School of Higher Education Studies

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Browsing School of Higher Education Studies by Author "Bezuidenhoud, L."

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    Integrating academic and career advising in a South African Higher Education institution
    (University of the Free State, 2021-12) Schoeman, Monique; Loots, S.; Bezuidenhoud, L.
    South African Higher Education has focused extensively on widening access to further inclusivity and economic development. However, it has become apparent that access alone is not enough, as students need to persist and succeed in their studies to graduate in the minimum amount of time. International research on what contributes to timely degree completion has focused on academic advising, counselling, orientation programmes, learning communities, and institution-wide reform, amongst others. Academic advising stands out here, because research suggests that a comprehensive approach, specifically where effective academic advising is present and combined with other support efforts, best assists timely degree completion. This study thus delves deeper into effective academic advising practice. Academic advising, a well-known concept in the United States of America (USA), is relatively new field in South Africa. That said, there is a growing body of knowledge in South Africa on the impact of peers on students’ academic development and success. In addition to the challenge of timely degree completion, with the graduate unemployment rate of 11% and other challenges beyond the scope of this dissertation, higher education institutions’ responsibility to help students succeed should not end with assisting students in graduating. Rather, students need to be guided in career-related matters while engaging in curricular and co-curricular matters. As many as three out of four students entering the university for the first time have no clear career goals. The fact that there is little connection between academic majors and future career paths among general degrees can contribute to students making decisions incongruent with their academic and personal strengths. Therefore, it is crucial that academic and career information need to be integrated when advising students. Academic advisors are in an excellent position to facilitate guidance in career-related matters when providing academic advice. They are also well placed to assist students in developing academic goals and career plans consistent with their interests and values in order for them to succeed. This assistance in understanding how academic and personal interests, abilities, and values relate to possible careers and forming plans is what Gordon (2005) terms career advising. To explore how academic and career advising could be integrated in practice, this study uses the University of the Free State (UFS) as a case example. This study uses Gordon’s 3-I Process, a framework that integrates career advising into academic advising practice, as a lens to assess academic advising practice at the UFS. The 3-I Process is widely used within academia in the USA, and is associated with the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) – the global leader in academic advising. This study is situated in the constructivist paradigm and follows a qualitative approach. Results from interviews with advisors at the UFS stress the need for such a unified framework, and recommendations are made on how advising at the UFS could develop more holistically. This study also contributes to the conceptualisation and practical application of advising in the broader South African context.
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    The perceptions of various role players on the training and instructional behaviour of tutors in a Faculty of Education at a Higher Education Institution
    (University of the Free State, 2016-07) Botes, Wiets; Beylefeld, A. A.; Bezuidenhoud, L.
    English: At the University of the Free State tutoring is one of the mechanisms that are used to enhance students’ throughput rate. A literature study, followed by extensive empirical investigations among lecturers, tutors, tutees and teaching and learning coordinators has confirmed that unless tutors are equipped with the principles of student-centred learning and peer facilitation, obtained through adequate training and development, tutoring might not be effective at all. At institutional level the CTL provides generic tutor training by means of the A_STEP. In the Faculty of Education, various initiatives have been launched over the past two years to supplement and enrich the generic training programme. Despite these Faculty-specific initiatives the researcher, in his capacity as teaching and learning coordinator, identified a serious shortfall in the quality of tutoring in the sense that tutors revert to re-lecturing instead of learning facilitation. This study consulted a variety of data sources in order to explore, gather evidence and consider perceptions in order to understand how the quality of tutor training and development in the Faculty of Education could be enhanced. Faculty-specific tutor training features that demand modification were highlighted, and suggestions were made on how to create a conducive environment to hone and maintain tutor skills, thus putting greater emphasis on their professional development as aspiring academics. Afrikaans: Aan die Universiteit van die Vrystaat is tutoriale een van die meganismes wat gebruik word om studente se deurvloei te verbeter. ‘n Literatuurstudie, gevolg deur ‘n uitgebreide empiriese ondersoek onder dosente, tutors, tutees en onderrig-en-leer koördineerders het bevestig dat tensy tutors deur middel van voldoende opleiding en ontwikkeling toegerus word met die beginsels van student-gesentreerde leer en eweknie-fasilitering, tutorsessies as onderrigbenadering geheel en al kan faal. . Institusioneel voorsien die Sentrum vir Onderrig en Leer (SOL) generiese tutoropleiding deur middel van die sogenaamde “A_STEP”. In die Fakulteit Opvoedkunde is daar gedurende die afgelope twee jaar verskeie inisiatiewe geloods om dié generiese program aan te vul en te verryk. Ten spyte hiervan het die navorser, in sy hoedanigheid as onderrig-en-leer koördineerder ‘n ernstige tekortkoming in die gehalte van tutoriale geïdentifiseer in dié sin dat tutors geneig is om mini-lesings te gee in plaas daarvan om leer te fasiliteer. Hierdie studie het ‘n wye verskeidenheid van databronne geraadpleeg om die terrein te verken en persepsies te oorweeg met die oog daarop om te verstaan hoe die gehalte van tutoriale in die Fakulteit Opvoedkunde verbeter kan word. Fasette van fakulteitspesifieke tutoropleiding wat verandering noodsaak is uitgelig en voorstelle is gemaak vir die daarstel van ‘n omgewing wat bevorderlik is vir die opskerp en instandhouding van tutorvaardighede, om sodoende groter klem te plaas op die professionele ontwikkeling van tutors as aspirant-akademici.