Information and communication technology has for long been integrated into learning and teachers utilize all forms of digital technology for communication as well as to simplify learning. To adapt, teachers need to personally or through informal learning process, learn about new technologies and how to utilize them to improve learning. To personally educate themselves, the teachers need to dedicate time and resources to identify ICT competence areas where is needed and sort for resources to solve it. This thesis investigates the process of self-directed learning with a group of teachers in a planned competence development program within a local municipality’s educational department, on the use of digital technology to integrate into classrooms. With action research that integrates instructional learning from the organizations perspective and inquiry learning from teacher’s perspective, self-directed learning process was tested as a simple and structured process for self/collaborative learning, for participants. The result was a series of events that summarized why teachers could not follow the learning process, with a conclusion that in order for teachers to be self-directed in learning new ICT, the organizational need to allocate time not only for instructional learning, but also for inquiry learning.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The purpose of this study was therefore to address the following primary research question: ‘What effect would a specially designed, developed, implemented and evaluated Material Science (MS) course have on serving teachers in terms of their perceptions and knowledge/understanding regarding content in MS and instructional practice in D&T?’

Building an intelligent agent model from scratch is a difficult task. Thus, it would be preferable to have an automated process perform this task. There have been many manual and automatic techniques, however, each of these has various issues with obtaining, organizing, or making use of the data. Additionally, it can be difficult to get perfect data or, once the data is obtained, impractical to get a human subject to explain why some action was performed. Because of these problems, machine learning from observation emerged to produce agent models based on observational data. Learning from observation uses unobtrusive and purely observable information to construct an agent that behaves similarly to the observed human. Typically, an observational system builds an agent only based on prerecorded observations. This type of system works well with respect to agent creation, but lacks the ability to be trained and updated on-line. To overcome these deficiencies, the proposed system works by adding an augmented force-feedback system of training that senses the agents intentions haptically. Furthermore, because not all possible situations can be observed or directly trained, a third stage of learning from practice is added for the agent to gain additional knowledge for a particular mission. These stages of learning mimic the natural way a human might learn a task by first watching the task being performed, then being coached to improve, and finally practicing to self improve. The hypothesis is that a system that is initially trained using human recorded data (Observational), then tuned and adjusted using force-feedback (Instructional), and then allowed to perform the task in different situations (Experiential) will be better than any individual step or combination of steps.

Vocational teachers need to equip their students with meaningful and relevant required workplace competencies. As a result, vocational teachers should always stay updated on their knowledge and skills regarding the development of science and technology in the world of work. More specifically, in the automotive vocational expertise domain, problem-solving abilities become the crucial skills students need to master. Hence, equipping prospective automotive vocational teachers with sustainable learning and problem-solving abilities is indispensable. In this case, the metacognition theory could facilitate students with learning-how-to-learn activities, which is an essential skill for sustainable learning and learning to teach and equip them with problem-solving abilities. Therefore, bringing the metacognition theory, supported by other relevant theories, into teaching and learning activities would be beneficial in dealing with those issues. This study aimed to design and develop a metacognition-based digital problem-solving worksheet. This digital worksheet was expected to facilitate students with learning-how-to-learn activities and equip them with problem-solving abilities effectively. There were four main research objectives and questions in this study, which were related to; 1) the practical problem that needs to be addressed, 2) the didactic design, 3) the usability, and 4) the effectiveness of the digital worksheet. Design-based research was used to answer the research questions. This is a multi-methods research design, which means many methods exist to achieve the research aim and objectives. This research design comprised six stages; analysis and exploration (stage 1), design and construction (stage 2), evaluation and reflection (stage 3), analysis and exploration (stage 4), design and construction (stage 5), and evaluation and reflection (stage 6). Stage 1 was used to explore the practical problem as the answer to the first research question. Stages 2 up to 5 were used to formulate the digital worksheet's didactic design as the answer to the second research question. Stage 6 was used to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of the digital worksheet as the answer to the third and fourth research questions, respectively. Firstly, in answering the first research question, three semi-structured interviews were used as the data collection techniques in the first research stage. The findings of this stage stated that sustainable learning, learning to teach, and problem-solving abilities became the needed competencies prospective automotive vocational teachers need to master. Additionally, the findings stated that automotive fault diagnosis learning was the highest-order thinking subject that had a practical problem on it. The quality of the instructional toolkit for this subject required to be improved since the existing toolkit was a conventional observation sheet and still allowed students to conduct trial-and-error stages. This was the practical problem that this research would address. Secondly, in answering the second research question, a focus group discussion, expert-based evaluations, user-based evaluations (formative usability evaluation), and final revisions were used in the second, third, fourth, and fifth research stages, respectively. The focus group discussion aimed to discuss the materials needed to develop the digital worksheet. Following that, expert-based evaluations and user-based evaluations were conducted to evaluate the initial digital worksheet based on the experts' and users' perspectives, respectively. Several revisions were done based on those evaluation results, and the digital worksheet's final didactic design was finally realized. The findings of the didactic design stated that the worksheet was in a digital form and used blended learning with flipped classroom strategy, so students need to have three different learning times; 1) before, 2) during, and 3) after classroom activities. Furthermore, constructivism learning theory, adult learning theory, metacognition theory, experiential learning theory, and reflection theory became the fundamental theoretical knowledge basis for developing this digital worksheet. Moreover, problem-based learning, automotive fault diagnosis procedures, and worksheet stages became the digital worksheet development's fundamental practical knowledge basis. There were seven stages that students need to do during the problem-solving learning; 1) introduction, 2) observing, 3) collecting information, 4) analyzing, 5) testing, 6) rectifying, and 7) checking all systems. There were many steps in every stage above, and many instructions and self-reflection questions in every single step. Additionally, in every step, the teachers had an opportunity to give feedback on the student's work, and the students could have discussions with other students at the end of every stage. The self-reflection questions on every instruction, the teacher's feedback on every step, and the discussion results at every stage were used to regulate the students' self-cognition. Thirdly, in answering the third and fourth research questions, a questionnaire survey and an experimental study were used as the final research stage, respectively. First, the survey of summative usability evaluation consisted of four elements: usefulness, ease of use, ease of learning, and satisfaction. The findings of this evaluation stated that the usability level and those elements' usability levels were all in very high categories. Additionally, it could be determined that the usefulness, ease of use, and ease of learning significantly influenced the students' satisfaction simultaneously and independently, except for the variable of ease of learning. Second, the effectiveness findings stated that the digital worksheet significantly effectively facilitated students' learning-how-to-learn activities and equipped them with problem-solving abilities.:ABSTRACT (EXECUTIVE SUMMARY) ABSTRAKT (ZUSAMMENFASSUNG) ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND DEDICATION TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 1.1. Introductory of the Chapter 1.2. Research Background, State of the Art, and Motivation 1.3. Research Empirical Problems and Context Justification 1.4. Research Rationale 1.5. Research Aim and Objectives 1.6. Research Questions 1.7. Research Scope and Context Limitations 1.8. Research Significance 1.9. Definitions of the Important Terms 1.10. List of the Research Project Publication 1.11. Summary of the Chapter CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introductory of the Chapter 2.2 Literature Review – Contextual Domain 2.2.1 Vocational Education 2.2.2 Education System in Indonesia 2.2.3 Vocational Education (SMK-MAK) in Indonesia 2.2.4 Problems and Challenges of Vocational Education in Indonesia 2.2.5 Vocational Teachers 2.2.6 Vocational Teacher Education 2.3 Literature Review – Theoretical and Conceptual Domain 2.3.1 Constructivism and Adult Learning Theory 2.3.2 Metacognition Theory – Metacognitive Learning Strategies (Learning-How-to-Learn) 2.3.3 Experiential Learning Theory - Reflection Theory 2.3.4 Problem-Based Learning Method – Problem-Solving Ability 2.3.5 Blended Learning Technique – Flipped Classroom Learning Strategy 2.3.6 Instructional Media and Technology – Learning Worksheet 2.3.7 Usability Evaluation in Instructional Media and Technology 2.3.8 The Research Theoretical and Conceptual Framework 2.4 Literature Review – Methodological Domain 2.4.1 Research Methodologies in Instructional Media and Technology Development 2.4.2 Design-Based Research 2.5 Research Hypotheses 2.6 Summary of the Chapter CHAPTER 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1. Introductory of the Chapter 3.2. Research Paradigm, Philosophy, and Research Type 3.3. Research Design, Strategies, and Methods 3.4. Research Context and Participants 3.5. Research Data Collection Techniques and the Tools 3.5.1. Stage 1 – Semi-Structured Interview and the Protocol 3.5.2. Stages 2 & 4 – Focus Group and the Protocols 3.5.3. Stage 3 – Expert-Based Evaluation and the Questionnaires 3.5.4. Stages 4 & 6 – Survey and the USE Questionnaire 3.5.5. Stage 6 – Experimental Study and the Assessment Tools 3.6. Research Data Analysis Techniques 3.6.1. Stage 1 – Semi-Structured Interview 3.6.2. Stage 2 – Focus Group Discussion 3.6.3. Stage 3 – Expert-Based Evaluation (Survey Questionnaire) 3.6.4. Stage 4 – User-Based Evaluation (Survey Questionnaire and Focus Group Interview) 3.6.5. Stage 6 – Usability Evaluation (Survey Questionnaire) 3.6.6. Stage 6 – Effectiveness Evaluation (Experimental Study) 3.7. Summary of the Chapter CHAPTER 4. RESEARCH FINDINGS 4.1. Introductory of the Chapter 4.2. Finding 1: The Practical Problem 4.2.1. Stage 1 – First Semi-Structured Interview 4.2.2. Stage 1 – Second Semi-Structured Interview 4.2.3. Stage 1 – Third Semi-Structured Interview 4.3. Finding 2: The Didactic Design 4.3.1. Stage 2 – Focus Group Discussion 4.3.2. Stage 3 – Expert-Based Evaluation 4.3.3. Stage 4 – User-Based Evaluation 4.3.4. Stage 5 – Final Revision (The Didactic Design) 4.4. Finding 3: The Usability 4.5. Finding 4: The Effectiveness 4.5.1. Stage 6 – The Effectiveness Evaluation in Facilitating Students with Leaning-How-to-Learn Activities 4.5.2. Stage 6 – The Effectiveness Evaluation in Equipping Students with Problem-Solving Abilities 4.6. Summary of the Chapter CHAPTER 5. RESEARCH DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 5.1. Introductory of the Chapter 5.2. Discussion 1 – The Practical Problem 5.3. Discussion 2 – The Didactic Design 5.4. Discussion 3 – The Usability 5.5. Discussion 4 – The Effectiveness 5.6. Overall Discussion – The Research Findings' Interpretations and Implications in Intercultural-Global Contexts and Theoretical Design Principles 5.6.1. The Research Findings' Interpretations and Implications in Intercultural-Global Contexts 5.6.2. The Research Findings' Interpretations and Implications in Theoretical Insights and Design Principles 5.7. Research Conclusion 5.8. Research Limitations and Further Research 5.9. Summary of the Chapter REFERENCES STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP APPENDICES