COVID 19 Pandemic and the Library Online Services

The purpose of this study is to describe the experiences of St. Scholastica's College Manila High School librarians in implementing library online services during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The researcher used a descriptive research design and employed Document Analysis and Thematic Analysis vis-a-vis the respondents' answers on the electronic questionnaires. It was revealed, through this study, that the roles and responsibilities of the SSC Manila HS librarians were technologists, online learning support professionals, instructional partners, and game-based learning developers. On the other hand, they experienced challenges such as having limited transactions and time constraints in delivering library online services and the opportunities of having proactive team culture and providing appropriate and innovative services to their clientele. With these findings, the following are recommended for better library online services of the school libraries and librarians. First, librarians and staff's technical competencies and skills must continuously be honed. Second, the library's online services must also be evaluated annually by the students and faculty members. Third, the librarians and staff must explore more technological applications or apps and learning management systems. Lastly, further research studies are recommended in relation also to delivering library online services that can be in the contexts of other types of libraries, most especially their experiences so that there will be a deeper and bigger understanding of the roles and responsibilities, and the challenges and opportunities of librarians during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Exploring the Current Practices and Future Needs of Marine Engineering Education in Bangladesh

Developing countries, despite being the major suppliers of maritime manpower, lag in their future-proof competence development. This study explores whether the current maritime education and training (MET) practices for marine engineering education in a developing nation are perceived as sufficient by the early-stage marine engineers. The current competence requirements set by the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW’74 as amended) are compared and contrasted against the current MET practices as well as the future needs for remotely controlled autonomous ship operations. Bangladesh, a maritime nation in the Southeast Asia region was selected as a developing nation for this study. An online survey was conducted among early-stage professional marine engineers. The analysis of 62 valid responses revealed that current MET practices are significantly perceived to be satisfactory for acquiring non-technical competencies, such as being proficient in the English language, but are less satisfactory for instilling technical competencies such as of electrical and electronics, knowledge regarding seaworthiness of ships, as well as medical first aid. In addition, the findings highlight the perceived gaps in existing marine engineering education as well as the need for future studies focused on re-training the future maritime workforce that could potentially improve MET strategies and practices in the developing nations.

Key competencies of traders in municipal markets: case study in the Livramento Market of Setubal

Purpose – This study aims to analyse the role and importance of trader’s competencies in the context of municipal markets. It is proposed to define the ideal competences profile of traders (ICPT) in a municipal market – Livramento Market of Setubal, Portugal – attending to their key competencies, to assess the degree of similarity between the actual profile of the traders and the ICPT.Design/methodology/approach – A case study was carried out with a quantitative approach through the application of a survey to individuals of the various stakeholders’ groups (N = 36) related to the municipal markets.Findings – The ordering the relative importance of the competencies allowed to obtain the ICPT, highlighting the greater importance of more technical competencies in detrimental of soft competencies. Each of the competence’s profiles identified by the different groups were compared to the ICPT and high percentages of similarity were obtained (greater than 70%).Research implications – This study assists professional associations and managers in the design of local market management models with a focus on competencies, guiding their efforts towards the development of the most relevant competencies for professional practice.Originality/value – Its originality is based on the lack of research studies focused on the analysis of the competences of the players in the municipal markets. The analysis of the central role of a profession that is little valued, and little studied in the national context serves as an anchor for other studies on the competencies of these professionals.

Professional Skills Teaching Within Veterinary Education and Possible Future Directions

Once ignored for their potential to take up precious time within the veterinary curriculum at the expense of hard science and technical competencies, professional skills such as ethical conduct, professional conduct, and communication skills are now considered essential in the creation of successful and employable graduates. Despite the requirement to include professional skills in veterinary curricula, limited communication among colleges and inconsistent documentation of curricular developments have led to a wide range of teaching and assessment methods with no consistent standards existing among colleges. Integration of professional competency teaching into the general curriculum is lauded widely, but barriers such as faculty buy-in have kept many colleges from moving toward a standard in which professional competencies are integrated into the general curriculum. The aim of this article is to provide veterinary educators and curriculum designers with an understanding of the rationale for including professional skills teaching within the curriculum while also presenting currently used, as well as recommended, strategies for effective instruction of professional skills.

Learning Factories 4.0 in technical vocational schools: can they foster competence development?

Learning Factories 4.0 are thought to prepare vocational students for the challenges of Industry 4.0. The implementation of those interconnected Learning Factories 4.0 at technical vocational schools may promote the development of subject-related technical competencies as well as multidisciplinary digital competencies. Still, research is scarce with regard to the development of competencies supported through Learning Factories 4.0 in technical vocational schools. Hence this research focusses on subject-related technical and multidisciplinary digital competencies of technical vocational students change due to different levels of Learning Factory 4.0 interaction over time. Three subsequent competence tests with N = 63 technical vocational students were conducted. Findings indicate the benefits of integrating Learning Factories 4.0 for developing subject-related competencies in technical vocational schools. However, the study could not identify a positive development of multidisciplinary digital competencies. The findings of this study can help educators to further develop learning environments with support from Learning Factories 4.0 as well as preparing their learners for the demanding competencies of Industry 4.0.

Do job competencies influence the satisfaction of customers? An investigation in the cooperative banking sector

PurposeA cooperative bank customer in India has varied needs and is a unique segment of Indian banking. The purpose of the study is to provide the sector with an understanding of the needs of the cooperative bank customers in the context of improving core competencies required for the delivery of service.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted multiple methods that included the Delphi method as well for competency identification. Appropriate factor analyses are conducted to confirm the construct validity and to determine the underlying structure of the variables chosen for the study. Stepwise multiple regression analysis is employed for data analysis.FindingsSurprisingly, emotional competency showed an insignificant relationship with customer satisfaction. The social and technical competencies are found significant. The findings suggest the incorporation of technological advancements in cooperative banks.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalization of the results is limited as the work was confined only to cooperative banks and also because of the limited sample size. The self-reported nature of competency measures also limits the accuracy of results.Practical implicationsThis work suggests that a bank has to concentrate on improving the technical competencies of the employees. The findings could also aid the bank managements in policy decisions in recruitment, selection, performance appraisal among others.Social implicationsCompetent employees could help meet the customers to satisfy their financial needs and thereby the social and economic development of the weaker section of the society could be achieved.Originality/valueConducting primary research and identification of technical competency as the major contributor to customer satisfaction are the major contributions.

How firms strategically navigate informal and formal copyright practices: insights from Nollywood

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain how and why firms configure copyright practices when confronted with state-sanctioned laws and informal customs projected by local ethnic or religious communities. Design/methodology/approach A multi-case inductive study of four film-producing organizations within the Nigerian film industry (i.e. Nollywood) was conducted. Specifically considered were firms that started their operations around the same time with similar founding conditions, experiences, resources and technical competencies. Field observations and multiple rounds of in-depth interviews were conducted to achieve the research objectives. Findings The study found that firms adopted dominant or hybrid configurations when interacting with informality and formality. Dominant configurations represent the exclusive adoption of informal copyright practices while hybrid configurations refer to the blended use of informal and formal copyright practices. The second set of findings revealed that each firm’s strategic intent affected the type of interactional configuration that unfolded in the firm. Specifically, firms with social intents tended to adopt dominant configurations, whereas firms with socio-economic intents tended to adopt hybrid configurations. Practical implications The study implies that firms may profit from strategically focusing on when and in what circumstances to adopt informality. Strategic intents that blend social and economic rationales may secure more positive interactive outcomes from internal and external stakeholders promoting formality and informality. Social implications This study highlights the fact that firms embedded in local religious and ethnic communities use organizational practices to solve social and institutional problems of their members. The copyright practices of these organizations encourage apprenticeship, youth empowerment and entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that goes beyond macro-level analysis to investigate the interactional dynamics between formality and informality at the firm, community, and state levels. The study is also first of its kind to use copyright practices as an analytical lens to explore the interaction between informality and formality.

THE MANAGERIAL COMPETENCIES OF THE PRINCIPALS OF STATE ISLAMIC JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL (MADRASAH TSANAWIYAH) AT LAMPUNG SELATAN REGENCY

This research aims to describe the managerial competencies of Madrasah Tsanawiyah principals, which cover the conceptual roles, human relations, teaching competencies, technical competencies, and cognitive competencies at South Lampung Regency. The researchers applied the descriptive qualitative approach. The data was collected using three techniques: observation, interviews, and documentation. Then, the data were analyzed within two stages: individual case data analysis and cross-case data analysis. The sources of data for this research were the principals, vice-principals, teachers, and employees. The results of this study indicate that, first, in conceptual competencies, madrasah principals can develop various levels of planning, develop madrasah organizations according to the needs, lead the madrasah to optimize resource utilization, have the right strategy to improve the performance of education personnel and create a conducive madrasah climate. Second, the human relations competencies of the principals of madrasah include planning activities with teachers and implementing the program, organizing teacher activities, directing the implementation of actions to achieve organizational goals, and involving teachers in decision making. Third, in terms of directing the performance of activities to achieve organizational goals, the principals apply the teachers in decision making. Third, in terms of directing actions to achieve organizational goals, the principles involve teachers in decision making. Third, in terms of teaching competencies, the principals possess numerous competencies, such as mastery of the latest learning materials. Fourth, in terms of technical competencies, the principals possess unique knowledge in utilizing facilities and infrastructure. Fifth, the principals have good cognitive as evidenced by their vision and mission, goals, and work programs.

Distance Learning on Formation of Technical Competencies of University Students (on the Example of Natural Sciences)

This paper presents our model of the organization and content of distance learning in physics for the formation of technical competencies of university students. An example of the organization of lectures on the topic "Electromagnetic induction" for students of the specialty "Power Engineering" is given. The organization of other forms of education is also given. The aim of the work is to develop technical competencies in students. A professionally oriented approach was used in teaching physics. The content of distance learning, presented through the electronic educational and methodological complex of the discipline, has been determined. The activities of teaching and learning of students are regulated, methods, forms and means of online distance learning are selected, at present, as methods of organizing activities, the result of educational activities reflects the quality of training in accordance with the successful teaching activities of students, as well as its diagnostics and control. The possibility of improving the quality of training in physics, increasing the levels of formation of technical competencies of future bachelors in the field of energy is shown on the example of distance learning in physics online, based on the use of professionally oriented training. The results of survey of the first year distance learning students showed quite high satisfaction, also for the students living in the rural regions in Kazаkhstan.