The aim of this study was to find aspects for improvement of the user experience on the website of the company Derome Mark & Bostad, a company that builds and sells houses and apartments. Before this study no such evaluation had been done on the website, and the company did not know their customer very well. For the evaluation the methods Contextual Inquiry (CI) and survey were used. For the CI:s the participants performed a number of tasks on the website, while giving feedback on the website. The survey was designed to involve the aspects that came up in the CI:s, and it was sent out to former customers. The most important aspect on the website for the participants was the information. This included information on price and size, and pictures. Overall the participants wanted a bit more information and more complete information. The second most important aspect was the information architecture. The menu was an important feature here, one that needed to be improved. Long pages with text were also a problem. Third came the design of the website. This was important both for the feel of the site, which in this case was nice and modern, and to help make important information clearer. What the website lacked a bit in this aspect was a more consistent and neat layout. Last in the study, suggestions were made on how these aspects on the website can be improved, based on the results of the CI:s and survey.

This study aims to explore how the art student teaching seminar can serve as a space for inquiry and reflection, and how student teachers process their experiences, negotiate personal meanings, and understand teaching complexities through inquiry based methods. The overarching question in this research study asked: How might participation in an inquiry based seminar impact the meaning student teachers make from their practicum experiences? In order to address this main question, I employed three sub-questions: How do art student teachers perceive and describe their teaching field experiences in a seminar space? What kinds of inquiry activities can facilitate reflection with art student teachers? How do art teachers relate to and value inquiry based methods of reflection?I approached these questions through a constructivist framework that supports the idea that individuals actively construct and reconstruct their own understandings, meanings, and ultimately knowledge of the world through experience and reflection upon these experiences. Utilizing a case study methodology I designed a multi-case qualitative study that aimed to interpret the student teacher seminar through the experiences of four art student teacher participants. I was the facilitator of the student teaching seminar course at a large, public university in the Southwestern United States and the art student teachers and I met roughly every two weeks, over the course of a 16 week semester, on the university campus. I implemented a scaffolded, inquiry based curriculum which offered a variety of methods aimed to encourage inquiry and promote reflection amongst student teachers. Research data consisted of seminar audio recordings, participants' written journal entries, participants' artworks, and my reflective researcher notes. Employing narrative data analysis I constructed a case for each participant using the assignments as both chronological organization and categorical scaffolding for the arrangement and presentation of the data. I then compared the individual cases to identify similarities and differences within the whole. My analysis of research findings indicated the following: First, student teachers identified personal concerns related to affective awareness, vulnerability from uncertainty, desire for efficacy, and identity confusion during their student teaching experiences. Second, written forms of inquiry produced evidence of open-mindedness and responsibility amongst student teacher participants, while artistic forms of inquiry yielded evidence of wholeheartedness and self-knowledge amongst student teacher participants. Third, the data indicated that although benefits could be located in written inquiry, participants attached little value or meaning to this method; whereas, artistic inquiry was perceived as an especially impactful and meaningful method of inquiry by student teacher participants. Overall, the student teaching seminar served as a space where student teacher participants shared stories, described contexts, identified issues, navigated tensions, and exhibited personal and insightful developments that demonstrated reflective learning connected to self-understanding and personal growth. Implications for the research suggest that facilitators of such a course should have a concentrated awareness of the constraints of the seminar structure; approach problem exploring rather than problem solving techniques with teacher candidates; and that there is an acute need for supportive and safe spaces for student teachers to process their experiences through multiple methods. This study generated detailed insight into art student teachers' unequivocally unique, yet fundamentally shared journeys, in processing, negotiating, and ultimately understanding their practicum experiences. Keywords: student teacher, seminar, inquiry, reflection, artmaking, art education

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Research shows that interaction and conversation (gestures, words, expressions, and etc.) with children on a daily basis are crucial for their development. Teachers spend a lot of time with children daily, it is important that teachers plan their interactions intentionally to help children make connections and extend their learning. Observing children and interpreting their thinking processes is a significant factor in intentionally planning curriculum that emerges from children’s thinking. There is a lack of high quality training for preschool teachers in the area of observing and interpreting children’s thinking. The present study investigates the effects of a training (Cycle of Inquiry System) on observation and interpretation of children’s thinking, on teachers’ productive conversation in the Head Start Classroom. The research question guiding this study is: “Does the Cycle of Inquiry Intervention (training teachers to observe, document and interpret their observations of children at play time) increase teachers’ conversations with children?” We hypothesized that the teachers’ productive conversations with children will increase after the training. Using a multiple baseline experimental design two simultaneous studies were conducted. The participants were 6 preschool teachers which included 3 new teachers, and 3 experienced teachers. The permissions were obtained from teachers and the parents of children in their classroom, the children whose parents did not consent were not videotaped during the data collection process. The teachers were videotaped twice a week in their classrooms working with children during the free play time. Each video was 30 minutes. The videos were coded for productive and non-productive conversation, based on the checklist that was used previously in a similar study. All the videos were coded by a research assistant and 30% of videos for each teacher were coded by another research assistant. The interrater reliability was obtained before and during the study. When the first participant reached a baseline (the amount of his/her productive and non-productive conversation approximately remained the same), she went through the Cycle of Inquiry System Training (COI) by the Principle Investigator (PI). The intervention is a one-day training on observing children during the play and interpreting their thinking. The first participant was videotaped twice a week after training and her videos were coded for productive and non-productive conversation, in addition, as a part of the training the teacher received mentoring form the PI bi-weekly during the intervention phase. Meanwhile all the other teachers were being videotaped until they reach a stable baseline and the process of training was the same for every one of them. The research is still ongoing but it is expected that the data will show an increase in teachers’ productive conversation with children after the training. We are in the early phases of the intervention for two participants. Positive results from this intervention, impacting the amount of productive conversation between teachers and children, will indicate that this might be a helpful training for preschool teachers.

Historically, various minority groups have faced multiple forms of prejudice and discrimination. The sources of such attitudes are mainly ignorance about these groups. One such group is Muslims living in western countries. The fear and dread of Muslims and Islam has deep historical roots; however, these attitudes escalated after the September 11 tragedy. After September 11, Muslims became the headlines of news and Americans were exposed to distorted images of Muslims in the media. This misrepresentation of Muslims in the media led to yet another form of xenophobia, which resulted in ‘othering’ Muslims. In schools and universities, the story was not different. In the following study, I discuss the ‘othering’ of 6 international hijabi Muslim women studying at a Midwestern University in light of the Islamophobic tendencies developed after September 11. I create narratives of these experiences to understand how hijabi Muslim women make sense of their experiences in relation to the larger sociopolitical discourse. These narratives contribute to the larger effort of creating an equitable educational experience for students from all backgrounds.

Thesis advisor: Lillie R. Albert / In mathematics education, there is an imperative for more just and equitable experiences in mathematics spaces, as well as ongoing efforts to move classroom instruction toward mathematical inquiry. While Mathematics Teacher Educators (MTEs) are expected to support multiple initiatives in mathematics education, they are particularly responsible for the professional learning of teachers and teacher candidates. MTEs must therefore prepare and support the professional learning of teachers to achieve twin goals. This study was designed to understand how MTEs envision their roles in supporting development of teachers across MTEs’ many professional functions in their work toward the twin goals of equity and inquiry. The findings suggest that identifying the forms mathematical knowledge takes is important for mathematical inquiry and that interrogating these forms can be used to counter pervasive social myths about who can do mathematics. Further, MTEs articulated three interrelated values for application of mathematics inquiry teaching for justice and equity: creating space, supporting sense-making, and naming how power and privilege have operated and continue to operate in mathematics spaces. Finally, MTEs described how mathematics inquiry practices are a mode for understanding the world and can be used to promote equity by uncovering biases and assumptions. These findings suggest a promising avenue for leveraging mathematical inquiry to increase equitable outcomes in mathematics spaces. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher perceptions of Collaborative Inquiry embedded in a Professional Learning Community during departmental collaboration time and to explore the elements deemed most important to creating and/or maintaining this collaboration model at Lennox Charter High School. Teachers at Lennox Charter High School participated in this study. This mixed-methods case study triangulated survey, focus group, interview, and observation data to examine departmental collaboration and to define the elements most important to maintaining and improving Collaborative Inquiry at Lennox Charter High School. These elements were explored through the lens of research on Professional Learning Communities and Collaborative Inquiry. Specifically, data were examined with respect to the five themes of PLC work. These themes included context, challenge, capacity, commitments, and balancing content and process. A close examination of the data with respect to these themes revealed key take-aways for Lennox Charter High School; namely, that the school needed to bolster the data analysis aspect of Collaborative Inquiry, limit the scope of collaborative work, and endeavor to retain effective teachers so that teams had continuity and could more effectively engage veteran teachers in collaborative work. Using these recommendations would allow Lennox Charter High School to improve professional collaboration, engender meaningful teacher learning, and support equitable student achievement.

This research report builds on the work already completed in the field of women in school leadership. Although a number of studies have examined female principals at work in primary schools in rural areas, there has not been a strong focus on female principals at work in secondary schools, in urban areas. The underrepresentation of women in school leadership is not unique to South Africa. It is a global phenomenon, which can be traced back to the patriarchal values, which exist in most societies. The purpose of my research report is to investigate how the capabilities approach can inform our understanding of women progressing into leadership positions at secondary schools in South Africa. A qualitative method was used based on an interpretivist research paradigm. The research design was a narrative inquiry. A purposive sampling method was used and data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews. The drive and determination to “make a difference” and “be a role model” enabled all five participants to convert their capability set into functionings thus “shattering the glass ceiling”. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

The purpose of this research was to understand educator experiences associated with a lateral career move. Qualitative narrative interviews were conducted with six educators, including four administrators and two teachers, who met specific research participation criteria. Thematic analysis and axial coding were performed on the collected data. A framework based on self-determination theory was used to further interpret the research findings. Research findings included participant accounts related to organizational perceptions, emotional effects, and perceptions of superordinate behaviors, before and after making a lateral move. Participants reported experiences associated with negative wellbeing and thwarting the basic psychological needs satisfaction of autonomy, competence, and relatedness prior to making a lateral move. Participants reported experiences associated with positive wellbeing and supporting the satisfaction of basic psychological needs after making a lateral move. The tenets of self-determination theory were supported. Recommendations for professional practice and future research are included.

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Hong Kong students regarding their experiential encounters and interactions in the natural environment on Vancouver Island and attempt to discover what impact these experiences had on their process of adapting to a new culture. Three participants took part in an unstructured interview session where they shared their personal outdoor stories spanning their life in Hong Kong and in Canada. This was joined with a photo elicitation task to help recall and gain further in-depth insights into their outdoor narratives. The transcripts that resulted, where analysed using inquiry justifications, personal, practical and social (Lindsay & Schwind, 2016). The resulting themes were cultural adaption through socialization, exploration and stability, experiences in nature and access to nature. This study contributes the unique voice of students from Hong Kong and their experiences with nature in Canada and how it has affected their cultural adaption. / Graduate