Crossing Boundaries: Lecturers’ Perspectives on the Use of Whatsapp to Support Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Gachago, Daniela; Strydom, Sonja; Hanekom, Pauline Wilna; Simons, Sarah E.; Walters, Shirley

doi:10.25159/0256-8853/579

Cited by 47 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Nonetheless, WhatsApp private conversations created ambient, protected habitats for student self-expression, which allowed supervisees to engage friendlier, candidly and assertively compared with WhatsApp group collaborations and face-to-face consultations. This resonates with the finding that WhatsApp consultations groomed a positive social atmosphere that created a feeling of belonging (Ashiyan & Salehi, 2016;Gachago et al, 2015). WhatsApp authentic engagements also allowed the "mashing up" of heavy postgraduate content into leaner "chewable" bits for supervisees.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…The enhanced functionality of WhatsApp, in particular its texting, voice, video, musical and internet access capabilities (Ashiyan & Salehi, ), presents possibilities for meaningful academic engagement of under‐prepared learners (Rambe & Aaron Bere, ) and serves as a boundary‐crossing object for promoting reflection and learning transformation (Gachago, Strydom, Hanekom, Simons, & Walters, ). The academic appropriation of the inexpensive WhatsApp is ideal for the South African higher education context given the recent public protests against Network Service Providers (Vodacom, Cell C and MTN) over the high cost of mobile data, dubbed the “#datamustfall” movement.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Appropriating WhatsApp‐mediated postgraduate supervision to negotiate “relational authenticity” in resource‐constrained environments

Rambe¹,

Mkono²

2018

Brit J Educational Tech

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Despite the surging prominence of literature that explores mobile instant messaging’s (MIM) capacity to leverage transformative pedagogical practices in higher education, studies that unravel the appropriation of MIM to leverage postgraduate supervision in authentic learning contexts are less frequent. Consequently, a gap persists on the nature of postgraduate supervisees’ existential and relational authenticity as they interface with MIM and supervisors during their consultation processes. This study drew on Heidegger’s existential authenticity, a netnography of WhatsApp‐based supervisor–supervisee consultations and in‐depth interviews to unravel how WhatsApp‐mediated postgraduate supervision fosters the social construction of relational and existential authenticity in resource‐constrained contexts. The findings suggest that authentic supervision was constructed through supervisor–supervisees’ negotiation of academic hierarchies, supervisees’ self‐expression and self‐disclosure, their management of moments of anxiety and conflict deflation in ambivalent supervision scenarios. The study recommends that supervisors need to manage the significant yet unrecognised “nervous moments” in technology‐mediated supervision environments, where compression of hierarchy may be conflated with negation of the supervisor’s authority.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Appropriating WhatsApp‐mediated postgraduate supervision to negotiate “relational authenticity” in resource‐constrained environments

Rambe¹,

Mkono²

2018

Brit J Educational Tech

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“…() or Gachago, Strydom, Hanekom, Simons, & Walters et al . (). With 7.4 million users in South Africa in 2015, Twitter is defining a new age of knowledge generosity, proliferation and take up.…”

Section: Chronological Analysis Of Selected Literaturementioning

confidence: 97%

“…Instant messaging services like WhatsApp use is increasing exponentially in our mobile dominated context to foster student learning as discussed by Ng'ambi et al (2015) or Gachago, Strydom, Hanekom, Simons, & Walters et al (2015). With 7.4 million users in South Africa in 2015, Twitter is defining a new age of knowledge generosity, proliferation and take up.…”

Section: Chronological Analysis Of Selected Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Technology enhanced teaching and learning in South African higher education – A rearview of a 20 year journey

Ng’ambi¹,

Brown²,

Bozalek³

et al. 2016

Brit J Educational Tech

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In the last 20 years, the South African higher education has changed significantly, influenced by global trends national development goals and pressure from local educational imperatives, in the context of a digitally networked world. Shifts in technology enhanced pedagogical practices and in discourses around information and communication technologies (ICTs) have had varying degrees of influence in higher education. This paper takes a rearview of a 20‐year journey of technology enhanced learning in South African higher education. An analysis of literature view is presented chronologically in four phases: phase 1 (1996–2000), phase 2 (2001–05), phase 3 (2006–10) and phase 4 (2011–16). In phase 1 technology was used predominantly for drill and practice, computer‐aided instruction, with growing consciousness of the digital divide. In phase 2 institutions primarily focused on building ICT infrastructure, democratizing information, policy development and research; they sought to compare the effectiveness of teaching with or without technology. During phase 3 institutions began to include ICTs in their strategic directions, digital divide debates focused on epistemological access, and they also began to conduct research with a pedagogical agenda. In phase 4 mobile learning and social media came to the fore. The research agenda shifted from whether students would use technology to how to exploit what students already use to transform teaching and learning practices. The paper concludes that South Africa's higher education institutions have moved from being solely responsible for both their own relatively poor ICT infrastructure and education provision to cloud‐based ICT infrastructure with “unlimited” educational resources that are freely, openly and easily available within and beyond the institution. Although mobile and social media are more evident now than ever before, teaching and learning practice in South African higher education remains largely unchanged.

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“…One of the tools often mentioned in the interviews is the popular instant messaging application, WhatsApp (see comments 13 and 14). Due to its user-friendliness, accessibility and low data usage, WhatsApp has become a useful tool for many lecturers to engage with their learners beyond the classroom (Gachago, Strydom, Hanekom, Simons, & Walters, 2015). The comments below show how lecturers are mindful of student needs and contexts and build on students' existing social practices.…”

Section: Theme 6: Focus On Practicementioning

confidence: 99%

Developing eLearning champions: a design thinking approach

Gachago

Morkel

Hitge

et al. 2017

Int J Educ Technol High Educ

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Against the backdrop of a complex Higher Education (HE) landscape, particularly in a developing country context where the relevance of current HE structures is questioned through student protests, and decolonisation of education practices is called for, traditional thinking is losing ground. This study focuses on lecturers identified as eLearning champions, who display shared dispositions that mirror what the literature terms a 'design thinking mindset', such as collaboration, empathy for the learner and problem orientation. We argue that promoting this mindset in academic staff development interventions around the use of technology in teaching and learning could support more academics to innovate their practices. Recommendations for how findings of this study may inform the design of such learning interventions conclude the paper.

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Crossing Boundaries: Lecturers’ Perspectives on the Use of Whatsapp to Support Teaching and Learning in Higher Education

Cited by 47 publications

References 15 publications

Appropriating WhatsApp‐mediated postgraduate supervision to negotiate “relational authenticity” in resource‐constrained environments

Appropriating WhatsApp‐mediated postgraduate supervision to negotiate “relational authenticity” in resource‐constrained environments

Technology enhanced teaching and learning in South African higher education – A rearview of a 20 year journey

Developing eLearning champions: a design thinking approach

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