abstract: For more than 30 years, social science researchers have studied how students in online learning environments interact with each other. This has led to the development of a construct called social presence. Studies have shown that high social presence can lead to improved student retention, engagement, and satisfaction. The literature explores how social presence has been measured by faculty or researchers, but lacks insight on how other university staff can affect social presence in online graduate students. This is an action research mixed-methods study conducted by an academic advisor and attempts to measure social presence through a webpage intervention for an online graduate business program. A pre-and-posttest were conducted in a five month span, as well as semi-structured interviews with students of the program. Results suggest that overall, the intervention did not increase social presence in the program. It also suggests that social presence is developed between students in a variety of ways, and can even be developed between their academic advisor and themselves. Overall, this study acknowledges how academic advisors can explore social presence to improve academic advising techniques and interventions for their programs, while also adding to the literature a different perspective through the eyes of a university staff member. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

The education act (SFS 2010:800) states that only those who have a teacher identity card are authorized to conduct teaching. The preschool curriculum (2018), on the other hand, states that everyone in the work team has a joint responsibility to conduct teaching and at the same time emphasizes the importance of division of work in teaching. According to this, there is a tension and contradiction in the curriculum as it emphasizes both the importance of division of labor and teamwork. Therefore, the objective of this essay aims to investigate how nursery attendants in preschool perceive their role as a teaching educator. The study method is semi-structured interviews. The results of the study showed that the work with teaching was everyone's responsibility, but there was an underlying unspoken uncertainty about the roles and what belongs to each professional role. The study's conclusion shows that the perceived role as a teaching educator is positive and this is mainly due to the fact that nursery attendants feel involved in the work with the teaching. The work with teaching is distributed equally and in this way the differences between nursery attendants and preschool teachers are blurred. / Skollagen (SFS 2010:800) menar att endast de med lärarlegitimation har behörighet att bedriva undervisning. I förskolans läroplan (2018) står det däremot att alla i arbetslaget har ett gemensamt ansvar att bedriva undervisning, samtidigt som vikten av arbetsfördelning betonas gällande undervisningen. Enligt detta ovansagda finns det en spänning och motsägelse i läroplanen då den både betonar vikten av arbetsfördelning och lagarbete. Denna studie har därför i syfte att studera hur barnskötare på förskolan uppfattar sin roll som undervisande pedagog. Empiriinsamlingen har i denna studie således skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med barnskötare. Resultatet i studien visade att arbetet med undervisningen var alla pedagogers ansvar, men det fanns en underliggande outtalad osäkerhet kring yrkesrollerna och det som hör till respektive roll. Studiens slutsats visar att barnskötarnas uppfattning kring rollen som en undervisande pedagog är positiv och detta beror främst på att de känner sig involverade i arbetet med undervisningen. Arbetet med undervisningen fördelas lika och på så sätt suddas skillnaderna mellan barnskötare och förskollärare ut.

En effektiv lärprocess för individen i arbetet är väsentligt för företags utveckling. Startups är företag som befinner sig i ett tidigt skede och karaktäriseras av innovation och en flexibel struktur. Tidigare forskning pekar på att dessa företags möjligheter och förutsättningar för lärande skiljer sig från de hos mer etablerade företag. Entreprenören har en nyckelroll i startups och deras lärande korrelerar med företagets utveckling. Syftet med denna studie är därför att undersöka lärandeaktiviteter för entreprenörer i startups för att öka förståelsen för hur deras lärande sker. För att undersöka syftet används en kvalitativ metod baserad på semistrukturerade intervjuer. Empirin analyseras med stöd av ett teoretiskt ramverk. Den teoretiska referensramen består av formellt samt informellt lärande och de tre läraspekterna situerat, erfarenhetsbaserat och kollektivt. Genom studiens analys identifieras entreprenörers lärande i form av aktiviteter i arbetet. Resultatet pekar på att entreprenörens lärande till stor del sker genom aktiviteter som i första hand fokuserar på företagets överlevnad. / An effective learning process for the individual at work is essential for company development. Startups are companies that are in an early stage and are characterized by innovation and a flexible structure. Previous research indicates that these companies opportunities and conditions for learning differ from those of more established companies. The entrepreneur has a key role in startups and their learning correlates with the company's development. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate learning activities for entrepreneurs in startups to increase the understanding of how their learning takes place. To investigate the purpose, a qualitative method based on semi-structured interviews is used. The empirical material is analyzed with the support of a theoretical framework. The theoretical framework consists of formal and informal learning and the three learning aspects situated, experience-based and collective. Through the study's analysis entrepreneurs learning is identified in the form of work based activities. The results indicate that the entrepreneur's learning largely takes place through activities that primarily focus on the company's survival.

Denna studie handlar om kompetensutvecklingen kring kundbemötande för medarbetare på ett svenskt internationellt företag. Kundbemötande är av betydelse för företag i anseende av marknadsvärde och konkurrens. Det är därför viktigt för företag att dess personal är kompetent när det kommer till kundhantering. Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om kundtjänstmedarbetares kompetens om kundbemötande. Därmed vill studien åskådliggöra hur medarbetarna hanterar kunder samt hur kompetens kring detta tas till vara och utvecklas inom företaget. Studien har reflekterat över angränsande tidigare forskning och har tagit stöd i detta till våra teoretiska utgångspunkter men även metodologiska val. Denna studie använder Tannenbaum, Beard, McNall och Salas (2011) modell för informellt lärande för att illustrera och tolka kundtjänstmedarbetarnas lärandeprocess. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem informanter har använts som datainsamlingsmetod för att komma fram till studiens resultat.  På den observerade arbetsplatsen återger informanterna att de lär sig om kundbemötande främst genom egna erfarenheter med en process som går att tolka som informellt lärande med hjälp av Tannenbaum et al. modell. De beskriver även hur de introduceras till företagets värdegrund vid anställning. Denna skildrar hur företaget vill att medarbetare agerar som medmänniskor. Informanterna menar därför att det finns ett underförstått sätt som företaget vill att kundbemötande ska ske på.

The main assertion in this dissertation is that there is a lack of adequate and appropriate parent involvement in Hlanganani South Schools to make them centres of teaching and learning excellence. The empirical research was conducted in one of the most under-researched and often misunderstood areas of education in South Africa. The purpose was to investigate how effective parent involvement in the schools could improve the learning culture in the Hlanganani schools and their communities. A qualitative investigation of parent involvement in four secondary schools of Hlanganani South was conducted by collecting data through interviews with four school managers (principals), twenty-eight parents and six educators (teachers). The literature that was reviewed focused on the history of parent involvement in the world and South Africa, factors that increase and hinder parent involvement, legislation concerning parent involvement in education and issues involved in education provision to South African rural areas such as Hlanganani South. The research has revealed that the lack of a culture of learning in Hlanganani is influenced by factors such as high unemployment rate, poor socio-economic background, high illiteracy rate, high failure rate of learners, and urbanisation of the area. The investigation further found that there is an urgent need for school managers to acquire knowledge, skills, and strategies for active involvement of parents in schools. The participation of parents in schools needs effective school management strategies, regular communication between parents and schools, and clearly communicated community expectations for the schools. There must be training of School Governing Bodies, educators, and school managers for parent involvement to be effective in the improvement of a learning culture. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Comparative Education)

In this thesis I advocate and evidence ESD through understanding and analysing the ecology of change in educational organisations, in particular Tertiary Education (TE), during the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD, 2005-2014). I draw on my portfolio of research that examined various aspects of the efforts to mainstream ESD during this decade. My publications, which are referred to in this thesis, are based on experience of my own practice as lecturer, educational development manager and advocate of ESD at local, national and global level. My research approach is broadly based on action research principles. I argue that, to fully understand this complex change process, it is necessary to appreciate the role of the underpinning, and often conflicting, values in TE and how they influence the adoption of ESD. I further discuss the influence of both ‘top-down’ approaches, that are expressed in policies and frameworks, and ‘bottom-up’ approaches that are instigated by communities and individuals with special interests. The influence of the learning environment itself is also examined. Lastly, I make the case that the employment of appropriate action research methodologies can help with gaining a better understanding of this process as well as play a part in the process itself.

The work deals with the issues of webinar organizing and synchronous online learning in a virtual classroom. The thesis is divided into two parts, a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part particularly pays attention to ICT and e-learning in the area of adult education and to modern trends in online communication and cooperation. The practical part is focused on the area of synchronous live learning in a virtual classroom and it evaluates the supply situation and the use of webinars in the Czech republic. The practical part also presents author's survey among the teachers in Liberec region. Lastly, it provides the webinar case study and subsequently it discusses and evaluates its progress. The diploma thesis responds to innovation in ICT and contributes to current development and the use of webinars in adult education.

The thesis is devoted to Development education. It focuses mainly on the possibility of inclusion of DE into the formal education with use of active learning techniques. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The theoretical part is made on the basis of the literature covering topic of DE. The practical part describes the schooling concept, which is including the DE into formal education.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:26:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elisangela Deo.pdf: 3582180 bytes, checksum: 740baed1dce10d69df6a49b8310fb468 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-29 / The proposed study aimed to understand how the administrative coordinators of an educational institution learn and maintain their professional skills, strategies to use and what factors act as facilitators or barriers to that learning. The research belongs to the category of mixed methods studies, taking two steps in data collection, the first to use quantitative questionnaire, aimed to identify learning strategies that are used by coordinators and classify them according to use of each strategy; after the classification were selected for the qualitative stage coordinators with higher and lower averages in cognitive and behavioral strategies. The strategies were measured by an instrument created by Pantoja (2004) and adapted by Conte (2011). Individuals surveyed are 60 administrative coordinators of an educational institution, the quantitative data were analyzed by structural equation modeling with partial least squares estimation, the qualitative part was analyzed by the interpretive textual analysis based on Flores (1994). The study enable the understanding of the strategies used by coordinators and also the reason for the use of each strategy. / O estudo proposto teve como objetivo geral compreender como os coordenadores administrativos de uma instituição de ensino aprendem e mantêm suas competências profissionais, que estratégias utilizam e quais fatores funcionam como facilitadores ou barreiras para essa aprendizagem. A pesquisa pertence à categoria de estudos de métodos mistos, tendo duas etapas na coleta de dados, a primeira quantitativa com utilização de questionário, teve a finalidade de identificar as estratégias de aprendizagem que são utilizadas pelos coordenadores e classificá-los de acordo com o uso de cada estratégia; após a classificação, foram selecionados para a etapa qualitativa os coordenadores com maiores e menores médias nas estratégias cognitivas e comportamentais. As estratégias foram mensuradas por um instrumento criado por Pantoja (2004) e adaptado por Conte (2011). Os indivíduos pesquisados são 60 coordenadores administrativos de uma instituição de ensino, os dados da parte quantitativa foram analisados pela modelagem em equações estruturais com estimação por mínimos quadrados parciais, a parte qualitativa foi analisada por meio da análise textual interpretativa baseada em Flores (1994). O estudo possibilitou o entendimento das estratégias mais usadas pelos coordenadores e também da razão que leva ao uso de cada estratégia.

This dissertation aimed to investigate the use of Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) as supportive materials in students&rsquo / learning process. In this respect, a MUVE named Quest Atlantis had been used by students in formal and informal learning settings. The students participated in a project that was developed based on an ecological problem resulted in fish decline in a river. As being a multiple case study research, data were collected from four separate cases, selected from three different places. Specifically, students&rsquo / and teachers&rsquo / perceptions were gathered, and challenges and barriers of implementations were investigated. The research results indicated that most of the students liked learning in environments using MUVEs. Besides being intrinsically motivated towards learning science topics, the students stated that it was a good way of reinforcing what they learn in school settings. Students found MUVEs effective learning environments as it allowed them to learn with active participation / rather than being taught as it usually happens in school context. The teachers had positive opinions about the use of MUVEs. They claimed that MUVEs have the potential to support students&rsquo / learning visually and let students learn through an inquiry-based learning approach with situated information to virtual settings. According to the teachers, MUVEs allowed various skill developments of the students and it created a dynamic learning environment in which students interacted and collaborated with each other. Even though students and teachers have positive perception about the use of MUVEs in learning setting, it is quite challenging to place these applications to learning settings, especially to formal ones. There are numerous challenges and barriers that can be faced with during the implementation process. In this research, the challenges and barriers are grouped under four main categories: 1) teacher related, 2) student related, 3) system related, and 4) technology related. When the implementation results of formal and informal learning setting were compared, it was possible to see how the very dimensions of formal learning settings made the innovative technology-based implementations difficult. On the other hand, informal learning settings were more flexible learning environments allowing a better learning experience for the students.