Design lessons about participatory self-directed online learning in a graduate-level instructional technology course

This article reports on a case of participatory self-directed online learning within the context of a graduate-level instructional technology course. The course was about online learning environments and relied on both asynchronous and synchronous technologies. In this case, the instructor and students engaged in collaborative course design through one of the assignments where student teams and the instructor led one week’s worth of course activities and discussions. This article begins with a discussion of the literature on participatory self-directed online learning. Then, the article presents an overview of the course design, detailed discussion of the assignment that framed student participatory self-directed learning and two examples of student assignments. The framing question for organising this case was as follows: What lessons can a team of graduate students and the instructor learn about self-directed participatory online learning from a collaborative design project? The article ends with the overall lessons learned from the case and implications to future design of online activities.     

Learner-centred education and ‘cultural translation’

This paper contests the proposal that learner-centred education (LCE) may simply be a western construct, irrelevant to the current educational needs of developing countries, by arguing that its specific forms will be more effective when introduced through small-scale institutional relationships than through large-scale contracts with national governments. LCE initiatives are more likely to impact successfully if their professional language has been ‘culturally translated’, a process which relates features of the surface level of an intervention to its underlying social relations of production as part of a dialogue which respects addressees not merely as listeners but also as active agents.     

Higher-Order Factor Analytic Perspectives on Users' Perceptions of Library Service Quality

The SERVQUAL measure was developed by Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring customer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64, 12–40) to measure perceptions of service quality, originally in the retailing sector. Libraries and other educational institutions, however are also service providers. Librarians, in particular, have recently become increasingly interested in measuring quality of service as the ultimate assessment of library performance, as against more traditional measures of performance such as mere counts of various holdings. The present study explored SERVQUAL score validity in the library service context using data from 596 users representing three user groups and measurement at three times over six years. Second-order factor analysis provided mixed results as regards the psychometric integrity of SERVQUAL scores applied within the library service context.     

Evaluation in overseas education: Some parameters and priorities

The need for evaluating overseas education projects is urgent. The growing crisis in meeting demand and raising the necessary revenue to fund education systems calls for a reassessment of what is provided in terms of education. This paper seeks to examine specific areas for evaluation: the purpose of educational activity, the nature of education, and the constraints that operate on the effectiveness of educational provision. It shows how much of the so called evaluation is misguided or irrelevant. There then follows a discussion about some of the general issues raised in the evaluation process, not least the whole question of realistic dissemination of information to those who most need it.     

Achieving a World-Wide Software Engineering Profession: A Report on the CSEET 2001 Workshop

The prime aim of the workshop was to provide a forum to consider the global dimensions of a Software Engineering profession and determine the relevance and usefulness of an initiative concerning the harmonization of professional standards which had been produced under the auspices of the International Federation of Information Processing. In particular the workshop addressed: the current situation with regard to certification and/or licensing in different countries, the drivers and constraints regarding Software Engineering Professionalism, the extent to which world-wide Software Engineering Professionalism is achievable (particularly in the light of IFIP's proposals regarding harmonization), and possible strategy(ies) that would assist in achieving such world-wide Software Engineering Professionalism. A pre workshop survey was carried out at the conference and the results of this are reported. The two staged operation and results of the workshop are then detailed. Initial position statements are summarised and the conclusions from the four separate subgroups that operated within each of the two stages are reported. Finally the major points from a general discussion on what the future goals and strategies for achieving a recognised profession should be are presented followed by the overall conclusion of the workshop participants.