Technology and media preferences:

Results from some user studies in Albanian public libraries

Author(s): Athina Basha,Polona Vilar,Ivanka Stričević / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

The paper studies the state of awareness of information literacy and media literacy in Albania and the role of libraries in raising their capacity in fostering use of technology and media and practicing polices of life-long learning (LLL) and education. There is an urgent need in Albania to raise the awareness of information and media literacy issues in the new realities and the skills needed to navigate, evaluate, and use information and technology. The role of the libraries and other institutions is of great importance and impact when it comes to assisting users of all levels not only to find but also to evaluate and use information properly for professional and daily life decisions. This research and the surveys done in Fier Public Library during 1995-2012, will bring a contribution to a greater understanding of the situation in most of the public libraries in Albania and the impact that information, media, and new technologies have in our daily life. The purpose of the research is to raise the awareness of all the stakeholders in Albanian society on its importance for future development. The research has shown that libraries, librarians, and other stakeholders of the society lack understanding on information and media literacy as well as the right infrastructure to support the development of information and communication technology (ICT).

Szkolenie biblioteczne dla studentów Uniwersytetu Papieskiego Jana Pawła II w Krakowie

Author(s): Dorota Górska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 41 (2)/2015

Computerization and thus an access to the growing knowledge resources, requires continuous training and gaining new qualifications. The library meetings with students allow to inform them how to easily use the university book collection. Training for new students should be a regular part of the teaching process at the university library. Its main aim is to pass basic, practical knowledge about the library and how to use library resources and services by oneself.

Egzemplifikacje modeli wsparcia edukacji włączającej na podstawie rozwiązań przyjętych w różnych krajach

Author(s): Anna Zamkowska / Language(s): English,Czech,Polish Issue: 22/2016

The aim of the paper is to present some models of the inclusive education support activities carried out in the Netherlands (consortia of schools) and the UK (a two-level support system, SENCO). These solutions enable the coordination of educational policy at various levels and cooperation of various partners.

Rezerwaty i przestrzenie włączające w przestrzeni rzeczywistości szkolnej

Author(s): Maciej Jabłoński / Language(s): English,Czech,Polish Issue: 22/2016

The text presents an attempt to look at the classroom space from two perspectives. Firstly, this is done as a kind of reserve – through the category of HELP, viewed in compliance with Edward Hajduk’s typology and the perspective of including spaces, referring to John Amos Comenius’s idea of Pampaedia. The author raises the question – How is it with that freedom and security in relation to the school reality, which constitutes the essential part of the Student Council, which is made up of all learners? On the other hand, it turns out that, according to the law, Student Council is not for everyone (e.g. for learners with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disability, students of prison schools, preschool children). In that case is this not social exclusion instead of inclusion? After all, as loving parents, teachers, citizens, people should be interested in what often unconsciously inflict their children, learners, younger generations, depriving them of the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, action, being entitled it make mistakes due to their own ignorance. In this way, learners are introduced to the depending world where they see no place for their autonomy.

Naučit, nebo inkludovat?

Author(s): Boris Titzl / Language(s): English,Czech,Polish Issue: 22/2016

Inclusion, which should be understood as an individual’s gradual settling in the social whole, in the school environment, is most frequently limited to the integration of the disabled or socially maladjusted in mainstream schools. It is not important what and how a learner learns but what matters is where and with whom. Such a change itself is supposed to maximize the educational effect. The author’s goal is to show that it is exactly the opposite which takes place and that the notion of integration is an ideological construct constituting the essence of disabled children’s education but the young do not understand its message. The author also shows how different segments of special education have worked out the way to knowledge, the significance of which is sufficiently verified by experience. What is treated with particular criticism are two important issues referring to the understanding of inclusion according to the Czech law: providing education for children with mild intellectual disabilityand for Roma children. Officially, children from both groups should be offered equal educational chances. However, in an indirect way, the author admits that this can bring about an opposite effect in building their social acceptance, in their education and future employment. In this context, the doubts are presented and some examples are provided concerning the whole concept of support. In spite of the declared individual support for each person, the examples do not show that this way of educating disabled learners is efficient.Being interested in education of every child and taking into account the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is important to verify what is effective and what has been successfully checked instead of promoting ideological solutions imposed as the right ones.

Przegląd badań empirycznych nad inkluzją w edukacji

Author(s): Beata Cytowska / Language(s): English,Czech,Polish Issue: 22/2016

The author has made an overview of the studies on inclusive education from the period when there were no directives of the Ministry of National Education introducing the possibility of organizing inclusive education (the 80s) to the recent times. The results were compared of the research into the teachers’ environment, the effects of teaching learners with special educational needs resulting from their disability, and the poor material preparation of mainstream schools. Some references were also made to the results of foreign studies by juxtaposing and comparing selected systems in the context of teachers’ situation in mainstream schools, disabled learners, and organizational solutions in education. What was comprised in the recapitulation were the most important conclusions and suggestionsconcerning the undertaking of activities which can support educational inclusion in Poland.

Szkolenia biblioteczne online w Bibliotece Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego. Wyniki ankiety ewaluacyjnej

Author(s): Justyna Jerzyk - Wojtecka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2017

The article describes the basic methodological issues of the e-learning and their function in the preparation of the online library training forUniversity of Łódź students. Supported with the results of the training evaluation survey, the students’ attitude to the course and their own skills assessmentof the library service knowledge was characterized. In conclusion, the demands for adjustments of the training to the needs of the academic youths have been made.

Organizing urban planning doctoral education in a global context

Author(s): Tiberiu Florescu,Alexandru-Ionuţ Petrişor / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2017

Starting in 2005, Romanian education started its true reform in a globalizing context. Universities were assessed based on their performance; as a result, the doctoral education, meant to provide for the future trainers at Bachelor’s and Master’s levels, had to re-focus on research. The process was slower in the case of urban planning, due to the fact that publications and citations are not characteristic research outputs of the field. The paper discusses the process of creating the first Romanian doctoral school of urban planning starting from the hypothesis that its new focus required a positivist systemic understanding of urban planning research. The results show that the new approach was productive and well received by the doctoral students, and has a beneficial influence on urban planning in general, increasing its international visibility.

Културно-образовни програми за особе са инвалидитетом

Author(s): Marina Neđić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1-2/2016

Persons with disabilities are excluded, completely or partially, from the social system and in the future efforts should be made for their integration into society. By presenting programmatic activities intended for persons with disabilities in the Belgrade City Library Network, the intention was to promote examples of good library practice, innovative and quality ways of working with users, and most importantly, to highlight that culture is not a luxury, but a real need of disabled people. Programs intended for this population group have not only cultural, but also humane and social dimensions, because in this way a library is helping the disabled to be successfully integrated into society.

Самовредновање рада школског библиотекара као изазов и подстицај

Author(s): Anđelka Pejović Radovanović,Ana R. Duković / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1-2/2016

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the improvement of the work of school librarians, in order to be able to evaluate their work through objective and systematic monitoring, and by taking over new professional initiatives to improve the quality of their operations and thus increase the efficiency of total educational process in school.Through the process of self-evaluation a librarian receives concrete testimonies that show, confirm, illustrate and document his/her weaknesses and flaws, but also emphasize the quality and good patterns of set performance targets. Accepting the methods for creative evaluation, the librarian has an opportunity to give his/her best in accordance with his/her capabilities. Using self-evaluation, a librarian estimates, develops, and accepts new professional approaches and principles, trying to find new opportunities for his/her work and set new goal for himself/herself. The process of individual self-evaluation provides an opportunity for a librarian to perceive specific needs and create specific conditions in school library, where he/she can operate more effectively and improve the professional skills that are required. By displaying the best implemented activities, a school librarian self-actualize himself/herself. Displaying those activities that best illustrate the development and advancements, he/she exchanges with other experiential achievements that can stimulate the creative process and cooperation with colleagues, both in school among teachers and among librarians.

Dekalog internacjonalizacji szkolnictwa wyższego w Polsce

Author(s): Krzysztof Leja,Karolina Wysocka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

Development of internationalization, just like the management improvement or mission diversification are currently the most important challenges to Polish higher education (HE) institutions. It was also visible in the course of works over the project of the new Polish higher education law. World-wide literature studies present a number of scientific papers dealing with the issue of internationalization of research and teaching in HE. However, the lack of an applied approach to the implementation of internationalization in the administrative sphere can be observed and that is why the Authors chose to contribute to that field. They distilled ten major areas of implementation crucial for the quality of internationalization, calling them a Decalogue of internationalization because of their significance. Those areas could be assemled in two groups: those relating to the culture of an internationalization, (awareness, motivation and engagement) and those with more operational character (strategy, placement, curriculum, information flow, promotion and image building as well as campus development). Each of these areas was discussed shortly in the article. In conclusion the Authors suggested that internationalization touches all areas of administrative and operational activities and that there is a close interrelatedness between the internationalization, as a cultural process, and the academic tradition.

Wykorzystanie zasobów cyfrowych w oświacie

Author(s): Jan Fazlagić / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

Digital resources appear in increasing numbers in Polish primary and secondary classrooms. Questions will continue to be asked about the effectiveness of these resources and the intensity of their application by Polish teachers. It is not the resources themselves, however, which are likely to make a difference to student learning outcomes, but the extent to which those resources are used by the teachers and their skills in applying them in every day work at schools. This paper includes some findings from a study conducted among Polish teachers regarding the application of digital resources, with special emphasis on the development of innovation skills. The results of a survey conducted within a research report “A School For Innovators” commissioned by the Polish Ministry of Development in 2017 are presented.

Edukacyjne zasoby internetowe w akademickim nauczaniu języka rzadkiego – typologia i ocena przydatności dydaktycznej

Author(s): Joanna Małocha / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

The use of the internet in academic education, particularly in foreign language teaching, has been growing noticeably. However,the latest advances in the information and communication technology are not something that is commonly associated withthe teaching of classes in ancient languages, as these are traditionally linked with the use of the grammar translation method.The purpose of this paper is to analyse an example of how online educational resources are used in the teaching of a foreignlanguage that is classified not only as a revived language, but also as a rare one.The author of this paper attempts to propose a typology of online resources that can be used in teaching the Coptic languageand describes each identified category of such resources. Furthermore, the different types of educational resources areevaluated for their usefulness in the teaching process and for their value as a source of knowledge. The basis for the theoreticaldiscussion in this paper are observations made by the teacher over her five years’ practice of teaching the Coptic languageas well as the results of surveys carried out among the students of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow in theperiod of 2010–2015.

Kompensowanie efektów elektronicznego wykluczenia uczniów niewidomych poprzez zastosowanie multimodalnych interfejsów użytkownika w dedykowanych aplikacjach edukacyjnych

Author(s): Dariusz Mikułowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

Despite the dynamic grow of the market of electronic educational materials, The blind students have very limited accessto such kind of content. It is caused mainly by visual characteristic of user interfaces generated for the sighted people as acombination of images, moving animations and interactivity that are inaccessible for the blind Although there are any opensourceprojects that try to solve this problem by implementing a simple dedicated games, the market of blind consumers istoo small to be worth commercial companies to produce an educational programs for them. So it seems that a good idea toreduce the exclusion of such persons is the creation of specialized solutions within the framework of scientific research and othernon-profit initiatives. In such applications, replace the media that is available only to the sighted user, such as animations,videos, graphics on the screen or interaction mechanisms through a set of alternative interfaces is necessary. These alternativeinterfaces enabled for the blind are: speech synthesize, keyboard shortcut sets, auxiliary sounds, typhlographic, interactivesound-supports touch screen, using the Braille display, etc. In this article, an example of using the method of alternativeinterfaces in educational game entitled „The encyclopedia of Geography of Europe for the blind.” Is described. The softwarehas been implemented for commercial sale. It is located in offer one of the companies spraying equipment and software forthe blind. This gave the opportunity for Collecting comments and suggestions from customers. The elements that users foundas Beloved were: the application of the simultaneous illustration of geographical questions using textual information, musicillustrations, braille graphics and auxiliary sounds. The negative comments were: not quite intuitive implementation for searchof the content in all application and Outdating of main geographical data content that necessitates the frequent creation ofnew versions of the program.

Wpływ edukacji formalnej na włączenie finansowe w zakresie usług płatniczych

Author(s): Agnieszka Huterska,Michał Polasik,Andrzej Meler / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

The purpose of the article is to examine the impact of consumer characteristics, including formal education, on the degree ofpayment inclusion, which is an important element of financial inclusion. For this purpose, the results of two surveys conductedin cooperation with the TNS research agency were used – the first one based on a nationwide sample of 1000 people aged 15and over and the second one covering selected European Union countries. Statistical data have showed that in some Europeancountries, including Poland, low-educated consumers use bank services less often, while in other countries the differences aresmall. An in-depth quantitative analysis of this problem concerning the Polish market was conducted using the logit model. Theobtained results indicate that such activities as having a bank account, accessing this account via the internet, holding a cardand using mobile payments are significantly dependent on the number of years of formal education of a consumer as well assome of their other socio-demographic characteristics. This points out that it would be justified to introduce the knowledge ofthe use of financial services already at the level of primary education.

Stosowanie metody zarządzania projektami w miastach na prawach powiatu w Polsce

Author(s): Barbara Sorychta-Wojsczyk,Anna Musioł-Urbańczyk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

At present, rapid changes of the context, responsiveness to new trends, and social pressures to meet needs of the citizens requireflexibility of public organizations thus making project management a way for these organizations to achieve their objectives.While project management in a city is not a new phenomenon, implementation of many programmes and city projects is theway of realizing their strategic objectives.The authors attempt to determine project management methodologies, applied by cities with county status. They identifiedIT tools used to support project management, and the main reasons of projects’ failure or incomplete success.For this purpose, literature studies and questionnaire survey were conducted in 33 offices of cities with county status in Poland.The study of literature of the subject indicates that project management and project portfolio management can be usedto implement a development strategy.Based on the questionnaire surveys, the authors stated that project portfolios were created by city offices in a different waythan in the business companies. Firstly, the project portfolio of a city office was treated as a set of projects for which the office wasable to obtain funding. And secondly the cities were trying to manage projects in a specific way making use of the instructionsthey prepared on their own. Generally, in city offices, projects were conducted in accordance with PCM standards, whereas PMI,PRINCE2, and agile methodologies were not applied, or used in a very limited range.Due to numerous problems identified during the research both at the planning and implementation phase of a projectportfolio in city offices, the authors recommend adopting a project portfolio management approach as a form of realisation ofa development strategy.

Zastosowanie crowdfundingu we wspieraniu innowacji w dziedzinie zielonej energii: przegląd praktyk oraz diagnoza potencjału i barier

Author(s): Agata Stasik / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

For almost a decade, crowdfunding has been developing dynamically all around the world. However, the impact of this financialtechnology innovation in specific areas of social and entrepreneurial activity is still under-investigated. This article reviews themultiple uses of crowdfunding for support of innovation in the area of green, i.e., sustainable and renewable energy, and energyefficacy. Basing on exploratory study composed of the review of academic and industry literature, analysis of data available oncrowdfunding platforms, as well as observations and interviews conducted during industry events, the author presents the mostpopular models of crowdfunding applied in the area of green energy. The study shows that two models are particularly widespread.First, intervention in the earlier stage of demonstration/niche market formulation through the reward-based platforms– Kickstarter and alike. Second, use of highly specialized crowd-investing (loan or equity-based) platforms for the diffusion ofmature technologies. After reviewing most popular models of platforms and projects’ dynamics, the author analyses the potentialand obstacles for broader use of crowdfunding for the support of innovation in green energy sector in the context of broaderparticipation in energy transition.

System oceny wiedzy pracowników na przykładzie działu serwisowego

Author(s): Justyna Patalas-Maliszewska,Adam Dudek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

In the work assessment process the aspect of assessing workers’ knowledge is a difficult issue. In this article the proposed systemconsists of the following elements: (1) gathering the explicit knowledge within the enterprise in the form of service procedures, (2)obtaining audio or video recording of the workers’ activities, (3) comparing the received records to the standards of the serviceprocedures using the neural network. In order to realise the proposed concept, an ontology for the stored service procedures wasbuilt, and furthermore a conversion of the acquired knowledge using Natural Language was made. Next, using a neural network,the knowledge of the worker in the service department was assessed on the basis of a comparison of the records of his activitiesto the standard procedures adopted in the company. The practical utility of the model has been demonstrated at the exampleof the procedure for replacing brake pads and disc pads by a new employee. According to these results, the head of the servicedepartment evaluates the knowledge of the employees in relation to the adopted instructions in the company. Consequently, s/hedecides to hire a new employee. Therefore, the proposed IT system can be treated as a decision support system about employingnew workers based on an objective assessment of their knowledge

Wielopłaszczyznowa integracja e-nauczania dla prowadzenia dydaktyki akademickiej – studium przypadku uczelni University of Houston-Downtown

Author(s): Michał Kuciapski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

The aim of this article is to evaluate the integration of different forms of e-learning that would support the realization ofeducational processes at the University of Gdańsk (UG). Research was performed as a case study at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) so as to transfer best practices to UG. Data come from direct observation and in-depth, structured interviews.The data obtained indicated the conditions for the use of e-learning such as: forms, areas, technologies, methods of realization,gained benefits and challenges. Study indicated that implementation of e-learning at UG in the areas of blended learning, fullye-learning classes and external video-conferencing would be promising (there is little if any need for internal videoconferencingat UG). Fully e-learning programmes are not allowed by Polish educational law, so is extensive use of tutors (trained best studentsfrom previous years). Implementation of multifaceted e-learning at UG, similar to the one at UHD would require grantingsignificant budget and, more importantly, establishing Centre for Teaching and Learning supporting development of technicaland methodological skills of e-teaching faculty.

Technologie dla edukacji – relacja z Bett Show London 2018

Author(s): Maria Zając / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018