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Community development through information communication technologies in Ward three of Durban metro
(2004) Majola, Pretty L.
This topic was initiated because of love of community development and information communication application by the researcher. It was further strengthened by taking part during the International Wowen University (Ifu) practice in 2000. The main theme of the study was Information Age. Ifu is well known as the virtual university, which is based in Germany at the University of Hamburg. The researcher, together with eight other women from different countries, designed and developed a model for community development by using ICTs. The model can be used as a basic guide for similar projects. The work, therefore in this thesis is based on personal experiences shared experiences, and research as well as by reading others experiences. This study provides ideas for potential community development by using Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in rural areas with special reference to Ward Three of Durban Metro. The results of the study confirmed the saying “If you can’t beat them join them”. This study reported on research conducted in two different rural areas known as Bamshela and Ward Three. The results from the first area Bamshela, illustrated the way forward for Ward Three. Since the ICTs center exists in Bamshela the author received more information about the centre’s utilisation than its establishment. The focus on the second area emphasises the necessity, awareness and participation in community development. The three specifics focuses on whether there is a need for the ICTs centre for community development. Further more the study focused on areas where ICTs played prominent roles, such as in policy making, education, globalisation, ICTs, community development and participation of community members in community development projects.
Exploring industry's contribution to the labour-intensive construction of low order rural community access roads
(2020) Jairam, Santosh; Allopi, Dhiren
The Government of South Africa supports labour-intensive work methodologies as a means of alleviating unemployment in South Africa. In 2004 the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) was formed to promote labour-intensive work methods due to the high unemployment situation. The EPWP is a nationwide programme using public funds to encourage employment by using labour-intensive work methodologies with the intention of reducing national poverty. The programme covers four sectors. The four sectors are environment and culture, infrastructure, social and non-state. The largest component is infrastructure; roads being part of the infrastructure component provides the highest potential for employment creation. Both international and local experience has revealed that by having trained supervisory staff and a proper employment framework, labour-intensive work methods can be successfully used for projects such as roads, sidewalks, storm water drains, trenches, buildings, sanitation and water. The national government, based on this experience and due to high levels of unemployment, has encouraged the use of these type of infrastructure projects as a way of contributing to the alleviation of unemployment. “Only twelve per cent of the road sector budget is used for labour-intensive projects” (Public Works 2012b: 1). This implies that there have been no drastic changes in the extent to which labour-intensive work methodologies have been used in the road works programme. This study focused on exploring parastatals’, consultants’ and contractors’ contribution to the labour-intensive construction of low order rural community access roads in the Outer West region of eThekwini’s Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, in accordance with the EPWP Guidelines. The population consisted of 101 individuals from the contracting, consulting and parastatal fields of employment who had worked on EPWP related labour-intensive road projects in this region. All 101 individuals were chosen as the sample size A qualitative and quantitative approach was used in this research to gather data on the contribution made by the civil engineering industry to the promotion of labourintensive road construction methods. This approach allowed for an understanding of the motivation and the experiences of consultants, contractors and parastatals regarding the design and construction management choices they have made. Data was collected via a questionnaire containing open-ended questions and rating scales from 87 civil engineering staff that were employed by parastatals, contractors and consultants who were involved in designing, constructing and managing labourintensive construction of low order rural community access roads in the Outer West region of eThekwini Municipality. In addition, interviews were conducted with same 87 civil engineering staff that were involved in designing, constructing and managing these labour-intensive road construction projects during the period from 2015 to 2019. Data collected overwhelmingly suggested that very little practically is being done to promote labour-intensive construction of low order community access roads. The nature of engagement that does occur is largely through the filling in of basic reporting forms and providing basic small scale informal training and work to labour. No standard specification document is in place to enforce labour-intensive construction of rural community access roads. The documents that are in place merely serve as guidelines and administrative data collection tools rather than helping to promote labour-intensive road construction.
Students' perceptions towards using an e-learning tool, Tax-Tim, as a teaching and learning method in Taxation 1 syllabus
(2020-04-28) Sheik-Essop, Andre; Stainbank, L.J.; Jali, Lulu Fortunate
The expanding world of technology has extended into the education space through employers’ needs regarding graduates’ technology attributes. To keep abreast of the trends of technology adoption in education, particularly blended theory and technology learning and to provide a basis for practical teaching and learning. The need for continued research in this area has arisen. The purpose of the research is to investigate students’ perceptions of using an e-learning, e-filing tool to determine their attitudes towards acceptance of using technology and the benefits and challenges of e-learning tool, Tax-Tim. The intention of the assessment is to investigate students’ ability to apply the theoretical underpinnings of the Taxation 1 syllabus to an online simulation of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) efiling system. The e-learning tool chosen was Tax-Tim which simulates a SARS efiling tool and is assessed by an independent company called Tax-Tim. The research defined three objectives. The first research objective was addressed by hypotheses developed using the theoretical framework of the Technology Acceptance model (TAM) developed by Davis (1989). To be able to explain user acceptance of new e-learning technology using the antecedents of the TAM, constructs used included perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), Attitude towards (ATT) and behavioural intention (BI) with external variable computer self-efficacy. The second objective explored the extent of effectiveness of using Tax-Tim as a case study e-learning tool. The third objective was to investigate the extent to which Tax-Tim worked together with determining the benefits and challenges of the e-filing simulation tool, Tax-Tim, that the students identified. Descriptive statistics highlighted that students mostly agreed that Tax-Tim was an effective tool and added value to their experience of an e-learning tool. Additionally, English second language students found Tax-Tim to be more helpful than English language students. Four hypotheses, H3, H4, H6 and H7 positively supported the TAM model. Alternatively, three hypotheses, H1, H2 and H5 did not contribute to the TAM model. CSE was rejected as positively supporting the hypothesis. The research could be used as a basis for e-learning technology adoption at Durban University of Technology and using e-learning for a blended learning approach.