Lynette Nagel

• PhD(CIE), MSc(Physiology)
• Project Manager at University of Pretoria

Extant research shows that blended learning environments are widely accepted by students mainly because of the flexibility it offers. However, there is very little research that focuses on students’ preferences within a holistic blended learning environment and the contribution that a component makes to the learning of the subject matter, especiall...

We describe a case study of a third-year undergraduate class in Enterprise Education. A blended learning design in the form of a flipped classroom with a duration of one semester, was explored in two cohorts. The question was to explore how students experienced the flipped class for learning and how this approach presented the different presences i...

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the information and communication technology (ICT) adoption profiles of accounting students at a South African university influenced their perceptions of the usefulness of a technologically enhanced learning (TEL) opportunity. The findings suggest that the South African accounting students’ ICT adop...

This research aims to establish the effect of computer technology, specifically referring to the use of Turnitin, on writing in a South African multilingual language class. By employing a qualitative case study, the researchers observed the development of writing skills of 19 learners in an Afrikaans First Additional Language (FAL) class, utilising...

Background Since the South African government lifted the embargo on delivery of distance education, traditional contact institutions are allowed to present courses or programmes in fully online mode. In order to reach more students from more places, the University of Pretoria with about 50,000 contact students is starting with redesigning suitable...

Introduction In response to changing demands in the workplace and the need to improve knowledge, skills and competence with a work-related focus, qualified professionals often later resume studying at higher education institutions. While the soft skills required in addition to subject matter expertise in some professions are seldom addressed in the...

People need to engage in lifelong learning to be part of the knowledge society, while educational institutions cannot formally provide continuous ongoing, personally defined learning that addresses immediate workplace-based needs. Designing a formal online post-graduate course around a soccer game metaphor, we incorporated the characteristics of in...

The advance of educational technology coupled with competitive forces, ever-increasing digitisation, and new entrants into the Higher Education sector, has created an environment of constant change for those working within it. This paper discusses how seven people, in five institutions across three countries joined forces to develop their knowledge...

Due to pressure to deliver more Chartered Accountants, the pass-rate of first-year accounting students had to increase. Students who did not take accounting at school particularly needed extra tuition and support to reach the required standard. Poor success rates could be attributed to insufficient theoretical learning and poor time management char...

The advance of educational technology coupled with competitive forces, ever-increasing digitisation, and new entrants into the Higher Education sector, has created an environment of constant change for those working within it. This paper discusses how seven people, in five institutions across three countries joined forces to develop their knowledge...

Architecture students’ main subject at the University of Pretoria is design, which is learned in a studio environment. Other theoretical subjects are taught in traditional lectures and support design. To ease communication regarding the theoretical subjects, a second year class started a FaceBook (FB) group near the end of their second year (2010)....

Students live a virtual life in social media, presumably spending most of their attention and energy staying in social contact. Academics often hold the opinion that students’ presence in social media forums is to the detriment of the presence in real classes. Some academics initiate Facebook (FB) groups for their classes and participate with thei...

Blended learning models differ with respect to delivery modes and the proportions of the courses that are presented online versus in classroom mode. The enormous flexibility in blended delivery allows designers to customise courses for particular contexts and learner characteristics. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) shows where teaching practices sup...

There is a great shortage of some professionals like chartered accountants, while the standards of the professional body are relentless in denying the unsuitably qualified. Low pass rates in the first year challenge Higher Education‘s eventual delivery of adequate numbers of candidates in order to balance the book of supply and demand. In this pap...

Blended learning should incorporate the best of contact and online learning, allowing flexibility while retaining connectedness. Therefore, designing effective instruction requires research-informed choices. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) survey is a well-validated instrument measuring social-, teaching- and cognitive presences in e-learning that r...

Motivation and engagement is hard to maintain in e-learning. Metaphor entertains and motivates participants in virtual environments. After teaching and researching several courses designed around metaphors, we examined its effect on intrinsic motivation in a course based on a virtual soccer tournament. Using a qualitative methodology to investigate...

The answer to massification in higher education lies not in paper-behind-glass style e-learning. Such courses lack the necessary interaction to ensure success. There are perceived upper limits to where e-learning can be up scaled to accommodate large classes. The Community of Inquiry framework provides a convenient instrument to assess the quality...

Change in South Africa comes slowly, particularly regarding delivery modes in higher education. The transition from contact teaching to blended learning is hampered by inadequate Internet connectivity, costs and reluctance to part with tradition. However, enormous growth in student numbers that strains University infrastructure and lecturing capaci...

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer (2000) provides a theoretical model of online learning processes that has been used by many scholars and practitioners in the field of online education. The CoI framework is a constructivist process model which assumes that effective online learning requires the dev...

Higher education institutions deliver web-based learning with varied success. The success rate of distrib- uted online courses remains low. Factors such as ineffective course facilitation and insufficient commu- nication contribute to the unfulfilled promises of web-based learning. Students consequently feel unmotivated. Instructor control and in t...

The establishment of an online community is widely held as the most important prerequisite for successful course completion and depends on an interaction between a peer group and a facilitator. Beaudoin reasoned that online students sometimes engage and learn even when not taking part in online discussions. The context of this study was an online c...

Faculty sometimes have difficulty to envisage the possibilities of implementing blended teaching and learning modes in a residential higher education institution. To illustrate the multifaceted nature of blended teaching, we developed a visual diamond metaphor. The data illustrated in the metaphor represent five diverse case studies of lecturers wh...

Online facilitation influences successful completion of online courses. Facilitators walk a tightrope between providing sufficient student support and keeping a suited profile to establish a virtual community of learners. King solved his dilemma by creating “A Virtual Student, Not an Ordinary Joe” (King, 2002). We emulated his study by designing a...

We examined the ethical implications of a mythical online student with a carefully concealed real identity who took part in an online post-graduate course. The mythical online student took part in all student activities and provided co-students with cognitive and technical support as a covert second facilitator; consequently, students found scaffol...

Higher Education institutions deliver web-based learning with varied success. The success rate of distributed online courses remain disappointingly low despite high expectations of students of anytime, anywhere, and just-for-me education. Factors such as ineffective course facilitation and insufficient communication, contribute to the unfulfilled p...

The success rate in online courses is often disappointing. Despite unique advantages, loneliness can threaten success. Allegedly, online students learn equally well as their classroom peers, possibly achieving better cognitive outcomes and retention of learning material. Some dispute the necessity for interaction and propose that students can learn...

ViSCoS (Virtual Studies of Computer Science) is an online Computer Science programme, targeted primarily at Finnish high school students. The programme covers the first year university level courses of the subject. At the time of ViSCoSs extension beyond high school students and over the language barrier, a need to improve the attrition among the b...

ViSCoS (Virtual Studies of Computer Science) is an e-learning program that was created by the University of Joensuu to enable Finnish high school students living in sparsely populated rural areas to study university-level Computer Science (CS) including programming. It has since been expanded to include post-school students and is also translated i...