This licentiate thesis is concerned with the development of appropriate tools and implementation of hybrid e-learning to support science and mathematics education of female students in typical rural advanced-level secondary schools. In Uganda few rural female students participate in technology and engineering education in tertiary institutions because they perform poorly in science and mathematics subjects at advanced secondary school level of education. Rural secondary schools in Uganda are usually very poor and financially constrained schools. Generally, such schools have non-functional science laboratories and libraries. They also have difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified science and mathematics teachers, especially at advanced level of secondary education. The financial situations of the schools make capital investments in science infrastructures like laboratories and libraries impossible. Fortunately, such schools can afford to acquire computers preferably with multimedia capabilities. Hybrid e-learning can be introduced in such disadvantaged schools to support science and mathematics education. The main delivery tools under hybrid e-learning are the CD-ROMs due to their superior advantages over other portable storage devices: big memory capacity, high data transfer rate, multimedia capability and widespread standardization. Used computers with inferior capabilities that are being sold to rural schools cheaply are not useful for educational purposes. The cost of acquisition is low but the total cost of ownership is extremely high. The costs of Internet installation, bandwidth, commercial platforms and web-hosting make introduction of pure e-learning in Ugandan schools not viable, even in educationally elite secondary schools. Hybrid elearnin is the only realistic option in the complex financial situation of Ugandan secondary schools. Experience has shown that where there is Internet presence for use in education, open source web-hosting providers and open source platforms must be used. They are cheap and affordable even by poor rural secondary schools. Hybrid e-learning tools were developed to support such Ugandan schools using participatory methodology. The thesis is organized in three parts. Part I consists of six chapters including background information, concept discussions, problem statement, research questions, objectives of the study and research location. A justification of the use of participatory methodology in the research is also made in part I. Part II includes the four papers upon which the thesis is based. Part III contains a brief summary of the papers, conclusions and future research.

This licentiate thesis presents the use of participatory approach to developing a data warehouse for data mining in health care. Uganda is one of the countries that faced the largest brunt of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at its inception in the early 1980s with reports of close to a million deaths. Government and nongovernmental interventions over the years saw massive reductions in HIV prevalence rates over the years. This reduction in HIV prevalence rates led to great praises by the international community and a call for other countries to model Uganda’s approach to battling the epidemic. In the last decade the reduction in HIV prevalence rates have stagnated and in some cases increased. This has lead to a call for reexamination of the HIV/AIDS fight with an emphasis on collective efforts of all approaches. One of these collective efforts is the introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for those already infected with the virus. Antiretroviral therapy has numerous challenges in Uganda not least of which is the cost of the therapy especially on a developing country with limited resources. It is estimated that of the close to 1 million infected in Uganda only 300,000 are on antiretroviral therapy (UNAIDS, 2009). Additional challenges of the therapy includes following through a treatment regimen that is prescribed. Given the costs of the therapy and the limited number of people able to access the therapy it is imperative that this effort be as effective as possible. This research hinges on using data mining techniques with monitoring HIV patient’s therapy, most specifically their adherence to ART medication. This is crucial given that failure to adhere to therapy means treatment failure, virus mutation and huge losses in terms of costs incurred in administering the therapy to the patients. A system was developed to monitor patient adherence to therapy, by using a participatory approach of gathering system specification and testing to ensure acceptance of the system by the stakeholders. Due to the cost implications of over the shelf software the development of the system was implemented using open source software with limited license costs. These can be implemented in resource constrained settings in Uganda and elsewhere to assist in monitoring patients in HIV therapy. A algorithm that is used to analyze the patient data warehouses for information on and quickly assists therapists in identifying potential risks such as non-adherence and treatment failure. Open source dimensional modeling tools power architect and DB designer were used to model the data warehouse using open source MYSQL database. The thesis is organized in three parts with the first part presenting the background information, the problem, justification, objectives of the research and a justification for the use of participatory methodology. The second part presents the papers, on which this research is based and the final part contains the summary discussions, conclusions and areas for future research. The research is sponsored by SIDA under the collaboration between Makerere University and Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Sweden.

Diante do fenômeno de consumo de drogas por crianças e adolescentes, ações de prevenção em escolas têm sido objeto de diversos estudos e programas com o intuito de descobrir estratégias viáveis para sua aplicação. A proximidade e convivência do professor com os estudantes implicam na sua consideração como responsável por essas abordagens ao tema drogas na escola, o que vem ocorrendo através de ações pontuais, em que o tema é tratado com superficialidade. Em face desta realidade, este estudo objetiva compreender e explicar os elementos que atuam nas concepções dos educadores e influenciam na prevenção ao uso de drogas na escola. Inserida no paradigma crítico, realizamos uma pesquisa com metodologia qualitativa, tendo como participantes 17 educadores de instituição escolar pública. Coletamos as informações a partir da: inserção na escola, mediante observação participante e registro em diário de campo; entrevistas semiestruturadas audiogravadas; e discussões em grupo focal com base na metodologia de solução de problemas, a partir de caso fictício. No processo de análise, utilizamos a modalidade temática, para análise segundo o paradigma humanista aliado à promoção da saúde. Durante toda a pesquisa, seguimos os requisitos éticos para pesquisa com seres humanos, tendo atenção especial à confidencialidade. Expomos os resultados em cinco categorias dispostas em três grandes temas que apresentam os níveis de conscientização do educador acerca da presença de drogas na escola e de sua prevenção. O primeiro tema, \"Realidade vivenciada conduz à descrença\" aborda o estado de intransitividade da consciência, típico da situação de imersão no contexto e adaptação pelo educador se perceber incapaz de mudar a realidade. O segundo tema, \"Justificativas para o não envolvimento\", refere-se à fase seguinte da tomada de consciência, na qual o educador assume uma percepção ingênua acerca das causas que justificam o envolvimento de alunos com drogas. E, o terceiro tema, \"Possibilidades de prevenção dos alunos revela esperança\", aborda acerca do estado de consciência crítica. Existe um processo de transferência de responsabilidade do problema, seja este o aluno-problema ou o problema de realizar as ações de prevenção ao uso de drogas. Desse modo, concluímos que as ações de prevenção ao uso de drogas estão vinculadas a como o educador e o aluno se percebem nessa relação: como objetos, existe entre ambos uma situação de opressão que inviabiliza a efetividade das ações; todavia, enquanto sujeitos, a relação entre educador e aluno possibilita o diálogo e o respeito necessários à prática da prevenção, permitindo o desenvolvimento da autonomia crítica / Due to children and adolescents drug use\'s phenomenon, preventive actions in schools have been subject of several studies and programs in order to find viable strategies for its application. The proximity and interaction of teachers with students cause their consideration as responsible for discussing about drugs at school, what is happening through few actions, in which the topic has been approached superficially. Therefore, this study aims to comprehend and explain the elements that affect the educators\' conceptions and influence the preventive actions on drug use at school. According to the critical paradigm, we have performed a qualitative research with 17 teachers of a public school as participants. We have collected data from: fieldwork through participant observation and written field notes; semi-structured and audio recorded interviews; and focus group discussions based on problem solving methodology aided with a vignette. In the process of analysis we have used the thematic modality to interpret data according to the humanist paradigm combined with health promotion. During all this study, we have followed the ethical requirements for research on human subjects. Here we present the results in five categories organized into three main themes that show the conscientization\'s levels of teachers about the existence of drug at school and its prevention. The first theme, \"Experienced reality leads to disbelief\" addresses the state of consciousness\' intransitivity, which is common in a situation of educator\'s immersion and adaptation with a circumstance. The second theme, \"Reasons to no involvement\" refers to the next stage of consciousness, in which the teacher takes a naive perception of the causes that justify involvement of students with drugs. In addition, the third theme, \"Students\' preventive possibilities reveal hope\" is grounded on the concept of possibility. We conclude that the problem is being transferred, which can be the student-problem or the problem of carrying out actions to prevent drug use. And the drug use prevention relates to how teacher and student realize themselves in their relationship: if as objects, there is between them one oppressive situation that undermines the actions\' effectiveness; on the other hand, as human beings, the relationship between teacher and student enables dialogue and respect, which are necessary to practice prevention and provide opportunities to develop a critical autonomy

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-31T13:15:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 JoseWCC_DISSERT.pdf: 1769454 bytes, checksum: 1e839eb2fbc3232874eb8013b7cd6e12 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-08-30 / Agroecology has emerged as a new paradigm supporting transition processes to more sustainable farming styles. The application of agroecology principles in the family farming has caused a series of transformations in agroecosystems and in various dimensions of family farming. Aiming to study the impacts of Agroecology in the family farming, it was done a study that was based on experiences in rural settlements of Rio Grande do Norte/RN (Brazil), between June, 2009 and June, 2010. The methodology was based on the interpretation of reality through the protagonists´ experiences, the interaction of these subjects with the author knowledge and the theoretical available about this topic. The main techniques were: the semistructured dialogue with a total of 20 interviews; the diagram of impact; the records and observations did in loco , through visits to the experiments; the photographic records made by the author or other individuals involved in the process; as well as the analysis of reports, publications and other institutional archives of the partner entities. The use of Agroecology principles by the family farming has been changing, in many ways, since the relationship between the farmers with their Agroecosystems, providing food production, creating new ways for marketing and income generation, until the overcoming of sexist attitudes on gender relations in family farming, reflecting in the sustainable use of biodiversity, preservation of culture and construction of new knowledge, increasing the production of healthier foods, the construction of autonomy in relation to chemical inputs, the increasing of incomes and the affirmation of new values that are articulated with other flags, as the Agrarian Reform, the Feminism and the Solidary Economy. / A Agroecologia surge como um novo paradigma apoiando processos de transição para estilos de agricultura mais sustentáveis. A aplicação dos princípios da Agroecologia na agricultura familiar tem causado uma série de transformações nos agroecossistemas e nas diversas dimensões da agricultura familiar. Objetivando estudar os impactos da Agroecologia na agricultura familiar, foi realizado um estudo que teve por base as experiências desenvolvidas em assentamentos rurais do Rio Grande do Norte, durante o período de Junho de 2009 a Junho de 2010. A metodologia teve como tripé a interpretação da realidade através dos protagonistas das experiências, a interação do conhecimento desses sujeitos com o do autor e o referencial teórico disponível sobre a temática. As principais técnicas utilizadas foram: o diálogo semi-estruturado, num total de 20 entrevistas; o diagrama de impacto; as observações e registros feitos in loco , através das visitas às experiências; os registros fotográficos feitos pelo próprio autor ou por outros sujeitos envolvidos no processo; bem como análise de relatórios, publicações e demais arquivos institucionais das entidades parceiras. A utilização dos princípios da Agroecologia pela agricultura familiar tem modificado, de formas diversas, a relação entre os agricultores e agricultoras com seus agroecossistemas, da produção de alimentos a criação de novos caminhos para comercialização, geração de renda, até a superação de posturas machistas nas relações de gênero na agricultura familiar, tendo reflexo no uso sustentável da biodiversidade, na preservação da cultura e construção de novos saberes, no aumento da produção de alimentos mais saudáveis, na construção da autonomia em relação aos insumos químicos, no aumento de renda e na afirmação de novos valores que se articulam com outras bandeiras, como a Reforma Agrária, o Feminismo e a Economia Solidária.

Diante do fenômeno de consumo de drogas por crianças e adolescentes, ações de prevenção em escolas têm sido objeto de diversos estudos e programas com o intuito de descobrir estratégias viáveis para sua aplicação. A proximidade e convivência do professor com os estudantes implicam na sua consideração como responsável por essas abordagens ao tema drogas na escola, o que vem ocorrendo através de ações pontuais, em que o tema é tratado com superficialidade. Em face desta realidade, este estudo objetiva compreender e explicar os elementos que atuam nas concepções dos educadores e influenciam na prevenção ao uso de drogas na escola. Inserida no paradigma crítico, realizamos uma pesquisa com metodologia qualitativa, tendo como participantes 17 educadores de instituição escolar pública. Coletamos as informações a partir da: inserção na escola, mediante observação participante e registro em diário de campo; entrevistas semiestruturadas audiogravadas; e discussões em grupo focal com base na metodologia de solução de problemas, a partir de caso fictício. No processo de análise, utilizamos a modalidade temática, para análise segundo o paradigma humanista aliado à promoção da saúde. Durante toda a pesquisa, seguimos os requisitos éticos para pesquisa com seres humanos, tendo atenção especial à confidencialidade. Expomos os resultados em cinco categorias dispostas em três grandes temas que apresentam os níveis de conscientização do educador acerca da presença de drogas na escola e de sua prevenção. O primeiro tema, \"Realidade vivenciada conduz à descrença\" aborda o estado de intransitividade da consciência, típico da situação de imersão no contexto e adaptação pelo educador se perceber incapaz de mudar a realidade. O segundo tema, \"Justificativas para o não envolvimento\", refere-se à fase seguinte da tomada de consciência, na qual o educador assume uma percepção ingênua acerca das causas que justificam o envolvimento de alunos com drogas. E, o terceiro tema, \"Possibilidades de prevenção dos alunos revela esperança\", aborda acerca do estado de consciência crítica. Existe um processo de transferência de responsabilidade do problema, seja este o aluno-problema ou o problema de realizar as ações de prevenção ao uso de drogas. Desse modo, concluímos que as ações de prevenção ao uso de drogas estão vinculadas a como o educador e o aluno se percebem nessa relação: como objetos, existe entre ambos uma situação de opressão que inviabiliza a efetividade das ações; todavia, enquanto sujeitos, a relação entre educador e aluno possibilita o diálogo e o respeito necessários à prática da prevenção, permitindo o desenvolvimento da autonomia crítica / Due to children and adolescents drug use\'s phenomenon, preventive actions in schools have been subject of several studies and programs in order to find viable strategies for its application. The proximity and interaction of teachers with students cause their consideration as responsible for discussing about drugs at school, what is happening through few actions, in which the topic has been approached superficially. Therefore, this study aims to comprehend and explain the elements that affect the educators\' conceptions and influence the preventive actions on drug use at school. According to the critical paradigm, we have performed a qualitative research with 17 teachers of a public school as participants. We have collected data from: fieldwork through participant observation and written field notes; semi-structured and audio recorded interviews; and focus group discussions based on problem solving methodology aided with a vignette. In the process of analysis we have used the thematic modality to interpret data according to the humanist paradigm combined with health promotion. During all this study, we have followed the ethical requirements for research on human subjects. Here we present the results in five categories organized into three main themes that show the conscientization\'s levels of teachers about the existence of drug at school and its prevention. The first theme, \"Experienced reality leads to disbelief\" addresses the state of consciousness\' intransitivity, which is common in a situation of educator\'s immersion and adaptation with a circumstance. The second theme, \"Reasons to no involvement\" refers to the next stage of consciousness, in which the teacher takes a naive perception of the causes that justify involvement of students with drugs. In addition, the third theme, \"Students\' preventive possibilities reveal hope\" is grounded on the concept of possibility. We conclude that the problem is being transferred, which can be the student-problem or the problem of carrying out actions to prevent drug use. And the drug use prevention relates to how teacher and student realize themselves in their relationship: if as objects, there is between them one oppressive situation that undermines the actions\' effectiveness; on the other hand, as human beings, the relationship between teacher and student enables dialogue and respect, which are necessary to practice prevention and provide opportunities to develop a critical autonomy

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-02-17T18:59:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 jenifferdesouzafaria.pdf: 2092214 bytes, checksum: e1ecb0657bad81fb647ad61f4bf88e0f (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-02-26T13:19:31Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 jenifferdesouzafaria.pdf: 2092214 bytes, checksum: e1ecb0657bad81fb647ad61f4bf88e0f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-26T13:19:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 jenifferdesouzafaria.pdf: 2092214 bytes, checksum: e1ecb0657bad81fb647ad61f4bf88e0f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-04-29 / Imersa em um Projeto de Pesquisa que propiciou processos educativos em Educação Ambiental, a presente pesquisa procurou compreender de que forma tais ações educativas tocaram os sujeitos envolvidos. Assim, tivemos como objetivo apontar os desafios e as possibilidades/potencialidades de um processo de construção metodológica para Programas de Educação Ambiental no licenciamento, a partir de um relato de experiência. As premissas teórico-metodológicas que embasaram a presente pesquisa pautam-se na perspectiva crítica, emancipatória de Educação Ambiental, atrelada ao seu desenvolvimento metodológico de forma participativa em Projetos e Programas executados no decorrer de um licenciamento ambiental. Ao utilizar como estratégia metodológica a pesquisa qualitativa do tipo etnográfica, ou seja, uma adaptação da etnografia quando o foco refere-se aos estudos dos processos educativos, pudemos observar, narrar e analisar alguns elementos os quais julgamos pertinentes na constituição da proposta metodológica que se pretende construir. Dentre os principais aspectos levantados, podemos apontar o tempo como principal desafio na implementação de um PEA. Apesar disso, inúmeras foram as possibilidades propiciadas como aprender, refletir, questionar, participar, conhecer a própria realidade, assim como descobrir potencialidades locais a relação que os sujeitos estabelecem com o lugar onde vivem e as lideranças locais organizadas e relacionadas a grupos religiosos. Tais aspectos se configuram como um forte aliado para compreender os motivos que levaram as pessoas a darem prosseguimento, ou não, ao movimento empreendido pelo PEA e comprovar em que medida as estratégias participativas são condizentes com a realidade dos sujeitos prioritários envolvidos e os objetivos de proposta emancipatória e crítica de Educação Ambiental implementada no decorrer de um licenciamento. / Immersed in a research project that provided education in environmental education processes, this research sought to understand how these educational activities have approached the subjects involved. So we had to point out the challenges and opportunities / potential of a methodological process of construction for Environmental Education Programs in licensing from an experience report. The theoretical and methodological premises that supported this research are guided in a critical perspective. Also, emancipatory Environmental Education is linked to its methodological development in a participatory manner in Projects and Programs implemented over an environmental license. By using the methodological strategy of ethnographic qualitative research style, it means an adaptation of ethnography when the focus refers to studies of educational processes. It was possible to observe and analyze some elements which is believed to be methodological relevant to this proposal. Among the main aspects pointed, it was identified at the time as the main challenge in implementing the EEP. However, many possibilities such as learning, reflecting, questioning, participating, and meeting reality itself were experienced. And even discovering local potential as the relationship that subjects have with the place where they live and organized local leaderships and related to religious groups. Such aspects are configured as a strong ally to understand the reasons which led people to continue or not the movement undertaken by the EEP. And also to demonstrate the extent to which a participatory approach is consistent with the reality of the people involved and the goals of emancipatory proposal and criticism of Environmental Education in implementing an EEP in licensing.

The purpose of this descriptive and exploratory study was to obtain insight into collaborative partnership trends between educational psychology researchers and teachers, in order to inform participatory theory and practice in future methodology studies. The Community of Practice Framework theoretically framed the study, describing professional communities and the way in which meanings, beliefs and understandings are negotiated and reflected in communal practices. Five symposium and two reflection session presentations were purposefully selected and transcribed for qualitative content analysis in terms of a trend analysis. Findings indicate that collaborative partnerships between educational psychology researchers and teachers differ from other partnerships in that collaborative partnerships between teachers and educational psychology researchers appear to be directed by an overarching philosophy of “care”. Also, collaborative partnership studies between teachers and educational psychology researchers favour methodologies encouraging participation in identifying and addressing school-community issues. In this way, knowledge exchange and the co-creation of knowledge is promoted. These partnerships focus on how education, as well as teacher and learner experiences can be enhanced and be meaningful, rewarding, enabling and supportive. Finally, benefits and challenges in collaborative partnerships between teachers and educational psychology researchers are similar to those experienced by other professionals participating in collaborative partnerships. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T15:27:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Flavio Pereira Diniz.pdf: 691928 bytes, checksum: 95066f9ce29e7a1301600c0ed10dfe07 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-03-27 / This work presents the results of an investigation, which had as its objective understand the building and development process of an academic extension conception defined and required as a potential instrument for social public policies. The information sources defined for the research were textual materials produced within the Brazilian Public Universities Extension Pro-Rectors Forum (EXPROFOR); documents from the Academic Extension Programme of Education Ministry (PROEXT/EM); texts from Extension Projects Methodology Seminar (EPMSEM) and reports of experiences presented on the Academic Extension Brazilian Congress (AEBC). The theoretical background comes from elements of Bakhtin s enunciation theory, highlighting this author s ideology and dialogism concepts. The results of the research indicate the existence of an imbrication between the guidelines elaborated by EXPROFOR and the financial policy of PROEXT/EM which, associated to the contributions in the methodological field and reports of extension experiences, elucidate the main characteristics of academic extension as an instrument of public policy. / Este trabalho apresenta os resultados de uma investigação que teve como objetivo compreender o processo de construção e desenvolvimento de uma determinada concepção de extensão universitária, definida e requerida como potencial instrumento de políticas públicas sociais. As fontes de informação definidas para a pesquisa foram materiais textuais produzidos no âmbito do Fórum de Pró-Reitores de Extensão das Universidades Públicas Brasileiras (FORPROEX), documentos do Programa de Extensão Universitária do Ministério da Educação (PROEXT/MEC), textos do Seminário de Metodologias para Projetos de Extensão (SEMPE) e relatos de experiências apresentados no Congresso Brasileiro de Extensão Universitária (CBEU). O aporte teórico e metodológico fundamenta-se em elementos da teoria da enunciação de Bakhtin, com destaque para os conceitos de ideologia e dialogismo neste autor. Nesta perspectiva, a contextualização e interposição dos materiais textuais pesquisados foram fundamentais para o êxito deste estudo. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam a existência de uma imbricação entre as diretrizes elaboradas pelo FORPROEX e a política de financiamento do PROEXT/MEC que, associada às contribuições no campo metodológico e relatos de experiências extensionistas, elucida as principais características daextensão universitária como instrumento de política pública.