**9. Conclusions**

230 International Perspectives of Distance Learning in Higher Education

Whether or not an overview was required at that point in the respective annotations, it would appear that detailed information had been suppressed and students were resorting to vague, non-specific utterances that were largely devoid of the core essence of the content of

A third area of interest emerged in what appeared to be a strategy to ensure the relevancy of the content of the annotation. It can be argued that some students seemed to be making a conscious effort to ensure that their output was consistent with the requirements of the essay topic. In short, they wanted to ensure that they were 'answering the question'. As noted earlier, this sometimes meant the direct transfer of key terms from the essay topic into the annotation, as reflected in the items included in the category defined earlier as 'superimposition'. This superficial approach meant that the annotation itself was not able to

A fourth area of interest was the use of assertions by some students in which they appeared to be advancing propositions as if they (the propositions) were emanating from the source material. One wonders whether this resort to what was essentially a personal position, through the use of the 'grand statement', derived from an inability to accommodate openended thought and the need to remain in the comfort zone of clearly-defined factual

The use of assertions may have also been propelled by an orientation towards more prescriptive rather than analytical modes of thinking, as implied in the tendency towards providing a solution in MP148 and MP149. Overall, what appears to be the case here is a need to define knowledge within firm boundary lines and it can be argued that the assertion

Finally, the data analysed appeared to reveal a likely weakness in students' capacity to engage in relational thinking that was able to observe and deal with elements of a body of knowledge in a manner that allowed a focus on the elements in interaction with one another rather than singly and sequentially. Such an approach to thinking would demonstrate an appreciation of the Gestalt principle of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts and conversely, the significance of viewing the parts in the context of the whole. As noted earlier a large proportion of the meaning units analyzed were focused on the mobile phone only. Even when the focus extended to include the landline phone, the context in which the two

Additionally, when the use of these technologies was shown as impacting life style changes, it was the impact of the mobile phone only that was focused on. For example, even though

were being discussed bore little relation to that espoused in the essay topic.

reflect the essence of the source material on which it was based.

provided the required mechanism for doing so.

MP84 The focus was on three research questions which sought to examine the influences of generation and lifestyle factors to mobile phone. MP143 This document explains the impact telephones had on the lives of people in

The following are to be noted in this regard:

**Data Meaning Unit** 

the source material.

information.

earlier times.

One of the main factors that influenced the decision to undertake this study was the perception that the outcome-oriented task-focused approach to providing guidelines for assisting students in developing information literacy skills, may not be sufficient to address the fundamental process skills that students need to apply in order to achieve the intended outcome. This view was also shared by the two library information specialists cited. In particular, one recalls Kavanagh's (2011) discussion about the research strategy log. This view also resonates with Ally's (2004) assertion that the developer of online materials must select learning strategies that, inter alia, promote meaningful learning and provide support during the learning process. It is envisaged that the findings of this study can provide a useful starting point for taking the design of information literacy instruction for online graduate students beyond the level of task-identification.
