There has been a recent increase in the use of graphic symbols in school settings (Abbott and Lucey, 2003). However, the use of graphic symbols in schools remains, to date, an under-researched area. In order to address this and develop understanding of practitioners’ experiences of using graphic symbols in school settings, exploratory research was conducted investigating the experiences of a range of practitioners using symbols in Foundation Stage school settings. A qualitative research design was used drawing upon an interpretive phenomenological philosophical framework. The research sample consisted of three groups of practitioners; teachers, early years practitioners (teaching assistants, learning support assistants and nursery nurses) and speech and language therapists. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews which were conducted face-to-face by the researcher. In the interviews participants were encouraged to explore their experiences of using graphic symbols and their associated beliefs and attitudes about this topic. Interview data was analysed using thematic analysis which was facilitated by the use of qualitative data management software QSR NVivo2. Prolonged engagement with the data led to the development of a theoretical framework based on a set of themes and subthemes. Four major themes were identified: practitioners’ beliefs about which children to use symbols with; practitioners’ thoughts about children’s understanding of symbols; practitioners’ accounts of the ways symbols are used; and, practitioners’ experiences of the implementation of symbols. Interpretations of the data were extended further to develop two original theoretical constructs; ‘models of reasoning’ and ‘perceptions of professional roles’. These constructs were developed to provide an over-arching framework depicting the researcher’s interpretations of the data set as a whole. The findings suggest that practitioners go through a process of reasoning and decision making surrounding the use of symbols. Practitioners in this study also appeared to be influenced by their perceptions of their own professional role and those of others in their decisions surrounding the implementation of symbols. The theoretical model may provide some explanation for the ways in which individual practitioners interact and work alongside practitioners from the same and different professional groups. The findings of the research were related to existing literature in the fields of symbolic development, symbols and literacy, and, collaborative working. The findings led to the development of five suggestions for future research.

This dissertation addresses improvements to a consensus based task allocation algorithms for improving the Quality of Service in multi-task and multi-agent environments. Research in the past has led to many centralized task allocation algorithms where a central computation unit is calculating the global optimum task allocation solution. The centralized algorithms are plagued by creating a single point of failure and the bandwidth needed for creating consistent and accurate situational awareness off all agents. This work will extend upon a widely researched decentralized task assignment algorithm based on the consensus principle. Although many extensions have led to improvements of the original algorithm, there is still much opportunity for improvement in providing sufficient and reliable task assignments in real-world dynamic conditions and changing environments. This research addresses practical changes made to the consensus based task allocation algorithms for improving the Quality of Service in multi-task and multi-agent environments.

Introduction: The potential benefits of collaborative goal setting in the clinical setting have been shown. However, we have a limited understanding about what needs to have transpired between a patient and his or her clinician for them to report that they engaged in collaborative goal setting. Therefore, our ability to monitor and foster collaborative goal setting remains limited. Methods: My three-manuscript dissertation used a mixed-methods approach utilizing both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The aims of my study were to: (1) develop a conceptual model of collaborative goal setting as perceived by patients; (2) generate a list of survey items for possible inclusion in a measure of collaborative goal setting, using results from patient focus groups and input from an expert panel; and (3) administer the collaborative goal setting measure to a sociodemographically diverse sample of patients with diabetes and test the psychometric properties of the measure. Results: Study 1 found that patients described collaborative goal setting as containing four distinct domains that occurred within the context of a caring relationship with their health care provider: (1) listen and learn from each other; (2) share ideas honestly; (3) agree on a measurable objective; and (4) support for goal achievement. Patients also articulated clear responsibilities for themselves and their clinicians within each domain and described collaborative goal setting as a process that occurs over time. Study 2 found that the second-order factor analysis supported the proposed measurement structure of a 37-item measure of patient-perceived collaborative goal setting. Overall model fit of the first-order model was good (χ = 4366.13, p<.001; RMSEA = .08). The internal consistency of the second-order model scales [caring relationship, listen and learn, share ideas, agree on a measurable objective, and support for goal achievement] were very high (α = .89-.94) as was the reliability (Mcdonald’s Ώ = .819). Study 3 found that the only significant pathway was the relationship between collaborative goal setting and self-management, which was partially mediated by self-efficacy (p<.05). After controlling for a variety of socio-demographic characteristics, the partial mediation model with self-efficacy was no longer significant (p=.055), however, the direct effects remained significant: self-management and collaborative goal setting (p<.001) and self-efficacy (p<.001), as well as self-efficacy on collaborative goal setting (p<.05). Discussion: Findings from these three studies support the new measure of collaborative goal setting developed from patient perceptions of this process.

This study intended to develop a theoretical framework for understanding children's collaborative creativity in music. The focus was on creative interactions and on how early primary children interact when they engage in creative group music making. Related questions were on: 1) the different communicative media employed, 2) the component aspects of group work influencing children's creative endeavours, 3) the meanings that children attribute to their creative experience, and 4) the educational and ethical values of creative interactions. The study was carried out in a private music school in Rome, Italy. A group of eight 5-7-year-old children participated over eight months in 30 weekly sessions of group creative activities in music and movement. I was the teacher researcher and worked with a co-teacher. This exploratory, interpretive inquiry was framed by sociocultural perspectives on learning and creativity. A qualitative research methodology was adopted, which combined methodological elements derived from case study research, ethnographic approaches, and practitioner research. Data collection methods included participant observation, video-recording of sessions, documentation, and strategies for eliciting children's meanings. Thematic analysis, both theory-driven and data-driven, was conducted in order to identify relevant issues. The findings of the study suggest that in creative collaborative work in music bodily interactions and musical interactions have a stronger significance than verbal interactions. A conceptual distinction was made between 'cooperative' vs 'collaborative' which helped to characterise the different degrees of interactivity in the group's creative work. The study identified a range of component aspects which influenced the quality and productivity of children's collaborative interactions. These included: children's characteristics, context and setting, pedagogical approach, task design, collaboratively emergent processes, underlying tensions in creative learning, reflection on and evaluation of creative work, and time. Children actively gave meaning to their group creative music making mostly in terms of imagery and narrative, though they were gradually shifting towards more purely musical conceptualisations. Creating music in groups had the potential to enhance their sense of competence, ownership and belonging, and supported ethical values such as promoting the person, freedom, responsibility, a multiplicity of perspectives, and democracy. Three meta-themes run throughout the findings of the study, which are in line with sociocultural perspectives: i) a systems perspective as necessary to gain a more comprehensive view of collaborative creativity; ii) creativity as an inherently social phenomenon, and iii) creativity as processual and emergent. The implications for pedagogical practice highlight the importance of including creative collaborative activities in the music curriculum.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

It has been suggested that theoretical computer science (TCS) suffers more than average from a lack of intrinsic motivation. The reasons provided in the literature include the difficulty of the subject, lack of relevance to the informatics degree or future careers, and lack of enjoyment of the learning experience. This thesis presents evidence of these claims derived from the results of an expert survey. Increasing the students’ perceived control of the learning experience has been shown to increase student motivation in numerous different settings. A few of those also showed increased student performance. This thesis proposes that game-building can be such a setting for the area of TCS. Within the area of TCS, the focus will be on the modelling skills (finite state automata, push-down automata, Turing machines, CCS, etc.) since they form the majority of the curriculum at undergraduate level. It will be demonstrated how arbitrary TCS modelling skills can be mapped onto a game-building framework and allow the students to learn about the former by using the latter. It is hypothesized that the success of the approach depends on the amount of control given to the student. To test this claim, two experimental conditions were used in a repeated-measures design: (1) own-game and (2) pre-defined game. In the former, students are asked to write a game of their own, whereas in the latter, they are asked to copy a pre-defined game. A large demand for the own-game context was observed and results of its effect on performance and enjoyment are presented. Although no main effect of the owngame condition versus the pre-defined game condition was found in terms of either enjoyment or performance, some interesting interaction effects between condition and motivational type were unveiled.

In the modern enterprises it is common that support and maintenance of IT environments are outsourced to third parties. In this setting, unencrypted confidential data may pose a problem since administrators maintaining the outsourced system can access confidential information if stored unencrypted. This thesis work, performed at ELITS, presents a solution to this problem; a design of a collaborative storage system where all files at rest (i.e. stored on disk) and in transit remain encrypted is proposed. The design uses a hybrid encryption scheme to protect the encryption keys used. The keys can safely be stored in a centralized database as well as sent to the clients without risk of unauthorized parties gaining access to the stored data. The design was also implemented as a proof of concept in order to establish that it was possible to realize.

Cada vez más jóvenes desean independizarse y vivir solos o con amigos en departamentos alquilados. Varios están dispuestos a dejar la casa de sus padres para estar cerca de sus centros laborales, comerciales y sociales. El 39% de los limeños, buscan viviendas cercanas a centros comerciales y no están dispuestos a sacrificar su estilo de vida social. En este sentido, la propuesta está orientada a ofrecer un tipo de vivienda en comunidad, manteniendo la privacidad en viviendas ubicadas estratégicamente, cerca de centros financieros de alto movimiento económico y social, dirigido a profesionales de los niveles socioeconómicos A y B, profesionales expatriados (extranjeros), que no desean adquirir una vivienda en el mediano ni largo plazo, pero que tienen la necesidad de acceder a servicios de vivienda confortable y pertenecer a una comunidad/red, y que no desean invertir tiempo en la administración de una vivienda. El valor monetario destinado a estas viviendas será competitivo y les permitirá destinar parte de sus ingresos a objetivos personales. / Nowadays, young people want to become independent and live alone or with friends in rented apartments. Most of them are willing to leave their parents' house to live closer to work, business areas and social centers. In Lima, 39% of residents would like to live close to shopping centers and social areas and they are not willing to sacrifice their social lifestyle (living sorrounding schools, restaurants, cinemas, etc). In this sense, this proposal is aimed to offer a new type of housing, including a community style of living, maintaining each individual privacy. The type of housing must be located strategically near to financial centers of high economic and social movement and it is focussed to young professionals, from A and B socioeconomic levels, expatriate professionals ( foreigners); in both cases: (i) they do not want to acquire a house for the next years (medium or long term), (ii) they request comfortable housing services and also, (iii) to belong to a community / network. , and (iv) they do not wish to waste time in logistic issues of home administration. The monetary value of renting these kind of houses will be competitive and will allow them to save money for other personal preferences. / Trabajo de Investigación

This dissertation shares findings from a descriptive case study that examined an experienced teacher’s facilitation of a collaborative story writing project using Google Docs in a culturally and linguistically diverse Grade 11 English class. An expanding body of research supports the use of web-based writing tools and peer collaboration for promoting writing skills development, yet there is little research examining how these practices are integrated within the broader teaching and learning process. In the present study, sociocultural theory provided a guiding framework for exploring the complexities inherent in the teaching and learning process as students worked in pairs (and one triad) to write a story about “the future” to be shared with an audience of upper level elementary students. Data sources included field notes taken during 16 class observations, pre- and post- project interviews with the teacher, on-going reflections written by the teacher, focus group interviews with the students, and the students’ collaborative projects stored in Google Docs. The findings cohered around five key themes that describe the teacher’s facilitation of the project: (1) incorporating procedural facilitators, including mentor texts and web-based writing applications; (2) adopting a socio-cognitive apprenticeship model to guide students toward higher levels of proficiency with narrative writing; (3) building a community of practice through peer collaboration, peer sharing, and peer editing; (4) enabling a positive and productive learning environment; and (5) transitioning to a new curriculum. The findings from this study also shed light on the affordances and constraints associated with the pedagogical supports, the collaborative context, and the use of Google Docs as integral components of the project. The dissertation concludes with recommendations for educators who are interested in integrating collaborative story writing projects or web-based writing tools within their classroom contexts. / Graduate

Thesis advisor: Thomas H. Groome / The research question of the dissertation is: How to form partners in education to share in the common mission of Jesuit educational institutions? I craft the answer to this question by studying the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. I claim an analogy between the central dynamic of the thirty-day retreat, whose guidelines are in the book of the Spiritual Exercises, and four operative principles that ought to constitute the structure of formation programs for Jesuit schools' faculty and staff in the educational tradition, identity and mission of the Society of Jesus. The four operative principles are discernment, desire, diakonia and decision. Formation that aims at training partners in education to share in the common mission of Jesuit schools happens best when these four operative principles inform the curriculum design and when they interplay during the actual process of forming the educators who work in Jesuit schools. Discernment is the under-girding principle because the Society of Jesus is engaged in education to form women and men who can discern, that is to say, who can decide from their in-depth values, convictions and aspirations. Desire is the operative principle of the first movement of the Spiritual Exercises, which corresponds to the first week of the retreat. Diakonia--the Greek word for service--draws upon the second movement of the Exercises, which expands beyond the second week of the retreat into the third and fourth ones. This second movement is unified by the idea of being inspired by Jesus Christ or from "outside" of the retreatants. Lastly, decision is the third movement of the Spiritual Exercises. Ignatius invites the exercitants to make a personal choice of a state of life at the core of the second week of the retreat. But decision as operative principle accompanies the retreatants until the end of their thirty-day experience. The doctoral program of the Boston College Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry is in theology and education. The dissertation is an academic exercise in the field of pastoral or practical theology at the intersection of education, theology and the means of church education inspired by the Spiritual Exercises. Therefore, besides the analogical reading of Ignatius's work, my method consists of putting the aforementioned operative principles in conversation with a select review of literature in the fields of transformative and reflective adult education, developmental psychology, responsible and collaborative leadership, pastoral ministry and educational change. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.