3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/45
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Teachers’ use of iPads in the classroom in a South African public school(2018) Lupondwana, VuyoThis study examined the use of iPads by teachers in a public school in South Africa. The school is a public school located in a township East of Johannesburg. The majority of the learners are from for the surrounding townships. The school was part of the ‘Paperless Classroom’ project of the Gauteng Department of Education which equipped schools with smartboards in classrooms, iPads for the learners and teachers and additionally laptops for the teachers. The paperless classroom, is an initiative provides devices to learners and teachers, access to online educational content and classrooms are equipped with smart boards and Internet connectivity. The education department of Gauteng’s objectives is to encourage ICT adoption, skills development and improving the quality of education in townships. The project was rolled out in 2015 and schools were selected based on academic performance. The school was included in the project as they had achieved a one hundred percent pass rate of its matric class for three consecutive years. The study sought to explore how the teachers use iPads in the classroom in a township school context. The Affordance framework was applied in exploring how teachers use iPads in the classroom and the associated benefits and challenges. Qualitative data was collected through interviews with the teachers and at a single school. Seven teachers were interviewed including the principal. The findings of the study indicated that overall the effect of iPad use by the teachers has been positive. The use of iPads resulted in the teachers having access to quality multi-media and educational apps to teach their subjects which resulted in learners’ increased class involvement and independent learning. The study revealed that effective use of iPads requires teachers that are adequately trained to use the iPad technically and also on subject specific training. Additionally the study showed that a reliable wireless connection and reliable technical support and mitigation of learners’ distractions increased the effectiveness of using iPads in the classroom.Item Exploring the use of iPads in the documentation of visible teaching and learning: a case study of a Grade 3 Reggio Emilia inspired classroom(2018) Phakathi, NelisiweThis is a research report on an ethnographic study which sought to explore the use of iPads in the documentation of visible learning in a Reggio inspired school. It is common to say children are always curious about technological devices particularly, iPads. There is little literature on how effective such devices are in children’s’ learning. This research sought to make a contribution to the understanding of digital technology in these terms within a Reggio Emilia inspired primary school classroom environment in terms of the use by both teachers and leaners. Visible teaching and learning are key theoretical concepts in the Reggio Emilia approach to learning. This research investigated how digital technologies, particularly iPads, contribute in the documentation of visible teaching and learning for young children. The scope of the research covered how learning is made visible using iPads, and what value the introduction of iPads adds in the documentation of visible learning. The research was aimed at exploring if and how using iPads would engage learners and give them the opportunity to document their thinking and learning so as to make it visible. This study will contribute to the available literature on the pedagogical use of iPads in a Reggio Emilia context, in particular in relation to the documentation of visible teaching and learning. The results showed that iPads afforded learners with complex ways in which they could document their learning. With the introduction of iPads there was a high level of participation from learners. iPads offered learners multiple forms of representation of their thinking.Item Features of iPad language applications for speech-language therapy with children(2017) Heyman, NikkiBackground: Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) worldwide are using apps in their interventions. Despite this growing trend, there is limited literature on the use of apps for language intervention. Reports indicate that SLPs are selecting apps by word-of-mouth and popularity. One of the difficulties in evaluating apps is related to the lack of consensus about which features are important in an app when providing speech-language therapy to children. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the features of apps that SLPs regard as valuable for language intervention with children and how SLPs were using apps in their intervention. Method: The study employed an explanatory, sequential mixed-method approach using SLPs in 6 predominantly English-speaking countries. A self-developed online survey (N = 338) identifying the features of apps was distributed to SLPs who use apps. This was followed by a semi-structured interview with some participants (n = 16) in order to obtain further insights from the survey. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the survey results. Interview data were explored using thematic analysis. Findings: The findings show that SLPs view apps as an engaging and motivating tool for therapy to facilitate their intervention goals. The lack of guidelines to support SLPs in their selection of apps has contributed to the selection of apps based on popularity and word-of-mouth rather than feature matching. Findings showed that specific content and design features of apps may support effective intervention, however these features need to be carefully evaluated in terms of the underlying principles of language intervention, multimedia learning and learning. Features that may impede effective intervention must also be considered. In addition, the social and pragmatic aspects of communication must be contemplated when using apps. Conclusions: A feature-matching checklist was developed in order to assist SLPs select apps based on feature matching. The findings from the study highlight the need for SLPs to engage more deeply with the theory underlying multimedia learning so that this information can be used to contribute to evidence-based practice when using apps for intervention. This study, calls for SLPs to make a concerted effort to engage in research around apps and app use.