Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University. N.B.:Pages 198-200, 202 are missing.

INTRODUCTION Lack of follow-up to recommended appointments can decrease vision outcomes. Research is needed to determine the best approach to scheduling follow-up appointments in the primary eye care setting to help overcome barriers and decrease disparities in vision health. The specific aim of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of automated and personal telephone interventions to improve follow-up adherence in the primary eye care setting. METHODS In a prospective, single-blind, randomized, controlled trial, 1,095 patients seen in the Cataract and Primary Care service (CPEC) at Wills Eye Hospital who were due for follow-up appointments were randomly assigned to usual care, automated telephone intervention or personal telephone intervention group. Patients in the usual care group (n=364) received a form letter reminding them to make an appointment and an automated reminder phone call one day prior to their scheduled visit. Automated intervention participants (n=365) received the usual care form letter and an automated call 1-month prior to their recommended follow-up date, a mailed appointment reminder if an appointment was scheduled, and an automated telephone reminder the day before the scheduled appointment. If a patient in the automated intervention group did not attend the scheduled appointment, a reminder postcard was sent. Personal intervention participants (n=365) received the traditional form letter and a personal telephone call 1-month prior to the recommended follow-up date, a mailed appointment reminder if an appointment was scheduled, and a personal telephone reminder prior to the scheduled appointment. If a patient in the personal intervention group did not attend the scheduled appointment, they received a personal call. Scheduling and attendance data were extracted from the electronic medical record system. RESULTS Patients in the personal intervention group had greater adherence to follow-up recommendations than patients in the usual care group (37.70% vs. 27.47%; RR: 1.37; CI 1.24-1.52; p<0.001) and automated intervention group (29.59%; RR: 1.27; CI 1.15-1.41; p=0.02). Patients in the usual care group were not significantly different than patients in the automated intervention group in regards to adherence to follow-up recommendations (27.47% vs. 29.59%; RR: 1.08; CI 0.98-1.18; p=0.53). Personal intervention improved adherence for patients who have been previously recognized as at risk including men (37.04% vs. 22.39%; RR: 1.65; CI: 1.41-1.94; p=0.01), African Americans (39.58% vs. 29.52%; RR: 1.34; CI 1.16-1.55; p=0.03), patients under 65 (28.93%-18.67%; RR: 1.55; CI 1.40-1.71; p=0.01), and patients who live greater than 20 miles from Wills Eye Hospital (44.74% vs. 12.50%; RR: 3.58; CI 2.59-4.95; p=0.01). Additionally, personal intervention improved adherence in patients with Medicare (58.42% vs. 43.56%; RR: 1.34; CI 1.01-1.79; p=0.03) and urban patients who live within 2 miles of Wills Eye Hospital (41.18% vs. 17.54%; RR: 2.35; CI 1.81-3.04; p=0.01). As a secondary endpoint, personal intervention significantly improved appointment scheduling over usual care (51.09% vs. 32.14%; RR 1.59; 95% CI 1.33-1.90; p<0.001) and automated intervention (51% vs. 36%; RR: 1.40; CI 1.18-1.66; p<0.001). Automated intervention did not significantly improve appointment scheduling over usual care (36% vs. 32%; RR: 1.13; CI 0.93-1.39; p=0.22). CONCLUSION Personal intervention improved adherence to recommended follow-up for primary eye care appointments overall and in at-risk populations. Automated intervention had no significant improvement over usual care. The cost effectiveness of personal intervention to improve outcomes in a primary ophthalmology setting should be evaluated to determine whether the intervention should be implemented as a process change at Wills Eye Hospital and at other primary ophthalmology care centers.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University. Pages 8, 28, and 38 pagination error.

No description available.

The focus of this study is what Alexander (2000) refers to as the ‘heart of pedagogy’: the moment-by-moment transactions between a teacher and a small group of learners, viewed through a socio-cultural lens. I explore how three primary teachers enact a small-group pedagogic approach termed ‘guided reading’; the beliefs and values underpinning and informing their discursive behaviours; and how they have arrived at their current understandings as they have travelled through a changing pedagogic landscape. My research took the form of a multiple case study, drawing on rich qualitative data from observation, interviews and ‘video-stimulated reflective dialogue’. By bringing different data layers into dialogue, I was able to identify patterns and themes, and to reconstruct the teachers’ pedagogies in theoretical terms. The theoretical framework is most substantially derived from the work of Basil Bernstein. Although each lesson was readily identifiable as guided reading, the teachers’ approaches varied substantially, reflecting alternative views of self as teacher-of reading and of children as learners. Certain elements of their pedagogies were identified which appeared likely to support children’s learning, although the high level of teacher control restricted children’s opportunities to engage more actively in their own learning. The children viewed school reading and home reading as distinct cultural practices. The study explores the under-researched area of guided reading, but is also unusual in its attempt to apply a Bernsteinian framework to an aspect of English primary education. It illustrates how fine nuances of teacher behaviour can expand or constrain possibilities for pupil learning, and demonstrates the potential of small-group contexts for pupil learning.

No description available.

Team teaching has become widespread in Korean EFL classrooms through the nationwide implementation of the EPIK scheme, the government-sponsored ELT programme. Despite an ongoing process of policy changes in the EPIK scheme and English education, there has been little empirical research with a focus on team teachers and a lack of empirical data regarding classroom interaction where there is a ‘two teachers in one class’ model and this has not helped in the development of understanding or supporting team teaching. This thesis reports on a case study in relation to the team teaching practised by four pairs of team teachers in four different South Korean primary schools. It provides a sophisticated data-led understanding of team teaching implementation and insights into its complexity through descriptive, narrative, reflective and discursive approaches to representation of the data. The full range of diverse interactions between team teachers makes it possible to explore the complex features of team teaching classrooms and to understand the multifaceted nature of the teamteaching relationships. In particular, the emphasis is put on the actual classroom discourse spoken by the team teachers, which fills gaps methodologically in terms of developing understanding of classroom interaction with a two-teachers-oneclass model. The four pairs of team teachers have varying team teaching styles with different levels of collaboration and experiences in their contexts. The distinctive characteristics of their interactional relationships are documented through six themes: delivering collaborative presentation in team instruction; taking charge of different skills and content roles; using L1 and L2; providing complementary support; making decisions and intervention; and partnership talk. In addition, the interactional relationship between team teachers has multidimensional features in terms of power, equality, complementarity, interdependence, and collaboration in contrived collegiality. In addition, the key factors underlying their interactional relationships are identified as professional (personal), pedagogic (team), and interpersonal factors.

The purpose of this research project is to examine the use of spreadsheets for the development of problem solving skills in primary school pupils. This study is based on the notion that advanced skills of comprehension, reasoning, composition, and experimentation are acquired not through the transmission of facts but through the learner's interaction with content. This constructivist view of learning calls for teaching basic skills within authentic contexts for modelling thought processes. To gather the information 1 needed I worked for three months with a group of 12 pupils (six boys and six girls). A pre-test, a post-test and a post post-test one year later were used to gather quantitative data emerge from the research while I was taking part as a participant observer to record the qualitative data from the research. The statistical analysis was carried out by SPSS-X. Percentages, means, standard deviations and medians were used to illustrate the variables. The Kolmogorov-Smimov test was used for the Inferential Statistical Analysis. The main findings of my research that emerged from the tests the pupils undertake and from my observations during the lessons are: Regarding progress in problem solving ability: Pupils have increased their abilities in problem solving after using a spreadsheet to solve a series of problems. Regarding progress in problem solving ability after one year: Pupils did not increase or decrease their ability in problem solving as emerged from the post post-test. There were no problems of communication between the pupils during their work in the groups while collaborative work enabled pupils to apply facts and skills already acquired; encourage discussion and investigative activity to show that mathematics can be useful, meaningful and valuable. Teacher’s work was more demanding with a major change in his role, from a knowledge dispenser to a facilitator. It is argued that there is an implicit need for curriculum change with the use of problem solving as a cross curriculum object and further, there are implications for the implementation of a general use of computers in primary education.

This thesis examines, conceptually and empirically, the educational role of microcomputers in primary schools. The first part of the thesis is, in the main, theoretical. It is concerned with making more explicit the meaning of the term 'computer education' and the kinds of activities to which it may legitimately refer. The first chapters seek to substantiate the argument that, in essence, 'computer education' is an attempt to use computers in ways which foster and promote the quality of the educational processes provided by schools. Having considered computer education from a theoretical perspective, it is then explored empirically. An interpretive research methodology was utilized. The methods used to gather data were thus mostly qualitative, rather than quantitative. Case studies were undertaken to illuminate the ways in which computer education was interpreted in three primary schools. Attention focused on the educational values implicit in policy and practice and on identifying correspondence and discrepency between how computers were used and the educational philosophies espoused by individual teachers and schools. The empirical research revealed that imprecise, non-explicit and largely unarticulated intentions were being pursued by teachers in their employment of computers. No particular educational rationale was being explicitly adopted, even though, some close affinity between educational values and classroom practice would seem to be essential if the notion of 'computer education' is to have any real meaning. However, the conclusion of this thesis is not to doubt the importance of microcomputers in primary education. Rather, it is to suggest that fundamental questions about the educational purpose of computers need to be more rigorously addressed if computers are to be integrated into the curriculum of the future in ways which hold out some promise of improving the quality of educational experiences offered by primary schools.

This thesis explores the nature and extent of Human Rights Education (HRE) in primary education policy and practice in England. It highlights that the provision of holistic education about, through and for human rights at all levels of formal schooling is required by the international legal framework, and has been included most recently within the UN Declaration on HRE and Training (2011). The UK has signed and accepted most of the international instruments and initiatives that address HRE and therefore ought to be educating in accordance with their requirements. The thesis investigates whether the commitment to educate about, through and for human rights is reflected in English primary education policy, and shows that this is ostensibly not the case. Following this finding, it draws upon quantitative and qualitative empirical research with primary teachers across England to gauge whether the elements may instead be reflected in practice in primary classrooms and schools. This empirical investigation shows that, despite the practice of teaching about values that could have human rights relevance, there is little evidence to suggest that primary teachers are addressing effectively the elements of the tripartite framework. Educational practice is therefore unlikely to be remedying the deficiencies in policy concerning HRE in England. The empirical research identifies a number of the barriers to effective HRE articulated by primary teachers and explores these in detail in light of the academic literature. It therefore fills a gap in the current research by not simply addressing the pragmatic question of whether HRE is being incorporated into classroom practice in a manner consistent with the international framework, but also by delving deeply into the underlying reasons why. It concludes by arguing that stronger government policy and guidance reflecting the international requirements for HRE is needed, but unless the identified practitioner-based concerns are taken into account, the commitment to educate primary school children about, through and for human rights is likely to remain undelivered in England.