Essa tese busca compreender as maneiras pelas quais estudantes do PROEJA se utilizam das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação no seu saber-fazer subsequente, uma vez que os egressos dessa modalidade educacional devem tornar-se cidadãos e profissionais produtivos numa sociedade cada vez mais complexa e tecnológica. Por meio do acompanhamento de grupos virtuais de aprendizagem interturmas do Instituto Federal Fluminense de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia, campus Macaé, procura-se determinar até que ponto os estudantes assim formados conseguem utilizar, no cotidiano/vida profissional, o que foi experenciado como metodologia do ensino formal de Biologia. Como referencial foram utilizadas a pedagogia dialógica de Paulo Freire aplicada ao conceito de letramento no contexto de uma cibercultura e a proposta de Edgar Morin sobre os saberes indispensáveis para a compreensão e inserção no mundo. A metodologia usada é a de estudo de caso, proporcionado um acompanhamento rigoroso e aprofundado dos grupos escolhidos. Ao longo da pesquisa, observou-se que os estudantes em pauta, embora sejam imigrantes digitais e apresentem resistências ao uso de computadores, desenvolvem estratégias de apreensão da ferramenta, indicando a possibilidade de sua posterior utilização competente. Como possibilidades futuras a serem desenvolvidas a partir do estudo realizado, e apontando na direção a novas pesquisas a serem implementadas, pode-se pensar na disciplina escolar Informática como base para realização da integração da matriz curricular, assegurando dessa forma maior contato estudante-ferramenta, no sentido de assegurar seu letramento digital e, dessa forma, traçar caminhos para sua efetiva inserção digital. / This thesis dissertations aims at understanding the ways by which students enrolled in the PROEJA program use Information and Communication Technologies in their posterior “knowing and doing”, since former students of this educational level should be productive professionals and citizens in an increasingly complex and technological society. By following virtual learning groups of learners at the Instituto Federal Fluminense de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia, Macaé campus, this study tried to determine how much those learners can use, in their everyday/professional life, what was experienced in the methodological approach used in the formal teaching of Biology. As theoretical references, this thesis is supported by the dialogical pedagogy of Paulo Freire, applied to literacy within cyberculture, and Edgar Morin’s proposal on the essential set of knowledge for understanding and insertion in the world. The methodology used in the research consisted of a case study, which provided a rigorous and close tracking of the groups selected for the investigation. The research found out that the aforementioned students, though digital immigrants presenting resistance to computer use, developed strategies to incorporate the tool, a fact that indicates the possibility of its future competent use. Results of the study suggest likely future developments, including formal teaching of Computer Basics as an integrative subject in the curriculum. This may assure greater student-tool contact, thus guaranteeing his/her digital literacy, and determine ways for an effective digital inclusion.

Essa tese busca compreender as maneiras pelas quais estudantes do PROEJA se utilizam das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação no seu saber-fazer subsequente, uma vez que os egressos dessa modalidade educacional devem tornar-se cidadãos e profissionais produtivos numa sociedade cada vez mais complexa e tecnológica. Por meio do acompanhamento de grupos virtuais de aprendizagem interturmas do Instituto Federal Fluminense de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia, campus Macaé, procura-se determinar até que ponto os estudantes assim formados conseguem utilizar, no cotidiano/vida profissional, o que foi experenciado como metodologia do ensino formal de Biologia. Como referencial foram utilizadas a pedagogia dialógica de Paulo Freire aplicada ao conceito de letramento no contexto de uma cibercultura e a proposta de Edgar Morin sobre os saberes indispensáveis para a compreensão e inserção no mundo. A metodologia usada é a de estudo de caso, proporcionado um acompanhamento rigoroso e aprofundado dos grupos escolhidos. Ao longo da pesquisa, observou-se que os estudantes em pauta, embora sejam imigrantes digitais e apresentem resistências ao uso de computadores, desenvolvem estratégias de apreensão da ferramenta, indicando a possibilidade de sua posterior utilização competente. Como possibilidades futuras a serem desenvolvidas a partir do estudo realizado, e apontando na direção a novas pesquisas a serem implementadas, pode-se pensar na disciplina escolar Informática como base para realização da integração da matriz curricular, assegurando dessa forma maior contato estudante-ferramenta, no sentido de assegurar seu letramento digital e, dessa forma, traçar caminhos para sua efetiva inserção digital. / This thesis dissertations aims at understanding the ways by which students enrolled in the PROEJA program use Information and Communication Technologies in their posterior “knowing and doing”, since former students of this educational level should be productive professionals and citizens in an increasingly complex and technological society. By following virtual learning groups of learners at the Instituto Federal Fluminense de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia, Macaé campus, this study tried to determine how much those learners can use, in their everyday/professional life, what was experienced in the methodological approach used in the formal teaching of Biology. As theoretical references, this thesis is supported by the dialogical pedagogy of Paulo Freire, applied to literacy within cyberculture, and Edgar Morin’s proposal on the essential set of knowledge for understanding and insertion in the world. The methodology used in the research consisted of a case study, which provided a rigorous and close tracking of the groups selected for the investigation. The research found out that the aforementioned students, though digital immigrants presenting resistance to computer use, developed strategies to incorporate the tool, a fact that indicates the possibility of its future competent use. Results of the study suggest likely future developments, including formal teaching of Computer Basics as an integrative subject in the curriculum. This may assure greater student-tool contact, thus guaranteeing his/her digital literacy, and determine ways for an effective digital inclusion.

Essa tese busca compreender as maneiras pelas quais estudantes do PROEJA se utilizam das Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação no seu saber-fazer subsequente, uma vez que os egressos dessa modalidade educacional devem tornar-se cidadãos e profissionais produtivos numa sociedade cada vez mais complexa e tecnológica. Por meio do acompanhamento de grupos virtuais de aprendizagem interturmas do Instituto Federal Fluminense de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia, campus Macaé, procura-se determinar até que ponto os estudantes assim formados conseguem utilizar, no cotidiano/vida profissional, o que foi experenciado como metodologia do ensino formal de Biologia. Como referencial foram utilizadas a pedagogia dialógica de Paulo Freire aplicada ao conceito de letramento no contexto de uma cibercultura e a proposta de Edgar Morin sobre os saberes indispensáveis para a compreensão e inserção no mundo. A metodologia usada é a de estudo de caso, proporcionado um acompanhamento rigoroso e aprofundado dos grupos escolhidos. Ao longo da pesquisa, observou-se que os estudantes em pauta, embora sejam imigrantes digitais e apresentem resistências ao uso de computadores, desenvolvem estratégias de apreensão da ferramenta, indicando a possibilidade de sua posterior utilização competente. Como possibilidades futuras a serem desenvolvidas a partir do estudo realizado, e apontando na direção a novas pesquisas a serem implementadas, pode-se pensar na disciplina escolar Informática como base para realização da integração da matriz curricular, assegurando dessa forma maior contato estudante-ferramenta, no sentido de assegurar seu letramento digital e, dessa forma, traçar caminhos para sua efetiva inserção digital. / This thesis dissertations aims at understanding the ways by which students enrolled in the PROEJA program use Information and Communication Technologies in their posterior “knowing and doing”, since former students of this educational level should be productive professionals and citizens in an increasingly complex and technological society. By following virtual learning groups of learners at the Instituto Federal Fluminense de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia, Macaé campus, this study tried to determine how much those learners can use, in their everyday/professional life, what was experienced in the methodological approach used in the formal teaching of Biology. As theoretical references, this thesis is supported by the dialogical pedagogy of Paulo Freire, applied to literacy within cyberculture, and Edgar Morin’s proposal on the essential set of knowledge for understanding and insertion in the world. The methodology used in the research consisted of a case study, which provided a rigorous and close tracking of the groups selected for the investigation. The research found out that the aforementioned students, though digital immigrants presenting resistance to computer use, developed strategies to incorporate the tool, a fact that indicates the possibility of its future competent use. Results of the study suggest likely future developments, including formal teaching of Computer Basics as an integrative subject in the curriculum. This may assure greater student-tool contact, thus guaranteeing his/her digital literacy, and determine ways for an effective digital inclusion.

This is a participative case study of a self-facilitating, collaborative, women’s learning group. The group’s longevity afforded a unique opportunity to investigate, in depth, both what encouraged its members to join at its outset, and what has sustained the participation of its current members for thirteen years. Its longevity also provided an opportunity to explore the impact of sustained membership on the women in the group. These two components of the study are its most significant original contributions to the existing literature which does not appear to cover anything similar. The initial raison d’étre of the group was its members’ professional development and this forms a central strand of the investigation, along with identity and self-facilitation. A pragmatic research paradigm, the collaborative nature of the group and the writer’s dual role as both participant and researcher were all influential in the decision to use a participative approach. A range of methods, chosen by the participants, was utilised during the investigation which, whilst participatory, is not emancipatory research. This experimental divergence from how a participative approach is traditionally employed is offered for consideration by researchers who wish to work in a new way that minimises power in other, non-emancipatory situations. The findings support, contradict and add to the literature. The mutuality of longevity and the depth of discourse and learning experienced by group members is a particularly striking aspect of this study. As members of the group have aged, its focus has segued from professional development to encompass a much broader agenda: it has shifted from contributing to members’ professional identity to sustaining their perceptions of self as women who remain capable of complex, critical thinking as they move out of full-time work. The longevity of the group has also fostered deep attachments between group members, despite the differences between them: sustained membership of the group, in turn, provides sustenance for its members. The significance of grounding, ground rules and group composition are highlighted, as is the need to contemplate how members will leave a group during its formation. Alignment between participants in a group is identified as important for its continuation but not always possible. This research makes no claim to offer a definitive model for collaborative learning groups but, instead poses a series of questions for consideration by others who are interested in collaborative learning.

Pedagogical documentation inspired by the early childhood schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy is a tool for teacher inquiry, learning, and development. Teachers systematically reflect upon artifacts that make visible children’s thinking, using for instance, digital photographs, quotations of children’s verbal thoughts, and teachers’ field notes. In two Reggio-inspired childcare centres in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, early childhood educators formed two teacher learning groups to study pedagogical documentation. As participants studied these artifacts (i.e. documentation), an underlying question emerges: What happens to teacher learning when early childhood educators form teacher learning groups to study pedagogical documentation in childcare centres? From this question, participants collaborated throughout six to seven research meetings to discuss and reflect upon documentation that they created. Portraiture research as a method of qualitative inquiry (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1983; Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) offered a range of data collection methods used in this study, including videotaped research meetings, participants’ documentation work, open-ended group interview, and researcher’s field notes. These methods informed the portraiture research and constructed a vivid, in-depth look at participants’ experiences in studying pedagogical documentation in teacher learning groups. The results of this study are retold through two portraits focusing on the co-construction of teacher knowledge in teacher learning groups. Participants’ experiences such as deconstructing barriers to documentation practice, developing new documentation skills, critical self-reflection upon teacher practice, and emergent curriculum planning generated two rich portraits of teacher learning and development. Essential themes, conclusions, and implications appear in the examination of the two portraits and are explored in the final chapter. The themes included: (1) Skills of documentation, (2) Teacher learning and, (3) Teacher collaboration. Overall, this research study exposed the questions and assumptions, process of inquires, and new teacher knowledges and practices developed by two groups of early childhood educators in this study.

Pedagogical documentation inspired by the early childhood schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy is a tool for teacher inquiry, learning, and development. Teachers systematically reflect upon artifacts that make visible children’s thinking, using for instance, digital photographs, quotations of children’s verbal thoughts, and teachers’ field notes. In two Reggio-inspired childcare centres in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, early childhood educators formed two teacher learning groups to study pedagogical documentation. As participants studied these artifacts (i.e. documentation), an underlying question emerges: What happens to teacher learning when early childhood educators form teacher learning groups to study pedagogical documentation in childcare centres? From this question, participants collaborated throughout six to seven research meetings to discuss and reflect upon documentation that they created. Portraiture research as a method of qualitative inquiry (Lawrence-Lightfoot, 1983; Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) offered a range of data collection methods used in this study, including videotaped research meetings, participants’ documentation work, open-ended group interview, and researcher’s field notes. These methods informed the portraiture research and constructed a vivid, in-depth look at participants’ experiences in studying pedagogical documentation in teacher learning groups. The results of this study are retold through two portraits focusing on the co-construction of teacher knowledge in teacher learning groups. Participants’ experiences such as deconstructing barriers to documentation practice, developing new documentation skills, critical self-reflection upon teacher practice, and emergent curriculum planning generated two rich portraits of teacher learning and development. Essential themes, conclusions, and implications appear in the examination of the two portraits and are explored in the final chapter. The themes included: (1) Skills of documentation, (2) Teacher learning and, (3) Teacher collaboration. Overall, this research study exposed the questions and assumptions, process of inquires, and new teacher knowledges and practices developed by two groups of early childhood educators in this study.

Professional Learning Communities– A Necessity for Improving Teaching? The aim of this study was to examine what factors are important for teachers in professional learning communities to improve their teaching in order to increase the results of the students. The study was based on a program of development about language improvement that took place in two schools during the autumn of 2014. The authors of this study were also in charge of the improvement program. The data used in the analysis was based on individual questionnaires and group interviews. The theoretical framework of the study was founded on Timperley’s (2011) inquiry and knowledge-building cycle, Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2012) theory about professional capital and Stoll’s (2006) characteristics of effective learning groups. The results obtained in this study indicate that the following factors are of crucial importance for teachers to improve their teaching; leadership, systematic surveys of what students need to develop, a clearly understandable aim within the specific area of development, a clear structure within the learning group and between the meetings, scheduled time for the meetings, teachers’ mindset, a scientific approach, the use of science and initiated moderators of the learning groups. The study showed that professional learning communities working with these factors are going to be successful.

In South Africa today a constant stream of demands characterise higher education. The global employment market expects graduating students to be flexible, adoptable and prepared to take responsibility for their own learning and their own continuous professional development. The pace of technological change in health sciences and the volume of available information highlight the need to develop students’ critical reflective thinking. A paradigm shift is required in health science education from one of providing instruction to one of promoting effective and lifelong learning. Educators in health sciences need to revisit, rethink and evaluate criteria for health practice. The challenge of this research is to investigate the integration of critical reflection as a learning strategy in the outcomes of learning programmes within a transformative education approach; the integration of theory and practice through a reflective learning approach; the development and implementation of different learning tools to facilitate effective learning; the importance of establishing an understanding of the link between the learning styles of students and critical reflection as a learning strategy; and the value of the integration of critical reflection to promote lifelong learning. A mixed methods research approach was primarily utilised to monitor facilitation of learning initiatives and appropriate activities for strengthening the learning-centred approach, through reflective journals and reflective learning groups. A quantitative and qualitative study was used in which a pilot study questionnaire, observations, structured interviews and questionnaires were conducted and completed. The findings of this investigation indicate that critical reflection adds value to the effectiveness of learning. The investigation also revealed the value of sharing learning experiences in a small learning group and proved that the learning environment for radiography education allows enough opportunities to integrate an alternative learning strategy such as critical reflection. All role players in health science education need to build their own skills to function effectively as whole brain thinkers with a view to maximizing learning effectiveness. Reflective practice enhances lifelong learning and can also be utilised as a tool for quality control of the learning programme. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

Main scope of the present diploma thesis is co-operative and group teaching with the emphasis on teaching in the elementary schools. The theoretical part offers an overview of the organizational forms of teaching, defines the concepts of group and co-operative teaching, and presents the basic insight into group and co-operative teaching. The practical part is an action reasearch. The main objective of this part is to verify efficiency of the theoretical procedures and methods of group and co-operative teaching when self-prepared or adopted materials are used in practice. This part also provides a didactical material verified in practice. Furthermore, it concentrates on advantages and disadvantages of co-operative teaching, observes the progress of groups of pupils and that of individual pupils, differences in thinking during co-operative and frontal teaching, relation between co-operative, problematic and explorational approach to teaching. KEYWORDS Co-operative teaching, group teaching, teamwork, team, pupil, efficiency, communication, assessment

Die Erforschung der Zusammenstellung kleiner Lerngruppen beschäftigt sich mit dem Problem, eine passende Gruppenzusammensetzung in einer Population von Lernern zu finden, die jeder Gruppe optimalen Nutzen bringen könnte. In letzter Zeit sind viele Studien zu diesem Problem der Kleingruppenzusammenstellung durchgeführt worden. Allerdings waren diese Forschungen nur selten auf den Kontext großer Lerner-Populationen ausgerichtet. Angesichts des zunehmenden Aufkommens von MOOCs muss jedoch das Problem der Gruppenzusammenstellung entsprechend erweitert betrachtet werden, und zwar mit neuen Forschungen, die den Kontext derartig großer Lerner-Populationen berücksichtigen. Anders als in Klassenzimmer-Settings könnte die beobachtete hohe Abbruchquote in MOOCs in einer Unterbesetzung der Gruppengröße resultieren und könnte somit viele Lerner dazu bringen, neue Gruppen zu bilden. Zusätzlich zur Gruppenzusammenstellung muss daher die Gruppenneuzusammenstellung als neues Thema in aktuellen Kontexten großer Lerner-Populationen ebenfalls erforscht werden. Die Untersuchungen der vorliegenden Arbeit gliedern sich in zwei Teile. Der erste Teil beschäftigt sich mit Gruppenzusammenstellung. In diesem Teil stelle ich einen diskreten-PSO Algorithmus zur Zusammenstellung kleiner Lerngruppen vor und vergleiche bislang bestehende Gruppenzusammenstellungs-Algorithmen unter den Gesichtspunkten Zeitaufwand und Gruppierungsqualität. Um Gruppenzusammenstellung in MOOCs anzuwenden wurde ein Gruppenzusammenstellungsexperiment in einem MOOC durchgeführt. Die Hauptergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Gruppenzusammenstellung die Abbruchsquote reduzieren kann, jedoch lediglich einen sehr schwachen Bezug zur Lernperformanz der Lerner aufweist. Der zweite Teil beschäftigt sich mit Gruppenneuzusammenstellung. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt eine datengesteuerte Herangehensweise vor, die umfassenden Gebrauch von Gruppeninteraktionsdaten macht sowie Gruppendynamik mit einbezieht. Mittels einer in einem Simulationsexperiment durchgeführten Evaluation zeigen sich die Vorteile dieses Verfahrens: Der Lerngruppenzusammenhalt wird verbessert und die Abbruchsquote im Vergleich zu einer Zufallsverteilung reduziert. Darüberhinaus wurde hier ein Gruppen-Lern-Werkzeug entwickelt und für die Praxis vorbereitet, das die Anforderungen des geforderten Ansatzes der Gruppenneuzusammenstellung erfüllt. / Small learning group composition addresses the problem of seeking such matching among a population of students that it could bring each group optimal benefits. Recently, many studies have been conducted to address this small group composition problem. Nevertheless, the focus of such a body of research has rarely been cast to large-scale contexts. Due to the recent come of MOOCs, the topic of group composition needs to be accordingly extended with new investigations in such large learning contexts. Different from classroom settings, the reported high drop-out rate of MOOCs could result in group’s incompletion in size and thus might compel many students to compose new groups. Thus, in addition to group composition, group re-composition as a new topic needs to be studied in current large-scale learning contexts as well. In this thesis, the research is structured in two stages. The first stage is group composition. In this part, I proposed a discrete-PSO algorithm to compose small learning groups and compared the existing group composition algorithms from the perspectives of time cost and grouping quality. To implement group composition in MOOCs, a group composition experiment was conducted in a MOOC. The main results indicate that group composition can reduce drop-out rate, yet has a very weak association with students’ learning performance. The second stage is to cope with group re-composition. This thesis suggests a data-driven approach that makes full use of group interaction data and accounts for group dynamics. Through evaluation in a simulation experiment, it shows its advantages of bringing us more cohesive learning groups and reducing the drop-out rate compared to a random condition. Apart from these, a group learning tool that fulfills the goals of the proposed group re-composition approach has been developed and is made ready for practice.