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Article
Publication date: 2 July 2018

Nilda Alexandra Sanchez-Rodriguez

Collection assessment is an essential aspect of library collection development, especially for public institutions currently affected by financial budget cuts. Collection managers…

Abstract

Purpose

Collection assessment is an essential aspect of library collection development, especially for public institutions currently affected by financial budget cuts. Collection managers working with little to no budget have the task of establishing unconventional methods of selecting most relevant materials. This paper aims to demonstrate the correlation between a syllabi analysis, faculty survey and circulation statistics as a practical measure to enhance and expand the architecture library services at the City College of New York and in academia in general.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses mixed use assessment strategies to evaluate a library collection. The scope of the study supports combining collection-based practices and use-based methods to gather two types of data: quantitative (including collection size and/or in-house use statistics) and qualitative (accomplished by user opinion surveys, focus groups and/or list checking).

Findings

Out of 74 architecture faculty members, 22 participated in a library survey to help uncover new opportunities for cross-collaboration. The findings simultaneously reinforce the importance of exploring syllabi and usage data as methods of assessment to reveal opportunities for cultivating library collections.

Originality/value

This paper will provide a better understanding of faculty perceptions to discover academic needs and achieve library integration into the design curriculum. The study demonstrates prospective directions for collection evaluation and faculty collaboration to open further opportunities for building a successful library.

Details

Collection and Curation, vol. 37 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9326

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2009

Arash Joorabchi and Abdulhussain E. Mahdi

With the significant growth in electronic education materials such as syllabus documents and lecture notes, available on the internet and intranets, there is a need for robust…

1547

Abstract

Purpose

With the significant growth in electronic education materials such as syllabus documents and lecture notes, available on the internet and intranets, there is a need for robust central repositories of such materials to allow both educators and learners to conveniently share, search and access them. The purpose of this paper is to report on the work to develop a national repository for course syllabi in Ireland.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes a prototype syllabus repository system for higher education in Ireland, which has been developed by utilising a number of information extraction and document classification techniques, including a new fully unsupervised document classification method that uses a web search engine for automatic collection of training set for the classification algorithm.

Findings

Preliminary experimental results for evaluating the performance of the system and its various units, particularly the information extractor and the classifier, are presented and discussed.

Originality/value

In this paper, three major obstacles associated with creating a large‐scale syllabus repository are identified, and a comprehensive review of published research work related to addressing these problems is provided. Two different types of syllabus documents are identified and describe a rule‐based information extraction system capable of extracting structured information from unstructured syllabus documents is described. Finally, the importance of classifying resources in a syllabus digital library is highlighted, a number of standard education classification schemes are introduced, and the unsupervised automated document classification system, which classifies syllabus documents based on an extended version of the International Standard Classification of Education, is described.

Details

The Electronic Library, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0264-0473

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 April 2017

Stafford Alexander Griffith

The purpose of this paper is to show how higher education institutions in the Caribbean may benefit from the quality assurance measures implemented by the Caribbean Examinations…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how higher education institutions in the Caribbean may benefit from the quality assurance measures implemented by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses an outcomes model of quality assurance to analyse the measures implemented by the CXC to assure quality in its examinations. It considers how higher education institutions in the Caribbean can benefit from the approach to quality assurance used by that organization.

Findings

The paper suggests that there are several ways in which the quality assurance in higher education institutions may be improved by using an outcomes model which focuses on the centrality of the student experience by learning from the experiences of the CXC.

Research limitations/implications

The research uses a methodology of theoretical analysis, that is the selection and discussion of theoretical material and descriptive material, in a particular context, and considers their applicability for improving practice, in this case, in higher education institutions in the Caribbean. It therefore does not engage the collection and analysis of quantitative or qualitative data.

Practical implications

The paper suggests that quality assurance practices of higher education institutions in the Caribbean should take into account the lessons that may be learned from the quality assurance measures implemented by the CXC.

Originality/value

The paper calls attention to the need for higher education institutions to make the shift away from a purely institutional approach to quality assurance by adopting a more student-centred approach.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 25 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 November 2019

Amber Murrey

Oriented to ongoing student and university momentums for decolonial futures, the purpose of this paper is to interrogate the role and status of mainstream international development

Abstract

Purpose

Oriented to ongoing student and university momentums for decolonial futures, the purpose of this paper is to interrogate the role and status of mainstream international development curricula and pedagogies by critiquing two absences in the sub-discipline’s teaching formulae: appropriations and assassinations.

Design/methodology/approach

The author draws from a decade of research on oil extraction in Central Africa, including ethnographic work with two communities in Cameroon along the Chad–Cameroon Oil Pipeline; four years of research (interview-based and unofficial or grey materials) on the 1983 August Revolution in Burkina Faso and assassination of Thomas Sankara; and five years of experience teaching international development in North America, Western Europe and North and Eastern Africa.

Findings

Through a critical synthesis of political and rhetorical practices that are often considered in isolation (i.e. political assassinations and corporate appropriation of Indigenous knowledges), the author makes the case for what the author calls pedagogical disobedience: an anticipatory decolonial development curricula and praxis that is attentive to the simultaneity of violence and misappropriation within colonial operations of power (i.e. “coloniality of power” or “coloniality”).

Originality/value

This paper contributes to debates within international development about the future of the discipline given its neo-colonial and colonial constitutions and functions with a grounded attention to how this opens up possibilities for teaching praxis and scholarship in action.

Details

International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 46 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0306-8293

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1996

John Peters

Sets out to discuss the history and present positions of the quality assurance (QA), total quality management (TQM), workplace training and human resource development (HRD…

2099

Abstract

Sets out to discuss the history and present positions of the quality assurance (QA), total quality management (TQM), workplace training and human resource development (HRD) disciplines, Argues that from a position where training gave clear and precise support to QA, the evolved TQM and HRD disciplines have drifted apart, to the detriment of each. Contends that simultaneously, both professional disciplines have become divorced from their original intention of supporting business strategy. Proposes a number of steps to bring HRD, TQM and business needs close together.

Details

Training for Quality, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4875

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 April 2023

Christel Persson, Daniel Einarson and Maria Melén

This study aims to address how a higher education pedagogical course in sustainable development (SD) for university educators affects their teaching efforts in providing…

1738

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to address how a higher education pedagogical course in sustainable development (SD) for university educators affects their teaching efforts in providing sustainability matters for students.

Design/methodology/approach

With the aim of improving that course, a case study approach was used to understand how the educators made use of the course in their teaching practice. Data were collected as written and oral feedback reflections and as semi-structured interviews at course completion.

Findings

Educators clearly express that they understand the concept “about” SD, but there are only vague expressions of a developed teaching repertoire to address education “for” SD in their teaching practice.

Research limitations/implications

When it comes to the purposes of developing sustainability literacy among students, implications from the study furthermore address the needs for further clarifications on both structure and intent on the course presented in this contribution.

Practical implications

The educators as well as their students will be exposed to, and trained in concepts, to prepare them to act in alignment with SD. This, in turn, meets requirements from higher education authorities concerning SD at higher education institutions.

Social implications

A core aim of the covered approach is to support student readiness in SD, and for those to become future agents of positive change.

Originality/value

This study has a focus on presenting how educators change the structures of courses and learning elements to approach SD in their teachings.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 24 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2005

Iftikhar Ali and John Proctor

In an age of information technology some developing countries are more vulnerable than others to international competition through failure to utilize fully the benefits of an ICT…

2863

Abstract

Purpose

In an age of information technology some developing countries are more vulnerable than others to international competition through failure to utilize fully the benefits of an ICT culture. The authors suggest that the strategies in response must include a radical review of attitudes and methods of delivery of ICT in schools and give as an example the recent experience of The City School, the nationwide schools’ organisation in Pakistan with whom they are employed.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors review the current position of ICT in schools in Pakistan and suggest as a model of development, for schools of a corresponding standing, that of The City School. They describe how The City School responded to ICT, ensuring that all its pupils would have access to the most modern of ICT courses. Discusses how the decision to implement a complete change, or revolution, in teaching ICT was brought about in a relatively short time. It discusses the nature of the programme, how it was organised, the materials required and the outcomes of its implementation including its outstanding success with pupils and their parents.

Findings

The authors chronicle the historical developments within The City School that brought about radical change within a comparatively short period and identify careful planning, training, and the motivation of stakeholders, i.e. pupils, teachers and parents, as key elements in its successful implementation.

Originality/value

The authors suggest that The City School experience provides a model that may be emulated by schools elsewhere in both developing and industrially developed countries.

Details

Aslib Proceedings, vol. 57 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0001-253X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 October 2008

Jacqueline Borin and Hua Yi

Currently there is a need for an updated assessment model that addresses and reflects the ongoing diversity of issues related to collection evaluation in academic libraries. The…

4709

Abstract

Purpose

Currently there is a need for an updated assessment model that addresses and reflects the ongoing diversity of issues related to collection evaluation in academic libraries. The purpose of this paper is to provide conceptual guidelines and a model to support collection evaluation and assessment in this time of unstable and constantly changing patterns of information.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper provides a literature review of the collection evaluation and assessment. Based on an analytical study of environmental factors and their relationship to, and impact on, the library collection, the authors propose a new model of collection evaluation to address the needs of the current environment.

Findings

The paper identifies environmental factors in collection evaluation, establishes a set of ratios that need to be addressed and finally, provides a set of indicators for collection evaluation and assessment that can be selected from, and adapted to each library's needs.

Research limitations/implications

This paper bridges two different collection evaluation models, collection‐based and user‐based. It identifies that there is not a single appropriate collection evaluation method. It provides a different perspective to a body of literature that is mostly best practice‐based.

Practical implications

With this research a new model is suggested that provides flexibility and adaptability. It offers a multidimensional approach that libraries can use and adapt to their specific situation.

Originality/value

The new model suggested here addresses a current need generated by a changing information environment. It adds a new approach to the body of literature in the area of collection evaluation.

Details

Collection Building, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0160-4953

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 June 2017

Jacqueline Manuel and Don Carter

This paper provides a critical interpretative analysis of the first secondary English syllabus for schools in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, contained within the Courses for

Abstract

Purpose

This paper provides a critical interpretative analysis of the first secondary English syllabus for schools in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, contained within the Courses for Study for High Schools (New South Wales Department of Public Instruction, 1911). The purpose of the paper is to examine the “continuities that link English curriculum discourses and practices with previous discourses and practices” in the rhetorical curriculum. The analysis identifies those aspects of the 1911 English syllabus that have since become normative and challenges the appropriateness of certain enduring orthodoxies in a twenty-first century context.

Design/methodology/approach

Focussing on a landmark historical curriculum document from 1911, this paper draws on methods of historical comparative and documentary analysis. It sits within the tradition of historical curriculum research that critiques curriculum documents as a primary source for understanding continuities of discourses and practices. A social constructionist approach informs the analysis.

Findings

The conceptualisation of subject English evident in the structure, content and emphases of the 1911 English syllabus encodes a range of “discourses and practices” that have in some form endured or been “reconstituted and remade” (Cormack, 2008, p. 275) over the course of a century. The analysis draws attention to those aspects of the subject that have remained unproblematised and taken-for-granted, and the implications of this for universal student participation and attainment.

Originality/value

This paper reorients critical attention to a significant historical curriculum document that has not, to date, been explored against the backdrop twenty-first century senior secondary English curriculum. In doing so, it presents extended insights into a range of now normative structures, beliefs, ideas, assumptions and practices and questions the potential impact of these on student learning, access and achievement in senior secondary English in NSW in the twenty-first century.

Details

History of Education Review, vol. 46 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0819-8691

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 August 2019

Kyle M.L. Jones and Amy VanScoy

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how instructors discuss student data and information privacy in their syllabi.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reveal how instructors discuss student data and information privacy in their syllabi.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected a mixture of publicly accessible and privately disclosed syllabi from 8,302 library and information science (LIS) courses to extract privacy language. Using privacy concepts from the literature and emergent themes, the authors analyzed the corpus.

Findings

Most syllabi did not mention privacy (98 percent). Privacy tended to be mentioned in the context of digital tools, course communication, policies and assignments.

Research limitations/implications

The transferability of the findings is limited because they address only one field and professional discipline, LIS, and address syllabi for only online and hybrid courses.

Practical implications

The findings suggest a need for professional development for instructors related to student data privacy. The discussion provides recommendations for creating educational experiences that support syllabi development and constructive norming opportunities.

Social implications

Instructors may be making assumptions about the degree of privacy literacy among their students or not value student privacy. Each raises significant concerns if privacy is instrumental to intellectual freedom and processes critical to the educational experience.

Originality/value

In an age of educational data mining and analytics, this is one of the first studies to consider if and how instructors are addressing student data privacy in their courses, and the study initiates an important conversation for reflecting on privacy values and practices.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 75 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

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