Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur lärare använder sig utav IKT för elevernas lärande samt vilken kompetensutveckling inom IKT de får från sin arbetsplats. Två teorier tillämpas i studien, det sociokulturella perspektivet och TPACK modellen. För att besvara frågeställningarna har en kvalitativ metod i form av intervjuer genomförts. Resultatet visar att det finns en variation i hur lärare använder sig utav IKT för elevernas lärande, bland annat användes IKT i form av presentation och för informationssökning. Vidare visar resultatet att lärare generellt får kompetensutveckling inom IKT men att den ges på olika sätt och ibland utanför arbetstiden. Lärarna ansåg även att mer kompetensutveckling behövs för att de ska känna sig helt trygga med IKT samt kunna använda det på mest effektiva sätt. Den tidigare forskningen som använts i denna studie visar på att lärare både i Sverige och andra länder har liknande åsikter och erfarenheter av IKT, som de intervjuade lärarna har.

For the past thirty years the Malaysian economy has been said to contribute well to the progress of the nations. However, the intensification of global economic activity and the extensive use of ICTs in recent years are challenging government's effort to further develop Malaysian society. The competition posed by the low wage economies such as China and Vietnam have made the government realise the importance of engaging in high-skill and high technology industries. It is hoped this will be the basis of attracting more FDI (foreign direct investment) in order to help the country to compete in a globalised world. Using Vision 2020 as its targeted vision, the government has decided to engage in the use of ICTs and introduce many policies pertaining to it. This thesis is mainly concerned with the study of ICT policy in Malaysia and its consequences for both the economy and society. The investigation focuses on the three dimensions: 'ICTs and economic growth', 'ICTs and inequality' and 'the element of neo-colonialism'. Two approaches are used to achieve the objectives of the study. They are secondary analysis and semi-structured interviews. This thesis is largely dependent on library research and secondary sources such as government official policies and data. Semi-structured interviews are used as a means to support or test some of the arguments and evidence collected throughout the analysis and discussion. For the interviews, three groups of people were identified: policy developers, implementers and evaluators. These people are those involved directly and indirectly with ICT policy establishment and implementation. The findings show that policy pertaining to ICTs in Malaysia contributes to economic growth, but the consequences of this have resulted in greater division within society. Although some of the divisions such as gender and ethnicity are narrowing down, the gap in important areas such as regions and class differences, is becoming wider. The widespread use of ICTs might contribute to the further establishment of democracy in Malaysia, but the increasing number of foreign entities such as FDI and foreign workers, cultural hybridisation and to some extent cultural doniination are contributing to neocolonialism in Malaysia. This has obvious consequences for the government's effort to create a Malaysian national identity. An important finding of this work is that there are contradictions within ICT policy between the effort to develop the economy and society.

Despite the volume of literature examining the role of producer amenities (e.g., highways and airports) in firms’ selection of a location, almost no quantitative studies regard the impact of consumer amenities (e.g., theatres and cafes) in attracting firms, as they are hypothesized to attract residents rather than firms or companies. Since the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is regarded as a significant driver and an increasingly important part of the economy in North American and European countries, this research aims to provide insight into the importance of consumer amenities in the location pattern of companies in this sector. Consumer amenities are stated to be important factors in the lifestyle of creative and talented workers such as employees of high-tech industries (Florida, 2003); therefore, this study hypothesizes that ICT firms tend to locate near consumer amenities as they are assumed to be attractive to the talented and highly educated workers that those firms want to employ. ICT firms, because of their size and use, can also be integrated into existing land use, such as downtown where there are lots of amenities. Industrial uses would be more likely to locate near highways because of their land requirements. This thesis looks at a broad pattern as an exploratory study to see if there is a location pattern between consumer amenities and ICT firms’ location. Using census data from Canadian industries, this thesis focuses on exploring a spatial pattern for distribution of ICT companies, both with regards to amenities and the location of firms in other industries. In doing so, information of 66,078 firms that operate in Vancouver and their associated data were obtained from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Business Database. A walkability index is also developed that represents the amenity variable. The findings of this study suggest that ICT firms are more likely to be found in areas with a high concentration of consumer amenities. However, the result shows that there is statistically weak relationship between location of ICT firms and existence of consumer amenities, but this relationship is generally not detected for firms in other sectors. Moreover, the most significant finding of this thesis is that there is a tendency for ICT firms to locate close to and concentrated in downtown cores. As a result, the findings demonstrate that the agglomeration factor in ICT firms’ location decision is more important than the existence of consumer amenities in the place. This study concludes by suggesting that municipalities and their local economic development specialists wanting to attract regional economic growth to better understand and focus on the determinant elements of location decision by ICT firms.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This study investigated the extent to which secondary schools utilised online technologies and eLearning within the curriculum. It explored computer technology practices and perceptions of students and teachers as well as the technology development strategies deployed by principals in ten secondary schools. The learning content of each school’s web page was also examined. It was intended that the study’s findings would add to current research about student and teacher computer practices, the integration of ICT with pedagogy and the current state of eLearning practice within schools. The research was conducted using a case study methodology for each of the ten schools and collectively, utilising both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This enabled a holistic interpretation of the data, and was followed by a documentary analysis of the learning content in each school’s web presence. This analysis required the development of a rubric (called the eFactor) which was used to categorise and evaluate each school’s web learning content. The data analysis findings were compared with earlier and current research about computer technology use to identify patterns of similarity and difference between existing research and this study. Similarity was found with students being more frequent users of the Internet than their teachers (Avery et al., 2007) as well as being more adept at using a wider range of computer technology than most of their teachers (Negroponte, 1995; Trinidad et al., 2005).Confirmation too that older members of the teaching staff were more reluctant to use computer technology and less inclined to nominate any educational value for that technology (Cuban, 2001). However, other factors have emerged that may influence school computer technology utilisation and online learning practice. Across the sample of schools, there appeared to be little difference in the nature and extent of female and male student computer use for school-related purposes. One of the most compelling findings was that schools with more comprehensive technology and learning strategies, actively fostered by the school leadership, had the greatest interactive learning presence on their web pages. Schools with the least amount of interactive web presence preferred to focus strategies on achieving technology competence and usually in just one software application. The criteria established for the documentary analysis of each school’s web presence provided a score (the eFactor) allocated to each school according to that school’s use of its webpage for learning. The case study findings were also able to identify common practices and strategies of schools which enabled the establishment of three school groups based on the eFactor being low, medium a or high. The case studies also discriminated between the practices of the schools within each of the groups thereby enabling a clear distinction about the allocations of schools to the three groups. Schools’ adoption of an effective online learning presence requires the development of Information Communications Technology with curriculum pedagogy and is the basis for further research. This study has provided clarification on how Internet learning can be classified thereby enabling a guideline for the development of effective learning tasks. The study has also established a link between the type of technology strategies implemented in a school and the online learning presence of that school. The deployment of multiple technology strategies with pedagogical underpinnings contributes to the diversity of eLearning and the awareness of a wider learning environment.

The study examines knowledge transfer between firms by using the concept of stickiness to conceptualise problems with knowledge transfer. The concept of stickiness is sub-divided into “macro” and “micro” levels stickiness. As for “macro” level stickiness, the study uses literature in the field of innovation studies, in which governments have been identified as major contributors to macro level stickiness. The study uses literature in the economics of knowledge and evolutionary economics to develop the concept of “micro” level stickiness, which refers to firms’ contributions to stickiness. Four factors are used to examine micro stickiness: transfer mechanisms, types of transfer, knowledge barriers, and transfer contexts. After explaining the concept of stickiness and providing a background to technology parks policy, the study examines the perceptions of a variety of informants of stickiness in knowledge transfer among ICT firms in Malaysian technology parks. The study approached seven (out of eleven) Malaysian technology parks, over a period of three months in 2005 (May-July 2005) and a month in 2007 (August 2007). It interviewed fifty (50) informants, who included policy makers, government officers, and executives of ICT firms in Malaysian technology parks. With respect to “macro” level stickiness, policy makers and government confirmed that the government cannot exclude previous policy documents that contained three major elements: national unity, foreign direct investment and sound economic growth to formulate policy for Malaysian technology parks, which does not solely encourage knowledge transfer because the policy documents permitted short term profit taking by ICT firms. With respect to “micro” level stickiness, the results suggest that transfer mechanisms, types of transfer, knowledge barriers, and transfer contexts are costly; thus, impede ICT firms from participating actively in knowledge transfer between ICT firms. This study suggests that the government and ICT firms should work closely to facilitate knowledge transfer between ICT firms in Malaysian technology parks.

This thesis aims to investigate what principles should guide the development of land administration infrastructures to adequately address the governance needs of evolving rights, restrictions and responsibilities between government, corporate bodies, community groups and individuals to better support sustainable development objectives. (For complete abstract open document)

This final thesis Use of ICT in Education tries to introduce different possibilities of use of ICT in teaching in secondary schools, looks into the state policies and informs about general problems of their implementation. .The main part of this work is dedicated to the analysis and comparative research that deals with equipment, and use of ICT in individual subjects and also with design of the use of ICT in selected subjects taught in three secondary schools.

This thesis is addressing the knowledge base of project managers in the South African Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector. It is determining if project management is recognised as an important profession in the ICT Sector; it is also establishing the attributes required for an ICT project manager; the background of ICT project managers with respect to their job experience and qualification and lastly the effectiveness of project management in the ICT sector. A literature review on the knowledge base of ICT project managers is done to clarify particular issues, to determine international perspective on the issues of the study and to contextualise the study. The central research tool was a questionnaire. Project managers from different ICT companies in South Africa were selected to respond to the questionnaire which was mailed to them. Close-ended questions were used in the development of themes and the data were analysed on the basis of tables and graphs and hypothesis testing. The study found that project management is recognised as a career path within the South African ICT sector. It was also found that ICT project managers seem to have a good capability in terms of technical, organic, conceptual and business skills. Most ICT project managers are qualified up to a postgraduate level. They have a degree in another profession and then undertake project management certification. The study also found that project management adds value to the client as well as the company and also adds to the effectiveness of relationships with peers in achieving project goals. The study concluded with recommendations on what can be done to improve the competency of ICT project managers in the ICT sector and also made recommendations for future research.

The knowledge-based economy, advances in information and communication technologies and new pedagogical perspectives all influence the need to improve competencies in the 21st century. Innovative educational ideas and concepts have transformed the roles of teacher educators and their students. Adequate technology training is therefore a prerequisite for the teacher educator to develop prospective teachers who can use new technologies to support and improve their students’ achievement gains. However, many of these efforts fail since they are mostly based on a formal, institutional delivery of instrumental knowledge and skills. Adequate technology training is a major factor that can help to promote the uptake of emerging technologies into the curriculum, which in turn benefits students (Yoon et al, 2007; Collins & Halverson, 2009; Earley & Porritt, 2014). This research seeks to add to current knowledge about teacher educators’ technology professionalisation and to provide an instrument for the purpose of mapping teacher educators’ technology learning preferences in the workplace. The technology learning preferences instrument (TLP-instrument) designed, implemented and evaluated in this research is intended to create a link between teacher-educators’ technology learning needs in the workplace and the way in which professional development programmes should be tailored to meet teacher educators’ evolving learning needs. The investigation employs a design-based research approach which is cyclical and appropriate for addressing complex problems in educational practice for which no clear guidelines for solutions are available. To collect and analyse the data, a mixed methods approach was used. The rationale for mixing both types of research is that qualitative and quantitative methods complement each other (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2011). Findings in this dissertation and in follow-up research are intended to lead to more effective technology professionalisation programmes through suggestions for better design and development based on teacher educators’ learning needs.

Although investment in IT is growing rapidly, a number of studies have shown that the full benefits of this technology are not realised. One explanation is that these benefits exist, but have not been correctly measured. The other explanation is that they have not been achieved because of lack of management attention. Experience and common sense supports the latter assumption. Hence, the aim of this research is to develop and to trial a method which assists in the realisation of the benefits of a particularly problematic technology, executive information systems (EIS).The proposed method introduces the concept of generic benefits models into previous research on IT benefits management. This construct improves existing methods of benefits management in three respects. First, it employs reuse of benefits models in order to speed their development. Secondly, it allows these methods to be employed at any stage of a project, not just at the outset, in order to extract benefits. Thirdly, it provides a conceptual object which serves as the focus of organisational learning. The major focus of the research is on the development of generic benefits models of EIS. This requires an understanding of the role which information plays in executive work and how EIS technology may affect the manner in which executives use information. Unfortunately, the literature on executive work does not make this clear. Moreover, it seems that there is no agreed definition of EIS. As a result, it is necessary to create different generic models for different theories of executive work and different forms of EIS. The methodological approach adopted is pragmatism, in particular the experimentalism proposed by John Dewey and implemented by Donald Schon. The justification for this is that the primary objective of the study is to demonstrate the utility of the proposed method rather than its ability to explain, predict, or provide insight. The study includes six experiments conducted within the office of the Malaysian Prime Minister. Different types of EIS, with different degrees of benefits already realised, and at different stages of development are the subjects of these experiments. The results largely affirm the proposed method, but they do suggest some refinement of the original benefits models. They also indicate simplification of the models is possible. In addition the executives who participated in these experiments favour the proposed method. However, the IS practitioners in the organisation are less enthusiastic. The study proposes a solution to this problem which includes both changes to organisational structure and to the education of IS practitioners. The research also produced a number of supplementary findings. It reaffirmed the findings of Mintzberg's study of executive work. It demonstrated once again that executives rarely use EIS directly and that they mostly depended on subordinates to access information. When executives do employ EIS themselves, they are more likely to use it to enhance their learning than to support decision-making.