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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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Subject: search.filters.subject.Academic performance

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    Examining the impact of the ethnoscience teaching philosophy on academic performance in introductory computer programming
    (2021-09-20) Sofowora, Mayowa A.; Eyono Obono, Seraphin Desire
    The mastery of the core technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) seems to require a set of skills that are reputed to be difficult to learn. This also includes general STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related know- how where computer programming is considered by many as the new linking glue of the 4IR despite its reputation of being difficult to learn and to master. 4IR is credited with a wide range of advantages, such as improved production, communication and participation, but it also comes with several disadvantages, such as the widening of the digital divide and higher levels of unemployment, especially for unskilled people. In fact, computer programming and other STEM related skills are crucial for the optimization of the benefits of the 4IR and for the minimization of its disadvantages. This is why this study is examining the impact of a different type of teaching approach known as the ethnoscience teaching approach, a STEM teaching philosophy, on students’ academic performance in introductory computer programming. A content analysis of existing literature on academic performance factors was first undertaken, both for introductory programming and for STEM subjects, in order to design an aggregated theoretically sound model of academic performance factors for these two fields. That model was then partially empirically tested by this study first within a totally culturally neutral teaching approach, then with a quasi- experiment whose experimental group was taught and tested with the use of the ethnoscientific teaching approach and philosophy while the control group stayed with the conventional culturally neutral teaching approach. The results of this study indicate that the ethnoscience teaching approach significantly improves students' academic performance in introductory computer programming compared to the conventional teaching approach. They also indicate that students’ prior language and computing subject choices affect their performance in conventional but not in culturally sensitive introductory computer programming. The participants of this study were selected from the introductory programming 2018 class of the IT Department of the Durban University of Technology. Should the findings of this study be confirmed with more programming concepts and with different samples, they will confirm the intrinsic value of culturally sensitive computing education.
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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.