Mobile library and staff preparedness

The provision of access to information and effective delivery of information services is central to the role of librarians. Mobile technologies have added another dimension to this role – one that requires new knowledge, skills and competencies to ensure the needs and expectations of users are met. If libraries are to be successful in developing services for mobile technologies, their managers will have to consider two significant staffing issues. Firstly, it is important to understand what knowledge, skills and competencies are needed by staff to enable them to deliver services through mobile technologies, and secondly, to use that understanding to provide support and training for staff in the use of mobile technologies. In order to explore these issues and to contribute to the planning and professional development in the mobile library environment, a survey was undertaken of librarians working in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia and New Zealand

Delivering mobile library services : competency implications for vocational education and training library staff

In a rapidly-changing technology environment, the library professional needs to demonstrate competence in the implementation of mobile technologies and resultant service delivery. The preparedness of vocational education and training sector library staff in Australasia to leverage the potential of mobile technologies has been investigated to determine the factors and relationships that influence technology acceptance. Library staff were keen to master mobile devices, believing competency to be crucial to working effectively in the mobile environment

Personalisation of learning and reflective frameworks: Example from an industry-focused, post-graduate transdisciplinary degree

The New Zealand government has determined strategies to encourage research-driven innovation which include close collaboration between industry and the academic communities. In response to such direction, the Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) has developed a set of research-based, transdisciplinary qualifications grounded in real-world industry contexts. To assist learners in undertaking successful research inquiry, the transdisciplinary curriculum development team has developed an online training needs analysis instrument that enables learners to identify their readiness to undertake transdisciplinary research. The training needs analysis tool is supported by a reflective framework which assists the learner to self-reflect upon their levels of skills and knowledge against internationally-accepted standards. The intention of such tools is to enable the learner to commence the process of self-empowerment within the learning environment

Creating digital self-reflective frameworks to encourage learner autonomy in post-graduate courses

The almost universal acceptance of constructivist views of education has firmly placed the learner at the centre of the teaching and learning experience. This acceptance has required educationalists to critically review existing educational strategies, techniques, methods and beliefs. Learner autonomy, the ability to take charge of one's own learning, is based on the concept that learners have the capabilities to reflect on their current skills and identify areas of development. Interactive self-reflective frameworks enable learners to firstly, make independent and informed decisions about their learning needs and secondly, establish a personalised learning plan to address the needs identified. This paper explores how the development and implementation of a digital self-reflective framework for post-graduate study in transdisciplinary education contributes to wider acceptance of the conceptions of learner autonomy

Designing e-learning environments to encourage learner autonomy: Creating a framework for development

Foreign language learning has been increasingly influenced by constructivist approaches to learning and teaching. These approaches, placing the learner at the centre of the teaching and learning experience, requires educationalists to critically review existing teaching strategies, techniques, methods and beliefs. For Japanese medical professionals English has become increasingly important. There is growing need for these professionals to understand and use English at conferences and/or workshops, to keep up to date with medical processes and procedures published in Western medical journals and there are ever increasing opportunities to communicate with other medical staff and patients in English. However, the curricula at medical schools in Japan are so extensive that the time allocated for English classes is usually very limited, which means those classes often do not have the depth or scope to improve the English communication skills of medical students to the level necessary for their future career. This paper explores the development of a design framework that provides learners with the motivation and skills to access learning materials independent of time-tabled study. It outlines how the authors integrated a self-reflective framework and micro-credential / badge ecosystem in the learner centric courses created. It illustrates how this design framework was implemented in a medical terminology course

English language learning & MEEPLE: Micro-credentialing Ecosystems Enabling Personal Learning Environments

The use of English has become increasingly important for Japanese medical professionals. This presentation reviewed strategies and techniques that first, helped learners identify and engage with the suitable level of information and in appropriate level of activities. Secondly, encouraged learners to engage with the review materials identified and participate autonomously in practice activities

Use of mobile apps for teaching and research - implications for digital literacy

This paper reports on the results of an online survey about mobile application (app) use for academic purposes, i.e. teaching and research, by Higher Degree Research (HDR) students and academic staff at one of the eight New Zealand universities. Two thirds of the 138 respondents reported they used apps for academic purposes. In teaching, apps were reported to be used as a means to push information to students. In research, apps appeared to be used to self-organise, collaborate with colleagues, store information, and to stay current with research. This paper presents the survey results and discusses implications for personal information management in education context and opportunities for university library services

Use of mobile apps for teaching and research

Applications (apps) are software specifically designed for mobile de-vices. This paper reports on the results of an online survey about app use for teaching and research by students and academic staff at the University of Wai-kato. The questionnaire had 138 respondents. The results of the data analysis in-dicate that among respondents apps are primarily used for communication, data storage, and collaborative work. Nearly a third of respondents reported not using. any apps for academic purposes, with almost half that number citing a lack of knowledge about possible uses. In teaching practice, apps were reported to be used as a means to push information to students, e.g., for distributing reading materials and other teaching resources. In research, apps appeared to be used to self-organise, collaborate with other researchers, store information, and to stay current with research. This paper concludes with a list of implications

A theory of mobile library service delivery

Research indicates there is widespread acceptance that nomadicity of library users is a phenomenon that will continue to increase; however, mobile learning is a resource that relatively few academic libraries appear to be taking advantage of. This paper presents a model developed during an investigation using a grounded theory approach into factors that may contribute to the delivery of library services to mobile technologies. A sample of 42 professionally qualified library staff from the Australasian vocational education and training (VET) sector was investigated to determine how confident and capable library staff believed they were to respond to technology advancement challenges and the training and support required for that response. The resulting theoretical model explains the impact of mobile technologies on library services and highlights the complex factors contributing to mobile technology acceptance at both an organisational and individual level. The presence of a series of catalysing impacts forms a central core and their management can enable an organisation to move from a position of uncertainty to one where the consequences of mobile technologies have been normalised