Department of Technical and Engineering Education and Training

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Transforming Higher Education for Effective Technical and Vocational Skills Delivery in Zimbabwe
(African Higher Education Research online, 2007) Phuthi, Nduduzo; Maphosa, N.
The major thrust of technical and vocational education (TVE) worldwide is to address issues of youth unemployment, poverty and international competitiveness in skills development towards current and projected opportunities and challenges (McGrath, 2005). Such issues are crucial to Africa’s dignity and survival in the fast-changing global environment. African countries and their governments have been challenged to take cues from their industrialized counterparts to seriously consider the role of higher education and training in the quest for economic emancipation and social stability. In developed countries, higher education, for its part, is facilitating the elevation of human intellectual capital well above other forms of human endowment. The International Bank for Development and Reconstruction/World Bank (2000) has observed that: “Today, global wealth is concentrated less and less in factories, land, tools, and machinery. … Human capital in the United States is now estimated to be at least three times more important than physical capital. … The developed world is reacting quickly, with education a major political priority. High quality human capital is developed in high quality education systems, with tertiary education providing the advanced skills that command a premium in today’s workplace.” TVE has played an important role in charting the course for human civilization into modern times. Most of today’s increasingly more complex and specialized technical jobs require systematic strategies of handing down vital cumulative skills to younger generations. It has been noted that in developing countries, TVE is one of those sections of education given much less priority in policy formulation, funding and monitoring than other sections such as basic education. In this paper we analyze some pertinent developments and report on a survey of major policies and activities that promote and recognize the place and role of technical and vocational education in Zimbabwe in relation to the demands of this type of education for the economic development of the country. The challenge to transformation in our developing economies as always is whether to emphasize cultural and contextual differences and national idiosyncrasies instead of international similarities, competitiveness and comparative indicators. (Watson,1994). In order to play its part well as leading and advising, higher education must itself be seen to transform.
Design of a Flood Water Powered Water Pump
(National University of Science and Technology (NUST)., 2007-07-17) Dewa, Mncedisi; Mhlanga, Samson; Maphosa, N.; Phuthi, Nduduzo
The paper set to discuss the research to develop a machine that collects water from flooded rivers and pumps it to a reservoir so that it can be used to water crops during the interludes of dry spells that characterize the Zimbabwe rain season. This water is not necessary intended to irrigate the crop on full scale, but just to bridge the crop and sustain it during the critical weeks of the dry spells which usually stresses the crop beyond recovery even after the rains resume. The simple machine designed relies totally on the force of the flood water to pump water from the river and send it to the reservoir, thus making it possible for the machine to be used in the rural areas where there is no electricity. The cost of the model that was built is given as well as the pictorial view of the model.
Indigenous Design and Production Entrepreneurship: Sector Performance Audits and Proactive Support
(Bulletin of the Centre for Academic Development, 2008-03) Phuthi, Nduduzo; Letsatsi, M.T.
There is little doubt, if at all, that one of the most urgent goals for developing Africa is genuine economic emancipation, which would, in turn, expedite solutions to the persistent problems of poverty, disease, ignorance, civil strife, and many others. This emancipation requires deliberate, proactive home-grown initiatives that gradually unshackle economically deprived nations from dependence on imported expertise, ideas, tools and products, to a culture of planned local design, production and trade in globally competitive wares and products. Such a mindset has evolved over the years in industrialised countries through steady and cumulative growth from small to medium to large-scale business enterprises. In this paper we propose a systematic audit for small and medium-scale enterprises in the design and production business which would assist to identify the necessary support needed to propel the local small and medium-scale sector into national and global competitiveness.
The Student Factor in building an e-learning culture: Experiences at the University of Botswana
(Academic Publishing Limited, 2008-06) Phuthi, Nduduzo; Molwane, Olefile Bethuel
This paper presents findings of a small study on the prevailing characteristics and preferences of university students that can be linked to their motivation to adopt and sustain e-learning as their key learning strategy. The qualitative case study was carried out through a questionnaire survey, interviews and classroom observations of third year students enrolled in a five-year degree programme in design and technology at the University of Botswana. The university has embarked on a deliberate path of technological transformation through the University of Botswana e-learning initiative (UBel) which has been significantly supported by the institution’s management (Thurab-Nkhosi et al 2005). In this study, students were taken through a variety of learning activities incorporating internet-searches, group work and peer presentations, media-enhanced lectures, and guest lecturing. Through these activities, the students were encouraged to discover and communicate their strengths and preferred learning styles in an attempt to inform their readiness and motivation to embark on full-scale e-learning as desired by UBel. Owing to various reasons, the bottom-up approach to organizational transformation and innovation diffusion is often less explored because of, among others, problems of feasibility and expediency. The largely imported e-learning technology is often assumed transferable and appropriate for all students, regardless of background, orientation and aspirations. While e-learning is indeed suitable for the maturing and independence- seeking university learners who need more guidance than shepherding, few academics appear to understand who their students are, and which of their characteristics can be useful to bring about identified change in the learning and teaching processes. It has been suggested that university students, the most sensitive section of society, are open to ideas and have unsettled minds looking for change, while the universities they attend are centres of revolutionary ideas (Dibaj 2000). There are opportunities to derive from this. For their part, higher education students in Botswana have been, and are being, shaped in the realm and mindset of the prevailing socio-cultural environment around them. Being citizens of a fast economically developing country with a rare ‘inborn’ multi-party democracy described as ‘an oasis of tolerance and non-violence amid civil strife and political chaos’ among its neighbours (Rule 1988), Botswana university students are likely to portray situation-consistent behaviours and attitudes towards learning in general, and e-learning in particular. The findings of this study suggest that the surveyed students were largely expressive but unempowered knowledge and information recipients whose intellectual potential and multiple intelligences (Pritchard 2005) were not being fully exploited. They preferred less challenging learning tasks only because they were used to them, but would otherwise welcome active, interactive and information-rich experiences in their learning, with e-learning as a definite favourite.
Needs-based knowledge processing through university- community partnerships: higher education inroads into rural community development in Zimbabwe
(The UNESCO Forum on Higher Education Research and Knowledge, 2008-11) Phuthi, Nduduzo; Gundani, M.P.D.; Sibanda, Isaiah M.
Knowledge, the ultimate competitive advantage for any modern community or organization, gives its possessor a unique and inherently protected commodity for survival and development. Today's universities are among those organizations credited for spearheading and sustaining the on-going knowledge revolution. In developing countries, universities have come to playa key role within their own societies in a wide range of developmental issues even though they often find themselves acutely outclassed in the competitive international knowledge network (Altbach, 1998). Notably, many universities need sensitization for them to prioritize the integration of local and alien knowledge that should address broader sustainable development needs as perceived by the affected communities. Comparatively, the superior military, economic, intellectual and technological accomplishments of industrialized countries give some of their universities extensive, jealously-guarded power, prompting them to assert themselves as 'central' institutions within their countries and in the global knowledge arena. The third world universities remain 'peripheral', tending to copy developments from abroad, producing little that is original, and generally not at the frontiers of knowledge. Within developing countries, the Western-sourced education, science, technology and Western human development models appear to perpetrate a socio-economic and knowledge gap among citizens, creating a conservative traditional culture alongside a neo-Western one.
A Preliminary Study on Causes of Non Retention of Masendu Ward Girls at Secondary School
(Zimbabwe Journal of science and technology, 2010) Nkiwane, Londiwe C.; Dube, S.; Maposa, Daniel; Nxumalo, M.
This case study is a preliminary attempt to identify possible factors that might contribute to poor retention and progression of a girl-child in Secondary School education in Masendu Area. The study was conducted using school leavers from Masendu ward, in the Bulilima district of Zimbabwe. The results presented in this study were collected from a workshop attended by 13 female and 2 male school leavers from Masendu Ward and 10 female students from the National University of Science and Technology. Questionnaires and focus group discussions were used as instruments for collecting data. The results serve as a preliminary to the pilot study conducted at the Mangwe district in Plumtree. A paper on the study is to follow. From the data collected in the workshop, twelve major problems were identified which most participants viewed as the key contributors to the poor retention and progression of a girl child in secondary school education. The problems identified included just to mention a few: early pregnancies, lack of finance, lack of moral support and protection from unruly characters on the way , after school sporting activities which cause the children to leave school late, leaving school to seek job in neighbouring countries. Some of the suggestions of improving the retention on a girl –child at secondary school included the need to educate school girls on importance of abstinence, community to seek sponsorships, need for intervention from the community at large to safeguard the education of all children irrespective of gender, provision of cheap accommodation at school or at villages near school, sport activities could be scheduled one morning of a chosen day during the week to enable the students to leave school early and get home before it of dark. Lessons for that day could be covered by extending the other remain 4 days by a lesson or two, career guidance that emphases the need of education for a long lasting career.
A Quasi-Linear Model Of Design Cognition
(The Clute Institute, 2010-11) Phuthi, Nduduzo; Kumar, K.L.; Molwane, Olefile Bethuel
The continuum of human learning has been the subject of research by behaviourists, cognitivists, constructivists and lately by neural scientists among others. The style and order of learning have also been identified, notably by Benjamin Bloom et al (1956) and Gagne and Briggs (1992). Skills-learning has been the subject of attention in competency-based learning strategies. Yet another milestone in the continuum of learning is to be innovative and creative, which enables a learner to conceive and design new objects and concepts. Design cognition is an under-explored faculty of humankind. Human capability to design appears to be a complex phenomenon influenced by several factors, implicitly or explicitly, such as socio-educational background, learning to think innovatively, interaction with innovators and creators, exercising initiative, experimenting with new ideas, creating designs with confidence and finally moving into seeking design patents and making commercial use of design. In this paper the authors develop first a linear model of acquiring design capability and then modify it to a quasi linear model after validation by interaction with a sample of design students and design professionals through analysis and reflection on questionnaire responses with both qualitative and quantitative data. The proposed model promises to be a useful tool for design educators in several overlapping areas of design.
Partnerships in Education, Training and Management for Sustainable Natural Resources Processing in Zimbabwe’s Rural Communities
(2014) Phuthi, Nduduzo; Sibanda, A.J.P.
In the course of their everyday academic business, universities in developing countries turn over large volumes of mainly foreign-sourced knowledge, while on the other hand typical communities in rural areas are starved of vital information for their own survival and development. Partnerships between universities and their immediate communities have a potential to turn the fortunes of both parties in economic ways. In the area of natural resources harvesting for commercial purposes, the university- community partnership plays a critical role in fulfilling mutual needs and tackling environmental stability. This paper explores the perceived roles of education, training and management practices on encouraging rural communities to recognize natural resources within their environments and to develop appropriate capacity to sustainably exploit them for economic benefit. Elaborating on the views of selected players and with reference to textile materials sourcing and processing, the paper identifies the complementary functions of education, management and rural communities in developing informed appreciation for sustainable harvesting of natural resources.
E-Learning Environments in Undergraduate Design and Technology Courses
(2014) Phuthi, Nduduzo; Molwane, Olefile Bethuel
When e-learning and other information and communication technologies (ICT’s) became accepted in both distance and face-to-face modes of learning in tertiary education, expectations were high that they would, within a reasonable time frame, yield visible and perhaps irrefutable gains in course delivery strategies and revolutionise both learning content knowledge and access to it. In developing countries it was hoped that there would be benefits in tapping into a knowledge revolution currently dominated by industrialised countries, who are by far the greatest contributors and beneficiaries. The University of Botswana’s (UB) efforts, initiated in 2001, at technological transformation in teaching and learning for meaningful quality processes and outcomes have been evaluated by researchers, reviewers and participants. Comments have been made such as, ‘substantial progress, but many challenges” “very useful teaching support tool for large classes, but there is need to address key background issues” , “students share learning through educational technologies, but appropriate learning environments are required” . It has been evident that although a lot has been done at institutional management level to promote adoption and implementation of e-learning as a rule at UB, the ideal situation has not materialised. Much of the problem seems to emanate from the interaction between key players, such as top management, the teaching staff and students. This paper reports on an on-going qualitative study that was carried out in order to negotiate and establish acceptable quality and effectiveness of e-learning envisaged by both the staff and students in a course that was not online at the time, in preparation of launching the course online in the next cycle. The action learning research study aimed at constructing an environment and a disposition towards e-learning mutually negotiated between students and their lecturers. Data was collected through various student-lecturer and student-student interaction processes such as classroom lecture, internet search, group presentations, tests, assignments, classroom observations, questionnaires, and video script analyses. Preliminary findings indicate that most students are enthusiastic about adopting e-learning if they have been adequately pre-oriented into the method and are consistently guided by caring and competent staff. They also will appreciate quality and effective learning if this is negotiated with someone who can articulate standards of performance.
Attitudes of Technical Teacher Education Student Teachers at University on the Use of Information Communication Technology for Learning and Teaching
(2014-09) Dlodlo, Mary
The study provides an indication about the attitudes of female and male student-teachers on the use information communication technologies in learning and teaching. Female learners’ lack of interest against the high interest shown by their male counterparts in learning and teaching has implications on their performance. The introduction of ICT in learning and teaching requires student-teachers as classroom instructors to be competent in using ICTs for a variety of activities in order to impart those skills to younger learners. The study sought to find differences between female and male students in the use of ICT and investigated students’ attitudes to assess whether access to computers, background, stereotype and experiences influenced female and male participants in using ICT in teaching and learning. The objective of the study was to discover attitudes of female and male students towards ICT. The study was also to discover differences in attitudes towards ICT between female and male student teachers and to what extent these differences could be explained by students, lecturers and student-teachers’ experience factors. Female and male students were exposed to the use of computers at university in different education programs that included student teachers from art and design, clothing, textiles and fashion design and computer study areas among others. The study did not reveal wide gender differences in computer attitudes between female and male student teachers as it showed that both female and male students developed computer knowledge and confidence in working with ICT although male students used ICT for experimentation while female students used them more for set assignments. From the results it is recommended that female student teachers use computers more freely in their student activities for the purpose of acquiring a variety of computer skills and for the male student teachers to focus on specific tasks of learning and teaching when using computers.
Challenges faced by female students and the messages conveyed to them by practices of lecturers with regards to sexual harassment. Do lecturers nurture or denature their students?
(2014-09) Tlou, Faith Nomathemba
The aim of the study was to scrutinize what happens to students in a teacher’s college environment in terms of sexual harassment. It further sought to provide insights on (I) whether students are sexually harassed by lecturers (ii) the messages this sends to students (iii) how students cope with such experiences and the values they consequently pick because of such experiences. The research was located in the interpretive paradigm hence it adopted qualitative approach and used a case study design. Purposive sampling was used to select three college managers, ten lecturers and twenty five student participants. Seven of the students were interviewed individually using semi-structured interviews while 18 of them constituted 3 focus groups of six students each that completed the data collection by interview. The study found that there was sexual harassment of students by some lecturers in the colleges. The study also established that students got the message that some lecturers did not value students and on occasion treated them in a degrading manner. The study also established that students used some strategies to cope including avoidance, appealing to authorities and counselling. The study recommended that in cases of sexual harassment, specially trained officers in handling sexual harassment cases for reporting such cases be put in place so that in view of the culture of fear of victimization and stigmatization, students may be forth- coming in reporting such sensitive and personal matters so that these are curtailed
Effects of school leadership in enhancing learners' achievement in South African schools
(2020) Shava, G.N.; Sibanda, L.
Introduction: School leadership has increasingly been gaining attention from educational policymakers, and the entire educational society. Research has also confirmed that school principals are essential for developing and maintaining effective school systems. The role of school leadership in schools is highly complex and dynamic such that strategies are needed to change underperforming schools. This article reported on a small scale exploratory qualitative study that investigated the effects of school leadership in enhancing the learning outcomes of a cohort of schools in a rural setting in South Africa. Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyse the role of principals in enhancing learning achievement in schools. Methodology: The study took a qualitative research approach with an interpretive epistemological and constructivist ontological perspective. Qualitative evidence was collected from six schools in the same district through semi-structured interview question with educators and school principals. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select information-rich cases from the schools and in selecting the schools. Results: Grounded in the accounts of our study participants, results from the study indicated that school principals are the cornerstones of achieving quality teaching and learning through motivating educators, training and providing distributed leadership Recommendations: From the study findings, it was recommended that there is need to improve the basic unit of the educational institution which include structural, cultural and agential conditions to enhance the effective operations of school principals. There is a need to motivate and enhance existing forms of agency in ways that expand learners’ achievement.
Quality Education for Sustainable Development in Zimbabwean Higher Education: Towards UNDP 2030 SDG
(2020) Shava, G.N.
The article explores the challenges and opportunities of achieving Agenda 2030 Global Goals on education for sustainable development in Zimbabwe higher education. The challenges posed by the need to provide for quality, sustainability, and development demand a renewed reflection on the nature and scope of the higher education systems in order to address current issues of education for sustainable development as stated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which proposes that education for sustainable development (ESD) should be addressed at all levels of education. ESD allows every human being to acquire the knowledge to shape a sustainable future including key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning. The vision of Agenda 2030 is to transform lives through quality education, recognizing the important role of education as a main driver for development and achieving proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their vision which is fully captured by the proposed SDG4 “ Ensuring inclusive equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” The aim of the study is to explore the complexity of raising higher education quality drawing from the structure and agency theoretical view point to offer deeper insights into the role that agency and structures in higher education may play in achieving the vision of Agenda 2030. In essence the qualitative study provides possible measures for enhancing the achievement of Agenda 2030 Global Goals. Findings from the study pointed to the lack of integrated ESD in higher education professional standards and into curriculum. The study recommends the need to update higher education curriculum, pedagogy, and educational resources to address the twenty-first-century context of teaching and learning.
Enhancing Students’ Self-Efficacy: Implication for High School Guidance and Counselling Educators
(2020) Mathwasa, J.; Sibanda , L.
As students enter high school, they face a myriad risk of adverse outcomes such as pressure to perform or drop out; peer influence to conform or be an outcast; drug and substance abuse; delinquency, poverty and possibly abuse and neglect. It is also at this stage where most teenage students experience identity crisis. As a result, students’ self-efficacy is then impaired, and their resilience diminished with every stress and trauma they experience. Thus far, there has been scanty research in utilising classroom guidance in understanding what factors impact or not, and how school counsellors choose to engage in classroom guidance. While much guidance and counselling in schools has focused on career choices, sexual and physical harassment, and perhaps, bereavement, abuse and neglect, very little is known on how detrimental lack of self-efficacy and resilience is to the high school student. Even though educators aim to cover the academic syllabus, it is also essential that operative guidance and counselling should also pay equal attention to the social syllabus. This chapter aims to explore the factors that are detrimental to students’ self-efficacy, resilience and coping mechanism; how classroom guidance and counselling can reduce the risk of the adverse outcomes in the society.
Constraints affecting men's participation in early childhood education (ECE): Implications for intervention.
(2020) Mathwasa, J.; Sibanda, L.
A qualitative study grounded in the interpretive paradigm was adopted where four men, four women and four educators were purposively selected, responded to the semi-structured interviews. The aim of the study was to establish the constraints affecting men’s participation in the early childhood education of their children. The researchers observed all the ethical concerns. Data was analysed in easily understood themes. The findings revealed that although all stakeholders fully understood the importance of men in the early childhood education their participation was still minimal indicating that they still faced constraints. The constraints included work-related absence, broken relationships, lack of interest, traditional and cultural beliefs, stereotypes and mothers’ monopoly on the children. The study concluded that for the achievement of early childhood goals, men should improve their participation in early education of children. The study recommends that all stakeholders make a retrospect into how they have contributed to the constraints that men face in their endeavour to change the status quo.
Modelling Positive Behaviour: A Vital Strategy in Instilling Positive Discipline Among Secondary School Learners.
(2020-07) Sibanda, L.; Mantwasa, J.
This qualitative study, guided by interpretive paradigm, explored how secondary schools use modelling positive behaviour strategy to instil positive discipline among learners in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe. The study was enthused by the abolition of corporal punishment, exclusion due to delinquent behaviour and adoption of positive, inclusive discipline strategies to maintain order in schools. A case study design purposively sampled four schools in which four school heads, twenty members of the disciplinary committee, four school counsellors, two education officers, four School Development Committee chairpersons and forty prefects participated. Data collected through focus group interviews, semi-structured interviews and document analysis were thematically analysed. The results indicated that secondary schools adopted the modelling positive behaviour strategy to instil positive discipline among learners. New staff members’ orientation focused on conduct, modelling of positive behaviour whenever teachers, learners and parents interact as they perform various activities in the school environment. The study also established that prefects as role models were afforded opportunity to lead assembly sessions. The study concluded that in spite of a few cases of misconduct, it is evident that modelling positive behaviour strategy produced affirmative outcomes in schools understudy. The study recommends further research that explores other strategies that could be adopted by schools to maintain positive discipline particularly in rural schools.
Principal leadership and school performance: Integrating instructional and transformational leadership in South African schools context
(2021) Shava, G.N.
This study aimed to examine the integration of instructional and transformational models of leadership in sustaining school improvement. The question of how the integration of instructional and transformational leadership in schools can influence learners' performance has received a significant amount of interest among researchers. Literature reviews have found two key approaches: educational and transformational leadership models to establish the most appropriate school leadership model. Therefore, this article reports on qualitative research used to arrive at an in-depth understanding of integrating instructional and transformational leadership in enhancing school performance. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with principals in one educational province. Purposive sampling techniques were used to select participants for the study. Findings from the study established that integrating the two models had the potential to enhance learner performance. This study has shown that the integration of instructional and transformational leadership models led to a climate that promotes a culture of teaching and learning, hence increasing quality learning outcomes.

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