Enabling well-being and epistemological access through an authentic assessment intervention: A case study of a higher education programme

  • R. Maniram Durban university of technology
  • S.M. Maistry UKZN

Abstract

The South African higher education context presents with multiple challenges. One such challenge is the ability of institutions to effectively respond to the academic needs of the students that enter university. While there are several instances of programme development that attempt to address the academic well-being of students, the pedagogic strategies of many programmes are often not well grounded in sound educational theory. In this paper, we report on a study that examined student experiences of an academic programme that is informed by the concepts ‘authentic assessment’ and ‘epistemological access.  The methodological approach was guided by the tenets of Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA), (Northcutt and McCoy, 2004). A purposive sample of Hospitality Financial Management students at a university of technology was drawn. Key data generation instruments included individual and focus group interviews, online chats and online reflective journals. One compelling finding which we take up in this paper is the power of student collaboration as a powerful enabling mechanism for epistemic access.   

Author Biography

R. Maniram, Durban university of technology

department Hospitality and Tourism

lecturer

References

List of References

• Antia, Bassey E., and Charlyn Dyers. "Epistemological access through lecture materials in multiple modes and language varieties: the role of ideologies and multilingual literacy practices in student evaluations of such materials at a South African University." Language Policy 15, no. 4 (2016): 525-545.

• Arbee, Aradhna, and Carol Thomson. "Epistemological access in Marketing–a demonstration of the use of Legitimation Code Theory in Higher Education." (2014).

• Atkins, Anthony T. "Collaborating Online: Digital Strategies for Group Work." writingspaces 1 (2010): 235.

• Bagul, Awangku Hasanal Bahar Pengiran, and Kamarul Mizal Marzuki. "Tourism and hospitality education in Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)." (2007).

• Benckendorff, Pierre. "Using wikis to help first year students develop collaborative knowledge management skills for tomorrow." In Pacific Rim Conference on the First Year in Higher Education, pp. 1-10. Queensland University of Technology, 2009.

• Boughey, Chrissie, and Penny Niven. "The emergence of research in the South African academic development movement." Higher Education Research & Development 31, no. 5 (2012): 641-653.

• Boughey, Chrissie, and Sioux McKenna. "Academic literacy and the decontextualised learner." Critical Studies in Teaching and Learning 4, no. 2 (2016): 1-9.

• Boughey, Chrissie. "'Epistemological'access to the university: an alternative perspective." South African Journal of Higher Education 19, no. 3 (2005): 230-242.

• Charmaz, Kathy. "Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative research." SagePublications Ltd, London (2006).

• Cheng, Kevin KW. "The comparative effect on business creativity when web based collaborative learning vs. traditional lecturing instruction." Research in Higher Education Journal 2 (2009): 1.

• Council on Higher Education (CHE). 2013. A proposal for undergraduate curriculum reform in South Africa: The case for a flexible curriculum structure. Report of the Task Team on Undergraduate Curriculum Structure

• Egalite, Anna J. "How family background influences student achievement." Education Next 16, no. 2 (2016).

• Ellery, Karen. "Conceptualising knowledge for access in the sciences: academic development from a social realist perspective." Higher Education 74, no. 5 (2017): 915-931.

• Etikan, Ilker, Sulaiman Abubakar Musa, and Rukayya Sunusi Alkassim. "Comparison of convenience sampling and purposive sampling." American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics 5, no. 1 (2016): 1-4.

• Ferreira, Ana, and Belinda Mendelowitz. "Diversity, double-talk and (mis) alignment: pedagogic moves for epistemological access." Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies 27, no. 1 (2009): 77-92.

• Furlong, Andy. "Revisiting transitional metaphors: reproducing social inequalities under the conditions of late modernity." Journal of education and work 22, no. 5 (2009): 343-353.

• Gamede, Thobekile. "The biography of" access" as an expression of human rights in South African education policies." PhD diss., University of Pretoria, 2005.

• Goh, Edmund, and Madalyn Scerri. "“I Study Accounting Because I Have To”: An Exploratory Study of Hospitality Students’ Attitudes Toward Accounting Education." Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education 28, no. 2 (2016): 85-94.

• Herrington, Jan, and Ron Oliver. "An instructional design framework for authentic learning environments." Educational technology research and development 48, no. 3 (2000): 23-48.

• Ashford-Rowe, Kevin, Janice Herrington, and Christine Brown. "Establishing the critical elements that determine authentic assessment." Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 39, no. 2 (2014): 205-222.

• Hornsby, David J., and Ruksana Osman. "Massification in higher education: large classes and student learning." Higher Education 67, no. 6 (2014): 711-719.

• James, Lincoln Then, and Riza Casidy. "Authentic assessment in business education: its effects on student satisfaction and promoting behaviour." Studies in higher education 43, no. 3 (2018): 401-415.

• Gray, Brendan, Sarah Stein, Phil Osborne, and Robert Aitken. "Collaborative learning in a strategy education context." Practice and Evidence of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 8, no. 1 (2013): 35-55.

• Human-Vogel, Salome, and Peter Patrick Mahlangu. "Commitment in academic contexts: First year education students' beliefs about the aspects of self, the lecturer and instruction." South African Journal of Higher Education 23, no. 2 (2009): 309-328.

• Human-Vogel, Salomé. "Students' mental models of positive mood and self-regulation in learning." South African Journal of Psychology 36, no. 3 (2006): 613-633.

• Jacobs, Cecilia. "Towards a critical understanding of the teaching of discipline-specific academic literacies: Making the tacit explicit." Journal of Education 41, no. 1 (2007): 59-81.

• Kotta, Linda Thokozile. "Affording or constraining epistemological access: An analysis of a case-based approach in a first year process and materials engineering course." PhD diss., 2006.

• Land, Ray, Jan HF Meyer, and Caroline Baillie. "Threshold concepts and transformational learning." Edited by R Land, JHF Meyer and C Bailie, Threshold concepts and transformational learning. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers (2010).

• Lange, Lis. "20 Years of higher education curriculum policy in South Africa." Journal of Education (University of KwaZulu-Natal) 68 (2017): 31-57.

• Layton, Delia, and Sioux McKenna. "Partnerships and parents–relationships in tutorial programmes." Higher Education Research & Development 35, no. 2 (2016): 296-308.

• Levin, Peter. Successful teamwork!. McGraw-Hill Education (UK), 2004.

• Liccardo, Sabrina, Hannah Botsis, and Yasmine Dominguez-Whitehead. "Background knowledge and epistemological access: challenges facing black women in a set scholarship programme: part 2." South African Journal of Higher Education 29, no. 1 (2015): 373-389.

• Lotz-Sisitka, Heila. "Epistemological access as an open question in education." Journal of Education 46 (2009): 57-79.

• Mampane, Ruth, and Cecilia Bouwer. "The influence of township schools on the resilience of their learners." South African Journal of Education 31, no. 1 (2011): 114-126.

• Maphosa, C., T. D. Sikhwari, C. Ndebele, and M. Masehela. "Interrogating factors affecting students’ epistemological access in a South African university." The Anthropologist 17, no. 2 (2014): 409-420.

• McLean, Monica. "Higher Education Close Up 8: Think Pieces."

• Mgqwashu, E. M. "English studies and language teaching: language acquisition and discursive critique." (2007).

• Mills, Nicole. "A guide du Routard simulation: Increasing self‐efficacy in the standards through project‐based learning." Foreign Language Annals 42, no. 4 (2009): 607-639.

• Mingo, Wendye Dianne. "The effects of applying authentic learning strategies to develop computational thinking skills in computer literacy students." (2013).

• Mollett, Jean, and Ann Cameron. "Making a case for epistemological access in biotechnology education in Southern Africa." African Journal of Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 20, no. 3 (2016): 234-243.

• Morrow, Wally. "Bounds of democracy: Epistemological access in higher education." (2009).

• Muller, Johan. "Every picture tells a story: Epistemological access and knowledge." Education as Change 18, no. 2 (2014): 255-269.

• Nkonki, Vuyisile, and Siyanda Ntlabathi. "An Evaluation of Foundation Provisioning Curriculum Delivery Workshops for Enabling Epistemological Access." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 5, no. 11 (2014): 109.

• Northcutt, Norvell, and Danny McCoy. Interactive qualitative analysis: A systems method for qualitative research. Sage, 2004.

• Rabiee, Fatemeh. "Focus-group interview and data analysis." Proceedings of the nutrition society 63, no. 4 (2004): 655-660.

• Lewis, Jane, and Jane Ritchie. "Generalising from qualitative research." Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers 2 (2003): 347-362.

• Rusznyak, L., L. Dison, M. Moosa, and M. Poo. "Supporting the academic success of first-year students: a study of the epistemological access they acquired through a lecture and text." South African Journal of Higher Education 31, no. 1 (2017): 207-226.

• Scott, Ian, Nanette Yeld, and Jane Hendry, eds. Higher education monitor: A case for improving teaching and learning in South African higher education. Pretoria: Council on Higher Education, 2007.

• Scott, Ian. "Academic development in South African higher education." Higher education in South Africa: A scholarly look behind the scenes (2009): 21-47.

• Tabane, Ramodungoane James. "Integration and learners' feelings of belonging in a desegregated former House of Delegates school." PhD diss., University of Pretoria, 2010.

• Slonimsky, Yael. "Pedagogic responsiveness for academic depth." Journal of Education 40, no. 1 (2006): 37-58.

• Snowball, J. D., and S. McKenna. "Student-generated content: an approach to harnessing the power of diversity in higher education." Teaching in Higher Education 22, no. 5 (2017): 604-618.

• Spaull, Nic. "Schooling in South Africa: How low-quality education becomes a poverty trap." South African Child Gauge 12 (2015): 34-41.

• Stanton-Salazar, Ricardo. "A social capital framework for understanding the socialization of racial minority children and youths." Harvard educational review 67, no. 1 (1997): 1-41.

• Strayhorn, Terrell L. "When race and gender collide: Social and cultural capital's influence on the academic achievement of African American and Latino males." The Review of Higher Education 33, no. 3 (2010): 307-332.

• Tabane, Ramodungoane, and Salome Human-Vogel. "Sense of belonging and social cohesion in a desegregated former House of Delegates School." South African Journal of Education 30, no. 3 (2010): 0-0.

• Thondhlana, Gladman, and Dina Zoe Belluigi. "Group work as' terrains of learning'for students in South African higher education." Perspectives in Education 32, no. 4 (2014): 40-55.

• Tierney, William G., and Linda Serra Hagedorn, eds. Increasing access to college: Extending possibilities for all students. SUNY Press, 2002.

• Van Zyl, André. "Teaching the students we have: Two perspectives on first year students at the University of Johannesburg and the UJ first year experience initiative." (2013).

• Vorster, Jo-Anne, and Lynn Quinn. "The" decolonial turn": what does it mean for academic staff development?." Education as Change 21, no. 1 (2017): 31-49.Gee 1996

• Vu, Thuy T., and Gloria Dall’Alba. "Authentic assessment for student learning: an ontological conceptualisation." Educational Philosophy and Theory 46, no. 7 (2014): 778-791.

• Waglay, Afsar Ali. "Exploring the tension between the discourses of affirmative action and the knowledge economy." PhD diss., Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University, 2013.

• Warburton, Edward C., Rosio Bugarin, and Anne-Marie Nunez. "Bridging the Gap: Academic Preparation and Postsecondary Success of First-Generation Students. Statistical Analysis Report. Postsecondary Education Descriptive Analysis Reports." (2001).

• Yang, Min, Mui Tai, and Cher Ping Lim. "The role of e‐portfolios in supporting productive learning." British Journal of Educational Technology 47, no. 6 (2016): 1276-1286.

• Robert, Yin K. "Qualitative research from start to finish." New York, NY: The Guilford (2011).

Published
2018-12-03
How to Cite
Maniram, R., and S.M. Maistry. 2018. “Enabling Well-Being and Epistemological Access through an Authentic Assessment Intervention: A Case Study of a Higher Education Programme”. South African Journal of Higher Education 32 (6), 305-25. https://doi.org/10.20853/32-6-2982.