With the increasing use of the computer and the Internet in the training sector, there are constant debates about the effectiveness of e-learning versus traditional face-to-face (FTF) education since the early 1990s. However, limited empirical studies have been conducted for this purpose in the field of Continuing Professional Education (CPE), on which the flexibility in time and place of e-learning have made and will potentially make a greater impact. Even fewer such studies were situated in a non-academic context for professions other than nursing or healthcare. Moreover, the learners‟ voice is often absent in the debates. This exploratory study was designed to a) obtain professionals‟ perceptions concerning the effectiveness of online versus FTF CPE courses from two pedagogical aspects of adult learning: professional knowledge and practice development and technology context link, and b) assess if professionals‟ perceptions varied as a function of their sociocultural and professional contexts. Self-reported perception data were collected through an online survey. Professionals (n=399) from Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) participated in the study. The professional units where the participants worked included Fire Service, Utilities and Public Work, Homeland Security, Safety and Health, Public Safety and Security, Technology, and Search and Rescue. Exploratory factor analysis (Principle Component Analysis), descriptive statistics, t-tests, multivariate analysis and ANOVAs were run for the purpose of data analysis. It was found that the professionals who participated in the study (a) perceived that online CPE courses were less effective in enhancing their professional knowledge and practice development when compared to traditional FTF CPE courses; (b) perceived that online CPE courses were more effective in linking what they had learned to technology contexts that they were in; (c) perceived that online CPE courses were less effective than FTF courses in general; (d) who were female perceived online CPE courses‟ ability in improving their professional knowledge and practice less negatively than male participants; and (e) who were firefighters favored the online CPE courses compared to professionals from the other units in TEEX, while the professionals from Safety and Health were most negative about the effectiveness of online CPE courses. The responses to the two open-ended questions provided information on the measures recommended by surveyed professionals to improve the effectiveness of online and FTF CPE courses.

The purpose of this study was to develop a competency framework to shape development of a professional education program for master strategists in national security. The research problem focused on the absence of a competency framework to guide professional education of strategists who must be capable of conceptualization and innovation master strategists. The outcome of this study was a set of the most important components that constitute a professional education framework for master strategists. This Web-based study followed a RAND Delphi heuristic model that is qualitative in nature. Instrumentation for the first round consisted of a short vignette that placed panelists in a unique situation of being able to engage a "time traveler" from 20 years in the future. The time traveler represented a source of perfect knowledge, but could provide only a "yes" or "no" response to panel member questions concerning master strategist professional education needs in the year 2022. In the subsequent two Delphi rounds, the instruments consisted of panel member questions from the previous round. The panel of experts consisted of 12 professional strategists in the field of national security strategy. The results of the study provided support to the description of master strategists as strategic leaders, strategic theoreticians, and strategic practitioners. Panelists highlighted four content domains of personal attributes, security framework, theorybased knowledge, and culture and values that encompass the range of competencies for a master strategist professional education framework. Panel members detailed a need for master strategists to have a higher order temporal perspective to conceive time as epochs and ages, defined as shifts in development punctuated by events and prominent periods in progress, respectively. Panelists described a master strategist professional education framework that mirrored the theory of profound knowledge with meta-competencies as the basic building blocks.

Section A: This section critically considers reflective practice definitions, conceptualisations and implementation within dominant theoretical models. The value and limitations of the favoured method for developing reflective capacities in clinical psychology training, the reflective practice group (RPG), are described. Group theory and the current empirical evidence base for RPGs within counsellor and clinical psychology training are critically considered and future research is suggested. Section B: This section presents a preliminary grounded theory study of qualified clinical psychologists’ experiences of attending a reflective practice group during training. Reflective practice has become implicit within the clinical psychology profession; there is a lack however of empirical research on the methods through which reflective capacities are developed in trainees. This study aimed to build upon earlier research by Knight et al. (2010), which investigated the impact of reflective practice groups (RPG) whilst training, through further qualitative exploration of the mechanisms of experience related to participants perceiving the RPG as valuable and the role of distressing experiences. Eleven qualified clinical psychologists from a UK training programme who had previously (Knight el al. 2010) been categorised into 1 of 4 factor groups based on level of perceived value and distress (e.g. high value-low distress), took part in semi-structured interviews. Grounded theory methodology informed the data collection and analysis. A preliminary interactional map of experience was constructed from the data and five categories were important in understanding how the groups were perceived as valuable in the context of varying distress levels: ‘negotiating the unknown’; ‘managing emotion’; ‘negotiating the development of self-awareness’; ‘negotiating the reciprocal impact of others’; and ‘reflection-on-reflection’. It was recommended that training programmes should consider: trainee expectations; approach and motivation; the dual-relationships within groups/cohort; and facilitator style in offering RPGs. Recommendations were made for future research to attempt to match trainee personal learning style with appropriate reflective development methods, to build an evidence base for reflective practice methods generally and to establish the benefits of reflection for clinical practice. Section C: This section presents a critical appraisal of the study undertaken in relation to 4 stipulated questions. Learning outcomes and future research skill development needs are considered, limitations of the study and proposed retrospective changes are highlighted and the impact on practice is considered. Finally suggestions for future research are elaborated upon.

The aim of Asta Luksiene master’s paper “The peculiarity of professional motivation in the vocational school” is to analyse the peculiarity of professional motivation in vocational school. In order to reach this aim these tasks were set: 1) To study scientific, juridical, pedagogical psychological literature, which explores professional education and professional motivation; 2) To set the peculiarity of motivation of professional choice; 3) To highlight the tendencies of professional motivation. The master paper consists of 3 parts. In the first part there is analysed juridical base of professional education. In the second part there is revealed the essence of professional motivation. In the third part there are presented the results of made empirical research. After the work was done these conclusions were made: the main reasons, which determined the choice of profession, are the requestableness of speciality in the work market, personal skills, hobby, and the prestige of speciality. Coincidence and small prices for education influenced speciality choice least. Respondents gave the highest evaluation to the competence of accomplishing the job till the end; the lowest evaluation was given to the general educational knowledge baggage. Guys are more tended than girls to choose the speciality for its prestige. Guys more often choose speciality incidentally. Girls more often choose the speciality according to individual skills and prices for the education. Guys more tend to think... [to full text]

Knowledge production or research in South Africa, as elsewhere in the world, does not occur within 'innocent' spaces devoid of personal, social, political, economic and cultural contexts. Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences has been largely the domain of white, male academics operating within positivistic, western, or eurocentric paradigms that have consequently cast all differing modes of knowledge production as 'other'. Research has been 'normalised' within particular frames of reference that have often served to marginalize knowledge production emanating from other contexts such as a feminist perspective or a black perspective. This thesis presents a critical analysis of the participation of women academics in research in the Humanities and Social Sciences in South Africa. I argue in this study that the discourses and practices of the academy have traditionally operated to marginalize, and continues to marginalize women effectively excluding them from the arena of research. Whilst there are many studies that have been conducted investigating women in academia, the emphases have been essentially on establishing baseline data such as the numbers and positions women occupy and explanations for the situations that exist. There are, however, very few studies that have extended the analysis to focus on women as researchers and knowledge producers within academia as is the case with this study. I also advance the analyses by arguing for a shift from the widely accepted conceptions that cast women academics as the problem and focus attention instead on the often hostile culture or climate of academia. I argue further that the historical exclusion of women and more especially black women, from the production of knowledge or research has contributed to the exclusion of women from positions of power in the social, cultural, political, economic and academic contexts. My own passion for these issues is directly linked to a conviction that in its public absence, and in the assumption that knowledge about gender is largely irrelevant to the possibility of social justice, lies some of the deep roots of women's complex degradations. This study grew out of my participation in the former Centre for Science Development's (now part of the National Research Foundation) audit of women academics and researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences in South Africa and was carried out in three phases. The first phase entailed a secondary analysis of the audit data, drawing comparisons between the national findings and the findings for the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Besides conducting a general analysis the data was also disaggregated according to the historically designated racial categories to establish how black women, in particular, were faring. Having established a statistical picture, the second phase was concerned with exploring the qualitative understandings of women academics in research, through the eyes of six black women academics from KwaZulu-Natal. The six women in the study were selected from the University of Durban-Westville, the University of Zululand (both historically disadvantaged institutions) and the University of Natal (a historically advantaged institution). Although it is my contention that all research is necessarily autobiographical, the third phase of the study turned my 'subtext' of being the researcher who is simultaneously 'other' into 'text'. In the autobiographical data I author and reflect on my own experiences as an academic and researcher who is 'other'. Conducted in a style that challenges the mainstream or what is described as 'male-stream' conventions and understandings of research practice, I inscribe the personal into the 'scientific' by employing an autobiographical, feminist 'gaze' throughout this study. The narrative style of communicating parts of the study to the audience, and my attempt to blur the divide between researcher and researched, express a significant feminist desire to infuse the generic aspects of feminist theory, feminist methodology, feminist practice and feminist politics into each other. Finally the insights gained from this study about the general participation of women academics in research and more especially, the position and experiences of black women academics, including myself, achieve many objectives. Not only does it provide baseline information for the province of KwaZulu-Natal in relation to the national trends but also serves to unpack this baseline information with respect to the historically designated racial categories and deepens our understandings of the problems through insights into the day-to-day lived experiences of black women in particular. All of which are integral to informing equity and redress initiatives designed to bring about transformation and democratisation in the arena of research in the humanities and social sciences. / Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Durban-Westville, 2000.

The primary purpose of the study was to determine if a parenting program would affect the reading achievement scores of single-parent children. Secondary purposes were to determine if male and female students were affected differently and if middle school students were affected differently than elementary students.Ninety-three students from a rural school district in northern Shelby County, Indiana, were identified to participate in the program. Forty-seven experimental children, were instructed in the parenting program twenty-one weeks, twenty-five minutes, two times a week. Forty-seven control students remained in the classroom.Multivariate analysis of covariance was done to test the null hypotheses. The criterion for rejecting or retaining the null hypothesis was set at the .05 level of probability.Data collected from the pre- and post-test reading scores of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills, the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale, the Martinek-Zaichkowsky Self-Conce t Scale for Children, and the Behavioral Characteristics of Single-Parent Children Checklist were analyzed. Findings were:1. There was not a significant difference between experimental and control groups or gender;however, the following differences did exist:a. The experimental group scored higher in reading than the control group, with the exception of the lower grade control females, who scored higher than the experimental lower grade females.b. The females of both groups had higher gain scores than the males.2. There was a significant difference at the .05 level in reading for the variable grade with lower grade students making larger positive gains than the upper grade students.3. There were significant differences in self-concept between the control and experimental groups in the area of anxiety, school status, happiness and athletics.a. The lower grade experimental, upper grade control, and male students (of both groups) were less anxious.b. The lower grade students felt better about school and were happier than the upper grade students.c. The second grade control group felt more confident about ability in athletics than the experimental group.4. The teachers perceived the experimental students as needing less discipline, having higher general achievement and better reading comprehension. Conclusions based on the findings were: 1. The group or the gender did not make a significant difference:a. However, the upper grade experimental group did perform better than the upper grade control group.b. The lower control females performed better than the lower grade experimental females, but the lower grade experimental males out performed the lower grade males in comprehension.2. The lower grade students performed significantly better than the upper grade students in reading vocabulary and comprehension.3. The lower grade experimental students, the upper grade control students and the male students were significantly less anxious.4. The lower grade students felt significantly better about school than the upper grade students.5. Teachers perceptions of experimental students were higher in classroom behavior, general achievement, and reading comprehension.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Lehigh University, 1998. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 228-247).

Thesis (Ed.D)--Teachers College, Columbia University, l988. / Typscript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Stephen Brookfield. Dissertation Committee: Jack Mezirow. Bibliography: leaves 352-372.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1933. / Vita. Published also as Teachers college, Columbia university, Contributions to education, no. 571. "Describe[s] ... the case method used at the New Jersey state teachers college at Montclair"--P. 1. Bibliography: p. 87-92.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--RAND Graduate School, 1996. / "RGSD-129." "Dissertation." Includes bibliographical references (p. 107-112).