3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Assessment practices and student learning in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering: a case study at the University of the Witwatersrand(2019) Hattingh, TeresaAssessment practices have the potential to influence the way students learn. Learning-oriented and student-centred assessment theories provide guidelines for improving assessment practices, but it is not well understood how the principles that underpin these theories are interpreted and used in an engineering context. This study explores students’ and lecturers’ assessment practices in an engineering school where student success rates are frequently lower than expected. The purpose of the study is to gain insights into the School’s assessment practices and how these shape student approaches to learning. Data were collected using a student survey, ten lecturer interviews and four student focus groups. The findings are presented using descriptive statistics and descriptive narratives that provide a rich picture of the current state of assessment and learning in the School. The findings confirm that assessment practices determine the planning and prioritisation of study efforts, the content that is covered when studying and the learning strategies that students use. The intention of students when choosing learning strategies is strongly influenced by their perceptions of the assessment environment, with students often exhibiting surface approaches to learning. The purpose of assessment in the School is predominantly viewed as a means of determining student competence leading to practices that align with an assessment of learning paradigm. Due to a poorly developed teaching and learning culture in the School, there is a lack of a holistic approach which leads to misalignment between assessment, learning and degree outcomes. As a result, assessment practices are often teacher-centred, affecting communication of expectations, criteria and feedback, leaving little space for the development of students’ self-evaluative expertise. The authenticity and relevance of the curriculum and a detached social environment in the School impacts on student engagement and motivation. Findings reveal interesting phenomena related to the constructive alignment of assessment methods specifically when shifting from more traditional to project-based learning assessment. Although this study has highlighted and confirmed many findings prevalent in the literature, it has also, through the richness of the perspectives and experiences of both lecturers and students, provided a unique perspective on the complexities of context that influence assessment practices. The study revealed that what students and lecturers want to achieve is not necessarily what is being achieved and that a more collaborative teaching and learning environment is required to shift learning in a more positive direction. It also emerged that in a South African context a more collectivist approach is needed when thinking about how students learn and adapt to environments to facilitate deeper approaches to learning. This is a significant finding that can influence teaching and learning practices to improve student access and success. This study provides valuable insights that can be used to transform assessment practices, providing a better structure for student success in the School and more broadly in other engineering higher education contexts.Item Management of the implementation of internal continuous assessment at Western College in Gauteng(2017) Sebetlene, Selaelo PeterThe National Certificate: Vocational (NCV) qualification was introduced at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges in 2007 to enable students to acquire necessary skills and knowledge that would prepare them effectively for the world of work. The NCV is an outcomes-based curriculum and its introduction was accompanied by a general shift to outcomes-based teaching and learning approaches, as well as a rigorous assessment and moderation regime, particularly with regards to the internal assessment (ICASS) component. The shift required lecturers to adopt multi-dimensional assessment of skills, knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values and dispositions when assessing students. The report released by Umalusi in 2014 pointed out a number of factors that negatively affect the implementation of ICASS at some TVET colleges. The aim of the study was to explore the factors that constrain or enhance the implementation of the ICASS component of the NCV at TVET colleges. Literature related to the research topic was consulted and, subsequently, document analysis and semi-structured interviews were used to determine ICASS practices applied at Western College (Westcol) for TVET. ICASS requirements as per NCV-related policies and the current ICASS practices at the college were compared to determine the factors that (including those cited by Umalusi) hinder or promote ICASS implementation. The findings reflected that lack of resources (mainly financial and physical resources, as well as under-qualified and unqualified lecturers at the college) hinder the effective implementation of the ICASS component in some subjects at the college. Furthermore, the quality of the assessment elements was of great concern. Most interviewees reported that: some of the ICASS tasks in various subjects were of poor quality; there was lack of or poor moderation of tasks; portfolios were incomplete and there was a lack of structured remedial intervention after tasks were conducted. Interviewees attributed the above situation to increased lecturers’ workloads and students’ poor class attendance. The research recommends that the college build capacity for ICASS implementation through the provision of resources, and the training and development of lecturers, as well as partnerships with industries and other institutions to complement and strengthen the college’s limited resources and to apply knowledge management practices so that the college can leverage and benefit from the knowledge it currently possesses, to improve the implementation of the internal assessment component.Item Peer assessment as an instructional leadership practice in the university: conceptualisation, enactment, affordances and constraints(2017) Abdulhamid, MaryamThis study explores how lecturers, as instructional leaders, conceptualised and enacted peer assessment in the courses they teach. The study also explores affordances and constraints of peer assessment to teaching and learning at the university level. Qualitative case study design was employed in this study. Five lecturers from one University in South Africa across different disciplines in School of Education, participated. Data was collected through an in-depth semi-structured interview with each case lecturer. Findings of this study revealed that peer assessment was conceptualised by the lecturers as both assessment for learning and as an opportunity to develop in student-teachers skills of assessment. Three different approaches to the enactment of peer assessment emerged. These are: individual-written work peer assessment; group-oral presentation peer assessment; and group-written work peer assessment. Various teaching and learning affordances of peer assessment were revealed, as well as constraints on its effective implementation, such as: students’ incompetence in assessment; issues of bias in assigning marks to peers; and increasing demand by the lecturers in terms of their workload. Implications of these findings for the theory, practice and policy on assessment at University level were discussed. Keywords Affordances, Conceptualisation, Constraints, Enactment, Peer assessment, South Africa, University level