Das Dissertationsprojekt untersucht die Workshops von fünf internationalen Performancekünstler*innen qualitativ empirisch. Wie lehren diese ihre Kunstform? Welche Performancebegriffe leiten die Lehre? Welche didaktischen Ansätze und Methoden kommen zur Anwendung? Feldnotizen aus der teilnehmenden Beobachtung bilden das Basismaterial der Forschung, aus dem die individuellen Lehrkonzepte der Performancelehrenden rekonstruiert werden.

Thesis (doctorate)--University of South Africa, 2001.

Abstract The role of higher education as an essential component of the productive economy has been emphasized in the 21stcentury, resulting in a constant need to demonstrate compliance and excellence to various stakeholders. To achieve this, a large variety of internal and external evaluation processes have been developed. However, to connect these evaluations with continuous improvement has often proved challenging due to factors arising from organizational complexity. This compilation dissertation examines how various quality evaluations in higher education could be integrated in a meaningful and synergistic manner. Integration is analyzed both horizontally across the three missions of the university, as well as vertically ranging from external evaluations to self-assessment. The four research articles each support this whole from a different viewpoint. The results of the articles are complemented by a literature review of chosen relevant topics on quality management and evaluation in higher education. The results of this work suggest that a planned process of evaluations starting from the institution level could help evaluations build upon each other and to drive continuous improvement. A holistic view on evaluation and evaluation criteria could be of use in avoiding sub-optimization and ensuring that issues such as stakeholder engagement and societal impact are included in evaluations. The integration of evaluations would constitute a part of integrating an institution’s management system and advance unity of effort. The ubiquitous concept of excellence can be seen as linking factor in integration, and an excellence award model was used as an example of a holistic evaluation framework. The theoretical contribution of this study contributes in the discussion regarding quality evaluation, excellence and the integration of management activities in higher education. For practitioners this dissertation work provides both practical tools arising from the results of the research articles, as well as a synthesis of theoretical and practical issues that should be accounted for when developing quality evaluation approaches in institutions of higher education. / Tiivistelmä Korkeakoulujen rooli tuottavan talouden olennaisena osana on korostunut uudella vuosituhannella. Tästä on seurannut jatkuva tarve osoittaa vaatimustenmukaisuutta ja erinomaisuutta eri sidosryhmille. Tämän seurauksena on kehitetty suuri määrä erilaisia sisäisiä ja ulkoisia arviointiprosesseja. Kuitenkin näiden prosessien yhdistäminen toiminnan jatkuvan kehittämiseen on usein osoittautunut haastavaksi johtuen organisatorisesta monimutkaisuudesta. Tässä kokoomaväitöskirjassa tarkastellaan, kuinka erityyppisiä laadunarviointeja korkeakoulutuksessa voitaisiin integroida mielekkäällä ja synergistisellä tavalla. Integraatiota tarkastellaan niin horisontaalisesti yliopiston kolmen tehtävän läpi, kuin myös vertikaalisesti ulkoisista arvioinneista itsearviointiin. Väitöskirjaan liittyvät tutkimusartikkelit tukevat tätä tutkimusongelmaa eri näkökulmista. Kirjallisuuskatsaus tukee artikkelien tuloksia valittujen laatujohtamisen ja arvioinnin aiheiden tarkastelun kautta. Tämän työn tuloksien mukaan suunnitelmallinen arviointikokonaisuus lähtien korkeakoulutasolta voisi tukea arviointien tulosten kumuloitumista ja edistää jatkuvaa kehittämistä. Holistinen näkökulma arviointiin ja arviointikriteereihin voisi ehkäistä osaoptimointia ja varmistaa, että seikkoihin kuten sidosryhmien osallistuminen ja yhteiskunnallinen vaikuttavuus huomioidaan arvioinneissa. Arviointien integrointi tukisi osaltaan korkeakoulun johtamisjärjestelmän integrointia ja edistäisi yhteisiin tavoitteisiin pyrkimistä. Erinomaisuuden yleistynyttä käsitettä voidaan pitää yhdistävänä tekijänä integraation toteutumisessa, ja siihen perustuvaa laatupalkintomallia käytettiin työssä esimerkkinä holistisesta arviointimallista. Väitöskirjatyön teoreettinen kontribuutio liittyy korkeakoulujen laadunarvioinnin, erinomaisuuden ja johtamistoimien integroinnin tieteelliseen keskusteluun. Käytännön työn kannalta tutkimustulokset tarjoavat käytännön työkaluja artikkelien tulosten kautta, sekä yhdistelmän teoreettisista ja käytännön seikoista jotka tulisi huomioida korkeakoulun laadunarviointia kehitettäessä.

Abstract This research thesis aimed to deepen understanding about the nature of technology and its possible correspondence to the constructivist notion of learning. Since technology education is a relatively new subject area in general education and still in an emerging phase in various countries, it provided some interesting opportunities to take into account the latest developments in educational psychology in relation to the development of teaching technology. Moreover, this thesis aimed at finding ways for technology education to provide possibilities to learning environments where the nature of technology could be integrated effectively into the current notion of children as active agents in their learning processes. The thesis was based on two Case Studies. Both of the Case Studies were carried out on the primary school level. The overall purpose of Case Study I was to consider automation technology and its teaching as a subject-matter area in developing technology education in Finland. In Case Study II the purpose was to explore the influences of socio-cultural interaction on children's thinking and actions in prescribed and open problem-solving situations while they were technologically creating a particular product which used sound for a chosen purpose. Case Study II also involved English schoolchildren. Teaching methods throughout the thesis were based on the assumption that constructivist-driven, open, and creative problem solving, as well as children-centered approaches, are especially suitable for technology education. This assumption arises from the notions that innovation and problem solving are important in technological processes and that technology has usually emerged as a response to human needs and wants. Consequently, design briefs were developed to provide open, children-centered problem solving based on the acute needs found in the children's own living environment. In both of the Case Studies multiple data collection procedures were applied. In Case Study I data were collected by means of group observations documented in videotaped recordings, written field notes and project files saved by the students. Moreover, In Case Study II data were collected in terms of photographs of the pupils' final outcomes, including pupils' design folders and product evaluations, the teacher's teaching notes, teacher's lesson evaluation notes, the researcher's field notes based on observations and a questionnaire. The methodological perspective in both of the Case Studies was qualitative in nature and grounded on inductive and interpretative data-based analysis. The analysis employed an open search for categories, concepts and patterns emerging from the data. The inductive interpretative analysis process enabled the results to be framed as empirical assertions. In addition to the assertions the results of Case Study I detailed content classifications of the substance in the focus were included as well. The assertions and the classifications were supported by evidentiary examples taken from the data. The supporting examples were interpreted from the viewpoint of the research problems. The results of the thesis suggested that in technology education it is important for children to be able to work and learn in a way that fosters open problem solving with innovation and divergent thinking. In technology education the design briefs and task allocations should be open enough to allow the children to explore their own living environment in order to find problems that need to be solved. Actually, in technology education, according to the nature of technology, there should not be right answers to the posed questions, but rather appropriate solutions to emerging problems. Moreover, teaching methods adjusted according to the nature of technology ensure naturally that the children are treated as active, intentional and goal-directed humans whose activities are driven by human volition. / Tiivistelmä Tämä tutkimus pyrki syventämään ymmärtämystä teknologian luonteesta ja sen mahdollisesta vastaavuudesta konstruktivistiseen oppimiskäsitykseen. Teknologiakasvatus on suhteellisen uusi ala yleissivistävässä koulutuksessa ja se on edelleen sukeutuvassa vaiheessa useissa maissa. Tällainen tilanne antoi mielenkiintoisia mahdollisuuksia ottaa huomioon viimeisimpiä oppimispsykologisia virtauksia suhteessa teknologian opetuksen kehittämiseen. Lisäksi tutkimus pyrki etsimään teknologiakasvatukselle mahdollisuuksia sellaisten oppimisympäristöjen luomiseen, joissa teknologian luonne voitaisiin tehokkaasti integroida nykyiseen käsitykseen lapsista oppimisprosessiensa aktiivisina tekijöinä. Tämä tutkimus perustui kahteen tapaustutkimukseen (Case Studies). Kummatkin tapaukset toteutettiin peruskoulun ala-asteella. Ensimmäiseen tapauksen (Case Study I) yleisenä tarkoituksena oli tarkastella automaatioteknologiaa ja sen opetusta sisältöalueena osana teknologiakasvatuksen kehittämispyrkimyksiä. Toisessa tapauksessa (Case Study II) tarkoituksena oli tutkia sosio-kulttuurillisen vuorovaikutuksen vaikutusta lasten ajatteluun ja toimintaan avoimissa ja suljetuissa ongelmanratkaisutilanteissa. Tässä tapauksessa lapset tekivät valittavaan tarkoitukseen ääntä tuottavia laitteita ja siihen osallistui myös englantilaisia koululaisia. Tutkimuksessa käytetyt opetusmetodit perustuivat oletukseen, että konstruktivismiin pohjautuvat, avointa ja luovaa ongelmanratkaisua sekä oppilaskeskeisyyttä korostavat lähestymistavat ovat erityisen soveliaita teknologiakasvatuksessa käytettäviksi. Tämä oletus nousee käsityksestä, jossa innovatiivisuus ja ongelmanratkaisu ovat tärkeitä teknologisille prosesseille ja että teknologia esiintyy vastauksena ihmisen tarpeisiin. Oppilaille annetut tehtävät määriteltiinkin sellaisiksi, että ne mahdollistivat avoimen, oppilaskeskeisen ongelmanratkaisun perustuen lasten omasta elinpiiristään esiin nousevien tarpeiden tyydyttämiseen. Molemmissa tapauksissa tutkimusaineistoa kerättiin usealla eri tavalla. Ensimmäisessä tapauksessa tutkimusaineistoa kerättiin oppilasryhmiä havainnoimalla mm. videonauhoituksin ja kenttäpäiväkirjaa kirjoittamalla sekä tallentamalla levykkeelle ryhmien projektissa luomat tiedostot. Tämän lisäksi toisessa tapauksessa tutkimusaineistoa kerättiin valokuvaamalla oppilaiden suunnittelukansiot tuotteen itse arviointeineen ja heidän valmistamansa työt. Tässä tapauksessa tallennettiin myös opettajan opetuksestaan tekemiä havaintoja ja arviointeja, tutkimuspäiväkirjaan tehdyt observointimuistiinpanot sekä oppilaille järjestetyn kyselyn tulokset. Molemmat tapaukset olivat metodologisesti laadullisia tutkimuksia ja perustuivat induktiiviseen ja tulkitsevaan aineistopohjaiseen analyysiin. Analyysissä kiinnitettiin huomiota nimenomaan tutkimusaineistosta esiin nouseviin käsitteisiin, lainalaisuuksiin ja säännönmukaisuuksiin. Tutkimuksen metodologinen valinta mahdollisti tulosten esittämisen empiirisinä väittäminä, joita tuettiin tutkimusaineistosta otetuilla esimerkeillä. Empiiristen väittämien lisäksi ensimmäisen tapauksen tulokset sisältävät tutkimusaineistosta esiin nousseita luokituksia analyysin kohteena olevista painotuksista. Sekä empiirisiä väittämiä, että luokituksia tuettiin tutkimusaineistosta otetuilla esimerkeillä. Esimerkit myös tulkittiin tutkimusongelmien näkökulmasta katsottuna. Tutkimuksen tuloksista voidaan päätellä, että teknologiakasvatuksessa on tärkeää antaa lapsille mahdollisuuksia työskennellä ja oppia tavalla, joka kehittää innovatiivista avointa ongelmanratkaisua ja divergenttiä ajattelua. Tässä mielessä annetut tehtävät tulisi olla niin avoimia, että lapsien olisi mahdollista löytää omasta elinpiiristään ratkaisua vaativia ongelmia. Itse asiassa teknologiakasvatuksessa, teknologian perusolemuksen mukaisesti, ei tulisi ollakaan vastauksia esitettyihin kysymyksiin, vaan tarkoituksemukaisia ratkaisuja esiintyviin ongelmiin. Lisäksi teknologian perusluonteen mukaiset opetusmenetelmät huomioivat lapsen sisäisesti toimintaan halukkaaksi motivoituneena ja aktiivisena sekä tarkoitus-ja päämäärähakuisena ihmisenä.

Questa ricerca interdisciplinare prende atto delle visioni contrastanti all’interno della Media Literacy: da un lato quella utopica che individua nel progresso tecnologico l’alba di una nuova era per l’umanità, dall’altro l’approccio distopico preoccupato dalle potenziali derive conseguenti all’uso acritico e compulsivo dei dispositivi. Tale contrapposizione, sebbene con diverse sfumature, si riverbera nei vari ambiti educativi spesso impedendo la piena comprensione delle dinamiche della comunicazione contemporanea. La prospettiva antropocentrica che ispira l’intera trattazione valorizza i contributi non apodittici capaci di “dialogare”, passando dalla logica escludente dell’aut - aut a quella inclusiva dell’et - et. A partire da alcune significative acquisizioni delle Scienze Cognitive, delle Scienze Umane e dei Media Studies a cui sono dedicati i primi due capitoli, viene offerto un excursus nella literacy teso ad individuare piste pedagogiche praticabili nei diversi contesti, frutto della sperimentazione e della verifica sul campo riportate nella parte finale. Il lavoro intende dimostrare, non soltanto a livello empirico, che la Rete e la sua stessa orizzontalità possono e devono diventare paradigma operativo per un’azione educativa efficace in grado di superare visioni settoriali e semplificazioni, grazie ad un approccio multiprospettico incentrato sulla persona chiamata a “ri-conoscersi” per ripensare l’educazione nell’era digitale. / This interdisciplinary research notes the conflicting views within the Media Literacy: from one side the utopian one locating in technological progress the dawn of a new era for humanity and from the other the dystopian approach worried by potential drifts consequent to the uncritical and compulsive use of the devices. This conflict, although with different nuances, reverberates in the various educational environments often preventing the full understanding of the dynamics of contemporary communication. The anthropocentric perspective that inspires the whole discussion enhances non-dogmatic contributions able to "talk", passing from the exclusionary logic of the “aut – aut” to that inclusive “et – et”. Starting from some significant acquisitions of Cognitive Sciences, Human Sciences and Media Studies to which the first two chapters are dedicated, an excursus in literacy aimed at identifying educational tracks viable in different contexts, is offered as a result of experimentation and verification on field described in the final part. The work aims to demonstrate, not only empirically, that the Internet and its own horizontality can and should become operational paradigm for effective educational action able to overcome sectoral visions and simplifications, thanks to a multi-perspective approach centered on the person called to "re-cognize oneself" to rethink education in the digital age.

La mia tesi di dottorato è una raccolta di tre articoli che considerano diversi aspetti del sistema scolastico italiano e i suoi legami con il mercato del lavoro. il primo capitolo offre una breve sintesi della letteratura sugli investimenti in istruzione secondaria e terziaria. Il secondo capitolo analizza i differenziali salariali fra i diplomati delle scuole superiori italiane. il terzo ed ultimo capitolo analizza le determinanti del tempo di inserimento professionale dei laureati italiani. / My dissertation is a collection of three essays that consider various aspects of the Italian education system and its links with the labour market. The first chapter provides a review of the empirical works focused on the issue of investments in both secondary and tertiary education in most of OECD countries, with a particular attention on Italy. The second chapter provides empirical evidence on differences in early occupational labour market outcomes across high school tracks. The third and last chapter investigates the hazard of first job for Italian university graduates.

Questo lavoro è un tentativo di precisare dimensioni e condizioni del digital divide, a partire dalla scelta di una specifica accezione del termine, che lo inserisce nella più ampia e articolata problematica della disuguaglianza sociale. Le Information and Communication Technologies sollevano il problema del significato attuale della cittadinanza e dell’inclusione sociale, che nei contesti socialmente ed economicamente più arretrati si traducono in lotta alla povertà, chiamando in causa la complessa relazione tra tecnologia e sviluppo umano. L’accesso significativo alle tecnologie corrisponde all’applicazione di capacità intellettuale e comprende alcuni elementi di fondamentale importanza, come la gestione e rielaborazione dell’informazione, la crescita di competenze utili a sfruttare i vantaggi della tecnologia. La penetrazione delle tecnologie nella società contemporanea pone alcune sfide al rinnovamento della scuola e rende indispensabile valutare che tipo di competenze sono necessarie, come poterle sviluppare e quali metodologie adottare nella didattica, affinché le nuove generazioni crescano con la capacità di partecipare attivamente al cambiamento della società. A tale scopo, il presente contributo propone una ricerca sul campo che mette a confronto l’implementazione del progetto One Laptop Per Child in due realtà agli antipodi dell’indice di sviluppo umano – l’Italia e l’Etiopia – con un’attenzione specifica al potenziale sviluppo di “competenze digitali” e all’evoluzione della metodologia di insegnamento, elementi che in linea teorica corrispondono ai primi ingredienti di una incentivazione dell’inclusione sociale. La ricerca è di tipo qualitativo, utilizza gli strumenti del focus group, dell’intervista, del questionario e dell’osservazione partecipante, prendendo in esame 13 classi e 18 insegnanti/coordinatori per ciascun campo. I risultati più importanti mostrano che una azione efficace in termini di inclusione digitale è condizionata da una organizzazione educativa programmatica, promozione di iniziative con un valore locale, interventi di formazione e di capacity building che non sconvolgano sistemi socio-culturali consolidati, ma che incidano sulla motivazione dei destinatari valorizzando il capitale umano e sociale. È questo che intendiamo con innovazione della scuola. / The term digital divide echoes a kind of technological determinism. It has often suggested that inequalities depend on physical access to Information and Communication Technologies and that simply achieving such access would solve problems of social exclusion. In this work the original literal sense of “access” will be replaced by a set of more concrete operational definitions. It extends the model of a gap between haves and have-nots to a concept of a broader digital inequality, depending on the so-called “digital skills”. It calls attention to information as a primary good in the contemporary society, to be considered as the main goal to achieve through a meaningful use of ICT. The emphasis is therefore placed on education, where the digital literacy can provide the ability to access, manage, integrate, evaluate, and create information. Social opportunities of digital technology are underlined both in developed and developing countries. We argue in fact that, whenever integrated in school subjects, ICT might become a great opportunity to innovate learning and teaching, to accomplish a renovated citizenship in the Nord of the world and help to achieve better standards of development in the South. A comparative analysis of two opposite contexts investigate understandings of the digital inclusion by exploring best practices for sustainable projects. The field research focuses on the One Laptop Per Child worldwide project, comparing the use of the same technological tool in primary schools of Italy and Ethiopia. The data presented are based on observations, focus group and interviews with a sample of 13 classes and 18 teachers/coordinators for each field, conducted during the school year 2008-2009. Results indicate that often children capabilities are complementary to teachers’ ones, that ICT provide the flexibility to meet diverse learners’ needs, that training is essential to motivate and empower teachers to use ICT and revise traditional didactics, that social capital has a central role in the school. The concept of capacity building emerges from these concepts and suggests pathways to improve skills access in the long run and adapt school curricula to collaborative environments. This is what the present study calls innovation.

Цель работы – спроектировать и реализовать аппаратную и программную часть учебно-лабораторного комплекса по мехатронике и робототехнике. Определены основные требования к объекту, требования проанализированы, и на их основе разработан комплекс на основе стенда по автоматизированному электроприводу и робота-манипулятора. / The aim of the work is design and implementation the hardware and software parts of the educational unit for mechatronics and robotics education. The basic requirements for the unit have been determined, the requirements have been analyzed, and on their basis a unit that consists of an automated electric drive and a robotic manipulator has been designed.

Thesis (M.S. Ed.)--Bank Street College of Education, New York, 2003. / A web site accompanies this project. Bibliography and webliography (leaves 95-99).

There is a dearth of knowledge on rural South African children’s perspectives of hope, and how their hope can be nurtured, shaped, and strengthened. Guided by a qualitative approach, and located within a critical transformative paradigm, this study explores the following research question: How could visual participatory methodology as ‘research as intervention’ enable rural South African primary school children to explore their conceptualisations of hope, as well as strengthen their hope? To answer this question I pose two sub-questions: Firstly, what are rural primary school children’s conceptualisations of hope? Secondly, how could using visual participatory methodology to explore their hope also strengthen the children’s hope? Hope plays a key role in the lives of people, influencing decisions and behaviour, as well as coping skills and wellbeing. The socio-economic and cultural contexts in which rural South African children find themselves are critical in enabling hope and influencing their psychosocial wellbeing. While international hope research boasts a diversity of theories, there is scarce representation of such research from an African perspective. Unable to turn to an Afrocentric theory of hope this study is framed by two theories from the global-North: Scioli’s (2007) Integrative theory of hope which provides a description of the individual’s hope process, and Prilleltensky and Prilleltensky’s (2007) Framework of psychosocial wellbeing which provides a broader context in which to view this process. Over a period of a year I engaged with twelve purposively selected 9-13 year old Basotho children, beneficiaries of a children’s programme situated in a rural village in the QwaQwa region, Free State, South Africa, to explore their hope. Using visual participatory methodology, data was co-constructed through four visual data generating tools (collage-making, drawing, Mmogo-method®, and photovoice), as well as individual interviews, a group interview, and notes and photographs kept in my research journal. A qualitative thematic analysis was followed, and a literature control conducted to re-contextualise the findings. The results of this study are presented in themes. The first three themes, Hope is having a better life; Hope is community participation and togetherness; and Hope is weakened by others and by one’s environment, combine to represent hope as a multi-layered, multi-dimensional experience towards attaining a better life on a contextual, personal, relational, and collective level. These levels of hope are all inter-related, interdependent, and influenced by cultural factors and the children’s belief system (or worldview). I therefore conclude that, according to these rural South African school children, hope is an internal process of being that develops within the individual, with assistance from external resources, and then extends outwardly through hopeful beliefs, feelings, and behaviours to promote togetherness, care, and respect in one’s community. The last three themes, Strengthened personal hope; Enhanced relational hope; and Mobilised collective hope, show that using visual participatory methodology to engage the participants in an exploration of hope potentially strengthened, enhanced, and mobilised their hope across three inter-related and overlapping levels: Personal, Relational, and Collective. The participants expressed a growing understanding of their hoping process, increased sense of autonomy, and improved coping skills for strengthening their own hope. They also began to refer to themselves as Hope Champions - able to foster hope in others by behaving in a hopeful manner, teaching others about hope, and offering care and support. I therefore conclude that this shifting view of themselves as competent and valuable members of the community mobilised their collective level of hope as they began to formulate ideas of how they could be active citizens in their community, pursuing collective wellbeing for themselves and other members of the community so that everyone could live a better life. The findings have several implications for educational psychologists working with marginalised and vulnerable children’s hope, for fostering hope in school contexts, and for educational hope research with marginalised children in rural South African communities. While this study cannot presume to have achieved long-term social change, it does certainly lay the foundation for proposing that ‘research as intervention’ has promising potential as ‘research as hope-intervention’ in educational contexts. In responding to the research question, I argue that visual participatory research methodology, when focused on hope, is in and of itself a hope-enhancing intervention. Consequently, combining visual participatory methodology with hope-focused explorations enables ‘research as hope-intervention’, facilitating a strengthening of the participants’ hope, and resulting in meaningful personal transformation. I conclude that using ‘research as hope-intervention’ with rural South African children holds many possibilities for mobilising a ‘pedagogy of hope’.