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6023 results in Facet Publishing

Page 277 of 302

  • Appendix 1 Data collection methods

  • Peter Brophy
  • Book:
    Measuring Library Performance
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 November 2006, pp 175-215

  • Summary

    ■ Introduction

    This appendix contains descriptions of the main methods used in libraries for collecting data in support of performance measurement. This, together with the succeeding appendices on data analysis and the presentation of results, is intended to offer practical advice to those engaged in designing and carrying out assessments of library services.

    Comments in the earlier parts of this book on data collection methods should be read in conjunction with these appendices. In particular, care should be taken to select methods which are appropriate to the question being asked and the differences between quantitative and qualitative methods should be borne in mind. Further, it is important to bear in mindhow the data will be analysed and presented when selecting methods for data collection. There is no point in gathering sets of data which cannot be analysed, either because the tools are not available or the resource implication is too great.

    It is assumed that before deciding on a method to use, and before designing a data collection instrument, an overall evaluation plan will have been put in place. Chapter 1, ‘Background’, outlines the elements that such a plan should cover.

    ■ General issues about surveys and other data collection methods

    It is appropriate to begin with some general advice about the conduct of surveys and other data collection methods. This is presented in the form of ten golden rules of data collection and applies particularly to methods involving human subjects.

  • Always observe strict ethical standards and in particular never do anything which could subject a data subject to harm, humiliation or embarrassment. Where necessary obtain permission in advance to carry out a survey or other data collection exercise. Allow participants to withdraw at any stage, without demanding a reason.

  • Always explain the exact purpose of any survey and the use to which data gathered will be put.

  • Explain who you are and always provide contact details.

  • Do not assume knowledge on the part of respondents. Explain everything clearly. Keep language simple and unambiguous.

  • Arrange questions in a logical sequence. Ask one question at a time.

  • Avoid leading questions which might suggest what is the ‘right’ answer.

  • 4 - Impact on users

  • Peter Brophy
  • Book:
    Measuring Library Performance
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 November 2006, pp 54-76

  • Summary

    ■ Introduction

    Ultimately, libraries and information services are judged by the effects of what they do. If they can demonstrate that people have become more knowledgeable or have developed new or improved skills from contact with the service, then the message to their constituencies and their funders is positive – and likely to be reinforced by the resources needed to sustain and develop those services. If there is no evidence available of any beneficial effects, then they are vulnerable to questions over their purpose and the value of maintaining them. It is not surprising that questions ofimpact therefore loom large. In this chapter the focus is on qualitative methods of assessing impact; in the next chapter the focus shifts to the question of economic impact.

    It is worth noting again that terminology in this area is somewhat fluid. In particular, the termoutcomes is sometimes used, especially in the USA, in place ofimpact. This explains why many US libraries and programmes concern themselves with outcome-based evaluation (OBE) – see, for example, the web pages of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) at www.imls.gov/applicants/obe.shtm. Even in the UK there is ambiguity. For example, the Inspiring Learning for All website (www.inspiringlearningforall.gov.uk/), designed for supporting public libraries in their learning activities, talks of ‘Tools to assess the impact of learning’ on its home page, providing a link to a page which doesn't mention ‘impact’ at all but instead addresses the question ‘What are learning outcomes?’! One of the reasons for this is that in education it is usual to talk ofoutcomes rather thanimpact: so, for example, when the Department for Education and Skills commissioned an evaluation of the University forIndustry (UfI), the resulting report was entitled:Tracking Learning Outcomes: evaluation of the impact of the UfI. In this book the convention of treating ‘outcomes’ as the more immediate effects and ‘impacts’ as those of the longer term is observed.

    Impact assessment has become particularly important since governments introduced much more explicit policy agendas for libraries and their parent bodies. For example, throughout the world there has been high level policy concentration on matters such as lifelong learning and digital inclusion. It is not surprising, therefore, that individual libraries are called on to demonstrate that they are contributing to the achievement of strategic goals in these areas.

  • Appendix 3 The presentation of results

  • Peter Brophy
  • Book:
    Measuring Library Performance
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 November 2006, pp 224-234

  • Summary

    ■ Introduction

    It is sometimes tempting to breathe a sigh of relief when the data collection is finished and the analysis is complete. The results are to hand, so what else needs to be done? In fact the next stage is one of the most crucial – the presentation of results to the intended audience in a manner which is both clear and unambiguous and which highlights critical issues. Hopefully, the purpose of the exercise will have been decided before the data collection itself was designed, so that the intention behind the whole activity will be clear. However, it is worth reiterating at this stage that performance measurement can be carried out for a wide range of reasons including:

  • • advocacy and public relations, or even self-justification

  • • accountability over the short or long term

  • • management of services with a view to change and improvement

  • • reallocation of resources between services, including innovation.

    • ■ Deciding on the message

    The most critical part of presentation is deciding on what the key message should be. Of course there may be more than one but it is worth bearing in mind that as the number increases the impact diminishes! A useful rule of thumb is that, except for extensive evaluations, it should be possible to write an executive summary (see also below) which is no more than one page in length. A reader with limited time will be able to absorb the main messages in this way, using the body of the report to explore detailed findings and the logical argument.

    Regular reports may have a standard format or house style, so that there is no need to devise a new one each time, although such formats will of course need to be reviewed from time to time.

    ■ Deciding on the audiences

    With an internal study, the audience may be obvious – the managers who commissioned it. However even here it is worth considering whether there are other audiences who need to, or have a right to, know about your findings. For example, a study of library circulation will also be of interest to staff who work on the issue desk.

  • 2 - Theoretical considerations

  • Peter Brophy
  • Book:
    Measuring Library Performance
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 November 2006, pp 19-34

  • Summary

    ■ Introduction

    All performance measurement is a form of research, involving structured investigations to try to reach a better understanding of a particular phenomenon. Because of this, it is useful to explore briefly some of the theory underpinning research studies and the gathering of evidence. This chapter offers a brief introduction to some of the key concepts. For more information the reader is directed to Robson (2002) or Sarantakos (1998).

    ■ Causal relationships

    At the heart of all research is a belief that relationships between observed phenomena may be due to causality, and that elucidating what causes something to happen, or to be experienced, or to be felt, enables the development of knowledge. When libraries examine levels of user satisfaction, they are not simply interested in recording percentages of users with particular views but in finding out why these levels of satisfaction exist and establishing how they may be improved. Thus studies that seek to measure performance will always have an underlying aim to illuminate cause and effect. This means that such studies are never simply observational or descriptive: they seek to be incisive and analytical.

    ■ Theoretical perspectives 1: the positivist standpoint

    Deriving originally from the work of August Comte, positivism sees scientific method as the only way to achieve new knowledge and therefore all research efforts should be clearly designed on this basis. Karl Popper, most notably inThe Logic of Scientific Discovery published in 1934, argued that the critical issue is that of falsifiability. This in turn relies on the idea that progress is made by developing hypotheses and then by testing them to see if they are true. Popper pointed out that the truth of a hypothesis can never be demonstrated with 100% certainty since a case might exist, which has not yet occurred or been tested, which would disprove it. A single instance showing the hypothesis to be false disproves it and a new hypothesis then has to be formulated, to be disproved in its turn. So science progresses not by proving but by disproving each hypothesis.

    This leads to an approach to research where the formulation of a hypothesis is the first crucial step, with research methodologies then selected to enable the hypothesis to be tested.

  • 13 - The balanced scorecard

  • Peter Brophy
  • Book:
    Measuring Library Performance
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 November 2006, pp 160-165

  • Summary

    ■ Introduction

    It will be readily apparent from earlier chapters and especially from the description of benchmarking in the last chapter that the performance of a library can only be assessed by examining a range of measures and indicators so as to achieve a balanced view of its various services and operations. This observation brings us back to the issue first raised in the preface, namely that ‘what gets measured gets managed’. The ever present danger of performance measurement is that by focusing attention on particular aspects of service, it will encourage partial and therefore deficient management attention. To achieve a holistic vision and strategy is extremely difficult with social systems such as libraries and information services, where human interactions make measurement and assessment difficult, if not at times impossible. There is always a temptation to make assumptions on the basis of readily available, and thus often quantitative, data rather than on the information that would in fact illuminate the situation, but which is more difficult and more expensive to collect. To try to counter this tendency, management theorists and practitioners have emphasized the need for broad models which are capable of reflecting the complexity of real world organizations acting in complex environments. Thebalanced scorecard is perhaps the best known example, with the widest acceptance. There are a number of other models in use, one of which, the EFQM Excellence Model, was described in Chapter 12, ‘Benchmarking’.

    ■ Defining the balanced scorecard

    Devised initially by Robert Kaplan and David Norton in the USA (Kaplan and Norton, 1992, 1996), the idea of the balanced scorecard was to try to create assessments of organizational performance which took into account all the different relevant factors. In many ways, this development was a reaction to the excessive reliance on financial measures – and in particular the financial ‘bottom line’ – which had dominated industrial and commercial enterprises for many years.

    Kaplan and Norton were particularly concerned that financial measures tend to be backwards looking. They may tell us what the business has done in the past, but they do not necessarily tell us where it is going in the future. They also ignore many of the assets of an organization, such as reputation, knowledge, loyal customers and skilled employees.

  • 6 - Understanding e-literacy

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
    • By Maryann Kope, Co-ordinator, Learning Services University of Guelph, Canada
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 68-79

  • Summary

    Abstract

    The technological changes which have infused almost every aspect of our lives have raised new questions and issues about what it means to be literate. ‘E-literacy’ is a relatively new term, created to attempt to capture the converging and emerging literacies necessary to function in the digital age, including, in particular, information and computer literacy. In this chapter, the author proposes that academic literacy be included in the definition of e-literacy and discusses some key components of the three literacies that e-literacy would then incorporate. By examining areas of convergence between academic literacy and information and computer literacy, some previously unrecognized commonalities are illuminated. The implications of these commonalities for learning support in a higher education context are discussed.

    Introduction

    ‘E-literacy’ is a relatively new term, created to attempt to capture the converging and emerging literacies necessary to function in the digital age. The organizers of the eLit2003 Conference defined e-literacy as a combination of information and computer literacy (eLit, 2003). This chapter unravels some of the concepts incorporated by the term e-literacy and proposes that, to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of e-literacy, an additional skill set needs to be considered as part of the e-literacy equation – academic literacy.

    The first part of this chapter examines the meanings of the three literacies of which e-literacy is comprised in order to arrive at the definitions which underpin the rest of the chapter. The second part explores some of the key connections between academic literacy and information and computer literacy. This approach is more focused than the work of Bawden (2001), to which readers can refer for a detailed review of information and digital literacies. My perspective is also different. Although I work in a university library, I am not a librarian; but as a learning professional, I have an interest in the evolution and merging of literacies relevant to student learning.

    The connections between academic literacy and computer and information literacy have received little recognition from researchers or university professionals. Because this recognition has been lacking, the links and overlaps between academic literacy and information and computer literacy have not been exploited to the mutual benefit of staff, faculty and students. By exploring some of these commonalities, this chapter aims to promote a richer understanding of e-literacy.

  • 2 - Strategies for digital preservation

  • Edited by Marilyn Deegan, Simon Tanner
  • Book:
    Digital Preservation
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 32-59

  • Summary

    In this chapter, the author is drawing on a number of projects at Leeds University which he has participated in over many years. His use of ‘we’ throughout indicates the multi-participant nature of such projects.

    Introduction

    Since computers were invented in the 1940s and 1950s, the impact of digital technology has grown to the point where it underpins the everyday lives of most people in the developed world. Increasingly, information stored and processed digitally is involved in preserving our cultural heritage. The technology itself is indeed a part of that cultural heritage. As digital information technology is barely 60 years old, and all the software from the earliest machines is already lost, we IT practitioners need to mend our ways. We should plan that our digital information will still be safe and accessible in 100 years. It is then likely that developments over that time will render the material safe for millennia. This involves a time-span over which all our existing hardware technology is likely to become obsolete, and also much of the software – a time-span often far from the minds of those of us who work in IT.

    The purpose of preservation of anything, whether it be a painting by Canaletto or a database of climatic measurements, is to enable access at some unspecified date in the future, for purposes not necessarily anticipated by the creators. Furthermore, that future access has to provide meaningful access to the intellectual content of the original material. In the case of the painting, there is a certain self-evidence in the visual image, but more data about the image add markedly to the meaning of the image. Such data are, of course, metadata.

    In the case of our database of climatic information there is a need for metadata about who collected it, and why. In order to make any sense of the data, future users will also need to know in what format the data are held, so that they can use appropriate software to access the information. Such metadata (sometimes called technical metadata) might seem to be a special requirement of digital information but, for the painting, information about the techniques used in its production can help in ensuring its material preservation.

  • 5 - Literacy and the digital knowledge revolution

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
    • By Claire Bélisle, Research Engineer Institut des Sciences de l'Homme, Lyon, France
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 51-67

  • Summary

    Abstract

    Although literacy is based on mastering a series of technical and cultural skills, such as reading, writing, numeracy and media proficiency, these skills do not in themselves amount to literacy. As research increasingly shows, literacy is fundamentally situated and determined by the cultural, political and historical contexts of the communities in which it is activated. However, with the new digital knowledge contexts within which 21st century skills are being deployed, literacy (and therefore education) is facing a major challenge. The evolving digital technologies are not only transforming access, they are also fostering new approaches to knowledge, new knowledge architectures, new knowledge ethics, and new accountability requirements and assessments. These emerging issues for education will be described as part of the ongoing digital knowledge revolution.

    Introduction

    With the ongoing transition towards the knowledge society, new expectations are challenging educational workers. The methods or ways of learning and acquiring knowledge are changing, the learning environment is changing, the timespan of learning is expanding, and even the aims and content of learning are changing. When confronted with change, it is most important to have identified landmarks. The global socio-economic transformation we are experiencing today has brought information, knowledge and innovation as the main sources of economic growth and employment opportunities. Consequently, education will be increasingly challenged to meet the new requirements of knowledge society workers and citizens. Refocusing on literacy as the programmatic educational goal is presented here as a means to establish landmarks in order to address the ‘tectonics of educational change’ (Tuomi, 2005) that the knowledge revolution is bringing about.

    Rethinking literacy

    Although literacy is based on mastering a series of technical and cognitive skills, such as reading, writing, numeracy and media proficiency, these skills in themselves only partly account for literacy. As brought forth more and more by research, literacy is fundamentally situated and determined by the cultural, political and historical contexts of the communities in which it is activated. It is recognized today that literacy not only entails linguistic and social embeddedness, but also that it is a continuum of multiple levels and that, ultimately, it points to one's cultural identity. This deep cultural process is today pressed forward by the growing opportunities that technological tools allow in interacting with information and knowledge.

  • 14 - The impact of information competencies on socio-economic development in Southern Hemisphere economies

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Jesús Lau, Director, USBI VER Library Universidad Veracruzana, Boca del Río, Veracruz, Mexico
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 152-161

  • Summary

    Abstract

    This paper discusses the North–South knowledge gap and its relationship to socioeconomic development, information development, education and information literacy. Information development – the information progress of a country – is analysed using indicators of production, storage and demand of recorded information/knowledge. Most concepts are discussed from the point of view of developing countries – nations that basically fall within the Southern Hemisphere. The term ‘developing economies’ is used to group middle-, low- and lowest-income nations that share general characteristics but also have several differences even within their own regions/states. The analysis is simplistic and does not attempt to give a full conceptual scientific explanation of North–South knowledge gaps. The term ‘literacy’ is used to denote the various competencies that citizens are required to master at a basic level. The most familiar meaning of literacy is the one related to basic reading and writing. However, literacy has become a common word to denote elementary skills that are needed by most, if not all, members of society, such as information literacy.

    Text originally presented as the Mortenson Distinguished Lecture, at the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    Information development

    The development of a nation can be measured according to the dissemination of information because it shows how a country generates and uses knowledge, especially the printed type. Recorded knowledge has a production cycle: authors, inventors and researchers generate information and knowledge in the form of arti-cles, books, texts and patents that are then processed by publishers, database builders, webmasters and electronic media companies. Processed information is, in turn, stored and distributed by bookstores, libraries and other information providers to meet the demand (if the proper competencies to use information are present) of researchers, faculty, students, companies and society in general (see Figure 14.1). It is assumed that citizens need a working knowledge of the social, economic and political activities of their own country to improve their personal, family and business life. If this is true, it is also assumed that information literacy is a crucial set of skills that enables individuals to benefit from the wealth of knowledge available in paper or electronic format, and that these competencies are basically fostered by the country's educational system.

  • 4 - Digital fusion: defining the intersection of content and communications

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 42-50

  • Summary

    Abstract

    As publishing increasingly becomes an online venture, changes in the nature of information are emerging. ‘Content’, normally considered to be professionally published material such as books and movies, is merging with ‘communications’, usually considered to be informal and represented by letters, telephone calls, etc. This chapter analyses trends in digital information and concludes that new research opportunities are evolving from this unusual access to materials. The growth of scholarly preprints to augment traditional peer review and the availability of connected resources including wikis, weblogs, mailing lists and online journals connecting to ‘halos’ of imagery and data – and perhaps one day to a new form of e-mail archive – are symptomatic of this evolution.

    Introduction

    The internet's great utility for scholars, educators and lay researchers has been opening access to information in venues outside the traditional library. Those whose lives have revolved around books and journals now find themselves able to work with numerous scholarly materials once restricted to reference departments, and to do so from the office or the home. That this revolution in access is not complete need hardly be reiterated – all too many journals, and all too many useful documents in older issues of available journals, have yet to be placed online.

    Here we consider how this extension and transformation of our tools is proceeding, and what will be needed to make it more useful. The boundaries of research are changing to incorporate materials once considered outside the realm of traditional scholarship. The burden is thus placed on the scholarly community – as well as those who toil in our libraries – to master a changing set of skills. There is little help in this, as the technology advances at a rate exceeding the best efforts of educators to revise and reform existing curricula. Today's researcher will be increasingly selftaught or forever toiling to catch up.

    Redefining the collection

    The evolving resources of the net need not confound us; indeed, they resemble more traditional venues in important respects. ‘The Web’, says Bonita Wilson in the online D-Lib Magazine (2005), ‘is enabling the creation of personalized – yet networked – collections of materials and services that in some ways resemble library special collections.’ D-Lib Magazine cites, for example, the growth of tools like Connotea, which creates online collections of bookmarks, a new kind of community allowing scholars to share sources (Hammond et al., 2005).

  • 9 - Digital preservation projects: some brief case studies

    • By Jasmine Kelly, Research assistant at the Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London, Elisa Mason, Independent information specialist. She has a Master's in library science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Edited by Marilyn Deegan, Simon Tanner
  • Book:
    Digital Preservation
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 166-218

  • Summary

    In this chapter, we present brief details of current digital preservation projects. These have been chosen to illustrate a wide range of different approaches to the preservation of divergent media, and to give a snapshot of worldwide activity in digital preservation. More details of all of these can be found on their websites. Projects are listed alphabetically.

    ADAPT: An Approach to Digital Archiving and Preservation Technology

    http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/research/adapt/index.html

    The main aim is ‘developing technologies for building a scalable and reliable infrastructure for the long-term access and preservation of digital assets’.

    Lead partner: University of Maryland

    Subject: Infrastructure development

    Country: USA

    UMIACS (University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies) runs the ADAPT (Approach to Digital Archiving and Preservation Technology) project. Partners include the San Diego Supercomputer Center, George Mason University, the University of New Hampshire and Fujitsu Laboratories of America.

    Recognizing the different access and maintenance requirements of scientific, business, cultural and governmental data storage and retrieval – ranging from near-continuous access, updating and analysis to restricted and sporadic archive availability – the ADAPT infrastructure is intended to provide a powerful, adaptable tool to manage and preserve digital objects. Its three-layer approach to data storage, manipulation, access and preservation is designed to enable maximum flexibility and adaptability to changing requirements and technologies.

    Metadata for complex, often highly structured material needs to be detailed and must capture crucial features of the digital object, including behavioural information about lifecycle management and preservation – content, structure, context, preservation, presentation. ADAPT uses the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference framework, including overall terminology. Secure collaboration is central to ADAPT's development, with combinations of trusted entities and distributed archive infrastructures available.

    Three pilot projects operated with external partners are currently running to test digital preservation methodologies. Concerned with the preservation of NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) electronic records and geospatial scientific collections, these projects have generated papers and slides available to download.

  • 3 - Real learning in virtual environments

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
    • By Johannes Cronjé, Professor of Computers in Education and Training University of Pretoria, South Africa
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 34-41

  • Summary

    Abstract

    Virtual learning environments mirror their physical counterparts in many ways, using metaphorical representations to enable students to understand the interface. Digital campuses share the architectural features exhibited by physical institutions: an entrance, administration block, lecture halls, library, ancillary services and recreation areas. Lectures are replaced by learning tasks that require learners to interact, promoting a feeling of community. Co-operative learning allows us to compensate for the absence of interactivity in web-based learning. While computer literacy is taken for granted, students in digital learning environments require three specific literacies: visual, co-operative and academic literacy.

    Introduction

    E-learning courses show a distinct advantage over conventional distance education because in a digital environment e-mail and bulletin boards have made it easier and cheaper for messages to be exchanged within a cost-effective learning environment (Woods and Baker, 2004). Nevertheless they lack the personal dimension of contact education. In most cases an instructor cannot see the body language of a student or hear their expressions of joy or disappointment. Neither can you feel the oppressive heat in a desert classroom, or smell the stink bomb from a naughty learner. So, how does one get a taste for e-learning?

    The answer seems to lie in the creation of learning communities by using metaphor and collaborative learning tasks. Functioning in online learning communities requires students to be able to decode the metaphors, interact with their peers, and take responsibility for their own learning. Three literacies are required: visual literacy, co-operative literacy and academic literacy.

    While McInnerney and Roberts (2004) highlight the importance of social context in determining the success or failure of learning, Jones (1997) shows the relationship between an online community and the internet when he distinguishes between ‘a virtual community's cyber-place and the virtual community itself. A virtual community's cyber-place will be termed a virtual settlement.’ This chapter considers the architecture and functioning of virtual settlements where communities learn – virtual learning environments and portals – and compares them metaphorically with physical campuses.

    Real or virtual

    Now that the internet and digital technology have reached into just about every home in the developed world, and even the wealthier parts of the poorest of developing countries, it becomes hard to talk of the internet as a virtual environment. To many users it has become the primary actual means of communication.

  • 17 - Socio-cultural approaches to literacy and subject knowledge development in learning management systems

  • from Part II - Enabling and supporting digital literacies
    • By Neil Anderson, Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Education James Cook University, Queensland, Australia
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 182-195

  • Summary

    Abstract

    Literacy development is increasingly mediated in digital, online environments such as learning management systems (LMS). These systems have been criticized for their lack of social presence, thereby reducing their impact for literacy and subject content learning. This chapter examines the definitions and descriptions of LMS and their characteristics. It then describes a blended model of on-campus and online delivery of courses in Australia and Singapore and examines some issues concerning advantages and disadvantages of LMS, with particular reference to enhancing the social elements or ‘social presence’ embedded in the system. Student feedback, survey data and a literature review inform an examination of issues such as ease of access, equity and the critical notion of ‘social presence’ in online spaces. Feedback was collected from public postings on a discussion board, online surveys, e-mail communications and paper-based surveys. This involved 495 students across three subjects in an Australian teacher pre-service preparation undergraduate course and one subject from a Singapore-based Master of Education subject.

    Introduction

    In the past, online learning environments have been characterized by a wide variety of features depending on the operating system, software tools and experience of the creator. Often, in educational contexts the knowledge of effective pedagogy has not been matched by equivalent knowledge of programming, web design or competency in using appropriate online tools. This sometimes created a tension between educators on one hand and technicians on the other, when the technical construction of online environments was outsourced or created in teams.

    Learning management systems have developed as a means to cater for the needs of educators who may not have a high level of knowledge, or the time to construct their own custom-made e-learning environment. These systems provide a standardized ‘shell’ that includes a set of tools commonly used in online courses. Terms and definitions attributed to these systems are still in a state of evolution and are sometimes confusing or contradictory.

    Merely paying attention to technical competencies and efficiencies in some cases has led to barren and impersonal environments with few opportunities for students to develop literacy and subject knowledge in ways that take advantage of social and cultural shared understandings and engagement. Lankshear (2003, 183) emphasizes the ‘socio-cultural approach to literacy’ within ‘new literacies’ that he describes as ‘literacies associated with new communication and information technologies, or in more general terms, the digital apparatus’.

  • 11 - Graduate e-literacies and employability

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
    • By Denise Haywood, European Projects Co-ordinator, School of Education University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Jeff Haywood, Professor of Education and Technology, School of Education University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Hamish MacLeod, Senior Lecturer, School of Education University of Edinburgh, Scotland
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 123-132

  • Summary

    Abstract

    Graduate employability has become a major concern of politicians, government and state funding agencies, and universities ever since the expansion of higher education began in the 1960s. In this chapter we review recent developments in thinking about graduate skills, focusing particularly on e-literacies and their relationship to the wider employability agenda. We base our analysis on data that we gathered during a European Commission funded project in seven universities across Europe. Our study explored the work universities have been doing in developing undergraduate e-literacies, the skills and attitudes of their undergraduate students, employers’ perspectives on graduate skills, and likely directions for graduate e-literacy development in the future.

    Background

    Recent trends in graduate employability thinking

    Governments of all persuasions and worldwide regard education as the foundation on which they will build successful economies that are able to withstand the buffeting of changes in the global marketplace in which they exist. This concern with education as a key ingredient in prosperity is reflected in their interest in expanding and improving education, by whatever means is open to them politically. The European Union (EU) expresses this interest openly in its various policy and strategy documents, for example, ‘becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion’ (EU, 2000, 2003a, 2005). Remaining, or becoming, one of the most advanced and developed states or super-states is seen to be closely linked to the ‘knowledge economy’ where intellectual, rather than physical, resources are key to wealth-generation. Information and communications technology (ICT) is a vital part of the knowledge economy, providing the automation, the creativity tools, the local and global communications and part of the support for mass post-compulsory education. A population that is e-literate and confident is a sine qua non for success in the modern world. All governments look to their education systems to ensure that those who ‘graduate’ from them are competent at relevant skill levels.

    EU member states make similar pronouncements (UK, 1998; Finland, 1999), and these are mirrored by government agencies in the USA and Australasia (US, 2002; US, 2005a, 2005b). Worldwide, developed and developing countries seek to raise e-literacy to raise prosperity (Kerala, 2005; UNESCO, 2005; NZ, 2005).

  • 1 - Key issues in digital preservation

    • By Marilyn Deegan, Director of Research Development in the Centre for Computing in the Humanities at King's College London, Simon Tanner, Director of King's Digital Consultancy Services (KDCS) at King's College London
  • Edited by Marilyn Deegan, Simon Tanner
  • Book:
    Digital Preservation
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 1-31

  • Summary

    Introducing the digital domain

    The digital birth of cultural content and conversion of analogue originals into bits and bytes has opened new vistas and extended horizons in every direction, providing access and opportunities for new audiences, enlightenment, entertainment and education in ways unimaginable a mere 15 years ago. Digital libraries have a major function to enhance our appreciation of or engagement with culture and often lead the way in this new digital domain we find ourselves immersed within. The underlying information and communication technologies are still generally referred to as ‘new’ or ‘high’ technologies – they remain highly visible, and have not yet, despite their pervasiveness, become part of the natural infrastructure of society. ‘Technology’, as the computer scientist Bran Ferren memorably defined it, is ‘stuff that doesn't work yet’ (Adams, 1999).

    The need to deliver cultural resources, especially from major cultural organizations such as museums or national libraries, has become an imperative closely associated with the core mission of these organizations to educate and elucidate, to promote and disseminate and to preserve culture. These attempts to reach out to new audiences and to refresh current audiences are major driving factors behind many digitization programmes and the shift towards digital repositories. The justifications for delivering cultural resources digitally can rarely be made on purely financial grounds as the fiscal returns on investment are relatively small, but the returns for culture, education and prestige are high (Tanner, 2004).

    With the digital revolution, data and information can now be transmitted to all corners of the world. Some predict that we are reaching a period of cheap access for all, but the reality is that there are still political, cultural and financial issues which prevent low-cost access in certain strata of society and many parts of the world. The digital divide exists and could further disadvantage the poor, the undereducated and those in developing countries as the better-off, the better-educated and the economically developed forge ahead into the digital domain.

  • 9 - Reconceptualizing media literacy for the digital age

  • from Part I - Literacies in the digital age
    • By Renee Hobbs, Associate Professor, Temple University, USA Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media Director, Media Education Lab
  • Edited by Allan Martin, Dan Madigan
  • Book:
    Digital Literacies for Learning
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    30 September 2006, pp 99-109

  • Summary

    Abstract

    This chapter identifies how media literacy education must adapt to accommodate the changing nature of young people's experience with digital media and new communication technologies. Teachers who traditionally emphasize the processes of analysing news, advertising and entertainment media must expand their focus to include new media (like cellphones and handheld devices), new message forms (like search engines, instant messaging, blogs and online entertainment) and new social issues (including identity and anonymity, privacy and surveillance). By examining certain conceptual principles and instructional practices which may (or may not) support this shift in focus, this chapter examines the process that teachers will experience as they aim to strengthen students’ communication and critical thinking skills as full participants in the digital age.

    Introduction

    One September morning in a high school just outside Washington DC, Mr Smith, a social studies teacher, started his semester standing at the front of the room full of somewhat sleepy students aged 15–17. The elective course was entitled ‘Media Literacy’ and, as he passed out the course syllabus, he previewed some of the topics and issues that would be explored over the coming months: analysing news media, learning how news is constructed, and understanding media's function in society; analysing advertising including reflections on the processes of consumer socialization and the manufacture of desire; examining patterns of representation of race, gender and class in mass media messages; and understanding the psychological impact of media violence and the role of entertainment violence in con- temporary culture. Through a series of readings, screenings, discussion and writing activities, this teacher's aim was to help students to become critical thinkers in responding to media messages, to understand the social, political and economic contexts in which messages are constructed and disseminated, and to reflect on and examine their own behaviours as consumers and citizens. During the semester-long course, Mr Smith made active use of newspapers, magazines, television news and entertainment programmes, documentaries and curriculum materials he found online and at the Center for Media Literacy's website in Los Angeles.

    While still a novelty in most US public schools, media literacy is now beginning to acquire some status within the K-12 content areas of English language arts, social studies and health education (Hobbs, 2004).

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