Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / The micro-enterprise sector, although associated with mostly informal businesses, shows promise of potential and transitioning to more formal businesses. With this in mind, the South African government recognizes that prioritized sectorial development is needed to stimulate growth particularly in the micro-enterprise sector. Considering that evidence reveals growth and development in small business practices being closely related to the use of different forms of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), if and when strategically applied. Therefore recognizing the importance of ICTs the South African government has embarked on various technology related initiatives to facilitate needed growth and development. Despite this, entrepreneurs in the micro-enterprise sector demonstrate a low uptake of ICTs for their business operations, including the use of mobile technologies which are the most common form of ICTs available to micro- entrepreneurs. Many previous studies have investigated the adoption and use of mobile technologies in the micro- enterprise sector, but despite this a low uptake of mobile technologies still exists. For this reason, this study investigates and empirically determines the factors influencing the adoption and use of mobile applications for micro-enterprise operations in South Africa, using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model as a lens. The research population comprised a group of micro-entrepreneurs who all are users of a common mobile application (mentorship-movement application). The main aim of the investigation was to determine (i) the factors influencing the adoption and use of mobile applications for micro- enterprise operation, (ii) if the experience gained and their satisfaction associated with using the mentorship-movement application will influence their behavioural intention to use other mobile applications for business. The study was conducted objectively and used hypothesis testing as the means of investigation. Data was collected through the use of a survey questionnaire. The findings of the study indicate that performance expectancy and effort expectancy positively influences the micro-entrepreneurs behavioural intention to adopt and use mobile applications for micro-enterprise operations. The findings also observed that social influence has no impact on the micro-entrepreneurs’ behavioural intention to adopt and use mobile applications for business. Facilitating conditions and behavioural intention were found to positively influence the use behaviour of the micro-entrepreneurs when it comes to adoption and use of mobile applications for business. Moreover, the findings confirmed that experience and satisfaction in using one mobile application does not influence the behavioural intention of the micro-entrepreneurs to use other mobile applications for business. The factors which have been found to bear influence on the adoption and use of mobile applications amongst micro-entrepreneurs in South Africa have implications for both policy and practice. In particular, the findings of this study may be used to inform the design of the various programmatic interventions which seek to improve outcomes of the micro-entrepreneur sector. This includes interventions by the Department of Small Business Development and that of the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA).

The purpose of this study was to determine fourth-year pre-service teachers’ perceptions of the influence of mentor lecturers on their Professional Teacher Identity (PTI) while on teaching practice. The problem underpinning this study was that the students may not be able to mediate the merging of the academic world with the world of work if the influence of the mentor lecturer is lacking. The significance of this study lies in the student perceptions of the mentor lecturers’ role. The data were collected through the Fourth Years Initiative for Research in Education (FIRE) project. Students reflected in groups on the development of their PTI and the role their mentor lecturers played in this development. In this qualitative, descriptive case study, a document analysis was conducted on transcriptions of the posters that the students created in workshops. The conceptual framework combined a mentorship and a PTI model. The results showed that in PTI development, the mentor lecturers’ influence ranked sixth out of nine. The students felt misunderstood and unsupported. The findings indicate either that the role of the mentor lecturer is a redundant feature of the BEd programme, the mentor lecturer is not meeting the students’ needs, requiring revisitation of the programme, or this millennial generation sample is not open to critical self-reflection and critique. Similar studies may access the mentor lecturers’ perceptions of their own PTI and their influence on their mentees’ PTI development, and why passion for a subject is not a statistically significant influencer of PTI. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

Magister Educationis - MEd / When a first-time teacher graduate and start working in a school, the first-time teacher is expected to adapt and adjust to the demands of a daily teaching programme (Carter & Francis, 2001). This can be overwhelming by taking on the same responsibility as the more experienced teachers. This can be a reality shock to first-time teachers as they may often be disadvantaged with the fact that they are often unprepared for the real world (Johnson & Kardos, 2002; Carter & Francis, 2001). Furthermore, many schools have appointed first-time teachers, but not all first-time teachers have been given proper support or introduced a mentor or a mentoring programme to help them adjust to their new career. This can contribute to the fact that first- time teachers are unprepared for their new roles and the challenges they may face (Carter & Francis, 2001). I will therefore look at mentoring and the preparedness of firsttime teachers, the study will focus on a non-governmental Joint Mentoring Project (JMP). This study aims at investigating how the JMP contributed toward first-time teachers’ teaching and learning experiences in selected primary schools.

Some school districts are exploring mentorship to help teachers enact more effective classroom practices that lead to higher student outcomes. The Good to Great study, by the National Network of State Teachers of the Year outlined the professional growth opportunities that state teachers of the year (STOYs) perceived as contributing to their success in the classroom. Although the STOYs noted that mentorship was a key factor, the original study did not examine how different generations of educators may respond differently to mentorship based on their generational cohort identity. The purpose of this nonexperimental, causal-comparative study using Good to Great data was to examine how STOY Baby Boomers and Gen Xers perceived specific attributes of official and unofficial mentorship. Strauss and Howe's generational cohort theory and Zachary's mentoring theory provided the theoretical foundation. The research questions examined whether there was a significant difference between STOY Baby Boomers' and STOY Generation Xers' perceptions of (a) official mentors' and unofficial mentors' levels of empathy, (b) the alignment of personality to the mentee, and (c) their ability to offer support. In a secondary analysis of the existing data, Hotelling's T2 tests indicated that Baby Boomers and Gen Xers did not show a significant difference in their overall perceptions of official nor unofficial mentoring factors. However, a post hoc analysis indicated that Baby Boomers had a significantly higher (p = .01) perception of official mentors' personality alignment to the mentee. The positive social change implication of this study is the potential to increase student learning by designing more effective mentorship programs to meet the needs of different generations of teachers.

Organisationers ökade kompetensbehov på arbetsmarknaden har bemötts med allt mer omfattande onboardingstrategier. Syftet med denna studie var att utveckla kunskap om anställdas upplevelse och erfarenheter av organisationssocialisation. Mer specifikt riktades intresset mot den första delen av organisationssocialisation, nämligen onboardingprocesser. Frågeställningarna bestod av att undersöka vilka erfarenheter anställda har av onboarding samtatt ta reda på vad anställda finner som betydelsefullt i onboardingprocessen för att gå från att vara en outsider till en insider. Den tidigare forskningen har belyst onboarding och väsentliga delar av processen. Delar som mentorer, skuggning, aktivt lärande, gruppövningar och etiska aspekter av onboarding togs upp här. Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt var praxisgemenskaper vilket är en teori om arbetsplatslärande. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av kvalitativmetod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta individers medverkan. Ett bekvämlighetsurval gjordes med individer inom diverse olika branscher och intervjuerna genomfördes till största del via plattformar online. Som analysverktyg för insamlade data användes tematisk analysmetod där olika teman skapades baserat på respondenternas svar på intervjufrågorna. Resultatet av studien bestod av fem skapade teman som namngavs:arbetsplatsintroducerande aktiviteter, formella och informella mentorer, självständighet i arbetsuppgifter, oklarhet kring arbetsuppgifter och avslutningsvis sociala tillhörigheten. Dessa teman var relaterade till frågeställningarna och i analysen gjordes kopplingar till teorin. Vi fann kopplingar i resultatet samt hos våra teman relaterat till praxisgemenskaper, bland annat genom mentorskap, gemenskap och informationsdelning. Studiens slutsats var att respondenterna upplevde att det var viktigt att ha en förståelse och självständighet i sin roll i organisationen. Ytterligare upplevdes en social tillhörighet till övriga kollegor som en väsentlig del för att känna sig som en del av arbetsplatsen. / Organizations increased demand for competence in today’s labor market has been met by more complex onboarding strategies. The purpose of this study was to develop knowledge about employee's experience and realities of organizational socialization. More specifically, the interest was directed towards the first part of organizational socialization, onboarding processes. The questions consisted of examining what experiences employees have of onboarding and finding out what employees sees as significant in the onboarding process to go from being an outsider to an insider? Previous research has highlighted onboarding and essential parts of the process. Elements such as mentoring, shadowing, active learning, group exercises and ethical aspects of onboarding was addressed here. The theory applied on the study was communities of practice, which is a theory of workplace learning. The study was conducted using a qualitative method in the form of semi-structured interviews with the participation of eight individuals. A convenience sampling was made with individuals in various industries and the interviews were conducted mostly via online platforms. As an analysis tool for collected data, a thematic analysis method was used where different themes were created based on the respondents' answers to the interview questions. The result of the study consisted of five created themes that were named: workplace-introducing activities, formal and informal mentors, independence in tasks, tasks being unclear, and finally social affiliation. These themes were related to the questions of the study and in the analysis, these were connected to the theory. We found connections in the results and in our themes related to communities of practice, including mentorship, community and sharing of information. The study concluded that the respondents felt that it was important to have an understanding and independence in their role in the organization. In addition, a social affiliation with other colleagues was perceived as an essential part of feeling part of the workplace.

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Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur nyutexaminerade tandläkare upplever övergången mellan utbildning och yrkesliv samt hur de upplever sin arbetssituation inom Folktandvården. Material och metod: Studien baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer med 13 tandläkare med maximalt tre års yrkeserfarenhet och som efter sin examen hade arbetat inom Folktandvården. Intervjuerna utfördes via Zoom eller via telefon och spelades in med diktafon. Materialet transkriberades, analyserades och sammanställdes sedan.   Resultat: Resultatet presenteras i fem teman: att stå på egna ben, balansera tid med vårdkvalitet, balansera ekonomi med vårdkvalitet, stöttning, trivsel på arbetsplatsen och upplevelser kring yrkesvalet. Resultatet visar att de nyutexaminerade tandläkarna upplevde svårigheter kring att gå från utbildning till yrkesliv. Svårigheterna bestod av att ta eget ansvar, arbeta självständigt, hantera nya arbetsrutiner, hantera ekonomi och brist på tid och stöd.  Slutsats: Nyutexaminerade tandläkare kan uppleva svårigheter när de kommer ut i yrkeslivet. Hur de nyutexaminerade tandläkarna kunde hantera dessa svårigheter berodde dels på hur förberedda tandläkarna kände sig, dels på stöd från mentor eller kollegor. De tandläkare som hade en närvarande och pedagogisk mentor hade lättare att bemästra svårigheter och trivdes i större utsträckning på arbetsplatsen och med sin yrkesroll, än de tandläkare som upplevde stödet som bristande. Studien kan vara av intresse för utbildningsansvariga för tandläkarutbildningen vid lärosäten och chefer i Folktandvården. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how newly graduated dentists experience the transition between education and professional life and how they experience their work situation within Folktandvården.  Material and method: This study is bases on semi-structured interviews with 13 dentists with a maximum of three years’ work experience and who after their degree had worked at Folktandvården. The interviews were conducted via Zoom or by telephone and were recorded with a Dictaphone. The material was transcribed, analyzed and compiled.  Results: The result is presented in five themes: Standing on your own two feet, balancing time with quality-care, balancing finances with quality-care, support, well-being at the workplace, the experiences around the choice of profession. The result show that the newly graduated dentists experienced difficulties in transitioning from education to professional life. The difficulties consisted of taking personal responsibility, working independently, managing new work routines, managing finances and lack of time and support. Conclusion: Newly graduated dentists can experience difficulties when they enter working life. How the newly graduated dentists were able to handle these difficulties depended partly on how prepared the dentists felt, and partly on support from mentors or colleagues. The dentists who had a present and pedagogical mentor had an easier time coping with difficulties and enjoyed themselves to a greater extent in the workplace and their professional role, than the dentists who experienced the support as lacking. The study may be of interest to education managers at dental education institutions and managers at Folktandvården.

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The American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) population is challenged with diverse learning styles, high-risk behaviors, low economic status, low enrollment predictions, lower total education achievement, or lower graduate level higher education. However, AI/AN doctoral degree recipients may be successful due to diverse sources of support. Data from 1992 to 2002 SED was analyzed using Chi square tests to observe the trends of the total number of AI/AN women receiving doctoral degree compared to trends to African-American/Black, Hispanic, Asian, White, Other / Unknown women doctoral degree recipients. A two-way contingency table analysis was conducted to compare the difference in the total number of AI/AN female doctoral degree students with female doctoral degree recipients in other races. The Asian, White, and Other/Unknown were found to be significant in total number of doctoral degree recipients when compared to AI/AN population from 1992 to 2002, year to year. In a follow-up pair wise comparison conducted to evaluate these differences between consecutive years for the groups only the Other/Unknown category was significant. In addition, each race experienced a decline in the total female doctoral degree recipients during 1999 to 2002. However, the AI/AN female doctoral degree recipient group experienced the most drastic decreases, - 26.9 percent from 1999 to 2000. More AI/AN women are enrolled in colleges however they may be inadequately prepared to progress to doctoral programs due to poor availability of sources of support. Therefore, a survey questionnaire was designed to provide descriptive information on sources of social, emotional, academic, and professional support that was available for AI/AN women doctoral degree recipients. On the survey sources of social, emotional, academic, and professional support during graduate school were asked to be selected from: Committee Chair, Committee Member, Graduate Faculty, Graduate Colleagues, Other Faculty, Spouse/partner, Family, Employer, Friend, Tribal Group, Elder, Mentor, or Other. All sources of support that applied were selected, as well as, top three main sources. Forty-six surveys were completed, and the most frequent source (91 percent) and most common primary source (41 percent) of support selected for survey respondents was their Committee Chair. The survey data analysis offers observations of frequencies of this scarcely studied population.