Papers by Stephen K Ndlovu
ICERI2022 Proceedings
Equitable and transparent allocation of work and resources is a noble pursuit in any working envi... more Equitable and transparent allocation of work and resources is a noble pursuit in any working environment. Attainment of such allocation can settle many disputes. Higher Education (HE) is no different to other sectors when it comes to this pursuit. Rumble's work [1] is this area is extensive and informative. The equitable allocation of work in the face of the expected functions of a typical University teacher/lecturer would go a long way in ensuring professional growth of the teacher and efficient service provision to the students. The main objective of this analysis is to focus on understanding what academics do and how their work context can be appropriately resourced to ensure quality of provisioning and appropriate student support that is needed for a Distance eLearning institution versus contact universities. This study uses the case of three Higher Education Institutions (HEls) in South Africa, to attempt at deriving a framework for such a workload allocation model. Our methodology shall follow case study analysis of all functions of university teaching staff at three HEls. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis of the academic work done including quantification of time spent and effort conducted, with a view of developing and recommending an improved/optimised model and framework for work allocation. Our results do indicate that without a clear and well-articulated work model it is difficult to ascertain what academics do. Outputs are usually some of the indicators that could be used as proxy critical outputs that define work of academics. Research and focus interviews pointed us to a need to understand how the academic work has changed with the advent of COVID-19 and the resultant lockdown and understanding how administration has creeped into their work. There was a call for the development of an appropriate workload model and framework to advance and support the academic project in a university. In a changing Higher Education context, issues of equity, transparency, quality, and transformation are critical matters to look at to understand what academics do. While teaching, research and engaged scholarship have been universally understood within the Higher Education space it is also critical to understand how the 'new normal' has disrupted this understanding, particularly in the context of the individual growth of academics as well as student support and success. Resolving workload allocation matters will go a long way in ensuring better productivity and service to our stakeholders, particularly the student.
ICERI2022 Proceedings
Quality assurance in South Africa is entrenched in the Higher Education Act, Act 101 of 1997 as a... more Quality assurance in South Africa is entrenched in the Higher Education Act, Act 101 of 1997 as amended. The Act makes provision for the establishment of the Council on Higher Education, a Quality Council (QC) for Higher Education in the Country. The QC expect Higher education institutions in South Africa to take responsibility for internal quality assurance which includes development, management, monitoring and evaluation policies, systems and process with respect to the provisioning of services. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the preparatory journey for the quality audits or reviews by the Commonwealth of Learning and the Council on Higher Education 2nd cycle of Institutional Audits that were conducted between 2019 and 2021. This paper argues that COVID-19 and its prescripts brought new challenges with respect to how the sector handled quality assurance, promotion and enhancement in a context dominated by regulations and protocols to adhere to COVID-19 protocols in the country. Literature on audits in South Africa and globally informed the discussion and this was complemented by Bain, Ballantyne, Mills and Lester's reflective framework. The framework follows defined steps as part of the reflective practice, which are reporting, responding, reasoning, relation and reconstructing phases. Our findings are that while there is propensity to preserve the old normal in our ways of thinking and doing, the pandemic has created new lenses for quality practitioners to also consider and provided affordable means of managing, assuring, and enhancing quality in Higher education institutions across the world. The paper concludes by acknowledging that audits/reviews do provide rich data on areas that need focused attention and provide great insights into the performance of the University against its mission and vision, especially on the veracity of system, processes and policies enacted to manage quality education.
ICERI2023 Proceedings , 2023
South African higher education institutions (SAHEIs) are confornted with rapidly changing environ... more South African higher education institutions (SAHEIs) are confornted with rapidly changing environment which requires them to develop new ways of thinking and making decisions. These challenges include decision with regards to student attrition and retention, dropout rates, student funding and calls for free education among other. To step up to these challenges and remain relevant to future students, SAHEIs should know and understand their students and their learning needs. SAHEIs traditionally used BI Technologies and applications to address these some of these challenges. Unfortunately, BI alone seem not be complete or enough to provide adequate analysis and therefore draws a need to look into unstructured data through analysing structured and unstracture data that is collected from different learning sources and apply new technologies including among others, Neural Networks, Big Data Artificial Intellignce, etc. The paper seeks to assess a Context-Aware model application in the Open Distance Learning and to address or deal systematically with issues associated with access to data used in business intelligence (BI) applications. In the paper the study thus attempts to show how important it is for business intelligence as enabler in enhancing the management of information that is needed in strategic decisionmaking processes at the University of South Africa and the higher education landscape in South Africa in general (Bleazard, D (2016:167). The paper in conclusion supports the literature that suggests that if there are numerous systems, individuals would fail to embrace BI systems since they will have to learn to apply several systems at once (Strand et al., 2017; Sherman, 2015).
ICERI2021 Proceedings, 2021
In South Africa, access to higher education has become a mantra repeated by policymakers, educato... more In South Africa, access to higher education has become a mantra repeated by policymakers, educators, and students. The education transformation discourse took a different shape after the 2015-2016 student revolt demanding a decolonised and affordable access to education system. The discontents articulated by the student started a shift in the discourse of access to higher education, that prompted the President of South Africa to institute a Commission of Inquiry into the feasibility of making higher education fee-free. The Commission of Enquiry chaired by Honourable Justice Heher culminated in a report that was released in 2017. The recommendations in the Heher Commission report focused substantively on the funding of the post schooling education and training sector; and in particular the funding of student accommodation, technical vocation education and training (TVET) students, postgraduate students, and funding of university students. The problem now is that the Covid pandemic has affected fee income; and on top of that there is significant decline in student success rates. There is also a decline in public education expenditure, as well as an increase in access. All this has added a complex dynamic in the access-success debate in higher education in South Africa. Against this background, this paper seeks to address three questions: (1) What is the South African Higher Education funding trajectory after the release of the Heher Commission: (2) What accounts for the disjuncture between access to higher education and success? (3) With the onset of the Covid pandemic, will the state afford to fund higher education in South Africa? The paper uses data published in the South African Higher Education Management Information System to predict the future of state revenue to fund higher education in South Africa. Exponential Smoothing forecasting method is used to analyse time series data on stage funding for the past 20 year. The findings show a decline in the value of state university budget as
ICERI2022 Proceedings, 2022
Quality assurance in South Africa is entrenched in the Higher Education Act, Act 101 of 1997 as a... more Quality assurance in South Africa is entrenched in the Higher Education Act, Act 101 of 1997 as amended. The Act makes provision for the establishment of the Council on Higher Education, a Quality Council (QC) for Higher Education in the Country. The QC expect Higher education institutions in South Africa to take responsibility for internal quality assurance which includes development, management, monitoring and evaluation policies, systems and process with respect to the provisioning of services. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the preparatory journey for the quality audits or reviews by the Commonwealth of Learning and the Council on Higher Education 2nd cycle of Institutional Audits that were conducted between 2019 and 2021. This paper argues that COVID-19 and its prescripts brought new challenges with respect to how the sector handled quality assurance, promotion and enhancement in a context dominated by regulations and protocols to adhere to COVID-19 protocols in the country. Literature on audits in South Africa and globally informed the discussion and this was complemented by Bain, Ballantyne, Mills and Lester's reflective framework. The framework follows defined steps as part of the reflective practice, which are reporting, responding, reasoning, relation and reconstructing phases. Our findings are that while there is propensity to preserve the old normal in our ways of thinking and doing, the pandemic has created new lenses for quality practitioners to also consider and provided affordable means of managing, assuring, and enhancing quality in Higher education institutions across the world. The paper concludes by acknowledging that audits/reviews do provide rich data on areas that need focused attention and provide great insights into the performance of the University against its mission and vision, especially on the veracity of system, processes and policies enacted to manage quality education.
ICERI2022 Proceedings, 2022
Equitable and transparent allocation of work and resources is a noble pursuit in any working envi... more Equitable and transparent allocation of work and resources is a noble pursuit in any working environment. Attainment of such allocation can settle many disputes. Higher Education (HE) is no different to other sectors when it comes to this pursuit. Rumble's work [1] is this area is extensive and informative. The equitable allocation of work in the face of the expected functions of a typical University teacher/lecturer would go a long way in ensuring professional growth of the teacher and efficient service provision to the students. The main objective of this analysis is to focus on understanding what academics do and how their work context can be appropriately resourced to ensure quality of provisioning and appropriate student support that is needed for a Distance eLearning institution versus contact universities. This study uses the case of three Higher Education Institutions (HEls) in South Africa, to attempt at deriving a framework for such a workload allocation model. Our methodology shall follow case study analysis of all functions of university teaching staff at three HEls. Furthermore, a quantitative analysis of the academic work done including quantification of time spent and effort conducted, with a view of developing and recommending an improved/optimised model and framework for work allocation. Our results do indicate that without a clear and well-articulated work model it is difficult to ascertain what academics do. Outputs are usually some of the indicators that could be used as proxy critical outputs that define work of academics. Research and focus interviews pointed us to a need to understand how the academic work has changed with the advent of COVID-19 and the resultant lockdown and understanding how administration has creeped into their work. There was a call for the development of an appropriate workload model and framework to advance and support the academic project in a university. In a changing Higher Education context, issues of equity, transparency, quality, and transformation are critical matters to look at to understand what academics do. While teaching, research and engaged scholarship have been universally understood within the Higher Education space it is also critical to understand how the 'new normal' has disrupted this understanding, particularly in the context of the individual growth of academics as well as student support and success. Resolving workload allocation matters will go a long way in ensuring better productivity and service to our stakeholders, particularly the student.
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Papers by Stephen K Ndlovu