Thesis (M.A.)--University of Montana, 2007. / Title from title screen. Description based on contents viewed Oct. 3, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-67).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 198-206).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.S.)--Western Kentucky University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 26-28).

There has been a significant increase in the numbers of students undertaking doctoral study over the last 20-30 years. This means that the PhD is no longer solely an elite degree designed to prepare graduates for an academic career. Instead, emphasis has increasingly been placed on the role of the PhD in producing 'advanced knowledge workers' who are expected to make a contribution to the production of knowledge in a knowledge-driven economy. This has led to an increased focus on the educational dimension of the PhD and the educational processes involved in developing students to become researchers in a range of contexts. However, the educational processes involved in the PhD are complex and differ across higher education systems, institutions and disciplines. They include formal and informal activities and involve a large number of actors with different expectations about the aims and outcomes. This study aims to gain an in-depth understanding of the educational processes of the PhD by exploring the complexity underlying these processes. The research was based on case studies in six departments. The case studies focused on the PhD processes of the six departments from three disciplines in four higher education institutions in England. Interviews with PhD Programme Directors, supervisors and students were complemented by analysis of institutional and departmental documents. The research was guided by a multi-level framework to examine the institutional, departmental, interpersonal and individual levels, and the inter-relatedness between levels. As such rich narratives provide insight into factors such as the PhD thesis and its influence on the supervisory relationship, formal initiatives such as assessment and coursework, and the Skills Training Programme and its underlying notion of employability. Three forms of complexity were identified. The first relates to the fact that the educational processes are individualistic in nature, and there is a need to understand the influences of the personal, social, educational and professional domains of the individual students and supervisors independently and collectively in shaping these complex processes. The second underlines the tensions and potential contradictions within and between actors as a result of the interpretation and implementation of these processes across the four levels. The third concerns a tension between the need for these processes to remain individualistic and the pressure for departments and institutions to provide standardised processes for all students. By identifying and gaining a greater understanding of these complexities, this research contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the educational processes of the PhD based on grounded empirical evidence. This understanding is important in developments for enhancing the quality of PhD education, and in developing programmes which support students to become researchers in a range of different employment contexts.

M.Ed. / Despite the many changes socially and politically in our country, particularly in the educational sphere, large numbers of learners in further education still face disadvantages like a legacy of inferior education and studying in a language other that their primary language, all of which impact on their learning. Recent literature on the experiences of Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) learner’s experiences of learning in language other than their primary language identifies a number of problems that impact negatively on students’ performance and learning. The research explores the experiences of ABET learners, learning in a language other than their primary language in order to interprete and arrive at an informed understanding of such experiences. The research strategy in this study is grounded within the interpretative paradigm as the aim is to understand how participants make sense of their realities. i.e. how students make sense of their experiences from their own perspectives. For the purposes of the study, a sample of ABET learners were interviewed. Purposive sampling was used to select participants from diverse languages to serve as “information-rich cases”. Semi- structured interviews aimed at encouraging the respondent’ to engage in conversation intended to elicit respondents’ construction were conducted. The data were analysed using the constant comperative method of data analysis. The main findings of the research is that the ABET learners experience problems when taught in a language which is not their primary language. They feared that they ran a greater risk of labelled as underachievers. They also cited that they have difficulty in manipulating the language in an academic situation. The choice of teacher pedagogy and pace of teaching which exaccebates difficulty in using English was also mentioned by the learners. Another challenge was that they find it easy to use the language in informal context, but struggle with the level of sophistication required for an academic level. There is a need for closer links to be made between learners’ life experiences and lesson content and structure. The curriculum must address the real experiences that adult learners bring with them into the classroom and offer to learners the conceptual tools which they need to make sense of and interprete their experiences in the society. Awareness of students’ experiences could enable educators to exceed guidelines for creating an environment which fosters language learning and to choose relevant course materials and select appropriate teaching methods as well as introduce measures to redress the impact of the legacy of inferior schooling in order to enhance quality learning. / Mrs. N.F. Petersen

This study explores a link between "stereotype vulnerability" and the documented under performance of African American students on standardized tests. The subjects were 41 third grade African American students matched according to language arts grades with 41 third grade Anglo students. The students were from predominately middle class suburban schools, with similar educational experiences. The data suggest that third grade African American and Anglo students from predominately middle class schools, with approximately equivalent language arts grades and similar educational experiences, will score comparably to one another regardless of testing conditions. The data also suggest that this sample of third grade students are confident in their academic ability and are not affected by negative stereotyping.

This study sought to understand what students learned about themselves as a leader as a result of taking a for-credit leadership seminar. The study used a qualitative case study methodology in order to interpret data collected through participant surveys and interviews. The participants were academically high-achieving college students who had won a prestigious combined academic and leadership scholarship. As a condition of accepting the scholarship, students participated in a one-unit leadership seminar. The study's findings included that after completing the leadership course, students had gained a more complex understanding of leadership concepts as well as a more complex understanding of themselves as leaders. After the course students could identify themselves as leaders in many different situations, including situations where they held no forma! leadership position. The findings indicate that as the students integrated the information on leadership theories and models into their personal understanding of leadership, their personal leadership identity became more complex. This finding adds to the literature on leadership identity development by indicating a possible mechanism for increasing the complexity of students' leadership identity.

No description available.

The purpose of this study is to determine what opportunities the public schools of the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas are offering to Latin-American students, how they are meeting the students' needs, and what changes, if any, could be made to adjust their curriculum to meet these needs.