Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vanessa Andrea Viana.pdf: 1072100 bytes, checksum: 6f8d3fc02d07898e6a125c5b06c47b24 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-15 / The aim of this study was to understand the individual and social learning process happening between subjects participating in a social programme called Doutores Cidadãos, organized by the non profit organization Canto Cidadão. Moreover, it was meant to identify, analyse and describe what and how those subjects learn and how they apply those learning experiences in their personal and work life, based on the following question: What and how the volunteers learn individually and collectively when applying their volunteering activities? Therefore, it was designed three specific objectives: the first one was to identify, describe and analyse the individual learning processes this group of volunteers apply so as to develop their volunteer activities. The second one was to describe and analyse the social interactions role inside the environment where the volunteer activities happen, as well as their impact in the development of the learning process. The third and last one was to identify, describe and analyse what those volunteers apply regarding the volunteering experience learning in their formal and informal activities at work. It was carried out a basic or general qualitative study in the interpretational paradigm. The data were collected from the testimonial of 15 volunteer subjects participants in the project through semi structured interview, and analysed based on the template analysis proposed by Nigel King. We were based on the fact that the learning process must be looked at according to a social focus, and not as mere individual phenomena. On the other hand, it happens from human actions and interactions. The results analysis goes back to the social learning theory of Bente Elkjaer and the transformative learning theory of Jack Mezirow, and the focus was on the individual and collective learning. The results show that the volunteering experience was responsible for the transformative learning experiences the subjects have faced, through changes in the personal reference charts. It was also stated informal and social learning processes, indicating a relationship between being a volunteer and acquiring new learning experiences. / Este estudo teve como objetivo geral compreender o fenômeno da aprendizagem individual e social que acontece entre indivíduos participantes do projeto social denominado Doutores Cidadãos, organizado pela ONG Canto Cidadão. Visou a identificar, descrever e analisar o quê e como esses indivíduos aprendem e a forma como aplicam essas aprendizagens em suas vidas pessoais e no trabalho, a partir da seguinte questão orientadora: O que e como os voluntários aprendem individual e coletivamente no exercício de suas atividades voluntárias? Para o alcance do objetivo geral, foram definidos três objetivos específicos. O primeiro: identificar, descrever e analisar os processos de aprendizagem individuais que esse grupo de voluntários utiliza para desempenhar as suas atividades de voluntariado. O segundo: descrever e analisar o papel das interações sociais dentro do ambiente onde ocorrem as atividades voluntárias e a influência dessas experiências no desenvolvimento da aprendizagem. E o terceiro e último objetivo específico: identificar, descrever e analisar o quê esses voluntários aplicam a partir da aprendizagem na experiência voluntária em suas atividades formais e informais de trabalho. Foi conduzido um estudo qualitativo básico ou genérico inserido no paradigma interpretacionista. Os dados foram coletados a partir dos depoimentos de 15 indivíduos voluntários - participantes no projeto - por meio de entrevista semiestruturada, e analisados com base na categorização temática de análise de templates proposta por Nigel King. A pesquisa partiu do entendimento de que a aprendizagem deve ser olhada segundo uma ênfase social, não sendo considerada um fenômeno meramente individual, mas que ocorre a partir das ações e interações humanas. A análise dos resultados articula a teoria da aprendizagem social de Bente Elkjaer e a teoria da aprendizagem transformadora de Jack Mezirow, considerando como foco o processo do aprender em nível individual e coletivo. Os resultados mostram que a experiência do voluntariado proporcionou aos indivíduos aprendizagens transformadoras por intermédio de mudanças nos quadros de referências pessoais. Foram constatados ainda processos de aprendizagem informal e social, indicando que há relação entre o exercício das atividades voluntárias e a aquisição de novas aprendizagens.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Diogo Reatto.pdf: 2556630 bytes, checksum: dc9a44a090bcadf59f51aecc7ef8c9bf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-15 / This research is a basic interpretative and qualitative study underpinned by an interacionist and interpretative epistemological approach that aims to understand how technical - administrative employees learning experiences occur in the workplace of Araçatub a School of Dentistry/UNESP. The research question is: how do technical - administrative employees experience learning throughout their professional tasks in the workplace? . There are three big aims: (a) identify, describe and understand the informal processes used for individuals to learn their professional tasks; (b) describe and analyze the role of the social interactions that occur in the workplace, as well as the influe nce of the organizational context in informal learning; (c) analyze how the workplace context of the studied Faculty supports or raises difficulties to informal learning. The theoretical frame joins the literature about Informal Learning in the workplace with Social Learning Theory by Elkjaer, in order to understand how learning occurs in social environments. It was conducted 16 semi - structured interviews with technical - administrative employees from Academic and Administrative Technical Divisions of Araçat uba School of Dentistry/UNESP. The collected data was analyzed through qualitative data analyses strategy proposed by Flores (1994). I t was concluded that employees learn their tasks informally, by their experience and daily practice in the workplace, during the work process, making questions and exchang ing ideas with their bos ses and colleagues from the own Faculty or from other UNESP faculty , with whom they build a contributive network for informal learning. Facing new and challenging tasks in other jobs is a trigger to informal learning, such as knowing the way as the organization works and studying its internal and external set of laws . The technical - administrative employee proactive behavior encourage s these actions. The employees interactions with the social worlds and subworlds identified in the interviews evoked emotions like gratefu lness, commitment, pleasure and love in the job and by the job, which sometimes support and raise difficulties at times to informal learning. The context factors that influence informal learning in the studied organization are organizational climate, culture and layout, as well as job development expectation and the relationship between newcomers and experienced employees. / Esta pesquisa é um estudo qualitativo interpretativo básico apoiado numa postura epistemológica interpretacionista e interacionista que visa a compreender como ocorrem as experiências de aprendizagem vivenciadas pelos funcionários técnico-administrativos da Faculdade de Odontologia de Araçatuba/UNESP em seus locais de trabalho. A pergunta de pesquisa é: "como os funcionários técnico-administrativos de uma faculdade pública vivenciam a experiência da aprendizagem no exercício de suas tarefas profissionais desenvolvidas no local de trabalho? ", e se desdobra em três grandes objetivos: (a) identificar, descrever e compreender os processos informais que esses indivíduos utilizam para aprender suas tarefas profissionais; (b) descrever e analisar o papel das interações sociais que ocorrem no ambiente de trabalho, bem como a influência do contexto na aprendizagem informal; (c) analisar em que medida o ambiente de trabalho da faculdade objeto de estudo favorece e/ou dificulta a aprendizagem informal. O referencial teórico articula a literatura sobre Aprendizagem Informal nos locais de trabalho com a Teoria da Aprendizagem Social de Elkjaer, para compreender como a aprendizagem ocorre em ambientes sociais. Conduziram-se 16 entrevistas semi-estruturadas com servidores técnico-administrativos das Divisões Técnicas Acadêmica e Administrativa da Faculdade de Odontologia de Araçatuba/FOA-UNESP. As informações coletadas foram analisadas pela estratégia de análise de dados qualitativos proposta por Flores (1994). Concluiu-se que os servidores aprendem suas tarefas informalmente, por meio da experiência da prática cotidiana no local de trabalho, no processo de trabalho, perguntando e trocando ideias com o superior e com os colegas da própria ou de outra unidade da UNESP, com quem constroem uma rede de relacionamentos contributiva para ações de aprendizagens informais. Enfrentar tarefas novas e desafiadoras em outros cargos ou funções é um gatilho para a aprendizagem desses funcionários, bem como conhecer o funcionam ento da estrutura organizacional e estudar a legislação interna e externa pertinentes à sua função e à organização. Essas ações são incentivadas pelo comportamento proativo do funcionário, o qual carrega consigo e o aplica no local de trabalho. As interaçõ es com os mundos e submundos sociais identificados também despertam emoções como gratidão, comprometimento, prazer e amor no trabalho e pelo trabalho, as quais ora apoiam ora suprimem a aprendizagem. Os fatores de contexto ambiental que influenciam a AI são o clima, a cultura e a estrutura física organizacionais, bem como as expectativas de crescimento no trabalho e a relação entre novatos e experientes.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:43:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Beatriz de Campos Elias.pdf: 1284982 bytes, checksum: 35b1c84c8c6c16d75a63655dcebfe680 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-18 / In the current scenery of the information society, the new communication and information tecnologies are affecting especially the professional and educational worlds. But do the multimedia messages, that already invaded classrooms, really work? Richard Mayer s answer is yes, as he proposes his multimedia cognitive learning theory. And how have teachers been applying these techonological resources they now have access to? In order to answer this question, a ten day imersion was made on the Colégio Portinari in Salvador, concerning especially a history course in which the teacher uses multimedia sequences made by himself. / No cenário atual da sociedade da informação, as novas tecnologias da comunicação e da informação vêm afetando em particular o mundo do trabalho e o da educação. Mas as mensagens multimídias, que já invadiram as salas de aula, realmente funcionam? Sim, responde Richard Mayer, ao propor sua teoria cognitiva da aprendizagem multimídia. E na prática, como os professores vêm utilizando os recursos tecnológicos de que dispõem? Em busca da resposta a essa pergunta, fez-se uma imersão de dez dias no Colégio Portinari, de Salvador, onde leciona um professor de História que constrói suas próprias sequências multimídias.

Cette thèse porte sur la théorie de la discrimination multi-classe à marge. Elle a pour cadre la théorie statistique de l’apprentissage de Vapnik et Chervonenkis. L’objectif est d’établir des bornes de généralisation possédant une dépendances explicite au nombre C de catégories, à la taille m de l’échantillon et au paramètre de marge gamma, lorsque la fonction de perte considérée est une fonction de perte à marge possédant la propriété d’être lipschitzienne. La borne de généralisation repose sur la performance empirique du classifieur ainsi que sur sa "capacité". Dans cette thèse, les mesures de capacité considérées sont les suivantes : la complexité de Rademacher, les nombres de recouvrement et la dimension fat-shattering. Nos principales contributions sont obtenues sous l’hypothèse que les classes de fonctions composantes calculées par le classifieur ont des dimensions fat-shattering polynomiales et que les fonctions composantes sont indépendantes. Dans le contexte du schéma de calcul introduit par Mendelson, qui repose sur les relations entre les mesures de capacité évoquées plus haut, nous étudions l’impact que la décomposition au niveau de l’une de ces mesures de capacité a sur les dépendances (de la borne de généralisation) à C, m et gamma. En particulier, nous démontrons que la dépendance à C peut être considérablement améliorée par rapport à l’état de l’art si la décomposition est reportée au niveau du nombre de recouvrement ou de la dimension fat-shattering. Ce changement peut affecter négativement le taux de convergence (dépendance à m), ce qui souligne le fait que l’optimisation par rapport aux trois paramètres fondamentaux se traduit par la recherche d’un compromis. / This thesis deals with the theory of margin multi-category classification, and is based on the statistical learning theory founded by Vapnik and Chervonenkis. We are interested in deriving generalization bounds with explicit dependencies on the number C of categories, the sample size m and the margin parameter gamma, when the loss function considered is a Lipschitz continuous margin loss function. Generalization bounds rely on the empirical performance of the classifier as well as its "capacity". In this work, the following scale-sensitive capacity measures are considered: the Rademacher complexity, the covering numbers and the fat-shattering dimension. Our main contributions are obtained under the assumption that the classes of component functions implemented by a classifier have polynomially growing fat-shattering dimensions and that the component functions are independent. In the context of the pathway of Mendelson, which relates the Rademacher complexity to the covering numbers and the latter to the fat-shattering dimension, we study the impact that decomposing at the level of one of these capacity measures has on the dependencies on C, m and gamma. In particular, we demonstrate that the dependency on C can be substantially improved over the state of the art if the decomposition is postponed to the level of the metric entropy or the fat-shattering dimension. On the other hand, this impacts negatively the rate of convergence (dependency on m), an indication of the fact that optimizing the dependencies on the three basic parameters amounts to looking for a trade-off.

Project managers who fail to apply strategies to prevent counterproductive work behavior in information technology projects could negatively affect users, budget costs, timelines, or projects. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that project managers used to prevent counterproductive work behavior that put project success at risk. Social learning theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through document review of published Project Management Institute (PMI) material as well as semistructured interviews with 10 project managers who were members of a PMI chapter in the southeastern United States, and who held a project management professional certification or an agile certified practitioner certification. Data were analyzed using Yin's methodology and consisted of transcribing, organizing, and coding the interview data, as well as triangulating the interview data in relation to the PMI literature. Five themes emerged from the data: (a) participant communication, (b) proactive planning, (c) personal impact, (d) participant engagement, and (e) issue management. The implications of the study for positive social change include the potential to increase the occurrence of conflict-free and healthy project environments, which could lead to satisfied and motivated project participants resulting in productive and engaged members of the community.

Preparing college students to be contributing members of local and global societies requires educators to analyze the capabilities and needs of their students and to adjust instructional content and practice. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was twofold: (a) to explore how classroom approaches designed to facilitate students' questioning of assumptions and beliefs regarding different cultural beliefs, social structures, and practices might influence Japanese college students' self-reported development of intercultural competence, and (b) to investigate whether or not the students developed their potential for intercultural competence. Mezirow's transformative learning theory informed this study. Archival qualitative data were from 137 Japanese undergraduate students' journals from a course with approaches designed to facilitate questioning their assumptions and beliefs. Multilevel coding was used to support thematic analysis. Archival quantitative data of students' pretest and posttest scores on the Intercultural Adaptation Potential Scale (ICAPS) were too few for meaningful analysis. Limited trend interpretations of the quantitative data helped support the qualitative data findings. Key findings included students identifying the importance of opportunities to discuss conflicting cultural beliefs, social structures, and practices; several questioned their assumptions and enhanced their intercultural competence. Expanded research into the challenge of enhancing cultural competence is needed. Positive social change is possible when intercultural competence and understanding the importance of dealing with cultural conflicts in an informed manner are enhanced. Students who expand their comfort levels and understandings will gain membership into multiple societies, reflect critically on their worldviews, and be able to take positive actions during conflicts.

Globalization and international business increasingly require the services of skilled expatriates in overseas offices. Over the past 50 years, numerous studies have focused on various factors affecting expatriate adjustment, primarily through quantitative research, reaching no conclusions on what factors in cross-cultural training would guarantee expatriate success. Expatriate failure has high personal and organizational costs. The purpose of this study was to use the qualitative methodology of narrative inquiry to investigate the adjustment, transition, and repatriation experience as a holistic process. Two theoretical constructions, Bandura's social learning theory, applied to the learning process in an international assignment, and social identity theory, represented key factors in the expatriate experience. The overarching research question investigated the distinct factors that contributed to the overall success or failure of an expatriate. Narrative inquiry, and open-ended questions, allowed the participants to reveal their stories. Participants (N = 14) were selected using criterion and convenience sampling. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded into themes using an iterative process. Results established weak organizational support in the preparation and repatriation stages. Participants considered their assignments a success and exhibited strong self-efficacy and internal locus of control. The need for successful expatriate performance will continue to increase with globalization; findings in this study can contribute to the training, support, and repatriation of employees. The potential for social change includes the improvement in global business functioning and international understanding.

In the United States, over 50% of women return to paid work after becoming mothers. Mothers who breastfeed are more likely to stop working than peers who chose to use infant formula. The purpose of this research was to explore work commitment among new mothers during the first year of their infant's life. Many of these mothers had skills that were imperative to organizational success, making their retention a priority. The relationship between leadership support for dual roles as mothers and employees had not received attention previously in the literature. This multiple case study analyzed the perceptions of new mothers regarding leader support and its role in their commitment to work. The first research question focused on the role of leader support in a new mother's commitment to working. The second explored a new mother's perception of organizational support of her decision regarding infant feeding. The conceptual framework was based on social learning theory, social role expectation theory, and feminist theory. Twenty-three working mothers were recruited through social media, using purposeful sampling, to participate. The data collection consisted of open-ended interviews, as well as document reviews. The data were retrieved, coded, and analyzed using within case and cross-case analysis for themes, and patterns. Findings yielded 3 primary categories: leadership, priorities, and policies. The results showed that participants needed leader support to successfully manage their dual roles, and maintain their commitment to work. In conclusion, positive social change in workplace communication, paid leave policies, and education have the ability to change long held perceptions about mother's work commitment. The results may help organizations implement new policies that benefit working mothers. These changes will strengthen corporate culture from within, empower employees, and encourage growth, loyalty, and innovation to maintain a competitive edge.

This thesis studies the generalization ability of machine learning algorithms in a statistical setting. It focuses on the data-dependent analysis of the generalization performance of learning algorithms in order to make full use of the potential of the actual training sample from which these algorithms learn.¶ First, we propose an extension of the standard framework for the derivation of generalization bounds for algorithms taking their hypotheses from random classes of functions. This approach is motivated by the fact that the function produced by a learning algorithm based on a random sample of data depends on this sample and is therefore a random function. Such an approach avoids the detour of the worst-case uniform bounds as done in the standard approach. We show that the mechanism which allows one to obtain generalization bounds for random classes in our framework is based on a “small complexity” of certain random coordinate projections. We demonstrate how this notion of complexity relates to learnability and how one can explore geometric properties of these projections in order to derive estimates of rates of convergence and good confidence interval estimates for the expected risk. We then demonstrate the generality of our new approach by presenting a range of examples, among them the algorithm-dependent compression schemes and the data-dependent luckiness frameworks, which fall into our random subclass framework.¶ Second, we study in more detail generalization bounds for a specific algorithm which is of central importance in learning theory, namely the Empirical Risk Minimization algorithm (ERM). Recent results show that one can significantly improve the high-probability estimates for the convergence rates for empirical minimizers by a direct analysis of the ERM algorithm. These results are based on a new localized notion of complexity of subsets of hypothesis functions with identical expected errors and are therefore dependent on the underlying unknown distribution. We investigate the extent to which one can estimate these high-probability convergence rates in a data-dependent manner. We provide an algorithm which computes a data-dependent upper bound for the expected error of empirical minimizers in terms of the “complexity” of data-dependent local subsets. These subsets are sets of functions of empirical errors of a given range and can be determined based solely on empirical data. We then show that recent direct estimates, which are essentially sharp estimates on the high-probability convergence rate for the ERM algorithm, can not be recovered universally from empirical data.

This study investigates information literacy and scholarly communication within the processes of doctoral research and supervision at a distance. Both doctoral candidates and supervisors acknowledge information literacy deficiencies and it is suggested that disintermediation and the proliferation of information may contribute to those deficiencies. Further to this, the influence of pedagogic continuity—particularly in relation to the information seeking behaviour of candidates—is investigated, as is the concomitant aspect of how doctoral researchers practise scholarly communication. The well-documented and enduring problem for candidates of isolation from the research cultures of their universities is also scrutinised. The contentious issue of more formally involving librarians in the doctoral process is also considered, from the perspective of candidates and supervisors. Superimposed upon these topical and timely issues is the theoretical framework of adult learning theory, in particular the tenets of andragogy. The pedagogical-andragogical orientation of candidates and supervisors is established, demonstrating both the differences and similarities between candidates and supervisors, as are a number of independent variables, including a comparison of on-campus and off-campus candidates. Other independent variables include age, gender, DETYA (Department of Education, Training & Youth Affairs) category, enrolment type, stage of candidature, employment and status, type of doctorate, and English/non-English speaking background. The research methodology uses qualitative and quantitative techniques encompassing both data and methodological triangulation. The study uses two sets of questionnaires and a series of in-depth interviews with a sample of on-campus and off-campus doctoral candidates and supervisors from four Australian universities. Major findings include NESB candidates being more pedagogical than their ESB counterparts, and candidates and supervisors from the Sciences are more pedagogical than those from Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, or Education. Candidates make a transition from a more dependent and pedagogically oriented approach to learning towards more of an independent and andragogical orientation over the duration of their candidature. However, over tune both on-campus and off-campus candidates become more isolated from the research cultures of their universities, and less happy with support received from their supervisors in relation to their literature reviews. Ill The study found large discrepancies in perception between the support supervisors believed they gave to candidates in relation to the literature review, and the support candidates believed they received. Information seeking becomes easier over time, but candidates face a dilemma with the proliferation of information, suggesting that disintermediation has exacerbated the challenges of evaluation and organisation of information. The concept of pedagogic continuity was recognised by supervisors and especially candidates, both negative and positive influences. The findings are critically analysed and synthesised using the metaphor of a scholarly 'Club' of which obtaining a doctorate is a rite of passage. Recommendations are made for changes in professional practice, and topics that may warrant further research are suggested.