While (big) data promises immense opportunity, initiatives focused on using data to pursue insight have mixed outcomes. The Management Support Systems (MSS) model summarises what we currently understand within Information Systems (IS) about the implementation and use of systems to improve organisations’ use of data. Adopting an ethnographic approach to observe how practitioners in two contrasting organisations actually generate insight from data, this research challenges the implicit information processing and implementation logics of the MMS model. The pragmatic messiness of pursuing insight is described in two monographs, which reveal the socially constructed nature of data in relation to phenomena, and the importance of data engagement to produce insight. Given that this PhD study also seeks to generate insight from data, it is compared and contrasted reflexively to the two cases observed. While the inquiry logic pursued in this study was made explicit, and was regularly reviewed and challenged, the two cases left this largely implicit. The use of tools is shown to facilitate and constrain inquiry, with related data acting as boundary objects between the different practitioner groups involved. An explanatory framework is presented and used to suggest various enhancements to the MSS model. First, the Problem Space is reframed to reflect the distinct, though interdependent logics involved in inquiry versus realising envisaged benefits from insights. Second, the MSS artefact itself is contextualised and Data Engagement rather than MSS or Tool Use is positioned as central. Third, Data are disentangled from the wider MSS artefact, as a critical, distinct construct. Fourth, an Alignment construct is introduced to address the boundary spanning nature of data initiatives. The thesis also highlights the value of using Wenger’s (1998) Communities of Practice (CoP) situated learning framework to study data initiatives, and the related value of mapping groups as a technique for further development. Some questions are provided for practitioners to gain a better understanding of data initiatives. Wider implications are also noted for the socio-material theorising of Data, and distinguishing between Data, Information and Knowledge concepts within the IS discipline.

This study explores how student participation in the development of a school computer-network (SCN) motivated students to learn and promoted service and collegial relationships in the school. Students participated in a Technology Leadership (TL) community and engaged in activities that were central to the development of the SCN. The research examines the co-evolution of the SCN and student activities and the relationships between TL students and the school. In the study, data on students' experiences in the TL program came from non-participant observation, conversations, semi-structured interviews and document analyses. Using a sociocultural perspective of identity construction and informed by Lave and Wenger's notion of participation in a community-of-practice, with actor-network approaches, the analysis of the data showed that student level of engagement increased when the activities were relevant to their in-school and out-of-school technology experiences, or to their future career goals. Program participants provided technical support to the SCN and taught what teachers and students wanted to learn at a time when they needed to know it. In so doing, these leadership students moved towards greater technical expertise, improved interpersonal skills and increased leadership responsibilities as demonstrated by the availability of improved technical support services in the SCN. As newcomers to the TL community gradually advanced to full participation and old-timers became computer consultants to the school before they eventually graduated, the TL community was subjected to a continual process of renewal in terms of participants. With progressive student participation and with translations of diverse technology actors, the services the SCN provided to the school improved. Over time, the SCN's technical character changed and the relationships of service and collegiality between TL students and the school were enhanced. Thus, both participants and the school realized educational value. The implication for curriculum and pedagogy of discipline-based courses is that if students are to be attracted to school initiatives and retained, the curriculum and its delivery need to increase opportunities for students' changed relationships with the school community to take place, and for student participation in a relevant community-of-practice that is responsive to students' future aspirations. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This thesis explores the development of multiprofessional communities of practice within the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for Greater Manchester - a large-scale UK-based healthcare knowledge mobilisation partnership between the University of Manchester and local NHS organisations. In particular, it examines the role of pre-existing boundaries and identities in the process of community formation and develops our understanding of knowledge sharing across multiple interconnected communities of practice. The project deploys a qualitative single embedded case study as its research methodology, embracing 45 interviews and 69 hours of direct observation supplemented by documentary analysis, all of which were undertaken in 2010-2011. Three overlapping implementation contexts within the CLAHRC for Greater Manchester are explored, each of them reported in a different empirical paper: (1) a multi-professional community of practice emerging from a specialised project team driving an implementation project; (2) multiprofessional communities of practice operating within and across primary healthcare settings; and (3) the knowledge mobilisation initiative as a constellation of multiple communities of practice. The key theoretical contribution of this thesis is threefold. First, it demonstrates that a multiprofessional team can develop characteristics typical for a community of practice, identifies the mechanisms and consequences of this conversion and argues that teams and communities of practice do not need to be seen as mutually exclusive entities. Second, it introduces a notion of selective permeability of boundaries, whereby boundaries developing around a community of practice enable knowledge exchange between such a community and certain out-groups while impeding knowledge sharing with others. Finally, it enhances our understanding of large-scale knowledge mobilisation initiatives as emerging constellations of interconnected practices, describes a boundary between the fields of applied health research and research implementation and questions the role of implementation as a boundary practice bridging the real-time gap between the producers and users of research. The main practical contribution of this work is the formulation of a developmental approach to communities of practice, which lies midway between the analytical and instrumental perspectives previously described in the literature and can be beneficial in those cases where strong pre-existing boundaries make the emergence of a new community of practice problematic. This approach calls for the maximal utilisation of existing organic communities and for improving communication within and between them rather than attempting to foster a heterogeneous community centred on a time-limited project.

Traditional teaching and learning structures in large music ensembles (e.g., orchestra) place the teacher as the leader and sole dispenser of knowledge with the students as passive learners (e.g., Allsup, 2003; Hendricks, 2018; Rogoff, 1994). However, research indicates that students can play an active role in the learning that occurs in school music ensembles. Alternative style string ensembles, which often involve informal learning, are ideal musical settings for the development of a student-centered, collaborative learning environment. The purpose of this study was to explore how high school string students collaborated with each other as they learned alternative music styles music in an after-school fiddle group. Communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) served as the theoretical framework for this investigation in which I explored student participants’ perspectives, experiences, and interactions as they learned new alternative styles music. During the course of this study I also explored the changing learning roles of the participants and the role of the teacher as facilitator during the learning process. The following research questions guided this study: (1) What various roles did the students undertake in their community of practice? (2) How did the participants move toward legitimate participation as they collaborated with each other in alternative styles of music? (3) How did the teacher serve as facilitator of this community of practice? Data were collected via observations and by way of semi-structured interviews of the participants and their teacher. I used a system of coding to identify important components of learning, what the participants learned, and their movement through the community of learning. From these codes, I identified the following themes: teaching and learning aurally, collaborative learning, changing learning roles of students and the teacher, transfer of participation, leadership and sharing knowledge, student centered learning, enjoyment of playing with others, confidence, perseverance, and students gaining a deeper interest and understanding of the music. These themes served as the basis for presenting the findings for the reader. Findings from this study may inform secondary school string teachers in developing strategies for incorporating alternative styles and collaborative learning environments into their own string curricula. Findings may also provide insights with helping teachers in developing and refining student-centered collaborative learning settings and alternative styles.

Staff training packages combining instructions, modeling, practice, and feedback have been shown to be effective in demonstrating skills to work in early intensive behavioral intervention, but maintenance and generalization of the skills trained are often not addressed. Establishing a community of practice, in which staff members continue to learn and develop new skill sets from one another through shared experiences and information, may lead to the endurance and maintenance of desired staff behavior over time. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the effects of a behaviorally designed community of practice on staff use of socially embedded consequences. The effects of the training procedure were evaluated using a concurrent multiple baseline design across two sites (7 staff members). The results suggest that the behaviorally planned community of practice was effective in reinforcing and maintaining staff use of socially embedded consequences for at least 5 to 9 weeks. Additionally, the number of learning opportunities provided by the staff and social engagement between staff and child increased.

Idag styrs innehållet för idrottsutbildningar för barn och ungdomsledare av Riksidrottsförbundet (RF) samt specialförbunden i den aktuella idrotten. Dessa utbildningar är oftast styrda av ett så kallat styrdokument. Forskningsläget indikerar på att inslag av social interaktion i lärandesituationer kan ha en positiv påverkan på idrottsledarnas utveckling av sitt ledarskap. Det är därför intressant att belysa utbildningsledarens perspektiv på lärande när det finns en tidigare påstådd konkurrens mellan formella utbildningsmiljöer och ett socialt lärande. Syftet med denna studie är att med hjälp av sex intervjuer undersöka utbildningsledares syn gällande lärande under idrottsledarutbildningar. Det övergripande resultatet lyder att utbildningsledarna tycker en formell utbildning är ändamålsenligt i idrottsledarutbildning. Det formella formatet ger dem själva som utbildningsledare en trygghet men samtidigt anses inslag av sociala interaktioner vara väldigt värdefulla. Utbildningarnas material har inte svaret på alla idrottsliga problem, därför är det viktigt att ta vara på deltagarnas erfarenheter och kunskaper. Utmaningen med att implementera sociala moment är den snäva tidsramen. Utbildningsledare måste använda tiden att förmedla den kunskapsbas som förbundet anser vara nödvändig för en idrottsledare i barn och ungdomsverksamhet. Slutsatsen av denna studie är att idrottsledare har mycket att lära av varandra när de träffas på en utbildning men att tiden inte räcker till. Även om idrottsutbildningar nödvändigtvis är formellt utformade kan det vara bra att använda sig av öppna sociala inlärningssituationer för att gynna lärandet och öka engagemanget.

Life coaching is a rapidly expanding industry that focuses on client development, enhancement of life experience, and goal attainment often when clients are experiencing personal, professional, and social change. Online communities of practice (CoPs) provide opportunity for individuals to connect, share experiences, and learn from each other under the auspices of a unifying theme or subject. Since the 1990s, CoPs have spread from education to other areas of business and industry and continue to shape participant professional development. However, the everyday life information seeking and practices of life coaches remains unexplored within information science literature from the perspectives of life coach engagement in seeking information, life coach engagement in CoPs, and life coach interactions with other coaches. The purpose of this research study was to explore life coach perspectives of coaching, the diverse information needs of life coaches, the types and strength of relationships between life coaches and CoPs, the role of coaching certification and/or licensing as contributing to the professionalization of life coaching, and the means of communication exchange by life coaches through information communication technologies. This mixed method study focused on life coaches who self-identify as belonging to a CoP and those that do not. Theoretical frameworks for this study included Savolainen's everyday life information seeking (ELIS) and Wegner and Lave's characterization of CoPs. Methods utilized for this study included an online survey, semi-structured interviews, and social network analysis.

Given the competing contexts of teacher education, it is important to uncover what teacher educator knowledge concerning curriculum design and development emerges in design, implementation, and instruction during the transition from in-person to online contexts. Yet, there is little research that uncovers teacher educator knowledge in curriculum making generally, and more specifically, how this knowledge is carried forward or changed as teacher educators create and enact online teaching. Because transitions are an important time to uncover tacit and embodied understanding, in this self-study of teacher education practice (S-STEP), I examined my own teacher educator knowledge during planning, teaching, and reflecting as I shifted to teaching online. Seven strands of teacher educator knowledge were represented in analytic narrative vignettes and identified as knowledge of content, fixed and fluid elements of course design, milieu, pedagogical intent, preservice teacher knowledge and belief, the value and fragility of relationships, and theory. Then I examined each of the strands separately as a way to discuss findings more holistically. By shifting the teaching context, I questioned and deepened my knowledge of preparing preservice teachers. Further, the analysis revealed how these seven strands of my teacher educator knowledge were interconnected, made stronger, and interacted differently during the stages of planning, teaching, and reflecting. Such intimate study of my own teacher educator knowledge revealed my obligations, responsibilities, and commitments to preservice teachers and the students they will teach. Studies that examine the shifts in teaching context have the potential to identify and highlight the complexities of teacher educator knowledge, thereby making a useful contribution to the research conversation in teacher education. By recognizing and naming their teacher educator knowledge, teacher educators can sharpen and improve their practice as they design courses, especially including improvements in online teacher education, participate in constructing programs, and defend their programs in accreditation processes.

Research indicates curriculum mapping is beneficial for teachers and students. However, it is not effectively implemented because there are barriers in time, support, and knowledge. This research sought to remove those barriers and study the impact on teachers’ practice when they were able to work together to develop a curriculum map. The focus of the teachers’ map was the Kindergarten through third grade English Language Arts curriculum. This work included a series of professional development sessions where teachers worked collaboratively to gain a greater understanding of the curriculum and develop a sequence from kindergarten through third grade. Teachers’ worked collaboratively to gain a deep understanding of what they were supposed to teach and how that would manifest in practice. As teachers constructed their own understanding of the curriculum they made decisions about the expectations for students at each grade level and were able to discuss practices as a group. These discussions led teachers to be more intentional in their planning and instruction. They felt as though they had developed some consistency while still maintaining their freedom to teach within their classroom however they wanted. I observed teachers in their classrooms and then met with them individually to talk about the impact of our work on their practice. Several ideas emerged. First, they saw a need for understanding of the content, and the value of gaining that knowledge as a group. They believed that their teaching would be more intentional as a result of our work and that this intentionality would make them higher quality reading teachers. They believed that increased intentionality, along with consistency from grade to grade and shared expectations had the potential to improve student achievement. Furthermore, teachers gained greater confidence from this work which could also improve their impact as teachers. The community of practice was essential in moving teachers through this work as it provided them a trusting group with mutual goals and a willingness to support and challenge one another.It was essential that teachers first be able to work within a community of practice before they could traverse the journey of developing a curriculum map.

This applied dissertation was designed to verify the effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLC), as it relates to the participation of administrators and teachers. Prior studies have emphasized the importance of continuing learning experiences for school administrators while working. Chiptin (2013) pointed out the importance of a learning network for principals, in which principals would support each other and share knowledge as well as having a forum to discuss common problems. The writer used a quantitative questionnaire copyrighted by Southwest Educational Development Laboratory as the instrument for the research. The main purpose of analyzing the data quantitatively was to measure the effectiveness of the PLC and the participation levels of the administrators and teachers in the PLCs in the target public school district. The results suggested that administrators and teachers perceived PLCs as a collaborative process in which their opinions and suggestions are shared in a democratic fashion. However, when it comes to the final decision, administrators have the last say. Moreover, administrators listen to teachers’ opinions and suggestions on how to solve problems and how to make the best decisions when it comes to student-centered learning. Furthermore, administrators take into consideration the opinions and suggestions of faculty and staff members when making the final decision. Recommendations include conducting a mixed-method study using both qualitative and quantitative data to provide a better understanding of cultural background between schools’ geographic location and culture as well as the individual staff members’ culture, as contrasted with the PLC dynamics. In addition, this study was conducted to provide better insight into specific student-centered activities and teacher practices.