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Theses and dissertations (Accounting and Informatics)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/4

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    The adoption of E-Learning as a remote teaching and learning methodology in tertiary institutions during Covid-19 : a case study of the University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal
    (2022-11-01) Nyathikazi, Siphamandla Handsome; Parbanath, Steven
    This research was a case study that sought to explore if the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN) is ready to adopt E-learning as a fully-fledged method of teaching and learning during Covid-19. The advent of the Coronavirus (Alsoud and Harasis 2021) in South Africa was confirmed by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) on the 5th of March 2020. Since then, academic institutions at all levels have been grappling with the ways of delivering education in a safe mode that could prevent the spread of the pandemic. This prompted the need for academic institutions to adopt a fully ledged E-learning methodology in teaching and learning. Consequently, the aim of the study was to explore the readiness of the academics to adopt the E-learning methodology. Such readiness was explored through the application of the study objectives that were aimed at academic staff’s satisfaction level with the change, challenges that were experienced by the academic staff during the adoption process, the impact of Elearning on academics’ work and personal lives as well as the improvement of such methodology for the benefit of the institution. The study adopted a mixed method case study design of qualitative and quantitative research methods. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected at the same time, analysed separately and the results merged in the summary and discussion of the study findings. The findings of the study revealed that the academic staff of UKZN were ready for the adoption of E-learning as the teaching and learning methodology. However, the study identified limitations in terms of infrastructural problems such as network service providers, as well as the ongoing blackouts limiting access to electricity. The findings of the study can have a significant impact on the strategic teams of the institution where there is a need of reinforcing control measures on the remote assessment of the students during the E-learning examinations. Furthermore, Management of the UKZN can use the results of this study as a springboard to motivating the academics and fine-tuning their approach towards the application of the technology based method of teaching and learning.
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    Computing departments' academics' perceptions on the impact of Learning and Management Systems on academic performance
    (2019) Mbangata, Lubabalo; Obono, S. D. Eyono
    There are currently more than 500 commercial e-Learning software packages and 300 educational e-Learning software packages, but the surprising fact is that academic failure remains high in universities, especially for first-year students, despite all these advances made by e-Learning. It is this high failure rate problem in this e-Learning era that is at the core of this study whose aim is to model factors affecting the perceptions of academics on the impact of learning management systems (LMSs) on academic performance. This aim will be achieved by following the research question: what are the factors that are affecting the perceptions of academics on the impact of learning management systems on academic performance? Three types of research objectives are used to achieve this aim, namely: (i) to design a theoretically sound model of the factors affecting the perceptions of academics on the impact of LMSs on academic performance. (ii) to empirically test the designed model. (iii) to suggest recommendations on how to improve the perceptions of academics on the impact of LMSs on academic performance. Objectives (i) was accomplished through a content analysis method of reviewing of existing appropriate literature of factors that are affecting the impact of LMSs on e- Learning context; whilst objective (ii) was met by conducting a survey of seventy-eight (78) academic staffs from four public universities of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. On the other hand, objective (iii) was met through a comparison of the results of the survey conducted against the literature analysed. The outcomes of these three objectives are as follows: (i) the Welberg’s theory of education, the self-determination theory, the self-regulated learning theory, the social constructivism theory, and the task technology fit theory can be used as suitable theories applicable to examine the perceived impact of e-Learning on academic performance. (ii) It makes logic to theorize that, on the one hand, academics’ perceived impact of LMSs on academic performance are indirectly affected by their gender, their type of employment and their ethnicity. On the other hand, academics’ attitude towards e-Learning, their computer self-efficacy, their pedagogical beliefs, and their use of LMSs directly affects their perceived impact of LMSs on academic performance of students. It can be concluded that academics’ perceived impact of LMSs on academic performance can be enhanced by optimising academics’ computer self-efficacy, their pedagogical beliefs, and their attitude towards LMSs.