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Engaging students in a fully online accounting degree : an action research study

  • Authors: Malan, Marelize
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Student engagement , Online learning , Action research
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/438694 , uj:38139 , Citation: Malan, M. 2020. Engaging students in a fully online accounting degree : an action research study.
  • Description: Abstract: Student engagement is crucial for learning, especially in online learning. For a student to be a successful online learner, they need to engage socially and collaboratively through their behaviours, emotions and cognition. This paper discusses an accounting module of a fully online degree where engagement was purposely integrated using an engagement framework. An action research design was followed to determine the degree of engagement within the module and to improve on it. The findings indicated that incorporating five forms of engagement into the module was positively received by students and resulted in more students successfully completing the module. Student reflections showed that the module was cognitively engaging, that personal preference will guide social engagement and that working collaboratively will always be a challenge. Where, due to COVID-19, entire programmes need to convert to online learning, the findings of this study, could be implemented to ensure the continued engagement of students.
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Lessons learned about engineering reasoning through project-based learning : an ongoing action research investigation

Student engagement in a fully online accounting module : an action research study

  • Authors: Malan, Marelize
  • Date: 2020
  • Subjects: Accounting education , Action research , Online learning
  • Language: English
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/455166 , uj:40276 , Citation: Malan, M. 2020. Student engagement in a fully online accounting module : an action research study.
  • Description: Abstract: Student engagement is crucial for learning, and especially so in online learning. For a student to be a successful online learner, they need to engage with the online content, with their peers and with the educator. This paper presents an accounting module of a fully online degree where engagement was purposefully integrated using an online engagement framework. Within this framework, the educator regularly interacted with the students to ensure that they were engaging with the online material and a group task was assigned where students had to collaboratively construct knowledge and display it in a video. An action research design was followed to determine the degree of engagement within the module and to improve on it for future modules. Results indicate that regular interaction did result in more students being active and ultimately successfully completing the module. Student reflections on the group task indicated that there are definite benefits in creating knowledge collaboratively although the format in which it should be presented needs to be reconsidered.
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Academic mentoring : a valuation of an accelerated development programme

  • Authors: Ceronio, Louise
  • Date: 2018
  • Subjects: Career development , Action research , Appreciative inquiry , Mentoring , Valuation
  • Language: English
  • Type: Masters (Thesis)
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/283056 , uj:30513
  • Description: M.Phil. (Leadership Coaching) , Abstract: There is a need for an effective accelerated career development intervention such as mentoring to address the imbalances of the past still prevalent in the South African higher education context. Such an intervention should contribute towards the development of the next generation of academics for more senior roles. Mentoring programmes for academic advancement have been implemented in the higher education sector, but the value gained by the participants of such programmes has not been explored. The aim of this study was to explore what is to be valued by an academic mentoring programme for accelerated career development. The strategy towards this end was a case study. The case was an accelerated academic mentoring programme for lecturers in a higher education institution. The positive action research method of appreciative inquiry was applied in a two-phase design. The mentees (11 participants) took part in a facilitated appreciative inquiry workshop, and the mentors (5 participants) participated in appreciative interviews. The participants were able to identify the positive core of their mentoring programme, which enabled them to envision how such a programme may lead to academics flourishing in terms of teaching, research, community involvement, and academic leadership. Subsequently, the participants co-constructed an architecture for an ideal mentoring programme. The participants finally suggested the deliverables required for enhancing and guaranteeing the sustainability of a mentoring programme. On a methodological level, the positive action research method of appreciative inquiry was introduced as an approach to value (as opposed to evaluate) an academic mentoring programme. On a theoretical level, the findings corroborated the positive impact of mentoring on career development, in particular in the higher education context. On a practical level, the appreciative inquiry method empowered the participants to become appreciative of the value of the mentoring programme, encouraging them to become more self-directed in their personal career development.
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Collaborated understandings of context-specific psychosocial challenges facing South African school learners : a participatory approach

An arts-based collaborative intervention to promote medical male circumcision as a South African HIV and AIDS prevention strategy

  • Authors: Berman, Kim
  • Date: 2012
  • Subjects: Medical Male Circumcision , Advocacy campaign , Action research , Murals , Arts-based tools
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6007 , ISSN 2221-4070 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/8827
  • Description: This article addresses the extent to and ways in which an arts-based learning intervention can be regarded as transformative specifically with regard to the quality of student learning across the domains of academic enhancement, civic learning, personal growth, and through engaging with social advocacy. This article focuses on a collaborative project between Artist Proof Studio, a community art centre, and Sonke Gender Justice, a gender advocacy organisation, in a series of HIV prevention and advocacy interventions. The project addresses the question: “ Can an advocacy campaign for Medical Male Circumcision (MMC), with its complex messaging, be effective in communicating with South African young men?” This article however, responds to the question “How can the visual arts be used to develop a communication strategy for the promotion of MMC and what influence does this have on the students involved in the project and their uptakeof MMC as an HIV prevention strategy?” The article contends the the 'visual voice' expressed by the students as 'change agents' led to self-reflection and behaviour change with some of the student participants undergoing MMC. It also highlights the value of art-based methods as a catalysing and empowering strategy for social communication.
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A psycho-educational programme for abused and neglected children

  • Authors: Harrison, M. H.
  • Date: 2011-12-06
  • Subjects: Abused children , Abused children psychology , Abused children education , Action research
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:1792 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/4156
  • Description: M.A. , Statistics show an increase in the number of cases of abused and neglected children handled by the Child Protection Unit. These particular statistics indicate only the number of reported cases, which according to Lewis (1999) and Starke (1995) should be tripled to estimate the true number of children being abused every day. Action research was selected for this study to assist the parents and the children in extending their understanding of their situation and thus resolve problems that confront them. A high percentage of parents are aware that abuse and neglect exists in their relationships; they are also aware that behavioural problems may be exhibited by their children as a result of exposure to abuse and neglect. There is a growing need for counselling, guidance and support amongst the youth to be assertive, and be safe in their contexts. The psycho-education programme was based on the model of psychoeducation. Psycho-education as an alternative does not focus on sick or abnormal behaviour but rather has as its core a preventative focus-training in skills to solve problems now and in the future. During group work the children were trained to collectively experience, explore and communicate their feelings, and to learn alternative ways of dealing with abuse and neglect in their different contexts. The programme's effectiveness was evaluated. All the children acquired prevention concepts after the exposure to the programme. Fifty six percent of the parents observed some improvement in their children's behaviour, and eighty percent of the children reported that they were still afraid to talk to their parents about issues of discipline, for example corporal punishment.
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An action research study of members' experiences of a regional depression and anxiety support group

  • Authors: Roberts, Julie-Anne Samantha
  • Date: 2008-11-12T07:05:06Z
  • Subjects: Group psychotherapy , Treatment of mental depression , Anxiety treatment , Action research
  • Type: Thesis
  • Identifier: uj:14657 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1620
  • Description: M.A. , This action research study explored the development and workings of a monthly, openended depression and anxiety support group based in Johannesburg, Gauteng. Although the growth of mutual-aid groups has escalated over the past three decades, there is little research on support groups created solely for the purpose of servicing depression and anxiety sufferers. Researchers have indicated that support and information at these meetings may prove to be a valuable and effective intervention which helps sufferers come to terms with their condition (Miller, 1987; Stein, Zungu-Dirwayi, Wessels, Berk & Wilson, 1998). The study at hand aimed to elucidate the ways in which the depression and anxiety support group was experienced as helpful, as well as those areas which could be improved to increase the effectiveness of the group system. The support group was examined over an eleven-month period, November 1999 – October 2000, during which time the progress and experiences of three new group members was specifically observed and chronicled. Seven participants, including three members of a support group catering for black depression and anxiety sufferers, were initially sourced and screened for inclusion in the study. Although not intentional, the three subjects that finally fulfilled the criteria for inclusion in the study were all white females attending the Johannesburg support group. Relevant data on the three participants was collected systematically over this period through a process of triangulation. Methods included structured and semi-structured interviews, written reports, questionnaires and participant observation. The grounded theory approach allowed the researcher to work inductively with the data and to discern and explore the connections between elements and patterns that emerged in the analysis. An integration of the research data revealed that the group was primarily helpful to participants through the factors of universality, cohesion, didactic instruction and downward social comparison. Furthermore, the results indicated that participants presenting with prominent avoidant personality disorder (APD), as measured by the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II, are likely to strongly value the relief from social isolation that the support group setting affords them, as well as gaining comfort from belonging to and being accepted by a group and improving their interpersonal skills. On the negative front, the group would or could not move beyond a formative, early stage of group development. As a result, its members were either caught in a repetitive cycle of exploring the same territory or lost interest after a relatively short period of time and terminated membership. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that members be afforded the opportunity of attending a more advanced therapy group once they feel they have gained the necessary relief from the primary support group. The support group plays a valuable role of reassuring members that they are not alone in their suffering, offering them the learning experience of being accepted by a group and introducing them to group format and protocol. However, once a foundation has been established, it is likely that members would benefit from joining a more advanced group in which interpersonal learning and role modelling is emphasized. Members need an arena where they can explore their behaviour and feelings in depth, and with other members who are functioning at a similar level. It is hoped that the findings of this study will increase understanding of support group functioning, provide suggestions for future research involving APD clients and depression and/or anxiety sufferers in support gr oup settings and make some contribution towards theory-building in this field.
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Leveraging organisational culture capital.

  • Authors: Scheel, R. , Crous, F.
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Organisational culture capital , Action research , Appreciative inquiry , Descriptive case study
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6456 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1395
  • Description: Organisational culture discourse mandates a linear approach of diagnosis, measurement and gap analysis as standard practice in relation to most culture change initiatives. Therefore, a problem solving framework geared toward “fixing�? and/or realigning an organisation’s culture is usually prescribed. The traditional problem solving model seeks to identify gaps between current and desired organisational cultural states, inhibiting the discovery of an organisation’s unique values and strengths, namely its cultural capital. In pursuit of discovering and leveraging organisational cultural capital, a descriptive case study is used to show how an Appreciative Inquiry process can rejuvenate the spirit of an organisation as a system-wide inquiry mobilises a workforce toward a shared vision.
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The role of a positive trigger event in actioning authentic leadership development.

  • Authors: Puente, S. , Crous, F. , Venter, A.
  • Date: 2007
  • Subjects: Authentic leadership , Authentic leadership development , Positive trigger events , Action research , Appreciative inquiry
  • Type: Article
  • Identifier: uj:6455 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/1394
  • Description: Authenticity can best be understood in context, and context implies action (Payne, 1996). For the purpose of this study, leadership in general, and authentic leadership in particular, were explored in terms of the actions of former mayor of New York City, Rudolph Giuliani, who displayed authentic leadership in action during the tragic aftermath of the World Trade Centre attacks. Authentic leadership development tends to be triggered by a negative event (as in the case of 9/11 for Giuliani, for example). Since there is limited knowledge of how a positive event may trigger authentic leadership development, the aim of this study was to explore the potential of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) - an affirmative mode of action research - as a positive trigger event for authentic leadership development. The results indicated that this positive approach to change could indeed be implemented for this purpose.
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