The fusion of the Internet with instructional design, and curricula delivery methods eliminated transactional distance in online learning. However, distance education (DE) in Nigeria has not aligned its pedagogy to the new reality in technology. The purposes of this non-experimental, predictive, validity study were to determine faculty and administrators' perceived barriers and concerns to online adoption and to validate the behavior engineering model (BEM) instrument. Ninety-six respondents from four public universities in Nigeria completed the questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used respectively, to assess barriers and concerns militating against faculty and administrators' online adoption, as well as validate the survey instruments. For faculty and administrators, incentive, motive, knowledge and skills influenced DE adoption. Except for age, all demographic factors influenced faculty's concerns. Gender was observed to influence administrators' concern. "Level of online use" influenced neither faculty nor administrators' concerns. Technographic characteristics influenced faculty, but not administrators.' Though the BEM instrument was reliable in measuring faculty and administrator's stages of concern, however, the 6-factor BEM, tested at the 95% significant level, did not give a good fit. The study contributes to positive social change by identifying gaps to effective DE implementation, and recommended the appropriate interventions to transform the DE experience for students and their universities. The study also proposed the framework to fast track Nigeria's vision and mission for DE.

L’objectif principal de l’étude est d’analyser le flux expérientiel de activité de cinq proviseurs afin de mieux comprendre leurs modalités d’action sur des empans temporels courts. Il s’agit aussi de rendre intelligible la complexité de l’activité quotidienne des proviseurs et de mettre en lumière des modalités d’action liées à la gouvernance des établissements. Ils exercent dans des EPLE de 700 élèves à 1700 élèves situés dans deux académies (académies de Clermont-Ferrand et d’Orléans-Tours) et ont 10 ans d’expérience minimum. L'étude s’est appuyée sur les présupposés du programme de recherche du cours d’action (Theureau, 2006, 2009, 2015). Trois types de matériaux ont été recueillis : (i) des enregistrements audiovisuels des actions du chef d’établissement et des communications avec d’autres professionnels ; (ii) des enregistrements d’entretien d’autoconfrontation ; (iii) des notes d’observation destinées à compléter la description de l’activité ainsi que des traces de l’activité du chef d’établissement (mails, documents, etc.). Notre étude souligne que les proviseurs sont contraints à réaliser une multiplicité d’actions. Ils sont amenés à apporter un soin particulier au travail en équipe et à la communication sous toutes ses formes, à la formation et à l’accompagnement de leurs collaborateurs, dans un souci de co-construction les conduisant vers la mise en place d’un leadership partagé. Les résultats de notre étude peuvent ainsi contribuer au développement de nouvelles perspectives de formation. / This thesis mainly aims at analyzing the changes in the nature of the activities undertaken by five school leaders, in order to better understand their short-term actions. It is also a question of clarifying some of the principal’s modes of action while they carry out their everyday activities. It is also a question of making understandable the complexity of the daily role of the school leaders and of highlighting actions and policies connected to the governance of Lycées. The Lycées for which they are responsible have between 700 and 1700 students on role. They are located in two different regional education authorities: that of Clermont-Ferrand and that of Orléans-Tours. These school leaders have at least ten years’ experience in the role. Our study is based on the evaluation of the hypotheses of the research program : “Cours d’action” (Theureau, 2006, 2009, 2015). Three types of evidence were collected: (i) films of the work of the school leaders and their communication with other professionals; (ii) recording of face-to-face interviews; (iii) notes collected during the observation and used to clarify the descriptions of the activity, alongside other evidence eg emails or notes. Our study indicates that school leaders have to perform a large number of different actions. They pay particular attention to teamwork, and all forms of communication. The training and mentoring of staff is carried out with the aim of the establishment of shared leadership. The results of our study can contribute to the development of new types of training courses

The integration of disabled children into regular schools is a current educational and social issue causing widespread interest, concern and debate throughout Australia. The most controversial and innovative adoption of integration policy has occurred in Victoria since the release of the Collins Report in 1984. The present study was conducted in 26 State primary schools in the Bendigo area of the Loddon Campaspe Mallee region of Victoria where disabled children had been integrated in regular classrooms with the assistance of a paid teacher aide during 1988. The purpose of the study was to survey the concerns of those teachers into whose classes children with disabilities had been integrated. The Stages of Concern (SoC) dimension of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (C-BAM) was chosen as the research methodology. C-BAM was developed at the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, University of Texas at Austin, and for the purpose of this study, the methodology consisted of a questionnaire of 35 standardized items (the Stages of Concern Questionnaire), and a School Survey. The study set out to identify the concerns of teachers (ii) toward integration, and to establish reasons why teachers are at particular stages of concern. Factors included teachers' age, gender, number of years of teaching experience, qualifications and in-service training. Other issues related to the disabled children themselves, the school, and factors such as availability of resources, funding levels, and access to support systems. This study developed from the policy document Integration in Victorian Education (the Collins Report, 1984). Since then, the Ministry of Education has published two additional booklets (in January and February, 1987), which partly address some of the issues included in this thesis. These include resourcing, in-servicing and the legal implications of the innovation. The analysis of the data points to major shortcomings which will jeopardize the implementation process and the likely success of the innovation. A number of recommendations have been suggested, with particular reference to the pre-service and in-service training of teachers, and issues relating to funding and resources. The findings have implications for all classroom teachers, as potentially all are required to accept disabled children into their classes. The results and recommendations also have relevance for the Ministry of Education, whose responsibility it is to ensure that the integration of disabled children into regular classes is fully supported at a government level, and for training institutions, whose task it is to provide appropriate pre-service and in-service programs for present and future classroom teachers.

Four hundred and eight casual relief teachers (CRTs) and 670 permanent teachers from government, independent, and Catholic primary schools and secondary schools in and around metropolitan Melbourne were surveyed using the researcher-developed Issues in Teaching Questionnaire (ITQ) in order to assess their attitudes, perceptions, and experiences in relation to 10 areas of concern including: job security, provisions and facilities, information and communication, lesson management, status, relationships with the school community, relationships with students, student management, job satisfaction, and job stress. These 10 areas of concern were derived from the literature regarding casual relief teaching, which comprised of various anecdotal, published, and unpublished sources. Classical test theory methods (e.g., Cronbach¡¦s ƒÑ and exploratory factor analysis) were used to determine the psychometric properties of the survey instrument, which indicated that the ITQ pos sessed excellent internal reliability and construct validity, and confirmed the existence of an ¡§in-class¡¨ factor and an ¡§out-of-class¡¨ factor. Using descriptive and multivariate inferential statistics, the responses of the CRTs and the permanent teachers were analysed. By comparison with the other group characteristics, employment status (i.e., CRT or permanent teacher) was the best predictor of scores on the ITQ. The CRTs reported significantly more positive attitudes, perceptions, and experiences regarding job stress (i.e., less job stress) compared with the permanent teachers, whereas the permanent teachers reported significantly more positive attitudes, perceptions, and experiences across all other areas of concern compared with the CRTs. When the responses of the CRTs and the permanent teachers were compared on a scale of magnitude (i.e., effect size), much larger effects were observed for the ¡§out-of-class¡¨ concerns (e.g., Information and Communication, Provisions and Facilities, Lesson Manageme nt, Relationships with the School Community, Status, Job Security, and Job Satisfaction subscales) compared with the ¡§in-class¡¨ concerns (e.g., Relationships with Students, Student Management, and Job Stress subscales). Although many parallels were found between the CRTs and the permanent teachers in terms of their general classroom concerns, substantial differences existed between the two groups in relation to their concerns in the wider school context. Of particular importance were the considerable differences between the CRTs and the permanent teachers in terms of their employment conditions, and how they are currently being accommodated in schools and integrated into school communities. In these regards, CRTs are not receiving professional parity with their permanent counterparts. Overall, the results of this study (a) provide evidence of a psychometrically sound instrument for assessing the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of CRTs and permanent teachers across a range of school settings, (b) hi ghlight the importance of employment status (i.e., CRT or permanent teacher) as a predictor of the ITQ subscales compared with the other group characteristics, and (c) present comprehensive and convincing evidence on the similarities and differences between the teaching experiences of CRTs and permanent teachers.

<p>The current information society is collecting information about individual needs, wants and desires continuously with the help of new technologies. Information systems, such as consumer relationship management (CRM) have a crucial importance when providing personalized services to the customers. This is done by gathering, storing, maintaining and distributing important consumer knowledge throughout the organization. (Chen & Popovich, 2003) However as previous studies have shown, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about threats to their personal privacy when new technologies are integrated into the society (e.g. Cranor et al, 1999; Kervenoael et al, 2007). As these emerging issues are becoming more common in the consumers’ daily lives, it is of great importance to discover their perceptions about it. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the consumers’ perception about their privacy and how they affiliate with their personal information being processed in various organizations.</p><p>The theoretical framework suggests that several factors affects the consumers comfort in sharing personal information to companies, such as the physical environment of the organization, which type of information that is shared, what organization that stores and uses the information, the psychological distance the actors have to each other and how much control the consumers have over the use of their personal information. A selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were concerned about the information that is gathered about them, which further emphasises the importance of this study. It was evident that the respondents were more willing to provide demographic and lifestyle information, rather than financial and purchase related information. The results also showed a variation depending on which organization that is considered. The various organizations were categorized into four different groups; Intimate distance, personal distance, social distance and public distance, depending on the respondents’ perceived comfort in sharing their personal information with them.</p><p>Some significant differences were observed between the various demographic groups as well. One of the findings indicates that men appear to be more comfortable in sharing their personal information to certain companies in comparison to women, due to a higher intellectual risk-propensity. It is argued that the consumers concern for privacy is an important issue to consider for companies. In order to maintain a strong relationship with their customers it should be integrated as an essential part of their CRM-strategies to make their information gathering techniques more efficient.</p>

The current information society is collecting information about individual needs, wants and desires continuously with the help of new technologies. Information systems, such as consumer relationship management (CRM) have a crucial importance when providing personalized services to the customers. This is done by gathering, storing, maintaining and distributing important consumer knowledge throughout the organization. (Chen &amp; Popovich, 2003) However as previous studies have shown, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about threats to their personal privacy when new technologies are integrated into the society (e.g. Cranor et al, 1999; Kervenoael et al, 2007). As these emerging issues are becoming more common in the consumers’ daily lives, it is of great importance to discover their perceptions about it. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the consumers’ perception about their privacy and how they affiliate with their personal information being processed in various organizations. The theoretical framework suggests that several factors affects the consumers comfort in sharing personal information to companies, such as the physical environment of the organization, which type of information that is shared, what organization that stores and uses the information, the psychological distance the actors have to each other and how much control the consumers have over the use of their personal information. A selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were concerned about the information that is gathered about them, which further emphasises the importance of this study. It was evident that the respondents were more willing to provide demographic and lifestyle information, rather than financial and purchase related information. The results also showed a variation depending on which organization that is considered. The various organizations were categorized into four different groups; Intimate distance, personal distance, social distance and public distance, depending on the respondents’ perceived comfort in sharing their personal information with them. Some significant differences were observed between the various demographic groups as well. One of the findings indicates that men appear to be more comfortable in sharing their personal information to certain companies in comparison to women, due to a higher intellectual risk-propensity. It is argued that the consumers concern for privacy is an important issue to consider for companies. In order to maintain a strong relationship with their customers it should be integrated as an essential part of their CRM-strategies to make their information gathering techniques more efficient.

This study sought to conceptualize forgiveness-granting communication as a facework phenomenon through utilizing the concepts of face concerns, degree of face loss, and facework strategies. Participants from public speaking courses (N = 248) completed a self-report survey questionnaire asking them to recall a recent forgiveness episode. Statistical analyses were conducted to discover the relationship between face and forgiveness-granting communication. The results of this study indicated the following important findings: (a) the greater one’s self-face concern, the less likely one’s forgiveness-granting communication is to be direct; (b) self-face concern positively predicted conditional forgiveness-granting communication; (c) degree of face loss was a positive predictor of non-expressive forgiveness-granting communication; and (d) facework strategies were the best predictors of forgiveness-granting communication. This study revealed face as a useful theoretical paradigm for understanding forgiveness-granting communication. Although the sample was fairly homogenous and three scales had undesirable reliabilities, this study has provided greater understanding of both the role of face within the forgiveness process and how communicators choose certain strategies to grant forgiveness. Based on this study, future directions were also discussed.

Research in patient education suggests that tailored educational materials can improve patient's understanding of a treatment plan and help to achieve patient engagement and compliance. The goal of the HealthDoc Project has been the creation of automated Natural Language Generation systems for producing educational materials that are tailored to an individual patient's medical condition and personal situation. The project has so far focused on developing computational linguistic tools needed to author tailorable content from which customized versions could be generated. Also the HealthDoc model of document generation assumes the existence of previously authored textual material. Therefore, a new approach is needed to construct these materials and ensure that the relevant medical knowledge will be captured and delivered to the patient by providing a means to assist the health care professionals in directly authoring the required domain knowledge. <br /><br />We have used constructivist educational theory and knowledge-level modelling to define a new approach incorporating Patient-centric and Behaviour-modifying Educational Model (PBEM) and a knowledge-acquisition framework. Unlike traditional approaches, in which all patients are treated alike in terms of the medical information provided, our new model takes into account characteristics of individual patients. This facilitates the patient's assimilation of relevant information pertaining to her behaviour and health. As the information provided must address the various concerns of different stakeholders, and different patients have different concerns and concern intensities, a knowledge-acquisition framework was developed to provide a structure for patient knowledge acquisition. This framework includes the following components: a Strategic Model, a Concerns Model, and an Interrogation-based knowledge-acquisition Tool. The tool is intended to be used directly by health care professionals and to assist them in formulating, structuring, representing, and articulating their domain knowledge. This research work explores a new field, knowledge-level modelling, for generating patient-tailored educational materials and provides guidelines to implementing such a knowledge-acquisition tool.

Research in patient education suggests that tailored educational materials can improve patient's understanding of a treatment plan and help to achieve patient engagement and compliance. The goal of the HealthDoc Project has been the creation of automated Natural Language Generation systems for producing educational materials that are tailored to an individual patient's medical condition and personal situation. The project has so far focused on developing computational linguistic tools needed to author tailorable content from which customized versions could be generated. Also the HealthDoc model of document generation assumes the existence of previously authored textual material. Therefore, a new approach is needed to construct these materials and ensure that the relevant medical knowledge will be captured and delivered to the patient by providing a means to assist the health care professionals in directly authoring the required domain knowledge. <br /><br />We have used constructivist educational theory and knowledge-level modelling to define a new approach incorporating Patient-centric and Behaviour-modifying Educational Model (PBEM) and a knowledge-acquisition framework. Unlike traditional approaches, in which all patients are treated alike in terms of the medical information provided, our new model takes into account characteristics of individual patients. This facilitates the patient's assimilation of relevant information pertaining to her behaviour and health. As the information provided must address the various concerns of different stakeholders, and different patients have different concerns and concern intensities, a knowledge-acquisition framework was developed to provide a structure for patient knowledge acquisition. This framework includes the following components: a Strategic Model, a Concerns Model, and an Interrogation-based knowledge-acquisition Tool. The tool is intended to be used directly by health care professionals and to assist them in formulating, structuring, representing, and articulating their domain knowledge. This research work explores a new field, knowledge-level modelling, for generating patient-tailored educational materials and provides guidelines to implementing such a knowledge-acquisition tool.

There has been no commonsense on how to identify problem domain concerns in architectural modeling of software systems. Even, there is no commonly accepted method for modeling the Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) effectively associated with the architectural aspects in the solution domain. This thesis introduces the use of a Machine Learning (ML) method based on Support Vector Machines to relate NFRs to classified &quot / architectural concerns&quot / in an automated way. This method uses Natural Language Processing techniques to fragment the plain NFR texts under the supervision of domain experts. The contribution of this approach lies in continuously applying ML techniques against previously discovered &ldquo / NFR - architectural concerns&rdquo / associations to improve the intelligence of repositories for requirements engineering. The study illustrates a charted roadmap and demonstrates the automated requirements engineering toolset for this roadmap. It also validates the approach and effectiveness of the toolset on the snapshot of a real-life project.