and ineffective schools. These children and their families live in crisis which render them vulnerable. Thus, this study noted that there is an increase in social and emotional challenges and several risk factors for vulnerable learners globally and South Africa is not an exception. The incidence of child vulnerability and psychosocial support services have not been studied thoroughly in South Africa yet it is recognized widely that there is an increase in child stress and depression. Much of the psychosocial support services are provided by children themselves in terms of peer education groups. However, much of the research that is currently available on children relies on the reports of teachers and parents. This study learnt from literature that adults consistently underreport the effectiveness of these peer led groups in schools. Following this, the study took a qualitative approach using multiple case studies of 4 secondary schools with children as part of the participants.  Pre-coded research instruments were administered to 4 teacher coordinators, 4 peer leaders, 1 district official and 1 learner support agent supervisor. Documents were also analyzed in the form of minutes of the meetings held, learner support agents report and registers. The study found that shortage of resources such as, counselling rooms, transport, attitudes of teachers and parents towards peer led programs, lack of training and cooperation of parents still hampered the progress of peer led programs. The study therefore concluded that there were still a lot of challenges faced by vulnerable children in schools because they were not accessed by their peers due to lack of resources, training, shortage of time and negative attitudes from adults towards children’s lives attitudes from adults towards children’s lives. The study recommends that peer led groups be part of the large school curriculum with a specific budget to sustain the needs of the peer led groups. The study indicated that there were no networking opportunities amongst peer-led groups due to lack of time, yet this is very important to all successful organizations of a peer group nature. The participants also revealed that peers are better placed if they had counselling rooms, time tabled services, positive attitudes from parents and long-term  training on peer counselling.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Jin ◽  
Lazarus Obed Livingstone Banda ◽  
Jane Thokozani Banda ◽  
Zhou Wen Hui

Abstract Teaching practice is a precious period for final learner support. In Malawi, any faculty member could supervise teaching practice regardless of their subject specialty (scrambled model). This qualitative study assessed the impacts of this scrambled model of supervision on the quality of learner support when non-specialist faculty supervised student-teachers. Through 2 different focus group discussions, data were collected from 10 conveniently sampled practicum students, 6 practicum supervisors, and 6 coordinators from 6 purposefully selected higher teacher-education institutions. and data were analyzed qualitatively. The study revealed that student-teachers and faculty were uncomfortable with the scrambled supervision model because it led to (1) inconsistencies in pedagogical and content knowledge, (2) unfriendly environment, and (3) inadequate feedback due to varying needs in varying subject areas demands. However, they justified this model for convenience at the mercy of other constraints. Apart from contributing to the existing body of knowledge, this study suggests best practices to guide institutional policy regarding practicum to facilitate quality learner support.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 2913-2928
Author(s):  
Maria Aparecida de Araújo Lima ◽  
Eliana M. Oliveira Sá ◽  
Ana García-Valcárcel Muñoz-Repiso ◽  
Manuel Florindo Alves Meirinhos

Este estudo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa qualitativa sobre fatores intervenientes na mediação pedagógica do tutor: o caso de um curso de Bacharelado em Administração Pública a distância (ADMP) do PNAP, ofertado por meio do Sistema UAB, em uma universidade pública da região Nordeste, iniciado em 2009. A questão norteadora foi: existem fatores que interferem na mediação pedagógica do tutor online? O objetivo foi identificar os fatores intervenientes e as múltiplas determinações que interferem na mediação pedagógica do tutor. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de questionário e de entrevista com os tutores online. Também foram observadas mensagens postadas no Ambiente Virtual de Aprendizagem (AVA). Participaram da pesquisa 11 tutores online, de um universo de 17 tutores que realizaram mediação pedagógica no curso pesquisado, entre 2012 e 2013. O resultado da pesquisa indica que fatores relacionados à qualidade do ensino; à qualidade dos materiais didáticos e materiais de apoio ao aluno; ao AVA; à infraestrutura física, tecnológica e administrativa disponível para os alunos e o grau de aproximação entre o professor e tutor interferem no desempenho do tutor online que atua no processo de ensino-estudo-aprendizagem do aluno da EAD ofertada com o uso da internet. Convém informar que o conteúdo deste artigo foi discutido em várias ocasiões em 2014 e 2015. Porém torna-se relevante retomar a discussão no campo da EAD devido ao momento pandêmico, no qual a mediação pedagógica foi intensificada, pelo fato das aulas presenciais terem sido, abruptamente, substituídas por aulas remotas e essa atividade passou a ser realizada também por professores e por monitores (alunos) selecionados para auxiliarem os professores nas atividades docentes no ensino remoto, semi-presencial ou totalmente online   This study presents the results of a qualitative research on pedagogical factors involved in mediating the tutor : the case of the Bachelor in Public Administration Distance ( ADMP ) of PNAP offered through the UAB in a public university in northeastern Brazil System , initiated in 2009 and was motivated by question: There are factors that influence the mediation of the online tutor ? Their goal was to identify factors that affect the mediation of online tutor. To collect data, a questionnaire was administered and conducted an interview with the online tutors. Messages posted to the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE ) were also observed. Participated in the survey, 11 tutors online that was presents in the course researched, between 2012 and 2013 The research result indicates that the factors related to the quality of education; the quality of instructional materials and learner support materials; the quality of AVA; physical, technological and administrative available to students and the degree of approximation between the teacher and tutor; infrastructure interfere with the performance of the online tutor who works in the process: teaching - study - learning the of virtual student. It should be noted that the content of this article was discussed on several occasions in 2014 and 2015. However, it is relevant to resume the discussion in the field of DE due to the pandemic moment, in which the pedagogical mediation was intensified, due to the fact that the in-person classes were, abruptly, replaced by remote classes and this activity began to be performed also by teachers and monitors (students) selected to assist teachers in teaching activities in remote, semi-present or fully online teaching.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-59
Author(s):  
Samuel Boro

Purpose: Mobile technologies provide an affordable and easily accessible technology that lecturers can use effectively to assist students with their studies. The general objective of the study was to evaluate influence of mobile phone on   enhancing learner support services for distance education programmes. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: From the study findings,it was concluded  that most students have a smartphone and have installed applications that enable them to access the internet, but they ended up using their phones for social network and not learning purposes. Despite the fact that the phones are able to check and send emails, majority of those interviewed preferred using the computer over the phone. Most students and lecturers did not communicate over the phone in case of clarity on a certain subject even the sending of results, missing marks and such. Most administrators sent SMS regarding important dates and venues to DE students but rarely and did not send results through SMS, do not send SMS on tutorial schedules and never sent SMS giving reminders about deadlines for submitting assignments to DE students Recommendations: The study recommended that there was a need for the universities and colleges not utilizing mobile phones should develop common email center that does not compromise privacy of the users. The service should be of high speed and able to support large data exchange. The universities should establish common social media network by registering on leading social network such as facebook or google+. The common social platform center should be administratively controlled to monitor the exchange of information for purposes of learning and support. The knowledge and scientific understanding accruing from this study should be considered by policy makers when laying down guidelines for learner support systems in distance education programmes


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-44
Author(s):  
James Kimani

Purpose: no one technology can support all types of teaching and learning at a distance – the most effective approach is to combine a range of technologies. Using multiple technologies ensure that all learning styles are catered for and that significant opportunities for interaction between the learner and the tutor are provided. The general objective of the study was to institutional related on choice of technology for the development of instructional materials for distance education. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: From the study findings, it is concluded that most of learner support services offered to distant learners were not good enough to support the learners effectively. Secondly, the students and the administrators were of the view that there were learner support services that were very vital to distant learners. Thirdly, the students and the administrators were of the general view and in agreement that the learner support services offered were necessary. However, since the students indicated that majority of the services on offer were poor across the institutions under the study, there is need to improve and make them better. Learning through experience influences the creation of new values which become attitudes that have a strong impact on teacher's behavior towards e-learning technology. Recommendations: The study recommends that is a need availability of ICT infrastructure, the absence of inadequacy of which will totally hamper the idea of e-learning adoption in universities. There should be provision of computers and high bandwidth to enable the easy flow of classes online. If the high ICT infrastructure for e-learning is unavailable, the sequential use of predecessor distance learning technologies from correspondence courses to radio, TV, CD-ROM, Internet and World Wide Web is recommended. Such a sequential use of predecessor distance learning technologies is poised to leverage the experience into a significant use of learning


2021 ◽  
pp. 147675032110231
Author(s):  
Lesley Wood ◽  
Mary McAteer

Although complex reasons exist for the poor state of education in socio-economically challenged communities in South Africa, improving parental support to learners is one approach to buffer contextual adversities. Yet, historically, collaboration between school and parent has been problematic. We hypothesized that a participatory action research approach might be useful to develop positive relations between teachers and parents. We report on the benefits of a PAR project undertaken by seven community parents and five teachers to enhance learner support in a primary school situated in a low-income area. Thematic analysis of focus group interviews with participants, triangulated by transcriptions of a final project workshop, revealed that participation in the PAR process enabled i) the development of contextually relevant content for an educational programme; ii) change in the assumptions of parents and teachers about their respective roles in supporting the child; iii) the personal/technical skills development of participants; and iv) positive outcomes beyond the project. The insights gain from this study highlight the benefits of PAR to enable schools to harness the wealth of knowledge and skills that exist in their community to enhance learner support and improve the quality of teaching and learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 320-322
Author(s):  
Tutaleni Nampila ◽  

The Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) conducted a dropout survey in order to determine why distance students studying with the College, drop out of the subjects they enrolled for. Information was collected from learners who dropped out of subjects they enrolled for, tutors and Head of Centres. Online and telephonic interviews were used for learners, while questionnaires in hard copies were distributed to the tutors and Head of Centres. The majority of the learners who responded to the questionnaire indicated that the learner support from the College was good and that the study materials were useful. Even so, most learners indicated that job commitments, financial issues and sickness were the main reasons why they dropped out of the subjects they enrolled for. The subject that had the highest dropout rate for both grade 10 and 12, were English. Other reasons given by tutors and head of centres as to why they think learners drop out of subjects include lack of motivation from learners, lack of competency in English and some learners find employment or register at private institutions, centres are far from the learners. Some of the recommendations given by tutors and head of centres to reduce dropouts the College should decentralise the centres, clear, persistent and continuous information regarding examination dates, collecting timetables and venues should be given.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 616
Author(s):  
Manuel Ortega

Through a series of projects carried out by the Computer–Human Interaction and COllaboration (CHICO) group of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, some proposals are presented to improve the current e-Learning systems by making use of different paradigms of human-computer interaction. Synchronous and asynchronous collaborative systems, ubiquitous computing, and augmented reality can improve the current learning environments. The use of artificial intelligence mechanisms for both learner support and assessment complements these techniques. Emphasis is also placed on the use of automatic application generation techniques using models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Suzanne Bester ◽  
Michè Conway

Guided by an interpretivist paradigm, the qualitative case study reported on here provided insight into the points of view of 9 foundation phase teachers on whether they believed that Response to Intervention (RtI) could be a viable approach to implement within their own school context. A semi-structured, focus group interview was conducted to explore the participants’ views regarding the viability of RtI for their school. Through exploring these teachers’ views, we aimed at initiating further research into whether RtI could potentially be a viable approach to assessment and intervention within a South African context. The findings suggest that the participants envisioned numerous challenges in the implementation of RtI within their school context. These challenges related to a lack of resources and challenges associated with the curriculum. The participants envisioned such challenges as potentially preventing the effective implementation of RtI and, therefore, decreasing its viability in their school context. The participants believed that if certain challenges, such as a lack of time and a lack of qualified teaching staff could be addressed and overcome, then an RtI approach could become viable in their school context. They believed that an effective RtI implementation could yield benefits associated with improved overall service delivery to learners and their parents. Furthermore, the participants believed that RtI could potentially result in a reduced need for financial resources to pay for referrals to learner support specialists, which they perceived as a challenge in their learner support interventions. The insights obtained from this study may be useful in guiding further research endeavours into the perceived viability of RtI in other school contexts in South Africa.


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