National University Of Lesotho Research Articles

Challenges of Open Distance Learning: Insights from Nursing Students at the National University of Lesotho

<i>Background</i>: The implementation of an E-learning pedagogical model of education for Bachelor of Nursing Science students presents obstacles, including delayed assignment completion, insufficient class participation, low competency, and job loss. <i>Objective</i>: To explore nursing students’ challenges associated with open distance learning at the National University of Lesotho. <i>Methodology</i>: A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used in this study. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data and was distributed to Participants online through google forms. The study was conducted for the period of three weeks in the month of May 2024. The data was analyzed descriptively using Statistical Package of Social Sciences. <i>Results</i>: A total of 58 students responded, out of which 93% experienced challenges during open distance learning while 7% did not. About 81% of Participants struggled with technology, while 71% complained about unreliable internet and personal issues that affected their study during open distance learning. Furthermore, environmental factors interrupted communications among learners and instructors. Issues of unreliable internet, impaired interaction, insufficient built-in support, institutional organization and personal factors that affected open distance learning were revealed. <i>Conclusion</i>: The research findings provide insight on the need to efficiently implement open distance learning for nursing students. Challenges experienced by nursing students that affected their learning include struggling with technology, requiring built-in support systems, and the need to secure an internet connection during open distance learning. Furthermore, prior planning for open distance learning is necessary for proper organization and management of personal issues affecting open distance learning.

Navigating Challenges and Opportunities in Nursing Education: Insights from Student Nurses at the National University of Lesotho

<i>Background:</i> Globally, student frustration and attrition rates are declining, underscoring the importance of investigating the academic and interpersonal challenges that students face after their first year. Objectives: exploring the experiences of National University of Lesotho student nurses on their course of education. <i>Method:</i> A qualitative phenomenological research design was used to conduct research at the National University of Lesotho. Data was collected using an unstructured interview guide in two focus groups comprising all student nurses who are enrolled in the nursing and midwifery programme from their second year into the programme. This study employed a stratified random sampling procedure to select its respondents. This study made use of thematic analysis. <i>Results: </i>The results demonstrated clinical weariness caused by a severe workload. The tasks and responsibilities assigned to the students, which they consider to be the duties of registered nurses, frequently leave them feeling overburdened. Variations in clinical supervision experiences include negligence; some experience sexual abuse; and some students find the clinical setting quite unpleasant and inappropriate. On the other hand, students expressed that they are empowered by the current nursing curriculum to face the clinical challenges. <i>Conclusion:</i> Despite appreciating the faculty's supportive and inspiring environment, students had conflicting emotions about the instructional approaches and learning environments. There were variations in both instructional quality and clinical supervision.

Attitudes and Practices of Women Towards Cervical Cancer Screening in Lesotho: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Survey

In 2020, Lesotho reported 541 new cases of cervical cancer and 362 women died. This study aimed to assess the attitudes and practices of women towards cervical cancer screening. A quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design was used to collect data from 289 participants who were selected using convenience sampling from 27 health facilities. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from the National University of Lesotho and the Ministry of Health (ID43-2022). The written informed consent was sought from the participants who took part voluntarily. Data were analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Packages for Social Sciences) version (26). Respondents aged 30 to 34 years (94.0%) and above 35 years (95.9%) had positive attitudes towards cervical cancer screening. Fifty-one percent of the respondents had done cervical cancer screening. Respondents who had two (65.5%) and four to eight children (52.4%) and were employed (64.0%) had cervical cancer screening done before. Most of the respondents strongly agreed that cervical cancer screening detected cervical changes before they became cancerous (55%) and if found early, they are easily curable (56.7%), and made women know if they were healthy (58.8%). Healthcare professionals should conduct health education on cervical cancer and screening on a daily basis in health facilities to improve the uptake of cervical cancer screening.

An Exploration of Student-Student Connectedness and its Relationship to Learning in One Environmental Health Science Course, National University of Lesotho

An Exploration of Student-Student Connectedness and its Relationship to Learning in One Environmental Health Science Course, National University of Lesotho

Exploring the prospects for professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho

The higher education developments are gradually enabling the re-conceptualisation of postgraduate research supervision as a teaching and learning practice. This re-conceptualisation has also led to the recognition that postgraduate research supervisors need to be appropriately capacitated so that they can master the supervisory craft. This study sought to explore the prospects for professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho, by examining supervisor’s experiences in their trajectories in learning how to become supervisors and to identify their further professional development. Fifteen supervisors took part in the study. Nine (three associate professors and six senior lecturers) were interviewed through semi-structured interviews while six junior lecturers were interviewed through a focus group interview. The findings revealed that while most supervisors relied mainly on the way they were supervised, they also value the experiential learning accrued in their trajectories as supervisors. Hence the study highlights issues for consideration in advancing professional development of postgraduate supervisors at the National University of Lesotho

Facilitators of tertiary students' entrepreneurial intentions: Insights for Lesotho's national entrepreneurship policy

This study provides insightful information to guide the Lesotho government's drive to address rising youth unemployment. Through quota sampling technique, this study selected 930 students from 31 departments at National University of Lesotho. Grounded in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the study examined the facilitators of students' entrepreneurial intentions using mean, standard deviation, mean rank, correlation, and Mann-Whitney U test. Structural equation modelling was used to determine the relationship between the three components of TPB (attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norm), and students' entrepreneurial intention. The findings show that attitudes and perceived behavioural control were positive predictors of entrepreneurial intention while subjective norm was a negative predictor. The major findings indicate that students from Business and Management Development, Business Administration, Economics, Nutrition, and Pharmacy departments had higher entrepreneurial intentions, with postgraduate students (at master level) having higher entrepreneurial decisions than undergraduate students. Policy, practice, and research implications are teased out from the findings to improve entrepreneurial education.

Future-time markers in expressing English future time by Sesotho L1 speakers

The expression of future time in the English language seems to lack uniformity. The lack of consistency is influenced by speakers’ intentions, so these various ways of marking future time in English pose a challenge to second-language (L2) learners. Therefore, this article investigates first-language (L1) Sesotho speakers’ ways of expressing English future time within the basic linguistic theory framework. It further seeks to identify factors influencing the students’ formation of future-time expressions. In this qualitative study, data was collected through 30 written compositions by third-year Linguistics students at the National University of Lesotho. The study reveals that L1 Sesotho speakers mark English future time through will and shall. They also use the phrasal markers such as want to, have to, hope to, be going to, be supposed to, be about to, will + be + PROGRESSIVE, will + have + PERFECT PARTICIPLE and will + have + been, which they use appropriately. Would + be, would + progressive, would + have + PERFECT PARTICIPLE are also used but incorrectly. The article further demonstrates that they use would erroneously to express English future time. In addition, Sesotho, by virtue of having equivalents of some of these markers, influenced the students’ formation of future-time expressions. Therefore, L1 interference plays a great part in L2 learning. The study concludes that the use of will is more dominant than shall because even British English, which was known for the common use of shall has started to shift and to lose this distinction like American English has done.

The Challenges Experienced by Students of the University of Eswatini and National University of Lesotho When Translating Kinship Terms between English, Siswati and Sesotho

The Challenges Experienced by Students of the University of Eswatini and National University of Lesotho When Translating Kinship Terms between English, Siswati and Sesotho

Reliability Components of Online Teaching and Learning Tools in Lesotho Higher Education Institutions: A Systematic Review

Electronic learning is a techno approach that brings new opportunities for teaching and learning in many fields of education compared to the traditional classroom environment. However, there is a dearth of research on its effectiveness in practicality and whether it is dependable enough during teaching and learning. Thus, this systematic review aims to provide evidence from numerous findings on the reliability components (such as functionality, probability of success, environment, and duration) of online teaching and learning (OTL) tools in Lesotho higher education institutions (HEIs), focusing on functionality and probability of success only. A review of online learning tools includes Thuto, Google Meet, Google Classroom, Zoom, Moodle, and Microsoft Teams. Technology adoption models and Siemens’ theory of connectivism underpin this review. The review covered 18 articles between 2015 and 2021. Scopus, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and EBSCO were used for data search. In addition, selected studies were reviewed by experts in Educational Technology at the National University of Lesotho. Some factors were found to hinder the functionality and success of OTL tools, including lack of internet connectivity, electricity, and gadgets. As a result of this review, OTL tools are effective to some extent in terms of functionality and likelihood of success. However, the weaknesses of the e-learning tools outweigh the strengths of Lesotho HEIs. Consequently, only using OTL tools could hamper the quality of higher education in Lesotho. In HEIs, blended learning and continuous training on e-learning tools should be introduced for effective teaching and learning.

Lexical Semantic Errors in Undergraduate Students' Academic Writing

In language teaching and learning, the correct use of vocabulary in the target language is as important as the language's grammar. This study investigates lexical semantic errors in the academic writing of 4th-year undergraduate students at the National University of Lesotho. Using the random sampling method, ten Action Research reports were selected. Errors were identified and analyzed using Hemchua and Schmitt's (2006) classification. Findings in the study indicate that errors resulting from the confusion of sense relations were most frequent, followed by errors in collocation and translation errors. The study recommends that teaching communication skills courses offered at the year 1 level should include explicit vocabulary teaching to minimize semantic errors, which, as is argued, result in incomprehensible texts.

Social Media and Behaviour in Zimbabwe: A Case of the Ruwa Youths in Harare

Civil society is not only capable of helping start the transition to democracy but also able to help deepen democracy. Based on this premise, this article examines the role of civil society in the process of democratic consolidation in Lesotho. It aims to situate civil society in the entire process and efforts of consolidating democracy. To accomplish this endeavour, this article extensively examines the available relevant literature and data by relying on discourse analysis. It establishes that civil society in Lesotho plays a significant role in consolidating democracy through diverse activities such as advocacy, aggregation of interests, lobbying, and provision of civic education. Social protests are found to be one of the most preferred approaches of influencing policy in the direction of democratic consolidation, especially when the government is unresponsive to public needs. The article also revealed that in many instances, the government of Lesotho abuses its powers by violating civil and political rights. This behaviour seems to be the main impediment to democratic consolidation since civil society is largely assuming its role in the country. The article suggests that civil society should do more to deter the state’s abuse of power while the government should refrain from perpetuating human rights violations so as to enable the country’s democracy to consolidate. Keywords: Civil society, Christian Council of Lesotho, Democratic consolidation, Transformation Resource Centre, National University of Lesotho.

Challenges Confronting Postgraduate Supervision at the National University of Lesotho:

Postgraduate supervision can be a challenging form of teaching, with the challenges further compounded by context or institutional-specific factors.The Faculty of Education at the National University of Lesotho has faced numerous challenges in offering postgraduate degrees, with a few qualified supervisors for the large number of students who enroll in these programmes. This study explored the nature of the challenges confronting postgraduate supervision in this context. It was underpinned by the interpretivist paradigm and employed a qualitative approach. Fifteen supervisors participated, of whom nine (three associate professors and six senior lecturers) were individually interviewed. Six junior lecturers took part in a focus group discussion. Guidelines on postgraduate supervision were also subjected to document review. The findings revealed that while some supervisors had positive experiences, others are frustrated. This is due to a lack of training, and lack of clarity on supervisory procedures, as well as the low academic literacy and lack of commitment exhibited by some students. It is recommended that supervisors should be capacitated through training. Furthermore, supervisory guidelines should be reviewed and benchmarked against best practices in the field.
 Key words: Postgraduate supervision, constructivism, reflective practice, supervisory guidelines, challenges in supervisory practice

The influence of social media usage and student citizenship behaviour on academic performance

Studies on social media generally fail to capture the concurrent influence of social media usage and altruistic behaviour (helping others) on academic performance of students. Based on the organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB), and the interconnectedness of the attention capacity, conservation of resources, and resource allocation theories, we examine and explain how student citizenship behaviour (SCB) and the use of social media influence the academic performance of university students. Data were collected from 231 university students enrolled in business degree programmes at the National University of Lesotho. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Smart PLS 3 were used to analyse data. The findings revealed an insignificant relationship between the usage of social media and academic performance. The results also showed that helping others using social media (SCB) had positive and significant impact on students’ academic learning and performance. The study builds on and extends our understanding of social media usage in learning by introducing SCB as a desirable behaviour by which students can improve their academic performance through helping others. Managerial and theoretical implications are also discussed.

Complexity in Syntax with the Use of an Adverbial Clause of Concession

The present study explores the use of adverbial clause of concession as a syntactic complexity measure among the National University of Lesotho (NUL) students. The research subjects were NUL fourth year students across the seven faculties namely, the Faculty of Agriculture (FOA), the Faulty of Education (FOE), the Faculty of Health Sciences (FOHS), the Faculty of Humanities (FOH), the Faculty of Law (FOL), the Faculty of Social Sciences (FOSS) and the Faculty of Science and Technology (FOST). Data was collected from their past examination papers (2016/2017). This paper employed the interpretivist paradigm and has analysed the data qualitatively. The study has also employed the descriptive and case study designs. The students’ continuous writing was the focus of this study since Transformational Generative Grammar (TGG) and Cognitive Grammar (CG) are the theoretical frameworks which the present paper was based on and therefore require continuous writing. The findings of the present paper reveal that NUL students have a relatively low level of syntactic complexity in their writing as shown by how they used adverbial clauses of concession. The study therefore concludes that NUL students have a moderately low level of syntactic complexity demonstrated by how they used this feature.

Exploring Open and Distance Learning Reform at the National University of Lesotho: A Managerial Perspective

This study investigated how open and distance learning (ODL) reform was managed within the Institute of Extramural Studies (IEMS), at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). The reform was introduced during the 2017/18 academic year with first-year programmes in three departments: (a) Adult Education; (b) Business and Management Development; and (c) Research, Evaluation, and Media. The study employed interviews and analysis of institutional documents as data collection techniques. Interviews were held with eight programme coordinators, four department heads, and the director of IEMS. Purposive sampling was used to select the participants to the study given their strategic position in the management and implementation of the reform. Qualitative content analysis was used to interpret the data. The findings suggested that the ODL programmes were introduced without a policy and comprehensive plan. The implementation faced several challenges such as finance, as well as infrastructural and human resources. Evidence from the literature has suggested that compared to face-to-face strategy, ODL as an educational strategy requires special resources, support, and funding. Thus, curricular materials should be adapted for the ODL context, taking into account students’ characteristics. The study found that these pertinent requirements were not considered, and implementation continued as if the reform still constituted face-to-face or campus-based instruction.

Rural students’ transition in and through a semi-urban university: Experiences from the National University of Lesotho

This paper reports on the findings of a study carried out at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). The paper explored the influence of ‘rurality’ on students who originate from the rural areas of Lesotho and analysed their transition at the NUL. The spatial geographic theory and narrative inquiry were adopted, and qualitative focus groups were utilised to collect data. The students were given an opportunity to conceptualise ‘rurality’ and narrate their stories about growing up and earlier schooling, as well as their learning experiences at the NUL. The findings revealed that rural students’ educational trajectories are indeed filled with numerous challenges, mainly due to deprivation and limited exposure to technology in their earlier lives. The main recommendation made by the paper is that the concerned stakeholders ought to be mindful of the needs of all prospective higher education students, including those from rural backgrounds, and intervene accordingly.

A Critical Review of the National University of Lesotho Anti-Plagiarism Policy

Globally, higher education institutions (HEIs) adopt different strategies to curb plagiarism, which undermines the integrity of educational qualifications issued by these institutions. One of the key strategies adopted by HEIs is the development of anti-plagiarism policies. Emerging research from literature do indicate that effective strategies are educational and developmental intended to equip students with skills of acknowledging materials from other sources. Further, research indicates that anti-plagiarism policies reinforce negative attitudes towards plagiarism, hence adopting punitive strategies against the would-be perpetrators. The study reviewed the National University of Lesotho (NUL) anti-plagiarism policy, to determine the type of messages and discourses the policy communicates to its users. The study used document analysis, using the NUL anti-plagiarism policy as the unit of analysis. Content and discourse analysis were applied as research techniques. The study revealed that the policy communicated punitive and moral discourses. These discourses undermine the developmental aspects of academic writing. The study recommends the review of the policy to include educational and developmental discourses that would encourage that students’ academic writing is developed. Further, the University should review its policy not only to address students but members of staff.

Factors Contributing to Industrial Conflicts within Higher Education Institutions in Lesotho: A Case of the National University of Lesotho

Incidences of industrial actions, which have frequently paralyzed learning at most of the educational institutions, are frequent in Lesotho. Despite the safeguards for collective bargaining in Lesotho, the incidences of industrial actions at higher institutions of learning in Lesotho are still common. The study was conducted to investigate the factors which contribute to industrial conflict at the National University of Lesotho. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the participants’ unionism experiences, semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. This study reveals that lack of transparency, inconsistent application of policies, lack of communication, lack of motivation, poor salaries, bias as well as poor working conditions are some of the factors that cause strikes at the institutions of higher learning in Lesotho.

Union Strategies of Addressing Conflicts at the National University of Lesotho

This paper discusses the strategies that are used by the unions to address industrial conflict at the National university of Lesotho (NUL). Content analysis was undertaken to understand the interviewee’s responses and the NUL policy documents. The strategies are analyzed within the policy context, pre-industrial action, industrial action and post-industrial action. The study also shows that unions at the higher education institutions consult with other unions in the sector and, where other strategies have failed, they resort to either industrial action or legal process to resolve conflicts at the workplace. The findings further show that unions employ widespread communication between their members to share new development in the negotiation process. The findings reveal that strategies which unions normally adopt at NUL are: constant consultations and joint decision making, strikes/industrial action, work to rule, negotiations, collective bargaining, taking legal process and communication of possible ideas and solutions.

The Validity and Reliability of Student Evaluation of Teaching at the National University of Lesotho

Many Higher Education Institutions use the Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) scale to evaluate the quality of instructors’ teaching. It includes students’ evaluation of the teacher, the teaching process, teaching approaches and the learning outcomes. Due to its reported dubious reliability and validity, and inherent bias in measuring the quality of teaching, SET remains a hotly debated and controversial instrument. This study evaluated thereliability and validity of the SET scale adopted by the National University of Lesotho. Self-administered SET questionnaires were distributed to 104 third- and fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce students to evaluate ten lecturers, resulting in 751 assessment records. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). While the findings suggest that the SET instrument used at the university is reasonably reliable and valid, minor concerns were raised with regard to discriminant validity, and serious concerns in relation to content validity. Based on the existing literature and the psychometric properties of this SET instrument, it is recommended that university management exercise caution in using its results to make evaluative personnel decisions such as promotions, confirmations, and dismissals. It is also recommended that the SET instrument should be revised and validated and be primarily used for formative purposes such as obtaining feedback for the development of individual instructors.
 Key words: formative assessment, reliability, student evaluation of teaching, summative assessment, validity