The purpose of the study was to test an intrinsically-motivated interaction approach, designed to increase distance education support, for both content and motivation, in a cost-effective manner. The literature summarized shows that distance education students desire content and motivational support beyond course materials and are limited in their success without it. Further, while researchers explore increased interaction as a solution, professors usually do not have time for it and attempts to provide it are often restricted by institutions' limited resources. Very little has been published on the effects of distance education tutors and the need for more research in this area has been noted, especially with regards to cost-effective, scalable service models. Even when attempts to increase interaction are successful, they are usually achieved by requiring participation in online discussion boards, making them mechanical and frustrating to students. The proposed solution is an on-demand tutoring service to increase (a) achievement, (b) completion, (c) satisfaction and (d) cost-effectiveness. Participants included Brigham Young University Independent Study students enrolled in a college algebra (MATH 110) course. A quasi-experimental research design, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), graphing techniques, correlation, and chi square analyses were used to determine the effects of the on-demand tutoring intervention. No statistically significant differences were apparent in the midterm scores, final exam scores, satisfaction ratings, or completion rates. However, despite unexpectedly low usage, the tutor appears to have been an adequate substitute for the professor in answering students' questions, and the potential for providing cost-effective on-demand tutoring services seems attainable. A summary of the study's strengths and weaknesses provides insights for improved practice and future research.

Bakgrund: Studien fokuserar på personalomsättningen i små och medelstora revisionsbyråer. Den fokuserar också på vilka anledningar det finns till att vissa revisorer arbetar kvar medan andra slutar inom revisionsbyråerna. Personalomsättningen är en viktig aspekt att belysa inom revisionsbranschen eftersom branschen ligger på höga nivåer jämfört med andra branscher. Både en hög och en låg personalomsättning kan medföra olika typer av problem. Syfte: Syftet är att bidra med ny och fördjupad kunskap om personalomsättningen i små och medelstora revisionsbyråer.  Metod: Studien är uppbyggd med en deduktiv ansats och en kvalitativ forskningsmetod. Utöver den tidigare forskningen kring för- och nackdelar med små företag har vi identifierat tre teorier; psykologiska anknytningsteorin, rollteorin och mentorskapsteorin som mest används för att studera detta inom revisionsforskningen. Vi kommer därför att ha dessa som utgångspunkt. I studien kommer kvalitativa intervjuer i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer att användas som en teknik för att samla in den data som behövs. Intervjuer genomförs med fem revisorer som har valt att lämna yrket och med fem revisorer som fortfarande arbetar kvar inom revisionsbranschen. Slutsats: Det har framkommit av studien att personalomsättningen inom revisionsbranschen upplevs vara hög. Åsikterna skiljer sig en aning mellan revisorerna som slutat och revisorerna som arbetar kvar i revisionsbranschen gällande personalomsättningen i små och medelstora revisionsbyråer. Utifrån framtagandet av en modell har studien kunnat identifiera ett antal faktorer som anses vara extra viktiga för dem som fortfarande arbetar kvar, likaså har det framkommit faktorer som kan påverka revisorers intentioner till att sluta. Det har även upptäckts nya faktorer som kan påverka revisorerna utöver de faktorer som har framkommit i teorierna. / Background: The study focuses on staff turnover in small and medium-sized auditing firms. It also focuses on the reasons why there are some auditors who continue to work while others leave the audit firms. Staff turnover is an important aspect to highlight in the auditing industry, as the industry is at high levels compared to other industries. Both high and low staff turnover can cause different types of problems. Purpose: The purpose is to contribute with new and in-depth knowledge of staff turnover in small and medium-sized auditing firms. Method: The study is structured with a deductive approach and a qualitative research method. In addition to previous research on the pros and cons of small business, we have identified three theories; psychological attachment theory, role theory and mentorship theory are most commonly used to study this in audit research. We will therefore have these as a starting point. In the study, qualitative interviews in the form of semi-structured interviews will be used as a technique to collect the data needed. Interviews are conducted with five auditors who have chosen to leave the profession and with five auditors who still work in the auditing industry. Conclusion: It has emerged from the study that staff turnover in the auditing industry is perceived to be high. Opinions differ slightly between the retired auditors and the auditors who remain in the auditing industry regarding staff turnover in small and medium-sized auditing firms. Based on the development of a model, the study has been able to identify a number of factors that are considered to be extra important for those who are still working, as well as factors that may influence auditors' intentions to quit. New factors have also been discovered that can affect the auditors in addition to the factors that have emerged in the theories.

Today voice recognition is becoming mainstream and nowadays it is also possible to include in individual smartphone apps. However, it has not previously been investigated for which tasks it is preferable from a usability perspective to use voice recognition rather than touch. In order to investigate this, a voice user interface was created for a smartphone radio application, which already had a touch interface. The voice user interface was also tested with users in order to improve its usability. After that, a test was conducted where the participants were asked to perform the same tasks using both the touch and voice interface. The time they took to complete the tasks was measured and the participants rated the experience of completing the task on a scale. Finally, they were asked which interaction method they preferred. For most of the tasks tested, the voice interaction was both faster and got a higher rating. However, it should be noted that in a case where users don’t have specific tasks to perform it might be harder for them to know what a voice controlled app can and cannot do than when they are using touch. Many users also expressed that they were reluctant to use voice commands in public spaces out of fear of appearing strange. These results can be applied to other radio/podcast apps and, to a lesser extent, app for watching TV series and playing music. / Röststyrningen blir vanligare och numera är den också möjligt att använda i individuella appar för smartphones. Det har dock inte tidigare undersökts för vilka uppgifter det ur ett användbarhetsperspektiv är att föredra framför pekskärmsinteraktion. För att undersöka det skapades ett röstinterface för en radiooch podcast applikation som redan hade ett pekskärmsinterface. Röstinterfacet testades också med användare för att förbättra dess användbarhet. Efter det gjordes ett test där deltagarna blev ombedda att utföra samma uppgift med både pekskärm- och röstinterface. Den tid de tog på sig uppmättes och deltagarna betygsatte upplevelsen av att utföra uppgiften på en skala. Slutligen blev de tillfrågade omvilken interaktionsmetod de föredrog. För de flesta av de testade uppgifterna var röstinteraktion snabbare och fick högre betyg. Det ska dock noteras att i fall då användaren inte har specifika uppgifter att utföra kan det vara svårare för dem att veta vad en röststyrd app kan och inte kan göra än när de använder pekskärm. Många användare uttryckte också att de var motvilliga till att använda röstkommandon i allmänna utrymmen av rädsla föratt verka underliga. Dessa resultat kan tillämpas på radio/podcast appar och, i mindre utsträckning, appar för att titta på TV-serier och spela musik.

Kompetensområdet sjuksköterskans arbetsledning av omvårdnadsarbetet är ett tämligen outforskat ämne. Mer kunskap om läkare- och undersköterskors syn på vad som innefattas i sjuksköterskans arbetsledning skulle kunna bidra till ett bättre samarbete som på sikt kan gynna omvårdnadsarbetets utveckling och därigenom även patienten. Syftet med studien är att få ökad kunskap om läkare och underskö-terskors syn på vad som innefattas i kompetensområdet sjuksköterskans arbets-ledning av omvårdnadsarbetet. Metoden som användes var en empirisk intervju-undersökning där urvalet bestod utav fyra läkare och fyra undersköterskor. Mate-rialet analyserades med innehållsanalys, inspirerad av Burnard (1991). Resultatet utmynnade i följande huvudkategorier: Överblick, samarbete och yttersta om-vårdnadsansvaret. Resultatet visade att det som informanterna ansåg innefattas i sjuksköterskans kompetensområde arbetsledning av omvårdnadsarbetet i stor ut-sträckning stämde överens med uppgifter som benämns under huvudområdet ar-betsledning i Socialstyrelsens kompetensbeskrivning för legitimerad sjuksköterska (2005) men att rollen som arbetsledare av omvårdnadsarbetet inte var självklar och erkänd av alla informanterna. / Leadership in nursing is a relatively unexplored area of research. Further knowl-edge about doctors and staff nurses’ views on what is included in this area could gain development in nursing and thereby the qualities of patient care. The aim of this study is to gain further knowledge about doctors and assistant nurses’ views on what is included in the area of leadership in nursing. The method used was semi-structured interview. The selection of informants was four doctors and four assistant nurses. The analysis method was thematic content analysis inspired by Burnard (1991). The analysis resulted in the following main categories: General view, ability of cooperation and main responsibility. The result showed that doc-tors- and assistant nurses' views on what was included in the area of leadership in nursing to a large extent was congruent to job assignments written in The National Board of Health and Welfare’s competence description for registered nurses. However, the leadership role of nursing was not obvious and acknowledged by all the informants.

Nygren, M & Rygg, K. Delegering av omvårdnad –En empirisk studie om delegering. Examensarbete i omvårdnad 10 poäng. Malmö högskola: Hälsa och samhälle, Utbildningsområde omvårdnad 2007.Som arbetsledare har sjuksköterskan flera ansvarsområden, bland annat att prioritera och fördela omvårdnadsarbetet inom teamet och att delegera omvårdnadsuppgifter. Det finns för sjuksköterskan konkreta författningar och lagar knutna till delegeringsansvaret. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka vilka omvårdnadsåtgärder sjuksköterskan delegerade till annanvårdpersonal. Centrala frågeställningar var bland annat vilka omvårdnadsåtgärder delegeras, och hur upplever sjuksköterskorna att delegera omvårdnadsåtgärder? Studien var kvalitativ och som datainsamlingsmetod valdes semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio sjuksköterskor. Både manifest och latent innehållsanalys valdes som analysmetod. Vid den manifesta analysen framkom fem kategorier: Delegerade arbetsuppgifter, orsaker till att delegera, försäkran om kompetens vid delegering, uppföljning av delegerad uppgift och hinder för delegering. Vid den latenta analysen framkom tre teman: delegeringar är positivt, kontrollbehov och osäkerhet kring delegering. Studien visar bland annat att delegeringar när det fungerar upplevs som någonting positivt, men att det finns faktorer, exempelvis att vara nyutbildad sjuksköterska som bidrar till osäkerhet kring delegeringssituationen.Nyckelord: Delegering, kompetens, omvårdnad, sjuksköterska, undersköterska / Nygren, M & Rygg, K. Delegating nursing tasks –An empiric study of delegation.Degree Project, 10 Credit Points. Nursing Programme, Malmö University: Health and Society, Department of Nursing, 2007. As being a supervisor the nurse possesses several areas of responsibilities such as, the prioritizing and assigning of nursing tasks and delegation of nursing care. The aim of this study was to examine what kind of nursing tasks the nurses would delegate to the rest of the nursing staff. Examples of the main questions at issue were amongst others what kind of nursing tasks are delegated, and how did the nurses experience the delegation of nursing tasks? The study was qualitative and the data was collected from nine nurses using semi structured interviews. Both a manifest and a latent content analysis were chosen as methods of analysis. Five categories emerged as a result of the manifest analysis: delegated tasks, reasons to delegate, assurance of competence, the follow-up of delegated tasks and obstacles to delegations As a result of the latent analysis, three themes occurred: delegation is something positive, the need of control and finally uncertainty attached to delegations. The study revealed among other things that delegations, when well functioning, are experienced as something positive. Still there are elements, such as being a fresh educated nurse, that contribute to uncertainties as far as delegations are concerned.Key words: assistant nurse, competence, delegation, nurse, nursing.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(人間・環境学) / 甲第23986号 / 人博第1038号 / 新制||人||244(附属図書館) / 2022||人博||1038(吉田南総合図書館) / 京都大学大学院人間・環境学研究科共生人間学専攻 / (主査)教授 西山 教行, 教授 柳瀬 陽介, 教授 倉石 一郎, 教授 ダニエル ムーア / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Human and Environmental Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

Software developers and teams typically rely on source code and tasks management tools for their projects. They tend to depend on different platforms such as GitHub, Azure DevOps, Bitbucket, and GitLab for task-tracking, feature-tracking, and bug-tracking to develop and maintain their software repositories. Individually, developers may lose concentration when having to navigate through numerous screens consisting of various platforms to perform daily tasks. Additionally, while in meetings (non-virtual), teams are often separate from their machines and often would have to rely on pure recollection of the tasks and issues related to their work. This can delay the decision-making process and take away valuable focus hours of developers. Although there is usually one person with their laptop to guide the meeting and has access to the source code management tools, this can take a lot of time as they are not familiar with all the developers’ independent works. Therefore, a new tool needs to be introduced to help accelerate individual and team meetings’ productivity. In this paper, we continued the work on Robin, a voice-assistant built to answer questions regarding GitHub issues and source code management. Robin has the ability to answer questions in addition to completing actions on the behalf of the developer. This thesis presents Robin's abilities, architecture, and implementation while also examining its usability through a user study. Our study suggests that some people love the idea of having a conversational agent for software development. However, a lot more research and iterations must be done to fully make Robin give the user experience we imagined. In this thesis, we were able to set the foundation of this idea and the lessons that we learned.

While some attention has been paid to organizational culture, there has been a paucity of research relating specifically to: (a) how first year assistant principals in the high school setting describe and assess their schools' organizational cultures, (b) how they utilize the information gained from their assessments of their schools' cultures, and (c) their perceptions of how they know whether they have been successful in adapting or assimilating into their schools' cultures. The purpose of this research study was to identify how first year high school assistant principals describe and assess their schools' organizational cultures and how these administrators utilized the information gained during this assessment. Data were gathered through a total of eleven interviews of assistant principals who completed their first year in 2002/03 and whose high schools were located in Regions Three, Four, Seven, and Nine, as designated by the Association of California School Administrators. Data analysis was conducted simultaneously during and after the data collection process. During the data analysis, the researcher attempted to identify common themes among the data gathered from the interviews. In summary, all of the assistant principals indicated that they described and assessed their schools' organizational cultures during their first year. Nine out of the eleven indicated they utilized the information gained from their assessments. All but one of the assistant principals reported that they had adapted and/or assimilated into the schools' organizational cultures during their first year. It is this researcher's contention that first year assistant principals need to be able to describe and assess their schools' organizational cultures so that they can better fulfill the roles and responsibilities of their positions. Mentor and staff development programs need to address not only why it is necessary for assistant principals to describe and assess their schools' organizational cultures, but also how to use the information gained from the assessment.

This study investigates and compares the skills, knowledge, and activities engaged in as a principal and an assistant principal and their relationship to the preparation of an aspiring middle school principal. Since little information exists, it is possible that no similar investigations have been previously completed. This study also compares the perceptions of principals with the expectations of school districts as to the required skills, knowledge, and activities of principals and assistant principals as delineated in their job descriptions. This study includes a survey of 104 middle school principals who were systematically selected from 1,228 active, public, non-charter, junior high/intermediate/middle schools in California. Surveys were mailed during the last week in October, 2006 and were postmarked for return between October 31 and December 20, 2006. A field test among ten selected principals was completed to establish the validity of the instrument, improve questions, format, and/or rating scales. Positivistic Educational Administration Theory provides the conceptual framework that informs this quantitative study. The study is cross-sectional, utilizing a self-administered questionnaire. Responses were gathered and averaged by category. Since the survey includes Likert scales, factor analysis was used as the statistical procedure to validate the questionnaire. The data provided by this study should be of interest to aspiring administrators, middle school principals and assistant principals, school district administrators, higher education professors of educational administration and other administrator preparation programs.

Thesis advisor: Martin Scanlan / Thesis advisor: Nathaniel Brown / The COVID-19 global pandemic has had major implications on the work educational leaders do on a daily basis, including frequently attending to health and well-being matters as well as operations in order to ensure the safety of all community members. At the same time, school leaders are tasked with maintaining a focus on instructional leadership to close opportunity gaps that may have been exasperated due to the pandemic. One way to increase sustained improvement efforts is to maximize the impact of Middle-level Instructional Leaders (MILs) within the district. Yet, research on MILs is grim and rarely attends to cultivation of learning for these varying roles. In order to address this gap in research, the purpose of this study is to understand how MILs pursue and make sense of instructional leadership during a time of crisis. Through an analysis of 10 semi-structured interviews, two observations and a document review, this qualitative case study presents the perspectives of MILs within a single district, capturing a description of two Communities of Practice (CoPs): District MILs and school-based MILs. Findings indicate that MILs’ individual investment on vision and goals can supersede that of hierarchical accountability structures. In addition, the social-emotional well-being of students and teachers was an emergent and conflicting priority with instructional leadership. Workplace experiences and collaborative, experiential practices are amongst the exemplary practices that develop the capacity of MILs. However, limited enrollment capacity, lack of frequency of experiences, and ambiguous role expectations hinder the ability to develop the practice of MILs. These findings have implications for how to best maximize MILs to pursue instructional leadership, and identify additional areas to consider for future research. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.