Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1067
M. Fortuin, P. Makoni
Executive compensation and rewards continue to increase at a higher rate than employee income, incentives, and rewards despite prominent growth in corporate earnings and stock valuations. The aim of this study is to determine whether executive compensation policies are aligned with firm performance, and assess how an employee profit-sharing structure could be implemented to minimise the disparity between firm income growth and the level of employee productivity that contributes to such growth. Three firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) were selected for this study for the financial period 2014 to 2020. Log-linear models are applied to firm efficiency and growth factors. A classification model relating executive compensation to firm risk and performance is presented. Thirdly, a profit-share model is proposed to analyse profit-share impact on compensation ratios and firm cash flow and net profit. No conclusive relationship be-tween executive compensation and financial performance was found for this sample. Profit-share implementation reduces the average employee-executive compensation ratio marginally and has mixed results on inter-firm cash flows and net profits.
{"title":"Corporate Governance in South Africa: Profit-Sharing and Stakeholder Management","authors":"M. Fortuin, P. Makoni","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1067","url":null,"abstract":"Executive compensation and rewards continue to increase at a higher rate than employee income, incentives, and rewards despite prominent growth in corporate earnings and stock valuations. The aim of this study is to determine whether executive compensation policies are aligned with firm performance, and assess how an employee profit-sharing structure could be implemented to minimise the disparity between firm income growth and the level of employee productivity that contributes to such growth. Three firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) were selected for this study for the financial period 2014 to 2020. Log-linear models are applied to firm efficiency and growth factors. A classification model relating executive compensation to firm risk and performance is presented. Thirdly, a profit-share model is proposed to analyse profit-share impact on compensation ratios and firm cash flow and net profit. No conclusive relationship be-tween executive compensation and financial performance was found for this sample. Profit-share implementation reduces the average employee-executive compensation ratio marginally and has mixed results on inter-firm cash flows and net profits.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127309511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
COVID-19 has distorted the teaching and learning pedagogy, as well as the research process of higher education institutions, particularly in Africa. This pandemic-imposed restrictions on movement and demanded a shift to online interaction. This blurred the lines between work and home life and has exacerbated the deep chasms of inequality upon which South African society operates. Established on empirical evidence, substantiated by documentary data, this paper explores how these existing inequalities, exacerbated by COVID-19, manifest in the postgraduate research space of South African higher education institutions. Qualitative data were collected during a recorded focus group interview, and thematically analysed. Through a Neo-Weberian lens, it will illustrate that the pandemic, among other challenges, posed significant ethical challenges to honours students completing their research projects, in turn, shifting policies and requirements of higher education institutions (HEIs) themselves to ensure the protection of their students and quality of research output. These include concerns around digital exclusion, locating participant consent, as well as the collection of data via online channels (Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype) and their privacy parameters. Considering these gulfs of inequality, the paper recommends key requirements for the future of ethically sound research in higher education in South Africa.
{"title":"Postgraduate Research during COVID-19 in a South African Higher Education Institution: Inequality, Ethics, and Requirements for a Reimagined Future","authors":"Q. Dawood, B. van Wyk","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v3i1.966","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v3i1.966","url":null,"abstract":"COVID-19 has distorted the teaching and learning pedagogy, as well as the research process of higher education institutions, particularly in Africa. This pandemic-imposed restrictions on movement and demanded a shift to online interaction. This blurred the lines between work and home life and has exacerbated the deep chasms of inequality upon which South African society operates. Established on empirical evidence, substantiated by documentary data, this paper explores how these existing inequalities, exacerbated by COVID-19, manifest in the postgraduate research space of South African higher education institutions. Qualitative data were collected during a recorded focus group interview, and thematically analysed. Through a Neo-Weberian lens, it will illustrate that the pandemic, among other challenges, posed significant ethical challenges to honours students completing their research projects, in turn, shifting policies and requirements of higher education institutions (HEIs) themselves to ensure the protection of their students and quality of research output. These include concerns around digital exclusion, locating participant consent, as well as the collection of data via online channels (Zoom, WhatsApp, Skype) and their privacy parameters. Considering these gulfs of inequality, the paper recommends key requirements for the future of ethically sound research in higher education in South Africa.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127354288","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Engineering graduates are expected to demonstrate competence after their engineering programmes in the form of graduate attributes (GAs) prescribed by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). It has, however, been challenging to develop and assess these attributes, especially using conventional assessment or examination methods, just as on the global scale. Nevertheless, studies have demonstrated that undergraduate research enables students to develop independent critical skills, as they do in graduate studies, by identifying a problem that needs to be solved. Undergraduate research has not been widely explored as a tool in developing and accessing GAs in engineering students. This study examined the impact of undergraduate research in engineering student ECSA GAs development and assessment using a case study of civil engineering diploma students. Therefore, using purposeful quantitative sampling methods, first-year and second-year diploma students were interviewed on their experience with newly introduced undergraduate research. Observations of the students' responses indicated that students' understanding, and views of GAs do improve from the first year to the second year due to continuous exposure to research. A conceptual model for assessing and developing GAs among engineering students is proposed in this study. This conceptual framework can assist in the further development of strategies in the implementation of undergraduate research at universities of technology.
{"title":"Assessing the Impact of Undergraduate Research on Graduate Attributes Development: A Case Study of DUT Civil Engineering Students","authors":"Zesizwe Ngubane, Shanley Hay, Jacob Adedeji","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v4i1.996","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v4i1.996","url":null,"abstract":"Engineering graduates are expected to demonstrate competence after their engineering programmes in the form of graduate attributes (GAs) prescribed by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA). It has, however, been challenging to develop and assess these attributes, especially using conventional assessment or examination methods, just as on the global scale. Nevertheless, studies have demonstrated that undergraduate research enables students to develop independent critical skills, as they do in graduate studies, by identifying a problem that needs to be solved. Undergraduate research has not been widely explored as a tool in developing and accessing GAs in engineering students. This study examined the impact of undergraduate research in engineering student ECSA GAs development and assessment using a case study of civil engineering diploma students. Therefore, using purposeful quantitative sampling methods, first-year and second-year diploma students were interviewed on their experience with newly introduced undergraduate research. Observations of the students' responses indicated that students' understanding, and views of GAs do improve from the first year to the second year due to continuous exposure to research. A conceptual model for assessing and developing GAs among engineering students is proposed in this study. This conceptual framework can assist in the further development of strategies in the implementation of undergraduate research at universities of technology.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"62 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121572637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1197
O. Arek-Bawa, S. Reddy
With over two years of remote online learning, this paper assessed the extent to which academics in a School of Education (SoE) at a South African university employed their espoused (Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge) TPACK in preparing teachers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) classroom. Besides facilitating the development of disciplinary expertise, academics were expected to engage students with technological and other cross-functional skills needed to succeed as global citizens in a digitized society. Premised on the TPACK framework, a mixed-method approach using data from questionnaires distributed to all the academics in the SoE and interviews with five academics from the different disciplinary clusters of the SoE were analysed to explore their self-assessed TPACK to understand how academics prepare future teachers for the digitized 4IR classrooms. The findings suggest that academics may possess the relevant TPACK, but online educational practices may not have sufficiently equipped future teachers with the competence to thrive in the 4IR classroom. The outcome of this research provides valuable insights into academics' TPACK, especially those in teacher education, regarding their online pedagogical pursuit, the SoE in their quest to produce teachers fit for the 4IR classroom, and the scholarship of digital transformation in general.
{"title":"“Are we Producing Teachers for the 4IR Digitized Classroom?” – A Case Study of a School of Education","authors":"O. Arek-Bawa, S. Reddy","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1197","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1197","url":null,"abstract":"With over two years of remote online learning, this paper assessed the extent to which academics in a School of Education (SoE) at a South African university employed their espoused (Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge) TPACK in preparing teachers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) classroom. Besides facilitating the development of disciplinary expertise, academics were expected to engage students with technological and other cross-functional skills needed to succeed as global citizens in a digitized society. Premised on the TPACK framework, a mixed-method approach using data from questionnaires distributed to all the academics in the SoE and interviews with five academics from the different disciplinary clusters of the SoE were analysed to explore their self-assessed TPACK to understand how academics prepare future teachers for the digitized 4IR classrooms. The findings suggest that academics may possess the relevant TPACK, but online educational practices may not have sufficiently equipped future teachers with the competence to thrive in the 4IR classroom. The outcome of this research provides valuable insights into academics' TPACK, especially those in teacher education, regarding their online pedagogical pursuit, the SoE in their quest to produce teachers fit for the 4IR classroom, and the scholarship of digital transformation in general.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124163342","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.51415/ajims.v4i1.1004
S. Pramjeeth, E. Mutambara
Leading through a crisis and volatile environment requires very different and unique leadership traits. This research sought to understand if the leaders at a state-owned (SoE) utility in South Africa, Eskom, are equipped with the required traits to succeed in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) induced crisis environment like the Covid-19 pandemic and if there is an alignment between how leaders perceive how well they can perform their tasks with their employees' perceptions of their ability to do the task in this environment. Ineffective leadership response to such an environment and crisis due to leaders lacking the essential traits can cost the SoE direly in financial terms, market value, service delivery, brand equity, and employee attrition. Thus, establishing the key leadership traits that leaders at Eskom lack for leading in VUCA and crisis environments would assist Eskom in identifying the appropriate upskilling for their leaders. Using a quantitative research design, the study surveyed a total of 65 senior managers and 45 employees at Eskom, an SoE in South Africa, using an online survey platform. The study found that the senior managers at Eskom are equipped to some degree with the appropriate traits required to succeed in a VUCA environment. They could not perform all 32 tasks well as per the SCAILES framework but do display key traits that align to 6 constructs of the framework: strategic, complex, adaptive, learning, emergence, and systems.
{"title":"Examining Leadership Traits to Succeed in a VUCA-Induced Environment in Eskom","authors":"S. Pramjeeth, E. Mutambara","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v4i1.1004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v4i1.1004","url":null,"abstract":"Leading through a crisis and volatile environment requires very different and unique leadership traits. This research sought to understand if the leaders at a state-owned (SoE) utility in South Africa, Eskom, are equipped with the required traits to succeed in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous (VUCA) induced crisis environment like the Covid-19 pandemic and if there is an alignment between how leaders perceive how well they can perform their tasks with their employees' perceptions of their ability to do the task in this environment. Ineffective leadership response to such an environment and crisis due to leaders lacking the essential traits can cost the SoE direly in financial terms, market value, service delivery, brand equity, and employee attrition. Thus, establishing the key leadership traits that leaders at Eskom lack for leading in VUCA and crisis environments would assist Eskom in identifying the appropriate upskilling for their leaders. Using a quantitative research design, the study surveyed a total of 65 senior managers and 45 employees at Eskom, an SoE in South Africa, using an online survey platform. The study found that the senior managers at Eskom are equipped to some degree with the appropriate traits required to succeed in a VUCA environment. They could not perform all 32 tasks well as per the SCAILES framework but do display key traits that align to 6 constructs of the framework: strategic, complex, adaptive, learning, emergence, and systems.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"88 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115344464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Due to an oft held presupposition by academic administrators that the humanities lack utility, it is common for humanities scholars to be fearful of the demise of our disciplines in institutions of higher learning. In a number of western institutions, humanities departments have been closed based upon this logic. Locating the discussion within the South African academy and based particularly upon the pedagogical experience of the University of South Africa, the authors note an emerging juxtaposition to the western utilitarian approach toward humanities. The decolonial turn is gaining traction in neo colonies and offers an approach away from western positivist-inspired reductivism. Therefore, from within the decolonial milieu, a recovery of the importance of researching and teaching themes of the human can arise when the conception of the person is integrally restored. We argue that when dominant knowledge systems are dislodged, space is created for epistemic plurality by which epistemic re-centring occurs. Doing philosophy in the decolonial environment affords the privilege of reclaiming humanity in the face of its neo colonial mutilation. This is even more so, when philosophy is taught through the dispersed mode of open, distance, and e-learning (ODeL), an andragogy that encourages recentring and decolonisation in both the theory and praxis of teaching and learning.
{"title":"Decolonisation and Rehumanising through Reclaiming the Humanities in ODEL","authors":"C. Scott, Y. Coetser","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v3i1.928","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v3i1.928","url":null,"abstract":"Due to an oft held presupposition by academic administrators that the humanities lack utility, it is common for humanities scholars to be fearful of the demise of our disciplines in institutions of higher learning. In a number of western institutions, humanities departments have been closed based upon this logic. Locating the discussion within the South African academy and based particularly upon the pedagogical experience of the University of South Africa, the authors note an emerging juxtaposition to the western utilitarian approach toward humanities. The decolonial turn is gaining traction in neo colonies and offers an approach away from western positivist-inspired reductivism. Therefore, from within the decolonial milieu, a recovery of the importance of researching and teaching themes of the human can arise when the conception of the person is integrally restored. We argue that when dominant knowledge systems are dislodged, space is created for epistemic plurality by which epistemic re-centring occurs. Doing philosophy in the decolonial environment affords the privilege of reclaiming humanity in the face of its neo colonial mutilation. This is even more so, when philosophy is taught through the dispersed mode of open, distance, and e-learning (ODeL), an andragogy that encourages recentring and decolonisation in both the theory and praxis of teaching and learning.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"88 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129708070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examined the influences of interest on loans and loan re-payment plans on the sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa. A quantitative research design that adheres to the positivist paradigm was utilized for this study's methodology. The study targeted 103 SMEs operating in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa using purposive sampling. A total of 103 surveys were administered, representing a participation rate of 100 percent. The analysis demonstrated a positive relationship between interest on loans and the SMEs’ sustainability and positive relationship between Loan re-payment plans and SMEs’ sustainability. The study recommended that financial institutions should examine loan re-payment plans for SMEs as necessary in order to minimize loan defaults by SMEs, and financial institutions should cut loan interest rates and the costs associated with loan approvals, which may be accomplished via automation and the utilization of online applications. Furthermore, the study suggested that financial institutions should design a flexible loan re-payment plan for SMEs that considers the nation's economic realities.
{"title":"Nexus of Loan Re-payment Plans, Interest on Loans and the Sustainability of Small and Medium Enterprises in South Africa","authors":"T. Msomi, Odunayo Magret Olarewaju","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v4i1.976","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v4i1.976","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examined the influences of interest on loans and loan re-payment plans on the sustainability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa. A quantitative research design that adheres to the positivist paradigm was utilized for this study's methodology. The study targeted 103 SMEs operating in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa using purposive sampling. A total of 103 surveys were administered, representing a participation rate of 100 percent. The analysis demonstrated a positive relationship between interest on loans and the SMEs’ sustainability and positive relationship between Loan re-payment plans and SMEs’ sustainability. The study recommended that financial institutions should examine loan re-payment plans for SMEs as necessary in order to minimize loan defaults by SMEs, and financial institutions should cut loan interest rates and the costs associated with loan approvals, which may be accomplished via automation and the utilization of online applications. Furthermore, the study suggested that financial institutions should design a flexible loan re-payment plan for SMEs that considers the nation's economic realities.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125556053","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1167
Patricia Makwambeni, B. Makwambeni, S. Usadolo
Over the past two decades, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa have been formulating e-learning policies to assist them to realise the full potential of using ICTs in teaching and learning. E-learning policies serve as guiding frameworks that create enabling environments for embedding ICTs in teaching and learning. The development of e-learning policies has attracted various stakeholders and actors with varied interests, views, priorities, influence and power. Consequently, stakeholder engagement is now an essential factor in the policy process. The efficacy of an e-learning policy can therefore be judged based on the multiple perspectives that it includes and the inclusion of those it affects in the policy-making process. In light of this background, this paper examined stakeholder engagement that characterised the e-learning policy formulation process at a University of Technology in South Africa (UoT). How stakeholders were engaged in the policy-making process using stakeholder engagement as its analytical framework, the stakeholders and actors involved in the policy formulation process and the nature of the dialogue that informed the policy formulation process were examined. The qualitative study gathered evidence using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The study's findings show that the policy-making process at the UoT followed a bureaucratic process dominated by one actor, the policy delegate. Key stakeholders were excluded during the policy formulation process and were only consulted at the drafting stage. As a result, stakeholder engagement in the policy formulation process was low, resulting in key stakeholders and actors lacking policy ownership. Our findings also show that the exclusion of key stakeholders in the policy formulation process resulted in a policy that exclusively focuses on the Learner Management System and overlooks other technologies that play a crucial role in teaching and learning. These findings suggest the need to include all critical stakeholders and actors affected and interested in the e-learning policy at every stage of the policy formulation process.
{"title":"An Analysis of Stakeholder Engagement in the E-Learning Policy-Making Process at a Higher Education Institution in South Africa","authors":"Patricia Makwambeni, B. Makwambeni, S. Usadolo","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1167","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v5i1.1167","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past two decades, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa have been formulating e-learning policies to assist them to realise the full potential of using ICTs in teaching and learning. E-learning policies serve as guiding frameworks that create enabling environments for embedding ICTs in teaching and learning. The development of e-learning policies has attracted various stakeholders and actors with varied interests, views, priorities, influence and power. Consequently, stakeholder engagement is now an essential factor in the policy process. The efficacy of an e-learning policy can therefore be judged based on the multiple perspectives that it includes and the inclusion of those it affects in the policy-making process. In light of this background, this paper examined stakeholder engagement that characterised the e-learning policy formulation process at a University of Technology in South Africa (UoT). How stakeholders were engaged in the policy-making process using stakeholder engagement as its analytical framework, the stakeholders and actors involved in the policy formulation process and the nature of the dialogue that informed the policy formulation process were examined. The qualitative study gathered evidence using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The study's findings show that the policy-making process at the UoT followed a bureaucratic process dominated by one actor, the policy delegate. Key stakeholders were excluded during the policy formulation process and were only consulted at the drafting stage. As a result, stakeholder engagement in the policy formulation process was low, resulting in key stakeholders and actors lacking policy ownership. Our findings also show that the exclusion of key stakeholders in the policy formulation process resulted in a policy that exclusively focuses on the Learner Management System and overlooks other technologies that play a crucial role in teaching and learning. These findings suggest the need to include all critical stakeholders and actors affected and interested in the e-learning policy at every stage of the policy formulation process.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127839525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The water crisis has reached a fever pitch in South Africa, with threats of ground zero and disruption of water supplies. The paper focuses on household knowledge and awareness of the water crisis and conservation efforts to reduce water consumption in a low-cost housing setting within the eThekwini municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A mixed method that consists of qualitative and quantitative phases was adopted to explore water practices. Focus group discussions were conducted with a representative sample of 22 people residing in the Waterloo area, situated north of Durban. Subsequently, the results from the discussions were used to design a questionnaire which was administered to 304 residents in the same location. Data was collected through an anonymised research questionnaire. The qualitative data was analysed using content analysis by generating codes to theme the data while descriptive analysis was performed on the quantitative data. In synthesising the results, three recurring key issues are identified, namely (1) access to knowledge; (2) community engagement as part of the solution; and (3) allocation of incentives. While participants had knowledge of water conservation practices, there was, however, a high amount of water consumption and high unaccounted water losses in the area. Although some of the participants held the view that providing incentives like free airtime and electricity could help influence water conservation, many were, however, in favour of installing water-harvesting facilities such as JoJo tanks. The study conclusively proposes economic nudging in the LCH areas as a cost-effective measure towards water conservation.
{"title":"Exploring the Knowledge and Practice of Water Conservation Measures: A Case of Low-Cost Housing Setting in South Africa","authors":"Rookmoney Thakur, S. Onwubu, G. Harris","doi":"10.51415/ajims.v3i1.886","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.51415/ajims.v3i1.886","url":null,"abstract":"The water crisis has reached a fever pitch in South Africa, with threats of ground zero and disruption of water supplies. The paper focuses on household knowledge and awareness of the water crisis and conservation efforts to reduce water consumption in a low-cost housing setting within the eThekwini municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. A mixed method that consists of qualitative and quantitative phases was adopted to explore water practices. Focus group discussions were conducted with a representative sample of 22 people residing in the Waterloo area, situated north of Durban. Subsequently, the results from the discussions were used to design a questionnaire which was administered to 304 residents in the same location. Data was collected through an anonymised research questionnaire. The qualitative data was analysed using content analysis by generating codes to theme the data while descriptive analysis was performed on the quantitative data. In synthesising the results, three recurring key issues are identified, namely (1) access to knowledge; (2) community engagement as part of the solution; and (3) allocation of incentives. While participants had knowledge of water conservation practices, there was, however, a high amount of water consumption and high unaccounted water losses in the area. Although some of the participants held the view that providing incentives like free airtime and electricity could help influence water conservation, many were, however, in favour of installing water-harvesting facilities such as JoJo tanks. The study conclusively proposes economic nudging in the LCH areas as a cost-effective measure towards water conservation.","PeriodicalId":389941,"journal":{"name":"African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1900-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122327936","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 1900-01-01DOI: 10.51415/ajims.v4i1.1013
P. Reddy
Problem-based learning (PBL) using groupwork was used to engage students in undergraduate research methodology (UGR). It is anticipated that students will develop both interpersonal and employability skills during this exercise. This study explores a student cohort experience of groupwork within the teaching and learning of UGR at a South African University of Technology (UoT). The study used a qualitative approach. Students (n=28) were invited to participate after completing each research module using a non-probability convenience sampling strategy. Data collection using virtual interviews continued until data saturation was reached (n=7). Transcribed interviews were analysed using a thematic analysis strategy. Identified themes included student experiences and challenges associated with groupwork, perceptions regarding groupwork goals, working strategies and technology use, and improving the groupwork experience. Students emphasized benefits such as sharing ideas and workloads, but there were conflicting views regarding the pedagogic reason for groupwork. Students reported an increasing dependence on technology. Shared challenges included the “freeriding” phenomenon, which caused dissent and frustration. Choosing their own group members improved their experience. Peer assessment and assessment of individual contributions were supported to subvert freeriding. Groupwork requires extensive planning and management by the lecturer, particularly for PBL and UGR.
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