University of South Africa Supervisors’ Knowledge of Technological Tools and ICTs for Postgraduate Supervision

ABSTRACT

Postgraduate supervision is a complex and demanding task. The supervisors’ knowledge and use of the available online technological tools and information and communication technology (ICTs) can however make their supervision effective and successful. The use of ICT is important in the context of University of South Africa (UNISA) considering its open and distance e-learning (ODeL) mode. The 21st-century educational environment is endowed with the technological and social media tools that can make the teaching staff’s work easier and speed up throughput ultimately. The ODeL institutions in particular should take full advantage of the ubiquitousness of technologies. The researcher identified the available technological tools or ICTs and surveyed 129 supervisors’ perceptions in the College of Education (CEDU) at UNISA to determine their supervision success alongside their knowledge of technological tools and/or ICTs for purposes of their supervision. The results show differentiated supervisors’ supervision success and limited knowledge of the online technological tools and ICTs. The results also show that some supervisors need training in the use of the online technological tools and ICT, and that they are only knowledgeable about the “common” tools such as e-mail, MS Word and myUnisa than “newer” tools, especially social media tools.