<p> <b>Purpose.</b> The purpose of this sequential, mixed-methods exploratory case study of early childhood professionals was threefold. First, determine if a relationship exists between a learner&rsquo;s readiness toward directed (DL) and self-directed learning (SDL) style and the perception of their inclination toward directed or self-directed learning, when given a choice of the two. Second, examine how self-selection of DL or SDL relates to learning achievement. Third, detect motivation of individual&rsquo;s selection in directed or self-directed learning.</p><p> <b>Methodology.</b> Quantitative methods in the form of survey assessment were employed to determine 52 participants&rsquo; perceived inclination for SDL compared to their diagnosed readiness for SDL using the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS). A pretest/posttest assessment determined achievement of skill in identifying content presented in training. Qualitative data were gathered through semistructured interviews of 24 participants representing all directed and a purposeful sample of self-directed learners.</p><p> <b>Findings.</b> Quantitative data showed that most participants could positively identify if they were ready for SDL, when looking at the readiness level for SDLRS. However, there was no significant relationship between their readiness for SDL and content growth of the training material. Content growth was measured using pretests/posttests. Qualitative data showed that those choosing SDL were motivated by convenience, desire for schedule autonomy, and confidence in ability to complete training independently.</p><p> <b>Conclusions.</b> The study data support the conclusion that adult learners are capable of identifying their readiness for SDL. SDL can be situational, and perceived barriers will motivate choosing DL versus SDL when given a choice. When barriers are mitigated, directed learners&rsquo; behavior may change and parallel self-directed learner behavior.</p><p> <b>Recommendations.</b> Further research is advised: (a) in applying quantitative survey to larger populations to determine more confidently the relationship between SDL and training growth; (b) in applying the research study to a more demographic diverse population that is better representative of the population; (c) applying the research study in various situations, as SDL is situational; (d) in seeking qualitative data from all participants including those not completing the study to discover the motivation and barriers to continue or withdraw from the learning experience.</p>

<p> This study explores the role of instructional design in the development of shared epistemic agency (SEA) when RN to BSN nursing students collaborate to complete a team project in an online course. Paavola &amp; Hakkarainen's (2005) trialogical model of learning is used to design a learning activity where teams create a shared knowledge object, a co-authored patient interprofessional care plan to support group knowledge creation. The study addresses the following research questions: 1. What patterns of SEA are evident at the team level as manifest through epistemic and regulative actions in online student discourse? 2a. How did each team's epistemic and regulative decisions contribute to their shared knowledge object? 2b. How did the instructor's online interaction enhance or constrain each team's epistemic and regulative decisions? 2c. How did each team's use of project technology tools affect the development of their shared knowledge object? 3. What contributed to supporting or suppressing SEA in each team? These questions examine SEA in relationship to research in shared knowledge construction pedagogies and instructional design within nursing education. </p><p> This study uses a convergent parallel mixed methods design, in which both quantitative and qualitative data are collected, analyzed separately, and then merged (Creswell &amp; Plano Clark, 2011). Quantitative content analysis is used to examine student discourse for evidence of student epistemic and regulative actions. This is combined with two forms of qualitative analysis. Thematic analysis is used to examine student artifacts and interviews with team members and their instructor to gain deeper insight into the meanings of their epistemic and regulative experiences within this six week collaborative activity. Case analysis is used to describe and synthesize differences among teams that supported or constrained the development of SEA. </p><p> The quantitative strand of research found higher levels of regulative actions compared to epistemic actions in both teams. The qualitative strand of research identified two areas which constrained each team's development of SEA overall. The first related to a series of uncertainties related to apprehensions about working with team members for the first time, concerns about the project and the instructor's expectations, and doubts about using technology for collaboration. The second related to a series of disjunctures associated with students' discordent beliefs about collaboration; contradictory views of conflict; and, discrepent views of leadership. </p><p> Synthesis of these results resulted in six factors that contributed to supporting or suppressing SEA in each team: team contracts, the team wiki, propensity for regulative over epistemic actions, narrow views of conflict, misconceptions about collaborative learning, and the instructor's role. In light of these findings, theoretical and practical implications and recommendations are detailed.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 13, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4646. Adviser: Curtis J. Bonk.

<p> The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of incorporating feedback from learner engagement and learner satisfaction into the instructional design of online and hybrid courses at the community college level. Kolb&rsquo;s Experiential Learning Theory and experiential learning cycle provided the theoretical framework. This mixed methodology study explores whether significant relationships exist between instructor assessments/feedback, learner engagement and learner satisfaction in the online and hybrid learning environments based on the quality of instructional design. A convenience sample of 62 students enrolled in nine online and hybrid courses at a Southern California community was used. Descriptive statistics, linear multiple regression, independent samples <i>t</i>-test, path analysis, and ANCOVA using a general linear model were used for quantitative statistical analysis. Findings reveal no statistically significant difference in learner engagement and satisfaction between groups, and no statistical significance between groups for learner engagement or learner satisfaction when controlling for feedback. A statistically significant causal relationship existed between instructor feedback and learner engagement. Emergent themes from qualitative data analysis revealed influencers of learner engagement include instructor presence, student-led instruction, ease of use, learning style and instructional design, and influencers of learner satisfaction include instructor presence, student-led instruction, sense of community, ease of use, and instructional design. The significance of this research adds a new avenue of empirical inquiry into the quality of student-centered instructional design of online and hybrid courses and the effects on learner engagement and learner satisfaction at the community college level.</p><p>

Districts have been under increasing pressure to use research in decision making for over thirty years. Because the process of finding, interpreting, and using data is so complex, districts sometimes turn to outside partners for support. Research-practice partnerships (RPPs), formal arrangements between school districts and researchers, have been seen as a promising strategy for improving district use of research since the formation of the Chicago Consortium on School Research thirty years ago. Much attention has been paid to the challenges facing these partnerships, such as a lack of trust between partners, and to conditions that support RPP success. Less is known, however, about how these partnerships are influenced by the contexts in which they are situated. The theory of institutional logics draws attention to the way in which key stakeholders in the environment of one research alliance, the District Research Consortium (DRC), gradually shifted their definition of effectiveness and legitimacy and in doing so placed demands on the organization that surpassed its capabilities. The DRC was created in an environment with a single, strongly prevalent “institutional logic,” that valued traditional forms of research and conventional roles for researchers. Major partners across the environment viewed the organization as legitimate so long as the prevailing logic, one that prioritized the types of work the DRC was created to do, remained the same. As the predominant logic shifted, the DRC faced increasing challenges and struggled to meet the stakeholders’ changing demands. Eventually this pressure forced DRC to undertake a significant restructuring process. The institutional environment, thus, plays a crucial role in both shaping the design of research alliances and determining their success. Differing expectations across the environment may call for such significantly different structures, practices, and expertise that a single organization will find it challenging to meet the demands placed on it, and attempts to do so will likely strain research organizations’ capacity and limited resources. Additionally, an organization that is well suited to one set of expectations may not be able to pivot to provide different support when those expectations change. As the institutional logics present in an environment change, a partnership once viewed as valuable may face challenges to its legitimacy and even threats to its ongoing existence. Funders, policy makers, and education leaders need to consider the variety of roles that research partners can play in the overall education sector, and the type of research organizations best suited to these variable roles.

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Consideration of sustainability in product and industrial design courses is becoming more common and relevant within higher education in the UK. However little is known about how widespread the teaching is and what is actually understood as sustainable design with discrepancies in the definitions used in different institutions. Literature highlights that many universities now engage with the tangible environmental aspects of sustainable design, whilst the intangible social aspects are left unaddressed. This thesis explores methods for encouraging and enabling students to address the social aspects within sustainable product design (SPD) education. The first research stage presents the results of a nationwide survey, which investigated how widely SPD is taught, which social aspects are addressed, how SPD is taught and assessed and the attitudes and awareness of it amongst academics. The second research stage presents further research into best practice in SPD through detailed interviews with leading academics in the field. A third research stage built upon the findings from both these studies, and sought to address a perceived weakness in SPD education; the lack of understanding and consideration of the social aspects in sustainable product design in teaching and project outcomes. Three Rethinking Design workshops were developed and tested at five universities in the UK and Ireland. These workshops were designed to introduce students to the wider social aspects of SPD, through the use of audio visual group based workshops. The design of the workshops enabled a learning environment where a deep understanding of the social aspects of Sustainable Product Design could be developed through; group work, discussion and critical reflection, which led to students exploring design thinking responses, suggesting that deep learning, had occurred.

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In recent years, as sensitivity for human rights and diversity in society increased, inclusion has become an important subject matter for discussions both in wider social context as a parameter reflecting more conscious and democratic understandings of human world, and in particular context of different disciplines. Inclusion has become a widely discussed theme of inclusive education practices both internationally and in Turkey, as well as a central theme for Universal Design approach. In education, inclusion is a challenge which calls for a comprehensive institutional restructuring and demands adaptations in physical education environments. This condition implicitly challenges architects to take action for developing effective design approaches in order to create inclusive education environments. This thesis is a search for a common framework for education and architecture for promoting inclusive education in primary schools. Despite the potential of Universal Design principles for bringing education and architecture together for this common goal, Universal Design approach remains limited for promoting a comprehensive understanding of inclusion. Through a comprehensive review of legislations, literature and a case study carried out for conceiving practical concern of inclusive education, this study broadens the notion of inclusion and claims that inclusion is an ongoing process during which students develop their capacities with the provision of equal opportunities of access to educational resources, supportive services, teachers, professionals and effective education environments. Depending on this thesis&rsquo / process-based and student-centered understanding of inclusion, Universal Design principles are differentiated by focusing on design aspects which maximize students&rsquo / individual strengths during inclusive education process.

In the recent years, more and more manufacturing firms recognize the benefit of providing products together with related services with an aim to gain higher profits as compared to supplying products without additional services. On the other hand, the competition in the global markets has been increased dramatically through increased sales of services in order to gain additional value for their products. In addition, several environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution, global warming impact, greenhouse gases emissions have played a vital role by influencing on the production protocols and trend of the companies. These challenges forced manufacturing countries to take into consideration environmentally conscious approach to their design thinking and industrial production processes. As a result, it became an important drive for manufacturing industries to shift from traditional product-oriented to service-oriented business models that has been witnessed during the last few years.   The objective of this study research is to develop common questions that capture fundamental and common issues about Integrated Product Service Engineering (IPSE), Design for Environment (DFE) and Engineering education are effectives for industries to check and develop their knowledge, because the Engineering education plays a necessary role in associating socio-ethical knowledge with scientific and technological advances. The strategy taken to conduct this thesis task was first to study and understand the concept of Product Service System (PSS), IPSE, and Ecodesign as well as Engineering Education. Informative knowledge on these concepts were collected by reviewing several related journal articles, CIRP IPS2 conference proceedings.   In this thesis the concepts of PSS, IPSE, DFE and Engineering Education discussed to develop the key common questions and issues to address the environmental, economic and social problems. Since PSS aims to reduce consumption through alternative schemes of product use as well as to increase overall resource productivity and dematerialization, but IPSE does not focus on a single factor but incorporates a wide range of factors such as environmental, social and economic issues. Whilst one of the main problems in this research focused on how to develop and strengthen the relationship between the academia and industry, and how this relation can be used to improve the academic performance and scientific research at universities and transfer them to industry.   Sustainability and the life cycle concept have become a main solution for various problems such as a growing world population and a change in the industrial culture to come. As results Ecodesign and environmental considerations, financial aspects, product improvement as well as the commercial aspects were discussed in this project by understanding the previous concepts. The university considered as an important base of cultivating the talents, basic of inputs business organizations which help them to develop and improve their level of performance and quality of their products and services, and enhance its competitive position in the market. Changes in organized science further encouraged university interests in expanding technology transfer, because the scientific disciplines play an important role in influencing the type of interactions with industry as well as the University and Industry collaboration became the basic method of solving the problems to achieve (environmental, economic and social) sustainability.