University of South Africa

About: University of South Africa is a education organization based out in Pretoria, South Africa. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Population. The organization has 8478 authors who have published 19960 publications receiving 237688 citations. The organization is also known as: Unisa.

The effects of culture on performance achieved through the use of human computer interaction

Abstract: The user interface development process focuses on understanding users and their individual differences. These differences result from, inter alia, differences in culture. The primary goal of this research project was to determine whether Hofstede's [1991] cultural dimensions affect the performance achieved through the use of human-computer interaction. In order to achieve this goal, it was necessary to (1) identify the characteristics of the cultural dimensions; (2) identify test subjects and test interfaces displaying appropriate cultural dimensions and (3) assess the impact of these cultural dimensions on the speed, accuracy and satisfaction levels achieved by test subjects using the test interfaces to perform data collection tasks. Test subjects and website interfaces were identified in terms of the cultural dimension characteristics. The test subjects were selected based not only on their cultural dimensions, but also by controlling for user profile variables. The data resulting from the experiment was then analyzed to establish whether these dimensions had any impact on the performance achieved when using these websites. The results of the experiment did not provide sufficient evidence to conclude that any of the tested cultural dimensions affected human performance. However, the performance levels attained suggest that the usability of the interfaces was increased for all users, as a result of accommodating high uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, collectivism and high power distance characteristics into the design of the interfaces. In addition, two main categories of further research have arisen as a result of this research. The first category comprises new research questions. The second focuses on the changes that should be made to the research design used for this research effort.

Enacting understanding of inclusion in complex contexts: classroom practices of South African teachers

Abstract: While the practice of inclusive education has recently been widely embraced as an ideal model for education, the acceptance of inclusive education practices has not translated into reality in most mainstream classrooms. Despite the fact that education policies in South Africa stipulate that all learners should be provided with the opportunities to participate as far as possible in all classroom activities, the implementation of inclusive education is still hampered by a combination of a lack of resources and the attitudes and actions of the teachers in the classroom. The main purpose of this paper was to develop a deeper understanding of a group of South African teachers’ personal understanding about barriers to learning and how their understanding relates to their consequent actions to implement inclusive education in their classrooms. A qualitative research approach placed within a cultural-historical and bio-ecological theoretical framework was used. The findings, in this paper, indicate that the way in which teachers understand a diversity of learning needs is based on the training that they initially received as teachers, which focused on a deficit, individualised approach to barriers to learning and development, as well as contextual challenges, and that both have direct and substantial effects on teachers’ classroom practices. As a result, they engage in practices in their classrooms that are less inclusive, by creating dual learning opportunities that are not sufficiently made available for everyone, with the result that every learner is not able to participate fully as an accepted member of their peer group in all classroom activities. Keywords : barriers to learning; deficit approach to learning and development; diverse educational needs; inclusive classrooms; inclusive education; mainstream schools; teacher education for inclusion

Radiative Transfer Effects in He I Emission Lines

Abstract: We consider the effect of optical depth of the 2 3S level on the nebular recombination spectrum of He I for a spherically symmetric nebula with no systematic velocity gradients. These calculations, using many improvements in atomic data, can be used in place of the earlier calculations of Robbins. We give representative Case B line fluxes for UV, optical, and IR emission lines over a range of physical conditions: T = 5000-20,000 K, ne = 1-108 cm-3, and τ3889 = 0-100. A FORTRAN program for calculating emissivities for all lines arising from quantum levels with n ≤ 10 is also available from the authors. We present a special set of fitting formulae for the physical conditions relevant to low-metallicity extragalactic H II regions: T = 12,000-20,000 K, ne = 1-300 cm-3, and τ3889 < 2.0). For this range of physical conditions, the Case B line fluxes of the bright optical lines 4471 A, 5876 A, and 6678 A, are changed less than 1%, in agreement with previous studies. However, the 7065 A corrections are much smaller than those calculated by Izotov & Thuan based on the earlier calculations by Robbins. This means that the 7065 A line is a better density diagnostic than previously thought. Two corrections to the fitting functions calculated in our previous work are also given.

Identity leadership going global: Validation of the identity leadership inventory across 20 countries.

Abstract: Recent theorizing applying the social identity approach to leadership proposes a four‐dimensional model of identity leadership that centres on leaders’ management of a shared sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’. This research validates a scale assessing this model – the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI). We present results from an international project with data from all six continents and from more than 20 countries/regions with 5,290 participants. The ILI was translated (using back‐translation methods) into 13 different languages (available in the Appendix S1) and used along with measures of other leadership constructs (i.e., leader–member exchange [LMX], transformational leadership, and authentic leadership) as well as employee attitudes and (self‐reported) behaviours – namely identification, trust in the leader, job satisfaction, innovative work behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, and burnout. Results provide consistent support for the construct, discriminant, and criterion validity of the ILI across countries. We show that the four dimensions of identity leadership are distinguishable and that they relate to important work‐related attitudes and behaviours above and beyond other leadership constructs. Finally, we also validate a short form of the ILI, noting that is likely to have particular utility in applied contexts.