This study investigates ICT in Saudi HE as represented by the researcher’s own institution: King Saud University (KSU). Using a naturalistic approach in pursuing the inquiry and making use of mixed methods, the research questions were investigated using surveys and in-depth interviews. A convenient sample of the University’s stakeholders; namely the senior managers, the academic staff and the students were investigated and asked to explain the process of ICT adoption and deployment on the management level; their use and adoption of ICT in their personal and professional activities and elaborate on the ICT adoption process at KSU and compare it to that of other universities. They also related these experiences to the University’s plans and efforts in this regard. The findings indicated a boom in ICT adoption over the course of the recent years. However, this process did not follow a clear strategic plan. Rather, it was based on an administrative decision by the recently appointed KSU management. The rector’s positive attitude and belief in ICT played a role in this process. The study showed that KSU administration values ICT and views it as a means for the University to achieve its aims. The results also showed the increasing use of ICT among the three groups in the study both on personal and professional levels. While these professional purposes may differ between the three groups in this research, results indicate that there is an increasing implementation of ICT in the daily work of all the groups, both in and out of KSU. These uses are also supported by the positive attitudes all the stakeholders hold towards ICT, as the study indicated. The study also revealed the aspiration of both KSU and Higher Education System in the country in general, and the role that ICT is perceived to play in helping them to achieve these aspirations. Results indicated that the current state of ICT in Saudi HE is increasing when compared to that of other universities and countries, especially in terms of hardware implementation. Although it was not possible to achieve specific comparisons between Saudi universities due to lack of data and access, many different comparison points were pointed and elaborated on both nationally and internationally. Finally, the study revealed many ICT enablers in the Saudi HE system, such as the generous financial support provided by the government, the positive attitudes, and the changing role of the university, as well as the technical, administrative and sociocultural barriers facing more ICT integration in Saudi HE, and how KSU dealt with these opportunities and threats. Based on the results, implications for future research were elicited and recommendations for better practice were provided. The urgent need for a clear ICT strategic plan for KSU as well as the other Saudi universities seems inevitable. A need for clear benchmarks within this plan is an important indicator of the need for the institution to evaluate the process. Of importance concern is the fact that these plans need to include all the stakeholders in the planning phase so as to properly conduct the assessment, implementation and evaluation successfully.

AN ABSTRACT FOR THE DISSERTATION OF STEPHEN JACK MCCASKEY, for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in EDUCATION, presented on June, 2009, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: TEACHING STYLES AND LEARING STRATEGIES OF ILLINOIS SECONDARY CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCAITON TEACHERS MAJOR PROFESSORS: Dr. Marcia Anderson Dr. John Washburn The purpose of this study was to identify the teaching styles and learning strategy preferences of secondary CTE teachers in the state of Illinois. This study explored variables related to the teaching-learner transaction for teachers with varied educational backgrounds. Further, this study examined the relationship between teaching styles and several demographic variables and the relationship between learning strategies and several demographic variables for teachers in the CTE field. Participants involved in this study were members of the Illinois Association of Career and Technical Education (IACTE) at the time of the study. Demographic data revealed most respondents were female and age varied between 20 to 73 years with the highest percentage of responses being between the ages of 51-55. The majority of respondent ethnicity was White. The number of years teaching among respondents varied from 0 to 41 with the highest percentage having less than six years. The highest percentage of respondents held a Master's degree and the highest percentage in which the respondents most frequently teach is Technology Education/Industrial Education. The certificate type that most respondents hold is a Type 09 Standard. This study employed two standardized instruments and a questionnaire assessment to address four research questions. The Principles of Adult Learning Scales (PALS) was the first instrument used in this study and is designed to assist individuals in identifying their teaching style. Assessing the Learning Strategies of Adults (ATLAS) was the second instrument used in this study and is designed to quickly identify learning strategies. The online questionnaire was administered by placing the instruments on the Department of Workforce Education and Development's server at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The majority of respondents in this study identified Problem Solvers as their preferred learning strategy followed by Navigators and Engagers. The respondents of this study represented an overwhelming commitment to the teacher-centered style. Based on the results of this study, the analyses of data were used to create a profile of the three preferences of the learning strategies for CTE secondary teachers. Additionally, the analyses of data from this study were used to create a profile of the two types of the teaching styles for CTE secondary teachers - Teacher-centered and Student-centered.

La présente étude vise à étudier: (1) les perceptions des élèves à l’égard de l’apprentissage du vocabulaire qui influence le choix et l’utilisation des stratégies (Discovery Study) et (2) déterminer l’effet de l’utilisation de stratégies métacognitives qui étaient intégrées dans les leçons d’apprentissage du vocabulaire utilisées par les étudiants de l’Université de Malaisie pour apprendre le français comme langue étrangère (Main Study). Cette étude comprenait des variables telles que les différences individuelles et les facteurs situationnels et sociaux qui agissent comme facilitateurs et contraintes dans l’apprentissage du vocabulaire des apprenants. Une approche qualitative a été appliquée pour l’objectif 1et l’approche quantitative utilisée pour atteindre l’objectif 2. Les sujets de recherche dans la présente étude étaient 45 étudiants de premier cycle à l’UiTM (Université de la Technologie Mara, Penang) au cours de l’année académique de 2015 : une classe de 21 ayant reçu des stratégies d’apprentissage métacognitif dans l’apprentissage du vocabulaire impliquant le groupe expérimental et une autre classe de 24 étudiants ayant servi le groupe contrôle et ayant reçu seulement la méthode d’apprentissage traditionnelle, c’est-à-dire sans composants métacognitifs. Les principales sources de données de cette étude ont été analysées par le programme de SPSS telles que le t-test pour évaluer les différences significatives pour les moyennes de performance des tests de connaissances du vocabulaire entre le groupe contrôle et le groupe expérimental au cours de pré et post-test et l’Excel 2007 pour analyser de façon descriptive la fréquence, le pourcentage ,la moyenne et l’écart type des composants de la stratégie métacognitive utilisés. En outre, l’analyse One Way ANCOVA a été utilisée pour déterminer les effets de l’utilisation de la stratégie métacognitive pendant les leçons d’apprentissage du vocabulaire. De plus, des questionnaires et des entretiens semi-structurés ont été utilisés pour recueillir des données et des documents de cours, les réponses réfléchies des élèves (The keys ideas) et les notes lors des interventions de classe étaient comme des sources de données supplémentaires. Les résultats révèlent que la perception des élèves vis-à-vis de l’apprentissage du vocabulaire de la langue cible affecte la sélection et l’utilisation de la stratégie, où la perception négative a abouti à un apprentissage infructueux alors que les perceptions positives conduiront à un apprentissage efficace. Les résultats d’analyse ont révélé que les différences individuelle et les facteurs situationnels et sociaux influençant l’utilisation et les choix des stratégies telles que les croyances, les états affectifs, la langue cible et le contexte. En outre, l’utilisation de la stratégie métacognitive dans l’apprentissage du vocabulaire a été bénéfique pour améliorer les performances des connaissances du vocabulaire des apprenants. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent également que les perceptions de l’apprentissage du vocabulaire et l’utilisation de stratégies métacognitives dans l’apprentissage du vocabulaire français ont eu des répercussions sur l’apprentissage des langues étrangères. / The present study aims to investigate twofold: (1) to investigate the students’ perceptions toward vocabulary learning which influences the choice and the use of the strategies (Discovery Study) and (2) to investigate and describe the effect of using Metacognitive strategies which were integrated in vocabulary learning lessons employed by Malaysian University students in learning French as a foreign language (Main Study); This study included variables such as Individual differences and Situational and Social factors that act as facilitators and constraints of the students’ vocabulary learning. Qualitative approach is applied for objective 1 and whilst quantitative approach is used to fulfil objective 2. The research subjects under the present investigation were 45 undergraduate students studying at UiTM (University of Technology Mara, Penang Campus) in academic year 2015; one class of 21 which received metacognitive learning strategies in learning vocabulary involving the experimental group; the other class of 24 students served as the control group and received only traditional method of learning without metacognitive components. The primary data sources of this study were analysed by SPSS such as t-test to assess the significant differences for mean of vocabulary knowledge tests performance between the control group and experimental group during pre and post-tests and as well Excel 2007 to analyse descriptively the frequency, percentage mean and standard deviation of metacognitive strategy components use. Furthermore, One Way ANCOVA analysis was used to determine the effects of using metacognitive strategy during vocabulary learning lessons. Moreover, questionnaires and semi-structured interview were used for collecting data and course documents, students’ reflective answers (Keys ideas), and notes during the class interventions were additional data sources. The findings reveal that students’ perception towards vocabulary learning of the target language affects the selection and use of the strategy, where the negative perception resulted in an unsuccessful learning whilst positive perceptions will lead to effective learning. The analysis results found that the factors were strongly related to influence the use of the strategies such as beliefs, affective states, learner factors, target language and context. Moreover, using metacognitive strategy in the vocabulary learning was beneficial in enhancing the students’ vocabulary knowledge performances. Findings from this study also suggest that perceptions towards vocabulary learning and the use of metacognitive strategies in learning French vocabulary had impacts on foreign language learning.

Recent reforms in the South African health care and educational system were founded in the ideal that the country would produce independent, critical thinkers. Nurses need to cope with diversity in a more creative way, defining their role in a complex, uncertain, rapidly changing health care environment. Learning facilitators are held accountable for finding adequate learning experiences to prepare nursing students for such practice demands so that newly qualified nurses do meet expectations for entry level clinical judgement ability. Quality clinical judgement is therefore imperative as an identified characteristic of newly qualified professional nurses. There is a scarceness of information on the concept of clinical judgement especially within the South African nursing environment. Relevant information in this regard can assist in clarifying the meaning, which will facilitate a common understanding of the concept within the clinical nursing environment. This in turn can lead to the formulation of a teaching-learning strategy to facilitate clinical judgement in undergraduate nursing students, which would be of benefit in the nursing care environment. The objective of this study was addressed in three phases. The first phase of this research analysed the concept of clinical judgement through various data sources and a review of literature to clarify the meaning and facilitate a common understanding through identification of the characteristics and to develop a connotative (theoretical) definition of the concept. The second phase of the research investigated professional nurses‟ understanding of the meaning of clinical judgement, as well as the factors that influence the development of clinical judgement within the nursing environment. During the third phase a conceptual framework for an enabling teaching-learning environment was constructed from a modern day constructivist approach to facilitate clinical judgement. The section included a description and diagrammatic presentation of the framework. The conceptual framework formed the scientific basis from which a teaching-learning strategy for the creation of an enabling teaching-learning environment to facilitate clinical judgement in undergraduate nursing students within the South African nursing environment was synthesised. A qualitative design was used for the study. During the first phase (manuscript 1) an explorative, descriptive qualitative design was used to discover the complexity and meaning of the phenomenon. Multiple data sources and search engines were consulted for the time frame 1982-2013. An extensive concept analysis resulted in a theoretical definition of the concept „clinical judgement‟, a complex cognitive skill to evaluate patient treatment alternatives within the clinical nursing environment. The second phase (manuscript 2) is qualitative in nature and explored professional nurses‟ understanding of clinical judgement, as well as the factors influencing the development of clinical judgement in undergraduate nursing students. The findings emphasised clinical judgement as skill within the nursing environment. This assisted in the development of teaching-learning strategy for the creation of an enabling teaching-learning environment to facilitate clinical judgement in undergraduate nursing students within the South African Nursing environment as the third phase (manuscript 3). Such an environment should impact positively to promotion of autonomous and accountable nursing care. / PhD (Nursing), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Recent reforms in the South African health care and educational system were founded in the ideal that the country would produce independent, critical thinkers. Nurses need to cope with diversity in a more creative way, defining their role in a complex, uncertain, rapidly changing health care environment. Learning facilitators are held accountable for finding adequate learning experiences to prepare nursing students for such practice demands so that newly qualified nurses do meet expectations for entry level clinical judgement ability. Quality clinical judgement is therefore imperative as an identified characteristic of newly qualified professional nurses. There is a scarceness of information on the concept of clinical judgement especially within the South African nursing environment. Relevant information in this regard can assist in clarifying the meaning, which will facilitate a common understanding of the concept within the clinical nursing environment. This in turn can lead to the formulation of a teaching-learning strategy to facilitate clinical judgement in undergraduate nursing students, which would be of benefit in the nursing care environment. The objective of this study was addressed in three phases. The first phase of this research analysed the concept of clinical judgement through various data sources and a review of literature to clarify the meaning and facilitate a common understanding through identification of the characteristics and to develop a connotative (theoretical) definition of the concept. The second phase of the research investigated professional nurses‟ understanding of the meaning of clinical judgement, as well as the factors that influence the development of clinical judgement within the nursing environment. During the third phase a conceptual framework for an enabling teaching-learning environment was constructed from a modern day constructivist approach to facilitate clinical judgement. The section included a description and diagrammatic presentation of the framework. The conceptual framework formed the scientific basis from which a teaching-learning strategy for the creation of an enabling teaching-learning environment to facilitate clinical judgement in undergraduate nursing students within the South African nursing environment was synthesised. A qualitative design was used for the study. During the first phase (manuscript 1) an explorative, descriptive qualitative design was used to discover the complexity and meaning of the phenomenon. Multiple data sources and search engines were consulted for the time frame 1982-2013. An extensive concept analysis resulted in a theoretical definition of the concept „clinical judgement‟, a complex cognitive skill to evaluate patient treatment alternatives within the clinical nursing environment. The second phase (manuscript 2) is qualitative in nature and explored professional nurses‟ understanding of clinical judgement, as well as the factors influencing the development of clinical judgement in undergraduate nursing students. The findings emphasised clinical judgement as skill within the nursing environment. This assisted in the development of teaching-learning strategy for the creation of an enabling teaching-learning environment to facilitate clinical judgement in undergraduate nursing students within the South African Nursing environment as the third phase (manuscript 3). Such an environment should impact positively to promotion of autonomous and accountable nursing care. / PhD (Nursing), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

O mapa conceitual é uma ferramenta gráfica de representação e organização do conhecimento. Seu objetivo é explicitar relações hierárquicas e significativas entre conceitos na forma de proposições. Este trabalho buscou investigar se o ensino de uma disciplina num curso de nível superior, no qual os alunos fossem solicitados a elaborar mapas conceituais, pode se mostrar capaz de levar estudantes universitários a níveis mais elevados de desempenho cognitivo. Os níveis cognitivos são compreendidos à luz da Taxionomia de Bloom, que visa classificar a ação mental esperada do estudante, a saber: lembrar, entender, aplicar, analisar, avaliar e criar. A pesquisa foi realizada durante um ano letivo em uma instituição de ensino superior, particular, do interior paulista com 48 estudantes do curso de Pedagogia. Os dados foram coletados por meio de avaliações escritas aplicadas ao final do primeiro semestre, quando não houve uso do mapa conceitual. E ao fim do segundo, após treinamento e uso do mapa conceitual. O resultado da análise estatística indica que, apenas na categoria lembrar, a diferença encontrada não foi estatisticamente significante entre as duas avaliações, indicando que a utilização do mapa conceitual como recurso de ensino não levou a um desempenho melhor por parte de quem o utilizou. Em todos os demais níveis as diferenças se mostraram altamente significantes, afirmando uma melhoria de desempenho por parte dos sujeitos quando utilizaram o recurso de elaborar individual e coletivamente o mapa conceitual, possibilitando inferir que o uso do mapa conceitual pode favorecer um melhor desempenho cognitivo em problemas que exijam níveis cognitivos mais complexos / The conceptual map is a graphical tool that shows the representation of ones knowledge and the organization of this knowledge. Its purpose is to make explicit hierarchical and meaningful connections among concepts in the form of propositions. This work sought to investigate if the teaching of a subject in a higher education major, in which students were asked to elaborate conceptual maps, is able to lead university students to higher levels of cognitive performance. The cognitive levels are understood in the light of Bloom\'s taxonomy, which aims to classify the expected mental action of the student, namely: to remember, to understand, to apply, to analyze, to evaluate and to create. The research was carried out during a school year in a private higher education institution, in the interior of São Paulo, with the participation of 48 students from the Pedagogy major. The data were collected through written assessments applied at the end of the first semester when there was no use of the conceptual map and also at the end of the second semester after practicing and using the conceptual map. The results of the statistical analysis indicate that the difference found in the remembering category alone was not statistically significant between the two assessments, indicating that the use of the conceptual map as a teaching resource did not lead to a better performance by those who used it. In all other levels, the differences were highly significant, affirming improvement in the performance of the subjects after having used the conceptual mapping feature, individually and collectively, enabling infer that the use of the conceptual map may favor a better cognitive performance in problems that require more complex cognitive levels

This dissertation study was motivated by an interest in the process of acquisition of Russian vocabulary by a previously unstudied group of learners, American university students. The study identified the vocabulary learning strategies and beliefs about vocabulary learning of 97 university students beginning to study Russian. It also examined relationships between reported beliefs and strategies and their stability over the period of one semester of studying Russian. The data were collected with a self-report online questionnaire administered at the beginning and at the end of the Fall 2014 semester, as well as with interviews with the participants. Descriptive analysis of students’ beliefs indicated that the participants highly valued the role of vocabulary in studying a foreign language, understood the complexity of the process of vocabulary acquisition, and believed that words and phrases should be carefully studied and then practiced in context. The participants reported high motivation and high expectations of their success as learners of Russian. Descriptive analysis of vocabulary learning strategies demonstrated that besides active use of a dictionary, guessing, and note-taking strategies, virtually all participants reported frequent use of rehearsal strategies, especially repetition. These findings contradict the view that, in contrast to Asian learners of English, who are believed to value memorization and repetition, Western learners tend to downplay the role of repetition in the process of vocabulary learning. Analysis of the responses to open-ended questions and interview prompts confirmed that the participants frequently used repetition and rehearsal strategies and considered them most effective for establishing form–meaning connections for new words. The respondents also reported frequent use of contextual encoding, activation, and affective strategies. Comparison of the results of the two questionnaires revealed several vocabulary learning beliefs and strategies that underwent changes as a result of one semester of studying Russian. At the end of the semester students reported even more agreement with value of repetition, practice, good memory, and cultural knowledge for learning vocabulary. In contrast, they expressed significantly less agreement that it is easier to learn new words when they are presented in context. Besides, participants reported that while learning vocabulary they less frequently tried to recall sentences in which new words were used. Interviewed students explained this shift by noting the difficulty of Russian vocabulary and cognitive overload while trying to acquire new words in context. These findings once again argue against the claim that contextual acquisition of foreign language vocabulary is always effective in instructed foreign language learning. Using correlational and cluster analyses, the study identified multiple relationships between groups of vocabulary learning beliefs and strategies, as well as between individual beliefs and strategies. Motivational beliefs were correlated with most groups of vocabulary learning strategies, and memory strategies were correlated with most groups of beliefs.

在概念構圖的相關研究中，並非每一次的教學處理都 能達到顯著的效果，其關鍵應該包括哪些因素？此外，有 一些概念構圖研究中，教學者本身並未深入研究過概念構 圖，所以對於概念構圖之所以能夠產生學習效果的機制可 能並不清楚，甚或這些教學者本身的信念是否可以接受這種新的教學法，尚不得而知，教師若只是在上課時間內用 少許的時間呈現該學習單元的概念圖，或是「模仿」了一 套概念構圖的教學程序，是否能夠產生概念構圖教學應有 的學習效果就更令人懷疑了。 因此，本研究的進行即是先進行整合相關的心理學研究與理論，從不同的理論來審視一個有意義學習的歷程， 教學者在教學上應該注意哪些因素或持有哪些信念，然後 再由研究者親自進行概念構圖學習策略的教學，並透過各種指標來考驗學生的學習效果，並嘗試回答以下的問題。 一、接受以概念構圖為學習策略的兩組學生(實驗組)，與未接受實驗操弄的學生(控制組)，在教師自編測驗的成績表現上沒有差異。 二、接受以概念構圖為學習策略的兩組學生(實驗組)，與未接受實驗操弄的學生(控制組)，在高層次思考測驗的成績表現上沒有差異。 三、接受以概念構圖為學習策略的兩組學生(實驗組)，與未接受實驗操弄的學生(控制組)，在記憶保留量測驗的成績表現上沒有差異。 四、學生的學習能力(高、中、低)與教學法(傳統、概念構圖)之間沒有交互作用。 五、「以概念構圖為學習策略的教學法」對不同學習能力的學生(高、中、低)之促進學習的效果沒有差異。 本研究的結論如下： 一、接受以概念構圖為學習策略的學生(實驗組)，並未比未接受任何實驗操弄的學生(控制組)，在教師自編測驗中有有較佳的表現，其原因與測驗題目的類型有關。 二、接受以概念構圖為學習策略的學生(實驗組)，只有合作學習式概念構圖組的學生，會比未接受任何實驗操弄的學生(控制組)，在高層思考的試題上有較佳的表 現。 三、接受以概念構圖為學習策略的學生(實驗組)，只有合作學習式概念構圖組的學生，會比未接受任何實驗操弄的學生(控制組)，在記憶保留量的試題上有較佳的 表現。 四、合作學習式概念構圖組中，不同學習能力的學生與教學法之間有交互作用。 五、以「合作學習式概念構圖」為學習策略的教學法，對中、低學習能力學生的學習促進效果，優於高學習能力組的學生。

In the 21th century, the core competitive advantage of companies results from human beings who create virtual capital such as knowledge and skills. Thefefore, the real winners will be those people who can use the resources to learn anytime and anywhere. As investment in human, time, and financial resources for e-Learning continues to rise, so should the companies concern the effectiveness of implement of e-Learning will be the key of success of e-Learning. All questions in the survey questionnaire were designed by summarizing the definitions or opinions of some literatures in relation to learning motivation, learning strategy and knowledge-oriented culture, adopting the exploration of empirical survey approach. It¡¦s not only to figure out the relationship and influence between learning motivation and learning effectiveness of e-learning, but also to examine if learning motivation or knowledge-oriented culture has the moderator effects to the learning satisfaction or enterprise performance on e-learning. Also, trying to find out the differences of all variables among the e-learners¡¦ characteristics, and to determine the differences of all variables in comparison to different type of companies. After empirical datas collection and statistic analysis, the results come out as the following statements: 1. There is a positive relationship and effect among learning satisfaction and enterprise performance of effectiveness of e-Learning. 2. Learning strategy has the partial moderator effects to learning motivation and enterprise performance. 3. Knowledge-oriented culture has the partial moderator effects to learning motivation and enterprise performance. 4. There are differences in different type of companies to the variables of learning strategy, knowledge-oriented culture, learning satisfaction and enterprise performance.

The aim of this thesis is to explore a brand new learning activity named Mission-based Learning (MBL), which is based on the Complex Problem Learning. Two research objectives are to develop the designing principles for MBL and to analyze the relationship among entrepreneurship, learning strategy and performance while learners participating Mission-based learning activities in groups. According to the concept of ARCS model proposed by Keller, we developed six designing principles for MBL activities; they are (1) Commitment (2) Risk-taking (3) Persistence (4) Positive Self-talk (5) Self-reflection and (6)_ Self-improvement. According to the designing principles we developed, we designed and conducted two real MBL activities, ¡§Searching and Backtracking of Chinese Family Names¡¨ and ¡§Unified Invoice¡¨ using the K12 digital school (http://ds.k12.edu.tw/). We adopted all the student groups that participated MBL activities from the beginning to the end as valid samples. Then we took the whole participated groups as valid samples and analyzed their narratives by content analysis. We explored the relationship among entrepreneurship, learning strategy and performance for groups participating in Mission-based learning activities. Our study has found that the participated groups with competitive aggressiveness would favore adopting action control as learning strategy in doing the two MBL activities. We also found that the participated groups with higher competitive aggressiveness would have a higher performance in two MBL activities. Moreover, we found that the relationship between learning strategy and performance would be affected by different orientations of MBL activities. The participated groups with good adaptation of information-processing strategy will show a higher performance in knowledge-deep oriented MBL activities. And the participated groups with good adaptation of action control strategy will show a higher performance in knowledge-wide oriented MBL activities. To effectively applying MBL activity, some suggestions are provided for teachers. (1) Participating groups should be well-informed the meaning and spirit of MBL activities before their participation. (2) All groups should be working independently and autonomously by minimizing teacher¡¦s intervention. (3) In order to strengthen the action control strategies of participated groups, adequate psychological scaffolding should be provided by teachers during groups participated in MBL.