Table 2 - uploaded by Charity Ntomboxolo Ndeya-Ndereya
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The absence of face-to-face contact between students and course facilitators is one of the main reasons why online learning environments are often described as impersonal, lonesome and lacking social presence. A recent study by Ndeya-Ndereya (2008) resulted in the development of a framework for the enhancement of online social presence within the c...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... 1 provides a summary of the communication strategies suggested by Ndeya-Ndereya (2008) that could potentially assist in creating and enhancing online social presence. Table 1: Communication strategies to enhance online social presence (Adapted from Ndeya-Ndereya 2008) • Enhance online communication skills. ...
Context 2
... various communication tools that were available as part of the university's LMS, were evaluated and each of the identified communication activities was matched with the most appropriate LMS tool. Table 2 depicts an excerpt from the facilitation plan for one unit of the course design. The aim of the particular study unit described in Table 2 was to introduce the students to the concept of blended learning and the LMS environment. ...
Context 3
... 2 depicts an excerpt from the facilitation plan for one unit of the course design. The aim of the particular study unit described in Table 2 was to introduce the students to the concept of blended learning and the LMS environment. After completion of the facilitation plan, each of the selected LMS communication tools was evaluated to determine which technological skills students would require to gain access to and use each of these tools. ...
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Citations
... Students needed appropriate support at the appropriate time -research such as what was carried out by Gatsha and Evans [9], on the perceptions and experiences of open and distance students in Botswana in terms of e-learning support, is therefore essential. In this same vein, Dennen and Wieland [5] investigated moving from interaction to inter-subjectivity when facilitating online group discourse processes in open and distance e-learning contexts, while Nel and Ndeya-Ndereya [29] also highlighted the role of communication in enhancing online social presence. ...
The author introduces an Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). A literature review details concepts relating to ICT4D, MOOCs and institutional learning management system technologies, presenting aspects relating to what the pedagogy underlying the course was, and how the course was adapted to a MOOC. A section follows describing the research methodology regarding the design used, and the data collected in student course evaluations of the MOOC. The results discuss demographic particulars for the samples including 2842 respondents from twenty countries. The author e.g. describes what students' overall experience of the course was, and how they communicated with their teaching assistants. Results further highlight students' access to computers, devices and the internet. A results summary concludes the paper.
... • Guide adult learners within parameters related to actual life and work experiences (Nafuko, Amutabi & Otunga, 2005). • Offer aid to complement adult learners' shortfalls with the intent to bring them up to speed with technological advancements for ease of participation (Nafuko, Wawire & Lam, 2010), particularly those that are affected by the socio-economic and techno-cultural factors; • Offer a full online support service suitable for adult learners to advance their career pathway (Ferreira & Venter, 2011); • Adapt the programme to suit the needs of individual adult learners and shape a relationship for continuous development (Nel & Ndeya-Ndereya, 2011). • ...
Conventional learning, as we have come to know it, is rapidly changing due to the advancements in education provision. Strategies that focus on adult learners, particularly in ODL environments, have to be developed. This chapter endorses a discourse regarding web-mentoring as a principal form of ODL supervision that is suitable for adult learners and highlights the codes influencing their learning. It provides the quintessence and recognition of learning difficulties by determining issues arising from critical perceptions and identifying the significance of advancing learning in relation to the virtual mentor-mentee relationship. The discussion draws on both perspectives of UTAUT and the benefits of web-mentoring for adult learners. It gives prominence to features influencing technology acceptance and detects possibilities that strengthen or limit the essence of these factors by accentuating the value of netting socio-economic and techno-cultural differences to understand reception and need. Finally, it presents a framework for launching a sound mentoring relationship.
... Van Schoor [5] pointed out that the assessment of students' academic preparedness for studying in an open and distance e-learning context is one of the numerous factors, which contribute to success. Nel and Ndeya-Ndereya [16] pointed to the lack of face-to-face contact between open and distance e-learning students and their lecturers as one of the foremost reasons why e-learning contexts are often experienced as being impersonal, lonely and lacking social presence. ...
... If the FAQs technology is available on their module toolbar, learners are requested to check whether their question is not answered there before they contact teachers. In an example of a facilitation plan provided by Nel and Ndeya-Ndereya (2011), these authors listed the FAQs section on the VLE as a resource for learners' introduction to e-Learning. ...
The topic of this paper and research question addressed concerns the author’s experiences in designing and teaching an entry-level Information and Communication Technology for Development Open Education e-Learning module. The paper introduces the module design, which included additional learner support instruments, such as mixed media, e-tutors and extended use of the functions on the institutional virtual learning en5vironment, myUNISA.
The literature review section presents aspects relating to the pedagogy adopted by academic staff and e-Learning teachers in this module, as well as how the module design process followed the team approach, including criteria in terms of the planning process, online development, curriculum design and applicable quality assurance. It also documents concepts related to what was done to ensure that the module was creative, relevant and of high impact for e-Learners. This included cutting-edge content in terms of e.g. open educational resources in the form of e-books and simulations, which was used in conjunction with innovative learning technologies.
The following section describes how the empirical research was undertaken and the research method regarding the research design used. It also outlines the especially quantitative data that had been collected in a learner module evaluation, which included mechanisms for feedback and improvement.
A discussion of the results starts with demographic details in terms of the e-Learner characteristics for the sample of 1571 participants from fifteen countries. The author then provides a look at learners’ evaluation of e.g. the use of e-tutors, extended use of myUNISA e-Learning technologies, and to what extent the latter had been used as additional learner support instruments. Details are provided on, for example, how learners communicated with their e-Learning tutors, the extent to which the textbook and/or prescribed material for the module was relevant, and what learners’ overall experience of the module as a whole had been like.
This paper discusses issues and lessons learned from designing and teaching an e-Learning module to almost 80,000 learners to date, which had been prepared in a learner-friendly style, used a range of engagement tools and thus created a rich e-Learning environment.
... In terms of some of the educational technologies used to support this course, Cant and Bothma (2010) indicated that the frequently-asked questions (FAQs) educational technology can be used to answer the typical questions that often students ask. In an example of a facilitation plan provided by Nel and Ndeya-Ndereya (2011), these authors listed the FAQ section on the virtual learning environment as a resource for students' introduction to learning. If the FAQs educational technology is available on their course toolbar, students are advised to check whether their question is not answered there before they contact their e-tutor -e-tutors were trained to act as coaches for the students, with "a grade book interface to monitor student progress" (Garcia et al., 2014, p. 274). ...
This paper describes the author’s e-learning project experiences of being involved in the development and management of e-content for an introductory Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The paper introduces the design of this course over a period of three semesters using a team approach, to shed some light onto how to teach such a MOOC successfully.
The literature review documents concepts related to ICT4D and MOOCs and aspects relating to what the teaching philosophy underlying this course had been, as well as how the course had been adapted for a flexible distance learning MOOC environment. This is followed by a section that describes the research methodology in terms of the research design that was used, as well as the data, enabled by a wealth of information that had been collected in a technology-enhanced evaluation and assessment of the MOOC by students.
A discussion of the findings starts with demographic details for the sample of 1573 respondents from fifteen countries. The author describes which educational technologies had been used for by students, e.g. to communicate with their course leader and e-tutors. Details are further provided on the feedback students received on their assignments and what their experience of the course had been. Highlights from qualitative findings, detailing what students enjoyed about this course with regard to the ICT4D aspect of it, are also provided.
The paper discusses key aspects of this course that contributed to it being highly popular amongst students and successful, and enabled this course to provide a valuable learning experience using educational technologies for an ICT4D MOOC in the 21st century, thus validating the design decisions taken with regard to the MOOC version of the course. A section on possible further work and a summary of findings concludes the paper.
... In terms of some of the educational technologies used to support this course, Cant and Bothma (2010) indicated that the frequently-asked questions (FAQs) educational technology can be used to answer the typical questions that often students ask. In an example of a facilitation plan provided by Nel and Ndeya-Ndereya (2011), these authors listed the FAQ section on the virtual learning environment as a resource for students' introduction to learning. If the FAQs educational technology is available on their course toolbar, students are advised to check whether their question is not answered there before they contact their e-tutor -e-tutors were trained to act as coaches for the students, with "a grade book interface to monitor student progress" (Garcia et al., 2014, p. 274). ...
This paper describes the author’s e-learning project experiences of being involved in the development and management of e-content for an introductory Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The paper introduces the design of this course over a period of three semesters using a team approach, to shed some light onto how to teach such a MOOC successfully.
The literature review documents concepts related to ICT4D and MOOCs and aspects relating to what the teaching philosophy underlying this course had been, as well as how the course had been adapted for a flexible distance learning MOOC environment. This is followed by a section that describes the research methodology in terms of the research design that was used, as well as the data, enabled by a wealth of information that had been collected in a technology-enhanced evaluation and assessment of the MOOC by students.
A discussion of the findings starts with demographic details for the sample of 1573 respondents from fifteen countries. The author describes which educational technologies had been used for by students, e.g. to communicate with their course leader and e-tutors. Details are further provided on the feedback students received on their assignments and what their experience of the course had been. Highlights from qualitative findings, detailing what students enjoyed about this course with regard to the ICT4D aspect of it, are also provided.
The paper discusses key aspects of this course that contributed to it being highly popular amongst students and successful, and enabled this course to provide a valuable learning experience using educational technologies for an ICT4D MOOC in the 21st century, thus validating the design decisions taken with regard to the MOOC version of the course. A section on possible further work and a summary of findings concludes the paper.
Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) continue to ex-pand the borders of higher education into an anytime and anywhere experience. Mobile technology presents new means for students to access classroom infor-mation and communicate with peers and lecturers. Today, mobile phones have become popular devices for accessing and sharing information. Such mobile de-vices include personal smart phones, tablets, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), iPod touches, iPad, and numerous other devices. There is no doubt that the usage of mobile devices for academic purposes is becoming increasingly popular. Uni-versities now consists students who are easily connected to technology and smart mobile devices. Despite the growth of mobile usage, some lecturers do not allow mobile usage during lectures. A mixed method was applied to determine mobile ownership and usage during lectures. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were incorporated in data analysis. Results show that students are increasingly utilising their mobile phones during lectures. The results helped in formulating the recommendations discussed in the paper.
Conventional learning, as we have come to know it, is rapidly changing due to the advancements in education provision. Strategies that focus on adult learners, particularly in ODL environments, have to be developed. This chapter endorses a discourse regarding web-mentoring as a principal form of ODL supervision that is suitable for adult learners and highlights the codes influencing their learning. It provides the quintessence and recognition of learning difficulties by determining issues arising from critical perceptions and identifying the significance of advancing learning in relation to the virtual mentor-mentee relationship. The discussion draws on both perspectives of UTAUT and the benefits of web-mentoring for adult learners. It gives prominence to features influencing technology acceptance and detects possibilities that strengthen or limit the essence of these factors by accentuating the value of netting socio-economic and techno-cultural differences to understand reception and need. Finally, it presents a framework for launching a sound mentoring relationship.
This abstract contains a brief introduction to research on the topic of providing a mainly qualitative perspective on teachers' use of e-learning technologies towards effective teaching for meaningful e-learning to address the challenges of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) courses in an online and open distance education environment. A more detailed research question towards this purpose is provided in the paper. The paper proceeds to a review of the literature on research into how teachers use e-learning technologies towards effective teaching for meaningful e-learning, in order to thus increase throughput rates, in some cases in online and/or open distance education environments. As examples of what will be discussed in this section, online learning objects have been investigated from the perspective of constructivist theory through to application, and why online learners drop out interrogated, while some researchers worked towards a framework to support transformation through quality assurance at the University of South Africa. As an example of a research design that had been implemented in a previous investigation, a phenomenological study was used as part of a qualitative, interactive design in order to investigate e-learner interaction experiences in an online and open distance education context. In terms of the methodology used to collect the data, aspects relating to the data collection instrument, sample and sampling technique, validity and reliability of the instrument and data analysis were discussed in an earlier paper. Although some perspectives on a summary of quantitative results are provided, this paper mainly discusses results aimed at providing a qualitative perspective on teachers' use of e-learning technologies towards effective teaching for meaningful e-learning to address the challenges of ICT modules in an online and open distance education context. Conclusions are presented, including a summary of the most important results, and their value. The authors show how the results of this research could make a significant and original contribution regarding emerging trends in, and the promotion and development of knowledge in fields related to, teachers' use of e-learning technologies towards effective teaching for meaningful e-learning in an online and open distance education environment.
