This thesis is primarily concerned with the characteristics and effectiveness of extension and adult learning within a community of Maltese vegetable growers in western Sydney. Extension was practised according to principles of experiential learning theory, action research and andragogy. The recommendation is made that extension agents should concentrate upon experiences that are within the target group's spheres of activity and interest. Kolb's experiential learning theory was found to be applicable to extension in this context. This theory, and similar principles, involve interpretivism, reflection and interaction, all of which were found to be beneficial. It was found to be sufficient for the author to inspire growers with broad concepts, which were then applied by growers to their situations. It is suggested that extension agents concern themselves less with attempts to change clients' attitudes and instead encourage them to trial innovations and draw their own conclusions. Future research should consider characteristics of the internalisation of knowledge and the role of clients' emotional well-being. Guidelines for extension with Maltese vegetable growers of the Sydney region are listed, and many of these are generalisable to other circumstances of extension. / Master of Science (Hons) (Systems Agriculture)

The focus of this research is the learning of host families participating in the curricula of student exchange programs. The role of the host family is central to the exchange event, but hosting is often a problematic experience during which the host family faces may dilemmas. The research substantiates the relevance of family systems theory in relation to the host family and positions the host family in an intercultural context. Phenomenographic techniques are used to describe the different ways of experiencing a hosting event and to account for how these ways occur. The phenomenon of Hosting is described by the conception of Synergy. A Spectrum of Experience, rather than a hierarchy, is defined by the four components of :fit, responsibility, investment and learning. Host family dilemmas and discernment are related to prior experience of hosting and the Synergy between expectations and learning outcomes. Intercultural learning in a hosting event is identified as participants' understanding of themselves, the process of hosting, communication skills and an appreciation of cultural heritage. Host family expectations have an impact before, during and after the hosting event while realistic expectations recognise the potential for learning moments as well as the contribution that conflicts, confrontations and challenges make to learning and growth in an intercultural context. Best preparation and best practice for host family participation involves an understanding of experiential learning, training program design and strategies for ongoing support systems / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A significant number of engineers move into management positions, their numbers increasing with their length of service. However, engineers are not considered to be effective managers and are generally considered inadequate in soft skills. Given the centrality of engineers and management, understanding this transition is essential in order to develop strategies for managing. This research is an exploratory field-based study of the transition of professional engineers into management roles (engineer-managers) in Australia, from the perspective of the individual engineer. The study investigates the attitudes of engineers towards such areas as engineering education, towards managerial transition, status, organizational support systems, and strategies for managing transition, and examines their influence on the process of transition. Importantly, this research examines the influence of factors such as job nature, management qualifications, age, employing organizations, and other variables on their attitudes, and studies the differences between various subgroups of engineers. This research is based on the results of a case study and a questionnaire survey. An important outcome of this research is the focus on the process of engineering education. This research concludes that different emphases in the process of teaching and learning would contribute, in the long run, to engineers developing soft skills, and so make their transition into management easier. The study found that electrical engineers are more proactive than civil or mechanical engineers and that it is necessary to develop different strategies for different groups of engineers. The study observed that the higher the status of professional engineers within an organization, the greater was the likelihood of success. Supporting the anecdotal evidence from the case study, it is noted that the more engineers there are in management positions, the better the perception of senior management about their capabilities. This study found that management education for engineers has a strong influence, both in terms of their acquiring managerial skills as well as enhancing their status within their organization. Experiential learning, though, is the most common method by which engineers acquire managerial skills. The study also found that this is the least-managed strategy in Australian organizations; learning is left entirely to the individual. For engineers to be able to take advantage of experiential learning, better management is necessary / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Teaching journalism in tertiary institutions presents challenges, including how students learn to work in teams under the sort of pressure that characterizes workplace journalism. This thesis is a case study of how a group of students at AUT University, in Auckland, experienced taking responsibility for producing four editions of a student newspaper as part of their journalism training. Based on a series of individual student interviews, before, during and after their experience, this research suggests that the key factor in their learning was their being allowed, to a large extent, the power to make their own decisions about the appearance and content of their product, while still being charged with the responsibility of ensuring it reached a highly professional standard. The realities of life as a journalist, including recognizing the frequent need to prune, tighten or re-angle stories - even to reject them - and the vital role of co-operative teamwork, unparalleled in their other journalism studies, were driven home.The two tutors, interviewed after the last edition, put some of the student observations into context and provided insights into the discipline involved, as teachers, in maintaining training as a priority, while ensuring production to deadline of a series of reputable and legally safe newspapers.This case study suggests that while there are contrived aspects that cannot replicate a "real" newsroom - such as the students' assignment to editorial roles without the status of real editors or chief reporters - the learning experience resulted not only in advances in the students' technological skills but significant development in their critical thinking about the profession they were due to enter.

This thesis emerged from the author’s quest to increase her personal and professional effectiveness, to become more congruent, and to be a better person in the world. The thesis discusses how to move from Argyris and Schon’s behavioural model 1 (seeking answers externally, blaming others, avoiding responsibility, controlling behaviour and the belief that there is one right way) to model 2 (seeking answers from within, accepting responsibility, living in a state of flow, surprise and emergent possibilities, looking at the world in multiple ways and collaborating with others). Drawing from her own experiences and interactions with others, the author explores issues such as how people learn the qualities that enable them to be better people; what experiences have enabled people to move toward model 2; what happens when a group, especially within an organisation, moves toward model 2 and how does this happen; and how can conditions be created to enable individuals or groups to move toward model 2. / Master of Science (Hons)

General aviation pilots continue to be over represented in aircraft accidents in comparison to their commercial counterparts. Of those general aviation aircraft accidents that occur, a large proportion has been attributed to poor aeronautical decision-making. Previous research suggests that a leading factor that precipitates poor decision-making is an unrealistic assessment of the risks. Contemporary aviation training programmes do not necessarily target risk management as a distinct skill. Rather, it is assumed that risk management skills are acquired through pilots’ interaction with the environment and through the acquisition of factual information relating to the statistical frequency of accidents and/or incidents. The primary aim of this thesis was to examine the utility of various training strategies to improve pilots’ risk management behaviour. Throughout this thesis, it was assumed that pilots’ risk management behaviour would be reflected in their performance during a variety of low-flying activities. Three experiments were conducted, the first of which examined the utility of three different training approaches, where pilots were either cognitively active (i.e., flying a simulated flight and receiving feedback in relation to performance) or cognitively inactive (i.e., reading a newsletter or watching a video) during training. The second experiment examined the impact of cognitive involvement and feedback on individual’s risk management behaviour, while the third examined the extent to which information acquired during a low-flying training flight would generalise to other tasks which differed in terms of cognitive load. The results provided support for a training programme that engaged the pilots cognitively during training. However, the extent to which the information acquired during training will generalise to other tasks appears to be contingent on a number of factors (i.e., memory, experience, and cognitive involvement). The results of this study are discussed in terms of both a theoretical and an applied perspective. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Universities are becoming more accountable for their own funding and for establishing their own societal relevance. As Governments respond to the demands of industry and commerce to fit graduates for the workplace, universities are being asked to provide students with the knowledge and skills for learning and working in an ever-changing workplace. There is a strong implication here that the traditional theory-based learning associated with higher education needs to be augmented (and complemented) by an experiential component that enables students to develop a 'feel' for the workplace and 'an instinct' for what they are likely to be doing when they are working. Demands for such a change are not only coming from industry: students are asking that their university programs be made more 'relevant' to the reality of work rather than merely for the next step in the higher education ladder which requires the 'skills of research'. Recently there has been a strong move throughout the western world towards 'cooperative education' or 'work-integrated education'. Local initiatives at individual institutions are beginning to emphasise the importance of universities developing more symbiotic relationships with the industries in which their graduates are likely to be employed. In Australia, Griffith University has, for example, set up through its Griffith Institute of Higher Education (GIHE) The Griffith Graduate Project, which is attempting to develop an institution-wide policy in this area so that a concerted and coordinated response can be made. As convenor of a Griffith University workplace-based experiential course in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, I find this study has provided an opportunity to examine the key determinants of success for a workplace-based course and to consider in detail the teaching and learning processes involved. The aim was to examine the fine-grained processes underlying the construction of new knowledge as students accommodate to the demands placed upon them. The methodology adopted was based on an interpretive constructivist paradigm and addressed a number of questions that considered the roles of the different stakeholders in a specific workplace-based course, the formal and informal expectations held of them, and the role-conflicts these stakeholders tended to experience. This meant that the basic process followed was inductive rather than deductive, worked from the specific to the general and required a methodology that did the same. Because the nature of the work in criminal justice agencies often must deal with feelings and emotion, it was assumed that the students' emotional responses could affect their learning so the methodology allowed for the subjective interpretations and responses (both appropriate and inappropriate) made by all stakeholders and the data was collected as verbatim reports of both factual reports and feeling responses. These were then analysed according to the students' own reports of learning and key principles of procedure for the design and implementation of such courses across the career spectrum were extracted. The values and approaches of action research were central to the responsive case study methodology that was developed. The study found that at its best, the course was conducted according to principles that enabled the student to experience an intuitive 'felt reality' while still making decisions on a strong cognitive base. The acquisition of knowledge appeared to depend on transactions that occurred between teacher and learner, supervisor and student in the workplace milieu. The thesis concludes with a number of recommendations and implications for developing best practice in the field. Ways in which the findings may be incorporated into university policy are also considered, as are the implications for change in the design, conduct and teaching of university professional studies courses.

This thesis is based on experiences with innovative agriculture curricula during the 1980's and 1990's. Predictions at the time of the research indicated a need for different instructional roles and educational settings within university undergarduate curricula. The ideas for a New University in the USA and a need for improved agriculture curricula in Australia were compatible with the approach of the Hawkesbury experiential agriculture curricula developed in 1978. The research demonstrated the key competency development aspects of the original experiential curriculum could be maintained in the 1995 university curriculum, within fragmented subjects. There was some evidence the curriculum outcomes were narrower in terms of career awareness. Personality type influenced student perceptions of the difficulty and value of the experiential components of their curriculum. The correlation between experiential curricula and personality type suggets that new curricula content should include the concept of personality and also should be used in designing curricula. New courses in Human Resource Development in Rural Communities were suggested. Other opportunities for using experiential curricula including personality typology were University of Western Sydney majors, summer schools for international students and in-service training courses for governemnt organisations and private enterprises. Several research opportunities were identified. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p><strong>Abstract</strong><strong></strong></p><p>    In global arena there exists a trend to engage in strategic alliances.  The alliances are assumed to be addressing the existing resource gaps that various organizations have. Not only for-profit organizations have a need to fill in the gap, but also non-profit organizations. Various types of alliances are formed to satisfy various needs. One particular form of alliances will be discussed in this thesis is the learning alliance, which is organized in a way to facilitate the knowledge transfer between the partners involved. More specifically, the learning alliance between the university and service companies will be discussed. Even though there has been done studies examining university – industry cooperations, yet they have focused on Natural Science faculties and industry cooperations, while Business Schools did not receive much attention from the researchers. Thus, this thesis will attempt to fill in this research gap by conducting a research on Umeå School of Business and service companies to be able to produce a model for a successful learning alliance</p><p> </p><p>   In order to pursue the targeted aim, a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews was conducted. Moreover, a mix of deductive and inductive approach was adopted to facilitate the research.</p><p> </p><p>   The analysis indicated that in order to facilitate a successful learning alliance between the Umeå School of Business and service companies, certain requirements should be fulfilled. In particular, the rationale for alliance engagement should be knowledge sharing and knowledge types should create a collective strength. Moreover, the structure of the actual co-operations should satisfy the needs of all the actors involved and there should be adopted practices or experiential and organizational learning to benefit from the learning alliance. In addition, it was identified that the alliance organizers should consider the problems as well, which might affect the performance of the alliance. Finally, the result of the study is presented in the model designed by the authors based on prior theories and the analysis of the respondent’s comments.</p>

<p>This thesis is about information technology for learning and acquiring of work knowledge among production workers in a manufacturing company. Focus is on production or factory workers in workplaces where the job workers do have a routine character. The thesis builds upon a research project aiming at developing an information system for learning and acquiring of work knowledge among production workers. The system manages manufacturing related operational disturbances and production workers use the system to learn from operational disturbances in such a way that workers do the job grounded on knowledge of prior disturbances. The thesis covers intervention measures aiming at integrating learning and work by developing an information system. The thesis presents and elaborates on the process and outcome of such a development. The empirical work in this thesis is based on an action case study research approach.</p><p>The thesis proposes three interrelated aspects concerning use of information technology for learning and acquiring work knowledge among production workers. Such aspects are the (a)work practice, (b)learning and acquiring of work knowledge and (c)information systems.</p><p>These aspects must be considered as a coherent whole to seek to integrate learning and work (i.e. to create a learning environment). The work practice sets the scope for workplace learning (to what extent learning takes place at work). The scope for learning is related to for example, machinery and equipment, management and the organizing principle of work. Learning and acquiring of work knowledge is related to in what ways workers learn about the job. Information systems must be in alignment with the practice and the ways workers learn and acquire work knowledge.</p>