heltasa: technological student support services at the faculty of military science

Department of Educational Technology

Faculty of Military Science

29 November 2013

Mhakamuni Khoza

PLANNING TECHNOLOGICAL SUPPORT SERVICES STUDENT SOLDIER AT THE FACULTY OF MILITARY SCIENCE

The function of military distinguishes it from all other sections of our society.

• renders military obedience under all conditions

• defends and protects South Africa and its people in times of both conflict and peace –even it means forfeiture of their own lives

Being obedient is stated by Justice Kriegler (2001) when he spelt out the requirement of military discipline:The ultimate objective of military in time of peace is to prepare for war to support policies of the civilian government. Military organisation requires, as no any other system, the highest standard of discipline [which] can be defined as an attitude of respect for authority that is developed by leadership, precept and training. It is the state of mind which leads to willingness to obey an order no matter how unpleasant the task to be performed. This is not the characteristic of the civilian community. It is the ultimate characteristic of the military organization.

CONTEXT OF RESEARCH

• The Department of Defence (DoD) prefers that officers obtain an undergraduate degree prior to taking up a first appointment in the relevant Service or Division (Van der Walt, 2011).

• SANDF needs a well educated armed force.

• Interactive Telematic Education (ITE) has been established as a pilot project in 2003

• The aim of ITE is to provide education to personnel whilst they remain active in the SANDF.

• High number of students drop out prematurely, withdrew or unduly postpone their studies each year

• This trend appears as a possibly explanation why very few students have graduated since the establishment of the ITE pilot project.

BACKGROUND

• Use of technologies cannot be transferred from one context to another, particularly in the military

• Van der Walt (2009) and Juhary (2009) further state that the use of technologies also appear to create potential for leakage and diffusion of sensitive and dangerous information

• The provision of technological support services for student soldier requires an analysis of characteristics of student body, geographical situation, technological infrastructure and course demands.

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

What is your opinion on each of the following?

STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

BACKGROUND

What is your opinion on each of the following ?

STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

• Integrated methodology: Numerical Narrative data

• Asking questions: Survey Semi-structured interviews

80% (92) in 2012 and 51% (81) in 2013 of student participants

52% (13) of the lecturing staff participants

Plowright, 2012

METHODOLOGY

Age

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENT BODY

Prolonged absences from formal studies

• 68% of lecturing staff indicated that students took more one more than one semester (year) to complete their modules because they did not meet examination

requirements.

• At the beginning of each semester a high number of students enrol one to four modules, but more than 50% do not participate in the any of formative assessment activities.

• Woods (1995) is of the opinion that students with prolonged absences from study need to quickly adapt and develop academic “survival skills”.



Knowledge or experience of studying in distance education mode

• Most students cited workload as common reason for them to postpone or take more than one semester (year) to complete their modules.

• They found it challenging to cope with their daily responsibilities in their units and the actual package of their studies.

• Students indicated that they did not have enough time to prepare for tests and examinations.

• This finding corresponds with Subotzky and Prinsloo (2011) and Woodley and Parlett (1983) who are of the opinion that students should be well informed about sense of demands on basic skills such as time management and study skills.



Knowledge or experience of studying in distance education mode

• Reconciliation of demands of job and studies appears more conflicting particularly for student soldier who render military obedience under all conditions.

o Mowes (2005) affirms this finding that students joining distance education system for the first time find it difficult to handle learning package that consists of self

instructional materials.

o This finding corresponds with Kun and Williams (1997) that students find it difficult to reconcile conflicting demands

• Students indicated that the course work was too much to be covered in one semester.

o Mowes (2005) is of the opinion that student support services should be available to assist students to progress with their studies by doing what is right for them,

irrespective of the situation they are.




Experience of studying at tertiary

• Students realised that their studies in the Faculty of Military Science differ from military promotional and functional courses during the one week contact session.

• Students’ comments such as: “understanding that this is a university level, not a military functional course” and “lecturers should give more time to ITE

students, like going through the study guide with us and explaining how to deal with each an every different aspect as laid down in the study guide”, revealed that students had no idea had experience of studying at the university.

• It is with little doubt that these students are underprepared and therefore require more support.

• Students’ expectations are set by military culture where they are “taught to think and act jointly” and their training and daily responsibilities are group-oriented activities (Esterhuyse, 2009; Juhary, 2009).


Gender



Gender

• It appears that domestic responsibilities create conflicting demands for both male and female.

• Female students cited domestic responsibilities such as maternity leave for postponing their studies, for not attending ITV sessions and not attending one week contact session.

• This finding corresponds with Mowes (2005) finding that the complex life commitments lead to female students experiencing more isolation than male students.


CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENST BODY


Rank

Fig. 3

1. CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENST BODY

Rank

• Knowing the rank of ITE students is very important in the military setting, because the line of command is based on rank.

• Students in the higher the rank had more daily responsibilities in their units than those in the lower rank.

• The lecturing indicated that rank differences interfere with student interaction and freedom to participate in the class during the one week contact session.

• The rank differences impacts on students’ engagement, particularly that the interaction between officers and non commissioned officers can compromise military discipline.


CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENST BODY

• Students change stations at any time, go on internal and external deployment..

• This finding corresponds with Mitchell, Wallace and Wirthlin’s (2011) finding that in America, average military personnel changes station every four years, while

deploying every 24 months.

• Soldier students are physically separated from their families. Van Dyk (2012) found that military personnel on deployment are physically separated as well as emotional instable due to feelings of being forgotten.

• Some students were of the opinion that they are not “smart” enough to understand course materials.

• Wood (1996) found that isolation lead to feelings of inadequacy and insecurity and lack of self confidence in their abilities.


MILITARY ENVIRONMENT

Unit Students %Amhu Northern Cape 1 1 6 SAI BN Grahamstown 3 3SAS Saldanha 4 444 Para Reg Bloemfontein 4 414 SAI BN Mthatha 1 1Field Engineer Reg 1 1Infantry School Oudshoorn 5 6SAAF Gymnasium Old Jhb Road Valhalla 2 2AFB Hoedspruit 2 2SA Army HQ Pretoria 2 29 SAI BN Spine Rd Eerste River 3 3SA Armour FMN Pretoria 3 310AAR Diskobolos Kimberley 2 2ASB Kimberley 1 1SAAF HQ Unit Pretoria 3 314 SA Infantry Battalion 1 1Mthatha 1 1DFHR 1 1SAS Wingfield 2 2AMHU Kimberley (FS) 3 3AFB Langebaanweg 3 3School Of Tactical Intelligence 1 116 Squadron, AFB Bloemspruit 2 2

Unit Students %

8 SAI BN (Mech), Upington 1 1

1 SA Tank Regiment 2 2

JSB Garrison 2 2

AFB YSTERPLAAT 2 2SA Army Infantry Formation, HR Dev 2 2Airforce Headquarters 1 1J OP HQ 1 16 SA Infantry Battalion 1 1

Military Academy 1 1

10 AA Regiment 3 3

SA Army College 1 1

SA Army Intelligence Formation HQ 1 1

1SSB 1 1

68 Air School, Lyttelton, Pretoria 1 1

DOD School Of Logistics Training 1 1

BACS 1 1

SAS Isaac Dyobha 1 1

Infantry Formation 1 1

Naval Base Simon's Town 2 2





Where do you live? (n=92)


Units


Military operations


Characteristics

1. Insecurity and chaos

2. Violence and danger

3. Stress

4. Friction

5. Continuous deployment

7. Long-term deployment

Royal Netherlands Army, 1996


• When students were in the field, they could not use their mobile devices due to lack of reception (network).

• Being in the field implied that they could not have access to power supply to charge their mobile devices. .

• Some students indicated that when they were on border deployment, the policy did not allow not allow people busy with studies.

• Students also indicated that network was very limited in the border.

• It is undeniably that deployed soldier students do not have any other option, than withdrawing from their studies (Griffith & Perry, 1993). Conversely, Murphy (2006) citing Blumenstyk, Carnevale, Arnon and Eskey argue that soldier students begin or continue with their studies when on deployment.

• This finding corresponds with Van der Walt’s (2009) that soldier students experience lack of understanding from their colleagues, supervisors and the command element in their unit.

GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION



Computers

V

ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGIES


• Computers at the units were accessible during working hours.

• Due to transport and being dangerous in some areas to travel late in the afternoon, students went to Internet cafes during weekends.

• Due to high cost associated with Internet connectivity in South Africa, students who had their own computers also used Internet cafes.

• It was challenging to focus on their work in the Internet cafes because of the noise level, which in turn impacts on their performance.


Computers

V


Computers




Mobile phone



Emails


COMMUNICATION


COMMUNICATION

How would you prefer to communicate with your students with regard to module related information? Select all that apply.



Internet


• 60% of students access Internet through their cellphones. This is attributed to 85%

of students who had smart phones.

• Students on border, internal and external deployment indicated that they could not access Internet due to had limited network.

• Due to organisational and operational security, computers in the South African National Defence Force are not allowed to be connected to the Internet.

•


Internet


Technological skills

TECHNOLOGICAL SKILLS


• Figure yielded results indicating that most students were fairly skilled in using technologies.

• However, finding that 2% were not skilled at all, 12% not very skilled and 40% fairly skilled, while 40% were very skilled and 7% being experts in Word editing,

undeniably excluded some students.

• Students who did not have computer skills indicated that they could not finish time bound assessment tasks such as timed quizzes on Moodle.

• This finding corresponds with Bird and Morgan (2003) findings who noted that adults entering university without prerequisite information technology skills are at considerable disadvantage initially, which may compound their sense of being overwhelmed or not “belonging”.


Word editing


• The findings revealed that 14% were not skilled, 36% were not very skilled and 46% fairly skilled in using University library website.

• The 4% very skilled students in using University library website is undeniably a concern since, students indicated the use of library as one of the most aspects of the one week contact session.

• The low percentage of students skilled in using library website is a concern, because library facilities provide effective student support services accessible anytime and anywhere.

• In addition, most indicated that they struggled with referencing when doing assignments. It was evident that most students were not aware of the resources available on the library website.

• This finding corresponds with Mowes (2005) finding that adult students find it challenging to use referencing in distance education.


Library skills



Interactive Television (ITV) facilities



ITV sessions


46%

15%

8%

8%

23%

How often do you present your module during ITV sessions (n=13)

Once a year (n=6)

Twice a year (n=2)

Three times a year (n=1)

Never (n = 1)

N/A (n=3)


ITV sessions


Fig. 19: Students’ opinion on attending one ITV session per semester


What is your opinion on ITV sessions?



What is your opinion on ITV sessions?



How many of your modules were available on Moodle in semester 1?



How would you describe your first experience, the first time you logged on Moodle?



How do you experience the speed of Moodle?


• Rating ITV sessions less helpful can be however be attributed to the fact that the sessions are time and space bound.

• Some lecturing staff was of the opinion that travelling to Stellenbosch and for students to travel to the venues for one hour did not worth all the resources.

• Equally important, some lecturing staff and students indicated that the sessions were less interactive

• This finding corresponds with Calitz, Cilliers and Greyling’s (2006) finding that people have difficulty in changing television watching mode to ITV session.

• Thus, lecturing staff were of the opinion that both students and lecturing staff needed training.


ITV sessions


• Lecturing staff indicated that most students did not adhere to the course requirements of the course

• Some lecturers indicated that some students enrolled in the course, but never completed a single assignment or participated in the course.

• Students mentioned that some courses in their opinion were unreasonably demanding.

• Hence they could not cope with the demands of their studies and their daily responsibilities in their units.

• Students expected to submit their first assignments during the one week contact session.

COURSE DEMANDS


• This finding revealed a gap between students’ expectations of distance learning and

the reality of what their studies entail when received their course packages. • This finding revealed a gap on student support services provided by the Faculty of

Military Science, particularly the demands of basic skills such as time management and study skills.

• Students indicated that although they received feedback on their assignments, they

preferred individual and detailed feedback.

• Lecturing staff indicated during interviews that giving individual feedback was taking too much time.

COURSE DEMANDS


What is your opinion on the feedback that you receive on assignments, tests and emails.

COURSE DEMANDS


How often do you receive feedback on assignments and tests

COURSE DEMANDS


How long does it take you to give feedback on each of the following:

COURSE DEMANDS


What type of feedback do you receive on assignments, tests and emails?

COURSE DEMANDS

CONCLUSION

• Planning technological student soldier support services requires an analysis the characteristics of student body, military environment, technological infrastructure, and course demands.

• Technologies should be used in distance education without the leakage and diffusion of sensitive and dangerous information.

• It is important not only to consider accessibility to technologies, but also consider whether these technologies require students to be time and place bound.

• Students need both financial and technological resources.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• The Department of Defence and FMS should subsidise all students with Internet enabled mobile devices

• Subsidise students with data bundles.

• Have a well prepared study guide

• Keep continuous contact with students, by means email and telephone.

• Give individual, timely and detailed feedback. Consider giving combination of written and audio feedback.

• Include distance education students in the bootcamp.

• The Faculty of Military Science should develop distance education study model.

• Department of Defence should develop policy for distance education.

REFERENCES

Bates, A. W. T. (2007). The impact of technological change on open and distance learning. Distance Education, 18(1), 93-109. DOI 10.1080/0158791970180108.

Department of Defence. Military Information Communications Symposium South Africa (MICSA) 3 to 7 February 2014. Bulletin no: 21/13. 11 September 2013

Department of Defence. (2012). South African Department of Defence. South African Defence Review 2012. South Africa.

Galusha, J.M. (1997). Barriers to learning in distance education Retrieved from http://www.infrastruction.com/barriers.htm

Goldschalk, D. R. & Lacey, L. (2001). Learning at a distance: Technology impacts on planning education. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 20(4 ), 476-489. Doi:10.1177/0739456x010200041

Kerrigan, T. K., & Van Zummeren, J. I. (2006). Transforming Officer Distance Professional Military Education. Marine Corps Gazette, 90(2), 23-25.

Kriegler, J. (2001). Constitutional Court of South Africa, Case CCT 14/01 dd 05 October 2001.

Kuhn, E. & Williams, P. (1997). Does Learner Support Make a Difference? In Dilley, L. and Roman, A. (Eds.), Support Services in Distance Education. South Africa: SACHED Trust.Mitchell, A., Wallace, C. & Wirthlin, R. (2011). Addressing the challenges educating system engineers armed forces. Department Systems and Engineering Air Force Institute of Technology. Wright-Patterson: Air Force base: Ohio, USA. Murphy, E. W. (2009). Delivery to the Sharp End of the Spear: Responding to the Need for Library Support to the Deployed and Downrange Military Community. Journal of Library Administration, 49(1-2), 51-57. http://doi.dx.org/10.1080/01930820802310676

Rashid, M. & Rashid N. (2010). Student support services of Eastern and Western Institutes of Distance Education. Journal of Educational Research, 13(2), 178-186.

Thorpe, M. (2002). Rethinking learner support: The Challenge of collaborative online learning. Open learning. The Journal of Open Distance and e-learning, 17(2) DOI 105-119. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02680510220146887a.

Wankel, L. A. & Blessinger, P. (2013). Adoption of mobile applications: Smartphones, Skype and texting technologies. Cutting Edge Technologies in Higher Education (2013).

Yu-mei, L. (2011). The research on application of Information and Communication Technologies. 6th International Conference on Computer Science and Education (ICCSE, 2011) August 3-5 2011

heltasa: technological student support services at the faculty of military science

Education

student participants

military van

military obedience

military organization

military organisation

conflicting demands

high number of students

ultimate objective of