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Faculty of Accounting and Informatics

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Computers and college students--South Africa

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    Creating a framework for promoting perceptions of ease of use for e-learning
    (2019-06-28) Dhebideen, Sharitha; Heukelman, Delene
    Information Technology is so widespread and moving at such a rapid speed that it has influenced the education sector at a fast and pressurised pace. This influence has placed focus on the new terminology education technology and blended learning. In order to introduce and implement education technology, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide have been introducing Learning Management Systems (LMSs) to support the charges in pedagogy to improve the collaboration learners themselves and between learners and educators. The implementation of LMSs at South African HEIs are still lagging behind in comparison to first world countries. Nonetheless, changes and advances in education technology have been taking place. These changes have to some degree brought about resistance towards the use of technology (software) to change teaching technique. Mixed methods research (quantitative and qualitative) was used to conduct a case study analysis at the Durban University of Technology (the case of DUT academic staff using a LMS). The case study allowed the analysis of perceived ease of use (PEOU) of LMSs at this HEI. The perceptions of the academic staff was analysed by executing a survey and by conducting interviews. The study identified additional factors that have a significant influence on PEOU on the Technology Acceptance Model 3 (TAM) (Venkatesh and Bala 2008). Literature, information from the interviews and the themes that emerged from the qualitative results was used to propose a theoretical tiered pedagogical framework that could be adopted by other HEIs planning to adopt a LMS.
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    A design framework for e-learning that advances e-skills of students in a South African University of Technology
    (2019-04-09) Soobramoney, Subashnie; Heukelman, Delene
    Nationwide E-inclusion is yet to be realised in many countries, including South Africa, conceivably resulting in the E-skills diversities that exist in the workplace and amongst university students. Literature confirms diversity of E-skills, however does not provide a strategy to develop these E-skills diversities, such that students may cope with the rapid, countrywide adoption of E-learning by South African universities, which has consequently imposed additional demands on students to use unfamiliar technology for learning. Since E-learning technology is supported by universities, identifying a strategy that incorporates elements of E-learning that may develop E-skills will benefit disadvantaged students and prepare students for a technology dependent economy. The relative novelty of using E-learning to develop E-skills is underpinned by a constructivist philosophical view that necessitates a qualitative approach for discovery. A longitudinal case study of undergraduate first year students with diverse E-skills levels was conducted to gather qualitative data needed to gain a thorough understanding of how E-learning tasks might be structured towards firstly helping the student cope with technology enhanced learning, and secondly to develop students’ E-skills over a prolonged period. Focus group interviews and course assessments were used to gather data from participants and Straussian-grounded-theory methods were employed to ensure a rigorous, structured analysis of student experiences with technology and their related E-skills development. Elements of E-learning design that influence E-skills were identified as concepts and categories using Straussian grounded theory coding techniques. Emerging categories show that diversity may be addressed by introducing carefully designed incrementally complex E-learning tasks, stimulating the student to achieve the next level of E-skills competency. This incremental digital development may be achieved through strategic manipulation of elements, such as providing support for development, motivation for technology use, creation of opportunities to use the technology, acknowledging challenges in access to technology and providing optimal time for tasks to encourage E-skills development and minimise competence related anxiety. Complemented by instructor interventions, beginning with instruction, then involvement, thereafter facilitating interaction and finally encouraging independence to stimulate E-skill development from fundamental to strategic levels, builds an effective platform to develop E-skills. Increasingly complex tasks need increasingly complex technologies. It provides a framework that an instructor may use as a strategy to improve the adoption of E-learning and address E-skill diversity in the classroom in a way that can develop student E-skills on multiple levels, so that they will be equipped to meet the demands of the university environment and ultimately the technology driven workforce.
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    Factors affecting computing students’ awareness of the latest ICTs
    (2015) Adegbehingbe, Oluwakemi D.; Eyono Obono, Seraphin Desire
    Education is constantly challenged by rapid technological changes both in terms of curriculum renewal and in terms of students’ awareness of these new technologies. This is the reason why the aim of this study is to analyse factors affecting computing students’ awareness of the latest ICTs. This aim is further divided into four research sub-aims: the selection of the relevant theories for this research; the design of an appropriate conceptual model to support it; the empirical testing of the above mentioned model; and finally, recommendations arising from the research results. The first research sub-aim is accomplished through selection of the Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) as the theoretical framework of this study after a review of different theories of technology adoption. The second research sub-aim is accomplished through the design of a conceptual model which is an adaptation of the relationship between the prior conditions construct and the knowledge/awareness construct of IDT. The prior conditions that were studied are students’ perceived exposure to career guidance and students’ perceived curriculum currency. These prior conditions were analysed as possible predictors of computing students’ technology awareness. The third sub-aim is accomplished by means of a survey of 116 computing students from the four universities of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, the results of which validated most of the relationships hypothesized by the above mentioned model. Having knowledge/awareness as the main variable of the current study can be seen as its main contribution in view of the fact that only two studies from the reviewed literature on IDT are examining the awareness/knowledge construct. The fourth sub-aim is accomplished by means of some recommendations, one of which is that gender and ethnicity be considered when curriculating computing courses both at the high school level and at the university level.