Leaps into cyberspace : a case study for scaffolding argumentation in a hybridized academic literacy module

Abstract

This study critically reflects on the effectiveness of a new hybrid curriculum implemented in a heavily populated academic literacy module aimed at first-year students from the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Pretoria. Lecturers were asked to gauge their experiences and identify the enabling and constraining aspects of transitioning from a predominantly contact and hardcopy mode of pedagogy to one that incorporated a significant increase in online applications. These responses are interpreted alongside data from the learning management system. Among other variables, this data highlights active time spent by students and the learning tools that generated the most traffic. The study concludes that the curriculum in question is successful in its pragmatic approaches to hybrid learning, but it also shows that there is room to create more embodied spaces for interaction that allow students to thread their diversities into their academic performance.