En associant la sémiotique et la biologie, cette thèse veut donner un aperçu exhaustif de l’efficience des signes dans la vie. L’approche se fonde sur les données biologiques qui sont directement utilisées pour étayer l’hypothèse centrale de la présente recherche : la sémiosis est produite à tous les niveaux de vie : les molécules, les cellules, les organes, les organismes et les espèces. Un système biosémiotique nécessite l’utilisation de signes et sert à l’auto-entretien de l’organisme. On l’interprète ici comme une composante modulaire d’un ensemble plus vaste doué de propriétés auto-organisatielles et auto-productives. Adoptant un point de vue développemental sur la cognition, on soutient dans ce travail que les fonctions cognitives – appelées « contrôle sémiotique » – co-existent avec la vie. Différenciés selon leurs capacités cognitives, les organismes vivants créent des modèles de contrôle sémiotique; les traits importants de la cognition humaine tels que les émotions et le langage caractérisent les formes complexes des manipulations de signes. Les sciences de la sémiotique et de la biologie ne peuvent être totalement comprises l’une sans l’autre. Dans cette thèse, en outre, un effort est fait pour relier diverses positions théoriques sur la biosémiotique afin de surmonter les limites des travaux spécialisés en leurs propres domaines. L’intégration entre la sémiotique et d’autres domaines scientifiques est encore à explorer. / Combining semiotics and biology, this thesis intends to give an extensive overview of the phenomena of signs in life. The approach is more than biology-inspired; it is biologically concrete: data from the biological context is directly used to support the hypothesis – semiosis exists in all levels of life: molecules, cells, organs, organisms, and species. A biosemiotics system requires the use of signs and serves the goal of self-maintenance; it is also a modularized component of a larger whole with self-organizing and self-producing properties. Representing a developmental point of view on cognition, it is argued in this work that cognitive functions – referred to as the “semiotic control” – coexist with life. With different cognitive capacities, living organisms create patterns of semiotic control; prominent traits of human cognition such as emotions and language characterize the complex forms of pattern manipulations. The sciences of semiotics and biology cannot be fully understood without each other. In this thesis, furthermore, an effort is made to connect various theoretic stances on biosemiotics to overcome the limitations of individual works. The integration between semiotics with more scientific fields is yet to be explored.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drexel University, 2008. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-91).

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Includes bibliographical references. / Transactional distance (TD) theory argues that psychological and communications barriers have the potential of creating misunderstandings in any formation of learning contexts. Distance education is seen as providing both opportunities and challenges. The distance programme being studied has experienced high deferment rates. However, the lack of communication infrastructural challenges and specifically lack of interaction is one major challenge hindering reduction of TD for remotely dispersed distance learners. It has become evident that WhatsApp popularity has risen; one unique feature is its affordance to enhance communication within a group. Hence, WhatsApp group was used to enhance interactions, as well as nurturing social engagement that creates dialogue and sharing amongst a virtual group. This study was aimed at enhancing dialogue as a potential of reducing TD amongst distance students for purposes of improving their study experiences. This study set out to explore how Salmon's (2000) 5-stage Model could be used as one way of implementing a mobile-mediated WhatsApp group activity as an opportunity to reduce TD. Six pre-service teachers participated in the WhatsApp mediated group activity virtually to try and find out how implementing a WhatsApp group activity could enhance dialogue consequently reduce TD.

This thesis investigated the development of proficiency in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies amongst educators at Makerere University. Limited educator CoPs focused on pedagogical integration of ETs inhibit educator potential to contribute to quality learning through pedagogical integration of ETs. The general question in this thesis is how social architecture in an educator CoP provides opportunities for enhancing proficiency development in pedagogical integration of ETs. Based on educational design research framework and situated learning theory, a community of practice as an intervention was designed and implemented between 2014 and 2016. Data was collected through observations, focused discussions and interviews from five educators who actively participated. An interpretive thematic analysis was done from which findings indicate that a social architecture in community of practice enables educators to initially accept that they are less experienced and potential members and then, join forces in a community to take charge of their transformation process. A social architecture enables drawing on individual talent and exploiting synergy between individuals with varying experiences; the process also comprises specific actions and engagements, which when shared in a social environment help motivate, inspire and evoke emulation of a practice. A community of practice provides an ideal context that enable educators to be more honest in evaluating their own technology skills and gaining confidence in seeking to develop skills. Pedagogical integration of emerging technologies is a practice highly influenced by individual attitudes in a social environment. In communities of practice faced with resource-constraints, the constantly evolving technologies, limited mentorship capacity, and mind-set are among the inhibitors in the social architecture that contributes to proficiency development in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. This thesis concludes that social architecture in a community of practice contributes to the process of developing proficiency in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. The design principles that emphasize configuration of a social architecture like interactions, networks and collaborations among educators are helpful in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. It is therefore recommended that a social architecture in a community of practice be exploited by educators to enhance pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. The original contribution of this thesis is coming up with new design principles and theoretical insights related to a social architecture in a community of practice focused on pedagogical integration of emerging technologies.

Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an integral part of the rural health system, and it is imperative that their voices are accommodated in digital health projects. In the mobile health education project discussed in this thesis (The Bophelo Haeso project), we sought to find ways to amplify CHWs' voices, enabling them to directly influence design and research processes as well as technological outcomes. The Bophelo Haeso (BH) project equips CHWs with health videos on their mobile phones to use for educating and counselling the rural public. We investigated how to best co-design, with CHWs, a feedback mechanism atop the basic BH health education model, thus enabling their voices in the design process and in the process of community education. This thesis chronicles this inclusive design and research process - a 30-month process that spanned three sub-studies: an 18-month process to co-design the feedback mechanism with CHWs, a 12-month deployment study of the feedback mechanism and, overlapping with the feedback deployment study, a 17-month study looking at the consumption patterns of the BH educational videos. This work contributes to the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in three distinct ways. First, it contributes to the growing knowledge of co-design practice with participants of limited digital experience by introducing a concept we termed co-design readiness. We designed and deployed explorative artefacts and found that by giving CHWs increased technical, contextual, and linguistic capacity to contribute to the design process, they were empowered to unleash their innate creativity, which in turn led to more appropriate and highly-adopted solutions. Secondly, we demonstrate the efficacy of incorporating an effective village-to-clinic feedback mechanism in digital health education programs. We employed two approaches to feedback - asynchronous voice and roleplaying techniques. Both approaches illustrate the combined benefits of implementing creative methods for effective human-to-technology and human-tohuman communication in ways that enable new forms of expression. Finally, based on our longitudinal study of video consumption, we provide empirical evidence of offline video consumption trends in health education settings. We present qualitative and quantitative analyses of video-use patterns as influenced by the CHWs' ways of being and working. Through these analyses, we describe CHWs and their work practices in depth. In addition to the three main contributions, this thesis concludes with critical reflections from the lessons and experiences of the 30-month study. We discuss the introduction of smartphones in rural villages, especially among elderly, low-literate, and non-English-speaking users, and present guidelines for designing relevant and usable smartphones for these populations. The author also reflects on her position as an African-born qualitative researcher in Africa, and how her positionality affected the outcomes of this research.

This research investigates how Secondary School science learners in Cameroon perceive the design of electronic content (eContent). Perception plays an important role in how learners use eContent; hence the perception of how eContent is designed could affect how learners learn using this digital content. Online learning and the use of digital learning materials has emerged as a hallmark of the information age to connect and engage users in the learning process. Learners are moving from the use of paper to the use of digital channels for learning, therefore perception of design becomes very important. Without good perception of how learning material is designed, the teaching process would be an uphill task and this could greatly hinder the academic performance of learners, leading to high failure rates. Apart from how learning material is designed, perception is also a product of the socio-cultural environments hence how learners perceive eContent, might be affected by the setting within which it is designed. In this study, a group of Cameroonian learners‟ use of eContent that was designed in a social- cultural context different from their own is studied. The primary research question is aimed at investigating how the learners‟ perception of eContent affects its use. The researcher uses Cultural Historical activity theory (CHAT) as a theoretical framework to understand how students perceive the activity mediated by eContent. By identifying the factors in an activity system that affect learners‟ perception using activity theory, specific recommendations will be made to educators on what to change in the system to foster positive perceptions hence achieve meaningful learning mediated by eContent.