Dorothy J Laubscher

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Associate) at North-West University South Africa

Implementing student-centred pedagogical approaches can assist in developing critical twenty-first-century skills in students, and cooperative learning is one such approach. This chapter explores how cooperative learning within a blended learning environment can be implemented to enhance student engagement and foster self-directed learning. The stu...

The NWU Self-Directed Learning Series, led by Professor Elsa Mentz (elsa.mentz@nwu.ac.za) in collaboration with AOSIS Scholarly Books, is a book series focusing on self-directed learning (SDL). Self-directed learning enables students to take charge of their learning, turning education into a personal voyage of exploration and development. The serie...

Academic procrastination, i.e., the irrational delay of important academic tasks, is a potentially harmful behaviour that is highly prevalent in higher education (HE), especially distance education (DE). Given the wide range of adverse outcomes, including mood, well-being and academic performance, interventions might benefit many students. In this...

Blended learning environments, where face-to-face and online learning are integrated, are gaining traction in education, offering opportunities for self-directed learning and intrinsic motivation. This study explores the validity and reliability of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) in a self-directed blended learning context. A cross-section...

In online learning environments, closed-ended questions, such as multiple-choice questions, allow learners to receive immediate feedback on their answers. Although open-ended questions may be more appropriate for some learning objectives and materials, providing immediate feedback on open-ended responses remains a challenge. Self-control tasks (SCT...

The goal of this study is to offer guidelines for the application of technology-supported cooperative learning professional development to enhance teachers’ self-directed learning skills. A qualitative approach was used which was informed by the interpretive paradigm. Many technology-supported cooperative learning professional development prototype...

Students often feel isolated when they do blended learning courses and they do not always have the necessary skills to work on their own. Blended learning courses need to be thoughtfully planned to actively involve students in the learning processes. Cooperative learning is an active teaching strategy that can assist students to engage in online an...

This book on self-directed learning (SDL) is devoted to original academic scholarship within the field of education, and is the 6th volume in the North-West University (NWU) SDL book series. In this book the authors explore how self-directed learning can be considered an imperative for education in a complex modern society. Although each chapter re...

This chapter provides an overview of trends from academic articles and postgraduate studies related to BL, SDL and the CoI framework from 2009 to 2019 in South Africa. By means of a systematic critical review of identified articles – as located in major electronic databases – the main methodologies, contexts and findings were determined. This resea...

Persistent poor results in mathematics can be ascribed to the content being taught so that it is removed from reality. This chapter reports on the design of a mobile application based on the realistic mathematics education approach. A purposeful stratified sample yielded participants from a group of in-service teachers enrolled for a post-graduate...

This chapter deals with the intersections of technology and IK systems within the context of facilitating SDL. An overview is provided of relevant theoretical concepts of SDL, technology and IK systems as well as an interpretation of these issues in the South African CAPS at the school level. The empirical part of this chapter involves a critical l...

Self-directed learning (SDL) is an essential component for the success of distance learning students. Technology serves as a suitable tool to enable cooperative learning (CL), a strategy that can be used to enhance SDL. The aim of this chapter is to report on literature relating to CL as a strategy for SDL in a blended-distance environment. The res...

The need to develop 21st-century and SDL skills in students is evident in the field of education. Adaptive instruction using CL and Socratic questioning is one possible way to address this issue. The purpose of this study was to explore what the body of scholarship showed about teaching and learning where CL and Socratic questioning were used in ad...

To enter the world of work, students require skills which include flexibility, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and communication. The use of mobile technologies which are specifically created for a context could stimulate motivation in students to recognise the relevance of Mathematics in the real world. South Africa in particular...

This article reports on a design-based methodology of a thesis in which a fully face-to-face contact module was converted into a blended learning course. The purpose of the article is to report on how design-based phases, in the form of micro-, meso- and macro-cycles were applied to improve practice and to generate design principles. Design-based r...

Low achievement in Mathematics at school level and during higher education remains a problem not only in South Africa but also worldwide. Information and Communication Technology provides endless opportunities to enhance the teaching and learning of Mathematics. The purpose of this study was to determine and compare teacher-students’ attitudes to...

Low achievement in Mathematics at school level and during higher education remains a problem not only in South Africa but also worldwide. Information and 115 Laubscher, Seugnet Blignaut, Hercules and Els South Africa, Tanzania and Finland Communication Technology provides endless opportunities to enhance the teaching and learning of Mathematics. Th...