Media literacy scholars have to a great extent ignored the assessment of media literacy outcomes and associated challenges. Martens (2010) states that evaluating and explaining the effectiveness of media literacy education is one of the most overwhelming challenges for current research in the field. Buckingham and Domaille (2009) claim that the lack of structured assessment procedures likely contributed to the lack of status of media literacy education. The purpose of this mixed methods study (exploratory sequential design) was therefore to explore the views of media literacy scholars and professionals on media literacy assessment through qualitative interviews (N = 10) with the intent of using this information to develop a quantitative survey to validate and extend the qualitative findings with a larger sample of media literacy professionals and scholars from all around the world (N = 171). The study provides an overview of goals and outcomes of media literacy education. In addition, it provides information about the extent to which outcomes are specified and by whom these outcomes are specified. The study also offers a comprehensive overview of assessment methods that were used by participants of the study, the role that media literacy plays in their work, and the entities which developed these assessment methods. It provides further detail about the extent to which the learning process and product are assessed, the importance of context in assessment, approaches that are used to evaluate and interpret students' work, and factors that influence the way participants assess media literacy. The study also offers an overview of assessment challenges that were encountered by participants and the extent to which these are considered challenges for the field. In addition, for each of the assessment methods that were used by participants, a distinct set of challenges is identified. An account of the extent that respondents felt constrained by any outside regulations or mandates is provided as well, along with a description of how they would assess media literacy void of these constraints. Finally, methods to overcome media literacy challenges are presented, along with recommendations to improve the effectiveness of media literacy assessment. / Ph. D.

This thesis is formed of two papers. The first paper is concerned with the construction and design of the Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure (SSEM), based upon the constructs that children have about learning to spell and findings from a literature search. The second paper further develops the SSEM, carrying out a large test administration and validation, and then exploring relationships between perceived efficacy beliefs and spelling ability. The rationale to create a measure of spelling self-efficacy originally stemmed from conversations with teachers during my placement experiences as a trainee educational psychologist. It was often the case that children in schools were not making progress in literacy, despite ongoing and high quality intervention and support. I carried out a literature review and found that the majority of spelling support packages were focused on building children’s mastery of skills rather than any focus on the emotional aspects of learning. I had many conversations with teachers about ways in which they could support children’s beliefs in their capabilities to learn, and had positive reviews with lots of school staff about how this had helped them make interventions more personalised to the child. The two papers in this thesis outline the steps taken to develop and construct the Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure. There were originally five domains underpinning the Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure: Belief in Own Ability to Learn to Spell; Belief in Learner Characteristics; Belief in the Need for Help from Others; Belief in Phonological Awareness; and Belief in Technical Understanding of Spelling. These five areas were condensed through analysis in both Paper 1 and Paper 2 to propose a revised Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure underpinned by three domains: Phonological Awareness, Learner Independence and Optimism in Abilities; Learner Confidence and Resilience. The Spelling Self-Efficacy Measure has been found to be a reliable and valid scale to explore children’s perceived efficacy beliefs about learning to spell. Consistent with existing research, significant correlations have been found between a child’s spelling ability and their level of spelling self-efficacy, as measured by the SSEM.

In recent years the Web has evolved from a collection of hyperlinked documents to a vast ecosystem of interconnected documents, devices, services, and agents. However, the open nature of the Web enables anyone or any thing to publish any content they choose. Therefore poor quality data can quickly propagate and an appropriate mechanism to assess the quality of such data is essential if agents are to identify reliable information for use in decision-making. Existing assessment frameworks investigate the context around data (additional information that describes the situation in which a datum was created). Such metadata can be made available by publishing information to the Web of Linked Data. However, there are situations in which examining context alone is not sufficient - such as when one must identify the agent responsible for data creation, or transformational processes applied to data. In these situations, examining data provenance is critical to identifying quality issues. Moreover, there will be situations in which an agent is unable to perform a quality assessment of their own. For example, if the original contextual metadata is no longer available. Here, it may be possible for agents to explore provenance of previous quality assessments and make decisions about quality result re-use. This thesis explores issues around quality assessment and provenance in the Web of Linked Data. It contributes a formal model of quality assessment designed to align with emerging standards for provenance on the Web. This model is then realised as an OWL ontology, which can be used as part of a software framework to perform data quality assessment. Through a number of real-world examples, spanning environmental sensing, invasive species monitoring, and passenger information domains, the thesis establishes the importance of examining provenance as part of quality assessment. Moreover, it demonstrates that by examining quality assessment provenance agents can make re-use decisions about existing quality assessment results. Included in these implementations are sets of example quality metrics that demonstrate how these can be encoded using the SPARQL Inferencing Notation (SPIN).

No description available.

Vi genomförde denna studie utifrån våra två frågeställningar: Hur beskriver och förklarar några pedagoger och bibliotekarier att de använder barnböcker i sin verksamhet? Vilka avsikter om bokens funktion framkommer? Detta eftersom vi ville undersöka hur representanter från förskola och bibliotek uttrycker strategier i arbetet med barnböcker. För att begränsa vår studie valde vi att intervjua sex pedagoger på fem olika förskolor och två bibliotekarier på två olika bibliotek. Resultatet visade på att alla intervjuade använder olika strategier i arbete med barnböcker, ofta med ett socialt och språkutvecklande syfte. Pedagogerna och bibliotekarierna betonade betydelsen av att utgå från barns intressen i arbetet med barnböcker och den fysiska och sociala språkmiljöns påverkan på barns möjlighet att interagera med böcker. Resultatet visade även att det fanns ett intresse för samarbete mellan pedagoger och bibliotekarier och det fanns en vilja hos både parter att utöka och utveckla det vidare. Vi kan dra slutsatsen att medvetenhet om strategier hos verksamma inom förskola och bibliotek är en viktig utgångspunkt i arbetet med barnböcker. _______________________________________________________ Nyckelord: bibliotekarie, barnbok, pedagog, förskola, literacy

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This report examines how academic librarians and theorists have discussed the issue of discipline-based information literacy instructional approaches since the publication of the ACRL Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education in 2000. As Kate Manuel has recently noted, the Standards balance outcomes and indicators of universal or general information-literacy skills with more discipline-specific skills. Prior to the publication of the ACRL Standards, Stephen Plum argued that disciplinary standards can provide valuable frameworks for library instruction; more recent theorists have focused attention on general skills, some arguing that discipline-based skills are the province of subject faculty, others suggesting that discipline-based skills are modeled on more general skills, still others suggesting that liaison librarians work collaboratively with faculty to address discipline-specific information needs. Based on a literature survey, my report is a thought piece addressing the following interlocking questions: how do discipline-based skills relate to more general skills? Who should teach discipline-based information literacy? Is information literacy a discipline in its own right? What role might the subject specialist play in discipline-based information literacy initiatives? / text

Increased numbers of low educated adults lacking basic first language literacy skills are moving to the United States making literacy an important individual difference to consider in the field of second language acquisition and ESL instruction (Tarone, Bigelow, & Hansen, 2009; Young-Scholten, 2013). Many of the materials and instructional approaches typically used in ESL classes assume students are literate in their first languages which is increasingly not the case. These learners may be affected by difficult life experiences such as interrupted schooling resulting from long sojourns in refugee camps. Chapter one of this Report will give readers an introduction to some of these low-literate learners, focusing on the background of a specific group of Somali learners at Kakuma refugee camp. Chapters two and three review research on the development of literacy skills and the efficacy of various approaches to teaching basic literacy skills. Special attention is paid to how first language literacy skills might affect an individual's acquisition of L2 literacy. Chapter four examines a pilot ESL course which taught low-literate adult Somali refugees at Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya and suggests introducing basic first language literacy skills into the ESL course curriculum. / text

The BarOn EQ-i model of emotional intelligence and Factor 1 of Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist-Revised: Screening Version were used to assess emotional literacy and callous-unemotional traits in sixty female offenders. Findings suggest that female offenders show significant emotional literacy deficits compared to the normal population especially in areas of empathy, social responsibility and interpersonal relationships. This association was examined further in relation to criminal history variables; seriousness and chronicity. Emotional literacy was predictive of criminal history, but not offender type. Contrary to expectations, callous-unemotional traits only showed a few relations to emotional literacy namely, significant correlations between PCL: SV Factor 1 score and aspects of problem solving. Violent offenders with high callous-unemotional traits showed significantly more emotional literacy deficits than non-violent offenders with high callous-unemotional traits, especially in interpersonal and adaptability emotional literacy areas. Interestingly those that demonstrated suicidal ideation regardless of offence type showed the poorest emotional literacy abilities and were more likely to show higher levels of callous-unemotional traits. The implications and recommendations for future research as well as the limitations of the study are discussed.