Improving digital skills for the use of online public information and services

There are recent indications regarding the use of online public services that force the government to focus on the more refined conceptualizations digital divide research has produced. This paper addresses one of the factors that appears to be important in several conceptualizations of how to approach the digital divide; the differential possession of so-called digital skills. The problem of being short of skills becomes urgent when governments suppose that citizens are able to complete about every task on the Internet. Operational definitions for operational, formal, information and strategic skills are used to measure the Internet skills of the Dutch population at large, by giving 109 subjects nine government related assignments to be accomplished on the Internet. Subjects were recruited following a two step approach; randomly select a sample from the book/list of fixed telephony subscribers, followed by drawing a selective quota sample for the strata of gender, age and educational level. The results indicate that on average 80% of the operational skill Internet tasks, 72% of formal Internet skills tasks, 62% of the information Internet skills tasks and 22% of strategic Internet skills tasks assigned have been successfully completed. The Dutch government's expectation that every citizen with an Internet connection is able to complete the assignments following tasks the government thinks every Internet user can perform, clearly is not justified. The article provides two types of policy recommendations to change this state of affairs. Recommendations for improving government websites and for improving the skill levels of Dutch citizens are suggested.     

Evidence of the relative age effect in football in Australia

Abstract The birth date distributions of elite male and female footballers in Australia, from junior youth (age 14 and upwards) to senior (professional) players, were examined. A statistically significant relative age effect was found among junior male players, reducing in effect with increasing age. An inter-year relative age effect that became apparent among the players at national level in the Under-17 and Under-20 age groups, due to the timing of the respective World Cups for those age groups, was also identified. It is conjectured that this might lead to players born in certain years having a curtailed pathway in the elite game, leading to drop-out among this very elite group. In the case of women elite players, no significant relative age effect was found among youth players, possibly due to less fierce competition for places, although a significant effect was found to exist at senior elite level.     

The effects of economic status and recent experience on innovative behavior under environmental variability: An experimental approach

We build and empirically test a model that predicts the display of innovative behavior as a function of environmental change, with recent experience and economic status acting as moderators. We start with the model developed by Slevin (1971), which evolved from the so-called innovation boundary. This is the threshold beyond which the display of innovative behavior becomes attractive. We show how environmental change creates uncertainty about the position of the innovation boundary; however, this uncertainty is reduced by recent experiences. Furthermore, economic status serves as both an enhancer and an inhibitor of innovation. Our model was tested and largely confirmed in two experiments: one conducted in a laboratory setting and one conducted as a discrete choice experiment. Currently experiments are rarely conducted in the field of innovation studies. By presenting this evidence we also hope to encourage more authors to conduct experiments in their work.     

Dimensions of quality and accessibility: Selection of human information sources from a social capital perspective

This study focuses on how the accessibility and quality of co-workers in organizations affect their use as information source. Prior research has produced inconsistent findings concerning these factors’ respective influence on source selection. In this article, we argue that one potential reason for this lies in the lack of coherent definitions of accessibility and quality. To bridge this gap, we unpack these concepts into their underlying dimensions, based on insights derived from social capital theory, more specifically Nahapiet and Ghoshal’s (1998) contribution, to uncovering the multidimensionality of social capital. We empirically test the dimensionality of accessibility and quality, as well as the relative influence of these concepts on human information source selection, in a scenario experiment within an organization. Findings support the proposed dimensionality, and lead to the conclusion that both quality and accessibility influence the selection of human information sources, although quality exerts a slightly stronger influence.     

The Contextual Benchmark Method: Benchmarking e-Government services

This paper offers a new method for benchmarking e-Government services. Government organizations no longer doubt the need to deliver their services on line. Instead, the question that is more relevant is how well the electronic services offered by a particular organization perform in comparison with those offered by others. Benchmarking is currently a popular means of answering that question. The benchmarking of e-Government services has reached a critical stage where, as we argue, simply measuring the number of electronic services is not enough and a more sophisticated approach is needed. This paper details the development of a Contextual Benchmark Method (CBM). The value of CBM is that it is both benchmark- and context-driven.     

Design and evaluation of a development portfolio: how to improve students’ self-directed learning skills

In on-demand education, students often experience problems with directing their own learning processes. A Structured Task Evaluation and Planning Portfolio (STEPP) was designed to help students develop 3 basic self-directed learning skills: Assessing the quality of own performance, formulating learning needs, and selecting future learning tasks. A case study with 10 first-year students in the domain of hairdressing was conducted to evaluate STEPP’s use, usability, and perceived effectiveness. Results from student interviews show that usability and use are influenced by several factors. Students with low prior hairdressing skills, a weakly developed personal approach to direct their own learning, and an inclination to update STEPP as part of their weekly routine, use STEPP more frequently than students without these characteristics. Both the supervisor and students who frequently used STEPP perceived its use as a positive contribution to the development of self-directed learning skills. Furthermore, this study provides guidelines for the design of development portfolios in on-demand education.     

Unraveling the influence of domain knowledge during simulation-based inquiry learning

This study investigated whether the mere knowledge of the meaning of variables can facilitate inquiry learning processes and outcomes. Fifty-seven college freshmen were randomly allocated to one of three inquiry tasks. The concrete task had familiar variables from which hypotheses about their underlying relations could be inferred. The intermediate task used familiar variables that did not invoke underlying relations, whereas the abstract task contained unfamiliar variables that did not allow for inference of hypotheses about relations. Results showed that concrete participants performed more successfully and efficiently than intermediate participants, who in turn were equally successful and efficient as abstract participants. From these findings it was concluded that students learning by inquiry benefit little from knowledge of the meaning of variables per se. Some additional understanding of the way these variables are interrelated seems required to enhance inquiry learning processes and outcomes.     

Development of the self-regulated learning teacher belief scale

The present study describes the development and psychometric properties of the Self-Regulated Learning Teacher Belief Scale (SRLTB). The SRLTB is a self-report teacher scale with 10 items assessing teachers' beliefs about introducing self-regulated learning (SRL) in primary education. The process of item and scale development as well as testing and scale refinement procedure is presented. An explorative study (n=399) revealed a one-factor structure representing adherence of teachers for SRL in primary school. Next, Rasch analysis revealed good fit of the scale to the unidimensional continuum model. In a following study (n=553), construct validity of the SRLTB was confirmed. Finally, implications and limitations of the SRLTB for studying SRL are discussed. In general, the SRLTB appears to be a useful instrument for examining teacher beliefs about self-regulated learning practices in primary schools.     

The activities of a school‐based teacher educator: a theoretical and empirical exploration

Teacher education all over Europe is increasingly becoming school‐based oriented. This implies new roles for those who support student teachers learning in school. This article describes the way four school‐based teacher educators fulfill their role as educators of student teachers who learn how to teach while participating in the workplace. Based on theoretical notions derived from the literature on teacher education and workplace learning, the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model was specified and used in a case study as a framework to describe the activity of these school‐based teacher educators. They use tools (e.g., apprenticeship assignments) developed within the teacher education institute and rely on their professional knowledge as experienced schoolteachers. This results in student teachers being provided with useful tricks which, however, hardly helps them to interpret and elaborate their experiences from a more conceptual or theoretical perspective. Also the possibilities of the social context of the school as a learning environment are not systematically used.     

A meta-analysis of the effect of education on social capital

To assess the empirical estimates of the effect of education on social trust and social participation – the basic dimensions of individual social capital – a meta-analysis is applied, synthesizing 154 evaluations on social trust, and 286 evaluations on social participation. The publication bias problem is given special emphasis in the meta-analysis. Our statistical synthesis confirms that education is a strong and robust correlate of individual social capital. The meta-analysis provides support for the existence of a relative effect of education on social participation, and of a reciprocity mechanism between the dimensions of social capital. The analysis also suggests that the erosion of social participation during the past decades has coincided with a decrease of the marginal return to education on social capital. Finally, we find differences in the return to education between genders, between US and other nations, and variations for different education attainments.