Saide Current Awareness
1 October 2024

 

Distance Education

  • How ‘Open’ is Distance Higher Education for Students with Disabilities? A Literature Review Source: Vol. 4 No. 4 (2024): Futurity Education. This study attempts to answer the question of how "Open" Distance Higher Education is for Students with Disabilities (SwD) through a literature review. To this end, published books, journals, reports, and articles were examined using authoritative research sources such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and ERIC. In addition, laws related to Persons with Disabilities and education were also utilized. This paper is divided into four sections, where accessibility in Open and Distance Higher Education is analyzed in relation to SwD more broadly, concluding in the last section by discussing Open and Distance Higher Education and SwD in Greece. The existing literature and related research are very limited. The findings show that Distance Education offers significant opportunities for inclusive education, mainly due to the flexibility it provides.
  • Mapping and visualization of literature in distance education: A scientometric analysis based on citespace Source: Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development Distance education (DE) has recently become a noteworthy study topic in the public education system. From the Web of Science database, 5719 articles discussing DE and published in the period of 2011–2023 were acquired. By analyzing the overall characteristics, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrence of the selected articles, which utilized Cite Space software, the history of DE could be systematically grasped, thereby reasonably predict the emphases of future development. We found that the number of papers relevant to DE had been rapidly growing since 2018. USA, China, and Turkey are the top three countries where most authors or teams were located. The map of keyword cooccurrence showed that the previous DE research mainly focused on telelearning, adult learning, and distributed learning environment. The recent burst words emerging are used to determine that distance education will continue to be studied in the field with high explosive keywords such as visual tracking, technology acceptance model, and user interface. This will provide suggestions and directions for the development of distance education.
  • Unisa partners with its German distance learning counterpart Source: IOL As part of the expansion of its global reach and influence, the University of South Africa (Unisa) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with FernUniversität Hagen (FernUni) in Germany that will allow for a stronger collaboration between the two institutions for the benefit of the collective student body.
  • The Mill Partners With De-Africa to Launch First Pan-African Entrepreneurship Course Source: NewsWire In an exciting new partnership, The Mill, a leading startup accelerator based in Bloomington, Indiana, has partnered with Distance Education for Africa (De-Africa) to launch the first-ever Pan-African entrepreneurship course. This hands-on program aims to build entrepreneurship skills among 389 participants in 28 countries across Africa, helping to foster innovation, business ownership, and community development.

Education: South Africa

  • Looming basic education crisis gives South Africans sleepless nights Source: IOL South Africa’s impending financial crisis is giving South Africans sleepless nights since Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube this week announced that austerity measures have posed a severe financial dilemma for her department. On Wednesday, the newly-appointed minister revealed that the country was hard hit by budget cuts that might result in more job cuts for teachers and in other key areas.
  • South Africa’s Educational Crossroads: Addressing Budget Cuts and Future Challenges Source: Cape Town Today South Africa’s education system is facing tough times due to budget cuts, meaning fewer teachers and larger classes. By 2027, many areas will struggle financially, affecting students’ learning and future opportunities. Minister Gwarube warns this could lead to a crisis, where kids won’t get the attention they need to succeed. To turn things around, South Africa must rethink how it invests in education, seeing it as vital for the country’s future. With community help and smart use of technology, there’s hope to improve the situation for the youth.
  • LISTEN | Broke education department stops hiring more teachers Source: TimesLive The basic education department will not fill vacant teacher posts and needs money urgently to fund teachers in the system, but the minister insists no retrenchments are expected.It needs between R79bn and R118bn. Basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube told journalists the government needs to prioritise sectors such as education and health and cut from departments that are “not yielding impact or absolutely critical” to cover the billions needed by the department.
  • Classroom catastrophe: Education expert, teacher unions warn of large classes because of budget cuts Source: News24 The Western Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga education departments are the only departments that declared the number of teachers they will be able to afford in 2025
  • The ASRI Report Source: Radio Islam On this week’s Auwal Socioeconomic Research Institute Report (ASRI Report) Angelo Fick discusses the potential education budget crisis, criticism for President Ramaphosa’s focus on attracting international investment and coalition politics in major cities like Tshwane and Johannesburg. The Department of Education has raised alarms over potential budget shortfalls in seven provinces, warning that these provincial budgets could run aground by 2027-2028. Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, has expressed concern over the deteriorating state of education funding, citing that the issues stem from decisions made by previous administrations.
  • Empty stomachs, empty classrooms: Investment in school feeding schemes Source: StatsSA The South African government spent R8,4 billion in 2022/23 on its nationwide school feeding scheme. Recent data provides a provincial breakdown, as well as how this spending has shifted over the years.
  • Innovating Education – Lego Braille Bricks transforming classrooms at Athlone School for the Blind Source: UCT News The Lego Braille Bricks project, a groundbreaking collaboration between the LEGO Foundation, UCT’s Including Disability Education in Africa (IDEA), and BlindSA, is making waves in the education of visually impaired children. Recently, the project team visited Athlone School for the Blind, one of four participating schools in the Western Cape and Gauteng, to gather feedback on how this innovative learning tool is transforming the classroom experience.

Language, Literacies, Research Writing and Publishing

  • Indigenous languages vital to improving poor literacy levels: Gwarube Source: SABC News To stem poor literacy levels among school-going children, mother-tongue education must be implemented. This is the sentiment shared by Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube. Her comments come as a 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study found that 81% of grade 4 learners in South Africa struggle to read with comprehension at age 10. Gwarube says there needs to be redress in the system as the Constitution guarantees the right to education in the mother tongue, yet, that right has not been realised for millions of South Africans.
  • ECD literacy project draws to an end — celebrating huge success Source: Dispatch The Yizani Sifunde Project, initiated and funded by the Liberty Trust, has transformed the lives of thousands of children, adults and Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners in the Eastern Cape...Behind Paywall
  • Generative AI: The challenges for social science research Source: University World News Generative AI poses challenges for social scientists. Mirroring their applications in wider society, these tools have the capacity to scale current research practices, as well as offering new ways of studying social phenomena. At the same time, the very individuals, groups and institutions we study are themselves being affected by AI – in the workplace, in politics and in the ways we socialise and communicate with each other.
    To address these questions the department of methodology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) recently organised a workshop bringing together leading researchers at the cutting edge of applying and studying generative AI in the social sciences.

Open Access, Open Education and Open Educational Resources

Post Schooling

  • UN summit outcome shows higher education has work to do Source: University World News The UN General Assembly adopted the Pact for the Future on Sunday night in New York, which offers a blueprint for bringing the increasingly divided world together to tackle global challenges spanning climate change, increasing inequality, poverty, hunger, a rising number of conflicts and the fast-growing influence of artificial intelligence.
    Included in its annexes are a Global Digital Compact and a Future Generations Declaration.
  • Incoming vice-chancellor reflects on transformation’s lessons Source: University World News When he formally assumes the position of vice-chancellor of the University of the Western Cape in January 2025, applied linguist, postcolonial literary critic and educationist Professor Robert Balfour is likely to be the first head of a university in South Africa who is openly from the LGBTIQ+ community.
    An NRF-rated academic (C2 – established with an international profile), Balfour was an honorary professor of education in the School of Education Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) (1995-2008) and, later, dean of the faculty of education sciences at North-West University (NWU). Since 2017, he has been the deputy vice-chancellor (teaching and learning) at NWU.
  • ITWeb TV: Tech school sees ‘massive’ data science potential Source: ITWeb Regenesys School of Technology CEO Nicolaas Kruger details how the recently-launched school looks to cater for qualifications that will have a massive impact within the local ICT sector.
  • A Qualitative Study illustrating Factors that Enable and Constrain Academic Advising Practices in a Global South Context Source: Frontiers in Education Considering South Africa's diverse student population, historical injustices, and major socioeconomic inequalities, academic advising assumes a pivotal role in the South African higher education landscape. However, the existing body of research supporting its practices is notably deficient. Consequently, this article employs a qualitative methodology, specifically semistructured in-depth interviews, to delve into the landscape of academic advising in South African universities by interviewing four Engineering, Built Environment, and Information Technology (EBIT) academic advisors. The study aims to explore the unique challenges and opportunities faced by academic advisors within engineering departments. Key findings reveal that advisors face challenges such as limited resources and institutional support, while opportunities include fostering student resilience and academic success.
  • Unisa symposium underscores importance of research for engineering students Source: Creamer Media The University of South Africa (Unisa) on September 26 held its Engineering Profession Student Symposium at the Science Campus in Roodepoort, providing undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students with knowledge, insights and connections to enable success in their engineering careers. During the symposium, speakers emphasised the importance of industry-based research as a foundation for students embarking on entrepreneurship in the field.

Skills and Employment

  • Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Skills Development in South Africa’s Mining Industry Source: Mining Review The adage “What got you here isn’t what makes you successful here” resonates especially with knowledge workers in the South African Mining Industry (SAMI). Technical competence launches professionals in their careers, but self-awareness of one’s behaviours, thoughts and emotions (intrapersonal) and effective communication, active listening, empathy, influence and inspiration (interpersonal) enable individuals and teams to meet and exceed workplace goals and objectives. This is what equips organisational performance and individual career progression.
  • Innovation Hub, Ergo boost Gauteng’s digital skills Source: ITWEB The Innovation Hub has signed a memorandum of understanding with DRDGOLD-owned Ergo Mining to train 50 unemployed youth, and advance entrepreneurship in Gauteng townships. According to a statement, the training and business incubation programme will focus on equipping young people with skills in the areas of mobile device repairs, data annotation and graphic design.
  • Mining industry shed nearly 7 000 jobs in the second quarter Source: Mining Weekly The mining sector shed 6 926 jobs in the second quarter, according to Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Employment Statistics (QES), bringing the total number of workers still employed in the sector to 472 153. The second-quarter decline follows mining job losses of 2 696 in the first quarter, implying that, relative to the fourth quarter of last year, mining sector employment declined by 9 622 in the first half of this year.

Teaching and Learning: Local and Global

  • Social Justice Movements to Health Policy: Lessons from a Pilot Cross-Course Collaborative Project Source: Faculty Focus 'During the spring 2024 semester, we redesigned our courses to pilot a cross-course group project involving a social sciences course (SSC) titled, “Social Justice Movements in the U.S.”, an elective primarily for first and second year students, and a health sciences course (HSC) titled, “Capstone,” a program requirement for fourth year students. This project tasked cross-course groups to collaborate with each other to conduct research on a social justice movement and to develop community-based policies to address the lasting concern, all while being mindful of the social determinants of health, structural racism, and overall inequities. In this article, we will share our approach to this project and lessons learned. '
  • A new learning outcomes model to nurture future-proof skills Source: Times Higher Education A blog post on a new framework that allows the use of a transdisciplinary lens when crafting learning outcomes to help students develop future-proof skills- called MOSAIC i.e multifaceted outlook on skills and abilities in the connected age – "that can be used in conjunction with both Bloom’s and SOLO taxonomies to support educators in answering the question “What skills do I want students to take away from this course?”
  • Use peer feedback to build engagement and belonging online Source: Times Higher Education Giving feedback is a time-consuming and often frustrating part of teaching. What if educators handed the task to students? Here are the takeaways from an online business course

Technology-Enhanced Learning

  • Digital literacy is a non-negotiable competency for students Source: University World News "The development of cutting-edge digital technologies like nanotechnology, extended reality, genetic engineering, robotics, artificial intelligence and quantum computing will continue to open new doors to new technological advancements, such as human augmentation, brain-computer interfaces, bioprinting, synthetic biology, bioelectronics, smart implants and regenerative medicine. In many ways, these new digital technologies are advancing faster than we can adequately assimilate them into our everyday lives. Digital literacy, therefore, has become one of the most critical competencies for students to master. In this rapidly evolving environment, these advances will continue to impose additional responsibilities on educational institutions, extending far beyond the mere transmission of subject matter knowledge."
  • This Isn't a Calculator: AI as a Cultural Technology Source: Substack Marc Watkins latest post which takes issue with the calculator analogy often used by AI enthusisast and (critics). He writes " Instead of viewing generative AI like a calculator or other similar tool, we should be shifting the discourse to how this technology is shaping our culture. The very notion of using a machine to solve the human condition of grief and pain should warrant some deeper conversation in academia and broader society."
  • Use of AI for Accessibility and Inclusion Source: University of Calgary The use of artificial intelligence in education improves academic outcomes, accessibility, and inclusion for all students (US Department of Education, 2024). This resource is for instructors and their students who might benefit from the use of artificial intelligence tools to support their learning.
  • Experts warn that AI growth is outpacing legislation Source: Mail and Guardian Artificial intelligence is developing at a rate too fast for legislators to keep track of and protect citizens, including children and teenagers who are being negatively affected by the growth of fake content and falsehoods peddled on social media.
    Social media and the use of AI to create fake online images have become “the tobacco of today”, said Ajit Gopalakrishnan, an AI thought leader and head of Odin Education, a division of Jendamark Automation, a global tech company that provides solutions to the automotive sector.
  • Five edtech trends on the rise Source: Connecting Africa The African edtech landscape is rapidly transforming, driven by innovative trends redefining education delivery and access. From bustling tech hubs to remote areas, a wave of innovation is providing learners with the necessary tools to succeed in the 21st century. However, even with such potential, the edtech sector on the continent is still underfunded.
    According to the African Tech Startups Funding Report, the edtech sector received only $34.67 billion, 0.7% of the total investments in 2023, a mere fraction of its potential while the fintech sector closed out with 30% of total funding in the same year. Despite the underfunding, the sector is still producing innovative trends to empower Africa's young population. Connecting Africa has compiled a list of five edtech trends that are shaping and influencing the African edtech ecosystem.
  • The AI Cultural Hallucination Bias Source: Reflecting Allowed Maha Bali's latest blog post which she describes based on her "not asking people to refuse or resist AI – I’m asking people to give it a lot more thought than many of them are..."
  • The Illusion of AI Literacy Source: SubStack "#AILiteracy is too big. It's time we break it down. In the rush to prepare for an AI-driven future, we've created a catch-all term that's more overwhelming than helpful. But what if we could make AI Literacy more accessible and actionable? I've recently tackled this challenge in a guest post for Michael Spencer's AI Supremacy blog. Here's the gist:..." Read more from Mike Kentz in his latest post"