Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf [92-96]).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf [92-96]). Also available in print.

This study examined the current marketing and advertising practices used in university continuing nursing education. The focus of this study was on evaluation of the effectiveness of direct-mail advertising pieces used by this adult education institution. Direct-mail pieces provided by survey respondents were assessed by independent raters using the Evaluation Tool for Print-Related Advertising which was developed specifically for use in this study. Direct-mail advertising was found to be moderately effective as it was currently used in divisions of university continuing nursing education in Canada and the United States. This result indicated that there is significant room for improvement in the area of planning and developing direct-mail advertising pieces for university continuing nursing education. Institutional advertising has not been used by these divisions to inform the target population about the philosophy, aims, purposes and ideas of continuing nursing education, nor has institutional advertising been used to inform the general public or potential sources of funding about the benefits to be derived by the public from supporting continuing education activities in this profession which would include improved patient care. Little effort has been made to inform the future target market which is comprised of student nurses about the purpose and need to continue education beyond initial graduation in this profession. Variance in scores of effective advertising were found to be influenced by a variety of factors. These factors included the media mix currently used by university continuing nursing education divisions, the media mix which was proposed to be used in the future by the directors of these divisions, the age of the director, the knowledge that the director had about advertising and marketing concepts and practices, the time spent by the director on completing advertising responsibilities on a weekly basis, the financial resources which were allocated for advertising expenditures during the fiscal year 1979-1980 and the financial resources proposed for future advertising expenditures, the educational preparation of the director in the field of nursing, and the attitude of the director towards the use and preparation of advertising for the continuing nursing education division. The Evaluation Tool for Print-Related Advertising was found to be a reliable evaluation tool and a useful evaluation tool because it can be used to identify areas which require improvement in direct-mail advertising pieces while they are in the process of development. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

M.Ed. / From the researcher’s experience as well as in the literature on continuing professional teacher development (CPTD) it seems that teachers in South Africa in general, but in particular technology teachers experienced problems with CPTD. With this in mind, TechnEd launched the Catalyst Project in 2003 with the financial support of Anglo Platinum in the Bojanala Region of the North West province in South Africa. The Catalyst project entails the CPTD of technology teachers from 130 schools which takes place at one central venue (so-called school-focused CPTD). A literature study was done in which a variety of international CPTD models, as well as a model that focuses on the process of developing appropriate CPTD programmes for technology teachers in a South African context were considered, and criteria for sound CPTD were identified. The criteria were used to develop the TechnEd’s school-focused CPTD programme. Although TechnEd has been offering schoolfocused CPTD in partnership with trade and industry, as well as with a department of education to technology teachers, it was still unknown how these teachers experience the workshops. The purpose of this research was to describe a CPTD model where partners from trade and industry, a department of education and a higher education institution are involved, and to determine the teachers’ experience of the CPTD intervention. The research questions addressed in this research were: 1. What are the training needs of technology teachers in South Africa? 2. Which criteria for CPTD can be derived from existing CPTD models? 3. What is the teachers’ experience of the CPTD?An evaluative case study, which drew on qualitative research methodology, was conducted. The participants in the research were technology teachers who are participating in the Catalyst project. Data were collected through the observation of the teachers during the various workshops, open-ended questionnaires (questions were adapted after each workshop to try and get the richest data possible) and interviews. The data were analysed through the constant comparative method in order to derive findings. The main finding is that the teachers experienced the workshops as rewarding and fruitful. This finding is supported by four further specific findings, namely: 1. Teachers felt empowered by the workshops through the development of their technological knowledge (both conceptual and procedural) as well as their pedagogy. 2. Teachers experienced the workshops as being conducive to learning among learners. 3. Teachers experienced the accompanying learning and teacher support material (LTSM) as well as the materials and tools, supplied during the workshops, as informative and helpful, and have a need to use it in their classrooms. 4. Organisational aspects (some over which TechnEd had control, and some over which the department of education had control) regarding the workshops were part of the teachers’ experience. In contradiction to the earlier reference that teachers found CPTD too generic, it seems that teachers experience TechnEd’s CPTD with a specific focus where they are supplied with customised LTSM, material and tools that they can implement in their classrooms, and where they are orientated and trained in the underlying (school and content) knowledge and pedagogy, as rewarding and fruitful.

This study was conceived as an attempt to determine .and analyze factors deterring participation in continuing professional education among social workers in environments where continuing education for relicensure is mandatory and voluntary. The specific research design implemented to complete this study was the ex-post facto descriptive design. The sample included 106 social workers randomly selected in the state of Texas where continuing education is mandatory and 94 social workers in the state of Louisiana where continuing education is voluntary. The instrument used was the Deterrent to Participation Scale developed by Scanlan (1983) and a demographic inventory. Scanlan (1983) earlier identified six factors deterring participation in continuing professional education: Disengagement, Lack of Quality, Family Constraints, Cost, Lack of Benefit, and Work Constraints. The study concluded that social workers in both states considered work constraint as a major factor deterring participation in continuing professional education. Also the factors of cost and lack of quality were also considered as crucial barriers in their efforts to participate in continuing professional education. The Wilks' multivariate test of significance of the means and univariate F tests at alpha level p < .05 revealed differences in the combined mean scores of social workers in both states when the variables of age, marital status, and position held were tested. In comparing the ranking of the six factors deterring participation in continuing professional education, a Spearman rank correlation coefficient revealed respondents in both states rank the six factors in the same order. The findings were congruent with earlier studies of barriers to participation in continuing education among professionals. The researcher recommended a study which would include a larger number of social workers and a longitudinal study to measure changes in barriers to participation in continuing professional education.

Problem: To determine the relative effectiveness of four methods of contacting non-attending adult students with an invitation message to return to class. The four methods used to contact students were (1) personally, (2) by telephone, (3) by letter, (4) no contact (control). Purpose: The major purpose of this study was to analyze (1) the proportion of classes students attended after being absent and then being contacted by a volunteer, {2) the dropout rate of students after being contacted by a volunteer, and (3) the reenrollment rate of students after being contacted by a volunteer.

No description available.

Master of Arts (MA)

<p> One of the most pressing concerns that universities and colleges face today is the drug and alcohol abuse of students. In order to address this, there is a need to strengthen university policies in order to mitigate the increasing rate and cases of drug and alcohol abuse among students. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between college students&rsquo; level of awareness of policy, procedure, and interventions on drug and alcohol abuse and their reported drug alcohol use in a selected university. Specifically, this study examined how aware 160 first- to fourth-year college students are regarding the drug and alcohol policies, procedures, and interventions implemented on their college campus. The researcher asked 14 research questions to determine the relationships between students&rsquo; reported alcohol and drug use and factors including: awareness of alcohol drug policies and procedures, year level in college, age, ethnic group, marital status, gender, current residence, working status, living arrangement, cumulative GPA, the availability of drugs and alcohol at college parties, student enrollment status, family history of alcohol, and time spent volunteering per month. The researcher administered the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey (CADS) to measure these variables. The results indicated that the factors that had a significant relationship with alcohol and drug use were the awareness of campus policies, marital status, availability of drugs and alcohol at parties, student status, and hours spent volunteering. The rest of the variables did not have a significant relationship to the students&rsquo; alcohol and drug use. These results will contribute to more effective alcohol and drug prevention and treatment programs for students that address these significant factors. </p>

The purpose of this study was to determine the need for development of educational materials for beekeepers by evaluating the following: the current status of the management of honey bee colony genetics in the United States; the self-perceived information needs of beekeepers; and the most acceptable formats for educational materials. The sample defined was 255 hobbyist, part-time and commercial beekeepers that were registered participants at national and regional beekeeping association meetings during 1990. Results indicated that commercial beekeepers prefer different formats of educational materials than hobbyist and part-time beekeepers. Other important findings include the following: (1) few beekeepers manage colony genetics, (2) beekeepers that do not manage colony genetics would be willing to manage colony genetics if their operations were threatened, and (3) self-perceived information needs appear to reflect a response to self-perceived threats. Additionally, beekeepers in all classes indicated that research findings were not presented in an acceptable format.