Browsing by Author "Shiweda, Tertu Ponhele."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

Usability of digital institutional repositories (DIRs) by faculty and postgraduate (PG) students: Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).
(2018) Shiweda, Tertu Ponhele.; Mutula, Stephen.
The aim of this study was to investigate the Usability of Digital Institutional Repositories (DIRs) by faculty and postgraduate (PG) students at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST).The study addressed the following research questions:1) What are the attitudes and perceptions of PG students and faculty towards DIRs? 2) To what extent are PG students and faculty at NUST: a) archiving their research output in the DIR, b) using content in the DIR? 3) What is the perceived usefulness of DIR by PG students and faculty? 4) What is the level of satisfaction of PG students and faculty with DIR? 5) What is the extent of system usability of the DIR by PG students and faculty? Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and post-positivist ontology were used to underpin the study. Interviews, survey questionnaire, document review, observation and expert evaluation methods were used to collect data. The population comprised of faculty, PG students, Librarians and system developers. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse Quantitative data while qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Reliability and validity were achieved through methodological triangulation, pretesting the questionnaires, and careful transcription of the data. The findings revealed lack of awareness about DIR among PG students and faculty. The findings further revealed weak institutional policy, which does not clearly stipulate processes and standards on the submission of scholarly works to the repository. he findings revealed misconception by faculty and PG students about DIR and open access. The findings further revealed that the usage of the repository was undermined attitudes, subjective norms, facilitating conditions, and publisher’s policies related to copy right issues. Nevertheless, the findings revealed that PG students generally perceived DIRs as useful. The findings of the study provide evidence based data upon which relevant academic library institutional repositories policies can be formulated. Moreover, the study provides data that is expected to inform budget allocation for ICT infrastructure development for academic libraries, human resource development, and staffing in academic libraries in Namibia. By using the TAM model, this research adds to literature on the aspects that influence the self-archiving and use of information systems such as DIRs in academic libraries from a developing country context.
Web-based information behavior of high school learners in Oshana region, Namibia.
(2013) Shiweda, Tertu Ponhele.; Leach, Athol Brian.
The aim of this study was to investigate the Web-based information behaviour of high school learners in Oshana Region in Namibia. The study also considerd the challenges faced by learners when searching the Web for information. For many years in the history of library and information services, print-based information had been the main source of information. However, since the emergence of the Internet and its rapid development, the Internet has provided an almost unlimited pool of Web-based resources, thus becoming a powerful source of information. The Web is now established as the main medium for the wide dissemination of information across the Internet. Within the academic context learners throughout the world are able to retrieve seemingly endless volumes of information across all disciplines and from all over the globe. It is therefore important to study the behavior of young people in relation to Web-based information because it is today one of their most important sources of knowledge. The findings of this study could assist in curriculum design, especially with regard to Basic Information Science (a subject offered in schools in Namibia), which incorporates information literacy and information-seeking skills development. In addition the study provides some insight into the information and computer literacy levels of learners and proposes ways of responding to these, thus assisting in further developing these important literacies. The study was guided by Wilson’s (1999) model of information behaviour. The model attempts to describe an information-seeking activity and suggests relationships among stages in information-seeking behaviour. The study has adopted a quantitative approach as its methodology. Data from a total of 160 respondents was collected using a questionnaire that consisted of both open ended and closed questions. The study’s research questions investigate how, where and when do Grade 12 learners access the Internet, for what purposes do Grade 12 learners use the Web when looking for information, how do Grade 12 learners search for information on the Web, what are the Web information searching skills of Grade 12 learners, what sources of information on the Web do Grade 12 learners use, how do Grade 12 learners evaluate and use information found on the Web, and what are the challenges faced by Grade 12 learners when searching the Web for information. The survey concentrated on Matric learners (grade 12) from Mweshipandeka HS and Gabriel Taapopi SSS in the Oshana region of Namibia. The results were analysed using SPSS as a tool for data analysis. An interpretation of the findings of this study shows that learners Web-searching skills are inadequate. Overall, there was a high level of familiarity with various Web-information sources such as search engines, although users limited themselves mainly to a few sources such as the search engines Google and Yahoo and the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. Learners were not aware of Google's limitations and of the existence of academic, often library-funded, information sources such as databases and electronic journals. The present study found strong indications that grade 12 learners lack information-evaluation skills as well as acknowledgement skills and that they are not aware of what constitutes plagiarism. This appears to be a result of poor training in schools. However, the status of learner’s access to the Internet is good. Both schools involved in this study provide learners with physical access to the Internet.