1,720,955 research outputs found
The ‘blend’ in blended learning : establishing a balance between face-to-face and online learning in a pattern making and garment construction class
No full textDissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Applied Arts: Fashion, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2020.This study explored the use of blended learning in a fashion design class, working within the constructivist orientation with a mixed methods case study and using a sequential exploratory approach in order to focus on the effectiveness of the blended learning design and how it is experienced by the participants. The case study was based on a group of second year fashion design students from a private design institution in South Africa, for the combined subject, pattern making and garment construction. The purpose of this research was to investigate the ways in which face-to-face learning and online learning could best be blended to facilitate instruction in this particular class. The study focused on establishing what combination of online and face-to-face delivery could be seen to be most effective in achieving the project learning outcomes within the time and resource constraints available for the combined pattern making and garment construction subject. A blended learning curriculum model (Huang, Ma and Zhang, 2008) was used to assist in preparation for the blended learning programme, with online learning delivery being effected by means of Google Classroom, the learning management system recommended by the private design institution. The sequential exploratory approach involved two projects, so that insights gained from the first project could be applied to modify the blended learning design for the second project, if and as required. Quantitative data were used to establish a baseline of students’ prior understanding of blended learning, pattern making and garment construction processes. Qualitative data were collected in the form of interviews, questionnaires and observations, allowing for a descriptive understanding of how students as well as the lecturer (who was the researcher) experienced the blended learning classroom, and how effective that blend was in achieving the desired learning outcomes; opportunities were also offered for reflection. The results revealed that, not only did blended learning delivery need to be applied in a developmental way, with ongoing adjustments to accommodate best teaching/learning practice, but also that different fashion ‘briefs’ (that is, the tasks involved) might require modifications to the blended learning delivery design. This suggests that there is no ideal ‘blend’ in blended learning, but that, like other forms of learning, it is exploratory, tentative and constantly evolving. It is hoped that this study will offer insights into how face-to-face and online learning can be combined to best facilitate the learning process in this particular case, where practical assistance with students’ individual design projects traditionally requires a large amount of the instructional time available. As many vocational university subjects have similar time and resource constraints, particularly in facilitating practical application of theory at a professional standard, it is also hoped that, to some extent, the results will be generalizable to other disciplines.
The hidden sell : subversive advertising of fashion products in social media
No full textDissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Master of Technology: Fashion, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2018.With the exorbitant growth in technological presence and the introduction of social media, a whole new realm of advertising and marketing possibilities has been opened to businesses. This study investigated people’s perceptions of the use of social media for advertising fashion products under the guise of social media interaction. In other words, online marketing is seen as “subversive” as it is a deceptive form of advertising using celebrity allure to attract prospective clients. The target population comprised females between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine as this population was found to represent the majority of social media users. The purpose of the study was to establish whether the social media users canvassed were aware of this subversive type of advertising, whether they responded by buying the products, and how effective they found this type of marketing overall. The research was carried out within a social constructivist framework, using a nested/embedded strategy in a mixed-methods approach. Users of social networking in South Africa were recruited by means of an Instagram post which introduced the idea of the “subversive sell” and gave them the option of participating in an online survey on the topic. Respondents were also offered the option of participating in two focus groups in the Durban area in order to obtain more in-depth feedback on this marketing strategy. Results showed that participants were aware of the fact that they were being targeted, and that they saw it as an inevitable outcome of using social media. However, it irritated them when realising that social media were saturated with advertisements, and that they should be importuned incessantly with such. They also reported that they would not necessarily purchase fashion products advertised in this way and would rather rely on word-of-mouth recommendations on social media from people using these products. Respondents did, however, comment on the immediacy and novelty of this form of advertising. It was concluded that subversive advertising via social media was not that different from the celebrity endorsements found in traditional media, and that people were responding to this strategy in similar ways.
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Theoretically Speaking – An Autoethnographic Journey in Crossing Disciplines to Being-Becoming a Practical Scholar
Get PDFBecoming a PhD scholar requires a change in identity and new ways of thinking. This is difficult for those from practical backgrounds who struggle to merge the theoretical/scholarly with the creative/practical. Moving towards the scholarly calls for the unlearning of previously held truths. Starting autoethnographically, metaphorical drawings opened up space for critical reflection – crucial to researching oneself. Three metaphorical drawings were made for seminal points in my journey from a fashion design lecturer to a PhD scholar. Each drawing is accompanied by a short narrative and further analysed through conversations with my PhD supervisor. In writing the narratives and dialogue, deeper insights were gained in understanding the role of theory, allowing me to see how my identity was shifting into that of being a scholar. Simultaneously, using visuals as tangible objects allowed me to challenge the familiar while drawing on the resources of my practical background. The result was the inherent alignment of theory and practice, a deeper understanding of the changes within my identities and the alignment of my disparate selves. The use of visual methods has value for others wishing to find a way to bring the strengths of their current disciplines into a more scholarly realm
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe 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
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
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