1,720,957 research outputs found
Prospects and Challenges at the Open University of Tanzania: Experience from the Field
No full textWhile effective and balanced teaching and support systems have been pointed as among the contributors to the success at Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions and necessary conditions for learners‟ retention at ODL, practitioners at Open University of Tanzania seem to ignore this balance. As we are celebrating the 20 years of Open University of Tanzania existence, there is a need to stop and assess how we are faring on. This paper presents the finding of the opportunities of ODL and challenges facing distance learners at the Open University of Tanzania based in Kagera Region. These opportunities, challenges and some suggestions to rectify the situation are brought to view as eye openers for the OUT to gain insights and move forward while making informed decisions on how to capture the opportunities while minimizing the challenges that its students face as they pursue their course of studies
Mastering the digital frontier: Development of pedagogical use of ICT competences among student-teachers in Tanzania
Full text linkThis study investigated the factors influencing student-teachers’ development and use of pedagogical ICT competences in teaching and learning process. The study was guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge model. A descriptive research method was employed to gather quantitative data from a purposive sample of 187 third-year student-teachers from three universities in Tanzania. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The results indicated a significant positive correlation between variables related to facilitative condition factors for the development of pedagogical ICT competences. Other factors such as attitudes and expectations, operational usefulness, and social influences had positive corrections; although, they were statistically insignificant. Regarding perceived pedagogical ICT competences related to content delivery, about 74% of the respondents perceived themselves as very skilled and 25.67% as fairly skilled. In addition, competences related to incorporating ICT in instructional strategies, 58.82% of the respondents reported that they were very skilled and 34.22% said they were fairly skilled. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to strengthen the training on pedagogical ICT competences and promote effective technology integration in content delivery and instructional strategies
The impact of undergraduate students' perceived social media empowerment in their engagement in sustainability practices: a predictive study
Full text linkUndeniably, the contemporary world is amid a digital revolution, where digital technology has emerged as a powerful, transformative tool that fosters engagement in sustainability initiatives. In light of that contention, this predictive study explored social media empowerment through participation and engagement, access to resources and support, and self-expression and control, analysing their influence on students' engagement in sustainability practices. Based on the quantitative approach and cross-sectional design, pertinent data were collected from 510 undergraduate students using a closed-ended self-developed questionnaire. Subsequently, the collected numerical data were subjected to quantitative analysis, employing descriptive and inferential analysis. The three hypotheses developed were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). The study findings revealed that all three hypotheses were accepted, establishing a positive and statistically significant relationship between social media empowerment and students' perceived engagement in sustainability practices. While all exogenous constructs influenced endogenous constructs, their magnitude of impact varied. The construct of participation and engagement (β=0.311, p<.0001, R2=0.469) depicted the highest predictive power, followed by access to resources and support (β=0.106, p=0.041, R2=0.210). The construct of self-expression and control (β=0.319, p<.0001, R2=0.102) established the lowest predictive power. Therefore, the observed variation underscores the differential role of each construct in enhancing students' engagement in sustainability practices. The findings signify the importance of comprehensive approaches in promoting sustainable practices among undergraduate students through meaningful engagement on social media
Applying the UNESCO ICT competency framework to evaluate digital competencies among undergraduate students in teacher education in Tanzania
Full text linkThe study employed the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (ICT CFT) to assess undergraduate student-teachers' digital competencies in an educational context. Within the quantitative approach, the study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design. The data was collected from a sample of 549 student-teachers through the self-developed questionnaire. Data analysis involved both descriptive and inferential analysis. The study found that student-teachers' digital competencies at both knowledge acquisition and knowledge deepening levels were moderate. However, their digital competencies were moderately higher at the knowledge acquisition level, which signifies confidence in basic digital skills. In addition, it was found that gender and age had statistical significance on perceived digital competencies, particularly at the knowledge acquisition level. Based on the findings, it is recommended that while considering the varying levels of comfort with technology across the gender and age groups, a tiered teacher training programme should be put in place where student-teachers can progress from the basic level to the advanced level of digital competencies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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