Faculty of Accounting and Informatics
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Item Perceptions on the effectiveness of work-integrated learning : a case study of a selected higher education institution in South Africa(2015-11) Ngwane, Knowledge Siyabonga VusamandlaThis paper looks at the effectiveness of Work-Integrated Learning. The objective of this research was to determine the perceptions of B-Tech degree students regarding the effectiveness of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) programme in contributing to the employability of Office Management and Technology graduates. The national debate on graduate employment has moved from the narrow focus on a set of essential core skills within the undergraduate curriculum. Work-integrated learning (WIL) programs are becoming popular with students, government, employers, and universities. A major benefit of a WIL program is the increased employability of students, and this matches well with the present trend whereby students expect a pay-off from their investment in education. Various initiatives have been introduced to prepare students for graduate jobs rather than for any job. This includes developing critical, reflective abilities, skills for self-career management and the maintenance of employability and career progression. For OMT students, employability depends on the knowledge, skills and attitudes they possess, the way they use those assets and present them to employers and the context within which they work. The most effective initiative which enhances employment of OMT graduates is the effective and efficient Work Integrated Learning (WIL) they undergo when they do their third year. The Department ensures the placement of all students which grants jobs to more than 70% of the students. The training these students receive so far equips them with the necessary abilities to function as intelligent citizens who can be self-employed and self-reliant. The skills they acquire enable them to contribute to the productivity and development of the organisations they work for. Many graduates are affected by an increasing rate of unemployment but this is not the case for OMT graduates. Most universities has recently strengthened their commitment to WIL through adding WIL to their strategic directions and re-shaping areas of the university to better manage and support WIL provision. A questionnaire measuring the students’ perceptions of their experiential training and mentorship was developed and administered to 70 students currently undertaking the B-Tech Degree study in Office Management and Technology. Convenience sampling method was used for this study. The findings confirmed that importance of increasing the time allocated for the training as it will enable students to gain more administrative and office technology skills to enhance their employability. Finally, it was recommended that the departmental lecturer should conduct regular visits to industries where students are placed to ensure that the required training is provided to students and to monitor students’ progress.Item The effectiveness of work-integrated learning in South African Universities of technology : a case study of Durban University of Technology(2016-07) Ngwane, Knowledge Siyabonga VusamandlaThis paper looks at the effectiveness of Work-Integrated Learning in increasing the employability of students studying Office Management and Technology diploma at the Durban University of Technology. The national debate on graduate employment has moved from the narrow focus on a set of essential core skills within the undergraduate curriculum. Work-integrated learning (WIL) programs are becoming popular with students, government, employers, and universities. A major benefit of a WIL program is the increased employability of students, and this matches well with the present trend whereby students expect a pay-off from their investment in education. Various initiatives have been introduced to prepare students for graduate jobs rather than for any job. This includes developing critical, reflective abilities, skills for self-career management and the maintenance of employability and career progression. For OMT students, employability depends on the knowledge, skills and attitudes they possess, the way they use those assets and present them to employers and the context within which they work. The most effective initiative which enhances employment of OMT graduates is the effective and efficient Work Integrated Learning (WIL) they undergo when they do their third year. The Department ensures the placement of all students which grants jobs to more than 70% of the students. The training these students receive so far equips them with the necessary abilities to function as intelligent citizens who can be self-employed and self-reliant. The skills they acquire enable them to contribute to the productivity and development of the organisations they work for. Many graduates are affected by an increasing rate of unemployment but this is not the case for OMT graduates. Most universities has recently strengthened their commitment to WIL through adding WIL to their strategic directions and re-shaping areas of the university to better manage and support WIL provision.Item Factors affecting computing students’ awareness of the latest ICTs(2015) Adegbehingbe, Oluwakemi D.; Eyono Obono, Seraphin DesireEducation 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.Item A framework for designing information technology programmes using ACM/IEEE curriculum guidelines(International Association of Engineers, 2012) Adegbehingbe, Oluwakemi D.; Eyono Obono, Seraphim DesireThe aim of this paper is to present a framework for the design of Information Technology (IT) curriculum programmes. This aim is achieved by identifying key models for curriculum design in general. The identification of these models was the result of a systematic literature review of existing work on designing and renewing curricula in various disciplines. The main result of this paper was obtained by merging the above mentioned curriculum models, and by incorporating ACM/IEEE-IT curriculum guidelines into the merged model. The resulting model includes the following six key phases for IT curriculum design: Information Collection, Goal Identification, Design, Model Testing, Implementation, and Evaluation. These key phases were finally designed in terms of the core aspects of ACM/IEEE-IT curriculum guidelines, the various options presented by these guidelines, and their ability to be customized. The novelty of this study can be credited to its use of systematic review of existing literature to achieve its aim.