Intermediate-level ICT skills and development in South Africa: Private provision form suited to national purpose!

Abstract   ICT skills are critical to the success of enhancing national development in a globalised era (see World Bank 2006). Rudimentary intermediate-level ICT skills necessary to function optimally in basic computer-related environments are crucial to national competitiveness in a developing context. The supply of these skills provided predominantly by private, non-state institutions in most developing contexts is considerably under-researched (see Atchoarena and Esquieu 2002). This paper provides a rationale for the suitability of private sector intermediate-level ICT provisioning, exploring peculiarities of provisioning in the South African context. The features associated with the varied provider types and the response to the multiplicity of learner and client groups serve as crucial features of suitability. It posits the view that the capacity of the sector to respond effectively to skill needs provides the basis for national development in the South African context. The culpability of the sector in responding effectively to rapid technological developments provides the basis for its suitability to private provision forms. Lessons from this work and its impacts on national regulation of private ICT provision will provide important insights for other developing contexts.

A triad of Filipino adolescents’ zones of lived experiences of information and communications technology (ICT)

Considering that today’s students feel extremely more comfortable with computers than did earlier generations of students vis-à-vis the notion that, as a social category, they have become one of the most interesting topics in research papers and journals in the field of behavioral and social sciences since the 1950s (Batan 2002), their individual and collective experiences of information and communications technology (ICT) could be expected to create a portrait of accounts that might inform educational policy makers as to how their ICT needs and concerns could be better addressed through a more responsive and a well-defined IT-driven educational platform. The central question that this phenomenological study purported to answer was: “How does a select group of Filipino adolescents collectively experience information and communications technology (ICT)?” Findings of this study revealed that the individual and collective articulations, verbalizations, and musings of the 60 adolescents recruited from two regions in the Philippines exposed three distinct but interrelated conceptual zones of ICT, namely: the zone of technology perspective (ZTP), zone of technology power and efficacy (ZTPE), and zone of technology deficits (ZTD). Implications of the study are also discussed in the paper. “There is a demand for qualitative research with an insider perspective, as young voices appear not to have been sufficiently heard.” (Hauan and Heggli 2002:13)      

An Insight into Professional Identity Formation: Qualitative Analyses of Two Reflection Interventions During the Dissection Course

The professional behavior of future doctors is increasingly important in medical education. One of the first subjects in the curriculum to address this issue is gross anatomy. The Tuebingen Medical Faculty implemented a learning portfolio and a seminar on medical professionalism during the dissection course. The aims of this research project are to get an overview of how students form a professional identity in the dissection course and to compare the content of both their oral and written reflections on the course. A qualitative analysis was conducted of the oral and written reflections on the dissection laboratory experience. This study was conducted during winter term 2013/2014 with a cohort of 163 participants in the regular dissection course. Written reflection texts (from n = 96 students) and audio recordings from four oral reflection seminar discussions (with n = 11 students) were transcribed and deductively categorized with Mayring’s qualitative content analysis method. Both qualitative analyses show that students reflected on many topics relevant to professional development, including empathy, respect, altruism, compassion, teamwork, and self-regulation. Quantitative analysis reveals that students who attended the oral reflection wrote significantly more in their written reflection than students who did not. There is, however, no difference in the reflection categories. Reflection content from students corresponds with categories derived from existing competency frameworks. Both the seminar (oral reflections) and the learning portfolio (written reflections) present excellent opportunities to foster professional development during anatomy education; the key is using them in conjunction with the dissection course.     

Global undernutrition during gestation influences learning during adult life

Intrauterine growth restriction can lead to significant long-term health consequences such as metabolic and cardiovascular disorders, but less is known about its effects on choice and behavioral adaptation in later life. Virgin Wistar rats were time mated and randomly assigned to receive either ad-libitum access to chow or 30% of that level of nutrition during pregnancy to generate growth-restricted offspring. At 60 days of age, 6 female offspring from each group were trained on concurrent variable-interval schedules. Sessions consisted of seven randomly arranged concurrent-schedule components, each with a different reinforcer ratio that varied from 27:1 to 1:27, and each component lasting for 10 reinforcer deliveries. Behavioral change across reinforcers in components, measured by sensitivity to reinforcement, was consistently lower for offspring of undernourished mothers, showing that their behavior was less adaptable to environmental change. These results provide direct experimental evidence for a link between prenatal environmental conditions and reduced behavioral adaptability--learning--in later life.     

Self-monitoring of self-regulation during math homework behaviour using standardized diaries

This study aims at enhancing math learning and general self-regulation by supporting daily self-regulated learning during math homework. The authors use standardized diaries as a self-monitoring tool to support self-regulatory behaviour. Following the theory of self-monitoring, frequent selfmonitoring of self-regulation will lead to an enhancement of self-regulated learning. Complete data stem from a sample of 195 8th grade students. 95 students from the experimental group answer questions in diaries for a period of 49 days and participate in the pre-post measurement whereas the control group only works on the pre- and posttests. The diary consists of questions regarding main components of self-regulation. The time-series analyses of the diary variables show a positive linear trend for self-regulation. The results of the analyses of variance for the pre-post experimental-control group comparison yielded time by group interactions for self-regulation and the math test.     

Development and validity of a Dutch version of the Remote Associates Task: An item-response theory approach

The Remote Associates Test (RAT) developed by Mednick and Mednick (1967) is known as a valid measure of creative convergent thinking. We developed a 30-item version of the RAT in Dutch with high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.85) and applied both Classical Test Theory and Item Response Theory (IRT) to provide measures of item difficulty and discriminability, construct validity, and reliability. IRT was further used to construct a shorter version of the RAT, which comprises of 22 items but still shows good reliability and validity—as revealed by its relation to Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices test, another insight-problem test, and Guilford's Alternative Uses Test.