In contemporary UK preschool, technological resources have become a standard feature of the environment. This has prompted widespread discussion around the appropriateness of technologies in preschools and for some time concerns were raised that technology is socially detrimental for children. These concerns have since been challenged as it has been argued that they are unsubstantiated and not evidence-based. Yet despite this realisation, few studies have been conducted about children’s social interaction around technologies in order to contribute to this debate. Furthermore, negative concerns have largely been attributed to the technological artefacts themselves and the cultural and wider preschool context is often overlooked. In the 1980s, research on the ecological preschool environment in relation to children’s social behaviours was widely available but similar studies situated in contemporary technology-rich preschool environments is limited. Thus, a body of literature to inform the technology debate in relation to social interaction is restricted. This study provides an empirical foundation to begin exploring 3 to 5 year old children’s social interactions in technology-rich local authority preschools by: identifying the observable child-child interactions as children engage with technology in preschools; exploring the preschool characteristics which may contribute to these interactions; and exploring the role that technologies play in contributing to these interactions. The study adopts an inclusive definition of technology and addresses a broad range of resources, providing a new perspective on the role of technologies in education and in relation to social interactions. These areas of interest were addressed using four qualitative methods: observation, activity mapping, researcher-led games with children and interviews with practitioners. Following the nine-month data collection phase and iterative thematic analysis, two key findings emerged from the data. Firstly, children’s social interactions during technological activities in preschool were complex and multifaceted with few discernible patterns emerging. Secondly, the wider preschool context made a large contribution to the contingent and divergent interactions observed, diluting claims that technological artefacts alone influence children’s social interactions.

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-135). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1990.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 82-97).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-97). Also available in print.

This study attempted to extend the concept of achievement motivation, as proposed by Weiner's attributional model, to social affiliative contexts. It was proposed that low social anxiety individuals behave like high achievement motivation individuals who make more self-attributions for success, but more external attributions for failure, whereas high social anxiety individuals take more personal responsibility for failure social outcomes, but make more external attributions when successful. Subjects were 243 undergraduate students, 143 females and 100 males. They completed the Leary Social Anxiety Scale, the Lefcourt Affiliation Locus of Control Scale, the Fenigstein Social Anxiety Scale, the Social Attribution Scale, and the Russell Causal Dimension Scale.

Yes / With the overnight growth in Working from Home (WFH) owing to the pandemic, organisations and their employees have had to adapt work-related processes and practices quickly with a huge reliance upon technology. Everyday activities such as social interactions with colleagues must therefore be reconsidered. Existing literature emphasises that social interactions, typically conducted in the traditional workplace, are a fundamental feature of social life and shape employees' experience of work. This experience is completely removed for many employees due to the pandemic and, presently, there is a lack of knowledge on how individuals maintain social interactions with colleagues via technology when working from home. Given that a lack of social interaction can lead to social isolation and other negative repercussions, this study aims to contribute to the existing body of literature on remote working by highlighting employees' experiences and practices around social interaction with colleagues. This study takes an interpretivist and qualitative approach utilising the diary-keeping technique to collect data from twenty-nine individuals who had started to work from home on a full-time basis as a result of the pandemic. The study explores how participants conduct social interactions using different technology platforms and how such interactions are embedded in their working lives. The findings highlight the difficulty in maintaining social interactions via technology such as the absence of cues and emotional intelligence, as well as highlighting numerous other factors such as job uncertainty, increased workloads and heavy usage of technology that affect their work lives. The study also highlights that despite the negative experiences relating to working from home, some participants are apprehensive about returning to work in the traditional office place where social interactions may actually be perceived as a distraction. The main contribution of our study is to highlight that a variety of perceptions and feelings of how work has changed via an increased use of digital media while working from home exists and that organisations need to be aware of these differences so that they can be managed in a contextualised manner, thus increasing both the efficiency and effectiveness of working from home.

No description available.

Syftet med undersökningen var att studera pedagogers upplevelser av barns motorik i förskolemiljö. För att fördjupa samt tydligare beskriva syftet valdes några frågeställningar ut: Hur upplever pedagogerna motorikens betydelse i det sociala samspelet? Hur upplever pedagogerna motorikens betydelse i lärandet? Vad kan pedagogerna göra för att hjälpa barn med den motoriskautvecklingen? För att undersöka studiens syfte användes kvalitativa intervjuer, som genomfördes med fem stycken verksamma pedagoger i två förskolor. Resultatet visade att pedagogerna har olika erfarenheter och upplevelser av begreppet motorik, men att pedagogerna gemensamt lyfter vikten av motorikens betydelse för barns utveckling. Studiens slutsats är att pedagogerna samt tidigare forskning och litteratur lyfter motorikens betydelse för barns fortsatta utveckling. Den har en betydande roll i det sociala samspelet och lärandet, samt att pedagogerna har en viktig roll i barns motoriska utveckling genom att finnas med och stötta, uppmuntra och utmana. / The aim of this study was to examine how educators in preschool experience preeschool children’s motor skills. In order to deepen as well as more clearly describe the purpose of the study, a few main questions were chosen: How do the educators experience the significance of motor skills for social interaction? How do educators experience the significance of motor skills for learning? What can educators do to help with motor skill development? To examine the purpose of the study qualitative interviews were used, which were conducted with five pedagogues at two preschools. The result showed that educators have different experiences and perceptions of the concept of motor skills, but that the educators together highlight the importance of motor skills for child development. The conclusion of the study was that the educators as well as previous research and literature highlight the significance of motor skills for children’s future development. It has a significant role in social interaction and learning, and the educators have an important role in children’s motor skill development by being supporting, encouraging and challenging.