Dieser Beitrag reflektiert den E-Learning-Einsatz in der postgradualen Weiterbildung aus der Perspektive des hochschulübergreifenden Strategie- und Unterstützungsprojektes Q2P (Qualitätssicherung und Qualitätsmanagement in der postgradualen Weiterbildung). Ausgehend von der regionalen Bestandsaufnahme hinsichtlich der E-Learning-Nutzung im akademischen Weiterbildungsbereich werden die Zielstellungen und Leistungsbereiche des Projekts vorgestellt. Die zentralen Projekterfahrungen werden in Form von begründeten Hypothesen präsentiert und sollen somit das gegenwärtige und zukünftige Handlungsfeld von E-Learning- und Weiterbildungsakteuren bereichern.

The thesis draws on a mixed-methods study which empirically and theoretically investigates the ways in which postgraduate students engage in collaborative learning activities facilitated by technology. The research is both significant and distinct in its approach towards understanding how learners engage in real-life computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) settings; what enables or hinders learner engagement; and how engagement shapes the learning outcomes. The ensuing findings indicate that learner engagement is embodied in human behaviour, emotions, and reflection and therefore it is described as a multi-dimensional concept. Learner engagement also appears to be a socially distributed phenomenon – rather than a stable student characteristic – influenced by various personal, group-level, and other situational factors, the most prominent of which are captured by the Hierarchical Model of Enablers and Barriers. The study also reveals that learner engagement presupposes purposeful interaction which is presented as an integrative theme capturing the impact of pedagogical design on engagement. Another observation is that particular combinations of student actions, perspectives, and characteristics tend to resurface and therefore may be considered as strong predictors of potential engagement (or disengagement). This finding led to the development of the WISE Taxonomy of Learner Engagement Archetypes which portrays the most universal engagement approaches that emerged within the studied context. Finally, findings seem to suggest that the way students envisage their learning outcomes is driven by the engagement approach each student adopts, and vice-versa. When combined, the proposed model, taxonomy, and conceptualisation of learner engagement collectively define a holistic analytical framework labelled Distributed Engagement Theory. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to explore, understand, and subsequently explain learner engagement aiming at making an original contribution to existing CSCL literature as well as informing the design of pedagogical models for enhancing learner engagement in CSCL environments within postgraduate education.

Thesis (Ph.D.), Faculty of Humanities, School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009 / People who hold doctoral degrees are considered valuable national resources able to produce knowledge to address pressing problems, and important sources of labour for the higher education sector. However, in 2006, only 1100 people graduated with doctoral degrees in South Africa. This limits the potential for research and improvements in higher education. In addition, 618 of those graduates were white, making it difficult to address equity concerns. Within the higher education sector there are debates about how to increase enrolments in doctoral education and the best way to run PhD programmes for effective learning, high quality research results and for efficiency. But there is little South African-based empirical research into what makes people undertake PhDs, how the programmes work and what learning and knowledge result. This study explores how different stakeholders – national and institutional policymakers, academic staff and doctoral people – understand the PhD; how these understandings influence the practice of doctoral education; and how different practices affect the PhD experience and the learning and knowledge produced. The primary research question I address is: “How do existing models and pedagogies of doctoral programmes shape the learning of doctoral people and the outcomes of doctoral programmes in South Africa?” The origins of the Doctor of Philosophy degree are often traced back to the nineteenth century reforms of German universities when the idea emerged that all scholars should be actively involved in research. But this is a simplistic view. By examining the evolution of the PhD in greater depth, it becomes clear that it has undergone continuous change and has always served both the high-minded pursuit of knowledge and the more prosaic pursuit of skills for employment. The literature reflects ongoing tension between the scholarly view of the PhD as knowledge generation by an emerging scholar, and the labour market view of the PhD as developing high-level research skills. In the South African context both of these views can be observed, but I also identified a view of the PhD as ongoing personal development through an engagement with knowledge. The three views of the PhD are underpinned by different discourses which inform the practice of doctoral education. In South Africa, the traditional model of individual supervision dominates, and it varies by discipline, department and supervisor. But patterns of practice can be discerned and I identify four of these and discuss how supervisors construct their individual supervision practice. Doctoral education is also a function of the people who do PhDs. Much of the research undertaken in the overdeveloped world focuses on younger people who are starting out on academic careers. However, in South Africa, many people doing PhDs are older and midway through careers which are often not academic. This leads me to propose a model of intersecting contexts, as an alternative to McAlpine and Norton‟s nested context model of doctoral education, which more accurately reflects the local situation. I discuss the PhD experience and make use of the intersecting contexts model to develop the notion of congruence between the PhD, the contexts and the PhD person with more positive experiences being related to higher degrees of congruence. Finally, I consider how the outcomes of doctoral education, the learning and knowledge which result, relate to the expectations of the different stakeholders. The research took the form of a qualitative study with a multiple case-study design employing theoretical replication. I examined doctoral education in four academic units at three South African universities with the units selected to represent different disciplines. All four units were in previously advantaged universities from the English-speaking tradition and all were successfully producing PhD graduates. These rich pictures of how doctoral education takes place contribute empirical evidence to current debates about the PhD in South Africa. At a conceptual level I identify the competing discourses about what a PhD is. I provide a more nuanced understanding of the practice of doctoral education within the overarching model of individual supervision. The intersecting contexts model provides a way to understand the expectations and circumstances of doctoral people and the notion of congruence illuminates their varied experiences. Finally, the study confirms that the outcomes of doctoral education, in terms of learning and knowledge generated, meet at least some of the expectations of policy-makers, supervisors and people who do PhDs.

A emergência de resistências bacterianas, principalmente quando associadas ao ambiente hospitalar, representa, mundialmente, um problema de saúde pública. A diversidade de mecanismos de resistências configura um desafio terapêutico e a escolha de antibióticos deve ser individualizada e baseada em antibiogramas locais. O laboratório de microbiologia representa um apoio estratégico para o rápido diagnóstico das doenças infecciosas e deve funcionar com sistemas de alerta para informar a comunidade médica sobre novos mecanismos de resistência bacteriana. O objetivo deste estudo foi estruturar e aplicar um curso de extensão universitária em microbiologia clínica por meio de teleducação interativa para capacitação de profissionais. O conteúdo científico foi definido em função das competências associadas à prática laboratorial. O curso foi estruturado em onze módulos divididos em três semestres, sendo 70% a distância, 22% presencial e 8% do tempo dedicado a monografia, como modelo misto, com ambientes de aprendizagem a distância e presencial integrados. Em todos os módulos foram propostos estudo a distância, tarefas para o estímulo à pesquisa bibliográfica (revisão de artigos e questionários) e aulas presenciais, teóricas e práticas. O grupo de alunos foi composto por 28 participantes com perfil diversificado, médicos e microbiologistas, originários de vinte cidades brasileiras diferentes. Dois dos motivos para a participação dos alunos foi a flexibilidade do tempo e local de estudo, reduzindo a ausência do seu local de trabalho. O desempenho demonstrado pelo grupo durante o curso foi satisfatório. Após um ano do término do curso foi realizada uma visita ao ambiente de trabalho dos alunos para correlação do seu desempenho no curso com as mudanças realizadas na prática da rotina microbiológica. Houve uma diferença significativa entre os índices de mudanças nas práticas microbiológicas realizadas nos locais de trabalho dos alunos, antes e depois da sua participação no curso, sendo que 76,9% dos procedimentos verificados foram modificados. Na avaliação subjetiva, os participantes informaram que o curso promoveu mudanças comportamentais e que voltariam a se matricular em um modelo educacional semelhante. A qualificação profissional estimulou a autonomia profissional. O uso de tecnologias interativas permitiu a participação de profissionais de diversas regiões do país, representando uma alternativa para inovação do processo de ensino em microbiologia clínica. O resultado deste estudo indica perspectivas para a consolidação do uso da teleducação interativa para criação de programas de educação continuada / The emergence of bacterial resistance, especially when associated with the hospital environment, represents a worldwide public health problem. The diversity of resistance mechanisms forms an important therapeutic challenge, and the selection of antibiotics should be individualized and based on local and institutional antibiograms. Microbiology laboratories represent a strategic support for a fast diagnosis of infectious disease to notify the medical community about new mechanisms of resistance. This study aimed to design and implement an academic extension course in clinical microbiology via interactive tele-education for training of professionals. The scientific content was defined according to competencies associated with laboratory practices. The course was structured in eleven modules divided into three semesters: 70% distance learning, 22% on campus (mixed model with distance learning environments and integrated presence) and 8% monographs. All the modules have been proposed for remote study, to present tasks for the investigation of the literature (review articles and questionnaires), as well as for the on-campus classroom, from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The group of students was composed of 28 physicians and microbiologists with diverse profiles from 20 Brazilian cities. Two reasons students gave for their participation were the need for scheduling flexibility and the need for a place to learn that would not require absence from their place of work. The performance demonstrated by the group during the course was satisfactory. A year after finishing the course, visits were made to the students work environments to correlate performance with the changes made in routine microbiological practice. A significant difference was found between the rates of change in microbiological practices conducted in the workplaces of the students before and after their participation in the course; 76.9% of modified procedures were verified. In subjective evaluation, the participants reported that the course promoted behavioral changes and that they would return to enroll in a similar educational model. The qualification stimulated professional autonomy. The use of interactive technologies allowed the participation of professionals from various regions of the country, representing an alternative to the innovation of teaching in clinical microbiology. The results indicate prospects for the consolidation of the use of interactive tele-education to create programs of continuing education

In this dissertation I study the labor market behavior of sciences and engineering (S&E) doctorates trained and employed in the US. The first essay is an empirical study of task-to-task transitions based on the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (1973-2001). It first assesses the relevance of the careers of doctorates to S&E in general, and research and development (R&D) in particular. Second, it evaluates the participation rates and mobility patterns of doctorates in careers of different types using a transition model with independent competing risks. The second essay extends the empirical framework described above and specifies a dynamic model of occupational choices with symmetric learning about one of the task- specific abilities and dependence on past performance to explain the empirical career patterns described in the first essay. The predictions of the model are used to evaluate the effects of two counterfactual experiments on the supply of research skill. The third essay studies geographic choices for first employment of doctorates using the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) 1957-2005. Decisions of Americans, Canadians, and third country nationals to stay in the US after their PhD versus moving to Canada are compared. Individual characteristics and differences in political and economic conditions and career opportunities in the US versus Canada are evaluated to explain the observed differences in the choice of location. / Thesis (Ph.D, Economics) -- Queen's University, 2009-08-31 11:33:27.809

This thesis presents a critical analysis of the dilemmas of doing a PhD in the social sciences from the perspective of discursive psychology. It aims to contribute to qualitative studies of higher education, especially work in the sociology of education on social science doctoral research and training, and discourse analytic work on the dilemmas of education. It argues that there is a crucial bias in the literature on doctoral study. Much of the theory and research on doing a doctorate has been written and carried out by doctoral supervisors and established academic researchers, rather than doctoral students themselves. As a result, researchers have tended to study supervisor rather than student dilemmas and have left certain gaps in their studies, including the experiential dimensions of doctoral research, the discursive construction of postgraduate identities, and the patterns of ideology and power at play in doctoral student life. The present doctorate on doing a doctorate attempts to fill in these gaps, and at the same time introduces a distinctive critical, discursive, and reflexive take on postgraduate education. Detailed discourse analyses are carried out of in-depth semistructured interviews with PhD students in various psychology and social science departments in the United Kingdom. The analysis pays attention to the conversational, rhetorical, and ideological patterning of doctoral postgraduate discourse. In particular, it concerns the academic identity work done by the postgraduates, the ways in which they manage particular interactional, selfpresentational, and ideological dilemmas in their talk, and the different forms of power that are at play as they carry out their doctorates. In addition, a form of practical, analytic reflexivity is developed in the thesis, whereby the authors' own methodological and interviewing practices are analysed, along with text of the thesis itself. The general argument is that the topic of postgraduate academic identity proves a good case study for the investigation of some of the hidden dynamics of power, as well as the use of wider ideological values, in the construction of identities in contemporary institutional settings.

A emergência de resistências bacterianas, principalmente quando associadas ao ambiente hospitalar, representa, mundialmente, um problema de saúde pública. A diversidade de mecanismos de resistências configura um desafio terapêutico e a escolha de antibióticos deve ser individualizada e baseada em antibiogramas locais. O laboratório de microbiologia representa um apoio estratégico para o rápido diagnóstico das doenças infecciosas e deve funcionar com sistemas de alerta para informar a comunidade médica sobre novos mecanismos de resistência bacteriana. O objetivo deste estudo foi estruturar e aplicar um curso de extensão universitária em microbiologia clínica por meio de teleducação interativa para capacitação de profissionais. O conteúdo científico foi definido em função das competências associadas à prática laboratorial. O curso foi estruturado em onze módulos divididos em três semestres, sendo 70% a distância, 22% presencial e 8% do tempo dedicado a monografia, como modelo misto, com ambientes de aprendizagem a distância e presencial integrados. Em todos os módulos foram propostos estudo a distância, tarefas para o estímulo à pesquisa bibliográfica (revisão de artigos e questionários) e aulas presenciais, teóricas e práticas. O grupo de alunos foi composto por 28 participantes com perfil diversificado, médicos e microbiologistas, originários de vinte cidades brasileiras diferentes. Dois dos motivos para a participação dos alunos foi a flexibilidade do tempo e local de estudo, reduzindo a ausência do seu local de trabalho. O desempenho demonstrado pelo grupo durante o curso foi satisfatório. Após um ano do término do curso foi realizada uma visita ao ambiente de trabalho dos alunos para correlação do seu desempenho no curso com as mudanças realizadas na prática da rotina microbiológica. Houve uma diferença significativa entre os índices de mudanças nas práticas microbiológicas realizadas nos locais de trabalho dos alunos, antes e depois da sua participação no curso, sendo que 76,9% dos procedimentos verificados foram modificados. Na avaliação subjetiva, os participantes informaram que o curso promoveu mudanças comportamentais e que voltariam a se matricular em um modelo educacional semelhante. A qualificação profissional estimulou a autonomia profissional. O uso de tecnologias interativas permitiu a participação de profissionais de diversas regiões do país, representando uma alternativa para inovação do processo de ensino em microbiologia clínica. O resultado deste estudo indica perspectivas para a consolidação do uso da teleducação interativa para criação de programas de educação continuada / The emergence of bacterial resistance, especially when associated with the hospital environment, represents a worldwide public health problem. The diversity of resistance mechanisms forms an important therapeutic challenge, and the selection of antibiotics should be individualized and based on local and institutional antibiograms. Microbiology laboratories represent a strategic support for a fast diagnosis of infectious disease to notify the medical community about new mechanisms of resistance. This study aimed to design and implement an academic extension course in clinical microbiology via interactive tele-education for training of professionals. The scientific content was defined according to competencies associated with laboratory practices. The course was structured in eleven modules divided into three semesters: 70% distance learning, 22% on campus (mixed model with distance learning environments and integrated presence) and 8% monographs. All the modules have been proposed for remote study, to present tasks for the investigation of the literature (review articles and questionnaires), as well as for the on-campus classroom, from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The group of students was composed of 28 physicians and microbiologists with diverse profiles from 20 Brazilian cities. Two reasons students gave for their participation were the need for scheduling flexibility and the need for a place to learn that would not require absence from their place of work. The performance demonstrated by the group during the course was satisfactory. A year after finishing the course, visits were made to the students work environments to correlate performance with the changes made in routine microbiological practice. A significant difference was found between the rates of change in microbiological practices conducted in the workplaces of the students before and after their participation in the course; 76.9% of modified procedures were verified. In subjective evaluation, the participants reported that the course promoted behavioral changes and that they would return to enroll in a similar educational model. The qualification stimulated professional autonomy. The use of interactive technologies allowed the participation of professionals from various regions of the country, representing an alternative to the innovation of teaching in clinical microbiology. The results indicate prospects for the consolidation of the use of interactive tele-education to create programs of continuing education

Dieser Beitrag reflektiert den E-Learning-Einsatz in der postgradualen Weiterbildung aus der Perspektive des hochschulübergreifenden Strategie- und Unterstützungsprojektes Q2P (Qualitätssicherung und Qualitätsmanagement in der postgradualen Weiterbildung). Ausgehend von der regionalen Bestandsaufnahme hinsichtlich der E-Learning-Nutzung im akademischen Weiterbildungsbereich werden die Zielstellungen und Leistungsbereiche des Projekts vorgestellt. Die zentralen Projekterfahrungen werden in Form von begründeten Hypothesen präsentiert und sollen somit das gegenwärtige und zukünftige Handlungsfeld von E-Learning- und Weiterbildungsakteuren bereichern.

Thesis (DMed (Psychiatry))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This study reports on the effect of seminar education by studying changes in knowledge, attitude and behaviour to haloperidol prescribing patterns of psychiatrists who In summary, this study demonstrated a direct relationship between seminar attendance and changes to selected minimum effective haloperidol dose and duration of treatment. However, seminar attendance did not appear to be a significant factor in changes to antipsychotic class used for treatment and changes in optimal effective haloperidol dose: rather a change in the level of “background” knowledge of participants was most likely responsible. This study also found individual participant characteristic differences in those who did change treatment duration and minimum effective dose. In conclusion, this study showed that the successful integration of international treatment recommendations into daily psychiatric practise could be facilitated by the use of appropriate educational seminars. Not all attendees benefit i.e. “learn”, but those needing to “learn” most do - i.e. those who need to change their prescribing habits most to meet internationally accepted guidelines. The peer exposure provided allows a format for informed discussion and the practise of evidence-based medicine. The judicious use of such seminars should result in better treatment options and outcomes for patients.attended evidence-based schizophrenia seminars presented by the Lundbeck Institute in Denmark. The objectives of the study were two-fold. Firstly, it set out to determine whether changes actually occurred in the post-seminar haloperidol prescribing behaviour of participants. This was done by analysing changes in choice of optimal haloperidol dose (both in acute treatment i.e. most effective dose and maintenance treatment i.e. minimum effective dose), selected duration of treatment (for first- and multi-episode schizophrenia patients) and drug-class used (conventional versus new generation antipsychotic). The study then investigated whether these changes (if they occurred) could be ascribed wholly or in part to the effect of schizophrenia seminar attendance, or whether other factors e.g. scientific progress over time in understanding schizophrenia and its treatment (“background” knowledge) and differences between participant datasets studied (only paired pre- and post-seminar data were used in this study) also played a role. Secondly, it attempted to identify factors predictive of seminar participants changing their haloperidol prescribing behaviour post-seminar i.e. what were the factors that predisposed some attendees to change their prescribing behaviour? This was done by analysing the effect that pre-seminar prescribing behaviour, participant nationality, patient caseload, work experience and workplace environment had on post-seminar behaviour. Results show that changes did occur in post-seminar haloperidol prescribing behaviour, but that they were not always due to an effect of seminar attendance. Only the changes in the minimum effective haloperidol dose and duration of treatment for first- and multi-episode schizophrenia patients could validly be ascribed to the effects of schizophrenia seminar attendance. Furthermore, multivariate analysis of the factors relating to these changes found that a participant was most likely to change their selected minimum effective haloperidol dose to be more in line with internationally accepted standards if they i) selected above the target dose pre-seminar, ii) had a relatively low caseload comprised mainly of schizophrenia patients and iii) came from either Greece, Germany, Britain, Spain, Italy or some other Eastern European country. The single most important factor related to changes in duration of treatment was found to be pre-seminar behaviour: respondents below the recommended duration of treatment increased their duration of treatment significantly.

research aims to examine evidence concerning the implementation of learning theories in the QU PharmD programme, utilising a case study research approach. The research is divided into four stages, conducted under the umbrella of a social constructivist interpretative framework and the constructivist and social theories of learning. In the first stage, the perceptions of full-time students, faculty and preceptors in the QU PharmD programme were explored; these raised questions regarding the role of learning theory in the design and delivery of the programme. The second stage explored the extent to which the programme is based on learning theories by interviewing two programme designers, a pharmacy education scholar and an accreditation agency administrator. This stage proposed a disconnect between learning theories and educational practice in the QU PharmD programme, and suggested the need for investigating the implications of the proposed disconnect from a Communities of Practice (CoP) theory perspective. In the third stage, a novel CoP theory-informed framework was developed through an extensive review of the literature. In the fourth stage, the CoP framework was used as a theoretical instrument to analyse the evidence of CoP theory in the QU PharmD programme by conducting three focus groups and five interviews with key stakeholders, and by performing document analysis. The research suggests that the disconnect between CoP learning theory and the educational practices in the QU PharmD programme is at the “implicit disconnect” level, meaning that some elements of the CoP framework were implicitly evident. This implicit disconnect contributes to the challenges found in the programme. This study concludes with the creation of a case study-developed theory emphasising the importance of the full and explicit implementation of learning theory in educational practices. The theory calls for better integration of academic, practice, accreditation, and governmental sector efforts in professional healthcare educational reform initiatives.