Haruni Machumu | Vrije Universiteit Brussel (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Haruni Machumu

International Journal of LearningTechnology, 2017

Emerging methodological and technological systems designed to accommodate students’ unprecedented... more Emerging methodological and technological systems designed to
accommodate students’ unprecedented demand and needs, which incorporate both in-class learning methods and digital technologies learning environments, invite students to engage in the given learning activities. This study investigated the relationship between students’ conceptions of constructivist learning and their engagement in a constructivist-based blended learning environment (CBLE). A mixed research methods design was used to collect data from 722 students at the Mzumbe University, Tanzania. The results indicated a significant positive correlation between students’ conceptions of constructivist learning and their engagement in a CBLE. The results showed that students had positive conceptions of constructivist learning. The results offer significant contributions to constructivist educators and education stakeholders about what should be considered while encouraging student engagement in a CBLE. The study concludes that students’ conceptions are essential to the success of their learning in a CBLE since their active constructivist engagement in diverse learning activities depends on their constructivist conceptions.

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning , 2018

The study examines the relationship between university teacher’s beliefs and constructivist teach... more The study examines the relationship between university teacher’s beliefs and constructivist teaching practices (CTP) in blended learning environment (BLE) courses in Tanzanian universities. The study collects data from 211 teachers in BLE courses. The analyses involved descriptive statistics, correlational, the Mann-Whitney U-test, Kruskal-Wallis H-test and multiple linear regression. The findings revealed threefold. First, explicit engagement, supportive teaching and interactions were important aspects of CTP in BLE courses. Second, there were no statistically significant differences in teachers’ beliefs about gender, academic rank, educational level and teaching experiences in BLE courses. And, third, there was a significant relationship between teachers’ beliefs and CTP in BLE courses. Moreover, the findings indicate that teachers’ beliefs predict their explicit engagement and supportive teaching are predictors of the beliefs of teachers who teach BLE courses. This study provides important implications and empirical evidence about the beliefs of the university teachers who teach BLE courses and their CTP.

Education for All (EFA) agenda and Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) has created awareness amo... more Education for All (EFA) agenda and Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) has created awareness among community members regarding the role of education in alleviating poverty and a big demand of building partnership for poverty reduction in Tanzania between educational and developmental sectors such as public and private sectors partnerships in achieving developmental goals is open. This paper reports on a study that was conducted in Morogoro Municipality and Kilosa District. Specifically the study objected to find out what is happening nationally as a result of Secondary Education Development Programme (SEDP) in relation to completion and secondary school students progression from secondary education to further study and into their working life. To identify stakeholders’ views on the danger that has been taking place and their views on key benefits and problems of SEDP. The study was pure qualitative and adopted appropriate qualitative research technique for data collection and analy...

In a constructivist world of teaching and learning, opportunities to acquire and develop the know... more In a constructivist world of teaching and learning, opportunities to acquire and develop the knowledge and practical skills necessary to design, establish, and deploy blended learning in vocational education and training (VET) programs delivery is a labour-market-driven. The paper examines VET educator " s pleas about the need for the design, adoption and deployment of blended learning in VET programs delivery in Tanzania. A single case study design with an in-depth interview and focus group discussion was conducted with 15 VET educators in three VET colleges in both Morogoro and Dar es Salaam regions. Snowball and purposive sampling were used to obtain sample respondents. For the data analysis, content analysis was employed to condense data obtained from interviews and focus group discussion. It was found that continuous professional development, institutional arrangements, and support should be provided online to facilitate the design, adoption and use of blended learning in VET. We recommend that locally designed blended learning should be relevant to the environment of both students and teachers. In reality, the interplay between blended learning, imparting knowledge and practical skills remain the key focus of future research.

The study explores the extent of parental involvement in school activities and its r... more The study explores the extent of parental involvement in school activities and its
relationship with schooling process among primary school children. Parental
involvement questionnaire and children academic questionnaire with two rating
scales each were administered to 288 children and 125 teachers from six primary
schools. The study found a positive significant relationship between parental
involvement in school activities and children’s academic standing (r =.766, p<.01)
and the provision of key school items related to schooling outcomes (r =.733, p<.01)
respectively. Parents-teacher conferences and parent-teacher face-to-face contacts
were perceived to be desirable modes of communications that impacts children’s
school academic achievement.

Research indicates that marital conflict pertains to three particular dimensions of communication... more Research indicates that marital conflict pertains to three particular dimensions of communication including
affect, conflict behaviours and conflict management and these affect conflict choice of management strategies.
This paper explored the problems and coping strategies of children from homes with marital conflicts in Tanga
City, Tanzania. An exploratory technique with multiple research methods was used to facilitate the study. 100
social workers, couples, class teachers and/or school counselors informed the study. The study employed
purposive, stratified, simple random and snowball sampling techniques with survey questionnaires and interview
to recruit participants and data collection. Problems facing children living in homes with marital conflicts are
discussed. The result suggest that newlywed couples and those contemplating marriage should obtain marital
counselling in order to build strong family relations that can reduce family life tensions, attending family training
which developing marital problem-solving skills. The theoretical and practical implications of the problems
facing children living in homes with marital conflicts in Tanzania are discussed.

Development Programme (SEDP) in relation to completion and secondary school students progression ... more Development Programme (SEDP) in relation to completion and secondary school students progression from secondary education to further study and into their working life. To identify stakeholders' views on the danger that has been taking place and their views on key benefits and problems of SEDP. The study was pure qualitative and adopted appropriate qualitative research technique for data collection and analysis. The research sample comprised educational stakeholders from variety categories such as students, teachers, ward officials councilors, distinct and regional educational officers, local government officials, ministerial officials and officials from educational related NGOs. The findings indicated that stakeholders acknowledge and outlined many benefits from SEDP that are accompanied with many challenges at different levels. Suggestions were made on areas requiring improvement policy implications and area for further study spearhead.

It is legacy for school inspectors to conduct an official visit in schools to a school in order t... more It is legacy for school inspectors to conduct an official visit in schools to a school in order to check that rules and regulations of running a school are adhered, curriculum is implemented and policies are being obeyed and that education standards are acceptable. School Inspection is connected with accountability of teachers, and its purpose is to ensure that the standards in education are satisfied. The purpose of this study was to investigate secondary school teacher's attitude towards school inspection in Tanzania. This paper reports on a study which was conducted in Bunda District Council. Specifically the study was objected to assess whether or not the roles of secondary school inspection were met and to explore secondary school teacher's attitude towards school inspection. The study employed both mixed methodology that of quantitative and qualitative for data collection and analysis with cross-sectional survey and case study design. The study involved ten secondary schools (private and government). The research sample comprised 65 respondents including the District Education Officers, and heads of schools, academic masters/mistresses and classroom teachers. The findings indicated that secondary school teachers' had a positive attitude towards school inspection. It was found that some school inspectors still had elements of the traditional approach to school inspection being conservative and reluctant to accept changes in the roles school inspection and practices.

Establishing vigorous and disciplined educational institution is not an easy pastime. It requires... more Establishing vigorous and disciplined educational institution is not an easy pastime. It requires stakeholders' effort and ability to create and practice the modern ways, strategies, styles and principles of managing discipline to earn ample academic achievement. This study examined stakeholders' perceptions on discipline management as a means to improve students' academic performance in ordinary level secondary schools. Two major aspects were concern: perceptions that stakeholders' hold on discipline management and its contributions made from discipline management to improve students' academic performance. National form four examination results were used as criterion reference to measure students' academic performance. Cross-sectional survey research design was employed, with sample of 100 stakeholders' from four selected secondary schools including teachers, students, parents and education government officials. Inductive (qualitative) approach with some elements of deductive (quantitative) approach was employed. Interviews, documentary reviews and questionnaires formed appropriate data collection instruments. The data were analysed in descriptive and numeric forms in relation to research questions. Findings report that, stakeholders hold positive perceptions on discipline management as a means to improve students' academic performance in secondary schools as likely to happen in most of best performing schools compared to poor performing schools. The study was informed that to a large extent discipline management contributes to improve students' academic performance in secondary schools. Thus, discipline management should be used as a process to improve students' academic performance that build strong societal and behavioural ethos.

This study reports on the kind of school leadership style that best suits for promoting teachers'... more This study reports on the kind of school leadership style that best suits for promoting teachers' job satisfaction in primary schools in Tanzania. The study employed cross sectional research design with samples of 200 teachers from 20 selected primary schools in Songea and Morogoro districts. Interviews, documentary analysis and questionnaires were used to collect data. The data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively using tables, frequencies and percentages. It was found that the democratic leadership style was the most dominant in best performing primary schools. It is therefore suggested that there is much to be learnt with democratic leadership style as a copying strategy in least performing primary schools. Moreover, level of teachers' job satisfaction was reportedly high in best performing schools compared to least performing schools. The findings commended that democratic leadership style is the one which promotes high teachers' job satisfaction among teachers in primary schools.

This paper examines how quality assurance (QA) is viewed, implemented, practised in higher learni... more This paper examines how quality assurance (QA) is viewed, implemented, practised in higher learning institutions. It addresses its essence and development in higher education. It discusses what quality, quality assurance and systems, procedures and mechanism employed to improve quality of education offered. The study employed desk data that involves analysing information that already exists and realist and meta-narrative reviews to synthesis of data. The paper also traces back current initiatives made by higher education institutions (HEIs) to address quality assurance practices (systems, policy and strategy) in Africa. However, the paper tries to answer a long-term unanswered questions that although there are quality assurance agencies, policy and mechanisms practised in most of higher education institutions in Africa; why some of graduates are blamed to lack appropriate competency? Do HEIs quality assurance practitioners rethink and act according to the growing demands for improved quality assurance practices worldwide? Do HEIs have quality supporting staff, administrative staff and librarians who can act accordingly to produce quality graduates?

Conference Presentations by Haruni Machumu

Ever evolving digital technologies have changed education practices in the modern era and great d... more Ever evolving digital technologies have changed education practices in the modern era and great deals of time and resources have been ardent on developing, designing, deploying and implementing newly innovated educational technologies enhancing learning environments. In the modern age of globalisation, learning environments assume the role of time (instead of place) and process (instead of transfer of knowledge). Currently, the diversity of existent learning environments such as traditional learning and distance learning environments integrates Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) components. ICTs in education facilitate and enhance change in teachers’ expertise, students learning and on their job career success after school. Experiences have shown that a blended e-learning environment (BeLEs) is a mix of campus-based and e-learning environment that takes advantages of maximising the use of digital technologies and face-to-face learning strategies. This study examines university students’ characteristics and their engagement in blended learning environments (BeLEs) activities. BeLEs survey was used to acquire information from 440 Mzumbe University undergraduate teacher education students. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and correlation analysis. The results indicate that students engage in BeLEs activities based on varied physiognomies while others being common. Our results also reveal that all four BeLEs activities students engaged were positively statistically significant correlated to one another while interactions, learning community and assessments, having the highest level of student engagement. The results offer valuable contributions to the understanding of students’ characteristics and their engagement in diverse BeLEs activities, therefore, enhance our knowledge of students’ engagement in BeLEs activities.

International Journal of LearningTechnology, 2017

International Journal of Knowledge and Learning , 2018