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Examination papers are used around the globe as assessments for learning, as learning and of learning. Many academics seek to maintain a balance between lower order and higher order cognitive questions in these papers, seeking to help students transform their knowledge from quantitative to qualitative in nature. Some achieve this by using different illustrative verbs from the six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. The purpose of this research is to investigate the degree to which different levels of questions in a summative examination predict the final grade of two types of students in a compulsory electrical engineering module. These two groups are termed ECP students (students who undertake an additional year of study prior to enrolling in a mainstream programme) and ]VISP students (students who enroll for a mainstream programme directly after completing their high-school career). Stepwise regression was used to analyze the data (n = 64 for the ECP group and n = 487 for the MSP group from 2016 and 2017) to find a set of independent variables (individual questions in the summative examination) that significantly influence the dependent variable (final grade of the summative examination). Results indicate that, on average, three out of six questions contributed the most to the final grades of the ECP students while all six questions were found to contribute for MSP students. A key deficiency in ECP students was noted regarding applied mathematics required in the analysis and design of electrical circuits. A possible recommendation is to expose ECP students to more physical science questions that require several different equations during their additional year of study to better help them demonstrate important higher-order cognitive skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning outcomes are essential to any curriculum in education, where they need to be clear, observable and measurable. However, some academics structure learning outcomes in a way that does not promote student learning. The purpose of this article is to present the analyses of learning outcomes of an Electrical Engineering curriculum offered at a University of Technology in South Africa, in order to determine if academics are structuring them in a way that enables student learning. A qualitative case study is used where the learning outcomes from 33 study guides are reviewed using illustrative verbs derived from Bloom's Taxonomy. Results indicate that 9% of all the learning outcomes are unclear, 10% are unobservable and 23% are unmeasurable. A key recommendation is to provide regular workshops to assist academics in reviewing their learning outcomes using the illustrative verbs derived from Bloom's Taxonomy, thereby ensuring that their learning outcomes promote student learning.

Academics must be encouraged to reflect on their teaching, to apply new pedagogies to support student learning and to report on the results of these actions, which really forms part of programmes relating to Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). However, there seems to be resistance among some academics to get involved in these programmes due to fear of change or discrimination. The purpose of this article is to highlight the perceptions of four academics from different engineering fields towards such a programme from a University of Technology in South Africa. A qualitative study is employed where a focus group interview was used to gather data which are correlated to the SoTL unicycle detailed in the article. A benefit of joining an SoTL programme includes "developing a teaching action plan" while a key challenge relates to time concerns. An implication may be to stimulate awareness among non-participating academics about what an SoTL programme really engenders.

The International Engineering Alliance lists 12 important graduate attributes that students must demonstrate during their higher educational career. One of these important graduate attributes is the ability to solve problems, which can be demonstrated by the use of project-based learning, case studies, and practical workshops. The purpose of this paper is to highlight student academic results of practical work done in an electrical engineering qualification that feature these three pedagogies. These three pedagogies are used in an open-distance learning environment to assess engineering students in an electrical engineering qualification involving three separate electronic communication modules. A time-lag study using a nonexperimental descriptive design is employed. Results show that the most frequent student grade for practical workshop assignments was 80%, while the most frequent student grade for case study assignments was 70%. However, the most frequent student grade for project-based learning assignments was 50%. The results show that distance learning engineering students languish under project-based learning, while they thrive in case studies and practical workshops. Possible reasons are given for this, based on the challenges faced by students engaging with these three pedagogies.

Literature states that entrepreneurial awareness is required in countries where entrepreneurship is neither publicized nor acclaimed, which is currently the situation in South Africa. Entrepreneurial skills include the ability to market one's product by means of a sales poster while problem-based learning is viewed as fundamental to entrepreneurial education. The research question arises "How may academics use problem-based learning to stimulate entrepreneurial awareness among senior African undergraduate students?" The purpose of this article is to present a practical assignment which was designed to help students think about entrepreneurship while engaging in problem-based learning. Engineering students were asked to help resolve the problem of poor television reception in the Vaal Triangle community by designing and constructing a specific antenna and then designing a sales poster to market their product. Quantitative and qualitative data reveals that students are able to engage in problem-based learning in engineering, but lack the ability to design an effective sales poster which forms part of entrepreneurial skills. Results further reveal that students were able to meet the learning outcomes for this practical assignment and really enjoyed the problem-based learning approach.

Poor academic success by African engineering students is currently experienced in many higher educational institutions, contributing to lower financial subsidies by local governments. One of the contributing factors to this low academic success may be the poor time management skills of these students. This article endeavours to explore this relationship by means of a theoretical literature review and an empirical study. Numerous studies have been conducted in this regard, but with mixed results. The case study of this article involves a design module termed Design Projects III, where the empirical study incorporated an "ex post facto" study involving a pre-experimental/exploratory design using descriptive statistics. The results of this study were applied to various tests, which indicated no statistically significant relationship between time management skills and the academic achievement of African engineering students. (Contains 3 tables and 5 figures.)

A researcher's reputation is influenced by the quantity and quality of his or her publications. A record of these publications is usually kept by an academic in a resume or on an online platform, such as LinkedIn, Google Scholar or Research Gate. The purpose of this article is to contrast the major metrics of Google Scholar with that of Research Gate of a number of engineering academics employed at a university of technology in South Africa, in order to determine any notable differences. A quantitative study is undertaken to gather the total number of citations, h-index values and Research Gate scores for engineering researchers present on both databases. Results indicate that Research Gate has the highest number of authors present from the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology at the Central University of Technology. However, Google Scholar records the highest number of citations for these authors. Only 31 out of the possible 86 academic staff members maintains a profile on both databases, where only 4 researchers have more than 500 citations. It is recommended that management mandate the presence of their academic staff on one of many available databases in this regard, thereby enhancing the visibility of the research done at the university and enabling an easier review of the achievements of staff for performance management purposes or for promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students who complete their high school education are, at times, not adequately prepared fur further studies in higher education. Some of these students struggle to meet the challenges associated with heavy workloads, extra laboratory work and a blended-learning environment. These underprepared students need additional academic support if they are to succeed with their university studies. One such support includes an additional year of study (part of an Extended Curriculum Programme aimed at improving student preparedness) prior to enrolling in a mainstream programme where they may study towards a Diploma or Bachelor's degree. The purpose of this article is to contrast the performance of these students to those who directly entered a mainstream programme, thereby highlighting the benefit of an additional year of study in helping students to become better prepared. This contrast is primarily based on their main examination grades that they achieved in a first-year compulsory module that forms part of a National Diploma in Electrical Engineering. Sixty-four students, with an additional year of study, are contrasted to 487 students who entered a mainstream programme directly between 2016 and 20 I 7. Both groups of students struggled with questions relating to design which is correlated to the synthesis level in Bloom's Taxonomy. However, the average grade difference between the two groups never exceeded 10%, with the average being 6.994. The contribution to education is the positive results achieved by these first-year students who enrolled for an extended curriculum programme, thereby supporting its continuance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Escalating electrical energy usage and costs over the past few years has resulted in large utility bill expenses that municipalities are struggling to pay-off to National Energy Suppliers. Furthermore, some energy suppliers are struggling to meet the demand for more energy due to a variety of factors. The challenge therefore exists in identifying viable alternative power generation strategies for local municipalities to reduce their current electrical energy expenses or to provide limited power to their community when disconnected from the National Grid. An environmentally friendly renewable energy strategy method could be used to supplement the current energy requirements of a municipality during months of high energy demand. The main focus of this study will be on a small town in the Free State province of South Africa, called Koffiefontein. A battery-based solar PV system was designed in the Homer software and chosen as the renewable energy strategy to supplement the current energy needs of Koffiefontein due to its performance and cost effectiveness. The initial implementation cost of the system is $ 42 995 649.95. The cost of energy for the PV system suggested for Koffiefontein houses is $ 0.40/kWh with the yearly electricity production of 27 661 kWh. The payback period of the system is 45.3 years. The municipality needs to consider installing battery-based solar PV system to supply businesses in Koffiefontein during their high demanding hours and during load shedding as the system indicates an affordable cost of energy with high yearly production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data must be given context to become information. Information must be given meaning to become knowledge. Knowledge, in turn, can only become wisdom if applied correctly. Data from postgraduate dissertations, including an analysis of the types of citations used, can give rise to information that can subsequently contribute to knowledge and wisdom. This type of analysis is warranted, as it has been reported that poor references are a common fault in dissertations. The purpose of this article is to analyse 157 Master dissertations from 19 different disciplines that were completed over a 10-year period at one university in order to identify the types and the trends of the citations used in order to highlight any major concerns with regard to credibility. An ex-post facto study is used where citation analysis is used to obtain quantitative data. Results reveal that 17063 citations were used in total, where the disciplines of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology had the highest number of internetbased sources, as compared to journal articles and books. Engineering postgraduate students also used a fewer number of citations (average of 60 per dissertation) as compared to students in Humanities (103 citations per dissertation), Environmental Sciences (138 citations per dissertation) and Management (121 citations per dissertation). The use of Wikipedia was limited to 79 citations, of which almost 50% was found in Electrical Engineering. An important implication of this research is that it may help postgraduate students to select more credible sources for their citations, formatting them more correctly so as to easily identify their types. This in turn may have a bearing on improving the quality of their dissertations that may ease the examination process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]