This interpretive qualitative study examined university ESL instructors' experiences using technologies and their personal views of technology integration. The study also explored the factors that affected these instructors' decisions for using computer and other technologies in their teaching. The informants in the study were five ESL instructors from five different institutions of higher learning in the southern state. The qualitative data were collected mainly through interviews along with self-report surveys and document materials. Overall positive statements were found in the instructors' experience and perception of their technology use in teaching. Nevertheless, it appears that these instructors' computer use is very minimal and their beliefs and perceptions of technology use are impacted by their experience of using technologies. Eight influential factors are identified from the emerged themes in affecting these instructors' technology decisions. The factors include: perceived benefits or value; anxiety; personal style; machines and language teaching; environment; peer influence; teaching style; and time. The findings in this study also indicate that instructors' demographic information has no influence on their perceptions and use of technology despite whether or not they use computers in instruction and how they use them.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-05-06Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:15:21Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 brito_js_me_rcla.pdf: 1673578 bytes, checksum: 68f8f522aa3eb641a0d0a7afee80f242 (MD5) / A geração de resíduos em laboratórios de Instituição de Ensino Superior, em especial os químicos advindos das atividades de ensino e pesquisa, vem ao longo dos anos acumulando problemas de forma diversificada e proporcionalmente desordenada. Diante dessa realidade, o gerenciamento de resíduos em laboratórios de ensino e pesquisa tem um papel muito importante se consideramos que tais resíduos, no longo prazo, agridem de maneira considerável o meio ambiente e que essas instituições são, acima de tudo, unidades formadoras de profissionais, de modo que eles devem ser conscientizados da importância de se preservar o meio em que vivemos. Por tudo isso, esta pesquisa tem o objetivo principal de conhecer os resíduos gerados nos laboratórios do Instituto Federal do Piauí, oriundos das atividades de ensino e pesquisa; além disso, objetivamos também a identificação das atividades realizadas nos laboratórios e os materiais utilizados nas análises; levantamento do descarte em pia pelos alunos e docentes; caracterização e quantificação do resíduo passivo estocado dentro e fora dos laboratórios, entre outros. No que concerne ao gerenciamento de resíduos na instituição, não existe um gerenciamento sistemático dos resíduos, e estes recebem o mesmo manejo dos resíduos domiciliares, no caso dos resíduos sólidos; e os líquidos são dispostos na rede de esgoto da cidade. O conhecimento gerado subsidiará a elaboração de um plano de gerenciamento de seus resíduos, como também servirá de base para elaboração de planos de gerenciamento de outras instituições, além de direcionar políticas públicas de gestão desses resíduos no estado do Piauí e contribuir, não somente para educar ambientalmente os alunos e funcionários dessa instituição, mas a população de forma geral / The generation of residues in laboratories of Higher Education Institution, especially the chemists that work with teaching activities and research, come over the years accumulating problems in a diversified and disordered way. Due to this reality, the administration of residues in teaching laboratories and research has a very important role if we considered that such residues, in a long-term, cause prejudice to the environment where they live. For all it was mentioned before, this research has the aim of knowing the residues generated at the laboratories of the Federal Institute of Education of Piauí, originating from the teaching and research activities. Besides, we also aimed at the identification of the activities accomplished in the laboratories and the materials used in the analyses; rising of the discard in sink for the students and teachers; characterization and quantification of the passive residue stocked inside and outside the laboratories, among other things. Concerning to the administration of residues in the institution, there is no systematic administration of the residues, and they receive the same handling of the home residues, in the case of the solid residues; and the liquids are disposed in the sewerage system of the city. The generated knowledge will subsidize the elaboration of plans of the institutions. Besides to address public politics of administration of those residues in the state of Piauí and to contribute not only to develop ecological sense in the students and employees of the Federal Institute of Education of Piauí, but for the population in general way

Magister Commercii - MCom / This study addressed the identities and practices of faculty managers (FM) in a higher education institution (HEI) in South Africa. There is limited research on faculty managers in South African HEIs, specifically in relation to their self-formed ethically related identities and practices. My aim in this study was to fill this gap. Ethics as self-formation is related to how people construct themselves. As a result of changes in the managerial discourse in HEIs in South Africa, the new social identity of the faculty manager, which is a non-teaching professional social identity, has been created. At the same time, individuals have ethical aspirations that they bring with them when they occupy new management positions. These ethical values and aspirations influence how these individuals enact and fashion their identities at work. The major goal of this study was to explore how individuals who are faculty managers construct their ethically infused identities and enact their practices. In analysing the empirical evidence I used a Foucauldian ‘ethics of the self’ theoretical lens. In setting up and gathering the data for this study, I used the case study qualitative research approach in order to gain a contextual and deep understanding. The findings of this study show the various shapes and shades of ethically infused subjectivities that people who occupy the positions of faculty managers enact and instantiate. In addition, the study sheds light on the roles and responsibilities of faculty managers and shows the major contribution they make to the management and administration of higher education institutions.

This study represents a shift in focus with regard to studies related to mentorship. It endeavours to go beyond documenting the prevalence of mentorship to understanding the experiences of mentors and factors that encourage participation in mentorship programmes. The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the experiences of mentors during the implementation of a mentorship programme at a Higher Education Institution (HEI). The purpose of this study, has guided the following two questions for the current study: <ul> <li> How do mentors experience the implementation of a mentorship programme?</li> <li> How can the understanding of such experiences inform theory on mentorship programmes in Higher Education Institutions?</li> </ul> I made use of a case study research design. Four participants were purposively selected for this study based on their potential to provide data relevant for the study as they were part of the recently ended mentorship programme. Data was collected over a period of a week by means of semi-structured interviews and reflections. In this study I made use of qualitative approach, and a thematic method of analysis was used for identifying, analysing and reporting themes. The results of the study indicated the following results: <ul> <li> Mentors had a general definition of their mentorship experiences as personal life event(s).</li> <li> When mentorship was viewed as a personal life event, it was found to have an emotional aspect which creates a platform for learning and development.</li> <li> Positive experiences, as mentioned by participants in this study, included an opportunity for personal growth and development, how mentors and mentees benefited from being part of the mentorship programme, and positive relationships between mentors and their mentees.</li> <li> Negative experiences referred to by participants included difficulties of correspondence between mentors and mentees, lack of mentee attendance at mentorship meetings, gender and racial issues and mentors' uncertainties about what to do in the programme and feeling a lack of guidance.</li> <li> Decisions regarding exclusion and inclusion criteria of mentees into the programme, support from mentorship supervisors and finding mentors who demonstrate good qualities were identified as challenges in mentorship implementation.</li> </ul> / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Magister Curationis - MCur / The re-engineering of the healthcare landscape requires Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) to employ teaching and learning approaches that would produce graduates, who could respond to the transformative initiatives within the healthcare system. Graduates are required to become involved in a service-learning project, as part of their learning experience, within the Masters of Nursing in Advanced Psychiatric Nursing programme. Their learning and teaching activity is intended to prepare them to become competent advanced psychiatric nurse specialists, who are able to address social transformation.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Incivility is rudeness, disrespect, disregard for others or their opinions, and a barrier to social interaction that could be associated with stress. The lack of regard for others creates a disrespectful, conflicting, and stressful environment, which could be perceived as an attack on the individual‟s dignity, or sense of self-worth. According to reports, such behaviour could be increasing and affecting the welfare of educators, students, and the overall educational process. Nursing education has not been exempted from this behaviour. Therefore, incivility is a nursing problem, which affects all those involved, from the academics, students, clinicians, patients and families.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-02T21:42:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Cannas Neto.pdf: 746599 bytes, checksum: 90355b343064f34bacdec88bbe9fea00 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-11 / The use of technological resources as facilitators of the teaching-learning process, at all levels of education, has been the subject of controversy among researchers of the subject. On the one hand those responsible for education - teachers often resist changes that occur every day in the modern world; on the other hand, the students, who claim for a learning environment with technologic tools they are used to and dominate. Finally, managers of educational institutions, which have a major challenge to provide the resources within the institutions, without allowing, however, that compromise the financial health of the institution. Nevertheless, in Brazil the competition between educational institutions has been fierce, especially in private institutions of higher education. Thus, institutions search a differential to attract your customers, to maintain its financial sustainability. This research sets out to bring the issues of management of higher education with the implementation of technology use represented by the tablet device, showing the results for the management of the institution of higher education before and after their deployment. The methodology of the case study - the institution where he was examined - showed that the implementation of technology has provided competitive advantages for management - through analysis of financial indicators and the development of student base. Technology alone does not prove the advantages desired, however, correlated with a project teaching models used and courseware that addresses the use of technology, logistics costs were reduced and increased the attraction of new students, promoting the competitive advantages of Education Institution. / O uso de recursos tecnológicos como facilitadores do processo ensino-aprendizado em todos os níveis de ensino tem sido objeto de polêmica entre os pesquisadores do tema. Por um lado aqueles responsáveis pelo ensino os professores resistem às mudanças que a cada dia ocorrem no mundo moderno; por outro os estudantes solicitam um ambiente de aprendizagem que utilize as tecnologias as quais estão acostumados e dominam. Por fim, os gestores das instituições de ensino, que possuem um grande desafio de proporcionar os recursos no interior das instituições, sem permitir, contudo, que comprometam a saúde financeira da instituição. Não obstante, no Brasil a concorrência entre as instituições de ensino tem sido acirrada, principalmente nas instituições de ensino superior privadas. Assim, as instituições procuram um diferencial para atrair seus clientes, objetivando manter a sua sustentabilidade financeira. Esta pesquisa se dispõe a aproximar os temas de gestão do ensino superior com a implantação do uso da tecnologia representada pelo equipamento tablet, demonstrando os resultados para a gestão da instituição de ensino superior antes e depois de sua implantação. A metodologia do estudo de caso - na instituição onde foi analisada mostrou que a implantação da tecnologia proporcionou vantagens competitivas para a gestão - por meio da análise dos indicadores financeiros e a evolução da base de alunos. A tecnologia por si só não prova as vantagens desejadas, porém, com um projeto correlacionado ao modelo de ensino utilizado e material didático que contemple o uso da tecnologia, os custos logísticos foram reduzidos e aumentou a atração de novos alunos, promovendo as vantagens competitivas da Instituição de Ensino.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the use and management of hazardous chemical substances (HCS) at a chemistry department in a selected Higher Education Institution in Gauteng province. Method: A quantitative, baseline descriptive study was conducted using a structured survey checklist. The population consisted of the chemistry department. Other than purposive observation by the researcher, employees present during data collection were approached for further clarifying comment to survey questions. Results: It emerged that physical-, health- and environmental hazard classes of HCS were present; and that hazard types included flammable liquids, HCS with acute toxicity and carcinogenicity. Selected exposure control measures were lacking which created risks of fire and explosion. Conclusion: The study reflected the use and management of HCS, the actual and potential human exposure and the exposure control measures. Varying degrees of compliance were found, which, if attended to, should mitigate risks to health and safety. / Health Studies

Organisations throughout the world have to cope with an increasing rate of change. These organisational changes are due to a number of reasons, which include social, technological, economic and political reasons. These result in a change in government regulations. In South Africa, the changes include the merging of higher education institutions and changes in the educational landscape. The public higher education institutions were reduced by the Department of Higher Education and Training from 36 to 23. Same changes include new universities of technologies and mergers of other universities plus more comprehensive universities. Recently, government established two new universities, one in Mpumalanga and another in the Northern Cape. Job insecurity, job satisfaction, occupational stress, sense of coherence, and general health are key aspects of the higher education institutions during and after the transformation process. This study aimed to determine the relationship between job insecurity, job satisfaction, occupational stress, sense of coherence, and general health of employees in a higher education institution. The literature reviewed showed that job insecurity occurs as a result of a merger, which is one of the multiple antecedents in a job insecurity model. However, a merger, as an organisational condition, changes individual perceptions about job insecurity and its consequences. Job satisfaction, occupational stress, and general health are consequences of job insecurity. From the reviewed literature, it is clear that the employees’ lack of resources is a very serious challenge in their endeavour to perform their duties. Lack of resources results in the poor performance of employees and their inability to use their capabilities to deal with every day work-related challenges. A cross-sectional design with employees in higher education institution (N=229) was used. The Job Insecurity Inventory, Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, An Organisation Stress Screening Tool, Orientation to Life Questionnaire, and General Health Questionnaire, and a biographical questionnaire were utilised. Statistical analyses were carried out for the three articles in the study with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS) program. Statistical methods used in this article consisted of descriptive statistics (for example, means, standard deviations and frequencies), Cronbach alpha coefficients, explanatory factor analyses, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients, multiple regression analysis and mediation analysis (Omnibus procedure). The results of article 1 showed that job insecurity was statistically significantly related to general health (somatic symptoms, social dysfunction, hopelessness and worthlessness). This implies that employees who experience high job insecurity also experience problems with their health. General health had a practically significant negative correlation with sense of coherence. Literature reviewed states that a weak sense of coherence leads employees to perceive situations as threatening (that is, high job demands and low job resources), and could lead to ill health. The research findings clearly indicate that sense of coherence does not moderate the relationship between job insecurity and general health. Regarding the results of article 2, a practically significant negative relationship exists between occupational stress and job satisfaction (intrinsic, supervision, extrinsic). This means that employees with high levels of occupational stress display lower job satisfaction and vice versa. Occupational stress and general health have a negative relationship, implying that different occupational stress factors (work demands, insecurity and work relations) relate to the general health of employees. Employees, who experience high work demands, are insecure and experience poor work relations with their colleagues or supervisors, have problems with their health and do not enjoy normal day-to-day activities in the organisation. Job satisfaction displays a practically significant negative correlation with general health. This implies that employees who are not satisfied with the intrinsic satisfaction of their job and working environment experience headaches and lack physical energy. Such employees generally feel sick. They do not enjoy every day activities since they doubt their own competence and the meaning of life. Both occupational stress and job satisfaction are statistically significant predictors of general health. In conclusion, the results of this article report that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between occupational stress and the general health of employees in a higher education institution. The results of article 3 showed that practically significant positive relationships exist between sense of coherence and job satisfaction. Employees with a higher sense of coherence are more satisfied and motivated to work. They are more comfortable with other colleagues and the general working conditions. Employees with a strong sense of coherence are more resourceful in handling different work-related aspects, and they tend to experience higher job satisfaction. It was concluded that sense of coherence moderates the relationship between job satisfaction and some aspects of general health. The results imply that people with lower levels of sense of coherence are more dependent on job satisfaction to experience good health. This has direct implications for vocational and industrial psychologists, as well as higher educational institutions. Recommendations for future research were made. / PhD (Industrial Psychology) North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Higher education institutions in South Africa are undergoing transformation because of increasing student numbers, government and the private sector relying on tertiary institutions to assist in solving problems in addition to the globalisation of knowledge. University staff is continuously faced major changes. Immense pressure is placed on academic institutions, including support staff. Support staff are constantly faced with increasing job demands and decreasing job resources. This imbalance and the increase of job stress over a prolonged period of time can lead to the devastating result of burnout. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between task characteristics, burnout, health and life satisfaction in a higher education institution in the North West Province. A cross-sectional design was used. The study population (N=334) consisted of support staff members of higher education institutions in the North West Province. The Job Demands-Resources Scale (JDRS), The Maslach Burnout Inventory - GS (MBI-GS), the Health subscale of the ASSET and The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were used as measuring instruments. Descriptive statistics (for example, means, standard deviations and kurtosis) were used to analyse the data. Pearson correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to assess the relationships between job demands, job resources, burnout, physical health, psychological health and life satisfaction. The correlation coefficients indicated that exhaustion was positively related to psychological ill-health. Cynicism correlated negatively with growth opportunities. Multiple regression analysis showed that overload and growth opportunities predicted 26% of the variance for exhaustion and 29% of the variance in cynicism. Exhaustion predicted 24% of the variance for physical ill-health and 37% of the variance for psychological ill-health. Psychological ill-health predicted 16% of the variance of life satisfaction. Recommendations for future research and the organisation were made. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.