The collaborative efforts of families, educators, and policy makers have merged vocational training with special education services for students with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 introduced mandates for schools to provide transition services for students with disabilities based on three areas of need: a) education, b) employment, and independent living. This legislation has led to more work-based learning programs that meet the postsecondary needs for students with disabilities. Despite this increase in work-based learning programs many students with disabilities are still unable to make successful transitions into postsecondary outcomes. Using a mixed method design, this study examined the impact of a Job Experience Training (JET) program on the executive functioning skills of seven young men (15 to 18 years of age) over the course of seven weeks at an assisted living facility. Results of the teacher evaluations showed the students were capable of completing tasks, making individual goals, and increasing executive functioning skills while participating in the JET program. Conversely, the results from the parent and student assessments showed little to no change in executive functioning skills once the participants were outside the context of the assisted living facility. Future research is encouraged to examine a longitudinal study across multiple job sites that evaluates and measures the students’ ability to transfer executive functioning skills to other contexts and further investigate mentoring as the core teaching strategy of a JET program.

There has been limited evaluation to show the perceptions of student participants in school-to-work programs about the impact of school-to-work program participation as being beneficial to their postsecondary educational and career plans, and no research to determine whether perceptions differ significantly across race and gender. In addition, the minimal research conducted to date did not study student participants' perceptions about the impact of the program on their understanding of the relevance of the academics to the worksite and their overall academic success. Nor did the research address the actual change in grades and school attendance of students in school-to-work programs. Students are a major stakeholder group in the school-to-work initiative, and therefore, consulting with them about their perceptions about the impact of school-to-work program participation is an important aspect in school-to-work evaluation. Students have not been consulted in educational program evaluation and have not had a significant voice in the school-to-work arena (Hollenbeck, 1996). It is important to assess the opinions and perceptions of students who are currently participating in school-to-work programs, because they are the major focus of the school-to-work initiative and information that they provide can be used by program administrators and policymakers in making future decisions about school-to-work programs. Such assessment should seek to determine their perceptions about the impact of the program on their overall academic success and future postsecondary education and career choices. It is also important to assess the impact of the program on students' academic success and school attendance. A questionnaire was developed by the researcher and distributed to site coordinators in three school-to-work sites. Site coordinators worked with school staff to administer the questionnaire instrument. One-hundred twenty-four twelfth grade student participants in school-to-work programs, in these three sites, were asked to participate; 62% responded to the survey. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were made. • The findings on students' perceptions that school-to-work program participation improved their overall academic performance, increased their acceptance of responsibility, increased their self-confidence and motivation can be an indicator of the success of the school-to-work program. • The positive attitudes of students regarding the school-to-work program as being beneficial to their future education and career plans is important in promoting the concept of "life-long" learning. • The use of measures to determine students' perceptions about understanding the relevance of school-to-work, improvement in academic performance, and overall satisfaction with the school-to-work program can be used as measures to evaluate the success of a school-to-work program. • School-to-work program participation can be instrumental in influencing students to continue their education beyond high school. • School-to-work program participation does not appear to negatively impact any group (gender or race). / Ed. D.

The School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 provided seed monies to educational institutions, if they were willing to form collaborative partnerships with members of the business and employer communities. The goal was to build learning opportunities for students that would facilitate their seamless transition from the public school system into adult work-settings and/or places of post-secondary education, training, and skills acquisition. An historical case study of school reform was conducted, using qualitative research methods that included extensive field observations, participant interviews, document analysis, narrative inquiry strategies, phenomenological reflection and data reduction. The lived experiences of 23 students and 14 community partners were juxtaposed against the recollected memories of the teacher-researcher, and analyzed in the context of complex change theory (Ambrose, 1987). The point was to distill the essential themes that could shed light on the research question. Those factors that were deemed to be influential in the development, delivery, or efficacy of the learning opportunities that were created as curriculum interventions, in support of this one piece of federal legislation, are discussed analytically, so as to make recommendations for similar practical programs with a career-education or work-based learning focus.

This thesis defines the time impact of precepting medical students on rural general practitioners and explains how and why they commit the time to precept. To answer this question, original research was undertaken within the context of the innovative community-based medical education program, the Parallel Rural Community Curriculum (PRCC), using the parallel consulting model. Chapters One to Three detail the context of this study, appraise the existing evidence in the literature, and establish the rigour of the study design. In line with the constructivist theoretical perspective presented by the author, a case study methodology was chosen for this study. The thesis is constructed in two parts. Results from a prospective cohort study of GPs� videotaped consulting, with and without students, are described in Chapters Four and Five. No increase in consultation time or non-consulting time was found when precepting medical students. GPs� activities changed, suggesting they adapted their behaviour when students were present. An interpretive study, using a grounded theory approach, was used to explain the �how� and �why� of the research question. Interview data from GP preceptors, practice managers and students was used to construct a transferable explanatory theory as it emerged from the data. These results are presented in Chapters Six and Seven. The majority of GPs considered precepting more time consuming than consulting alone. This finding was not consistent with the videotaped data. GPs consistently experienced time pressure in their roles due to constant intrusion of competing priorities. This increased when precepting students. Frequent descision making by GPs as a response to their drive to remain on time was found to be a significant contributing factor to the changes found in consultation activities. Although many types of professional enrichment were identified by GP preceptors as adding value to precepting, the doctor-student relationship was clearly defined as the most important motivator for precepting in this study. The case study analysis explains how and why this occurred, and documents the maturation of the doctor-student repationship over time in the year long PRCC attachments. Through a grounded theory analysis of the data, four precepting consultation models emerged: student observer, teacher-healer, doctor orchestrator and doctor advisor. In Chapter Eight, the study defines these models in the context of legitimate peripheral participation of a novice member of the rural GP community of practice. The corroborative evidence from the literature suggests that these models may be applicable to other settings, particularly other community-based medical education sites.

My study explores the characteristics of remote performance feedback that professional examiners working in the Oxford, Cambridge & RSA (OCR) awarding body communicate to each other. Drawing on sociocultural theories, I argue that this interaction possesses learning potential because between-professional communication supports the development of participants’ reasoning through the alignment of culturally appropriate collective thinking. My data consists of 991 feedback messages that were captured during two examination sessions (between May and July 2014, and between May and July 2015). These remote interactions (either email or telephone) involved three senior examiners and 27 examiners. These feedback interactions have an important quality assurance function as they help to ensure that the examiners carry out marking practices to an agreed standard. My research explores two interlinked research questions: ‘What are the characteristics of examiner feedback?’ and ‘What are the characteristics of effective examiner feedback?’ For the first research question I develop a methodology that extends the Sociocultural Discourse Analysis (SCDA) approach developed by Neil Mercer; I call this approach Augmented Sociocultural Discourse Analysis (ASCDA). My methodology allows me to investigate the features of interaction at both a particular and a general level, and clusters my analysis into four specific feedback discourse themes: feedback content, the development of discourse over time, evidence of joint intellectual action within feedback, and the impact of feedback. In order to address the second question I hypothesise that effectiveness relates to how feedback features support or undermine examiners’ common ground building. I synthesise the findings from these analyses to consider the lessons for examiner practice in particular, and for other professional feedback practices more generally. Taken together, these analyses suggest that feedback-giving is an intellectually challenging process. My analyses also suggest that this complexity involves the participants establishing and maintaining an Intermental Development Zone through their feedback communication, and that this entails them manipulating discourse features whilst simultaneously attending to a variety of contextual features of the professional environment.

This licentiate thesis describes the development and change of forms within a course with a focus on Work-Integrated Learning (WIL). For several years I have been responsible for a course and at the same time author of the syllabus for the course and seen how weak the integration is, and how it is perceived by the students, between theoretical knowledge and the practical work during an internship period. This has resulted in two interventions and processing of the syllabus and above all the methods and pedagogy used for the implementation of the course. In the beginning, the internship period contained four presentation seminars where the result was only a joint listening to the other students' stories and presentations. This resulted in a discussion and conceptual paper that focused on the importance of integration and how this can be made visible. The first change in curricula was inspired by Flipped Classroom, where students had to submit their narratives in advance in an online shared document. Prior to the seminar, it was assumed that they would then read each other's text and reflect on similarities and differences in experiences and learning in the workplace where they had their internship period. This resulted in a more reflective conversation during the seminars which can be called Peer Reflections where the conversation was always based on previous reflections and each other's thoughts. The second intervention was carried out in implementation at the same time as it was to be compared with the student's experiences of seminars in a control group that carried out a similar course structure with presentation and examining seminars. The change was inspired by a model from Australia that they call Huddles. This is a concluding seminar as a briefing of the practice. The issues that are discussed are carefully selected in collaboration with the students and have a clear anchoring in their experiences during the practice. The change, which was then implemented, after inspiration from Huddles in one group, with as before four seminars during the internship with carefully selected themes. At the same time, I was inspired by models for evaluating differences in teaching when technology is introduced, such as the SAMR model (substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition) and how this could be seen as a form of progression if technology was changed to AIL. The SOLO taxonomy was also the inspiration for describing the assignments and themes before each seminar. The research questions presented in this licentiate thesis focus on the students' experiences of how these changes contribute to a better understanding of the integration of what is taught at the university in the form of theory and the practical knowledge they learned in the internship. Qualitative data collection has taken place through observations and focus groups in both the group where changes have been implemented and in the group that conducted accounting and examining seminars. The results show that the integration in the students' understanding of theory and practice increases. They also experience a progression in their reflections and the seminars, while the students in the control group experience their seminars as scattered and they do not contribute to any knowledge development. The licentiate thesis also contributes to considering WIL as a complex concept with different areas of responsibility. The university teaches on the theoretical side, Work-Integrated Education (WIE) while on the other side of the dichotomy theory and practice where students are largely responsible for Workplace learning (WPL). Between these, several different activities can be carried out, including Huddles, which can be described as work-based learning (WBL). The university can contribute to these activities with, for example, simulations, the teaching of relevant software used by companies and organizations in the field. Workplaces can also contribute with concrete assignments in the form of various projects that the students are allowed to carry out or perhaps with guest lectures and concrete cases. Seeing WIL as an umbrella covering different forms of activities with different organizational responsibilities can make it easier to see the importance of the different activities and these can be integrated. WIL is not only WIE. In addition to the view that AIL is an umbrella concept with several different types of activities, ideas are also given on how Huddles can be introduced as a pedagogical method and how progression can be developed within Work-integrated Education and Learning with inspiration from different models. / Populärvetenskaplig Sammanfattning I denna licentiatuppsats beskrivs utveckling och förändring av former inom en kurs med fokus på Arbetsintegrerat Lärande (AIL). Jag har under flera år varit ansvarig för en kurs och samtidigt författare av kursplanen för kursen och sett hur svag integrationen är mellan teoretiska kunskaper och det praktiska arbetet under en praktikperiod och hur integrationen uppfattas av studenterna. Detta har resulterat i två interventioner och bearbetningar av kursplan och framför allt av de metoder och den pedagogik som använts för genomförandet av kursen. Initialt innehöll praktikperioden fyra redovisande seminarier där resultatet endast blev ett gemensamt lyssnande till de andra studenternas berättelser och presentationer. Detta gav som resultat ett diskuterande och konceptuellt paper som fokuserade på integrationens betydelse och hur detta kan synliggöras. Den första förändringen inspirerades av Flipped Classroom där studenterna i förväg fick lämna sina narrativ i ett online delat dokument. Inför seminariet förutsattes att de sedan skulle läsa varandras texter och reflektera över likheter och skillnader i upplevelser och lärande på den arbetsplats där de hade sin praktikperiod. Detta resulterade i ett mer reflekterande samtal under seminarierna som kan kallas Peer Reflections där samtalet hela tiden byggde på tidigare reflektioner och varandras tankar. Den andra interventionen genomfördes samtidigt som studenternas upplevelser av seminarier skulle jämföras i en kontrollgrupp som genomförde ett liknande kursupplägg med redovisande och examinerande seminarier. Förändringen inspirerades av en modell från Australien som där kallas Huddles. Detta görs vid ett avslutande seminarium som briefing av praktiken. Frågeställningarna som diskuteras är noga utvalda i samverkan med studenterna och har en tydlig förankring i deras upplevelser under praktiken. Förändringen genomfördes sedan, efter inspiration av Huddles i den ena gruppen, med liksom tidigare fyra seminarier under praktiktiden med noga valda teman. Samtidigt inspirerades jag av modeller för värdering av skillnader i undervisning när teknik införs, såsom SAMR-modellen (substitution, augmentation, modification och redefinition) och hur detta kunde ses som en form av progression om teknik byttes mot AIL. SOLO-taxonomin blev också inspiration för beskrivning av uppdragen och teman inför varje seminarium. Forskningsfrågorna som redovisas i denna licentiatuppsats fokuseras på studenternas upplevelser av hur dessa förändringar bidrar till att bättre förstå integrationen av den teori som de lärt sig på högskolan och den praktiska kunskap de fått på praktikplatsen. Insamling av kvalitativa data har skett genom observationer och fokusgrupper i både i den grupp där förändringar har genomförts och i den grupp, kontrollgruppen, som genomfört redovisande och examinerande seminarier. Resultatet visar att studenternas förståelse av integrationen mellan teori och praktik ökar. De upplever också en progression i sina reflektioner och i seminarierna medan studenterna i kontrollgruppen upplever sina seminarier som spretiga och att de inte bidrar till någon kunskapsutveckling. Licentiatuppsatsen bidrar med att betrakta AIL som ett komplext paraplybegrepp med olika ansvarsområden. Å den ena sidan är högskolan ansvarig för att förmedla teoretisk kunskap, Arbetsintegrerad Undervisning (AIU) medan studenten å den andra sidan, till stor del är ansvarig för att integrera teori och praktik genom sitt arbetsplatsbaserade lärande (APL). Mellan AIU och APL finns arbetsbaserat lärande (ABL) där det kan genomföras en rad olika aktiviteter, där bland annat modellen Huddles ingår. Aktiviteter som lärosätet kan bidra med är till exempel simuleringar och undervisning i relevanta programvaror som används av företag och organisationer inom fältet. Aktiviteter som arbetsplatserna kan bidra med är konkreta uppdrag i form av olika projekt som studenterna får utföra eller med gästföreläsningar eller konkreta Case. Att se AIL som ett paraply som omfattar de olika begreppen och innehåller olika former av verksamhet med olika organisatoriska ansvar kan göra det enklare att inse vikten av de olika aktiviteterna och hur dessa kan integreras. AIL är därmed inte enbart AIU. Utöver synsättet att AIL är ett paraplybegrepp med flera olika typer av aktiviteter lämnas också idéer på hur Huddles kan införas som en pedagogisk metod för att stärka ”I.et” i AIL och hur progression kan utvecklas inom arbetsintegrerat lärande med inspiration av olika modeller.

Vocational educators are reexamining methods of preparing students for the transition from school to the workplace as employers from business and industry are looking to schools for help in meeting their human resource needs. The School-to-Work Opportunities Act (1994) has stimulated a number of approaches to link school-based learning and work-based learning to help students transition to the workplace. Research has been conducted in school settings and work settings but little is known about how the two link together. Thus, little is known about the ways that situated learning contributes to the linkages between school-based and work-based learning.To address this concern, the overall purpose of this study was to determine how work-based and school-based experiences of students enrolled in cooperative education are linked. More specifically, details of students' school-based experiences that they, their teachers, and their workplace supervisors perceive as linked to the workplace were sought. Additionally, details of students' work-based experiences that they, their teachers, and their workplace supervisors perceive as linked to school-based experiences and activities were examined. Participants were ten students enrolled in cooperative education, their cooperative business or marketing education teachers, and their workplace supervisors from ten school sites in southwest Virginia. Individual interviews were used to collect data for the study. The interview data was used to ascertain perceptions of instances in the students' work experiences that reflect how school-based learning gives context to their work-based learning and how work-based learning gives context to their school-based performance. Emphasis was on detailing situated learning experiences, where school-based learning and work-based experiences were interlinked.The interview protocols were designed to answer the following three research questions:1.What school-based experiences do students, teachers, and workplace supervisors perceive have provided learning in the context needed for the work-based experiences of students enrolled in cooperative education?2.What work-based experiences do students, teachers, and workplace supervisors perceive as providing context to school-based learning experiences of students enrolled in cooperative education?3.What additional school-based learning experiences can students, teachers, and workplace supervisors identify that would help students who are enrolled in cooperative education relate their school learning to the workplace?The findings of the study indicated that the foundational skills and the competencies identified in the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (1991) report as necessary for workers were, also, identified by interviewees as school-based experiences that provided learning for the students in the context needed for work-based experiences. Further, they were identified as work-based learning activities that linked work with school.Based on the findings in this study a number of implications for school-based and work-based instruction were developed that focus on the importance of providing students experiences and activities in the context needed for the workplace. Implications for further research are also provided. / Ph. D.

Det här är en kandidatuppsats som är skriven av studenter på Ersta Sköndal högskola under 2016. Den är skriven med utgångspunkt i problematiken vad som potentiellt händer om socionomstudenter har en alltför negativ bild av socialtjänsten, som grundar sig i en negativ bild som massmedia målar upp. Uppsatsen strävar efter att undersöka om socionomstudenter förändrar sin attityd till socialtjänsten som arbetsplats genom att genomföra sin praktik på socialtjänsten och försöker besvara vilka orsakerna till attitydförändringen har varit. Den har en kvalitativ ansats och bygger på sex intervjuer av socionomstudenter som praktiserat på olika socialtjänster i Stockholm. Uppsatsen utgår från tre teman för att lättare kunna studera hur attityder kan förändras, dessa teman är: innan praktik, under praktik och efter praktik. För att analysera vår insamlade empiri har vi använt av oss socialpsykologisk teori om attityder samt teori om professionsidentitet. Vi har även kopplat vår empiri till tidigare forskning om attitydförändring, praktik, utbildning och professionsidentitet. Uppsatsens resultat visar att attityden till socialtjänsten har förändrats från något negativ till något positiv för samtliga sex respondenter. Det visar sig nu att majoriteten av respondenterna har sökt sig till och arbetar vid sidan av studierna på de arbetsplatser där de utförde sin praktikperiod.

Understanding the practical implications of work-based learning opportunities (WBLOs) is complex. Although WBLOs are not new learning environments, understanding and clearly defining them is increasingly necessary. In Kentucky, WBLOs are part of the political discourse in post-secondary education. The Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) and local/regional economic and workforce development agencies have incorporated strengthening and growing WBLOs into their strategic plans. By interviewing students that have completed WBLOs at three colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), this study intended to explore student perspectives of WBLOs by asking the following research questions: 1) What role do WBLOs play in transmitting dominant workplace cultural capital and how has that transmission impacted student career pathway decisions? 2) What impact do WBLOs have in developing workplace expectations post-graduation? The dissertation is produced in three manuscripts, including a companion piece written in collaboration with Lauren McCrary, examining faculty perspectives of WBLOs in Kentucky. The second manuscript is an essay addressing the concept of workforce mis-alignment between the skills possessed by post-secondary graduates and the need of industry. The third manuscript is a review of the research, which was conducted to explore student perspectives of WBLOs in relation to the research questions.

Understanding the practical implications related to experiential learning is complex. It is important to first view experiential learning as an umbrella term under which work-based learning (WBL) is housed. To further particularize, there are different avenues for students to pursue work-based learning opportunities (WBLOs), with internships and cooperative education being two. Although these are not new learning environments, understanding and clearly defining them (to both internal and external bodies) is increasingly necessary. In Kentucky, WBLOs are part of the political discourse on postsecondary education. The Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) and local economic development agencies have incorporated strengthening and growing WBLOs into their strategic plans. This demand is echoed by students and parents. By interviewing faculty with varying enrollments in their WBLOs, this study set out to explore influences on the development and implementation of these experiences from their perspective. The dissertation is written in three manuscripts, including a companion piece written in collaboration with Robert Boone that examines WBLOs from a complementary faculty (McCrary) and student perspective (Boone). It situates the problem of practice (WBLOs) in the current landscape of Kentucky Community and Technical College System. The second manuscript describes anticipated and unanticipated findings related to the development and implementation of WBLOs drawn from my interviews with WBLO coordinators across the state. Selected examples include the role of the advisory board and faculty background on the development of WBLOs and stakeholder preparation and conveying benefits to the community during implementation. The third manuscript explores obstacles encountered and offers potential avenues to circumvent or overcome said obstacles based on information collected through the interviews of this qualitative, exploratory study. This dissertation will be of use to both senior administrators interested in increasing WBLOs at their institution and to faculty who are interested in offering the opportunities to their students. This study offers insight to current practices related to WBLO development and implementation and offers potential avenues to overcome obstacles.