International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 8, No. 1 (2012)

Effects of electronic information resources skills training for lecturers on pedagogical practices and research productivity

Crispen Erinos Bhukuvhani, Bindura University of Science Education, Zimbabwe
Blessing Chiparausha, Bindura University of Science Education
Dorcas Zuvalinyenga, Bindura University of Science Education

Abstract
Lecturers use various electronic resources at different frequencies. The university library’s information literacy skills workshops and seminars are the main sources of knowledge of accessing electronic resources. The use of electronic resources can be said to have positively affected lecturers’ pedagogical practices and their work in general. The aim of this study was? to reference an investigation of 30 lecturers’ use of electronic resources in an effort to uncover correlations between library information literacy training and increased use of web based resources (for example, library journal databases, web search engines, open access journals, and so on), increased use of web resources and improved pedagogy as well as increased use of web resources and higher publication rates. Results indicated lecturers attended the Electronic Information Resources Skills Training and that they (86.7%) used at least one or more electronic information resources to find information for use for their teaching and/or research. 13.3% lecturers indicated non-usage of electronic information sources. Most of the lecturers (53.3%) indicated that they learnt about electronic resources through the workshops and seminars. The majority of the lecturers were motivated (motivate=86.7%; 66.7%=very motivated and 20%= somewhat motivated) to learn how to use electronic resources. Lecturers mostly got information for their research papers through the Internet (83.3%) and 10% through electronic resources. The use of electronic information resources by lecturers proved to have positively affected their work as evidenced by the results. However, there is need to mount more and frequent electronic information resources training workshops.

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