Students’ experiences of using digital technologies to address their personal research needs during the Covid-19 lockdown
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6030305 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lerato Hlengiwe Sokhulu (0000-0002-7432-8434, University of KwaZulu-Natal, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 436-452 |
| Publication date | 2021-10-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | African Identities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1472-5843 • E-ISSN: 1472-5851 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14725843.2020.1801384 |
| OpenAlex | W3046322921 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 30 |
Digital technologies have been developed for postgraduate students to help them to access data and published research, write their dissertations, and communicate with their supervisors. In South Africa, the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled masters students to make greater use of digital technologies to ensure continuity and productivity under government-imposed lockdown at home. In previous studies, students have been observed to use digital technologies to address professionalisation or socialisation experiences at the expense of personalisation experience. This qualitative case study of five master's students explores their experiences of using digital technologies during the COVID-19 lockdown. The participants were purposively selected from a larger sample of 14 students who participated in the researcher's doctoral study. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussion and questionnaire methods were conducted with the participants, and inductive (thematic) analysis, in conjunction with deductive analysis (using the Persona-Tech analytical framework proposed in this study) was used to analyse and interpret the data. The findings revealed that some participants were aware of their personal research needs, and were able to identify digital technologies suitable for their studies during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the process of knowing and understanding their research needs, the participants became problem-centred and be able to tolerate uncertainty caused by COVID-19. These participants emphasised convenience and continuity. However, other participants experienced the unsystematic introduction of these digital technologies as a barrier to usage. This study suggests that researchers combine their socialisation and professionalisation experiences of using technology to create a personalisation experience that addresses their individual research needs
Emerging technologies · Focus group · Medical education · Personalization · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions · Higher Education Practises and Engagement · Medicine · Online Learning and Analytics · Psychology
Exploring the Migration to a Digitalised Curriculum at UKZN
Emergency Remote Education and Its Impact on Higher Education
Using Community of Inquiry (CoI) to Facilitate the Design of a Holistic E-Learning Experience for Students with Visual Impairments
Understanding the role of digital technologies in education
Transition from High School to University
Student-led documentation of Covid-era education
No Student Left Behind
The Role and Motivation of Pre-Service Teacher (PST) Mentors from Pro-Social to Cognitive-Effective Perspectives
Chronicling digital teaching at a South African historically disadvantaged comprehensive university
Students’ perceptions on the use of LMS at a Lesotho university amidst the Covid-19 pandemic
Life skills teachers’ experiences in the teaching of drama in early childhood Education
Digitalised curriculum to the rescue of a higher education institution
First-hand user experience
Teachers and machines
Covid-19
What is Education For? On Good Education, Teacher Judgement, and Educational Professionalism
Facebook , social integration and informal learning at university
Learning to play games or playing games to learn? A health education case study with Soweto teenagers
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Art as Experience (1934)
Qualitative inquiry and research design
Pragmatism as a Research Paradigm and Its Implications for Social Work Research
Applying the UTAUT to Understand Factors Affecting the Use of English E-Learning Websites in Taiwan
Cultural-Historical Activity Theory
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |