Assessing Determinants of Perceived Ease of Use of Institutional Repositories by Lecturers in Nigerian Universities

Abstract

Institutional repositories (IRs) present platform to disseminate research findings to complement the traditional scholarly communication model. The use of IRs is beneficial to authors, host institutions, libraries and society at large. Despite the numerous benefits of IRs, there is low deposit of scholarly works by lecturers and the investment on IRs seems to be a waste. This study examined determinants of perceived ease of use (PEOU) of IRs by lecturers in Nigerian universities. A survey of lecturers received 857 respondents. Awareness, anchor and adjustment factors were found to be determinants of PEOU of Institutional repositories by lecturers in Nigerian Universities.     

Virtual Microscopy as a Learning Tool in Brazilian Medical Education

Virtual microscopy (VM) is a widely used teaching method in Medical Education in many developed countries. In Brazil, however, this is not the case for most medical schools, considering Brazilian social inequality and uneven access to technology. Recently, the Covid-19 pandemic has also challenged Universities to seek and make a transition toward more effective methods of full-time online education. Thus, the main goal of this work was to verify student's perception and academic performance, assessed upon VM implementation in a Brazilian Medical School. Ribeirao Preto Medical School students answered a 26-question survey with regards to optical microscopy (OM) and VM. Academic performance was compared between participants that were (year of 2019) or were not (year of 2015) exposed to VM. Taken the results together, subjective impressions such as handling, suitability, learning effectiveness, and pleasure using the tools, have shown a higher score for virtual microscopy (median = 29), when compared to optical microscopy (median = 24) with a P-value < 0.001 by Wilcoxon rank test, upon measurement using an ordinal scale. Regarding academic performance, no statistically significant differences were found between groups (P-value = 0.38, Cohen's d = 0.19). Therefore, VM proved to be adequate to the Brazilian medical education in light of Brazilian social contexts and Covid-19 pandemic.     

The entrepreneurial university and academic discourses: The meta‐synthesis of Higher Education articles

The innovative teaching, knowledge and technology production and societal service activities of academics are largely discussed within the entrepreneurial university discourse in Higher Education journals. Therefore, this research focuses on a meta‐synthesis of Higher Education articles to better understand the concepts of the entrepreneurial university and entrepreneurial academic. After the systematic elimination based on keywords and titles, 25 articles have been selected from the top 10 Higher Education journals in the SCImago Journal Rankings. Content analysis was performed on these articles to highlight the common operational areas in entrepreneurial universities and activities of entrepreneurial academics. The meta‐synthesis shows that, both for universities and academics, entrepreneurship is overwhelmingly characterised by the commercialisation of scholarly activities that enrich institutional income revenue as well as academics’ personal income. However, such an approach can distance universities from their mission of public good; so Higher Education administrators should create mechanisms that would allow both to take place in a balanced way.     

Libraries and Spatial Literacy: Toward Next-Generation Education

The role of the library is to assist citizens in skills development critical to national interest and empowerment as literacy ambassadors, in general. Specifically, the work by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (1994) indicates that spatial literacy is for every citizen and not just a set of workforce specialists. Hence, the use of maps in decision making and problem solving will become fundamental to all professions, including library professionals. Thus, a spatial literacy awareness and rationale for such as standard job ability is discussed as a future librarian workforce proficiency and knowledge transfer medium.     

Factors that influence behavioral intention to use mobile-based assessment: A STEM teachers’ perspective

Teachers' role can be catalytic in the introduction of innovative digital tools in order to create new learning and assessment opportunities. This study explores science technology engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers' intention to use mobile-based assessments in the teaching practice. The study proposes the teachers' acceptance mobile-based assessment (TAMBA) model which extends the technology acceptance model by introducing individual, social, institutional and instructional design factors. An appropriate questionnaire was developed and answered by 161 STEM teachers from 32 European countries. Their responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The proposed TAMBA model explains about 50% of the variance in teachers' intention to adopt mobile-based assessment. Perceived Ease of Use was found to be the most important determinant in teachers' intention to use mobile-based assessment. Facilitating Conditions and Output Quality were the most influential external variables in the model. The study findings revealed that focusing on mobile assessment quality design as well as on institutional support are important factors for STEM teachers in order to accept mobile-based assessments in schools.     

Response Time Adjustment in the Stop Signal Task: Development in Children and Adolescents

Adjusting speed to maintain fast and accurate performance is critical to goal-directed behavior. This study examined development of response time adjustments in the stop signal task in 13,709 individuals aged 6–17 years (49.0% Caucasian) across four trial types: correct and incorrect go, successful (stop-inhibit), and failed (stop-respond) trials. People sped more after correct than incorrect go responses and slowed more after failed than successful stop trials. Greater slowing after stop-respond but less slowing after stop-inhibit trials was associated with better response inhibition. Response time adjustments were evident in children as young as age 6, developed throughout childhood, and plateaued by age 10. Results were consistent with the predictions of the error detection and shifting goal priority hypotheses for adjustments.