Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Susan Carol Losh, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 16, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Este trabalho parte da afinidade que encontramos entre aspectos da pesquisa psicanalítica e da aprendizagem por projetos para lançar nossa questão: em que essas duas metodologias, concernentes a campos diferentes – psicanálise e educação –, convergem ou em que divergem? Seria uma relação de homologia? A fim de realizar essa análise, estamos posicionando-nos desde a pesquisa psicanalítica. Portanto, é nela que buscamos nosso método e nosso instrumento de análise, a saber, o matema dos quatro discursos. No que diz respeito à pesquisa psicanalítica, buscamos nossos fragmentos em textos de Lacan e Freud. Esses fragmentos são articulados às diretrizes teóricas da aprendizagem por projeto, e a uma situação prática de nossa pesquisa: uma oficina de programação de computadores ocorrida em uma escola pública de Porto Alegre. Com essa articulação, percorremos nossa análise, delimitando pontos que aproximam ou afastam essas duas metodologias. / This work starts since the affinity that we found between features of the psychoanalytic research and the learning projects in order to launch our question: considering these two methodologies, concerning different fields – psychoanalysis and education –, at what points do they converge or diverge? It would be a homology? In order to realize this analysis, we are positioning ourselves since the psychoanalytic research. Thus, there we get our method and our analysis tool, that is, the matema of four discourses. As regards psychoanalytic research, we get our fragments in texts written by Lacan and Freud. These fragments are articulated on the theoretical guidelines of learning project, and on a practical situation of our research: a workshop of computer programming for children, which has occurred in a public school in Porto Alegre. After that, we go through our analysis, delimiting points that bring these methodologies closer or further each other.

Este trabalho parte da afinidade que encontramos entre aspectos da pesquisa psicanalítica e da aprendizagem por projetos para lançar nossa questão: em que essas duas metodologias, concernentes a campos diferentes – psicanálise e educação –, convergem ou em que divergem? Seria uma relação de homologia? A fim de realizar essa análise, estamos posicionando-nos desde a pesquisa psicanalítica. Portanto, é nela que buscamos nosso método e nosso instrumento de análise, a saber, o matema dos quatro discursos. No que diz respeito à pesquisa psicanalítica, buscamos nossos fragmentos em textos de Lacan e Freud. Esses fragmentos são articulados às diretrizes teóricas da aprendizagem por projeto, e a uma situação prática de nossa pesquisa: uma oficina de programação de computadores ocorrida em uma escola pública de Porto Alegre. Com essa articulação, percorremos nossa análise, delimitando pontos que aproximam ou afastam essas duas metodologias. / This work starts since the affinity that we found between features of the psychoanalytic research and the learning projects in order to launch our question: considering these two methodologies, concerning different fields – psychoanalysis and education –, at what points do they converge or diverge? It would be a homology? In order to realize this analysis, we are positioning ourselves since the psychoanalytic research. Thus, there we get our method and our analysis tool, that is, the matema of four discourses. As regards psychoanalytic research, we get our fragments in texts written by Lacan and Freud. These fragments are articulated on the theoretical guidelines of learning project, and on a practical situation of our research: a workshop of computer programming for children, which has occurred in a public school in Porto Alegre. After that, we go through our analysis, delimiting points that bring these methodologies closer or further each other.

Este trabalho parte da afinidade que encontramos entre aspectos da pesquisa psicanalítica e da aprendizagem por projetos para lançar nossa questão: em que essas duas metodologias, concernentes a campos diferentes – psicanálise e educação –, convergem ou em que divergem? Seria uma relação de homologia? A fim de realizar essa análise, estamos posicionando-nos desde a pesquisa psicanalítica. Portanto, é nela que buscamos nosso método e nosso instrumento de análise, a saber, o matema dos quatro discursos. No que diz respeito à pesquisa psicanalítica, buscamos nossos fragmentos em textos de Lacan e Freud. Esses fragmentos são articulados às diretrizes teóricas da aprendizagem por projeto, e a uma situação prática de nossa pesquisa: uma oficina de programação de computadores ocorrida em uma escola pública de Porto Alegre. Com essa articulação, percorremos nossa análise, delimitando pontos que aproximam ou afastam essas duas metodologias. / This work starts since the affinity that we found between features of the psychoanalytic research and the learning projects in order to launch our question: considering these two methodologies, concerning different fields – psychoanalysis and education –, at what points do they converge or diverge? It would be a homology? In order to realize this analysis, we are positioning ourselves since the psychoanalytic research. Thus, there we get our method and our analysis tool, that is, the matema of four discourses. As regards psychoanalytic research, we get our fragments in texts written by Lacan and Freud. These fragments are articulated on the theoretical guidelines of learning project, and on a practical situation of our research: a workshop of computer programming for children, which has occurred in a public school in Porto Alegre. After that, we go through our analysis, delimiting points that bring these methodologies closer or further each other.

Published Article / One of the main tasks of universities is to prepare students for an academic or professional career, and to make them responsible members of society by giving them the motivation and skills to create a better future. Education for Sustainable Development is a core feature of education in a university of the 21th century and in society. In a university, it has two aspects: firstly, to educate students and to help future academics to contribute to sustainable development, secondly, to contribute to sustainability and to spread education for sustainable development in the community. We consider examples of successful cooperation between the university and its stakeholders via projects that are relevant for education for sustainable development. We analyse the success factors and the educational and sustainability impacts of these projects.

Knowledge gained from completed information technology (IT) projects was not often shared with emerging project teams. Learning lessons from other project teams was not pursued because people lack time, do not see value in learning, fear a potentially painful process, and had concerns that sharing knowledge will hurt their career. Leaders could change the situation; however organizational leaders have not seen value in project learning and have not made it a priority. Yet, if a relationship existed among IT project success variables (PSVs) organizational learning factors (OLFs) and project learning practices (PLPs) then IT leaders may take greater interest in managing knowledge. The goal of this research was to conduct a correlational study to determine the relationship among OLFs, PLPs, and PSVs within IT organizations. OLFs included those activities at the corporate level that enabled project teams to learn from other projects. PLPs included the activities to learn lessons from a maturing or completed project. PLPs also included activities within an emerging project to harness lessons from prior projects. PSVs described project success. The research question (RQ) asked; what was the relationship among the OLFs, PLPs, and PSVs? To answer the research question it was necessary to ask four support questions (SQ). First, what elements defined organizational learning, project learning, and project success? Second, how effective was use of organizational learning? Third, how effective was project learning? Fourth, how successful were IT projects? To answer the first SQ a content analysis was conducted followed by a review with a Delphi team. A survey was then developed based on the content analysis. Finally, a statistical analysis was conducted to answer the remaining SQs and the RQ. The content analysis and Delphi team review revealed 12 OLFs, 11 PLPs, and 9 PSVs. Answering the second and third support questions the study found that OLFs and PLPs could be used more effectively within IT organizations. However, IT leaders reported that a foundation for organizational and project learning existed. Answering the fourth SQ, IT leaders reported good project success though risk management could be improved. This study found that there was a positive and significant relationship among the OLFs, PLPs, and PSVs. The relationship among the OLFs, PLPs, and PSVs suggests that there is justification to research and develop IT competence in learning.

<p>Bakgrund: Traditionellt sett har man i projektlitteraturen betraktat projektet som fenomen som en unik engångsföreteelse som aldrig kommer att upprepas. Enligt ett sådant resonemang skulle möjligheterna till lärande mellan projekt vara kraftigt begränsade, om ens existerande. Denna syn på projekt har dock kommit att förändras, varvid ett lärande mellan projekt inte bara skulle vara möjligt utan även kunna ses som en förutsättning för överlevnad på en alltmer konkurrensutsatt marknad eftersom projekten bland annat lägger grund för konkurrensfördelar. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att beskriva vad man kan lära sig mellan projekt, samt att komma med förslag på hur man kan arbeta för att främja lärande mellan dem. </p><p>Genomförande: Undersökningen genomfördes i form av en fallstudie och den empiriska informationen samlades in genom tre intervjuer på lika många företag som arbetar med utvecklingsprojekt inom elektronik- och telekombranschen. </p><p>Resultat: Vi har identifierat fem områden inom projektverksamhet som vi bedömer som centrala samt tack vare deras generella karaktär möjliga att lära sig inom och sedan applicera lärdomarna på andra projekt.. Eftersom utvecklingsprojekt på grund av deras höga unicitet bör vara de projekt som är svårast att lära sig mellan, bör våra slutsatser och den modell för utvärdering vi utvecklar även gälla för andra typer av projekt.</p>

Bakgrund: Traditionellt sett har man i projektlitteraturen betraktat projektet som fenomen som en unik engångsföreteelse som aldrig kommer att upprepas. Enligt ett sådant resonemang skulle möjligheterna till lärande mellan projekt vara kraftigt begränsade, om ens existerande. Denna syn på projekt har dock kommit att förändras, varvid ett lärande mellan projekt inte bara skulle vara möjligt utan även kunna ses som en förutsättning för överlevnad på en alltmer konkurrensutsatt marknad eftersom projekten bland annat lägger grund för konkurrensfördelar. Syfte: Syftet med denna undersökning är att beskriva vad man kan lära sig mellan projekt, samt att komma med förslag på hur man kan arbeta för att främja lärande mellan dem. Genomförande: Undersökningen genomfördes i form av en fallstudie och den empiriska informationen samlades in genom tre intervjuer på lika många företag som arbetar med utvecklingsprojekt inom elektronik- och telekombranschen. Resultat: Vi har identifierat fem områden inom projektverksamhet som vi bedömer som centrala samt tack vare deras generella karaktär möjliga att lära sig inom och sedan applicera lärdomarna på andra projekt.. Eftersom utvecklingsprojekt på grund av deras höga unicitet bör vara de projekt som är svårast att lära sig mellan, bör våra slutsatser och den modell för utvärdering vi utvecklar även gälla för andra typer av projekt.

Many undergraduate students enrolled in institutions of higher learning wish to connect their learning to real life experiences. By linking reality to academics, students see first hand the practical value in their studies. The purpose of this study was to critically analyze the practice of application projects in undergraduate mathematics courses to determine if, and if so how, students benefit from optional real world application projects. The study was limited to specific courses within a non-math major's undergraduate mathematics program of study at one large research university. Until the appearance of "The Mathematics Umbrella: Modeling and Education" (Grinshpan, 2005), no research was available dealing directly with mathematically focused application projects, so this study is purposeful. A review of related literature suggests that projects provide a desirable method of learning. This researcher adopted the educational philosophy of pragmatism established by James, Dewey, Chickering and Gamson, and others. Pragmatism--doing what works--is appropriate to undergraduate mathematics education.Quantitative and qualitative phases were performed sequentially on two distinct, but related, populations of undergraduate non-mathematics major students taking calculus courses. The first phase assessed whether completion of optional real world application projects was related to mathematics students' test grades. The second qualitative phase used individual interviews to capture students' opinions as to the value and desirability of the project process.The overall goal of the research was to gauge the beneficial aspects of application projects. One strong finding concerned the relationship that may exist between application projects and students' levels of time on task. Project students reported greater time on task than non-project students, and increasing time on task may enhance the quality of students' learning experiences.The numbers of reported incidences of feelings of course satisfaction and of increased positive perception toward mathematics were largely consistent between groups, with somewhat greater numbers within the project group. Pedagogical implications from this study point to the value of both faculty and student effort devoted to application projects in increased student understanding of, and appreciation for, mathematics.

Quality is often claimed as the 3rd dimension of any project: the success of a project depends on the management of time, cost and quality. However, quality is a much more elusive substance and its management can be problematic. This thesis examines some of the models proposed for managing quality in projects and considers their relevance via a number of case studies. The present study aims to provide a foundation from which a methodology for the management of quality in projects can be evolved. The general definition of “quality” is still discussed and its interpretation in the specific area of project management is open to debate. In this thesis it has been found useful to consider three levels of quality management in the project environment, broadly equivalent to those usually accepted in operations management: quality control, quality assurance and total quality management. Various methods of quality control have been employed in projects for many years. The emphasis of the present study is on the project management equivalents of quality assurance and total quality management and to examine whether they fulfil the true need. A major element of successful quality management is the establishing of constructive methods of feedback. Feedback is also often claimed to be a vital ingredient of successful project management: learning from past successes, and failures. A conduit to provide feedback is often problematic due to the very nature of projects and their finite lifespan. Mainstream thinking believes that standard quality systems employed in the production and operation environment can be incorporated effectively in project management thus increasing operational consistency and reducing the risk of activity or project failure. However, is the model of quality embedded in these systems relevant to projects with their characteristics of uniqueness and long time scales? Initial debate assumed that existing quality management systems would be of benefit in projects, which exhibited a lower level of uniqueness and were closer to an operations management perspective. A literature review followed to gauge the level of importance attached to quality systems and its role in the project process. This determined that there was a need to investigate what existing quality systems, contributed in a purely project environment and what impact they had on improving project success especially in regard to the uniqueness of the projects and to the size of the project organization involved. In addition, the impact an industry-standard quality system had on project organizations compared to project organizations that did not possesses any formal system. To compare and contrast the conventional approach to quality in projects, the complementary areas of systems thinking and system dynamics were explored. Examining an alternative field to quality management was beneficial in providing a different perspective on how systems can be modelled evaluated and applied to real-world applications. This part of the research contributed significantly to the formation of the ideas and opinions on the way in which the concept of quality should be promoted in project management. In particular, the identification of mental models and the use of graphical representations to describe, illustrate and model the tangible and intangible entities found in most types of system. The use of a case study methodology was seen as the most valid way of attaining a holistic view of the complete project process and exploring the salient issues surrounding quality and projects. The fieldwork carried out to facilitate this goal, comprised of a restricted number of in-depth case studies, which encapsulated complete projects. An essential part of this process was the use of participant observation and in part action research, as these approaches increased the access to the available qualitative data whilst being mutually beneficial to the research and to the organisations involved. The scope of the case studies carried out was governed by a number of constraints: • The availability of suitable projects. • The timespan of the available projects matching that of the research, consequently the projects studied are on a relatively small scale. • The organizations in which the action research process could be a valid exchange of services. • The reluctance of organizations in certain industries to allow access to data on projects in particular activities that had led to project failure. The alternative models and techniques offered by systems thinking and system dynamics were explored to see if they could deliver more insights into the diverse aspects of project quality and how feedback in systems can be effectively represented. From the four case studies carried out, it is evident that there is a need for a fundamental revision on how quality is both defined and measured in project management. There is a need for greater emphasis on the acquisition and retention of knowledge by project organizations including the ability to disperse that knowledge by a practical and useful medium. Existing quality management systems still exhibit their origins, which do not take into account the uniqueness and instability of the project environment. In practice, the demand for registration to an industry-recognised quality standard appears to discriminate against the smaller project organization. The impact on the larger organizations is no less significant due to the creation of ‘underground’ parallel working practices, which are a significant waste of resources. The veneer of compliance to a global standard does not help the project organization learn or accumulate knowledge. In conclusion, this thesis proposes that project management needs an alternative methodology to provide a more practical method of project feedback, to enhance the ability of future projects. This thesis puts forward a foundation for this methodology based upon the valuable attributes of the models identified during the research in addition to the value of the case studies compiled. The aim for the implementation of a practical quality system has to be based on a reappraisal of what its purpose is. Therefore, it is proposed that the objective of any system would be to capture knowledge, store and redistribute that knowledge in a manner that makes a positive contribution to future project success. Emphasis is placed on increasing success by the acquisition of knowledge, in contrast to the traditional quality concepts of decreasing risk by the control of activities. In essence a shift from existing mechanistic systems towards more neurocybernetic systems. The increasing capabilities of communication and information technologies make the practicalities of creating this type of system perfectly feasible.