A piagetian analysis of process skill test items

Test items used to survey the attainment of science process skills in a representative sample of 11 year olds in Britain were analyzed to determine the level of demand, in Piagetian terms, made by each item. It was found that: the level of cognitive demand was a reliable predictor of the limiting difficulty of an item; that the difference between potential difficulty as measured by supposed demand level and the actual difficulty encountered by subjects was revealing of areas in the curriculum where further effort in teacher education and curriculum development would be profitable; and that there was some evidence for an inherent hierarchy of process skills.     

A Critique of the FRBR User Tasks and Their Modifications

The four FRBR user tasks have become widely accepted as functions of the library catalog, but there have been only sporadic discussions concerning their validity and sufficiency, despite their modification in the models subsequently presented in the FRAD, FRSAD, and draft FRBR-LRM reports. This article presents a critique of the four variant sets of user tasks, and proposes an extended set of six generic end-user tasks, applicable to both bibliographic and authority data: locate, collocate, connect, identify, select, and obtain. The article also outlines their interrelationships and suggests those tasks that may be particularly well supported by professional cataloging.     

Robots,the Quiet Workers,Are You Ready to Take Over?

Robots are becoming more commonly used in libraries. A robot that does shelf reading and reports the results to human staff is one example of a practical use of robotics in a library. Others have been used to retrieve large items such as boxes, but identifying and picking up small and varied objects such as books is still on the edge of what can be done. Devices using artificial intelligence can act as guides, or in some cases, as personal assistants for library customers. Some are answering questions and learning as they go. If robots can perform library work effectively and more cheaply than humans it is inevitable they will be more widely used.     

Search Committee Effectiveness in Determining a Finalist Pool: A Case Study

One hundred twenty five applications for an entry-level librarian position were examined to determine whether a search committee at one major Midwestern university library chose finalists based on form over substance, and whether candidates who met the required qualifications were advanced to the finalist pool. Methodology determined the number of applicants who self-reported having each qualification, by round. Findings showed that the search committee was not unduly influenced by resume format over qualifications, and the few applicants who met all of the required qualifications as well as one or more of the preferred ones were not advanced to the finalist pool. Discussion and implications for future study are presented.     

Capacity-building for educational managers in South Africa: a case study of the Mpumalanga Province

Wide-ranging changes in the education system have rendered many serving school principals ineffective in the management of their schools. Many of these serving principals lack basic management training prior to and after their entry into headship. Changes in education thus increase their problems and this causes untold harm to the education of the learners. This research deals with the quantitative data and qualitative analysis about the perceptions of 172 principals and 28 district/circuit managers in the Mpumalanga Province on their satisfaction with the programme and its effectiveness in facilitating learning.Questionnaires were used to gather the above data that was subsequently analysed using mean scores, frequencies and percentages. Responses from open-ended questions, in addition to the structured questionnaires, were recorded and categorised for the purpose of qualitative analysis.Results of the research show that principals and district/circuit managers were satisfied to very satisfied with the quality and adequacy of their training and agreed that the training was effective to very effective. A general tendency of higher mean scores among district/circuit managers than among principals was observed. Findings from the qualitative analysis supported and elaborated on the findings of the quantitative data.     

Digital portfolios in pre-service teacher education

With the pre-service student portfolio process and product well in hand in a paper-based format, in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) (B.Ed. Primary) at University of Western Sydney (UWS), new horizons have presented themselves. These new possibilities are facilitated but not driven by developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The impetus for this study comes from the changing context in which the students will work and from the rapidly evolving mediums of communication employed by the society these future teachers will serve. With new technologies being developed the use of digital portfolios could give an extra dimension to student learning as well as giving choice and variety to the reporting and presenting of that learning. This paper aims to report on the process of the development of digital portfolios as an alternative method of reporting and presenting student learning, as opposed to the current paper-based portfolios used in Pre-service Teacher Education at UWS. A study of the processes employed by nine students who elected to develop their portfolios digitally was carried out over a three-semester period. This resulted in a procedure that assisted students in using ICT to showcase their learning. The advantages and limitations of the use of such technology and the results of this process during its initial implementation are discussed.     

Academic integrity: a quantitative study of confidence and understanding in students at the start of their higher education

Establishing a positive, proactive approach to issues such as plagiarism requires that students are equipped with the skills and experience to act with integrity, and that educators are fully aware of the attitudes and ability of students, particularly when they start university. This project used a questionnaire-based methodology to probe the attitudes, ability and confidence of undergraduates newly enrolled at a university in the UK, with a focus on concepts relating to written assignments. New undergraduates were confident in their understanding of plagiarism, yet performed poorly on simple tests of referencing. Students were generally of the opinion that academic misconduct should be modestly penalised compared to the standard penalties imposed by the UK higher education sector. Positive correlations were found between confidence, performance and recommended penalties, suggesting that confident students did better on tests of simple tests of referencing, and recommended more severe penalties for transgressions of academic integrity. These correlations were supported by findings that new postgraduates were more confident than new undergraduates, recommended more severe penalties and performed better in the simple tests of referencing. Findings are discussed in the context of educational needs identified for students, educators and institutions.