This paper examines the impact of m-learning as an innovative tool that is still in its infancy in many countries, but that can significantly contribute to effective teaching and learning in the context of the digital age. Based on the theoretical principles of learning, the uses of m-learning are reviewed. To provide complete insights into its potential adoption in higher education institutions in countries such as Mauritius and Nigeria, the various emerging issues such as technical issues, usability issues, content security and copyright issues as well as issues relating to privacy and cyber bullying are discussed. The paper suggests some of the future trends in the adoption of m-learning, but it concluded that it may not be successful due to other challenges that are typical to many countries in Africa. African countries are faced with context-bound and technological constraints that are hindering the leaners of higher education institutions to benefit from the learning advantages that they may get to improve their learning and for the countries to give more access to higher education through the use of open education that may be technologically enhanced.
A lack of learners’ discipline is a major school problem in secondary schools in Mauritius. The study aims at determining and examining the main causes of this problem in the context of Mauritius. Qualitative data were collected from learners, educators, principals and parents of four secondary schools by using focus group interviews and individual face-to-face interviews. By using content analysis, the study revealed that the causes of learners’ lack of discipline originate from the family (the parenting style, working parents, ineffective parental discipline and the dysfunctional family), the learners’ attitudes to education and schooling, the educators’ attitudes to their role of maintaining learner discipline, the principals’ lack of authority and leadership in managing learner discipline and the influence of peer group in the school setting. The study shows that all the stakeholders of the school community are responsible for the deterioration of learner discipline in secondary schools. It recommends that there should be a decentralisation of learner discipline strategies from the Ministry of Education to the secondary school principals who should be empowered to set up their institutional school discipline plan.
<p>This research was conducted to identify and examine the discipline strategies that early childhood teachers may adopt to deal with disruptive behaviours of toddlers. The research was a qualitative research design and a case study. Five early childhood teachers were selected using purposive sampling and 30 toddlers in a private early childhood centre. The data about the practice of discipline strategies by the teachers were gathered by a semi-structured interview schedule and non-participant observation was used to collect data from the toddlers. According to the results of the study, it was found that early childhood education teachers were adopting positive discipline to prevent behaviour problems. The strategies adopted are guidance, autonomy, creating positive relationships, effective planning of the learning environment, and emotion coaching. This research shed light on the shift in the discipline paradigm in the early childhood setting in Mauritius. Instead of adopting reactive and punitive strategies, the practitioners are adopting proactive and discipline which is more humanistic and egalitarian, particularly when the child should be given the best learning opportunities for their holistic development. The findings may serve as an eye-opener especially for the policy and decision-makers like the Ministry of Education, to rethink the current practices in the public early childhood settings. For further research, a comparative study may be done to examine the extent to which positive discipline may be implemented in the public early childhood centres of the country.</p><p> </p><p>Cette recherche a été menée pour identifier et examiner les stratégies disciplinaires que les enseignants de la petite enfance peuvent adopter pour faire face aux comportements perturbateurs des tout-petits. La recherche était une conception de recherche qualitative et une étude de cas. Cinq enseignants de la petite enfance ont été sélectionnés à l'aide d'un échantillonnage raisonné et 30 enfants en bas âge dans un centre privé de la petite enfance. Les données sur la pratique des stratégies disciplinaires par les enseignants ont été recueillies par un calendrier d'entretien semi-structuré et l'observation non participante a été utilisée pour recueillir des données auprès des tout-petits. D'après les résultats de l'étude, il a été constaté que les enseignants en éducation de la petite enfance adoptaient une discipline positive pour prévenir les problèmes de comportement. Les stratégies adoptées sont l'accompagnement, l'autonomie, la création de relations positives, la planification efficace de l'environnement d'apprentissage et le coaching émotionnel. Cette recherche met en lumière le changement de paradigme de la discipline dans le cadre de la petite enfance à Maurice. Au lieu d'adopter des stratégies réactives et punitives, les praticiens adoptent une discipline proactive et plus humaniste et égalitaire, en particulier lorsque l'enfant doit bénéficier des meilleures opportunités d'apprentissage pour son développement holistique. Les résultats peuvent ouvrir les yeux, en particulier pour les responsables politiques et les décideurs comme le ministère de l'Éducation, pour repenser les pratiques actuelles dans les milieux publics de la petite enfance. Pour des recherches plus poussées, une étude comparative peut être menée pour examiner dans quelle mesure une discipline positive peut être mise en œuvre dans les centres publics de la petite enfance du pays.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0743/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>
Learner discipline management is a major but challenging function of school leadership. Adolescents of the 21st century are complex in nature, and school stakeholders are having much difficulty to handle the problem of indiscipline in secondary schools. This paper aims at providing a conceptual model framework for learner discipline management. This model is the result of an empirical investigation conducted in four secondary schools. Focus group discussion and individual interviews were carried out with 80 participants, including 24 teachers, 24 learners, 24 parents, four school principals, and four school superintendents. The non-participant observation was also conducted in the four schools. Based on the conceptual, theoretical and empirical literature on positive, proactive, preventive and restorative discipline, the researcher proposed the model that considers all the research- and evidence-based strategies that are combined with the current effective measures prescribed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Mauritius. The model is framed within the context of the Nine Year Continuous Basic Education reform that requires a shift in the conception of discipline from the punitive or reactive approach to the positive approach. This paper formulates a conceptual model framework to implement in an attempt to prevent, reverse and restore discipline among learners in secondary schools.
This paper examines the implications of the implementation of a policy that promotes open teaching in an emerging open university. It describes the benefits and risks associated with such implementation within the context of Mauritius. It emphasises the adoption of cMOOCs which is more student-generated MOOCs that encourages student engagement based on socio-constructivism and heutagogy, instead of behaviourism and cognitivism. The use of open teaching promotes the democratisation of higher education and may help open universities to achieve economies of scale, and therefore making open universities profitable. However, open teaching through the adoption of cMOOCs may lack sustainability due to the political bearing of the open university concerning its governing bodies and the nomination of its head at the management level, the lack of electracy of a large number of contingent teaching staff as well as the lack of safeguard for the intellectual copyrights of MOOCs in Mauritius. It is recommended that open universities should invest massively in technology-enhanced content delivery and in the appointment of a graphic designer to support user-content generation. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0790/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>
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