3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The pedagogical integration of ICTs by seven South African township secondary school teachers(2016-07-25) Ndlovu, Nokulunga SithabileThe issue of best practice in the pedagogical integration of ICTs into subject teaching has been debated internationally with the aim to offer guidance to teachers on how to effectively utilise these digital tools in the classroom. The resultant literature has reported that teachers in schools with fewer resources integrate ICTs at a lower level. South African township schools fall under this category. In an attempt to bridge this divide, these schools have received digital technologies from the government and other sponsors. In addition, teachers have been trained on ICT basic skills as preparation for use of technology in their classrooms. However, studies carried out to assess the effectiveness of these interventions have resulted in the call by the South African government for solutions that ‘work’. It is increasingly apparent that more than just digital resources are required if ICT integration is to be achieved. This study investigates selected seven South African township secondary school teachers’ practices and education policies to understand what is of pedagogical value in the use of ICTs for teaching. The findings are employed to develop an ICT teacher training framework that can help teachers in this country to maximise the utilisation of the digital technologies they have in their schools. A multi-case study is employed in which teacher interviews and lesson observations of participating teachers from a district in the Gauteng Province in South Africa are interpreted. Thereafter, a document analysis of four South African education policies is used to form a policy framework that is employed to assess teacher practice compliance to the country’s education context. This is done to customise findings to the South African education setting to facilitate the development of a relevant ICT teacher training framework. Diana Laurillard’s Conversational Framework is adopted as the theory that helps make explicit the teachers’ espoused and enacted practices. Her description of media forms is interacted with Grainne Conole and Martin Dyke’s conception of ICT affordances to help identify the pedagogical value in the teachers’ practices with ICTs. The results reveal how teacher beliefs, experience, subject needs, as well as learner needs, play a substantial role in determining the value ICTs bring to the teaching and learning experience. The significance of these characteristics demonstrates and accentuates the role of the teacher as a mediator in making ICTs of pedagogical value in the classroom. Key Words: ICT Pedagogical Integration, Conversational Framework, Media forms, ICT affordancesItem "Beliefs of the district e-learning coordinators in the GDE about the pedagogical integration of ICTs in Gauteng Online schools".(2014-01-06) Waspe, TomUsing a Mixed Methods Convergent Parallel Design this study examines the Behavioural Intentions of the District eLearning Coordinators (DELCs) in the Gauteng Department of Education. The study posits that the educational beliefs of the DELCs are a significant factor in influencing their Behavioural Intentions with regard to their role concerning the integration of Gauteng Online into teaching and learning. Its purpose is to explore whether the DELCs intend to perform their roles in constructivist “Just-in-time” ways. It does this by examining their pedagogical beliefs, their knowledge about technology integration as well as other salient beliefs as formulated in the Theory of Planned Behaviour and by finding out whether these have a bearing on their intentions to provide support and professional development for teachers in the GDE. The study draws on key theories like the Theory of Planned Behaviour, theory about teacher knowledge for technology integration – Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) amongst others to explore these beliefs and behavioural intentions.Item Teachers' perceptions of the pedagogical use of information and communication technologies (ICTS) and principals' technology leadership.(2013-10-01) Cloete, Zelna JanetThe purpose of this research is to develop a better understanding to why South African educators embrace or resist Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in teaching and learning by exploring the complex interplay between teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, their efficacy beliefs, their context beliefs and their use of computers in the classroom. The study hypothesises that teachers’ behavioural intention, whether and how to use ICTs in the classroom, is determined by a set of teacher-related variables, which include, their pedagogical beliefs, selfefficacy beliefs and context beliefs. The specific teacher-related variables that are of significance for this study include: teachers’ pedagogical beliefs, self-efficacy beliefs, computer self-efficacy beliefs and computer anxiety. A correlational analysis was performed to determine the complex relationships amongst these thinking processes and their effect on the utilisation of ICTs. In addition, teachers’ perception of their principals’ technology leadership was investigated. Four interrelated dimensions were investigated, that is: (a) vision, planning and management; (b) staff development and training; (c) technology and infrastructure support; and (d) interpersonal and communication skills. A mixed method of quantitative and qualitative research was employed to collect data at a secondary and primary ex-model C school in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. Convenience sampling was applied in this study. A total of 23 teachers participated voluntarily in the research project. The results of the study suggest that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, computer self-efficacy beliefs and computer anxiety directly affect their computer use, while the principal’s technology leadership only has an indirect effect on their computer use via the mediating variables: self-efficacy beliefs and pedagogical beliefs.Item Factors enabling and constraining the pedagogical integration of ICTs in a South African school.(2013-01-11) Seegobin, TarishmaAs ICTs become more and more ubiquitous in institutions of education, schools are faced with the challenge of integrating ICTs pedagogically. More schools in South Africa have ICT resources available; however, their integration levels have not advanced at the rate that technology is progressing (Pan African Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of Information and Communications Technologies, 2008). There are several enablers and constraining factors that have an impact on the schools’ capacity to pedagogically integrate ICTs. This is a case study of an ex-model C primary school in the Gauteng province. The school under study is one of the ten South African institutions from which the Pan African Research Agenda on the Pedagogical Integration of ICTs (PanAfICT) collected data in 2008 stored in its observatory. The UNESCO model (2002) was used to position this school at a specific level based on factors affecting the teachers’ propensity to integrate ICTs pedagogically. The findings of this study suggest that the school has been in the applying (second) level, since 2008 and has not made much progress in the implementation of ICT pedagogical integration. It also emerged from this case study that the enabling factors (the availability of a wide range of ICT resources and teacher training in basic ICT application skills) are not enough to enable the school to progress to the next level. It is the quality of technical support, relevance of training, proactive leadership in ICT integration and provision of time, above availability of resources that determine progression in the use of technology in the classroom. The literature selected covers mainly the national ICT integration environments and general views of authors in this field. On the basis of these findings, it is proposed that there is a need for the Department of Education to address the lack of progress in ICT pedagogical integration in schools by monitoring the process and developing strategies that will improve quality in the implementation despite the constraining factors.Item The effectiveness of multimedia and computer-assisted activities in the teaching of Afrikaans as a second language.(2013-01-08) Basson, IreneTeachers are increasingly aware of the technological world in which their students live. They are aware that the use of computers affects the motivation and attitudes of learners. There has also recently been governmental pressure to integrate ICT in the teaching and learning at school level. The question remains how exactly these technologies should be implemented, particularly to aid in the acquisition of a second language. This study investigates if the use of CALL in the teaching of second language Afrikaans has affected the attitudes and motivation of learners and if it had any effect on the results they achieved. A comparative study was conducted with a group Grade 11 learners in which they completed a series of research tasks that included no technology or computerrelated input. The same group was also exposed to lessons with a computer-assisted approach, where a series of comparative research tasks were completed with the use of technology. The group completed reflective questionnaires on the tasks they had completed. The sets of tasks were analyzed and compared to each other and the reflective questionnaires were analyzed and general trends and findings were noted. The findings in this study suggests that learners respond well to computer-assisted tasks and that there is a marked improvement in attitude and motivation when they are exposed to technology in the second language classroom. Furthermore it is evident that the shift in motivation contributes to an overall improvement of their results, which in computerassisted tasks are on average 8%-12% higher.