Process-oriented organisations need to manage the different types of responsibilities their employees may have w.r.t. the activities involved in their business processes. Despite several approaches provide support for responsibility modelling, in current Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) the only responsibility considered at runtime is the one related to performing the work required for activity completion. Others like accountability or consultation must be implemented by manually adding activities in the executable process model, which is time-consuming and error-prone. In this paper, we address this limitation by enabling current BPMS to execute processes in which people with different responsibilities interact to complete the activities. We introduce a metamodel based on Responsibility Assignment Matrices (RAM) to model the responsibility assignment for each activity, and a flexible template-based mechanism that automatically transforms such information into BPMN elements, which can be interpreted and executed by a BPMS. Thus, our approach does not enforce any specific behaviour for the different responsibilities but new templates can be modelled to specify the interaction that best suits the activity requirements. Furthermore, libraries of templates can be created and reused in different processes. We provide a reference implementation and build a library of templates for a well-known set of responsibilities.

Changed governance increased the freedom of schools but also their responsibility, with more scope for interpreting the assignment. Two models of school development were studied to see how they affect school actors’ understanding of assignment and responsibility, the relationship between the commissioner’s exaction of responsibility and the contractor’s assumption of responsibility. Two case studies examine conceptual dimensions of assumption of responsibility. These models and resulting measures shape actors’ understanding of assignment and responsibility, emphasizing different parts of the control system. The Scope for Action Model stresses the role of the local school with a bottom-up strategy for assumption of responsibility. It uses culture analysis to clarify responsibility relations by making actors aware of their accountability and the potential in their assignment. The Effective Schools Model stresses the political level in a top-down strategy. It shows organizational deficiencies in relation to the assignment and the responsibility. The models increased cooperation between professionals, exposing the organization and its boundaries, management, and occupational roles. Activities became more pupil-oriented, highlighting the task of upbringing and teaching. Lack of time, poor organizational structures, and increased administration obstructed the fulfilment of the assignment. The models led to the exposure and creation of responsibility structures for organization, management, communication and cooperation. Responsibility structures were created through firmer cooperation. These measures furthered individual and collective learning processes and (re)shaped the professionals’ understanding of assignment and responsibility. Professional autonomy is essential for commitment, motivation, and understanding. It is concluded that knowledge of the school’s responsibility reduces the discrepancy and helps professionals to improve their competence and develop school.

Collaborative group learning is a popular method of instruction that is used in a variety of academic disciplines but little is known about how it is perceived as an instructional approach. The purpose of this study was to discover how college-level learners and instructors perceive collaborative group learning in regard to value and benefit, role of the instructor, and factors that contribute to positive and negative collaborative experiences. A non-experimental study provided information about participants in the form of descriptive data, correlational statistics, and qualitative analysis. Findings indicated that collaborative group learning was valued because it supported the achievement of learning goals, was an effective method of learning, and held professional benefit. However, value and benefit were reported to be affected by a variety of factors, such as work and reward inequities, the social context of collaboration, and the appropriateness of the activity to the learning situation and objectives. Findings related to the instructor's role showed that students acknowledged and accepted ownership of group processes; however, they also indicated that they would like the instructor to play an active role in the collaborative activity to support the learning process. This and other instructor role findings indicate the complexity of balancing instructor functions, as highlighted in results that showed some learners and instructors preferred a hands-off approach on the part of the instructor, while other learners and instructors felt that instructor involvement was a necessity. Suggestions provided by learners and instructors regarding instructor functions that supported effective collaboration included such activities as mentoring collaborative behavior, monitoring group and individual progress, and providing clear expectations and guidance. Findings from this study may be useful for informing the design, development, and implementation of collaborative group learning activities by providing insight into the factors that contribute to effective collaborative experiences, as well as perceptual differences and similarities between the learners and instructors. / Ph. D.