A philosophical and historical review of the evolving and growing definition of democratic education through the writings of John Dewey, Nel Noddings, and Joyce Rothschild was accomplished in a literature review that included commentaries from the works of Jesse Goodman, John Goodlad, Amy Gutmann, Hugh Sockett, Kenneth Strike, and Maxine Greene, and others. The review of literature leads up the to the ethnographic case study of an alternative school that has been in existence for twenty-two years and is a member of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools. As an ethnographic work, I "write the culture" as I find it at Connectionist School with a special interest in the systemic, organic differences between their democratic organization and traditional bureaucratic public and private schools. The study is a contribution to school reform efforts that are directed toward transformation of schools (Goodlad, 1990; Strike, 1993; Sockett, 1993) and emphasizes the need for a pervasive ethic of care (Noddings, 1984, 1992). / Ed. D.

Gamification in formal education aims at increasing students’ engagement, motivation, and interaction in educational platforms. Gamification promotes desired learning behaviors by integrating personal and social elements to create an immersive learning environment. Despite the large number of gamified platforms in the education field, and the potential of gamification, the success is still limited because gamifying formal learning platforms is a challenging process. The success of gamification is largely rooted in the motivational framework of flow experiences. To implement a motivational framework for flow experiences in a formal gamify learning environment, the right guidelines must be implemented. A problem faced by most gamify platforms is the lack of coherent gamification guidelines that educational institutions can employ to enhance student engagement. The purpose of this thesis is to develop comprehensive gamification guidelines covering all pertinent topics to make gamify learning environments engaging for students. The goal of this thesis is to provide a basis for the diversification of education. The results of this thesis will highlight key elements that support student engagement in formal gamify learning environments and this is attained by performing qualitative research studies, reviewing literature on gamification, and refining the research questions into guidelines pertinent to the subject. / Spelifiering inom utbildningen syftar till att öka studenters engagemang, motivation och interaktion på utbildningsplattformar. Spelifiering främjar önskvärda inlärningsbeteenden genom att integrera personliga och sociala element för att skapa en fördjupande lärandemiljö. Trots det stora antalet spelifierade plattformar inom utbildningsområdet och potentialen hos spelifiering är framgången fortfarande begränsad eftersom spelifiera lärande är en utmanande process. Spelifiering har sina rötter i motivationsramverket för flödesupplevelser. Problemet som spelifieringsplattformar står inför är bristen på enhetliga spelifieringsriktlinjer som utbildningsinstitutioner eller spelifieringsdesigners kan använda som modell för att förbättra studenters motivation, engagemang och interaktion. Syftet med denna avhandling är att utveckla en omfattande guide som täcker alla relevanta ämnen för att göra lärandet motiverande, interaktivt och engagerande för studenterna. Att förbättra utbildningen är målet, och detta lägger grunden för utbildningsmångfald. Resultatet av denna avhandling kommer att belysa avgörande element som stöder studenters motivation, deltagande och interaktion. Genom att genomföra kvalitativ forskning, granska litteraturen och förädla forskningsfrågan till riktlinjer som är relevanta för ämnet kommer de önskade resultaten att uppnås.

National reforms, such as the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Common Core State Standards Mathematical Practices (CCSMP), and Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P-21) challenge educators to provide students with dynamic learning experiences that address the needs of learners in today's society. These new standards represent a paradigm shift away from the meticulous content memorization of many state standards, toward more dynamic measures addressing the whole learner. To truly develop the leaders, innovators and thinkers of tomorrow, educators are beginning to look beyond the traditional schoolhouse walls to intertwine intentionally designed non-formal learning experiences within formal education. These non-formal experiences serve to connect seemingly disparate skills and knowledge through real-life, hands-on, minds-on learning. Embracing partnerships with individuals and organizations beyond the classroom fosters an environment seamlessly connecting life, work, and school. Although the importance of student engagement in 21st century skills is at the forefront of current educational reforms, little has been done to assess this engagement. While standards such as Common Core State Standards and NGSS have measures in place for domain-specific 21st century skills, aside from PISA's cross-curricular problem solving test, there are few resources to measure non-domain specific engagement in these skills. Without a viable measure, detractors can argue that the term 21st century skills is meaningless and it distracts students from learning core content. Bridging the divide between skills and content is essential to build support for skills that reach far beyond isolated subject-matter knowledge. Engaging students in these skills through non-formal learning, and measuring the extent of student engagement in these skills will drive the development of future opportunities for students to hone them in creative ways. The purpose of this study was to measure student engagement in 21st century skills while they participate in a non-formal learning experience. Once a viable measurement was developed, it was utilized to measure student percent of engagement in each specific 21st century Learning and Innovation skill (creativity and innovation, critical thinking, problem solving), Life and Career skill (flexibility and adaptability, initiative, self-direction and productivity, leadership, responsibility and accountability), and Socio-Cultural skill (communication and collaboration) while students participated in the intentionally designed non-formal learning experience of orienteering. The study also described what characterizes a viable non-formal learning experience facilitating student engagement in 21st century skills. Analysis of data revealed the non-formal learning experience of orienteering engages students in 21st century Learning and Innovation Skills, Life and Career Skills and Socio-Cultural Skills. Specifically, communication and collaboration, critical thinking skills and initiative, self-direction and productivity comprise the largest student engagement. Engagement in leadership, responsibility and accountability, problem solving, and flexibility and adaptability are also evident. This particular non-formal learning experience facilitates very little student engagement of creativity and innovation. While not generalizable to a larger population, this study confirms that students immersed in a non-formal learning activity will become engaged in essential 21st century skills for school, life and work, therefore, this type of learning is a valuable part of instructional time within the formal instructional day and beyond. / Ph. D.

[pt] Esta dissertação tem como objetivo analisar a experiência da atuação dos educadores voluntários no Pré-vestibular Comunitário Seja Mais (PVC Seja Mais) desenvolvido pela Pastoral Universitária Anchieta (PUA) da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). O Pré-Vestibular Comunitário Seja Mais possui o corpo discente oriundo das classes populares que almejam acesso ao ensino superior, funciona de forma gratuita e com o apoio de professores voluntários que são, em sua maioria estudantes da própria PUC-Rio. Por meio dos objetivos específicos, a pesquisa buscou investigar o significado que o Pré-vestibular Comunitário Seja Mais tem na formação dos educa-dores voluntários; identificar os fatores que motivam os voluntários fazer parte deste projeto, a partir das análises interpretativas das entrevistas feitas com os professores entre os anos 2016 e 2019. Em três eixos principais, a primeira parte traça um histórico da configuração e organização dos pré-vestibulares. Baseado em eixos interdisciplinares discorre sobre a problemática do acesso à educação superior no Brasil. A segunda parte descreve a importância das políticas de ações afirmativas. A terceira parte é dedicada à pesquisa de campo com ênfase nas entrevistas feitas com um grupo heterogêneo de professores voluntários das diversas áreas do saber. Os depoimentos coletados, a partir das entrevistas rea-lizadas com os professores, apresentam pontos relevantes: expectativas e experiências pessoal/profissional obtidas no Pré-vestibular Comunitário Seja Mais; a motivação pela permanência como professores; (re)configuração de cidadania; o incentivo ao trabalho voluntário. / [en] The present dissertation aims to analyze the experience of the volunteer educator s performance in the Seja Mais Community Pre-university Entrance Exam, developed by Pastoral Universitária Anchieta (PUA) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). The Seja Mais Community Pre-university Entrance Examination has a student body from the popular classes that crave access to higher education, it works free of charge and with the support of volunteer teachers who are mostly students from PUC-Rio itself. Through specific objectives, the research sought to investigate the meaning that the Seja Mais Community Pre-university Entrance exam has in the training of volunteer educators; to identify the factors that motivate the volunteers to be part of this project, from the interpretative analyzes of the interviews made with the teachers between the years of 2016 and 2019. The work was divided in three main axes, in the first chapter we trace a history about the configuration and organization of the entrance exams. Based on interdisciplinary axes, we will discuss the issue of access to higher education in Brazil. Second chapter is ded-icated to describing the importance of Affirmative Action policies. The third chapter is dedicated to field research with an emphasis on interviews with a heterogeneous group of volunteer teachers from different areas of knowledge. The testimonies collected from the interviews with teachers present some rele-vant points: personal/professional expectations and experiences obtained in the Seja Mais Community Pre-university Entrance Examination; the motivation to remain as teachers; reconfiguration of citizenship and encouraging voluntary work.

The last decade has seen a shift in the discourse on the role of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the education sector in Africa including Zambia. The discourse is no longer ‘what’ role should NGOs play, but ‘how’ NGOs could play an effective role in the education sector so that they can equally be held accountable to the beneficiaries and partners who support their work (Granvaux, et la, 2002:1). According to Jamies (2010:1), NGOs have assumed a big role in education, particularly the provision of non-formal education to the youths and adults. In the field of evaluation, non-formal education has received much attention, but little attention has been paid to management of non-formal education programmes run by NGOs. This study is an attempt to evaluate the management of non-formal education programmes, taking the case of NGOs engaged in non-formal education in the City of Kitwe, Zambia. Mulwa (2008:45) observes that evaluation has gained much influence in projects and organisations since the end of World War Two. This is because people, organisations and governments want to have evidence of the causes and effects of what is working or not working in policies and programmes. / Adult Basic Education (ABET) / M. Ed. (Specialisation in Adult Education)

The purpose of this study was to explore and describe registered nurse's perceptions with regard to continuing formal education. A quantitative descriptive, explorative research design was used to study registered nurses views with regard to continuing formal education and to identify the barriers to continuing formal education as experienced by registered nurses. Convenience sampling was used to select the research sample of registered nurses working at four state health institutions in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Descriptive statistics, based on calculations using the Microsoft (MS) Excel (for Windows 2000) programme, were used to summarise and describe the research results obtained from the questions completed by the registered nurses. The research results indicated that most registered nurses perceive continuing formal education as beneficial to their personal and professional growth and to improve the quality of patient/client care, but barriers exist which prevent or deter them from undertaking continuing formal education programmes. The main barriers were identified as structural barriers, including lack of funding, job and family responsibilities and lack of coherent staff development planning. / Health Studies / M. A. (Health Studies)

Environmental education (EE) as an approach to all education is needed to be incorporated in all the subjects of the school curriculum. In Namibia, there are Ministerial documents that support the incorporation of education About, In/ Through and For the environment within the curriculum. Even though there are documents that support this, EE continues to suffer barriers that hinder its effective incorporation into the curriculum. The findings reveal that EE in Namibia is incorporated into the traditional environmental subject homes only. The barriers that prevent the incorporation of EE into the Namibian broad curriculum for secondary schools are, amongst others, the lack of adequate teacher education programmes and the lack of interdepartmental collaboration at school level. These barriers and many others have been identified and discussed in detail in this investigation. Measures are recommended to ensure effective incorporation of EE in the Namibian broad curriculum for secondary schools. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Environmental Education)

1 online resource (388 leaves) / This study examines the intersubjectivity of issues related to pastoral formation. It argues that a local theology of pastoral formation in the African context is most transformative when theological education and development are woven together in a synergistic approach. Such a model of local theology can result from a well thought out synergy between educational theories, developmental theories and theology. It is further argued that equipped pastoral leaders and healthy churches are at the heart of the process for holistic transformation. As such, this study proposes a philosophy and praxis that relevantly addresses the intersubjective context of leadership formation in the African context. It intends to challenge the church in Africa to redefine its task and itself in the face of the social problems posed on all levels of African life. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

In my Master thesis, I deal with the impact of educational activities of selected NGOs on the process of migrant children inclusion to the Czech society. The thesis is both theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part deals with the process of immigrant integration and with the role of the governmental and non-profit organizations. A large part is devoted to the migrant children's education and to the difficulties which they have and must overcome. The end of the theoretical part presents the educational activities of selected non-profit organizations, which focus not only on helping migrant children, but also on working with schools and families of the children. The empirical part examines the impact of specific educational activities realized at the community center InBáze on the process of migrant children inclusion to the Czech society. Empirical investigation was done through a questionnaire. I used available Czech, English and American sources during writing this thesis. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

This diploma thesis deals with the development of computational and algorithmic thinking in a non-formal education setting, specifically in the conditions of a summer camp activity, which is one of the forms of non-formal education. The thesis verifies by the pedagogical experiment whether it is possible to develop the computational thinking of camp participants, when unplugged activities are included in the programme content. The theoretical part defines the concepts of computational and algorithmic thinking. It also includes property of unplugged methodology. The practical part evaluates the pedagogical field experiment for which 3 sets of unplugged activities and 2 sets of test tools were created. The experiment took place during two summer camp for children from 9 to 18 years old, who were divided into two age groups for testing purposes. In pursuance of the experiment it was found out that the conditions of summer camp activity allow the inclusion of unplugged activities, which represent a method enabling the development of the computational thinking of the camp participants. Though it emerged that these activities have a bearing only on the participants who are more active during these activities and who are more interested in them. KEYWORDS unplugged activities, computational thinking,...