COM 2012 Special Edition

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http://hdl.handle.net/11660/2529

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Browsing COM 2012 Special Edition by Subject "Communication"

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    Effective and empowering communication as an aspect of the training and development of principals
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2012) Moloi, K. C.; Grobler, B.; Van der walt, J. K.; Potgieter, F. J.; Wolhuter, C. C.
    A school manager (principal, administrator, leader) should be keenly aware of the power relations and structures in a school, and also able to apply several communication skills effectively in a range of management contexts for the school to prosper. This article reports on a theoretical investigation into effective communication as well as an empirical study of educators’ views regarding the effectiveness of the communication skills of their school principals. The findings are of such a nature that principals should consider applying a similar survey instrument among their staff and other parties involved in their schools to helping them gauge the effectiveness of their communication skills. It is also recommended that principals consider the use of certain types of social media in their communication with other stakeholder parties.
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    Social communication towards sustainable physical science learning environments
    (Department of Communication Science, University of the Free State, 2012) Mahlomaholo, Sechaba. M. G.
    This article documents how social communication among actors in one of the projects in our academic network creates sustainable learning environments at a school and its local community. Social communication is understood to be the symbolic order that emerges when these actors (human beings), in a reciprocal manner, explain and share the intentions, processes and outcomes of their actions. In this study, actors who communicate among themselves in the academic network are teachers, learners, parents, members of the community, postgraduate student researchers and their supervisors. Such communication is deliberate and it is organised, among others, towards enhancing academic performance of school learners as well as the empowerment of other actors participating therein. Using network theory the author comes to understand how this network as the space of flows of knowledge and communication was created and meaningfully used to achieve the abovementioned objectives. Analysing the conversations of actors within this network further, using critical discourse analytic procedures, also shows how they combine their tacit community cultural wealth and global knowledge to scaffold themselves to higher forms of conceptual sophistication. Through this intersection of “knowledges”, learning environments become sustainable as actors own them through self-generated communications and knowledge.