UNESCO Training-the-Trainers “Information Literacy Workshop,Montego Bay,Jamaica, June 1–6, 2008”

This is a brief report highlighting the key elements of an information literacy training workshop jointly organized by UNESCO and the University of the West Indies in Montego Bay, June 1–6, 2008, providing information giving the background of why the workshop was mounted and what the expected results and outcomes were, how it was organized and structured, including the programme/agenda, who the expert-presenters were, a list of participants, and some conclusions, and some recommendations.     

Cross-Language Transfer of Phonological Awareness and Letter Knowledge: Causal Evidence and Nature of Transfer

Using a randomized control trial, this study examined the causal evidence of cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge (names and sounds) using data from multilingual 1st-grade children (N = 322) in Kenya. Children in the treatment condition received an 8-week instruction on phonological awareness and letter knowledge in Kiswahili. The comparison group received business-as-usual classroom instruction. Children in the treatment condition showed greater improvement in phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge in Kiswahili and English (positive transfer; effect sizes from .37 to .95), whereas a negative effect was found in letter-name knowledge (interference; effect size, g = .27). No effects were found in reading, nor did the results vary by moderators (e.g., Kiswahili vocabulary). Path analyses revealed divergent patterns of results for different outcomes. Results provide causal evidence for cross-language transfer of phonological awareness and letter knowledge and offer important theoretical and practical implications.     

Adapting the graduation efficiency index to provide a consistent basis for assessment of student progress towards graduation

Graduation efficiency is of top concern for institutions of higher education throughout the world. Increasingly, accountability metrics have come under scrutiny as policymakers seek to ensure public resources are efficiently used. Traditionally, higher education policymakers in the USA and Europe have used graduation rate as an accountability measure to assess a university’s efficient use of resources. This time-to-degree method, however, does not take into account the shift in student demographics from a traditional full-time student to the diverse group of students pursuing higher education through varied paths, including balancing work with reduced course loads, studying abroad, completing internships, among others. These changes suggest additional accountability measures are needed to accurately capture student progress as it relates to resource utilisation. This research adapts the Graduation Efficiency Index proposed by Gillmore and Hoffman (1997) to a cohort-based model to allow for evaluating retention policies implemented by cohorts to improve student progress.     

On studying information seeking methodologically: the implications of connecting metatheory to method

Theory constructs its evidence, and values and faith construct what constitute theory. [Maines, D. R. & Molseed, M. J. (1986). The obsessive discoverer's complex and the ‘discovery’ of growth in sociological theory. American Journal of Sociology, 92(1), 158–163.]To admit that knowledge is intrinsically erroneous is not to imply that we should forego it. [McGuire, W. J. (1986). A perspectivist looks at contextualism and the future of behavioral science. In R. L. Rosnow & M. Georgoudi (Eds.), Contextualism and understanding in behavioral science: implications for research and theory. New York: Praeger, 271–301.]It is not enough for theory to describe and analyze, it must itself be an event in the universe it describes. In order to do this theory must… tear itself from all referents and take pride in the future. Theory must operate on time at the cost of a deliberate distortion of present reality. [Baudrillard, J. (1988). The ecstasy of communication. New York: Semiotext(e).]The purpose I have mandated for this article is to explore the implications of articulating the bridges that are built, usually implicitly, between metatheory and method, and between these and their ultimate interests, the doing of research. The purpose is to articulate the uses of methodology. To chart this as a mandate is to assume, in contradiction to extant wisdom, that: (1) the journey has not yet been fully mapped; and (2) in fact there are multiple and everchanging ways of bridging these gaps with no one agreed upon single set of criteria by which the results can be evaluated. Above these assumptions is a higher level assumption that impels this journey -- that taking an explicitly and self-consciously methodological approach is necessary to the improvement of the enterprise of systematic study.It is the primary purpose of this paper to illustrate by example the statements made above. The argument supporting the statements can be found elsewhere (A longer version of this paper is available which includes arguments regarding inattentions to methodology and a bibliography which includes authors writing on the issue. Readers who wish a copy may contact dervin.1@osu.edu). Suffice it to say here that the statements above rest on the assumption that in the midst of the paradigm battles which mark today's study of humans and their conditions, methodology as a term is highly contested, much abused, and frequently ignored. It is referred to either as method, or as metatheorical critique of the constructing of theory. It is, thus, either collapsed into method or collapsed into metatheory and in either locale it disappears. Rarely, however, is methodology attended to as that branch of metatheory which involves the reflexive analysis and development of methods -- with methods defined broadly as methods of theorizing, observing, data collecting, analyzing, and interpreting. The result is that we lack a vocabulary for talking about methodology, a vocabulary which attends to the philosophic mandate in the term, the way in which it might build a bridge between metatheoy and method, and, thus, make more obvious the impacts of these on research and its theory-constructings.     

A Review of Engagement with Creativity and Creative Design Processes for Visual Communication Design (VCD) Learning in China

Understanding the enigma of how learners from the Peoples Republic of China enact and engage with creativity and creative design processes can be problematic for VCD educators. Central to the concerns are questions which relate to the relevance of Western creative and creative design process definitions, explanations and models. This review provides an overview and analysis of the literature in this area. Findings indicate challenges attributed to a dearth of empirical evidence from the Asian region. However, a number of studies were found, which enabled learner engagement with creative design process models. Such models may help illuminate complex pictures of learners’ interactions, artefacts, social, cultural and historic forces. The review highlights issues and common areas upon which to build and prompts theoretical and methodological approaches for future creative design process research.     

A Self-Study of the Role of Technology in Promoting Reflection and Inquiry-Based Science Teaching

   This self-study examined the 1st-year science teacher educator's integration of instructional technology into a science methods course and modeled the reflective practice of her own teaching. Elementary science methods students participated in a series of inquiry-based activities that utilized various instructional technologies. Data sources included daily reflections, formative assessments, concern-based surveys, and class assignments. Findings from this self-study revealed that the teacher educator's own reflections and practical inquiry influenced and paralleled her students’ development of learning how to teach scientific inquiry using instructional technology. Results suggest that inviting preservice teachers into reflective practice and modeling for them the development of professional practical knowledge allow them to address the uncertainties in their own learning about using technology for inquiry-based science teaching.