Papers by Ingrid Siebörger
IFIP advances in information and communication technology, Dec 31, 2022
Communications of the Association for Information Systems
The South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) has considered the introduction of Tablet P... more The South African Department of Basic Education (DBE) has considered the introduction of Tablet PCs an important aspect in improving the quality of education in South Africa. The Covid-19 pandemic has hastened the introduction of Tablet PCs due to the increased need for distance and online learning. Educators are often unwilling to accept and use Tablet PCs for teaching and learning because they do not have the necessary skills to integrate Tablet PCs into their pedagogical practices. This paper discusses the practical implications of the introduction of Tablet PCs into previously disadvantaged schools in South Africa specifically during the Covid-19 pandemic. To provide guidance to the DBE, principals, and educators to promote effective use and acceptance of Tablet PCs by educators for classroom and distance learning.
The use of information and communication technologies in education is not a new eld. Many online ... more The use of information and communication technologies in education is not a new eld. Many online learning environments exist, but often these are either too generic, or too specic to the education systems of other countries. As a result, they do not satisfy the requirements of the schools and the curriculum in South Africa. There is, therefore, a need for an online learning environment that is developed specically for the South African context. In particular, previously disadvantaged schools have highly specic needs, due to a lack of learning resources and poor computer literacy. The aim of this research was to identify the specic requirements of South African schools and to develop a prototype online learning environment that demonstrates the ability to sustainably satisfy these requirements. The process of gathering requirements included a survey of literature in the eld of e-learning and discussions with 12 South African teachers. The prototype was evaluated through user studies involving 86 learners and 22 teachers. Learners were asked to rate the components of the prototype and certain aspects of their use. Out of a maximum of 4, the prototype scored an average rating of 3.24 in this evaluation, indicating a remarkably positive response from the learners. 85% of the learners who used the prototype stated that they would like to use it to study for their examinations. Learners enjoyed using the prototype, found it easy to use and found that it had a positive impact on their learning. The results demonstrated that the prototype is an intuitive, interactive application that oers a sustainable solution to South African teachers and learners, particularly in previously disadvantaged schools.
2014 IST-Africa Conference Proceedings, 2014
Approximately more than eight hundred (800) First Year Students at the University of Namibia in 2... more Approximately more than eight hundred (800) First Year Students at the University of Namibia in 2010 and 2011 were enrolled in Mathematics class against a few teaching staff. As such this resulted in a challenge to individual students' attention, which yielded low passing rate. To improve that, the students in their spare time tried to make use of computer services to revise and practice their Mathematics concepts. However, that was challenged by the fact that only a few students owned personal computers and the rest were deprived of such facilities. Nonetheless, in this era, the majority if not all students owned one or more mobile phones that had similar functions as that of computers. Hence, in order to improve the performance of all the students doing Mathematics, the m-Leaming System Enhancing Mathematical Concepts (m-LSEMC) was envisaged to accord opportunity to all learners in utilizing mobile phones during their spare time. The envisaged system was administered and yielded better passing rate.
2016 IST-Africa Week Conference, 2016
Worldwide computers are being used in schools for, amongst other things, developing the knowledge... more Worldwide computers are being used in schools for, amongst other things, developing the knowledge and skills required for citizens to be able to operate within the 21st Century Information Age. Realising the potential of technology in uplifting the lives of its citizens the South African government has proposed the National Broadband Plan (SA Connect). However, unfortunately this plan only addresses the networking aspect of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). In this paper we investigate appropriate Information Technologies for schools in the light of SA Connect, and propose a model for the computing infrastructure required in South African schools in order to support access to and adoption of technology and networks. This model is based on our multi-year experimentation in the Siyakhula Living Lab.
2017 IST-Africa Week Conference (IST-Africa), 2017
MobiSAM is a project aimed to increase citizen participation in local government using mobile dev... more MobiSAM is a project aimed to increase citizen participation in local government using mobile devices in order to further the reach and usefulness of the Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM) methodology to ordinary citizens. The project began in 2011 and there have been a number of HCI interventions over the years that have been undertaken to inform the design and subsequent redesign of the system based on the results of a number of evaluations. This paper begins by discussing the interaction design lifecycle model, illustrating how the different interventions were undertaken as part of the cycles that have been involved to date. It then provides details on two such interventions: an evaluation of the navigation and visualization aspects of the MobiSAM client application; and the evaluation of a streamlined app aimed to simplify the process of reporting problems with service.
2015 IST-Africa Conference, 2015
Visualisations are a quick and powerful tool for data analysis and information acquisition. The m... more Visualisations are a quick and powerful tool for data analysis and information acquisition. The main aim of this thesis was to investigate visualisation and interaction techniques appropriate for the mobile platform. The mobile platform is investigated, focusing on various factors that can affect visualisations on mobile devices. The purpose of this research is to determine if mobile devices be used for visualising geographical and categorical data for large datasets. To achieve this purpose, three goals were developed, these are i) to review mobile visualisation and interaction techniques for large datasets, ii) to develop visualisations based on the findings from related work, and iii) to evaluate the visualisations for effectiveness and usefulness amongst other factors.
A lack of service delivery and accountability are two characteristic challenges of numerous munic... more A lack of service delivery and accountability are two characteristic challenges of numerous municipalities (local government) in South Africa. MobiSAM was introduced as a collaborative effort between a local university, civil society, residents, and local government to grow digital citizen engagement, facilitate two-way communication between local government and its citizenry, and contribute to the improved provision of basic services. Through the course of the project, it became clear that power, with respect to knowledge, was at play in the interactions or lack thereof between local government and citizens. This work-in-progress paper begins the journey of exploration of the power/knowledge dynamics at play in the MobiSAM project (using the SECI model and the Power Cube) by unpacking and understanding the nature of knowledge processed in the project and the associated knowledge creation processes that ensued between the different project stakeholders over time. The influence of po...
Wireless networking has brought computer networks into a new, exciting and hostile environment. F... more Wireless networking has brought computer networks into a new, exciting and hostile environment. Factors that need to be considered and understood during implementation include interferences and security protocols. Setting up a WLAN is relatively simple, allowing users to achieve mobility, but in some cases, the default security configuration on the devices leads to inferior security measures implemented. Security leads to a higher implementation complexity. Wireless access points (AP’s) can be connected at any open port on a network, allowing unauthorised external users to gain access to the secure internal network, bypassing a vast majority of security measures. Discovering the location of rogue AP’s aids the wireless user in protecting their secured network. Using spectrum analysis and trilateration, these rogue AP’s can be located. 1
Community networks are often serviced by limited capacity network backhauls. In relative terms th... more Community networks are often serviced by limited capacity network backhauls. In relative terms this is an expensive ongoing part of their operation. In cases where this backhaul is financed or donated by other parties it is still a finite resource. It needs to be managed and allocated equitably. The focus of the monitoring and management should be on bandwidth, but also allow for monitoring of network quality. Network quality can be understood as the degree of excellence that the user experiences when making use of the network and its available services. Monitoring will reveal what services are used most often and what those services require in terms of bandwidth to make the user's experience more valuable. Monitoring will produce statistics which will inform the administrator how to best apportion the available bandwidth between services and at what times certain services should get preference over others. A problem with current network deployments of this type is ensuring tha...
Abstract: The Telkom Centre of Excellence (CoE) at Rhodes University, housed in the
Local government processes require meaningful, informed and effective participation from civic ac... more Local government processes require meaningful, informed and effective participation from civic actors and government themselves in order to remain democratic. This project will investigate the use of mobile phones as a tool for enabling and improving upon this participation. MobiSAM, a system which aims to supplement the social accountability monitoring process of local municipalities has been designed and partially implemented. This project concerns itself with the client side of the system and will investigate tools and techniques to allow service provision across heterogeneous mobile operating systems, handsets, and interaction styles. In order to maximise public participation, costs associated with the service will need to be kept to a minimum and interface localization will need to be paid close attention to. Index Terms — Social Accountability Monitoring (SAM), service delivery, mobile phones
Communications in Computer and Information Science
2019 Conference on Information Communications Technology and Society (ICTAS), 2019
The purpose of the South African broadband policy, SA Connect, is to provide a long-term approach... more The purpose of the South African broadband policy, SA Connect, is to provide a long-term approach that will begin to develop broadband access in SA with immediate effect. The policy aims to achieve this by implementing a broadband model that incorporates private and public sectors, increasing monetary investments towards ICT, reducing the number of impediments in the broadband policy, removing bottlenecks that inhibit broadband expansion and identifying successful methods and applications that will enhance broadband access. The current approach has been through a centralized deployment and ownership approach, which is largely delayed. In this paper we propose an alternative, decentralized approach to deployment and ownership, in order to incrementally and in parallel build a national telecommunications network through the interconnection of community area networks.
South Afr. Comput. J., 2008
Abstract: Interactive whiteboards are being installed in many schools in developed and even in de... more Abstract: Interactive whiteboards are being installed in many schools in developed and even in developing countries. As they are currently quite expensive, the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDoE) initiated several studies to explore the various types of interactive whiteboard systems. This article describes one of the feasibility studies which investigated the use of a'smart'pen interactive whiteboard technology in previously disadvantaged South African schools as a means for promoting learning in the classroom ...
2019 Conference on Information Communications Technology and Society (ICTAS), 2019
In South Africa, currently, “education is in crisis” and there is much speculation that Informati... more In South Africa, currently, “education is in crisis” and there is much speculation that Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) could be used to improve education in developing countries, such as South Africa. One ICT often cited for its benefits to education is that of the Tablet computer (PC). In this paper we explore the affordances of tablet PCs, as well as the factors which positively contribute to the uptake of tablet PCs within educational settings. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of educator knowledge through the lens of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) in successfully integrating the use of technology into teaching and learning; research tells us that there can only be meaningful and skilled teaching with technology if pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge and technological knowledge are well defined. As Toyama said, “there are no technology shortcuts to good education”.
Worldwide computers are being used in schools for, amongst other things, developing the knowledge... more Worldwide computers are being used in schools for, amongst other things, developing the knowledge and skills required for citizens to be able to operate within the 21st Century Information Age. In addition, the use of cluster computers are becoming more commonly used as a result of the increasing ease with which supercomputer systems can be built using commodity-off-the-shelf hardware often using free software, such as Linux and Unix operating systems and third party applications. This work explores whether cluster thin client computer servers can provide robust and cost effective ICT infrastructure models for use in previously disadvantaged schools in South Africa. The paper presents the initial experimentation that has been conducted with a DNS round robin cluster. Further investigation is needed to determine whether cluster servers will adequately support pedagogy and provide robust and easy to maintain solutions that are sustainable in previously disadvantaged schools with clear...
In poor areas, where ICT infrastructure is being deployed with developmental aims, there is a nee... more In poor areas, where ICT infrastructure is being deployed with developmental aims, there is a need to provide appropriate, sustainable technologies that meet the needs of the local community. Current trends for ICT interventions favour the use of mobile user equipment, such as tablets and cellphones, but we think that they are inappropriate to allow production as opposed to mainly consumption of digital content, at least for the foreseeable future. Thus our objective is to reduce the cost of deployment of traditional communal Internet Access Points using PCs. In this paper we compare four candidate computers to be used as thin clients in such settings, according to seven different categories. Our study identifies the strengths, weaknesses and problems of each device, and concludes with recommendations for anybody wishing to deploy such devices as Linux Terminal Server Project (LTSP) thin clients in a public Internet Access Point.
Rural development is seen as a priority in South Africa; information and knowledge are key strate... more Rural development is seen as a priority in South Africa; information and knowledge are key strategic resources for social and economic development. Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) are seen as important tools in rural development, assisting in enabling change through economic development. In rural areas where ICT infrastructure is limited wireless technologies, like WiMAX, afford an easy deployment of new technologies to these marginalised communities. The Siyakhula Living Lab, a joint venture between the Telkom Centres of Excellence at Rhodes University and the University of Fort Hare, is focused on introducing appropriate ICTs to foster development. In order to support that focus an Alvarion BreezeMAX WiMAX network was deployed to the region. This paper details the current network status and the future extensions.
Uploads
Papers by Ingrid Siebörger