An evaluation of the information literacy education of MBA students at the University of Stellenbosch Business School

Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBiblThis study investigates the effectiveness of the information literacy education that Master of Business Administration (MBA) students receive at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB). The literature reveals that there is a growing trend worldwide to extend information literacy education to include graduate students. The study uses the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education Competencies as the theoretical framework together with Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process. Both process and formative evaluation was used in the study. A mixed method approach was applied to gather data for the study using a pre- and post-information literacy questionnaire, interviews with the information literacy facilitator and the research methodology lecturer and a rubric assessment of students’ group assignment. The information literacy intervention focuses mainly on ACRL Standard 1, with more emphasis on ACRL Standard 2. ACRL Standards 3, 4 and 5 were briefly mentioned as it was difficult to cover all the ACRL Standards adequately within a once-off information literacy session.The results of the study show that the information literacy intervention was successful in introducing students to some of the electronic resources which is one of the major objectives of the intervention. Students’ scores in the pre- and post-information literacy questionnaire and the group assignment were high. This could be an indication that the information literacy intervention was a success. The interviews with the information literacy facilitator and the research methodology lecturer reveal that little collaboration between the library and business academics is taking place. This lack of collaboration affects the quality of the information literacy education in terms of business academics input in the information literacy intervention and in terms of reinforcing information literacy outcomes in students’ assignments. One of the recommendations is that collaborative relationships should be developed between the library and business academics in order to develop an information literacy plan that will fully integrate information literacy within Masters’ courses

An evaluation of the information literacy education of MBA students at the University of Stellenbosch Business School

Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBiblThis study investigates the effectiveness of the information literacy education that Master of Business Administration (MBA) students receive at the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB). The literature reveals that there is a growing trend worldwide to extend information literacy education to include graduate students. The study uses the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Standards for Higher Education Competencies as the theoretical framework together with Kuhlthau’s Information Search Process. Both process and formative evaluation was used in the study. A mixed method approach was applied to gather data for the study using a pre- and post-information literacy questionnaire, interviews with the information literacy facilitator and the research methodology lecturer and a rubric assessment of students’ group assignment. The information literacy intervention focuses mainly on ACRL Standard 1, with more emphasis on ACRL Standard 2. ACRL Standards 3, 4 and 5 were briefly mentioned as it was difficult to cover all the ACRL Standards adequately within a once-off information literacy session.The results of the study show that the information literacy intervention was successful in introducing students to some of the electronic resources which is one of the major objectives of the intervention. Students’ scores in the pre- and post-information literacy questionnaire and the group assignment were high. This could be an indication that the information literacy intervention was a success. The interviews with the information literacy facilitator and the research methodology lecturer reveal that little collaboration between the library and business academics is taking place. This lack of collaboration affects the quality of the information literacy education in terms of business academics input in the information literacy intervention and in terms of reinforcing information literacy outcomes in students’ assignments. One of the recommendations is that collaborative relationships should be developed between the library and business academics in order to develop an information literacy plan that will fully integrate information literacy within Masters’ courses

Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) and muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) on northwest Victoria Island, Northwest Territories

An aerial population survey of Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) and muskoxen (Ovibus moschatus) on Victoria Island, Northwest Territories, was conducted in July 2010. The population estimate of adult Peary caribou was 150 ± 104 (95% Confidence Interval [CI]) was not significantly different than the 2005 estimate of 66 ± 61 (P < 0.05). There was also an estimate of 430 ± 214 (95% CI) adult Dolphin-Union caribou (R. t. groenlandicus x pearyi) in the study area. However, these caribou represent only a small portion of the Dolphin-Union herd.  The population estimate of 11 442 ± 1637 (95% CI) adult muskoxen is not significantly different than the 2005 estimate of 12 062 ± 2156 (P < 0.05)

Librarian as Advisor: Information Search Process of Undecided Students and Novice Researchers

Faculty librarians who advise undecided students have found the experiences of novice researcher and advisee comparable: Both groups seek to solve a problem or answer a question by finding new information to add to their current understanding and knowledge base. As a result, librarians familiar with needs and stages of the research process may flourish as advisors to undecided students. In this article, we draw parallels between the needs of novice researchers and those of undecided students, and we advocate the use of an information-search model for all advisors working with undecided students

Digital oral feedback written assignments as professional learning for teacher educators : a collaborative self-study.

Allan Luke (2008) uses a “pedagogical economy where literacy education is taken as a cultural gift”. This paper reports on the digital oral feedback provided to pre-service teachers in a literacy unit and explores the pedagogical gift this feedback is to the teacher educators marking this work. Rather than mark their written work as individual lecturers, we collaboratively read the assignment and recorded the sound file of the conversation around each assignment. We then participated in another conversation with a critical friend, which enabled us to explore the impact of this form of assessment on our professional identities as teacher educators. We found these conversations provided a rich context for our professional learning about ourselves as teacher educators, as well as specific content knowledge we both brought to the teaching of this unit. We found we were working as a team to provide more in-depth feedback of the assessment criteria for each assignment than we did with written feedback. Through this dialogical feedback we were able to construct the pre-service teachers\u27 assignments as an important textual gift in our collaborative professional learning about assessment, and in exploring our beliefs and practices as teacher educators

Grappling with the complexity of the New Zealand Curriculum: Next steps in exploring the NZC in initial teacher education.

Teacher educators in New Zealand are charged with supporting student teachers' understandings of the New Zealand Curriculum document (Ministry of Education, 2007). Integral to this challenge is the need to provide relevant knowledge and understandings that are contextually and pedagogically appropriate (Fullan, 2007; Jasman, 2003). Aspects of the "front end" of the New Zealand Curriculum document such as the vision, principles, values and key competencies along with the learning area statements need to be understood by newly graduated teachers who will be applying this curriculum in their own classrooms. This paper reports on ongoing research investigating and reflecting on student-teacher understandings of these components of the New Zealand curriculum, on completion of three different compulsory papers within the Bachelor of Teaching degree and Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary). Implications for pre-service teacher education and for supporters of provisionally registered teachers are considered

Exploring the front end of New Zealand curriculum in student teacher education: an example from language and mathematics education.

This paper reports on two components of a collaborative project conducted by members of the language and literacy education, mathematics education and social studies teaching teams at the Faculty of Education, The University of Waikato. The teams decided to research the implications of the front end of The New Zealand Curriculum document [NZC] (Ministry of Education, 2007). The front end of the document includes key competencies and a statement describing each learning area. The language and literacy team chose to explore student teacher understandings of the English essence statement and the way in which that learning area is structured. The mathematics education team explored student teacher understandings of and implications for the "thinking" key competency for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Data were collected through in-class observations and tasks, and the analysis of aspects of student assessment work. The findings highlighted the value of an explicit focus on a particular facet of the NZC along with the challenges student teachers experience in envisaging how this might play out in practice

Attachment, behavior problems and interventions

This paper puts forward an explanation for the frequent co-occurrence of attachment and behavior problems in children and the implications of this for interventions; presents preliminary evidence that some behaviorally based parenting programs reduce child behavior problems through two separate, but mutually reinforcing, processes—improved attachment relationships and increased parental use of behavior management techniques; and suggests next steps for the field to improve outcomes for those children who, without interventions that addresses both relationship building and behavior management, are at risk of significant long-term difficulties