Thesis (M.Ed.)--Regis University, Denver, Colo., 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Jun. 30, 2010). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Harvard University, 2006. / Adviser: Tu Wei-ming. Includes bibliographical references (p. 164-176)

What is the correct way to respond to newly acquired information? What methods for updating beliefs and other attitudes are rational? And what makes them rational? This dissertation is a collection of independent essays, each of which addresses these questions. Among other things, I investigate the extent to which Bayesian learning can be considered objective, the circumstances in which rational learning reduces uncertainty and produces consensus, whether rational learning is compatible with disagreement and polarization, and the relationship between long-run and short-run norms for learning.

As educators and instructional designers consider educational practices nationally and internationally, they find themselves questioning the traditional ways of teaching and learning which seems to be outdated in an era defined by the World Wide Web and globalisation. Instructional designers and educators worldwide recognise that there is a need for learning facilitation that builds upon the diverse needs and diverse experiences of learners and that is open to change. Instructional design can be regarded as one way of addressing the needs of learner groups with diverse needs as learners attach much value to the quality of their learning materials. In fact, many learners depend on the quality of their learning materials to complete their courses successfully and to enter the labour market as qualified people. Well-designed learning materials and environments, therefore, play an important role in contributing to improved student pass rates and, in the broader South African context, to the skills development and socio-economic development of our country. It is thus a huge challenge for instructional designers to ensure successful learning facilitation by means of the learning programmes and environments they design. The intellectual contribution of this dissertation lies within the area of instructional designers’ personal views on teaching and learning. More specifically, the focus of this research inquiry is on investigating the extent to which the personal teaching and learning philosophies of a group of instructional designers at a higher education institution influence their design decisions. A review of the literature reveals that instructional designers are dependent on learning theories that have been tested in order to make design decisions that would best suit the requirements of a particular teaching and learning situation. For this inquiry I contend that the personal teaching and learning philosophies of instructional designers are based on established theories of human learning, but that their personal teaching and learning philosophies change over time as they address the demands of changing socio-cultural contexts. Considering the focus of this study, it is thus important to establish what a grounded instructional design approach entails as well as what views socio-cultural theory and activity theory hold on humanlearning and how these relate to the personal teaching and learning philosophies of the research participants. A grounded approach uses theories of human learning as a foundation for making decisions on the design of learning experiences and environments that would result in effective learning. According to activity theory, if human behaviour is to be understood, a study of surrounding social practices should be part and parcel of the inquiry. In this regard the decision-making process of instructional designers can be seen as an activity system. Within this system the design activities of instructional designers are mediated by tools aiming at effective learning programmes and environments. Tools, activity theory states, are created and transformed during the development of the activity itself. As such the personal teaching and learning philosophies of the designers are viewed as design tools that are continuously shaped and modified during the design process. This inquiry is concerned with the emergence of the everyday knowledge and actions of a group of identified instructional designers. Therefore a qualitative, ethnomethodological strategy is followed allowing me to examine the nature of the personal teaching and learning philosophies of the designers and how these philosophies are shaped and used to make instructional design decisions in their place of work. Activity theory is used as both the theoretical framework and data analysis tool for this inquiry. The findings of the study make it clear that instructional designers regard personal teaching and learning philosophies as essential tools in their daily design activities. The findings also demonstrate that personal teaching and learning philosophies are individual user tools, and as such the unique qualities of the tools remain with the individual instructional designer. / Dr. G. V. Lautenbach

Thesis (M.A.)--Saint Mary's University, 2008. / Includes abstract. Supervisor: Peter March. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 81).

This examination describes the perceptions of faculty, student affairs professionals and students in regard to what students should learn as a result of college and what means are important for collegiate student learning. Some similarities and significant differences are found between groups as well as within groups in relation to what students should learn and how they learn. All three groups were found to place importance on the acquisition of critical thinking and communication skills as an outcome of college attendance. Faculty were found to place more-importance on in class skills and competencies when compared to student affairs professionals or students. All three groups identify traditional in class means of learning as significantly more important than out of class learning within the college environment. / Department of Secondary, Higher, and Foundations of Education

This study investigates and expands learning associated with the co-management of fisheries resources to inform extension and training in the fisheries sector in two case study sites in Malawi. The study was located in the field of environmental education with a specific focus on community learning, agency and sustainability practices in co-management of fisheries resources. It focuses on how fisheries stakeholder learning can be mediated through expansive social learning processes to inform extension and training in the Malawi fisheries sector and aims at understanding learning as an emergent, agency centred process of change through social learning models that are said to have power to mobilise community agency for change. The empirical research for the study was conducted in two Malawian fishing communities: in Lake Malombe and the south-east arm of Lake Malawi using qualitative case study research design. The two sites were selected because they were the first sites in Malawi to implement fisheries co-management programmes following the failure of centralised management of fisheries resources. Data was generated through interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis, observations and change laboratory workshops in both sites. The two sites fall under one administrative office based in Mangochi where the two important institutions of the sector – the Fisheries Research Unit of the Department of Fisheries and the Fisheries College (a government institution responsible for the training of extension services) are also based. Both sites have implemented new governance structures named Beach Village Committees which are community-based organisational structures that function in parallel with traditional authorities to manage the fishery. Contextual and literature review work showed that extension services and programmes over the past hundred years, as observed in the fisheries sector in Malawi and in extension services elsewhere, have co-evolved with approaches to natural resources management. Early approaches to natural resources management involved traditional management (associated extension services and programmes were community based); later fisheries governance practices changed to centralised management and associated extension approaches were mainly top-down involving command and control or technology transfer. These early approaches have been problematic as resource users were pushed away from their own resources and were viewed as poachers. This resulted in loss of ownership among resources users. Recently in Malawi, after the change of government to democracy in 1994, fisheries management policy focused on co-management and/or adaptive co-management approaches, an approach that has also been adopted in other African water bodies. This has implications for extension service programmes in the fisheries sector that are not yet well defined. The study’s literature review revealed that co-management approaches assume collaborative learning, or co-learning, also termed social learning, or approaches that promote the engagement of different actors who are working on shared practice. They also assume a new form of agency among co-management stakeholders and extension workers. However, the theoretical foundations for establishing co-learning or social learning approaches in support of co-management policies are not well established in the fisheries co-management sector in Malawi, nor are the practices of how to support co-learning amongst diverse stakeholders in the fisheries co-management in the Lake Malawi context. This study sought to address this gap in knowledge and practice.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T14:31:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao ERNESTO DANIEL CHAMBISSE.pdf: 302415 bytes, checksum: da2f26ae38346f8abd51bad512289378 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-03 / This dissertation examines the conditions under which happens Philosophy teaching in ESG II (Grades 11 and 12) in Mozambique, by testing the hypothesis that the way Pilosophy is taught at the moment does not contribute to enhacing its potencial for significant learning in the classroom. The work departs from observations of Philosophy teaching practice carried out by teacher trainees from the Universidade Pedagógica. It was made a revision of specialized and complementary literature and a field research in three selected schools one for pre-testing and the other two for in-depth research. The methodological approach is based on qualitative research in the form of a case study. The results of this research lead to the conclusion that there is a need of urgent changes in the conditions under which Philosophy and other ESG II subjects are taught, such as: precarious working conditions, lack of teachinglearning materials, lack of stimuli for the teachers, excess of rigor in MEC planning. This dissertation demonstrate the potential contributions of Philosophy in enhancing the teaching-learning process in Philosophy and other subjects of the curriculum and it has as a purpose the improvement of teaching, especially of Philosophy teaching in Mozambique / Este estudo analisa as condições em que o ensino de filosofia se realiza no Ensino Secundário Geral do 2º ciclo em Moçambique, procurando testar a hipótese segundo a qual a forma como aí se ensina a Filosofia não contribui para a realização da sua potência de aprendizagem significativa na sala de aulas. O estudo tem origem em preocupações vivenciadas no acompanhamento das práticas e estágios pedagógicos dos futuros professores de filosofia em formação na Universidade Pedagógica. Foi realizada uma revisão da bibliografia referente ao tema e um trabalho de campo em 3 escolas previamente seleccionadas, sendo uma para pré-testagem e outras duas para o trabalho mais profundo. A abordagem metodológica baseou-se na investigação quantitativa e foi orientada para o estudo do caso. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam para uma necessidade premente da mudança nas condições em que decorre o ensino de Filosofia e de outras disciplinas nas escolas moçambicanas do 2º ciclo. Constatou-se a existência de falhas que se revelam, entre outras, em condições precárias de trabalho, falta de material didáctico, superlotação das turmas, falta de estímulos para os professores, rigidez nas planificações do Ministério da Educação e Cultura. Na conclusão procura-se apresentar uma breve proposta tendo em vista o melhoramento das condições do ensino e muito especialmente do ensino de Filosofia em Moçambique

L'objectiu de la recerca és mostrar com, mitjançant l'escriptura col·laborativa, elsestudiants de filosofia de 1r de Batxillerat aprenen a desenvolupar les competènciesfilosòfiques de problematitzar, conceptualitzar i argumentar, les quals hem anomenat"veu filosòfica".És un estudi descriptiu i exploratori, amb un disseny d'anàlisi de cas que combina lesmetodologies quantitativa i qualitativa. Se situa en el context natural de l'aula.Aquest context s'ha organitzat com a comunitat d'aprenentatge i pretén esdevenir uncontext dialògic i multivocal combinant la interacció entre iguals i l'ensenyament del'escriptura per elaborar textos argumentatius filosòfics.L'estudi analitza, d'una banda, la qualitat filosòfica dels textos individuals i conjuntselaborats per quatre equips al llarg de la intervenció (curs 08-09), i d'altra banda, laqualitat filosòfica dels processos d'escriptura col·laborativa de dos equips en cincsessions per publicar un text filosòfic a la revista de l'institut. Per últim, també analitzales percepcions pel que fa al context d'ensenyament i d'aprenentatge dels 48 estudiants iel professor que han participat en la intervenció.Els resultats mostren que hi ha millores en la qualitat filosòfica dels escrits delsestudiants, especialment els individuals. Quant a l'anàlisi de la qualitat filosòfica delsprocessos d'escriptura col·laborativa, s'observen les dificultats dels estudiants perpassar del nivell abstracte al concret i com l'escriptura col·laborativa permet concretar ireformular les idees per construir coneixement en l'àmbit de la filosofia. Per últim, lespercepcions dels estudiants i del professor aporten valoracions positives que reforcenaquest context educatiu i a la vegada elements per millorar-lo. / El objetivo de la investigación es mostrar cómo, mediante la escritura colaborativa,los estudiantes de filosofía de 1º de Bachillerato aprenden a desarrollar las competenciasfilosóficas de problematizar, conceptualizar, y argumentar, que hemos llamado como"voz filosófica".Es un estudio descriptivo y exploratorio basado en un diseño de análisis de caso quecombina metodología cuantitativa y cualitativa. Se sitúa en el contexto natural del aula.Este contexto se ha organizado como comunidad de aprendizaje y pretende potenciarun contexto dialógico y multivocal combinando la interacción entre iguales y laenseñanza de la escritura para elaborar textos argumentativos filosóficos.El estudio analiza por un lado, la calidad filosófica de los textos individuales yconjuntos elaborados por cuatro equipos a lo largo de la intervención (curso 08-09), ypor otro lado, la calidad filosófica de los procesos de escritura colaborativa de dosequipos a lo largo de cinco sesiones para publicar un texto filosófico en la revista delinstituto. Por último, el estudio también analiza las percepciones respecto al contexto deenseñanza y de aprendizaje de los 48 estudiantes y el profesor que han participado en laintervención.Los resultados muestran que hay mejoras en la calidad filosófica de los escritos delos estudiantes, especialmente los individuales. En el análisis de la calidad filosófica delos procesos de escritura colaborativa, se observan las dificultades de los estudiantespara pasar del nivel abstracto al concreto y cómo la escritura colaborativa permiteconcretar y reformular las ideas para construir conocimiento en el ámbito de la filosofía.Por último, las percepciones de los estudiantes y del profesor aportan valoracionespositivas que refuerzan este contexto educativo y a la vez elementos para mejorarlo. / The aim of this research is to study how through collaborative writing philosophystudents in High School learn to develop philosophical skills (to ask questions, toconceptualize, and to argue). These skills we have termed as "philosophical voice."It is a descriptive and exploratory study based on case analysis. It combinesquantitative and qualitative methodology and it is situated in the natural classroomcontext.This educational setting is organized as a community of learning and aims topromote a dialogic and multivocal educational context through the combination of peerinteraction and the teaching of writing to develop philosophical argumentative texts.The study analyzes one the one hand, philosophical quality of individual and grouptexts elaborated by four teams over the academic course intervention. On the otherhand, it analyzes the collaborative writing process quality of two teams over fivesessions to publish a philosophical text in the High School's Journal. Finally, the studyalso examines the perceptions of the learning context of 48 students and a teacher whoparticipated in the intervention.The results show, first, that there are improvements in the quality of thephilosophical writings of the students, especially the individual text. Moreover, theanalysis of the collaborative writing process show the students' difficulties in movingfrom abstract to concrete level and how writing can helps to reformulate the ideas intopractice and to build knowledge in the field of Philosophy. Finally, perceptions ofstudents and teacher provide positive feedback to reinforce the educational context and,at the same time, elements for his improvement.