The Business Case for Corporate Training Applications of Web-Based Tele-Learning is divided into five chapters, each illustrating a key concept related to the economic and business impacts of implementing Web-based training in corporations. Chapter 1, the "Market for Web-Based Tele-Learning" presents an overview of the Web-based training industry and includes many examples of how corporations are using Web-based training today. The costs and benefits of Web-based training are introduced, including online training management. Chapter 2, "Cost-Benefit Analysis of Web-Based Tele-Learning: Case Study of the Bell Online Institute" hypothesizes that there are several key design elements that must be considered in costing Web-based training projects. The relative importance of these elements is examined using a case study approach. Chapter 3, "Web-Based Competency and Training Management Systems for Distance Learning" discusses the value to companies of using a Web-based system for competency and training management, using the case of Bell Canada as an example of how companies are implementing these tools today. Chapter 4, "Pricing Models for Web-Based Tele-Learning" examines the factors that influence the pricing of Web-based courses for employee training. Chapter 5, "Business Process Reengineering for the Use of Distance Learning at Bell Canada" is a case study that examines the use of Web-based training at Bell Canada in the context of business process reengineering. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Developments in the Quebec educational system enabled us to evaluate the impact of a new educational environmental program (EEP) on a group of children enrolled in this program for the first time (i.e., the experimental group). This EEP comprised a formal curriculum and environmental activities. A control group of children was enrolled in schools where environmental issues were confined to the natural sciences subject. The goals of this study were threefold. The first goal was to evaluate the impact of an EEP on children's and parents' ecological knowledge, attitudes, motivation, and behaviors. The second goal was to investigate if a motivational model of ecological behaviors observed in adult populations could be replicated with children. Part of this goal also included the comparison of path analyses results across experimental conditions, independently for children and parents. The third goal was to identify more clearly what specific children's characteristics influenced parents' ecological attitudes and motivation. Included in this goal was the investigation of possible differences in the strength of associations between constructs in paths analyses conducted in the experimental and control groups of parents. Results suggested that children in the experimental group were more likely to ask teachers and parents for ecological information and presented a more self-determined motivational profile. Additional analyses revealed that children enrolled in an EEP performed ecological behaviors less for extrinsic motives. Level of knowledge, other attitudes and behavioral measures did not differ significantly between the two groups. Parents of children in the experimental group reported lower levels of satisfaction towards the environment and were more likely to get information on ecological issues and strategies from children. No other significant differences between groups of parents were found. Path analyses results suggested that parents' perceptions of children's provision of autonomy support and of ecological information, as well as, joint child/parent involvement in ecological activities favored parents' ecological attitudes and motivation. These results were consistent across the experimental and the control groups. Future studies are necessary to identify optimal intervention strategies devised to foster in people a sense of personal responsibility and self-determination that may propel them into action.

The purpose of the present study was to describe the process of how youth team sport coaches develop knowledge for coaching through experience. Schon's (1983; 1987) experiential learning theory of reflective practice was used as a conceptual guide. The research design included two focus groups (a pre-study) and multiple-case studies (Yin, 1994). Six coaches of competitive youth team sport comprised the case studies; three in soccer and three in ice hockey. Case study sources of evidence included background interviews, documents, observations combined with video and audio recording, on-site interviews, interval summary interviews, and member check interviews. Data were collected over an entire playing season with each coach. Guided by the case study analytic strategy of relying on theoretical propositions, five methods of qualitative data analysis were used: memos, coding, data displays, interim case summaries, and electronic text searches (Kelle, 1995; Maxwell, 1996; Miles & Huberman, 1994; Yin, 1994). The experiential learning process found in the case studies comprised six components: (a) coaching issues, (b) role frames, (c) issue setting, (d) strategy generation, (e) experimentation, and (d) evaluation. The latter four components comprised a cycle of reflection, referred to as a reflective conversation. Each coach's personal role frame, or approach to coaching, bracketed the reflective conversation, and coaching issues provided the impetus for reflection. The process of identifying an issue, and deciding why it was an issue, is referred to as issue setting. Issue setting included three options: other, peer, and self. Issue setting was proceeded by the strategy generation stage. Six options for generating coaching strategies were found. Three were dependent on coaching peers: advice seeking, joint construction, and reflective transformation. The other three were independent of coaching peers: coaching materials, creative thought, and coaching repertoire. After one or more strategies were generated, an experiment was conducted (real world and/or virtual world). An experiment's effectiveness at resolving a coaching issue was then evaluated. Three options were found at the evaluation stage: other, peer, and self. Once an experiment was evaluated, a coach would either exit the reflective conversation because the issue was resolved or considered unworthy of further reflection, or return immediately to the strategy generation stage to continue the reflective conversation. The selection of options at each stage in a reflective conversation was influenced by four conditions: (a) access to peers, (b) stage of learning, (c) issue characteristics, and (d) environment. The present study provides a first step towards unpacking the frequently cited conclusion that coaches learn through experience. Perhaps the study's most notable contribution to the field of coaching is not the empirically based confirmation that coaches do indeed learn through experience, but an explanation of how coaches learn through experience. Furthermore, when the findings are used to examine other coaching studies, the reflective conversation appears to be valid in other coaching contexts. However, additional research is needed to explore the transferability of the results, and the validity of an experiential learning theory for coaches.

This is a study of personality types of adults undertaking workplace leadership training in relation to perceived training outcomes. Training programs to facilitate adult learning in the workplace are a logical and necessary extension of formal education. Leadership training programs are gaining importance in management education. From another perspective, personality characteristics of adult learners have been related to leadership effectiveness, but there is a lack of studies relating training outcomes to personality. Based on these considerations, this study addresses the following question: After subjects attend a values-based leadership training seminar in the workplace, is their expressed commitment to implement its content a function of their personality types? The sample consists of one thousand managers of a large North American corporation. The subjects participated in a leadership seminar focusing on personal needs and values. Subjects self-administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Three weeks after the seminar, ratings of commitment to the implementation of the seminar were obtained, using a scale developed by the writer, the Perceived Implementation Rating Scale (PIRS). Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, item analyses, reliability estimates, and multivariate analyses of variance. The key results of this study may be summarized as follows: An overall comparison of the MBTI types yielded significant differences in perceived outcomes. More specifically, the combined group classified as TJ (Thinking-Judging) yielded lower scores than their non-TJ counterparts, and the Feeling group reported higher scores than the Thinking group. An exploratory comparison of men and women showed that women reported higher scores than did the nudes. These results imply that learning theories or models such as Andragogy and the Characteristics of the Adult Learner might do well to consider individual differences in personality as potentially relevant to learning outcomes and to the design of pedagogical strategies for adults.

This study arose out of a concern for the adult learners who choose to study in computer conferencing courses offered via the World Wide Web. The numbers of these adult learners are burgeoning; universities are responding to the demand by placing ever-increasing numbers of courses online. However, this learning environment is a new one for many adult students and instructors. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to describe the salient features of communicating and learning in this environment, and to explore the factors which underpin the successful participation of adult learners in computer conferencing courses. Twenty adult learners enrolled in two different computer conferencing courses in two universities located in different provinces in Atlantic Canada participated in this study. As well, the four instructors who delivered these courses were involved in the research study. The design of this qualitative study utilized multiple sources of data. The study entailed in-depth interviews conducted via telephone at two points---once early in the course, and a second time when the course was complete. In addition, information was collected in initial questionnaires and from the transcripts of the courses. A computer-assisted qualitative data analysis program was utilized to assist in the coding of the emerging themes. These emergent themes were incorporated into the protocol for the second set of interviews. Results of the study indicate that the computer conference supported a shift in the roles of learner and instructor, as instructors functioned as facilitators and learners became more self-directed in their learning. However, this shift occurs on a continuum, and is dependent upon how the computer conferencing environment is organized. The potential of group work for supporting a constructivist learning environment in the computer conference emerged. The importance of clear communication, which can be supported by forging personal relationships with classmates in the computer conference also emerged as an essential component of achievement in the computer conference. And finally, the learners in this study expressed a strong sense of academic efficacy. They demonstrated a strong subjective assurance in their ability to succeed at the academic task which they had undertaken.

This thesis provides an exploration and analysis of university education in prisons from a historical point of view. It examines how post-secondary education in prisons has reproduced dominant economic and cultural relations, but also how it can resist doing this. A qualitative research process is used to investigate the empirical research produced in this field. The primary method used is the analysis of the experiences and the voices of persons who have participated in higher education in prisons as students and teachers. The primary objective is to give a voice to prisoners as a traditionally oppressed group. Past and current post-secondary education in Canadian prisons are examined, as are the problems encountered in both. An argument is made for an alternative form of education in prisons, with an emphasis on the pedagogy of Paulo Freire. Freire's work calls for the empowerment of the oppressed and argues that this is best done through participatory education. It is further argued that prisoners should be in charge of their own educational practices in order to counter the hegemony of correctional education's discourse.

Cette recherche porte sur la relation entre l'orientation épistémique de formateurs et l'utilisation, dans un contexte nord-américain, d'une approche andragogique par rapport à une approche pédagogique. Cette recherche poursuit trois buts. Elle se préoccupe de la relation entre l'orientation épistémique des enseignants et leur approche d'enseignement; identifie l'orientation épistémique d'une approche andragogique; et observe la relation antithétique entre le mode rationnel et le mode noétique du modèle de Rancourt. Une revue de la littérature révèle que les formateurs n'utilisent pas une approche andragogique en présence d'apprenants adultes et cela, tant dans les institutions d'éducation formelle que dans celles d'éducation non formelle. Dans le but de fournir des éclaircissements à ce sujet, certaines études mettent en relation diverses variables démographiques avec l'utilisation d'une approche andragogique. Toutefois, la majorité de ces études démontrent des résultats non significatifs ou contradictoires, rendant impossible l'établissement d'un cadre pour expliquer l'utilisation d'une approche andragogique. L'échantillon (300) provient d'une population (2 700) d'enseignants anglophones, qualifiés aux cycles intermédiaire et supérieur et responsables d'apprenants adultes. On utilise l'instrument KAMI (Knowledge Accessing Mode Inventory) une version anglaise de l'IMAC (Inventaire des modes d'accès à la connaissance) de Rancourt (1986, 1990) pour identifier l'orientation épistémique des formateurs. Le PALS (Principles of Adult Learning Scale) identifie l'utilisation d'une approche andragogique par rapport à l'utilisation d'une approche pédagogique. On a trouvé une fable corrélation entre le mode rationnel et l'utilisation d'une approche andragogique. Cette corrélation supposait que moins le formateur utilisait le mode rationnel pour accéder, traiter et transmettre la connaissance, plus il avait tendance à utiliser une approche andragogique. Cette recherche contribue à l'avancement des sciences parce qu'elle a trouvé que l'orientation épistémique d'une approche andragogique semble être NER; que l'orientation épistémique des formateurs des écoles secondaires en Ontario semble être plutôt empirique; que parmi les formateurs qui utilisent une approche andragogique, les formateurs dont l'orientation épistémique est non-rationnelle utilisent davantage de principes andragogiques que les formateurs dont l'orientation épistémique est rationelle à cause de l'encapsulation; et que peu de formateurs possèdent une orientation épistémique RNE et NRE à cause de la relation antithétique entre le mode rationnel et le mode noétique, selon le modèle de Rancourt. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Deux filieres d'education fonctionnent parallelement dans tout systeme educatif. La filiere formelle ou l'education dispensee dans les institutions scolaires publiques et privees et la filiere non formelle qui est l'education dispensee hors des institutions scolaires. Pour connai tre ce que chacune des deux filieres offre, une etude a ete menee aupres de 47 travailleurs et 43 chomeurs ayant suivi une formation technique professionnelle en filieres formelle et/ou non formelle d'education a l'aide d'un questionnaire ecrit destine a recueillir des informations sur le jugement que portent ces repondants sur leur situation professionnelle, le facon dont ils evaluent leur formation technique professionnelle et les ameliorations qu'ils souhaiteraient voir survenir dans chacune des filieres. 15 chefs d'enterprises privees ont aussi ete sollicites pour avoir une idee du jugement que les employeurs portent sur la formation de leurs employes, sur les problemes d'emploi et les suggestions qu'ils font quant a une eventuelle amelioration de la formation technique professionnelle. Au vu des resultats de cette enquete effectuee a Douala au Cameroun, l'appui massif de l'Etat donne a l'education formelle un certain nombre d'advantages par rapport a la non formelle privee qui ne beneficie d'aucun soutien. Mais la persistance (pour ne pas dire l'aggravation) des problemes economiques de l'Etat vont a long terme faire de l'education non formelle la filiere de l'avenir dans le domaine de la formation technique professionnelle pour le plus grand nombre de citoyens. Pour y arriver il faut une articulation entre l'education formelle et l'education non formelle, pour faire de tout le systeme educatif camerounais une entite formant des personnes capables d'inventer, de creer, de transformer. Cela se ferait par le biais de reformes radicales et une planification coordonnee. Cependent, toute tentative d'evolution sociale par le biais du developpement de l'education doit etre precedee de reformes politiques, economiques et sociales a long terme. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

In Canada, many undereducated Native adults have not experienced positive educational climates in formal education systems. In fact, a high percentage of Native people have dropped out of the educational process prior to the completion of grade twelve to join the ranks of the undereducated and unemployed. This has created a pressing need to focus on Native literacy and the creation of positive learning environments which encourage Native adults to excel in educational settings. The purpose of this exploratory, qualitative research was to describe and analyze the salient factors in a Native literacy program which created an optimal educational climate for Native adult learners. As a research construct, educational climate relates to the total environmental quality in a learning facility as perceived by the participants. To focus and guide the data collection and analysis processes, a conceptual framework of educational climate was developed. Operationally defined, educational climate includes five major dimensions: learner milieu, instructional environment, social environment, cultural environment, and learner outcomes. The Employment Preparation Program, which was delivered by staff of the Grand River Polytechnical Institute and located on the Six Nations Reserve in Canada, was the research site selected for the study. The program was community based and administered by Native staff for Native adult learners. Data were collected at the site over a continuous nine week period which started in September 1994 and ended in November 1994. Eight program learners participated in level one and eleven learners participated in level three; level one was six weeks in length while level three was seven and a half weeks long. A data reduction analysis approach was used as a means to process research findings. Miles and Huberman (1994) indicated that this approach "refers to the process of selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting, and transforming the data that appear in written-up field notes or transcriptions" (p.10). Data were analyzed individually and then across participant perspectives. Research findings were compared to the basic tenets of three alternative adult learning frameworks: andragogy, proficiency, and whole language. The findings of the study indicated that the cultural environment of educational climate was the key dimension which contributed to an optimal learning environment for Native literacy learners. The cultural environment components which emerged as influential included values, cooperation, and supportiveness. The findings relating to the learner milieu and learner outcomes are presented in the form of rich, narrative descriptions using the words of the Native adult learners. When the results were compared to the humanistic, holistic, and learner-centred frameworks of andragogy, proficiency, and whole language, research findings confirmed many of the tenets of these frameworks. Furthermore, the findings indicated that the program participants perceived the Employment Preparation Program to be one which was characterized as humanistic, learner-centred, holistic, and empowering. Future research needs to replicate the study to examine educational climate in different settings with participants from the same ethnic group to confirm the findings. Furthermore, the study may be replicated using different ethnic groups in order to generate comparative findings. There is also a need to refine the focus of educational climate to determine how the different components and elements of the social, instructional, and cultural environments interact to create a quality environment. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This study examined how certain mental training techniques affected skill acquisition and performance of a sports skill (overhand volleyball serve). The uniqueness of the study was the particular population - twelve recreational athletes (versus elite athletes) with mean age of 43.8. The subjects were divided into two groups with measures taken on three different occasions - pre-test, mid-test and post-test. Group 1 received the Mental Training Program (MT) and engaged in physical practice during the first half of the experiment, while Group 2 engaged in physical practice only. Group 2 then added the M.T. Program while Group 1 continued to practice physically. The M.T. Program focussed on relaxation, mental modelling of elite olympic volleyball players, and imagery. At the pre-test, subjects were given an Imagery Ability Questionnaire to assess whether they were high or low imagers. Five different tasks were performed to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data for analysis. Quantitative and qualitative analyses demonstrated both statistical and practical significance for an increase in knowledge, in addition to a performance increase in the skill. This was a positive beginning to new and exciting research involving recreational rather than elite athletes, and the impact mental training techniques have on this population (mean age = 43.8). Results are discussed with relevance to the effect on research that these findings have in terms of adults learning a new sport skill, improving performance of that newly acquired skill and the positive impact that mental training techniques have on them.