by Terpstra Tong Jane Lai-Yee. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-100). / EXECUTIVE SUMMARY --- p.i / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.ii / LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES --- p.v / ACKNOWLEGEMENT --- p.vi / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Methodology of Studies --- p.3 / Terminology --- p.3 / Approach --- p.3 / Data Collection --- p.4 / Chapter II. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.6 / Five Competitive Forces --- p.6 / Advantages of Industry Analysis --- p.13 / Establishing Competitive Advantage --- p.14 / Putting Strategy to Work --- p.16 / Data Collection --- p.17 / Rationale and Objectives of the Questionnaire --- p.18 / Chapter III. --- AN ANALYSIS OF THE CONTINUING BUSINESS EDUCATION INDUSTRY --- p.20 / Bargaining Power of Customers --- p.20 / Bargaining Power of Supplier --- p.23 / Threat of New Entrants --- p.24 / Threat of Substitutes --- p.26 / Rivalry Among Existing Competitors --- p.28 / Is the Continuing Business Education an Attractive Industry to Get in? --- p.30 / Chapter IV. --- "THE PRODUCT, THE CUSTOMERS, AND THE CURRENT OPERATIONS" --- p.32 / The Product: Diploma Course in Management Communication --- p.32 / Customer Profile --- p.35 / The Current Operations --- p.36 / Structure of APIB --- p.36 / Structure of DMC --- p.37 / Chapter V. --- COMPETITORS OF DMC --- p.39 / Competitors for Customers that View DMC as an English Program --- p.39 / Competitors for Customers who Take DMC as a Management Program --- p.43 / Diploma Programs of APIB --- p.43 / Professional Diploma of Hong Kong Management Association --- p.44 / Other Suppliers of Diploma Programs --- p.45 / A Warning of Quality --- p.47 / Competitors that Offer Management Skills Training --- p.48 / Who to Compete With? --- p.49 / Chapter VI. --- COMPETITIVE STRATEGY FOR DMC --- p.50 / Cost is Not Manageable and Low Cost Strategy is Not Possible --- p.50 / Broad Differentiation or Focus Differentiation? --- p.52 / Proper Strategy: Focus Differentiation --- p.52 / Position as Management Skills Program --- p.53 / Putting Strategy into Action --- p.54 / Focus Differentiation Strategy: Implications and Related Issues for DMC's Operations --- p.54 / What Do the Customers Value? --- p.55 / Target Customers - Who Should DMC Focus on? --- p.55 / Market Size --- p.58 / Chapter VII. --- MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM / Previous Marketing Plan --- p.60 / Core Program --- p.61 / Program Brochure --- p.62 / Press Release --- p.63 / Advertising --- p.64 / Direct Mailing --- p.65 / Option One: Sales Calls to Selected Corporations --- p.67 / Option Two: Whole Day Walk-in Registration Session --- p.68 / Budget --- p.69 / Chapter VIII. --- CONCLUSION --- p.70 / APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONNAIRE --- p.71 / Chapter 2 --- RESULTS OF SURVEY ON PART-TIME STUDIES OF WORKING EXECUTIVES --- p.77 / Chapter 3 --- STUDENT PROFILE --- p.89 / Chapter 4 --- SAMPLE OF PRESS RELEASE --- p.96 / Chapter 5 --- SAMPLE ADVERTISEMENT --- p.98 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.99

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

This study investigated the knowledge and skills that biology students may need to help them understand statistics/mathematics as it applies to genetics. The data are based on analyses of current representative genetics texts, practicing genetics professors' perspectives, and more directly, students' perceptions of, and performance in, doing statistically-based genetics problems. This issue is at the emerging edge of modern college-level genetics instruction, and this study attempts to identify key theoretical components for creating a specialized biological statistics curriculum. The goal of this curriculum will be to prepare biology students with the skills for assimilating quantitatively-based genetic processes, increasingly at the forefront of modern genetics. To fulfill this, two college level classes at two universities were surveyed. One university was located in the northeastern US and the other in the West Indies. There was a sample size of 42 students and a supplementary interview was administered to a select 9 students. Interviews were also administered to professors in the field in order to gain insight into the teaching of statistics in genetics. Key findings indicated that students had very little to no background in statistics (55%). Although students did perform well on exams with 60% of the population receiving an A or B grade, 77% of them did not offer good explanations on a probability question associated with the normal distribution provided in the survey. The scope and presentation of the applicable statistics/mathematics in some of the most used textbooks in genetics teaching, as well as genetics syllabi used by instructors do not help the issue. It was found that the text books, often times, either did not give effective explanations for students, or completely left out certain topics. The omission of certain statistical/mathematical oriented topics was seen to be also true with the genetics syllabi reviewed for this study. Nonetheless, although the necessity for infusing these quantitative subjects with genetics and, overall, the biological sciences is growing (topics including synthetic biology, molecular systems biology and phylogenetics) there remains little time in the semester to be dedicated to the consolidation of learning and understanding.

This study examines how mathematical modeling activities within a collaborative group impact students' `value creation' through mathematics. Creating `value' in this study means to apply one's knowledge in a way that benefits the individual and society, and the notion of `value' was adopted from Makiguchi's theory of `value creation' (1930/1989). With a unified framework of Makiguchi's theory of `value', mathematical disposition, and identity, the study identified three aspects of value-beauty, gains, and social good-using observable evidence of mathematical disposition, identity, and sense of community. Sixty students who enrolled in a college algebra course participated in the study. The results showed significant changes in students' mathematics dispositions after engaging in the modeling activities. Analyses of students' written responses and interview data demonstrated that the modeling tasks associated with students' personal data and social interactions within a group contributed to students' developing their identity as doers of mathematics and creating social value. The instructional model aimed to balance the cognitive aspect and the affective skills of learning mathematics in a way that would allow students to connect mathematical concepts to their personal lives and social lives. As a result of the analysis of this study, there emerged a holistic view of the classroom as it reflects the Makiguchi's educational philosophy. Lastly, implications of this study for research and teaching are discussed.

Interest in the elementary education major by underrepresented minority (URM) students at a public four-year institution (Queens College) increased from 36% of declared majors in 2012 to 51% in 2017. However, a disproportionate number of URM students drop out of the educator pipeline, leaving the average percentage of URMs who complete the elementary education major at 22%. While there has been a great deal of research on the preparation of preservice teachers, the bulk of the scholarly literature is focused on the final student teaching practicum and preservice teachers’ experiences at the end of their academic programs. Little research has been done on beginning teacher education students and how their educational experiences, both past and present, influence the way they see themselves as learners and future teachers. Guided by a sociocultural lens, this qualitative study examines teacher education students’ educational experiences and how those experiences influence and shape their paths into the teaching profession. The study was conducted using an interpretive inquiry approach to enable the exploration of participants’ lived educational experiences (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990), using data collected from semi-structured interviews, critical incident reports, and a focus group. Analyses informed by narrative inquiry and grounded theory methodologies were used to look across data collected from participants to paint a rich chronicle of the participants’ stories. Findings highlight the pedagogy of care in conversation with notions of identity, belonging, and community, in order to note its significance for the more oft- studied aspects of teaching. This study contributes to research on teacher education and teaching and learning in higher education, and considers a different perspective on long-standing ideas about communities of practice.

Although the majority of scientists agree that we are facing unprecedented climate crises, higher education’s engagement with environmental and sustainability problems is lacking. While the role of human behavior on climate change has been well established by science, these insights have yet to be adequately applied by citizens, thus exacerbating the consequent economic and social problems (like inequity and poverty). In response to the imminent danger of climate change, calls have come for citizens to be mindful of their actions to reverse the deteriorating trajectory of environmental and sustainability decline. In particular, policymakers have deemed higher education classrooms a promising site for equipping future generations of citizens to engage with sustainability. Formal teaching and learning surrounding sustainability-related subject matter, or Education for Sustainability (EfS), is the process of developing students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward sustainability. However, EfS is not being incorporated into the higher education curriculum with either the quantity or quality necessary to steer society toward social change. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation study was to explore the amount of, and the effectiveness of, EfS in an institution of higher education, and to analyze whether EfS was related to students’ sustainability learning outcomes. Data collection took place at Michigan State University, a public, large-size, four-year institution. Students were surveyed at both the beginning and end of the fall 2017 semester to measure changes over one academic semester. Guided by the frameworks of opportunity to learn, cognitively responsive teaching, teaching for sustainability, and transformative sustainability learning outcomes, data were analyzed with logistic and ordinary least squares regression, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results found that approximately two-thirds of participants reported that they had the opportunity to learn about sustainability. On average, neither cognitively responsive teaching, nor teaching for sustainability, pedagogical approaches were employed to teach sustainability. Interestingly, though, when instructors surfaced students’ prior knowledge about sustainability while teaching the subject, students’ sustainability behaviors increased over the course of the semester. As such, this study illustrated the importance of the pedagogical technique of utilizing students’ prior knowledge when teaching them about sustainability in higher education.

Based on the findings, a Model of Advanced L2/FL Reading Strategies was proposed to account for strategy use of both good and weak readers, as well as the impact of text difficulty level and text type on their strategy use. The model developed appears to accommodate the complex and rich strategy use of the good and weak EFL readers in this study, and has potential for application to L2/FL readers who share more or less similar features. Finally, this dissertation discusses the theoretical and methodological significance of the study, and possible pedagogical implications to enhance students' strategy use. / The major findings indicated that good and weak readers knew and used the same strategies, and employed bottom-up strategies similarly. The key difference was the greater use of top-down strategies by good readers, which suggests that good readers are more concerned with achieving the overall meaning of the text. One surprising finding was that weak readers used metacognitive strategies more frequently. This finding can be explained in terms of the nature of monitoring activities. / The present study employed think-aloud methods to investigate the patterns of reading strategy use of good and weak advanced EFL readers and also the impact of different text types and text difficulty levels on strategy use. Eight good readers and eight weak readers read twelve texts using think-aloud techniques. The texts selected included two text types, causation and description; and two levels of text difficulty. The collected think-aloud protocols were analyzed to identify the strategies used by the participants, and to develop the Coding Scheme. The Coding Scheme developed includes forty identified strategies, classified into three categories---bottom-up, top-down, and metacognitive---according to their processing operations, which were further broken down into eleven subcategories based on their processing load and functional purposes. / The study also found that text type did not have an impact on the overall strategy use of good and weak readers, and only a slight impact on their choice of certain strategies. On the other hand, text difficulty had a strong impact on good readers' strategy use, but only a slight impact on weak readers'. This showed that good readers can flexibly adapt their wide repertoire of strategies to more difficult reading tasks but weak readers tended to read less flexibly. / Pang Soi Meng. / "August 2006." / Adviser: Peter Skehan. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0512. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 343-380). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.