Digital Images to the Rescue of Academics as Knowledge Resources for Educating Curriculum Studies Students

Abstract

Educating is an action of using knowledge to assist students to address their real-world personal needs, generating unique personal skills and values. Digital images, as images that consist of picture elements, have become important resources for sustaining education. A cause of concern is that academics use such images to drive learning for sustainability. The intention is to motivate students thereby, thus enhancing their education. In the process, students must comprehend their unique internal intelligence. As such, this study explores the academics’ usage of digital images to educate curriculum studies students at a university in South Africa. Ten academics were purposively and conveniently sampled for this study. Online reflective activities, focus-group discussions, observations, and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. A pragmatic paradigm with participatory action research, content analysis, and a natural identity framework were used to frame this study. The findings reveal that academics were able to educate students to understand both large and small pictures of the digital images. The large and small pictures represented performance-based and competence-based curricula. However, it was difficult for the students to apply or link what they experienced by way of the digital images to their curriculum studies and real-world problems until the participatory action research was extended from Phase One to Phase Two. Consequently, this study suggests that the reflection stage of participatory action research is the dominant stage of the education process. Reflection supports students in their quest for understanding their internal intelligence, thus naturally addressing their personal, societal, and professional needs.

Framework for a Simulation Learning Tool to Optimize Green Star Buildings in South Africa

“…A further insight is personal, professional, and societal influences that collectively impact an individual's learning. In the case of [28], learning is considered as a path towards wisdom that begins with data, that are assembled to form information, leading to a growing body of knowledge, and ultimately wisdom [29]. In this system, wisdom is the ability to detect patterns and make informed judgements [30,31].…”

Neutralising the digital divide: is blended learning a viable solution?

“…Inequality, according to van Dijk (2012), describes an uneven distribution of resources in which one individual has access to, and enjoys the benefits of more resources than the other in the same vicinity (demographics). Resources in this article are considered to be tools that enhance learning (Khoza, 2022;Makumane, 2018) and are categorised into hardware (HW) (those that can be touched and seen such as computers, laptops, tablets, cellphones, inter alia, that give access to the internet), software (SW) (produced for the hardware in order to facilitate displaying information such as application software packages), and ideological ware (IW) (cognitive processes that manage student actions in effectively using technology) (Khoza, 2022;Mpungose, 2020). Hardware resources, which require users to follow systematic steps to effectively use them, influence the attainment of prescribed subject content, which is taught from the lowest to the highest levels.…”

“…These resources are underpinned by teaching presence, which promotes systematic and factual knowledge-building (Makumane & Khoza, 2020). In other words, teaching presence, through the use of HW resources, requires the application of the cognitive domain by students in order to facilitate retention of concepts, theories, ideologies and knowledge (Khoza, 2022).…”

“…It is worth noting that, the post-pandemic era seemingly presents a less stressful teaching and learning environment as face-to-face mode of teaching and learning has resumed in some HEIs, including the one under study in this article. However, the use of Ed-Techs to support online teaching has not been entirely neglected (Khoza, 2022;Makumane, Khoza & Zuma, 2022). The use of both modes of teaching gives rise to blended learning.…”

“…Adedoyin and Soykan (2020) refer to this hasty adoption of online teaching and learning platforms as 'emergency remote teaching' as it was initiated and necessitated by a pandemic. This latter assertion suggests that the hasty adoption of educational technologies (Ed-Techs), which are technologies used to promote materials for educational purposes and knowledge dissemination such as learning management systems (LMS) (Moodle, Canvas, Sakai inter alia); social media sites (SMS) (Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp); and video conferencing technologies (VCT) (Zoom, MS Teams Google Meet and others) (Mpungose, 2020;Mpungose & Khoza, 2021), risked the misuse of those technologies due to lack of preparation by HEIs, lack of requisite skills (digital technology illiteracy), and lack of technological resources (Khoza, 2022).…”