Including small or large project courses is widely recognized as important in preparing computer science students for a professional career. Typical examples are the capstone courses, which often are seen as the jewel in the crown since this is where students will bring their previous knowledge and skills together to show mastery of their craft. These courses are, however, quite complex with often contradictory ideas about how to actually run them in order to reach the learning objectives. This thesis deals with the contrast between students’ experiences and teachers’ expectations of such courses. The research presented in this thesis contributes to the field of knowledge of computer science project courses by investigating processes that are of importance in relation to the desired practices that the students’ should experience. A method is developed, based on the theory of communities of practice and an identification of key features in project work, for evaluating project courses in terms of setting up a learning environment suitable for its learning objectives. The method is focused on capturing the students’ experiences, which then are mapped onto desirable outcomes, as seen from the teachers’ point of view and expressed in terms of communities of practice theory. The result of the analysis is stories capturing the strengths and deficiencies that can be observed in computer science project courses. Key findings are that rewarding learning environments are not automatically created by following the project model; unclear goals and priorities, for example the choice between focusing on the result of the project or the learning process, can confound, or hinder, the learning outcome. Students may experience a difficult choice between using the project course as a way to become more specialized in a particular area or to develop skills that broaden their knowledge. The method developed throughout the thesis is a result in itself, allowing academics and institutions to reason systematically about the aims and learning outcomes of project coursework. The strength of the method lies in the insight gained from combining the concept of communities of practice with a series of studies that identify key features of project courses, in order to reveal and explain why students’ experience processes and learning outcomes in particular ways.

The purpose of the research was to investigate the knowledge-sharing practices of legal professionals at the Gauteng Justice Centres of the Legal Aid Board (LAB). The rationale for the study was based on the premise that since the LAB is a knowledge-intensive organization, it is well suited to the implementation of knowledge management. Any successful knowledge management implementation plan, is founded upon the knowledge-sharing culture of the organization, hence the motivation for the research. Self-administered questionnaires were used to survey the views of the legal professionals regarding their knowledge-sharing practices. Three hundred and twenty-five (325) questionnaires were distributed, of which 143 were returned. The data received was presented in the form of tables and figures. Percentages and content analysis was used to analyze the data collected. The findings from the survey revealed that while knowledge-sharing and knowledge management took place at the LAB, it was not guided by a strategy of the organization. The findings also revealed that the knowledge-sharing and knowledge management which did take place did so on an ad hoc basis and was woven into the daily activities of the respondents. The researcher drew conclusions based on the analysis of the data and in the context of related literature and proposed a way forward for the implementation of knowledge management and knowledge-sharing practices at the LAB. The researcher recommended that the LAB employ a knowledge officer, who should be responsible for driving the knowledge management process. Furthermore, the researcher recommended that knowledge sharing should be compulsory and be rewarded. / Thesis (M.I.S.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2009.

La tesi si pone all’interno di una cornice di senso propria dell’educazione degli adulti ed esplora i processi di apprendimento e di costruzione della conoscenza che accadono nei contesti familiari. È stato condotto uno studio comparativo su due campioni: uno composto da quarantatré genitori italiani che vivono a Milano, Italia, e l’altro da ventisette genitori italo-americani che vivono a New York City, Stati Uniti. La decisione di condurre uno studio comparativo è motivata dal tentativo di comprendere e confrontare come i genitori, con, al di là e attraverso i propri posizionamenti culturali, costruiscono conoscenze, configurazioni identitarie, traiettorie di partecipazione, e forme di appartenenza alle famiglie di cui fanno parte. L’indagine prevede un secondo segmento che presenta l’applicazione di un approccio educativo diretto a sostenere gruppi di genitori nell’assunzione di azioni trasformative. / This paper describes a research on the processes of learning and of knowledge construction occurring within the family contexts. The aim of such research is the development of educational action logics able to intercept, promote and validate the knowledge and repertoires of practice that the family systems generate.

Cette étude qui s’inscrit dans la perspective de l’action située, vise à comprendre le phénomène de (re)construction des communautés de pratique (CoPs) en contexte de fusion hospitalière. La recherche repose sur un devis d’étude de cas longitudinale qui combine plusieurs sources de données : documentaires, d’entretiens semi-directifs et d’observations de terrain. La stratégie d’analyse combine deux méthodes : l’une processuelle, permettant un ordonnancement temporel de récits d’événements et d'activités qui ont contribué à situer l’action dans le temps; l’autre selon l’approche de la théorisation ancrée, a permis la comparaison des données par leur regroupement systématique en catégories et sous catégories, tout au long de la collecte des données. La démarche de recherche processuelle adoptée, nous a conduit à révéler la dynamique de construction d’une communauté de pratique (CoP) à partir des caractéristiques inter reliées, identifiées dans la littérature et qui font référence à un engagement mutuel, une entreprise commune et un répertoire partagé. Ainsi, nos analyses montrent que le domaine d’action qui vient délimiter les points de convergence des participants, constitue le dénominateur commun de la pratique de la communauté qui met à jour des savoirs tacites et explicites qui s’échangent et se développent dans le temps. Cette pratique partagée, éminemment sociale, génère des connaissances et des règles négociées et entretenues par les membres dans le cadre de leurs rencontres. Nos analyses révèlent également que le processus d’évolution d’une communauté de pratique, s’inscrit dans une trajectoire d’apprentissages continue où se combinent de façon dynamique, des temps de participation intense, propices à la construction progressive d’une compréhension commune et négociée du domaine d’action (participation) et des temps de mise en forme de ces représentations (réification). Ici, la dialectique participation/réification qui se donne à voir, révèle un véritable travail d’organisation où la construction du sens à donner à l’action s’instruit à l’aune d’une régulation sociale omniprésente. Toutefois, le résultat de la régulation sociale, n’implique pas de facto, la rencontre d’une régulation conjointe. Plutôt, nos résultats mettent à jour un ensemble de régulations, tantôt concurrentes, tantôt en équilibre en regard du contexte dans lequel sont placés les acteurs. Enfin, nos résultats sur la dynamique de (re)construction des communautés de pratique en contexte de fusion, permettent d’appréhender le changement organisationnel non plus sous ses seuls aspects stratégiques et en direction des équipes dirigeantes, mais également sous l’angle des capacités d’acteurs « ordinaires » à l’initier dans une perspective continue et située. / This study, which draws on the situated action approach, aims to understand the (re)construction of communities of practice (CoPs) in the context of a hospital merger. Combining documentary sources, semi-open ended interviews and observations data, the analysis strategy is twofold. A first method takes into account the merging process itself and the situation of action in time and place. A second method is guided by grounded theory as data are continuously categorized and compared throughout the data collection phase. Within this perspective, where the notion of process is a key figure, we have identified, in link with current literature, interrelated characteristics, such as mutual engagement, a joint enterprise, shared repertoire that intervene in the reconstruction of a community of practice (CoP). Our analysis points to the action domain as the common denominator of community practices, domain where tacit and explicit knowledge tend to converge in time. This shared practice, eminently social in nature, generates knowledge and negotiated rules that are upheld by its members within the framework of their meetings. This perspective has also brought forth how communities of practice take shape within processes of continuous learning that combine phases of intense participation that favor a shared understand of the action domain and the reification of their representations. In this specific study, the participation/reification dialectic reveals a “making sense” process where meaning of action and social regulation are intricately linked. Nevertheless, the resulting social regulation does not de facto, imply the encounter of a shared regulation. Rather, our results reveal an ensemble of regulations, sometimes concurrent, sometimes in equilibrium, in relation of the context within actors are situated. These findings on the dynamics of the reconstruction of communities of practice offer a new way of thinking changes within organizations such as the hospital, not only in respect to strategic dimensions and changes amongst team leaders but also in taking into account the lay actors and their capacities of thinking and acting out change.

Design strategies to support and enhance scientific collaboration are still ambiguous. The ability of universities and research institutes to support a collaborative scientific research environment among researchers through appropriate methods needs to be further investigated. The lack of understanding about the human factors behind collaboration, the nature of scientific tasks, and the institute’s cultural environment are motivations for this study. As a part of our work on a European integrated project, Edu-Tech, this study investigated which factors of collaborative research are important to give us a clear picture for enhancing the social perspective of the project’s webpage. This research purposes a model, Time Environment, Individual and Group (TEIG), in order to provide descriptive variable necessary to understand the transformation of online social knowledge. Accordingly, we provided a new prototype for designing our online community, Edu-Tech, which is now ready to facilitate collaboration among researchers.

This thesis analyses the difficulties encountered in the promotion of usability, especially in relation to occupation health issues, when developing IT systems in a public authority. It examines what happens when User-Centred Systems Design (UCSD) approaches are introduced to organisations with in-house systems development for their employees. It studies how stakeholder values affect the outcomes in terms of usability, occupational health, and institutional acceptance. Moreover, new methods are examined and evaluated as potential tools for assisting the adoption of UCSD. These methods are for example Field studies for system developers, Usability coaching for stakeholders and Management views of usability. A stated aim is to influence systems development in practice. Hence an action research paradigm has been employed, carrying out research and change in real life settings, gathering and analysing data using qualitative techniques. This thesis is based on a constructivist perspective, where theories in the areas of learning and organisational change have been used in order to better understand the research questions. The research demonstrates that most people are enthusiastic to, and interested in, UCSD with a focus on the computerised work environment. Many of the stakeholder groups, such as managers, users, project managers and system developers, changed their construct of identity as well as practice when UCSD was introduced. However, this research shows that there are several values that affect systems development and hinder usability work. These include for example value of rationality and objectivity, and differing values and perspectives underpinning descriptions and discourse on work and systems development. Values such as automation, efficiency, and customer satisfaction shape the development of new technology, and ultimately the tasks, work practices integrated in IT systems. Moreover, the results demonstrate that even though many consider usability as important, few take active responsibility for it, as the title of this thesis suggests.

This dissertation investigates the nature of learning and knowing in adult formal vocational education and training. In a two-year period, I attended a training institute in western Canada and collected data from a variety of courses that were designed for practitioners to initiate a career or promote their rank in maritime industries. My research consists of four separate yet interrelated studies that, as a whole, comprise core chapters of this dissertation. I used video-mediated ethnography as my method to record and socio-cultural and situated perspectives as my primary framework to analyze and better understand my research data, participants’ interactions, and the learning and knowing possibilities in the course of the activities. In my first study, I looked at the assessment system for certification, a major impediment and contradiction that prevents the current vocational education system from reaching its objectives. I analyzed how current practices adversely affect the performance of the system and how it can be improved. In the second study, I examined and addressed the shortcomings of vocational education policies. I proposed a conceptual framework for policy analysis and design that affords the reduction or elimination of the current impediments in the implementation processes. In the third study, I developed the concept of quasi-community as a theoretical framework for theorizing the learning and teaching of adult practitioners in formal educational settings. I theorized learning as the membership and co-participation in a quasi-community developed by its members. The aim of a quasi-community is to create an interactive environment for the participants to share their expertise and utilize cultural resources in order to provide opportunities for collective activities and collaborative learning. In my final study, I focused on a new phenomenon in workplaces, namely the introduction of technology and the demand it created for change in educational systems. Based on the concept of quasi-community, I proposed a distinct pedagogical method for adult technology education. This dissertation provides empirical evidence that the conceptual framework of quasi-community allows for the creation of effective pedagogies that provide authentic learning opportunities for adult learners to develop vocational and technological competencies required in their workplaces. / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to explore the evolution of collaborative practices of PLCs as they emerge when using technology based formative assessment via iFAIT or innovative Formative Assessment with Instruction and Technology developed by the researcher using audience response systems and the online data compiler, Eduphoria!. This study used sequential explanatory mixed methods to address the problems that schools face when implementing technology based formative assessments to improve instruction and student achievement. A survey administered in September 2012 and again in December 2012 provided a measure of teacher use of formative assessments, technology use in formative assessments, and perceptions of teachers using the PLC as a mechanism of support for technology based formative assessment. Training was facilitated by the researcher as PLCs worked together to develop, administer, and interpret formative assessments. Teacher interviews were conducted, and the study ended with the administration of the December 2012 survey and open-response questions for further qualitative analysis. Quantitative data analysis was completed using ANOVAs to determine if there were significant differences of teacher groups (subject taught, grade level taught, and years of teaching experience) use of iFAIT. This data analysis also included measures of frequency and paired sample t tests between the September and December 2012 responses. Qualitative data was analyzed using hand coding, word clouds, and WordSmith Tools. The triangulation of qualitative data in the quantitative data provided a narrative to document what collaborative factors affected the use of iFAIT. For school improvement and implementation of iFAIT, the study revealed that (1) with the right technology infrastructure, on-going professional development must be offered by administrators or sought after by teachers; (2) teachers must have strong beliefs in formative assessment and the technology that supports it; (3) open lines of communication must be supported through the PLC and administration; (4) teachers must see purpose in using revealing student data to drive instruction; and (5) PLCs must have common beliefs and believe that student achievement is connected to school improvement. PLCs should discuss data, share successes, and plan instruction through extended involvement in face-to-face and online venues as communities of practice.

No description available.

Entrepreneurship has been entered on a supranational political agenda, in the EU and the OECD, and been emphatically described as a fundamental skill and a concern for schools and education. The agenda is reflected to a varying extent at the national and regional political levels. My aim is to describe, analyze and gain knowledge of what entrepreneurship in the Swedish upper secondary schools imply in practice, against the background of a local context. In particular, the conditions for learning. My approach is ethnographically inspired and this multiple case study is limited to two upper secondary school programmes. Data has been collected through observations, video recordings, informal conversations with pupils and teachers and formal conversations with headmasters. The material is analyzed in terms of three socioculturally inspiring foci. By means of a cultural-institutional focus, the stability and changeability of the programmes were elucidated. The previous institutional frameworks have been partially questioned by the teachers in the field, which has resulted in the following: In one of the upper secondary schools a new locally adapted programme has been composed, and courses and subjects have been integrated in a new way in the other school’s existing programme. The changes in the upper secondary programmes are to a great extent an example of a meeting between top-down and bottom-up initiatives. The changes of the institutional frameworks are connected to a discursive shift of the responsibility for pupils’ learning and education from teachers to pupils and also to teacher’s ambition to adapt interest- and experience-related teaching. In a situated focus, both programmes were identified as communities of practice with a joint enterprise, mutual engagement and a shared repertoire. These three dimensions were useful for examining specific aspects of the teaching. There has above all been an altered balance between reification and participation in the teaching as well as boundary crossing both outside the community of practice and within the community. Different conditions for learning were identified through an interpersonal focus. Both collaborative learning and cooperative learning were useful, but not sufficient concepts for describing the various forms of team learning. The conditions of cooperation and the pupils’ communication patterns revealed yet another form of team learning, which I call comparative learning. If the risk of everyday concepts getting the upper hand and trivialization can be avoided in team learning, there is in all these learning processes a potential for the pupils being able to develop strategies for handling complex tasks, taking initiatives and responsibility, cooperating and learning from one another in various different ways. In this way entrepreneurship has had an impact on the practice of the classrooms. / Entreprenörskap har förts upp på en överstatlig politisk agenda, inom EU och OECD, där den skrivits fram som en grundläggande färdighet och en angelägenhet för skola och utbildning. Agendan återspeglas i varierande grad på nationell och regional politisk nivå. Mitt syfte har varit att studera och försöka förstå vad entreprenörskap i den svenska gymnasieskolan kan innebära i praktiken. Utifrån syftet och ett sociokulturellt perspektiv formulerades frågeställningarna enligt följande: Hur framförhandlas, organiseras och realiseras undervisningen inom två studerade gymnasieprogram? Vilka sociala gemenskaper bidrar elever och lärare till och deltar i? Vilka former av lärande visar sig? Den etnografiskt inspirerade studien genomfördes i två gymnasieprogram som genom utvecklingsprojekt deltagit i det länsövergripande och EU-medfinansierade projektet PRIO 1, Prioritet företagsamhet i Västerbotten (2000 – 2005). Empiriska data insamlades genom observationer, videoregistreringar, informella samtal med elever och lärare och formella samtal med skolledare. Dessutom insamlades skriftliga dokument. Materialet har analyserats utifrån tre fokus. Genom ett kulturellt-insitutionellt fokus har programmens stabilitet och föränderlighet synliggjorts. I det ena fallet har ett nytt lokalutformat program satts samman, i det andra fallet har kurser och ämnen integrerats inom det befintliga programmet. Förändringarna ses som ett möte mellan top-down-initiativ och bottom-upp- initiativ. Resultatet visar även en diskursiv förskjutning av ansvar från lärare till elev och lärares strävan att tillrättalägg intresse- och erfarenhetsrelaterad undervisning. Ur ett situerat fokus har båda programmen identifierats som praxisgemenskaper med en gemensam uppgift, ett ömsesidigt engagemang och en gemensam repertoar. Utmärkande drag i undervisningen, men koppling till entreprenörskapstanken, har handlat om förändrade avvägningar mellan reifikation och deltagande i undervisningen samt om gränsöverskridande, dels utanför praxisgemenskapen och dels inom gemenskapen. Genom ett interpersonellt fokus har olika villkor för lärande identifierats. Såväl kollaborativt och kooperativt lärande har varit användbara begrepp för att beskriva formerna för samarbetslärande, men inte tillräckliga. Samarbetets villkor och elevers kommunikationsmönster har avslöjat ytterligare en form av samarbetslärande, vilken jag benämnt komparativt lärande. Denna avhandling har således visat på både gemensamma och särskiljande drag när entreprenörskapsinitiativ omsatts i skolans praktik, på två gymnasieprogram.