1.6 Academic Development/Support Programme
1.6.1 ADP within the UKZN Humanities Faculty
The academic development programme within the humanities faculty at UKZN campus dates back to as early as 1980s (this was long before the merger, at the time the institution was operating under the University of Natal name), when the other „Open‟ or „English‟
universities began introducing them. There have been numerous significant changes since the early inception days three decades ago - from the conventional academic development programmes that were totally separate from mainstream (such as the „academic support‟
that did not carry any credit-bearing courses and the credit bearing „academic development‟), to more recent academic development programme, encompassing a mainstream courses (such as the Extended Curriculum Programme).
The first academic support programmes at UKZN concentrated on developing and preparing new students to be integrated into the full mainstream university curriculum.
The development and preparation of these students was “addressed through intensive tutorial schemes outside of academic departments… [These students were also required to] take a reduced-load curriculum in their first year of study and to attend a non-credit bearing course…and voluntary small group tutorials… [mainly] focusing on general academic skills training” (Horsley, 2000: 36-7). Clarence-Fincham (nd) points out that
…the earliest „Academic Support‟ initiatives of the 1980s were largely non-credit bearing…focused on the individual students‟ [academic] „deficiencies‟, the attainment of equality and redress from the injustices of the apartheid past… [This was eventually replaced by the alternative programme of the 1990s which] shifted
curriculum and the provision of credit bearing intervention courses which were part of the mainstream curriculum…
The members of the staff who were involved in the development of academic support initiatives became aware of the fact “…that students were not transferring what they had learnt in these courses to their mainstream disciplines” (Horsely, 2000:37). The non- credit bearing programme was thus phased out “in favour of a year long generic intervention in academic literacy…which became part of accredited mainstream study as early as mid 1980s” (Clarence Fincham; nd). This was called „Learning, Language and Logic (LLL)‟ and later became „Academic Communication Studies‟ introduced on the Pietermaritzburg campus in 1984, offering credit bearing courses. Learning, Language and Logic was offered to students through the Department of Applied Language Studies;
and was developed to equip students with communication skills in order to communicate effectively and powerfully in a wide range of university situations (Clarence-Fincham, 1998), and more specifically to master “the academic English of the classroom and of texts, and disciplinary content material…” (Maxwell-Jolly, Gándaran and Benavídez 2005: p03). These were primarily black students “…who were seen as needing remedial support to bridge the gap between poor secondary schools and the requirements of the university education” (Horsely, 2000:37).
In 1998 the Learning, Language and Logic (LLL) was offered as Academic Communication Studies programme. The majority of LLL students were unhappy with the name „Learning, Language and Logic‟, they felt that it did not adequately reflect the nature of the course; and that it belonged to the „old order‟ that represented a deficit view of second language speakers which marginalizes them as black students (Clarence- Fincham, 1998).
In 2001 “the Humanities Access Year was introduced in UKZN Pietermaritzburg campus and in 2005 at Howard College Campus in Durban” (Clarence-Fincham; nd). The Access Programme (AP) differed from the other conventional support initiatives in that it allowed the students to do three credit bearing foundation courses in their second semester of study at the university. Students who pass all their courses by the end of the
Access Programme year would have “48 credit points that are carried into the mainstream study; to allow them to reduce their curriculum in their first and second year which contributes to the possibility of passing other mainstream modules” (Clarence-Fincham;
nd). Students who failed the modules in the AP were not allowed to proceed further.
These disqualified from the AP were subsequently disqualified from enrolling for further study within the humanities faculty.
A student evaluation with the students that had successfully completed the AP was conducted. The results from the evaluation revealed that the Academic Programme was a success. The results also revealed that, by the end year 2005, 78% of access students had graduated or were on their way to graduating compared to 69.5% in of their mainstream counterparts (Clarence-Fincham; nd). Many students “were satisfied with the programme and happy to be part of the programme; and the benefits of small classes and of constant interaction with the lecturers and with the other students are recognized and highly valued” (Clarence-Fincham; nd).
However despite the evident success of the AP there were also some limitations that emerged from the evaluation. The major drawback was the fact that students were completely cut off from the AP once they had passed all the required modules. This problem was attributed to the lack of articulation between the access year and the mainstream study. Clarence-Fincham (nd) asserts that;
…the complete absence of academic development in the first year of mainstream study resulted in students reporting a sense of academic dislocation as they moved from a highly structured environment of the access programme and entered the far less familiar domain of large, less personal lecture theatre with all its attendance discursive challenges.
In response to the challenges posed by the AP, the more recent “Extended Curriculum Programme” (ECP) was piloted in 2006 and introduced in 2007. The co-ordinators and the staff members that were involved in the development of the academic programmes felt that the programme needed to be aligned “…more explicitly with the first year of the mainstream study” (Clarence-Fincham; nd), by extending the student academic support to
the first and second year of study. This is made possible through augmented courses which become part of a mainstream for the students in their second semester of the ECP year. These are supplemented by extra supporting tutorials (the Extended Curriculum Tutorials „ECT‟) which are taught by members of the support staff.
Similar to its predecessor (AP) the Extended Curriculum Programme (ECP) provides alternative admission for students with lower matriculation grades than required by the faculty, in order for students to be admitted to study at the UKZN humanities faculty.
Extended Curriculum Programme consists of five non-credit bearing first semester foundation courses (Academic Literacy; English Language Development; Africa in the World; Basic Computer Literacy and Basic Numeracy). Students are required to pass all of them during first semester courses in order to proceed to second semester.
Unfortunately students who do not successfully complete the first semester are laid off the programme; whilst those who pass all the first semester courses proceed to second semester.
During the second semester, three of the first semester courses become credit bearing courses (Academic Literacy; English Language Development and Africa in the World).
Basic Numeracy remains non-credit bearing course and Basic Computer Literacy, which is a one semester course, is dropped; in its place students are given the chance to register for one mainstream course. Students get to choose one of their majors from courses offered within seven humanities disciplines, namely; Sociology, Psychology, Media and Communication, Geography, Environmental Science, Political Science and Legal Studies. Students who perform particularly well in their first semester are able to register for one or two courses from the mainstream. By the end of the first year of ECP, students who pass all their courses will have 64 credit points. By the end of the ECP, students will then have 64 or more credit points, as opposed to 48 credit points, from the AP. This frees up enough time in the following years for students to attend augmented courses (Clarence-Fincham, nd). (Appendix A depicts the format of the programme).
The new augmented programme enables the students to take a reduced load of courses during their first and second year of mainstream study. The mainstream course/s chosen during the second semester of the ECP year of study remains augmented until the end of second year of mainstream study. The augmented course “consist of six contact periods a week, and another two (in a form of tutorials) which provide substantial additional materials linked to the mainstream curricula…which have been developed to make the specific discursive practices of the disciplines explicit” (Clarence-Fincham, nd).
In the research conducted at Rhodes University, relating to a similar programme available to students, Reynolds (2008: 83) reveals that augmented “courses represent a shift from a separate foundation course to a semi-integrated one.” Thus “…student development is seen as a long term vision…involving diversity, quality and improved teaching, learning and assessment practices” (Moyo, 1997: 66). The intention is to improve efficiency, retention, throughput and success rates (Clarence-Fincham, nd). Thus students have more chances of doing better and ultimately succeed in their studies.