The dissertation is comprised of two qualitative, exploratory studies with an overarching research goal to deepen understanding of Olympic level sport coaching expertise through the development of an in-depth case study. These studies take a constructivist view that emphasizes the active construction of knowledge with social boundaries in which meaning is constructed by the reasoning of the individuals who experience it (Rockmore, 2011). In this case, the individuals include an Olympic rowing coach and 18 of his athletes, from a particular period of his coaching career. With an emphasis on the context of Olympic level rowing, this dissertation followed ethnographic traditions in developing a case study of an Olympic level rowing coach within his coaching community in Canada during three Olympic quadrennials (from 2001 to 2012). Informed by the elements of the integrated definition of expert and effective coaching (Côté & Gilbert, 2009), the two distinct but interconnected studies in this dissertation contributed to a detailed examination of the Olympic coach and his philosophy, principles, knowledge and coaching practices and the impact of these elements on athlete outcomes within the specific context of Olympic level rowing. Outcomes from the two studies are indicative of the utility of the knowledge framework and the integrated definition of coaching effectiveness and expertise (Côté & Gilbert, 2009) to guide this study of expert coaching. The extensiveness of this research goes beyond the question of which criteria determine whether a coach is identified as an expert, to reveal the expert's coaching philosophy, his unique practices, and methods interwoven with clear linguistic and behavioural intentionality. The Olympic coach directed all of his efforts at striving for continued expertise for himself and his athletes. Mutuality of trust and respect was the basis of the athlete-coach effective and valued partnership, which supported their collective goal of achieving Olympic excellence. The findings identified that this productive relationship was supported by the integration of the Olympic coach’s professional, intrapersonal and interpersonal knowledge with a superior contextual understanding. In particular, the interpersonal knowledge of the Olympic coach was identified as essential to the commitment of the participant athletes to his training program and the shared goal of Olympic success. The Olympic coach’s expert practice was facilitated by his deliberate presence in the training venue, his transformative leadership and adaptive expertise, a form of expertise that provides clarity on specific features of the Olympic coach’s practice and accounts for his innovations in the sport of rowing. These explanatory constructs of deliberate presence, transformative leadership and adaptive expertise emerged from both studies. The findings also provide perspective on the lasting impact of his coaching on his athletes and the sport of rowing. / Graduate

Blended families are an increasingly common type of family cohabitation. However, very little is known about the specifics of relationships between individual members of these families and how these relationships affect the personal well-being of the child in these families. The literature review section summarizes the findings of foreign research dealing with the specifics of relationships between individual members of blended families and how these relationships affect children's well-being in these families. The empirical part describes the research investigation and its results. The aim of the research was to find out what parenting styles are used by parents and stepparents in blended families, to compare relationships between different types of siblings and to find out how these relationships and parenting styles are related to children's well-being in these families and family belonging. Keywords Blended families, well-being, family belonging, parenting styles, siblings

The purpose of this study is to showcase the advantages and disadvantages employees in the customer services industry experience when it comes to e-learning, along with the impact the organisational conditions can have on these experiences. A fast moving world demands alternatives to traditional learning, however the new digital learning has its challenges. This has been studied through qualitative interviews with people currently employed in customer services roles. The result of the study show that the main advantages with e-learning is the easy access and availability, this is of particular importance in the customer services industry as many are employed on a part time basis and the work flow is varied. The main disadvantage of e-learning is mainly around organisational issues, such as lack of dedicated time, relevance, communication and technical challenges. In turn, these issues have a great impact on employees' motivation and attitudes towards e-learning in the workplace. / Syftet med föreliggande studie är att synliggöra vilka fördelar och nackdelar arbetstagare inom kundservice upplever med e-lärande, samt vilken inverkan de organisatoriska förutsättningarna har på dessa upplevelser. En snabbrörlig värld kräver alternativ till traditionellt lärande, dock kommer det nya, digitala lärandet med utmaningar. Detta har studerats genom kvalitativa intervjuer med arbetstagare inom kundservice. Studiens resultat visar att e-lärandets goda tillgänglighet är dess främsta styrka, vilket är särskilt fördelaktigt i kundservicebranschen där deltidsarbete är vanligt förekommande och arbetstempot är varierande. E-lärandets nackdelar kretsar till stor del kring organisatoriska hinder såsom brist på avsatt tid, relevans och kommunikation samt tekniska hinder. Dessa faktorer spelar i sin tur en stor roll för arbetstagarens motivation och inställning till e-lärande i arbetslivet.

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Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka lärares och elevers erfarenheter och syn på hur och varför digitala verktyg ska användas i det engelskspråkiga klassrummet för gymnasieskolan. Deras erfarenheter och syn på ämnet blev insamlade genom semi-formella, kvalitativa intervjuer med lärare, samt genom fokusgrupper med elever. Resultaten indikerar på ett flertal fördelar som ökar elevers prestation genom implementeringen av digitala verktyg. Dessa är bland annat individualisering, autonomi och ökat engagemang. Lärares implementering av digitala verktyg är beroende av en god lärarkompetens som i detta arbete baseras på TPACK-modellen. Denna består av de tre olika aspekterna, teknologisk-, innehåll- och pedagogisk kunskap, vilka alla måste behärskas för en optimal implementering av digitala verktyg. Lärarintervjuerna indikerar på att där är ett behov för en mer extensiv och djupgående fortbildning för att uppnå både ett större självförtroende och mer kunskap om hur och varför digitala verktyg ska användas. / The purpose of this paper is to investigate teachers’ and students’ experiences and views of how and why digital tools are used in the English as Second Language (ESL) classroom for upper secondary school. These experiences and views were collected by conducting semi- formal qualitative interviews with teachers, and focus group interviews with students. The results indicate numerous benefits for enhancing student performance by the implementation of digital tools such as individualization, autonomy, and engagement. Furthermore, the teachers’ implementation of the digital tools is dependent on a sufficient teacher competence, which is based on the TPACK-model, consisting of three different aspects technological-, content-, and pedagogical knowledge. These three all have to be mastered for an optimal implementation of digital tools. Lastly, the interviews with the teachers indicate that there is a demand for more extensive and thorough in-service training in order to achieve confidence and greater knowledge in how the digital tools are to be used.

Abstract U.S. middle schools are increasing offering blended learning curricula that integrates virtual and face-to-face instruction, but the effectiveness of this mode of instruction at the middle school level has not been adequately explored. This investigation provides additional data to the current body of knowledge related to blended learning as a viable option for middle school students. The theoretical framework for this investigation derives from Lev Vygotsky's social development theory and Jean Piaget's constructivist theory of knowledge. The central research question focused on the difference in achievement scores between 6th grade students participating in a virtual course as compared to the 6th grade students participating in a face-to-face course, and the difference between the overall scores of the thirty-five 6th grade students in the two respective courses as compared to the thirty 7th grade students. A causal-comparative research design was used. An ANOVA was conducted and the achievement scores of the total sample size of sixty-five 6th and 7th grade students at a charter school located in the U.S. state of Maryland were analyzed. The 6th grade students scored higher than the 7th grade students in virtual learning. In both grade levels, achievement scores were higher for students who had taken the virtual course, illustrating the merits of virtual learning for middle school students. This study provides data that may influence organizational leaders' decision making regarding whether to use a blended learning model at the middle school. This study supports virtual learning and can contribute to positive social change by supporting the creation of more blended learning middle schools in Prince George's County

The use of hybrid learning (a blend of face-to-face and distance learning) is rapidly increasing in higher education. However, educational leaders have raised concerns about the proliferation of hybrid programming as an efficiency measure without appropriate attention to learning. This study examined the relationship between social, teaching and cognitive presence, pedagogical design, and students' perspectives on hybrid learning effectiveness. Data from thirty-nine undergraduate courses representing 1,886 students were analyzed to identify indicators of best hybrid practice. Aspects of social and teaching presence significantly influenced students' perceptions of learning, including facilitation of student interactions, assignment feedback and guidance, effective use of class time, and organizational integration of course concepts. Recommendations for hybrid institutional initiatives and programming include attention to framing "presence" in hybrid settings, using integrated inquiry to encourage integrated course design, and encouraging communities of inquiry to promote cross-institutional investigation of hybrid effectiveness.

Using Learning Management Systems (LMSs) in educational environmentshas facilitated the communication between students and teachers, and raisednew challenges as well. The aim of this research is to investigate the role ofLMS in the learning and teaching processes from students and teachersperspectives. We adopted a social constructivist worldview. We used aninductive qualitative approach, a single case study design and hermeneuticalapproach for analyzing the interviews and observations. We used Garrison etal. (2000) community of inquiry framework as a theoretical guide for thestudy. The research took place at the School of Computer Science, Physicsand mathematics department at Linnaeus University, Växjö campus. Theparticipants of this research were students and teachers from two masterlevels within the program of Information Systems. The study results indicatedthat students and teachers were content with the usage of Blackboard inorganizing courses materials. Although, most teachers didn’t encourageinteractive and discussion activities on Blackboard, students expressed theneed for such activities to help them in constructing and building newmeanings.

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Blended finance has the past decade become an increasingly popular way for development banks in Southeast Asia to invest in renewable energy projects with the aim of mobilizing additional private investments. Although definitions of the method differ among stakeholders, blended finance is a way of blending development loans with below-market-rate funds to lower risks experienced by private investors. This relatively unexplored financing approach could be one of the solutions to bridge the large private funding gap the region's renewable energy sector is currently experiencing. This paper investigates if and how blended finance contributes to the diffusion of renewable energy innovation in Southeast Asia, through the mobilization of further private investments. To do this, the de-risking effects of blended finance have been investigated, as well as which stage in the diffusion innovation process blended finance is relevant, and how it contributes to the innovation functions of an energy technology innovation system. Exploratory interviews were held with both regional climate finance experts, as well as with eight blended finance investment executives. The findings from this thesis show that blended finance helps renewable energy technologies in their product commercialization and market formation stage, by targeting first-mover projects. During this stage, renewable energy projects in Southeast Asia experience especially high barriers to attracting private investments, the so-called commercialization valley of death. Further, blended finance contributes to four out of seven innovation functions in the energy technology innovation system: Resource mobilization, knowledge diffusion, creation of legitimacy and market creation. The financial risks of renewable energy projects are being mitigated as the public loans and concessional funds lower costs and create increased returns, leading to projects being more financially attractive for private investors. The perceived risks among private investors are being mitigated through knowledge diffusion and the creation of legitimacy. Development banks spread the knowledge about investments in renewable energy projects, as well as the technology, and the very existence of blended finance investment brings a quality mark for renewable energy projects. The paper additionally found that the lack of a common definition of blended finance leads to a lack of common methodologies, data availability and evaluations of the approach. This in turn leads to little research and difficulties in collaboration among blended finance investors, ultimately resulting in the approach being hard to scale. / Blandfinansiering, eller "blended finance", har det senaste decenniet blivit ett allt populärare sätt för utvecklingsbanker i Sydostasien att investera i projekt för förnyelsebar energi. Blandfinansiering ett sätt att blanda vanliga utvecklingslån med lån med en lägre ränta än marknadsräntan. Syftet är att attrahera och mobilisera mer privata investeringar mot förnyelsebar energi, genom att minska riskerna privata investerare upplever. Denna relativt outforskade finansieringsmetod kan vara en av lösningarna för att överbrygga den stora privata finansieringsklyfta som den sydostasiatiska förnyelsebara energisektorn upplever. Denna uppsats undersöker om och hur bland finansieringbidrar till spridningen av innovationer inom förnybar energi i Sydostasien. Detta genom att undersöka de riskminimerande effekterna av blandfinansiering, i vilken fas in innovationsprocessen blandfinansiering är relevant och hur det bidrar till innovationsfunktionerna inom ett energitekniskt innovationssystem. Explorativa intervjuer hölls med både regionala experter inom klimatfinansiering och med åtta investerare inom blandfinansiering. Resultaten visar att blandfinansiering hjälper förnyelsebar energiteknik i produktkommersialiserings- och marknadsbildningsfasen i innovationsprocessen, genom att rikta in sig på "first-mover" projekt. I denna fas upplever projekt för förnyelsebar energi i Sydostasien särskilt höga hinder för att attrahera privata investeringar, den så kallade "commercialisation valley of death". Vidare bidrar blandfinansiering till fyra av sju innovationsfunktioner i det energitekniska innovationssystemet: Resursmobilisering, kunskapsspridning, legitimitetsskapande och marknadsskapande. Den finansiella risken för förnyelsebara energiprojekt sjunker då blandfinansiering sänker kostnaderna och ökar avkastningen, vilket leder till att projekten blir mer ekonomiskt attraktiva för privatainvesterare. De upplevda riskerna bland privata investerare sjunker genom kunskapsspridning och skapandet av legitimitet. Utvecklingsbanker sprider kunskapen om hur man investerar i förnyelsebara energiprojekt, och utvecklingsbankernas närvaro i projekten skapar trovärdighet. Rapporten fann dessutom att avsaknaden av en gemensam definition för blandfinansiering leder till en brist på gemensamma metoder, datatillgänglighet och utvärderingar av investeringsmetoden. Detta leder i sin tur till lite forskning och svårigheter i samarbetet mellan investerare, vilket resulterar i att blandfinansiering är svårt att etablera på en större skala.