Masters in Public Administration - MPA / This study focuses on the Performance Management System in the South African local government with specific emphasis on policy implementation.

This study reports on the development, implementation and evaluation of an online master’s module called Management Information Systems in Education, in the specialization phase in the master’s course in Administration and Management in Education. The pedagogical and practical issues that have to be addressed when teaching with a Learning Management System (LMS) were explored during the evaluation process of the online environment. It was conducted in the form of a design experiment. The online module was built using Moodle software and the study was undertaken at the Faculty of Education of the Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. An evaluation questionnaire with open-ended questions was developed to evaluate the online component of the module. The questionnaires were completed by a sample of seven adult students who were registered for the optional module and their lecturer. Observations on the Moodle site were also conducted. An adaptation of Cronjé’s (2006) model of the four quadrants of teaching and learning was used to develop the conceptual framework. An interpretive analysis of the data plotted the answers to the research questions on the adapted Cronjé model. The findings indicate that the use of an online module designed and delivered through Moodle is recommended because it can be accessed at any time and at any place; it provides the opportunity to collaborate with others virtually; it provides an opportunity to learn more; it is an easy way to study; it is a useful educational package that can be adopted by teachers to supplement the teaching and learning process in schools; it assists in solving many problems related to information management at work; it helps in diversifying the learning activities; and it improves communication possibilities. / Dissertation (MEd (Computer-Integrated Education))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Curriculum Studies / MEd / unrestricted

This study is a mixed methods investigation, based on a case study of The Ottawa Hospital’s recent and ongoing implementation of an integrated performance management system (IPMS). It is the first empirical investigation to identify the reasons why Canadian healthcare leaders choose to implement an IPMS in a hospital setting, the core components of hospital-based IPMSs, the challenges that senior leaders face when implementing such systems, and how these challenges might be mitigated to increase the likelihood of a successful implementation. Key findings include the need for senior leaders to carefully consider organizational culture prior to fully implementing an IPMS, engaging physicians early in the journey, and coordinating the implementation so that knowledge, skill, and expertise, as it relates to the IPMS, are distributed across the organization in tightly knit waves. Recommendations for future research include the development of frameworks for the design, implementation, and use of IPMSs

This diploma thesis is about content management systems, in particular the open source system Drupal, which is aimed at publishing on the internet. It offers a reader the insight into the area of the content management systems, it explains the criteria of sorting them into groups, it provides a guide to selection the proper content management system. To a reader, the latest version (6) of the Drupal system is introduced. The system is critically evaluated. For the purpose of this paper a web site was created together with the description of its creation. Thanks to this, the reader can learn, how to work with the system. It can be beneficial, because there is not enough literature for Drupal. At the end a new module is made, together with the explanation of its creation.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of a Masters Degree in the Department of Educational Planning and Administration at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2005. / Current demands in education necessitate a shift away from traditional inspection and supervision models for school improvement, toward a transparent and democratic approach for Whole School Development (WSD). This has resulted in the need for schools to implement an Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS). The IGMS, in an educational context, is a collective concept that integrates three fundamental components of WSD, namely the Developmental Appraisal System (DAS), the Performance Measurement (PM) and Whole School Evaluation (WSE). This study investigates the implementation of the IQMS in secondary schools within the Umlazi district. Insight into the IQMS is provided via a review of relevant literature. Furthermore, questionnaires have been used to access data from educators about the implementation of the IQMS. Although most secondary schools have introduced the IQMS, many educators are still confused, not only about the process of implementing the IQMS, but also about the concepts used by the IQMS. Key findings of this study indicate the following: • In some schools, educators do not understand the IQMS instrument. • Advocacy and training programmes, in respect of the IQMS, are ineffective in some schools. • Some IQMS structures are not yet in place. Although the majority of educators indicated that they were aware of the IQMS instrument, 32% of the educators who participated in the survey indicated they had never heard about the IQMS instrument for educator evaluation. It is evident that such educators need greater exposure to the IQMS through advocacy and training programmes. It is also clear from this study that most schools are aware of the IQMS instrument but that implementation thereof remains problematic. This study is significant in that it exposes, in its findings, some of the problems experienced by schools in the implementation of the 1QMS. Recommendations to address some of these limitations are made in the last chapter of this publication.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education of the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2013. / Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) is an appraisal system of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education. The appraisal system intended to develop educators on an on-going basis. The primary aim of this investigation was to establish the effect that IQMS has on educator efficacy. As an introduction to the study, the requirements for educator efficacy were reviewed. In so doing, the various characteristics for effective teaching-learning situation and of an “ideal” educator were highlighted. The didactical behaviour of successful educators was also in focus. The requirements for educator efficacy and the effects of IQMS on educator efficacy were investigated using a literature and empirical study. The study revealed that IQMS has a positive effect on educator performances. For the purposes of the empirical investigation, a structured questionnaire was used. Four hundred and six (406) questionnaires were completed by educators from the primary and secondary schools from the Pinetown District in the Ethekwini Region of KZN and these questionnaires were analysed. The data was processed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistics. / University of Zululand

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Studies at the University of Zululand, 2017 / This study focuses on the critical evaluation of how the Integrated Quality Management System as an appraisal tool is implemented in a few selected schools in the ILembe District. In recent times, the system of education in South Africa has required teachers who are highly skilled to impart knowledge of high quality to learners. The introduction of Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) was meant to enhance the quality of teaching and learning by addressing the matter of developmental appraisal in order to enhance teachers’ professional development. This approach has been facing serious challenges and attracted unjustified criticism for quite some time. Since teachers’ performance has been under the spotlight as measured by learners’ results, it is important to evaluate their performance using a highly reliable instrument which can produce learners who can compete globally. This research was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies that were based on a case study approach of 10 schools that were purposefully selected from rural, semi-rural, urban and semi-urban areas. Data from district officials, principals, deputy principals and Heads of Department were collected through interviews, and questionnaires were used to collect data from six teachers at each school. The findings indicate that most teachers are finding it difficult to implement the IQMS policy effectively. The major concern was that managers are reluctant to participate in the process, and do not comply with the requirement of the IQMS, namely the advocacy and training of teachers before they embark on the process of the IQMS. The researcher recommends the use of IQMS for effective teachers’ through professional development and keeping politics out of this process.

The major purpose of this study is to make additional information available to the farm manager through the use of decision theory . This will enable him to improve the decision-making process relating to corn production. The goal is to use the resources at his disposal more efficiently and profitably. This study is primarily concerned with factors that influence planting date and corn variety selection. Within the framework of decision theory analysis , prior and posterior probabilities are employed to calculate the losses that may occur to corn crops in the Cache Valley area of Utah because of harmful spring frosts under optional corn varieties. The alternative of replanting is also added to the model. A brief discussion is included regard ing the impact of water shortage on planting date and corn variety selection. A discussion of factors influencing harvesting decisions is included. The "seventy growing degree day" method is employed as a criterion for planting date select ion. The planting dates a r e matched with four different season length Utah hybrid corn varieties to formulate the courses of action available to the farm manager. The states of nature are the degrees of damage that would occur due to various frost intensities. The decision theory approach of this study identifies the short season variety as the optimal corn crop for Cache Valley, unless planting can be done during the first week in May. This study indicates that planting a shorter season vadety than most Cache Valley farmers have been using in the past would be profitable . Replanting after a frost is found to be unprofitable in marginal cases , but necessary in the case of a killing frost of sufficient duration. The problem of a short water supply adds a constraint as to what varieties can be planted where the time required to reach the third stage of growth is most critical in obtaining potential yields . Finally , it was found that the risk of increased precipitation interfering with harvesting operations becomes almost a certainty if attempts to lengthen the season pushes the harvest too far in to October .

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With the recent developments of several bridge managements systems and their wide-spread use, bridge engineers are realizing the importance of systematic and well planned investments and appropriate management. However the results are far from satisfactory. Bridge management systems need more effective policy analysis tools that can take advantage of the vast amounts of available information to be more efficient. The objective of this research is to develop a policy analysis tool, which is generic in nature and can be applied to any bridge management system provided all the appropriate data is available. In particular, this policy analysis tool is geared to suit policy making, planning and budgeting for the interstate bridges in the state of Virginia. The policy analysis tool developed in this research is a discrete event simulation model capable of extracting information from text files in the Pontis Data Interchange format and simulate user defined element level policies. The model testing was performed using the interstate bridges of the Salem district in Virginia. All the relevant information was extracted from their PONTIS databases. Several scenarios with varying network policies were simulated. The results indicate the validity and the accuracy of the model. The policy analysis tool is a useful addition to the existing policy analysis tools and is capable of handling probabilistic distributions of data instead of single value averages. This will enable the tool to capture more information thereby making the simulation model more realistic. The general framework that was developed here can be applied to any infrastructure problem, and eventually it should be possible to achieve a discrete event simulation based integrated infrastructure management system. / Master of Science