Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-67).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-91).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--York University, 2001. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 154-158). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ66396.

A 2003 review of the literature shows a lack of formal institutional research focusing on the development of critical thinking as a situated experience--occurring in a specific context with a complex set of dynamics. Rather, much of the emphasis has been on learning outcomes as measured by various psychometric-approaches or an instructor's assignment, exam, or course grade. The problem with sole reliance on numerical data is that in it sheds little light on why or how a student performed the way her or she did in class, on an exam, or a standardized test in the first place. The purpose of this case study is to explore the experiences of students as they are situated in a first-year seminar that focuses on the development of their ability to think critically. Thus the author constructed a study that attended to both the content (critical thinking) and the context (the learning environment) in a way that presents students subjective experiences, and for the most part, articulated in their own words. The students were participants in a college success program, which requires that they take a first-year seminar in critical thinking. Constructed as a two-phase, sequential mixed methods design, statistical results from the College Classroom Environment Scales (CCES) are primarily used for descriptive purposes. Administered at the end of the semester, the CCES includes the following six constructs: cathectic learning climate, professorial concern, inimical ambiance, academic rigor, affiliation, and structure. The content and structure of the questions, however, were primarily used to guide the second phase of the research. During this qualitative phase, the researcher conducted personal interviews to probe deeper into students' experiences. After reconstructing the three classroom environments, the researcher focuses on students' preferences for and challenges in learning to think critically through discussion and the instructor's role in mediating safe, comfortable discursive environments conducive to risk-taking through public reasoning. Data interpretation is guided by work in discourse analysis as well as theoretical work in rhetoric and philosophy. Framed within a social, political, and ethics approach, the dissertation is largely influenced by American philosopher and education theorist John Dewey. Detailed recommendations for instruction and future research close the dissertation. / text

My novel, A Proper Life, is about a 14 year old girl called Marey who runs away from foster care and becomes a prostitute. I aim, in this creative section of my thesis, to convey a voice little heard in British writing, and to give that voice a significant place in the text. Therefore, the novel is written entirely in the first person pronoun and conveys Marey's distinctive London vernacular speech. The novel follows Marey's decline after she meets a man who becomes her pimp and becomes involved with a punter, who she terms her 'Sugar Daddy.' The novel is set at the end of the 1990s and culminates with the Brixton nail bomb attack. The critical section of my thesis, Angel in the House: A Revision of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, continues my concern with marginalised individuals. I start with the premise that a non-white uneducated woman like Marey is largely excluded from discussions in A Room of One's Own concerning the restrictions placed on a woman's creativity. I combine critical and creative writing techniques to imagine that Virginia Woolf has returned in spiritual guise to update her compelling essay. My Woolf character furthers her idea that writer's must find a suitable language in which to express themselves by embarking on an examination of contemporary vernacular fiction. She also imagines a set of contemporary characters to illustrate her new ideas that a writer needs resources and 'soul spaces,' in addition to a room and money, if she is to thrive. When I began to pastiche Woolfs voice I kept at the forefront of my mind black musical techniques of 'versioning,' in which artists lend their own lyrics to an original tune. I was also inspired by Woolfs own views about the fluidity of being and by post-modern ideas that no one has a final say.

Delirium is an acute change in cognition accompanied by inattention, which affects up to 88% of adult critical care patients. Delirium causes increased hospital complications, longer lengths of hospital stay, functional disability, cognitive impairment, and increased mortality. The purpose of this evidence-based quality-improvement project was to implement and evaluate a delirium screening process in adult intensive care units at a large medical center. This included education of nurses, implementation of a structured, validated tool, and review of tool use documentation. The implementation of this project was guided by an evidence-based practice model, Disciplined Clinical Inquiry© and Lewin's change theory. Evaluation of this quality-improvement project used audits of the electronic medical record. The audits included the presence and accuracy of delirium screening documentation in the patients' medical records. Results of 3 sequential documentation audits revealed a gradual adoption of this practice change by nurse clinicians. The percentage of charts with missing, incomplete, or inaccurate data decreased from 50% on the first week to 27.9% and 25.0% on the 2nd and 3rd weeks, respectively. These findings were an indication of practice change by validating the requirement for delirium screening on the units. In the first 3 weeks alone, 17 patient audits were positive for delirium, indicating the potential for poor short-term and long-term patient outcomes if not addressed promptly. Implementation of delirium screening ensures the dignity and worth of adult critical care patients by decreasing the poor outcomes associated with the diagnosis, which is an important contribution to positive social change.

Globalization has, within academic, political and business circles alike, become a prominent buzzword of the past decade, conjuring a diversity of associations, connotations and attendant mythologies. The literature devoted to the issue of globalization is both vast in scope and diverse in nature, becoming increasingly prominent not only in academics and politics, but in the popular press, as well. The goal of this dissertation is to provide the reader with a map of themes, narratives, and characterizations related to globalization circulating in the United States in order to demonstrate the potential ways that individual thought on the issue is shaped by public discourse. A secondary goal is to critically examine specific texts to identify areas where their arguments overlap, conflict, or may be misconstrued due to weak or inaccurate evidence. By better understanding the map of rhetorical formations in widely-read texts regarding globalization, it may be possible for people to be better able to understand the concerns and intentions of those voicing various and often competing viewpoints.

This thesis discusses the design of three systems that were built using Critical Making as an investigative method. The systems are: an RFID antenna that links ISBNs to online metadata; metamash.org, which aggregates ISBN metadata; and doitag.org, which allows users to associate tags with DOI numbers. Each system was designed to interrogate issues related to identification, categorization and the institutional foundations of, and individual practices surrounding, information systems, providing levers to get at deeper ontological issues. Each investigation points in its own way to a profound lack of understanding about the ontology of digital, or hybrid material/digital objects. David Weinberger's ordering scheme for material and digital objects is used because it allows for a discussion of ordering systems in general. However, focusing solely on categorization systems masks more important questions about the ontology of such objects and how building and using such objects fundamentally defines what they are.

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