title: Learning objects and the development of students’ key competencies: A New Zealand school experience

authors: Falloon, Garry

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: This paper outlines a study investigating the impact of the use of learning objects on the development of two key competencies from the revised New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Ministry of Education, 2007). It specifically focuses on the key competencies of ‘thinking’ and ‘relating to others’, and explores how teachers in an urban intermediate school (year 7 and 8) planned and integrated learning objects into a wider ‘community’ social studies topic, and the impact this integration had on student competency development. Outcomes from the study indicate that learning objects can, for some students, provide a motivating and engaging learning experience through which thinking capabilities and relationship skills can be enhanced, but that such development is dependent upon several factors including the design, content, and level of interactivity of the objects, how closely they align with learning goals, the careful selection of student groupings, and how access to the learning objects is organised and managed. The study also revealed some issues with the use of new digital data collection tools, particularly related to the accuracy of coding of visual information, and how to best translate this into text format for publication without ‘diluting’ its richness and meaning.

text: Learning objects and the development of students’ key competencies: A New Zealand school experience This paper outlines a study investigating the impact of the use of learning objects on the development of two key competencies from the revised New Zealand Curriculum Framework (Ministry of Education, 2007). It specifically focuses on the key competencies of ‘thinking’ and ‘relating to others’, and explores how teachers in an urban intermediate school (year 7 and 8) planned and integrated learning objects into a wider ‘community’ social studies topic, and the impact this integration had on student competency development. Outcomes from the study indicate that learning objects can, for some students, provide a motivating and engaging learning experience through which thinking capabilities and relationship skills can be enhanced, but that such development is dependent upon several factors including the design, content, and level of interactivity of the objects, how closely they align with learning goals, the careful selection of student groupings, and how access to the learning objects is organised and managed. The study also revealed some issues with the use of new digital data collection tools, particularly related to the accuracy of coding of visual information, and how to best translate this into text format for publication without ‘diluting’ its richness and meaning.

year: 2010

title: A Generic Alerting Service for Digital Libraries

authors: Buchanan, George

subjects: alerting

abstract: Users of modern digital libraries (DLs) can keep themselves up-to-date by searching and browsing their favorite collections, or more conveniently by resorting to an alerting service. The alerting service notifies its clients about new or changed documents. Proprietary and mediating alerting services fail to fluidly integrate information from differing collections. This paper analyses the conceptual requirements of this much-sought after service for digital libraries. We demonstrate that the differing concepts of digital libraries and its underlying technical design has extensive influence (a) the expectations, needs and interests of users regarding an alerting service, and (b) on the technical possibilities of the implementation of the service. Our findings will show that the range of issues surrounding alerting services for digital libraries, their design and use is greater than one may anticipate. We also show that, conversely, the requirements for an alerting service have considerable impact on the concepts of DL design. Our findings should be of interest for librarians as well as system designers. We highlight and discuss the far-reaching implications for the design of, and interaction with, libraries. This paper discusses the lessons learned from building such a distributed alerting service. We present our prototype implementation as a proof-of-concept for an alerting service for open DL software.

text: A Generic Alerting Service for Digital Libraries Users of modern digital libraries (DLs) can keep themselves up-to-date by searching and browsing their favorite collections, or more conveniently by resorting to an alerting service. The alerting service notifies its clients about new or changed documents. Proprietary and mediating alerting services fail to fluidly integrate information from differing collections. This paper analyses the conceptual requirements of this much-sought after service for digital libraries. We demonstrate that the differing concepts of digital libraries and its underlying technical design has extensive influence (a) the expectations, needs and interests of users regarding an alerting service, and (b) on the technical possibilities of the implementation of the service. Our findings will show that the range of issues surrounding alerting services for digital libraries, their design and use is greater than one may anticipate. We also show that, conversely, the requirements for an alerting service have considerable impact on the concepts of DL design. Our findings should be of interest for librarians as well as system designers. We highlight and discuss the far-reaching implications for the design of, and interaction with, libraries. This paper discusses the lessons learned from building such a distributed alerting service. We present our prototype implementation as a proof-of-concept for an alerting service for open DL software.

year: 2005-06-07

title: Tarāwhai Tāngata Rau

authors: Hiini, Anaha Te Wheoro

subjects: Tarāwhai

abstract: Ngāti Tarāwhai are a unique tribal group from the Te Arawa confederation of tribes.  Located around their traditional stronghold of Lake Okataina, Tarāwhai have endured throughout history to become a proud and noble clan, maintaining their culture and distinctive tribal practises.  Part of their survival throughout time has been their ability to rely on particular traits and attributes that have been portrayed and maintained by members of Tarāwhai across the generations.  These special characteristics have not only supported the development of Tarāwhai, but have also helped the evolution of Tarāwhai’s identity.

This thesis is concerned with four aspects that have been identified as common traits throughout Ngāti Tarāwhai history.  In particular, this study will look at the roles of leaders, tohunga, warriors and carving experts and explore how these qualities have featured significantly within Tarāwhai’s history for many generations.  Furthermore, this thesis will discuss how these aspects have influenced the development of the tribe from early time through to the present day.

It is the proposition of this thesis that the above mentioned attributes have shaped the people of Tarāwhai into the tribal group that they are today.  In addition, while Māori society has changed dramatically in the last 100 years, Tarāwhai continue to display these characteristics in a modern world, and they are still central to the reaffirmation of Tarāwhai identity and the overall wellbeing of the people.  Finally this thesis believes that these attributes must be maintained and perpetuated for Tarāwhi to have a secure place in the future.

text: Tarāwhai Tāngata Rau Ngāti Tarāwhai are a unique tribal group from the Te Arawa confederation of tribes.  Located around their traditional stronghold of Lake Okataina, Tarāwhai have endured throughout history to become a proud and noble clan, maintaining their culture and distinctive tribal practises.  Part of their survival throughout time has been their ability to rely on particular traits and attributes that have been portrayed and maintained by members of Tarāwhai across the generations.  These special characteristics have not only supported the development of Tarāwhai, but have also helped the evolution of Tarāwhai’s identity.

This thesis is concerned with four aspects that have been identified as common traits throughout Ngāti Tarāwhai history.  In particular, this study will look at the roles of leaders, tohunga, warriors and carving experts and explore how these qualities have featured significantly within Tarāwhai’s history for many generations.  Furthermore, this thesis will discuss how these aspects have influenced the development of the tribe from early time through to the present day.

It is the proposition of this thesis that the above mentioned attributes have shaped the people of Tarāwhai into the tribal group that they are today.  In addition, while Māori society has changed dramatically in the last 100 years, Tarāwhai continue to display these characteristics in a modern world, and they are still central to the reaffirmation of Tarāwhai identity and the overall wellbeing of the people.  Finally this thesis believes that these attributes must be maintained and perpetuated for Tarāwhi to have a secure place in the future.

year: 2013