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Article
Publication date: 1 August 1961

M.J. Cotter

A Studnet may enter the second (S.2) year of the NC course in Chemistry provided he obtains passes at GCE ‘O’ level in Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and English Language. He…

Abstract

A Studnet may enter the second (S.2) year of the NC course in Chemistry provided he obtains passes at GCE ‘O’ level in Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and English Language. He then pursues a two‐year, part‐time course leading to the ONC in Chemistry. In an article published recently in TECHNICAL EDUCATION it was shown that the failure rate at both the ONC and HNC levels was very high. It was suggested that present syllabuses for courses leading to ONC and HNC were, in many instances, too traditional and too long. A syllabus designed for HNC students may be very suitable when viewed in isolation, but may lead to difficulties for both student and teacher if it has been constructed without reference to the appropriate ONC syllabus; or if it was constructed to make good anomalies in and omissions from the ONC syllabus. The result is that students who are successful at the ONC stage have inadequate understanding and knowledge of fundamental chemistry to profit from the HNC course. This discussion is mainly concerned with ONC schemes and syllabuses, although some of the remarks apply equally well to HNC courses.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 3 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Book part
Publication date: 27 September 2023

Dean Albert Ramser

Supporting students transitioning from high school into college continues to be a challenge for academics and policy-makers. Composition assignments that include Kuh’s (2008) High…

Abstract

Supporting students transitioning from high school into college continues to be a challenge for academics and policy-makers. Composition assignments that include Kuh’s (2008) High Impact Practices (HIP) and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) rubric and HIP tenets of Civic Learning and Community Engagement (Fig. 1), help foster opportunities for empathy, which develops students’ abilities to think critically, write well, and succeed in college and beyond. While effective college teaching and instruction are necessary, increasing enrollments, and increasing percentages of First-Year Composition (FYC) students requiring supportive composition courses compound the difficulties of the effort. According to AAC&U, “a global community requires a more informed, engaged, and socially responsible citizenry” (2009, p. 1; Finley & McNair, 2013). In other words, educators and employers believe that “personal and social responsibility should be core elements of a 21st-century education” (AAC&U, 2009, p. 1). This conceptual content analysis study framed by HIP analyzed 10 FYC syllabi from different composition faculty at one urban Hispanic public four-year university (SMU) in Southern California during the 2015–2016 academic year in the context of the university’s mission statement embracing Civic Learning and Community Engagement for FYC students.

Article
Publication date: 1 June 1987

David Baker

Library assistants were originally considered to be professional librarians in the making, and were trained accordingly. With the expansion of libraries and librarianship…

Abstract

Library assistants were originally considered to be professional librarians in the making, and were trained accordingly. With the expansion of libraries and librarianship, Britain's “apprenticeship” system of qualification gave way to formal library school education, and a new category of “non‐professional staff” was created, of people who were unwilling or unable to proceed to graduate‐level qualification. The development of non‐professional certificates of competence in the UK is described against parallel developments in the US, Canada and Australia; the COMLA training modules are also examined. The theoretical and practical issues surrounding training are discussed, training schemes and qualifications in the four countries analysed, and the relative merits of in‐house training and external certificate programmes argued.

Details

Library Management, vol. 8 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

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: 12 March 2019

Melissa Beuoy and Katherine Boss

The purpose of this paper was to develop a rubric based on the ACRL framework to analyze departmental syllabi for opportunities to scaffold information literacy instruction. The…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to develop a rubric based on the ACRL framework to analyze departmental syllabi for opportunities to scaffold information literacy instruction. The rubric provided a replicable method of gathering and analyzing data using course syllabi to enable instruction librarians to strategically embed information literacy instruction within a disciplinary curriculum.

Design/methodology/approach

This study examined 231 syllabi from three departments at a large American university. The authors developed and normed a rubric based on ACRL’s 2015 Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and coded the syllabi for the presence of these six themes using a three-indicator scale: not present, implied or explicitly stated. Cohen’s kappa calculations for interrater reliability was 0.92, which indicates that the raters had a high level of agreement and that the rubric could be a reliable instrument to replicate this sort of study.

Findings

The analysis revealed numerous opportunities for targeted, curriculum-integrated instruction in each department at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It also offered disciplinary insights on the Framework within and across each program. Thesedata can be used to inform conversations with program administrators about scaffolding information literacy interventions across a curriculum.

Originality/value

This study contributes a new instrument with which to analyze syllabi for information literacy outcomes to develop curricular maps and conduct strategic instructional outreach. The data demonstrated that the rubric is reliable and could be used to replicate this study in a variety of programs or institutions. Authors have presented at Library Instruction West, July 2018.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 47 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 October 2018

Amalia Mas-Bleda and Mike Thelwall

The purpose of this paper is to assess the educational value of prestigious and productive Spanish scholarly publishers based on mentions of their books in online scholarly syllabi

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the educational value of prestigious and productive Spanish scholarly publishers based on mentions of their books in online scholarly syllabi.

Design/methodology/approach

Syllabus mentions of 15,117 books from 27 publishers were searched for, manually checked and compared with Microsoft Academic (MA) citations.

Findings

Most books published by Ariel, Síntesis, Tecnos and Cátedra have been mentioned in at least one online syllabus, indicating that their books have consistently high educational value. In contrast, few books published by the most productive publishers were mentioned in online syllabi. Prestigious publishers have both the highest educational impact based on syllabus mentions and the highest research impact based on MA citations.

Research limitations/implications

The results might be different for other publishers. The online syllabus mentions found may be a small fraction of the syllabus mentions of the sampled books.

Practical implications

Authors of Spanish-language social sciences and humanities books should consider general prestige when selecting a publisher if they want educational uptake for their work.

Originality/value

This is the first study assessing book publishers based on syllabus mentions.

Details

Aslib Journal of Information Management, vol. 70 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-3806

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 June 2014

Katherine Boss and Emily Drabinski

The purpose of this research paper was to establish a replicable method of gathering and analyzing data using course syllabi to enable instruction librarians to strategically…

1370

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research paper was to establish a replicable method of gathering and analyzing data using course syllabi to enable instruction librarians to strategically embed information literacy instruction within a disciplinary curriculum.

Design/methodology/approach

A set of syllabi from the School of Business was evaluated for information literacy learning outcomes and library use requirements using a set of rubric-based content analysis questions. The questions were normed prior to coding to ensure reliability, and interrater reliability was established using two measures: the per cent agreement method and Krippendorff’s alpha.

Findings

The results revealed strategic opportunities for scalable, curriculum-integrated instruction in the School of Business: a group of 28 courses that could be targeted for in-depth instruction, and eight courses whose outcomes could be met through more tailored instruction focused on information access skills.

Originality/value

The reported research study provides a method for evaluating holistic information literacy outcomes in course syllabi, an improvement on prior syllabus analysis projects. Additionally, the reliability of the data means that the study design may be replicated in a variety of institutional contexts.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 42 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

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

Article
Publication date: 14 July 2022

Ali Pakdaman, Goudarz Alibakhshi and Abdollah Baradaran

A couple of decades ago, the negotiated syllabus was introduced as an alternative to the predetermined syllabus. The review of the related studies shows the number of studies on…

Abstract

Purpose

A couple of decades ago, the negotiated syllabus was introduced as an alternative to the predetermined syllabus. The review of the related studies shows the number of studies on the use of negotiated syllabus in English language teaching is scanty. The main purpose of the study was to explore the advantages/merits of employing negotiated syllabus in general English courses that undergraduate students take.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed the phenomenology research method to deeply delve into the undergraduate students' perceptions of the advantages of the negotiated syllabus. The phenomenology method is used for investigating human lived experiences through the descriptions given by the people involved in the study. This qualitative research method is mainly used to study fields with little or no knowledge. The authors collected the data through in-depth interviews with the informants (18 students) who were selected through theoretical sampling. The informants were undergraduate students at Allameh Tabataba'i University who were selected through theoretical sampling. The authors listened to the recordings to transcribe the participants' statements and remarks verbatim. Then, we analyzed the interviews thematically through open, axial and selective coding. This study aimed at exploring the participants' perspectives on the advantages of the negotiated Syllabus. The study's main objective was to investigate the advantages/merits of employing negotiated Syllabus in undergraduate students' general English courses.

Findings

Findings revealed that employing the negotiated syllabus resulted in many advantages which were reduced into three axial coding: psychological, pedagogical and individual. Generally, the negotiated syllabus reduces the students' anxiety, improves their motivation, affects their language achievement and develops their critical thinking and learner autonomy.

Practical implications

Teachers are recommended to minimize the constraints and use the negotiated syllabus to optimize language learners' motivation and language achievement in teaching English programs.

Originality/value

The impact of the negotiated syllabus on language learners has been investigated through quantitative research methods. However, the language learners' perceptions of the negotiated syllabus have not been well explored qualitatively.

Details

Qualitative Research Journal, vol. 22 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1443-9883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 November 2020

Erastus Karanja and Laurell C. Malone

This study aims to investigate how to improve the project management (PM) curriculum by evaluating the nature and alignment of learning outcomes in the PM course syllabi with…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate how to improve the project management (PM) curriculum by evaluating the nature and alignment of learning outcomes in the PM course syllabi with Bloom’s Taxonomy framework.

Design/methodology/approach

The research methodology for this study is an integrative approach that uses document analysis and content analysis. The data set was selected based on a purposeful sampling method and came from PM course syllabi for classes that were taught during the 2016–2018 academic years.

Findings

Results revealed that most of the reviewed PM course syllabi contained learning outcomes although they were written and assessed at the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy and knowledge dimensions. The study calls for the academy and industry to partner in improving the PM curriculum to lower the PM talent deficit and increase project success rates.

Research limitations/implications

The absence of PM learning outcomes or the presence of poorly written PM learning outcomes in a course implies that the academy should provide professional development programs to help professors learn how to formulate and write specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely learning outcomes. The professors should also ensure that the learning outcomes use a type of cognitive taxonomy that is aligned with the appropriate assessments to measure, monitor and guarantee assurance of learning.

Practical implications

Academy and industry partners can work collaboratively to provide students with opportunities that expose them to real-world experiential projects, internships and job opportunities while concurrently giving them hands-on practical applications of learned PM knowledge and skills. The society will be well served when the academy is able to produce well-qualified PM personnel capable of successfully carrying out PM activities and lowering the project’s failure rates.

Social implications

The society will be well served when the academy is able to produce well-qualified PM personnel capable of successfully carrying out PM activities and lowering the project’s failure rates.

Originality/value

To the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first study to specifically investigate the presence and nature of PM learning outcomes in course syllabi. By evaluating the alignment between PM learning outcomes and Bloom’s Taxonomy action verbs and cognitive processes, the study provides some exemplars of well-written and measurable learning outcomes that professors can use to inform their PM curriculum through course design or redesign.

Details

Journal of International Education in Business, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-469X

Keywords

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