Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / Thesis advisor: Diana C. Pullin / This study explored the role of professional learning communities for district leadership implementing large-scale technology initiatives such as 1:1 implementations (one computing device for every student). The existing literature regarding technology leadership is limited, as is literature on how districts use existing collaborative structures such as professional learning communities (PLCs) to implement technology initiatives. This study examined how superintendents and their leadership teams expect educator collaboration and whether and how they connect these expectations to large-scale technology implementation. Specifically, the concept of professional learning communities (PLCs) and their constructs were studied as collaborative mechanisms designed to support educators implementing large-scale technology initiatives. This qualitative study employs a multiple case study method to explore how the use of collaborative structures supported large-scale technology implementation in five school districts. These respondents and their stories detail a unique moment in educational leadership as increasing numbers of districts seek to implement such large-scale initiatives in school systems. Study results highlight how superintendents use leadership planning and implementation teams to serve as PLCs at the district level. This study confirms that the collaborative constructs of the PLC do serve to assist in the implementation of large-scale technology implementations in school systems, but largely at the central office strategic planning level. Superintendents utilize these collaborative structures for personal learning as they design implementation but do not scale up such structures for use by all educators across the implementation or system. Recommendations are made for use of collaborative structures to create technology educator learning ecologies across school systems. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA (DVS) / Although many researchers have shown ICT can enable development it remains a great challenge to understand the link between JCT4D projects and the development of emerging commercial agriculture. There is a need to realise the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) for emerging commercial farmer development in order to achieve agriculture expansion and transformation in South Africa. This is important in order for them to partake in the knowledge economy visualised in the 2030 National development plan of South Africa and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in 2030. However in South Africa, it is not yel established which spec(flc ICT are used, how they are used and the extent of deployment ((used in the emerging commercial agricultural sector. Few studies have focused on the faclors that influence the use of !CT in South Ajhcan emerging agriculture. This study investigates and attempts to understand the usage of ICT by emerging commercial farmers and the issues 1hat influence ICT use on the West Coast of the Western Cape Province in South Africa. The study investigates 1he different forms of JCT used, how they are being used, what they are used for, how important these technologies are as enablers of production, and the factors that affect their use. The study involved a survey response of 42 emerging commercial farmers and 46 of their farm employees in the Matzikama and Cederberg municipalities. A literature review draws from studies globally, regionally and in South Africa on how !CTs have penetrated and contributed to delivering development in emerging commercial agriculture. Although most emerging commercial farmers cannot afford to adopt !CT tools that are essential in their farming activities almost all who were interviewed acknowledged the importance of ICT to their businesses. However, among other ICT, mobile phones and television were found to be primarily used for social and entertainment reasons rather than for agricultural pwposes. The general findings showed that occupation on farm and JCT literacy influence the use of ICT by farm employees. On the other hand the gender, capacity of the farmer, off farm income and farm size influences the use of ICT by emerging commercial farmers. Our literature review established some examples ji'om the studies of other researchers and the efforts of multi-lateral institutions such as the FA 0 and ITU to illustrate how we can improve policy. 1 recommend that the South African government develop an e-agriculture strategy to monitor development and validation of good practices on the use of ICTs in agriculture and rural development. This strategy will examine emerging trends on the role of JCTs and the challenges faced in reaching scaled, sustainable informCIIion service models. This can increase the sustainability of emerging commercial agriculture to contribute to the improvement of the lives of the poor in rural areas. Finally I present research questions for future research.

Community college faculty need to learn and understand the technology that is available in their classrooms so that they can teach students how to use these tools. Professional development workshops are one way that faculty members acquire knowledge of classroom technology. However, little is known about the usefulness of technology professional development workshops using active learning in a community college setting as a development option. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify faculty members' perceptions and beliefs regarding technology professional development that incorporated active learning as a learning method. The conceptual framework included the concepts of transformative and active learning. Participants for this study included 5 faculty drawn from full-time, part-time, and adjunct faculty who registered for a technology professional development workshop featuring active learning at a community college in the U.S. Midwest. Data sources included interviews conducted before and after the workshop. Data were analyzed using NVivo software and inductive coding to identify patterns and themes. The findings of this study indicated that faculty prefer active learning to self-study or problem-based learning when learning technology because of the collaboration available within the workshop setting. This study contributes to social change because it provides insights on how teachers believe they best learn technology. Educational leaders can use this knowledge to maximize quality in future technology trainings.

The role and impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) towards enabling socio-economic development in small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) has received attention from various scholars. South Africa as a lower middle-income developing country has a number of development priorities which include the urgent need to expand the economy and ultimately to eradicate poverty and unemployment. Based on evidence from more advanced economies, expanded access and usage of ICTs in SMMEs is considered an imperative to enable the acceleration of development goals. This study sets out to advance understanding of the role and impact of ICT usage by SMMEs on poverty reduction from a South African perspective. A systematic literature review methodology was applied to analyse previous theoretical and empirical studies conducted on the interplay between ICTs, SMMEs and poverty reduction. Empirical data was gathered from SMMEs through semi structured interviews and observations. A purposively selected case study was also carried out serving to enhance contextual insight into the role of ICTs in an SMME context. The thematic analysis method, Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Sustainable Livelihood framework (SL) were applied as the data analysis methods. The combination of ANT and the SL framework for expanded analysis has not been applied before by similar studies that examine the interplay between ICT, SMMEs and poverty reduction. The process of triangulation was applied on the empirical findings in order to reduce bias and to construct a conceptual model. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing a conceptual model that frames the role and impact of ICT usage by SMMEs towards improving their livelihoods and reducing poverty. Methodologically it offers an example of how method pluralism can be applied to gain a better understanding of the research phenomena. From a practical perspective, this study addresses real life challenges resulting in the suggestion of practical guidelines to ensure that the use of ICTs by SMMEs results in improvements in their financial and non-financial well-being. The findings of this study indicate that the relationship between ICT usage and poverty reduction is neither simple nor linear. Effective use of ICTs could result in SMMEs leveraging more benefits and thus improving their human capabilities as well as social and economic well-being resulting in poverty reduction. / Thesis (PhD) University of Pretoria, 2017. / Informatics / PhD / Unrestricted

No description available.

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology has matured over the past few decades and has made significant impacts in a variety of fields, from assistive technologies to commercial products. However, ASR system development is a resource intensive activity and requires language resources in the form of text annotated audio recordings and pronunciation dictionaries. Unfortunately, many languages found in the developing world fall into the resource-scarce category and due to this resource scarcity the deployment of ASR systems in the developing world is severely inhibited. In this thesis we present research into developing techniques and tools to (1) harvest audio data, (2) rapidly adapt ASR systems and (3) select “useful” training samples in order to assist with resource-scarce ASR system development. We demonstrate an automatic audio harvesting approach which efficiently creates a speech recognition corpus by harvesting an easily available audio resource. We show that by starting with bootstrapped acoustic models, trained with language data obtain from a dialect, and then running through a few iterations of an alignment-filter-retrain phase it is possible to create an accurate speech recognition corpus. As a demonstration we create a South African English speech recognition corpus by using our approach and harvesting an internet website which provides audio and approximate transcriptions. The acoustic models developed from harvested data are evaluated on independent corpora and show that the proposed harvesting approach provides a robust means to create ASR resources. As there are many acoustic model adaptation techniques which can be implemented by an ASR system developer it becomes a costly endeavour to select the best adaptation technique. We investigate the dependence of the adaptation data amount and various adaptation techniques by systematically varying the adaptation data amount and comparing the performance of various adaptation techniques. We establish a guideline which can be used by an ASR developer to chose the best adaptation technique given a size constraint on the adaptation data, for the scenario where adaptation between narrow- and wide-band corpora must be performed. In addition, we investigate the effectiveness of a novel channel normalisation technique and compare the performance with standard normalisation and adaptation techniques. Lastly, we propose a new data selection framework which can be used to design a speech recognition corpus. We show for limited data sets, independent of language and bandwidth, the most effective strategy for data selection is frequency-matched selection and that the widely-used maximum entropy methods generally produced the least promising results. In our model, the frequency-matched selection method corresponds to a logarithmic relationship between accuracy and corpus size; we also investigated other model relationships, and found that a hyperbolic relationship (as suggested from simple asymptotic arguments in learning theory) may lead to somewhat better performance under certain conditions. / Thesis (PhD (Computer and Electronic Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology has matured over the past few decades and has made significant impacts in a variety of fields, from assistive technologies to commercial products. However, ASR system development is a resource intensive activity and requires language resources in the form of text annotated audio recordings and pronunciation dictionaries. Unfortunately, many languages found in the developing world fall into the resource-scarce category and due to this resource scarcity the deployment of ASR systems in the developing world is severely inhibited. In this thesis we present research into developing techniques and tools to (1) harvest audio data, (2) rapidly adapt ASR systems and (3) select “useful” training samples in order to assist with resource-scarce ASR system development. We demonstrate an automatic audio harvesting approach which efficiently creates a speech recognition corpus by harvesting an easily available audio resource. We show that by starting with bootstrapped acoustic models, trained with language data obtain from a dialect, and then running through a few iterations of an alignment-filter-retrain phase it is possible to create an accurate speech recognition corpus. As a demonstration we create a South African English speech recognition corpus by using our approach and harvesting an internet website which provides audio and approximate transcriptions. The acoustic models developed from harvested data are evaluated on independent corpora and show that the proposed harvesting approach provides a robust means to create ASR resources. As there are many acoustic model adaptation techniques which can be implemented by an ASR system developer it becomes a costly endeavour to select the best adaptation technique. We investigate the dependence of the adaptation data amount and various adaptation techniques by systematically varying the adaptation data amount and comparing the performance of various adaptation techniques. We establish a guideline which can be used by an ASR developer to chose the best adaptation technique given a size constraint on the adaptation data, for the scenario where adaptation between narrow- and wide-band corpora must be performed. In addition, we investigate the effectiveness of a novel channel normalisation technique and compare the performance with standard normalisation and adaptation techniques. Lastly, we propose a new data selection framework which can be used to design a speech recognition corpus. We show for limited data sets, independent of language and bandwidth, the most effective strategy for data selection is frequency-matched selection and that the widely-used maximum entropy methods generally produced the least promising results. In our model, the frequency-matched selection method corresponds to a logarithmic relationship between accuracy and corpus size; we also investigated other model relationships, and found that a hyperbolic relationship (as suggested from simple asymptotic arguments in learning theory) may lead to somewhat better performance under certain conditions. / Thesis (PhD (Computer and Electronic Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Thesis (M.A.)--Duquesne University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-122) and index.

Esse trabalho tem por objetivo analisar as políticas de ciência e tecnologia, na última década do século XX, no Brasil. Buscou-se, especificamente, verificar potencialidades e limites dessas políticas para a construção de condições de sustentabilidade e para melhorar a posição relativa do país no cenário internacional, caracterizado por economia mundializada, e baseada, nos países centrais, em conhecimento intensivo. Visando identificar impactos das formas de gestão e de fomento de ciência e tecnologia sobre o desenvolvimento e a consolidação da base científica e tecnológica brasileira, na década de 1990, investigou-se a relação entre Estado, sociedade e coletividades científicas, expressa em políticas públicas, pelas quais o Estado, com o apoio parcial da coletividade científica, institui a “excelência” como o centro da re-organização do desenvolvimento científico e tecnológico brasileiro, tomando-a como condição essencial para a obtenção dos níveis de competitividade exigidos para a inserção do País na nova ordem econômica mundial. A investigação foi efetuada a partir da análise, por um lado, das macroestruturas sociais representadas pelo Estado (políticas públicas, agências do Estado) e o Mercado, estruturas essas que afetam e conectam as microssituações; e, por outro lado, sua relação com os microprocessos que envolvem a ação dos atores presentes no setor de ciência e tecnologia e seu papel na manutenção ou transformação das estruturas sociais. O conceito inclusivo de coletividades científicas, no qual as relações macro e microssociais são contempladas demonstrou-se profícuo para a investigação das políticas de ciência e tecnologia no Brasil, notadamente no que se refere à sua peculiaridade, expressa na inclusão dos cientistas como atores privilegiados na formulação e gestão das mesmas. O estudo conclui que as novas formas de gestão de ciência e tecnologia, no Brasil, que deixam de investir na ampliação horizontal da base de pesquisa e no apoio à emergência de grupos, com capacidade de encontrar soluções para problemas econômicos e sociais, nas diferentes regiões do país (que apresenta dimensões continentais), podem levar a um agravamento das dificuldades para o rompimento do círculo que mantém o país como periférico, com relação aos centros dinamizadores de conhecimento e, também, reduzir suas chances de um desenvolvimento sustentável, apesar do discurso e, mesmo, de políticas explícitas em ciência e tecnologia, direcionadas para esse tipo de desenvolvimento. / This paper aims at an analysis of the last decade of the twentieth century’s Brazilian policies on science and technology. Specifically, the author tried to verify potentials and limitations of these policies in the construction of conditions for sustainability and improvement of the country’s relative position in an international scene which is characterized by a global economy and, in the central countries, on intensive knowledge. Aiming at identifying the impact of management structures and promotion of science and technology on the development and the consolidation of the Brazilian technological and scientific foundations in the decade of 1990, the paper scrutinizes the relationship between State, society and scientific communities, as expressed in public policies, for which the State, with the partial support of the scientific collective, institutes "excellence" as the center of the reorganization of the Brazilian scientific and technological development, taking it as an essential condition for the attainment of the demanded levels of competitiveness for the insertion of the country in the new world-wide economic order. The investigation was carried out from the analysis, on one hand, of the social macrostructures represented by the State (public policies, State agencies) and the Market, with structures that affect and connect the micro-situations; and on the other hand, their relationship with the micro-processes that involve the action of the actors present in the science and technology sector and their role in maintaining or transforming social structures. The inclusive concept of scientific collectives, which contemplates macro and micro-social relationships, has asserted itself as a fertile terrain for the inquiry into science and technology policies in Brazil, specifically in relation to its peculiarity, which is expressed by the inclusion of the scientists as privileged actors in the creation and management of policies of science and technology. The study concludes that the new forms of management in science and technology in Brazil fail to invest in the horizontal expansion of the bases for research as well as failing to support emergent groups, which are capable of finding solutions for economic and social problems in the different regions of a country as large as Brazil. This failure can make it very difficult to disrupt the circle that keeps the country peripheral with relation to the driving centres of knowledge. Moreover, it reduces the possibilities of a sustainable development, in spite of the official discourse and even the implementation, by the State, of explicit policies in science and technology, intended for this type of development.

Esse trabalho tem por objetivo analisar as políticas de ciência e tecnologia, na última década do século XX, no Brasil. Buscou-se, especificamente, verificar potencialidades e limites dessas políticas para a construção de condições de sustentabilidade e para melhorar a posição relativa do país no cenário internacional, caracterizado por economia mundializada, e baseada, nos países centrais, em conhecimento intensivo. Visando identificar impactos das formas de gestão e de fomento de ciência e tecnologia sobre o desenvolvimento e a consolidação da base científica e tecnológica brasileira, na década de 1990, investigou-se a relação entre Estado, sociedade e coletividades científicas, expressa em políticas públicas, pelas quais o Estado, com o apoio parcial da coletividade científica, institui a “excelência” como o centro da re-organização do desenvolvimento científico e tecnológico brasileiro, tomando-a como condição essencial para a obtenção dos níveis de competitividade exigidos para a inserção do País na nova ordem econômica mundial. A investigação foi efetuada a partir da análise, por um lado, das macroestruturas sociais representadas pelo Estado (políticas públicas, agências do Estado) e o Mercado, estruturas essas que afetam e conectam as microssituações; e, por outro lado, sua relação com os microprocessos que envolvem a ação dos atores presentes no setor de ciência e tecnologia e seu papel na manutenção ou transformação das estruturas sociais. O conceito inclusivo de coletividades científicas, no qual as relações macro e microssociais são contempladas demonstrou-se profícuo para a investigação das políticas de ciência e tecnologia no Brasil, notadamente no que se refere à sua peculiaridade, expressa na inclusão dos cientistas como atores privilegiados na formulação e gestão das mesmas. O estudo conclui que as novas formas de gestão de ciência e tecnologia, no Brasil, que deixam de investir na ampliação horizontal da base de pesquisa e no apoio à emergência de grupos, com capacidade de encontrar soluções para problemas econômicos e sociais, nas diferentes regiões do país (que apresenta dimensões continentais), podem levar a um agravamento das dificuldades para o rompimento do círculo que mantém o país como periférico, com relação aos centros dinamizadores de conhecimento e, também, reduzir suas chances de um desenvolvimento sustentável, apesar do discurso e, mesmo, de políticas explícitas em ciência e tecnologia, direcionadas para esse tipo de desenvolvimento. / This paper aims at an analysis of the last decade of the twentieth century’s Brazilian policies on science and technology. Specifically, the author tried to verify potentials and limitations of these policies in the construction of conditions for sustainability and improvement of the country’s relative position in an international scene which is characterized by a global economy and, in the central countries, on intensive knowledge. Aiming at identifying the impact of management structures and promotion of science and technology on the development and the consolidation of the Brazilian technological and scientific foundations in the decade of 1990, the paper scrutinizes the relationship between State, society and scientific communities, as expressed in public policies, for which the State, with the partial support of the scientific collective, institutes "excellence" as the center of the reorganization of the Brazilian scientific and technological development, taking it as an essential condition for the attainment of the demanded levels of competitiveness for the insertion of the country in the new world-wide economic order. The investigation was carried out from the analysis, on one hand, of the social macrostructures represented by the State (public policies, State agencies) and the Market, with structures that affect and connect the micro-situations; and on the other hand, their relationship with the micro-processes that involve the action of the actors present in the science and technology sector and their role in maintaining or transforming social structures. The inclusive concept of scientific collectives, which contemplates macro and micro-social relationships, has asserted itself as a fertile terrain for the inquiry into science and technology policies in Brazil, specifically in relation to its peculiarity, which is expressed by the inclusion of the scientists as privileged actors in the creation and management of policies of science and technology. The study concludes that the new forms of management in science and technology in Brazil fail to invest in the horizontal expansion of the bases for research as well as failing to support emergent groups, which are capable of finding solutions for economic and social problems in the different regions of a country as large as Brazil. This failure can make it very difficult to disrupt the circle that keeps the country peripheral with relation to the driving centres of knowledge. Moreover, it reduces the possibilities of a sustainable development, in spite of the official discourse and even the implementation, by the State, of explicit policies in science and technology, intended for this type of development.