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While a considerable body of research has focused on learners' acceptance of or resistance to mobile technologies, fewer studies have focused on teachers. This research study aimed to understand the factors influencing South African teachers' acceptance of or resistance to using mobile technologies in their classroom practice. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used as a lens to explore factors that enhance mobile technology acceptance. The study consisted of a sequential mixed method, action research approach. Fifteen participants received training at a Mobile Technology workshop, aiming to provide professional development and enhance technological literacy knowledge and skills for teachers. The participants were then tasked to teach with technology and to share and reflect on their experiences and perceptions during the community of practice meetings. Content analysis was used to analyse the transcripts of these meetings and this led to the identification of 2 key factors, which enhanced the teachers' acceptance of mobile technology, namely, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Six sub-factors affecting acceptance were also identified: anxiety, ability, attitude, facilitating conditions, subjective norm and voluntariness. The factors that were identified suggest that additional professional development, infrastructure and resources need to be provided for teachers. We argue that by providing these necessities and eliminating or significantly reducing these factors, the use of mobile technology will be a success.

Business schools are globally often seen as structured, purpose-driven, multi-sector and multi-perspective organisations. This article is based on the response of a graduate school to an innovative industrial Quality Function Deployment-based model (QFD), which was to be adopted initially in a Master's degree programme for quality assurance purposes. The approach is based on the premise that individuals ought to take responsibility for the quality of their own work. A structured qualitative case study approach was used with the deployment of one-on-one and focus group interviews, document analysis, and observations. Convenient sampling assisted in reaching 27 respondents (five from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, eight academics and university managers and 14 students and alumni), documents and facilities that had the most pertinent information on the research focus. A validation study was used to test the value of the research findings to business and the practice of quality assurance. The main findings of the study attest to the feasibility of QFD as an assessment and quality assurance tool in higher education, and as a compact and holistic model for quality assurance that subsumes the many fragmented models available. QFD appears to supersede most models, where it compounds the market, social and management dimensions in terms of quality. In addition, Six Sigma Road Mapping can be linked to QFD to balance the quality requirements in terms of planned quality, offered quality and expected quality.

One of the major causes of the problems affecting evolution education is a lack of acceptance of this concept, particularly by some people who have strongly entrenched religious beliefs. This paper reports on a section of a study which explored the influence of the beliefs of learners in some secondary schools from the Vhembe District in the northern Limpopo Province, South Africa, on the teaching and learning of biological evolution. A questionnaire was administered to Grade 12 learners studying life sciences to which 348 responded. Data were analysed to provide descriptive and inferential data for analysis. Findings indicated moderate acceptance of evolution by the learners. Some of the factors which showed an association with learners' acceptance included: learners' religious beliefs, age and the time since they had first heard of evolution. Although some learners experienced conflict between their religious beliefs and evolution, the findings showed that most were willing to learn about it.

This article emanates from a comparative study of the quality of a B.Ed. (Hons) programme in contact and distance contexts in a dual-mode institution, in terms of access, delivery and output. Both versions of the programme are guided by a similar underpinning philosophy that drives its ethos. Even though it appears that there may be no prominent discrepancies between the two modes of training delivery, institutions that decide to venture into rural areas are faced with challenges that have to be sorted out if the quality of a given distance education programme is to be enhanced. Also, there is the need for institutions to distinguish between academe that are interested in distance education and those that are not in order to improve on their research status. Finally, suggestions are proffered on how institutions in an African setting can improve the quality of their programmes. (Contains 2 notes.)

The use of RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) in higher education to assess RPL candidates for admission into programmes of study met with a lot of criticism from faculty academics. Lecturers viewed the possibility of admitting large numbers of under-qualified adult learners, as a threat to the institution's reputation, or an erosion of academic standards. Although RPL rests on the assumption that some equivalency between prior learning and academic learning is possible, RPL assessment and validation demands special expertise, which few faculty academics and administrators possess. An evaluation of the RPL assessment practice in the Faculty of Education at a South African University is used to substantiate the arguments raised in this article. Findings from interviews with assessors, observations of the assessment process, questionnaires administered on RPL candidates and documents analysed indicated that there is a credible process of RPL assessment in this Faculty, with a few areas of concern.

A survey of 2,071 first-year students in university distance-education programs found the two most common learning strategies were repetitive reading of course materials and summarization of facts. Wide variation in strategies was found, apparently determined by both learner characteristics and nature and design of instructional materials, including language use. A tendency to depend on rote learning was found. (MSE)

Lecturers could potentially have different reasons why they would choose a specific teaching strategy including government policy, education institution policy or management directive. Despite these factors lecturers could also choose to use Active learning strategies out of their own accord and not because they are being told so. This qualitative interpretive case study sets out to understand the views of 11 lecturers teaching in three different faculties: Faculty of Commerce and Law, Faculty of Social Science and Faculty of Applied Science, in a private higher education institute in South Africa on their motivation in using Active learning strategies in their classrooms. The findings suggest that lecturers are using Active learning due to them believing that: Active learning prepares students for the workplace by developing the required skills; supports learning in the classroom; changes boring passive learning classes into to engaging enjoyable active classes in which students want to participate; and their own experience as a student having had a lecturer that used Active learning strategies in their classes that worked for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a study focusing on the academic experiences of top achievers in maintaining excellence in first-year university programmes. The study investigated in particular the academic experiences of Grade 12 top achievers from Mpumalanga, South Africa, at various universities. A mixed methods approach was used to collect data, making use of a convenience sample of (n = 14). Data was generated using a closed-ended questionnaire, students' academic records and standardised individual interviews conducted with eleven students. The results indicate that academic excellence in the first year is influenced by self-discipline, self-motivation, interest in the course, self-confidence, academic preparedness, effort and the belief students have about themselves. The investigation revealed that, generally, top achievers' academic performance in the first year denoted what Viljoen and Deacon (2013, 242) term 'academic fit'. The findings of the study emphasise the significant influence of positive 'compelling forces' at universities that assist first-year students in adapting to the university environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on teachers' perceptions of the application of science process skills in the teaching of Geography in secondary schools in the Free State province. A teachers' questionnaire on the application of the science process skills in the teaching of Geography was constructed and the questionnaire was content validated against the theoretical assumptions supported by the literature and practical applications of the subject. The questionnaires were distributed to 150 respondents and 71 completed questionnaires were returned for further analysis. The responses to the items of the questionnaire were subjected to a principal component factor analysis and a varimax method of rotation. Two prominent factors were identified and investigated. Factor I was labeled “basic science process skills” and reaffirmed teachers' understanding of the basic process skills as autonomous and independent functions. The second factor confirmed the existence of a higher level of advanced and integrated process skills that build upon the basic or foundational process skills. These results confirmed the researchers' assumptions that respondents could distinguish cognitively between these two very prominent constructs. They were comfortable with the fact that the science processes applicable to the teaching of Geography could be grouped into two main distinctive clusters or factors. The homogeneous clustering of items also emphasized the understanding that the classical science process skills could easily be applied to the teaching of Geography. This assumption was supported by the empirical investigation and findings. In addition, the results supported the hypothesis that although teachers did not apply integrated science process skills to the teaching of Geography on a regular, basis, they were well-acquainted with the fact that these skills remain an important facet in the teaching of Geography in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years pharmaceutical companies have established employee exposure limits for the active ingredients used in their products. Historically these limits were derived using traditional risk assessment methods. Because the trend in the pharmaceutical industry is to identify and develop more selective drugs of increasing potency, and because of the difficulty in identifying no-effect levels for certain drugs, a new performance-based approach for setting limits was developed. This method involves assigning materials into one of five hazard categories according to their inherent toxicological and pharmacological properties. The criteria used to assign compounds into performance-based exposure control limit (PB-ECL) categories focus on the degree to which exposure impacts human health. These assignments dictate the level of containment required to assure employee safety that is achieved through the use of engineering controls and safe handling practices. Several matrices were developed to specify general design concepts and controls for unit operations in laboratory and manufacturing operations. Containment options range from conventional handling practices for low potency (PB-ECL Category 1) materials, to technologically advanced systems that result in essentially no open handling for potent or toxic (PB-ECL Category 3) materials, to state-of-the-art facilities employing closed processes and use of robotics for extremely potent (PB-ECL Category 5) materials.

Rheumatic fever is still the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children and young adults in developing countries. Recent reports have documented a rising incidence of rheumatic fever in both the USA and Europe. The disease is characterized by specific lesions in the heart muscle and valves called Aschoff nodules. The Aschoff nodule has been neglected in the last few decades as most of the studies were conducted in the 1960s on autopsy tissues. This study examines Aschoff nodules using heart valve material obtained at valve surgery with updated commercially available immunohistochemical antibodies to determine the phenotypic characteristics of the cells involved in the formation of these lesions. Fifteen cases of rheumatic valvulitis, as indicated by the presence of Aschoff nodules, were examined. The Anitschkow and Aschoff cells stained prominently with macrophage markers. Three stages of nodules with Aschoff and Anitschkow cells were identified: stage 1, central fibrinoid necrosis without lymphocytes, stage 2 with occasional T lymphocytes (< 10) and stage 3 with lymphoid aggregates containing both T- and B-lymphocytes (with occasional admixed macrophages). We propose that the stage 1 lesion is the earliest granulomatous stage with the lymphoid aggregates being a later stage in the development of Aschoff nodules. The Aschoff and Anitschkow cells demonstrated mitotic activity and stained with antibodies to the proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) suggesting that the multinucleated giant cells may be formed, at least partially, by nuclear division rather than fusion.