The teaching of large classes has emerged as a teaching and learning challenge. Due to the national government of South Africa policy, universities have had to increase enrolments of first-year students. This chapter uses the context of a private institution of higher learning in South Africa as the site of the project to show how a community of practice (CoP) can be utilised to assist in developing strategies for increasing student engagement. It is the argument of this chapter that a CoP will assist lecturers in solving their teaching challenges. Different tools were examined that could be used in CoP based on their affordances. The blog was identified as the best tool to create a CoP. Introducing a CoP will ensure more collaboration and interaction among the lecturers.
Top1. Introduction
The demand for higher education has increased tremendously in South Africa. This has resulted in numerous challenges for educational institutions and educators. One challenge is that class sizes have increased as a result of the need to accommodate as many students as possible (Pandor, 2011). The direct effect of this is that there is very little student engagement in these large classes as students take a passive role while the lecturer takes on an expert role (Lee, 2011). Lee adds that for in-depth processing of knowledge, students are required to be active as knowledge is gained more efficiently through activity and direct involvement in the learning process (Lee, 2011). This paper uses the context of a private Institution of Higher Learning in South Africaas the site of the project to show how a community of practice (CoP) can be utilised to assist in developing strategies for increasing student engagement. At this Institution of Higher Learning in South Africa, each class consists of one lecture and two tutorials per week. Students are required to attend all three sessions. The experience of a lecturer at this instruction, a co-author of this research paper, is having to deal with large numbers of students in the lecture and a minimum of 25 students in the tutorials. Most of the learners at This Institution of Higher Learning in South Africa are from the private secondary school sector so they are used to being taught in small groups (Lees, 2012:32). As a result, there is a high degree of dissatisfaction with the lecture conditions. This is revealed in the unit evaluations that the students complete every semester in which students question the value of the lecture and their role in the lecture (Cameron, 2011:11).
The literature reveals how the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) can mediate the problem of student engagement in large classes. An example of this is the study by Mdlongwa (2012:1) whose study found that the challenge of low efficiency and productivity in teaching could be overcome through the use of ICTs. This paper argues that if lecturers were to be part of a CoP they would be able to obtain ideas, share ideas, seek advice and share best practices that they could use to mediate the problem of student engagement. Some lecturers have found CoP very useful and they have produced a high level of satisfaction. Information and Communication Technologies have been reportedly used to create CoP (Monash Australia Brookes, 2012).To motivate the need for a CoP to be established, a critical discourse analysis of the environment is presented below followed by a justification of why a CoP is required.
The teaching and learning challenge addressed in this research paper is that, at this Institution of Higher Learning in South Africa students complete unit evaluations every semester. One of the reported problems has been the lack of student engagement in large lecture situations. The need for student engagement in lectures is reported in numerous articles(Clay & Bower 2006, Smith 2006, Lee, 2011, Lees 2012, Kandiero 2015, Kandiero 2019). Clay & Bower (2006) add that the lecturer’s ability to engage and entertain students is a strong factor in students’ decision to attend a lecture or not.