List of Titles

Introducing a learning management system in a large first year class: impact on lecturers and students

Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D , Mostert, Markus
Date: 2010
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68631 , vital:29297 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC37639
Description: Publisher version , The challenges of teaching large classes are well documented in the literature on teaching in higher education. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to address some of these challenges, but, used inappropriately, technology can perpetuate entrenched practices and simply support performance models of teaching that encourage transmission approaches to learning. This article reports on the impact of implementing a learning management system (LMS) in a first year introductory macroeconomics course with 600 students in a blended learning context. Experiences of the course coordinator, lecturers and an educational technologist are discussed and data was also collected on student perceptions via a course evaluation questionnaire. Results show that the LMS was successful in a number of areas, particularly in improving the lecturers' accessibility to students and in encouraging interaction and participations in online discussion forums.
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Date Issued: 2010

Investigating how the attributes of live theatre productions influence consumption choices using conjoint analysis : the example of the National Arts Festival, South Africa

- Willis, K G, Snowball, Jeanette D

Authors: Willis, K G , Snowball, Jeanette D
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6075 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1003825 , http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10824-009-9097-z
Description: While there is a fair amount of work on determinants of demand for the live performing arts, results have often been contradictory with little explanatory power. This may be because of the difficulty in describing the attributes of a performance, particularly in terms of its quality, and the heterogeneity of consumer preferences. This article uses conjoint analysis, also called choice experiments, to investigate the impact of the attributes of live theatre performances on demand, using data collected from 483 randomly chosen attenders at live theatre performances at the 2008 South African National Arts Festival. Attributes include the type of cast (professional, semi-professional or amateur), reputation of the producer/director, the context or setting, production type and ticket price of the show. Results largely support the a priori expectations based on the results of other demand studies. For example, it is found that the age of consumers affects the type of show chosen, that utility and willingness to pay increase for shows with professional and semi-professional casts and that 93% of the potential audience prefer shows with a South African context. It is concluded that the method could prove useful to both event organisers and policy makers, especially where the goal is to broaden access to the arts.
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Date Issued: 2009

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Is economic impact a good way of justifying the inclusion of foreign students at local universities?

- Snowball, Jeanette D, Antrobus, Geoffrey G

Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D , Antrobus, Geoffrey G
Date: 2006
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67470 , vital:29098 , http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/sajhe.v20i3.25593
Description: Pre-print , In the debate surrounding the costs and benefits of having foreign students at South African universities, the financial contributions of foreign students to their host economies is sometimes cited. This article reports the results of a comparison between the economic impact on the Grahamstown economy of the spending of foreign and local students at Rhodes University. It finds that the spending patterns of both types of students are remarkably similar and that the somewhat higher economic impact of foreign students is largely as a result of their propensity to choose the more expensive residence accommodation, rather than as a result of greater average spending generally. We suggest that economic impact studies should be used with caution when making the case for continued public subsidy of goods with significant non-market values and that opportunity costs should also be considered.
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Date Issued: 2006

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Is Fairtrade in commercial farms justifiable?: its impact on commercial and small-scale producers in South Africa

- Jari, Bridget, Snowball, Jeanette D, Fraser, Gavin C G

Authors: Jari, Bridget , Snowball, Jeanette D , Fraser, Gavin C G
Date: 2013
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69408 , vital:29519 , https://doi.org/10.1080/03031853.2013.847036
Description: Fairtrade initially was limited to improving the lives of small-scale and peasant farmers, but later on it embraced commercial farmers, which attracted criticism. While there are a number of justifications for the Fairtrade organization's decision, there are authors who feel that meaningful “fair trade” cannot be achieved with the inclusion of commercial farms. This paper investigates the impact of Fairtrade on commercial farms and small-scale farmer cooperatives in South Africa. Fairtrade on South African commercial farms embraces a number of policy concerns related to land reform, BEE and sustainable development. The results of the study show that when commercial farms are included in the Fairtrade model, communities in which these farmers live benefit from developmental projects. In addition, in some instances, farm workers gain shares in the commercial farms, and benefit from the farm owners’ knowledge and capital.
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Date Issued: 2013

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Issues and concerns in developing regulated markets for endangered species products: the case of rhinoceros horns

- Collins, Alan, Fraser, Gavin C G, Snowball, Jeanette D

Authors: Collins, Alan , Fraser, Gavin C G , Snowball, Jeanette D
Date: 2015
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124877 , vital:35706 , https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/bev076
Description: A proposal for addressing rhinoceros poaching is to legalise the trade in rhino horn and adopt a regulated market approach, overturning the current trade ban. This orthodox economic prescription aims to reduce incentives to poach endangered wildlife by driving down the market price of their products via auctioned stockpile releases. Biologists are clear, however, that securing a stockpile for some species needs biological success in captive breeding programmes (CBPs), which varies markedly across species and habitats. Rhinoceros herds in a CBP would need spatially extensive terrain and costly permanent security measures; this only appears feasible for the less aggressive ‘white’ rhino. We argue that the market price would actually need to be sustained at a high level to cover protection costs over the longer reproduction cycles in CBPs and that, without extensive monitoring and the correct institutional structures being in place, legalising trade may encourage, rather than prevent, poaching. Supplementary policy measures that differentiate among consumer groups would also likely prove necessary.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Making rules to live by: Was the proposed regulatory regime for invasive species reasonable? Perceptions of the South African trout industry

- Marire, Juniours, Snowball, Jeanette D, Fraser, Gavin C G

Authors: Marire, Juniours , Snowball, Jeanette D , Fraser, Gavin C G
Date: 2015
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68566 , vital:29285 , http://2015.essa.org.za/fullpaper/essa_2938.pdf
Description: Publisher version , Despite considerable economic impact of trout-based aquaculture and recreational fishing, the Department of Environmental Affairs has been focusing almost entirely on ecological criteria in deciding the regulatory regime for trout. We examined whether the proposed regulatory regime for alien and invasive species that was published by the Department of Environmental Affairs in 2014 for public comment was reasonable. The analysis produced factors that might matter in the design of reasonable institutional arrangements that impose a reasonable regulatory burden on economic sectors utilising invasive species. We conducted factor analysis using an online survey that we conducted between May and July 2014. We obtained four clusters of factors: participatory policymaking, people-centeredness, credible scientific evidence for listing species as invasive and contextualisation of international evidence. We then utilised the factors in a logistic regression framework to assess their influence on the probability of perceiving the regulations to be reasonable. The likelihood of a trout sector player perceiving the regulations to be reasonable was 1.2%. We found that a one standard deviation increase in the “credibility of scientific evidence” increased the odds of perceiving the regulations to be reasonable by 1645%. A one standard deviation increase in “participation” increased the odds of perceiving the regulations to be reasonable by 410%. A one standard deviation increase in “people-centeredness” increased the odds of perceiving the regulations to be reasonable by 600%. Lastly, a one standard deviation increase in the variable “contextualising international evidence” increased the odds of perceiving the regulations to be reasonable by 415%. This research demonstrates that properly addressing the socioeconomic aspects of new policies in addition to ecological criteria makes it far more likely that stakeholders will regard them as reasonable, even if the new policies impose increased regulatory transaction cost burden on users or reduced access to a resource.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Measuring the value of the arts to society: the importance of the value of externalities for lower income and education groups in South Africa

- Snowball, Jeanette D, Antrobus, Geoffrey G

Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D , Antrobus, Geoffrey G
Date: 2001
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143134 , vital:38204 , https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1813-6982.2001.tb00034.x
Description: Governments in many countries have cut their support of the arts on the grounds that it is the pleasure of the higher income, well educated members of society that they are sponsoring. In the 1980's government support of the arts, even in developed countries, fell by 30 per cent (Throsby 1994). While it is true that many studies have found that arts attenders represent the educated, prosperous minority of society (Morrison and West, 1986; Dobson and West, 1990; Hendon 1990), this paper argues that if the social as well as the more traditional economic measures of the value of the arts are considered, it can be shown that many of the positive externalties provided by the arts accrue to lower income and education groups.
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Date Issued: 2001

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Perceptions of the natural environment from a rural African perspective: a case of Cylondropuntia fulgida var. fulgida in Gwanda district, Zimbabwe

- Dube, Nqobizitha, Snowball, Jeanette D, Fraser, Gavin C G

Authors: Dube, Nqobizitha , Snowball, Jeanette D , Fraser, Gavin C G
Date: 2015
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68578 , vital:29289 , http://2015.essa.org.za/fullpaper/essa_2994.pdf
Description: Publisher version , Community environmental perceptions are instrumental in environmental management programmes given that perspectives govern human-environment relations. Despite numerous studies on environmental perceptions, little is known about how the rural poor particularly in Africa conceptualize, live with, and respond to pressing environmental issues facing them. As such, this paper uses the case of an invasive alien plant (IAP) (Cylindropuntia fulgida var. fulgida (Cff)) in a rural community (Gwanda district, Zimbabwe) to unveil the conceptualisation of the natural environment from a rural African perspective. This paper discloses the environmental worldview of the community and explains the formulation of the attitudes by the local households towards species in the environment. The study uses two horizontal dimensions of environmental attitudes formulation (New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale and Kellet’s (1996) classification of environmental values). Data was collected using a questionnaire survey, group discussions and key informant interviews. A sample of 156 individuals comprised the study respondents. Results showed the residents of rural Gwanda district to hold both a conservation and utilisation conviction (syncretic view) towards the environment. However, utilisation outweighs conservation. Furthermore, older residents are more inclined to conservation in comparison to the youth. The study also divulged that the origin of a species in the natural environment was insignificant to the host community. However, the livelihood effects that species had (regardless of origins) were the major determinants of attitudes developed towards it.
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Date Issued: 2015

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Regulatory incoherence and economic potential of freshwater recreational fisheries: the trout triangle in South Africa

- Marire, Juniours, Snowball, Jeanette D, Fraser, Gavin C G

Authors: Marire, Juniours , Snowball, Jeanette D , Fraser, Gavin C G
Date: 2014
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68621 , vital:29295 , https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/JEI0021-3624480406
Description: Publisher version , We apply John R. Commons’s negotiational psychology, specifically his principle of sovereignty, to the development of a discordant regulatory culture and its likely impact on the economic potential of recreational fishing. Using South African environmental judicial precedents and other documentation, we formulate six plausible hypotheses. We argue that regulatory incoherence, entitlement insecurity, corporate-dominated social valuation, strategic power coalitions, lack of procedural fairness, and the extent of judicial enforcement of environmental rights help explain the economic potential and isolation of the freshwater recreational fisheries sector. We find a consistent pattern of extraction and monopolization of sovereign power by the Department of Mineral Resources from propertied parties. Thus, regulatory domination is a major mechanism affecting the economic potential of recreational fisheries in the Trout Triangle. While Commons postulated that private property is a sufficient condition for participation in the determination and use of sovereign power, we argue that private/public property is only a necessary condition. The conjunctive sufficient condition is the existence of both regulatory coherence between spheres of government and property.
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Date Issued: 2014

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Rhino poaching: supply and demand uncertain

- Collins, Alan, Fraser, Gavin, Snowball, Jeanette D

Authors: Collins, Alan , Fraser, Gavin , Snowball, Jeanette D
Date: 2013
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/70476 , vital:29665 , https://doi.org/10.1126/science.340.6137.1167-a
Description: IN THEIR POLICY FORUM “LEGAL TRADE OF AFRICA’S RHINO HORNS” (1 MARCH, P. 1038), D. Biggs et al. point out that the trade ban on rhino horn has not been successful in reducing rhino poaching, which reached a record high of 668 in 2012. They argue that trade bans support illegal organizations, whereas a regulated legal market could reduce poaching effort and provide much-needed income for conservation. In making their case, Biggs et al. overlook a few important points.
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Date Issued: 2013

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Richard T. Carson: Contingent valuation: a comprehensive bibliography and history

- Snowball, Jeanette D

Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71504 , vital:29859 , https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10824-012-9165-7.pdf
Description: For those of us who have been involved in willingness to pay studies for some time, Contingent Valuation: A comprehensive bibliography and history by Richard Carson is a fascinating read, tracking the early development of the method and debates around it from an insider’s perspective. As someone who has not only been involved in contingent valuation research over many years, but who has also been instrumental in shaping it, Richard Carson is the ideal author of this carefully crafted book.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Student-generated content: an approach to harnessing the power of diversity in higher education

- Snowball, Jeanette D, McKenna, Sioux

Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D , McKenna, Sioux
Date: 2017
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/66763 , vital:28991 , ISSN 1470-1294 , https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2016.1273205
Description: Publisher version , Internationally, classes in higher education institutions are becoming larger and more diverse. Support for ‘non-traditional’ students has often taken the form of additional remedial classes offered outside the main curriculum, which has met with limited success. Sociocultural theories of learning argue that the potential clash between the sociocultural context of disciplinary knowledge and the very different home contexts of many non-traditional students needs to be acknowledged. One way to achieve this is to use student-generated content, which allows teachers to bring student experiences and voices into the community of practice and acknowledges the importance of their prior experiences in knowledge production. Building on such sociocultural approaches to teaching and learning, this paper focuses on the use of student-generated podcasts as a means to harness the diversity of student experiences in a large (nearly 600 students) first-year Economics class at a South African University.
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Date Issued: 2017

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Subjective well-being in Africa

- Botha, Ferdi, Snowball, Jeanette D

Authors: Botha, Ferdi , Snowball, Jeanette D
Date: 2015
Language: English
Type: article , text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61084 , vital:27946
Description: Research on quality of life and subjective well-being (SWB) has witnessed a remarkable growth over the past four decades or so. Since Easterlin’s (1974) seminal contribution on the relationship between happiness and income, thousands of studies have followed that examine the intricacies of subjective well-being (for reviews, see Frey and Stutzer, 2002; Dolan et al., 2008; MacKerron, 2012). These studies have uncovered some very important aspects of individual well-being and have pointed to the fact that money or income is not always (as is often assumed) the most important determinant of SWB.
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Date Issued: 2015

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The determinants of happiness among race groups in South Africa

- Ebrahim, Amina, Botha, Ferdi, Snowball, Jeanette D

Authors: Ebrahim, Amina , Botha, Ferdi , Snowball, Jeanette D
Date: 2011
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68589 , vital:29291 , http://www.essa2011.org.za/fullpaper/essa2011_2182.pdf
Description: Publisher version , Economic indicators, like GDP per capita, are commonly used as indicators of welfare. However, they have a very limited and narrow scope, excluding many potentially important welfare determinants, such as health, relative income and religion - not surprising since they were not originally designed to fill this role. There is thus growing acceptance, and use of, subjective measure of wellbeing, (called ‘happiness’ measures) both worldwide and in South Africa. Happiness economics does not propose to replace income based measure of wellbeing, but rather attempts to compliment them with broader measures, which can be important in making policy decisions that optimise societal welfare. This paper tests for differences in subjective wellbeing between race groups in South Africa, and investigates the determinants of self-rated life satisfaction (happiness) for each group. Using the 2008 National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) data, descriptive methods (ANOVA) and an ordered probit model are applied. Results indicate that reported happiness differs substantially among race groups, with black South Africans being the least happy group despite changes since the advent of democracy in 1994. Higher levels of educational attainment increase satisfaction for the whole sample, and women are generally less happy than men (particularly black women). As found in many other studies, unemployed people have lower levels of life satisfaction than the employed, even when controlling for income and relative income. The determinants of happiness are also different for each race group: While white South Africans attached greater importance to physical health; employment status and absolute income matter greatly for black people. For coloured people and black people, positional status (as measured by relative income) is an important determinant of happiness, with religious involvement significantly contributing to the happiness of Indian people.
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Date Issued: 2011

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The economic impact of Rhodes University students on the Grahamstown economy

- Snowball, Jeanette D, Antrobus, Geoffrey G

Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D , Antrobus, Geoffrey G
Date: 2005
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/67475 , vital:29099
Description: Publisher version , From Executive Summary: This study compares the spending patterns and economic impact of three groups of Rhodes University students: South Africans (SA), Other Africans and students from the Rest of the World (RoW). Data was collected via self-completion questionnaires and the final sample size was 163. Despite differences in spending patterns, total spending was found to be remarkably similar across groups, the major differences being between those students in university residence and those in digs (rented accommodation in town). Total monthly spending for those in residence was highest for SA students (R1034), then Other Africans (R850) and finally RoW (R777). For those in digs, total monthly spending was very similar, but again highest for SA students (R2495), then RoW (R2480) and then students from Other African countries (R2461). SA students have a considerably lower average unearned income than other groups, with students from the RoW having the highest unearned income (R1060 for those in residence and R2300 for those in digs). However, 55% of SA students, compared to 47% of foreign students, have sources of earned income, usually related to the university. Monthly income also tended to be higher for SA students (R654) than for other groups (Other Africa = R557; RoW = R575). The general conclusion that can be drawn is that there is very little difference in total spending between groups, although SA students have a somewhat higher average than others. A straight line ordinary least squares regression showed that, holding all else constant, SA students spent on average R169 more per month than foreign students (significant at the 10% level).
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Date Issued: 2005

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The economics of greening the Grahamstown National Arts Festival in South Africa

- Dobson, Blaise, Snowball, Jeanette D

Authors: Dobson, Blaise , Snowball, Jeanette D
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/71445 , vital:29851 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC132010
Description: The article analyses the broad history underpinning the notion of sustainable development and its context within the events industry in South Africa. It explores the willingness of festival-goers to pay for a hypothetical recycling programme to reduce the negative externalities of the Festival. Results show that festival-goers were, on average, willing to pay an additional R2.30 per "green" ticket to fund the proposed programme. A statistical regression was used to explore the determinants of willing-to-pay. If applied to all tickets, the total willing-to-pay amount far exceeded the actual cost of the recycling programme.
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Date Issued: 2012

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The energy transition patterns of low-income households in South Africa: an evaluation of energy programme and policy

- Israel-Akinbo, Sylvia O, Snowball, Jeanette D, Fraser, Gavin C G

Authors: Israel-Akinbo, Sylvia O , Snowball, Jeanette D , Fraser, Gavin C G
Date: 2018
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/69397 , vital:29518 , https://doi.org/10.17159/2413-3051/2018/v29i3a3310
Description: The transition to modern energy carriers like electricity is an important way to achieve to eradicate energy poverty. This study investigated energy transition patterns and trends in low-income South African households. The marginal effects of the different determinants on the probability of choosing a specific energy carrier were computed and the influence of some endogenous characteristics in transitioning to modern energy carriers was explored. It was found that energy ladder behaviour exists for cooking while energy stacking was most likely for space heating and the pattern for lighting tended towards energy stacking. Dwelling type, household size and geographical location were among the key determinants of the energy transition pattern. Policies to reduce energy poverty need a multi-pronged approach and not only a focus on electricity access.
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Date Issued: 2018

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The experiences of Fringe producers at the South African National Arts Festival: production, profits and non-market benefits

- Snowball, Jeanette D, Antrobus, Geoffrey G

Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D , Antrobus, Geoffrey G
Date: 2011
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/143123 , vital:38203 , DOI: 10.1080/10137548.2009.9687901
Description: Unlike the performing arts generally, festivals and special events have been growing in popularity worldwide: since the 1980s there has been an explosion of the number of festival of all types, not just arts festivals, but folk festivals, harvest festivals, food festivals, family festivals, carnivals, literary festivals – the list is long. It is estimated that there are more than 300 festivals in the UK (British Federation of Festivals 2004), 1300 in Australia (Johnson et al 2005) and more than 5000 in the US (Blumenthal 2002).
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Date Issued: 2011

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The role of culture in enabling or constraining the use of technology in higher education teaching and learning: the Commerce Curriculum Project

- Mostert, Markus, Snowball, Jeanette D, Boughey, Chrissie

Authors: Mostert, Markus , Snowball, Jeanette D , Boughey, Chrissie
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: conference paper , text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/61073 , vital:27945
Description: This paper draws on a project located in one faculty at a South African university which aimed to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to enhance teaching and learning. More specifically, the paper uses Archer’s (1995, 1996, 2000, 1998) ‘analytical dualism’ and ‘morphogenesis’ to explore the way individuals involved in the project were able to exercise agency in departments which were relatively hostile to the goals they were aiming to pursue despite the wider cultural domain encompassing many ideas which construct the use of ICTs as significant in promoting student learning. The paper thus contributes to the culture/agency subtheme of the HECU6 conference. The paper begins by providing some background to the project before moving on to an exploration of the way Archer’s theoretical work was used to analyse data collected by project leaders.
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Date Issued: 2012

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