[DOWNLOAD] "Developing an Interpretative Approach to Competency-Based Training and Learning." by Australian Academic & Research Libraries * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Developing an Interpretative Approach to Competency-Based Training and Learning.
- Author : Australian Academic & Research Libraries
- Release Date : January 01, 2003
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 213 KB
Description
This statement, although controversial, gives cause to reflect on the enthusiasm for competency-based training in Australia and other parts of the world. The project discussed in this article (referred to as 'the training project'), which began in September 2001, draws upon competency-based approaches to learning and is informed by the debates that have surrounded them. The project was initiated by the State Library of NSW (SLNSW), supported by the National Library of Australia (NLA), with the aim of developing the competency of Australian public librarians in using online databases. Staff members of SLNSW were aware of findings of a Victorian project, (2) which had found that databases in public libraries at that time were not being used to optimal level. They believed that the situation was similar in NSW. The objectives of the project include: to investigate perceptions of a sample of librarians about their present skills and needs for training in using All the authors are members of the research group, Information and Telecommunications Needs Research (ITNR), a joint venture of Monash University and Charles Sturt University (CSU). The Director, Dr Kirsty Williamson holds appointments at MU and CSU, Professor Don Schauder is the MU Chair and Marion Bannister is based at CSU. Email: kirsty.williamson@sims.monash.edu.au, MBannister@csu.edu.au and don.schauder@sims.monash.edu.au sample of librarians about their present skills and needs for training in using online databases to satisfy clients' requests for information; to observe the range of skills in using online databases of the same sample of librarians; to investigate ways of building generic training modules which will include core sets of competencies and which will apply across a range of databases and search engines; and to test and evaluate the training modules with the original sample against specific learning outcomes. This article discusses the early findings from this project in the context of issues of competency-based training. It begins with a discussion of the issues mooted in the opening quote: the differences between training, learning and education. It then describes how competency-based training has evolved over the past decade, before discussing the role of context in work-related learning for the information professions, raising the possibility of including a role for context and the individual in the application of competency-based principles. Such an approach is seen as 'interpretative' (also termed 'interpretivist') when applied to research and this was the philosophy which underpinned the training project. The first stage of the empirical work is outlined in the article and the results of this stage are presented. The conclusion considers the appropriateness of applying an interpretative approach, not only in the research being undertaken for the project, but also in the training to be offered as an outcome.