Thesis (Ph. D.)--Kent State University, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 309-318).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment for the Masters in Technology: Entrepreneurship, Durban Institute of Technology, 2003. / The Department of Education has, since 1998, introduced entrepreneurship education in government schools, for the first time. One of the overall developmental outcomes of the curriculum, of which there are five, is to develop entrepreneurial capacities. Economic and Management Sciences, one of the eight learning areas, encourages learners to develop basic skills and knowledge needed to manage their lives and their environments effectively; to understand the basics of the economy and how it works, and develop basic entrepreneurship, financial management and planning skills to operate effectively in the economy / M

M.Ed. (Education Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

Innovation allows for competitive advantage. Competitive advantage and innovation lead to economic growth. For innovation to occur, creativity is necessary. All individuals are creative, but continuous practice is necessary to be creative. The process from creativity to innovation and competitive advantage and economic growth involves three stages. The first stage involves educating primary and secondary school children to be creative across different domains. Current school systems focus on mathematical and linguistic skills. Examples of domains are linguistic, performance, mechanicalscientific and artistic. These creative domains can be taught through encouraging children to use their imagination and different methods. In primary and secondary education little-c creativity and mini-c creativity are developed. Little-c creativity involves developing problem solving skills. Mini-c creativity involves the ability to recognise personal creative events, not necessarily recognised by others. Tertiary education involves students gaining knowledge in a specific domain. While studying to gain knowledge and conduct research on a specific domain, practicing creativity is still important. Upon completion of tertiary education the second stage in creating economic growth through creativity and innovation commences. This second stage involves organisations hiring creative employees that have knowledge within a domain similar to the organisation‟s industry. Creative employees develop creative ideas. The creative ideas allow for innovative products to be developed. Innovative products satisfy customer needs and lead to competitive advantage. Managers should encourage employees to be innovative. Employees that are motivated and encouraged to take risks develop a talent within the domain that they are employed in. The ability to be creative and innovative leads to pro-creativity and big-c creativity. Pro-c creativity refers to a talent being developed over approximately ten years. Big-c creativity involves creating products that benefits society positively. Upon creating products that benefit society, competitive advantage is created that allows for the third stage of creating economic growth to commence. This third stage involves economic growth that stems from innovation and creative individuals. Countries currently focus on stage two where they aim to encourage innovation amongst organisations. There is a realisation that to be innovative,creativity is necessarily and that creativity must be taught by means of education. This research study will use a questionnaire by Kaufman (2009, 2012, 2013) to determine how creative students perceive they are and whether they are capable of recognising different levels of creativity. A similar study was conducted in Germany and Mexico. Professor Alexander Brem was asked for the questionnaire. The questionnaire was translated from German to English. The objective is to determine whether students perceive themselves to be creative, thus being innovative within their organisations and indirectly allowing for competitive advantage and economic growth. Kaufmans‟ questionnaire was distributed to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Masters in Business Administration students. Ethics clearance was granted and answering the questionnaire was optional.To draw conclusions an Exploratory Factor Analysis was done on creative domains and the levels of creativity students are able to recognise. The first Exploratory Factor Analysis revealed performance creativity as the first factor, mechanicalscientific creativity as the second factor, scholarly creativity as the third factor and artistic creativity as the fourth factor. The second Exploratory Factor Analysis grouped pro-c creativity, big-c creativity and little-c creativity as the first factor, not being able to recognise creativity as the second factor and mini-c creativity as the third factor. The individual results from each factor were discussed. Each factor was further analysed by comparing gender, age, year‟s work experience and type of students to the type and level of creativity. The results show three trends. Firstly, results indicated that respondents perceived themselves to be predominantly scholarly and mathematical-scientific creative. This result is synonymous with secondary research that states that educational institutions focus on enhancing linguistic and mathematical skills amongst students and that developing skills in other domains are seen as less important. Secondly, the ability of students to recognise different levels of creativity decreases from big-creativity to pro-c creativity; pro-c creativity to little-c creativity and little-c creativity to mini-c creativity. Students are therefore better able to recognise large inventions than smaller inventions. Thirdly, results indicated that creativity levels do not differ when gender, age, year‟s work experience and type of students are compared. In this research study the above statements will be discussed in detail.

Creativity is seen as the driving force behind innovation. It can even be said to be the same process. It is critical to implement the creativity in order for innovation to actually take place. This combination of creativity and innovation is required for economic growth, sustainability, continuous improvement and competitive edge for organisations. Creativity is more than just artistic ability but includes scientific and problem solving steps and basic everyday creativity. This combination would be key in government departments, organisations and universities today. People’s perception on creativity could hamper their growth and development in this key area, not only for themselves but of others that they come into contact with. People’s perception on creativity is that it is either a genius form in either artistic or musical terms or it is not at all creative. They do not necessarily view the everyday tasks as creative. The research approach for this study is positivistic and deductive. The students’ perception of creativity is gathered using a quantitative questionnaire, where they rank their perceptions. The questionnaire was from an international study and it was made available to all students at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. The data analysis will be both descriptive and inferential in nature. The research seeks to examine students’ perception of their own creativity and how they rate various creative products or services. Students are on their way to the pinnacle in their fields and the creativity should therefore be at its peak to be able to take full advantage and to get maximum benefit from it. The research will gain insight into their perception via a questionnaire where they need to rate themselves. The literature review will investigate creativity, innovation and the links between them. It will analyse the importance of innovation to business and the unlocking of creativity. There are many differing ways to unlock and stimulate creativity and some of these are addressed.

Dr Math is a math tutoring service implemented on the chat application Mxit. The service allows school learners to use their mobile phones to discuss mathematicsrelated topics with human tutors. Using the broad user-base provided by Mxit, the Dr Math service has grown to consist of tens of thousands of registered school learners. The tutors on the service are all volunteers and the learners far outnumber the available tutors at any given time. School learners on the service use a shorthand language-form called microtext, to phrase their queries. Microtext is an informal form of language which consists of a variety of misspellings and symbolic representations, which emerge spontaneously as a result of the idiosyncrasies of a learner. The specific form of microtext found on the Dr Math service contains mathematical questions and example equations, pertaining to the tutoring process. Deciphering the queries, to discover their embedded mathematical content, slows down the tutoring process. This wastes time that could have been spent addressing more learner queries. The microtext language thus creates an unnecessary burden on the tutors. This study describes the development of an automated process for the translation of Dr Math microtext queries into mathematical equations. Using the design science research paradigm as a guide, three artefacts are developed. These artefacts take the form of a construct, a model and an instantiation. The construct represents the creation of new knowledge as it provides greater insight into the contents and structure of the language found on a mobile mathematics tutoring service. The construct serves as the basis for the creation of a model for the translation of microtext queries into mathematical equations, formatted for display in an electronic medium. No such technique currently exists and therefore, the model contributes new knowledge. To validate the model, an instantiation was created to serve as a proof-of-concept. The instantiation applies various concepts and techniques, such as those related to natural language processing, to the learner queries on the Dr Math service. These techniques are employed in order to translate an input microtext statement into a mathematical equation, structured by using mark-up language. The creation of the instantiation thus constitutes a knowledge contribution, as most of these techniques have never been applied to the problem of translating microtext into mathematical equations. For the automated process to have utility, it should perform on a level comparable to that of a human performing a similar translation task. To determine how closely related the results from the automated process are to those of a human, three human participants were asked to perform coding and translation tasks. The results of the human participants were compared to the results of the automated process, across a variety of metrics, including agreement, correlation, precision, recall and others. The results from the human participants served as the baseline values for comparison. The baseline results from the human participants were compared with those of the automated process. Krippendorff’s α was used to determine the level of agreement and Pearson’s correlation coefficient to determine the level of correlation between the results. The agreement between the human participants and the automated process was calculated at a level deemed satisfactory for exploratory research and the level of correlation was calculated as moderate. These values correspond with the calculations made as the human baseline. Furthermore, the automated process was able to meet or improve on all of the human baseline metrics. These results serve to validate that the automated process is able to perform the translation at a level comparable to that of a human. The automated process is available for integration into any requesting application, by means of a publicly accessible web service.

Although a categorical definition of the concept of blended learning is yet to be established, in broad terms, Blended Learning refers to a system that combines traditional face-to-face teaching environments with an online component. This therefore makes the learning process far more engaging for the student and also enables the lecturer to extend teaching and learning outside the classroom. The private higher education institution that was the focus of this study (referred to as Campus A) had attempted to introduce blended learning as a teaching and learning approach at the institution. The site had been operating in Port Elizabeth for 15 years and offered a range of degrees, diplomas and certificates on a full time basis and a range of short learning programmes as part of their business school. Despite concerted effort made by the managers to drive the adoption of blended learning on the campus, the acceptance of this teaching practice had been slower than expected and, given the transformative potential of blended learning, the management of the campus wished to improve the adoption rate significantly. Therefore the primary purpose of this study was to identify adoption strategies that could be used to increase the acceptance of blended learning as a teaching strategy at Campus A of this educational institution. The study followed a two pronged approach; the first part entailed a review of literature on the successful implementation of blended learning. The review concluded with an adapted model that integrated relevant blended learning adoption factors. The model was thereafter used for the second part of the study, as a basis for questionnaires and interviews that were conducted with relevant staff with the aim of determining how the integrated model for the adoption of blended learning should be implemented on the campus.

Few naturalistic studies exist that take an in-depth look at the lifeworlds of consultants and supervisors. This single case study describes and interprets the practical knowledge of an exemplary Fine Arts Supervisor. In this study, the investigator acted as a participant-observer while "shadowing" Ruth Britten (a pseudonym) over a four month period. Data were derived through field research techniques, and were subjected to data analysis and interpretation. Drawing upon a body of literature dealing with the nature of practical knowledge, this study concludes that a supervisor's practical knowledge is different from a teacher's practical knowledge in two important ways. First, curriculum implementation replaces curriculum development in the five commonplaces found in teacher practical knowledge: self, instruction, curriculum development, subject matter, and milieu. Second, the political knowledge context forms a major addition to the five orientations defined by Elbaz regarding teacher practical knowledge: theoretical, social, personal, situational, experiential. A third conclusion underlies the above: Elbaz's conceptual framework for a teacher's practical knowledge proved to be a useful starting point in determining a supervisor's practical knowledge. Practical knowledge is constructed upon rules of practice, practical principles, and images. In this study, these forms revealed the dialectical nature of much of Ruth's practical knowledge. Two constructs or landscapes of imagery became apparent, one being the empowerment and power of teachers, and the other, bureaucratic power and control and educational stability. Analysis of Ruth's style as a supervisor examined further dialectical relationships, as she continuously resolved contraries while implementing fine arts curricula. The findings suggest that among other requirements, supervisors need to develop a unique form of practical knowledge geared to the political context of curriculum implementation. Therefore, School Boards should consider tenure contracts for supervisors rather than limited term contracts, and should promote special training for supervisors in curriculum change strategies rather than assume that master teacher practical knowledge is sufficient. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

Principals come to their current positions with their own beliefs about their role, about their practice, and about other educational issues related to the nature of education: schools, teachers, students, community, and professional growth. These and all other factors that influence how principals think about their job are what I refer to as "principals' professional beliefs." This study demonstrated that principals bring to change initiatives their professional beliefs and those beliefs influence how they interpret the language of the change initiative, how they conceptualize the change, and how they plan for enactment of the policy change. I used a multi-case study approach to examine how eight principals in a school district that was undergoing a district policy change, thought about their enactment of the change at the school level. I identified three groups of principals: (1) supporters of teacher decision making, (2) facilitators of shared values, and (3) promoters of mutual respect. These principals differed in their involvement in the negotiation of the way the change would be carried out in the school, how much and what kinds of support they offered to teachers, and the degree of autonomy they allowed teachers in determining how the change would be implemented. Three questions guided the study: (1) What factors influence principals' responses to a change in school district policy? More specifically, what are the professional and context-specific issues the principals consider as they interpret a school district policy change and plan for their own action in carrying out that change process? (2) How do principals enact the policy changes in their own schools? (3) What impact did the principals perceive that the policy change had on their enactment of their role? This study provides insights into how principals understand and interpret educational policy language, how they work toward the development of collaborative relationships and collegial cultures, and how their professional beliefs inform their practice. The policy change and the language of the policy is mediated through principals' professional belief systems as they determine how they will enact the policy change. This study disputes findings in existing literature and contributes to our understanding of change in schools by recognizing that principals play significant roles in change at the school level. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate