Mixed-mode Communication courses at a multicultural technikon: a pilot study combining web-based learning and an Internet search project with face-to-face classroom instruction

Abstract

Vocational education is a key area in any country, but in South Africa, with an unemployment rate of over 40% in spite of increased economic growth, effective delivery of vocational education, particularly in technical and commercial fields, is essential not only for the country’s development, but for its survival. Moreover, further education plays a pivotal role in the process of transformation and redress in post-apartheid South Africa, which, coupled with a rapidly developing-economy, will require “lifelong learning” rather than a few years of post-school degree. Computers are popularly viewed as the solution to all educational problems, but computer technology is only effective when it can be seen to enhance learning approaches catering for specific local needs. This paper describes an attempt to enhance delivery of semester Communication Skills courses at a multicultural technikon, the Durban Institute of Technology, by running them in mixed mode, i.e., partly in conventional face-to-face lectures and tutorials, and partly over the Internet. The Comm. Skills Online project generated an incredibly rich layering of experiences in mixed-mode course delivery for the author, who personally facilitated and assessed the work of over 230 students in three different mode blends, and, in addition, supervised the computer laboratory work of over 300 students - many of whom had come to DIT from disadvantaged educational backgrounds and who were first-time computer and Internet users. This account will first give an overview of the use of Information and Computer Technology in the South African educational context. It will then focus on the learning approach used in the project, describe how it was translated into mixed mode, discuss the resulting blends of mixed-mode delivery which were used in the project, and give an account of both the enhancements achieved and the problems encountered.