This thesis project proposed the building of a website as a repository of authentic texts in video format for teaching foreign or second languages. The project planned the building of a minimal viable product or MVP with authentic videos both in English and Spanish, organized by the ACTFL levels with particular attention to the Intermediate level. Data were collected from a survey of 42 respondents in the United States and 89 combined from Spain and Mexico. The responses collected suggest that there is a need for this MVP. Additionally, the data indicated which features were most wanted by these teachers. These features included lesson plans, turn on and off captions, tag and save videos, and a dashboard for teachers. As a result, these features were included in the MVP.

Prior studies examined the importance of good leadership skills for those in leadership positions; however, this study addressed a gap in literature regarding how leadership characteristics in supervised employees can impact job satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the influence of authentic leadership on leader, coworker, task, and general job satisfaction. Authentic leadership emerged from the theory of positive psychology which surmises that self-growth coincides with a focus on the development of others and is based on the premise that individual improvement is gained by focusing on positive personality aspects. Online recruitment using a participant pool and social media was used to sample adults who have been employed either full or part-time, can read English, and have been under supervision while at work. Participants (N = 138) completed the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire and the Job Descriptive Index. Research questions were addressed by using 4 logistic regression models to show the relationship between the independent variable (authentic leadership) and each of the 4 dependent variables (coworker satisfaction, general job satisfaction, task satisfaction, and leader satisfaction). The results of this study were that a significant association existed between authentic leadership and coworker satisfaction, as well as general job satisfaction, but not between authentic leadership and task satisfaction or leader satisfaction. Implications for positive social change include the improvement of human resource processes. Human resource professionals could use authentic leadership in employee recruitment by gearing onboarding assessments to authenticity constructs such as ethical conduct and transparency. In addition, employee training designed around authentic traits may reduce job-related stress, absenteeism, and job turnover.

The aim of this thesis is to elucidate how English teachers in Sweden choose what materials to use in the classroom and how they benefit students. In order to accomplish this, I studied a variety of theories that deal with the subject of using traditional teaching aids versus authentic materials. Four interviews with English teachers of different backgrounds and experiences were conducted. I analysed the results of the interviews in conjunction with the theories. My conclusion is that teachers use different materials based on a combination of experiences and preferences. However, due to the limited number of interviewees in this study, it is not possible to draw any general conclusions. Nevertheless, it seems probable that new and inexperienced teachers seek comfort in traditional teaching aids such as textbooks and accessories, while experienced teachers lean towards incorporating authentic materials in their teaching to a larger extent. The experienced interviewees feel that authentic materials enable students to learn in an environment where they forget that they are actually ‘learning’. Instead, English becomes the natural means of communication. However, most interviewees agreed that time constraints sometimes make it difficult to incorporate authentic materials in the classroom. It is my own conclusion that authentic materials provide teachers with a never-ending source of inspiration that has the potential to revitalize and even reinvent the profession.

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The ever-changing global business environment of today is presenting organisations with numerous challenges and in some instances result in economic and ethical meltdowns. The mining industry, in particular, is faced with a volatile market and consequently mining companies are experiencing increasing financial turmoil coupled with human capital problems resulting in labour unrest and often inoperativeness. As these challenges gain momentum, the mining industry will need to respond through a restructure of operations. Although the mining industry has been faced with a need to restructure before, it has not been faced with this challenge recently. Therefore, only a small portion of management teams holds the skills to respond effectively. For the mining industry in South Africa to adequately address these challenges, leadership will play a pivotal role. Consequently, organisations need a new kind of business leader and leadership should be examined from an authentic perspective. Authentic leadership has been associated with various positive outcomes such as trust in supervisor, psychological safety and work engagement. Both employees and organisations should support one another in order to remain viable. Trust is an important component of effective leadership and building relationships. In order for employees to feel secure and able to adapt to change, organisations should develop an environment which fosters trust and psychological safety and which, in turn, will lead to increased work engagement. The objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between authentic leadership, trust in supervisors, psychological safety and work engagement. In addition, another objective was to examine if trust in supervisor and psychological safety had an effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement. An available sample of 244 employees was taken from the mining industry in the Free State province. The questionnaires were distributed to employees across all levels in a mining organisation. All of these employees were given the choice to participate in the research. The measuring instruments utilised were the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Workplace Trust Survey and Psychological Safety Questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics, Raykov’s rho coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations coefficients, Mplus and bootstrapping were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that authentic leadership had a statistically significant positive relationship with trust in supervisor as well as psychological safety. Authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant positive relationship with work engagement. The results indicated that authentic leadership had a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement via trust in supervisor. Authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant indirect effect on psychological safety via trust in supervisor. Furthermore, authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement via psychological safety. Various recommendations were made for the mining industry as well as for future research. Organisations should understand the impact of authentic leadership on outcomes such as trust, psychological safety and work engagement. Organisations should select leaders who display the four dimensions of authentic leadership as well as implement structured leadership programmes or interventions. Recommendations for future research included utilising longitudinal research designs or diary studies as well as expanding the study to other organisations, industries, and provinces; also including additional sources of data over and above supervisors and subordinates. Future research may also employ a mixed method approach and include other related leadership constructs in the data collection. / MCom (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

The ever-changing global business environment of today is presenting organisations with numerous challenges and in some instances result in economic and ethical meltdowns. The mining industry, in particular, is faced with a volatile market and consequently mining companies are experiencing increasing financial turmoil coupled with human capital problems resulting in labour unrest and often inoperativeness. As these challenges gain momentum, the mining industry will need to respond through a restructure of operations. Although the mining industry has been faced with a need to restructure before, it has not been faced with this challenge recently. Therefore, only a small portion of management teams holds the skills to respond effectively. For the mining industry in South Africa to adequately address these challenges, leadership will play a pivotal role. Consequently, organisations need a new kind of business leader and leadership should be examined from an authentic perspective. Authentic leadership has been associated with various positive outcomes such as trust in supervisor, psychological safety and work engagement. Both employees and organisations should support one another in order to remain viable. Trust is an important component of effective leadership and building relationships. In order for employees to feel secure and able to adapt to change, organisations should develop an environment which fosters trust and psychological safety and which, in turn, will lead to increased work engagement. The objectives of this study were to examine the relationship between authentic leadership, trust in supervisors, psychological safety and work engagement. In addition, another objective was to examine if trust in supervisor and psychological safety had an effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement. An available sample of 244 employees was taken from the mining industry in the Free State province. The questionnaires were distributed to employees across all levels in a mining organisation. All of these employees were given the choice to participate in the research. The measuring instruments utilised were the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, Workplace Trust Survey and Psychological Safety Questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics, Raykov’s rho coefficients, Pearson product-moment correlations coefficients, Mplus and bootstrapping were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that authentic leadership had a statistically significant positive relationship with trust in supervisor as well as psychological safety. Authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant positive relationship with work engagement. The results indicated that authentic leadership had a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement via trust in supervisor. Authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant indirect effect on psychological safety via trust in supervisor. Furthermore, authentic leadership did not have a statistically significant indirect effect on work engagement via psychological safety. Various recommendations were made for the mining industry as well as for future research. Organisations should understand the impact of authentic leadership on outcomes such as trust, psychological safety and work engagement. Organisations should select leaders who display the four dimensions of authentic leadership as well as implement structured leadership programmes or interventions. Recommendations for future research included utilising longitudinal research designs or diary studies as well as expanding the study to other organisations, industries, and provinces; also including additional sources of data over and above supervisors and subordinates. Future research may also employ a mixed method approach and include other related leadership constructs in the data collection. / MCom (Industrial Psychology)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

Thesis advisor: Andrew Hargreaves / In 2006, Singapore introduced the Teach Less Learn More (TLLM) movement to continue the systemic changes introduced under the Thinking Schools Learning Nation vision. A curricular initiative, TLLM had implications for classroom assessments, calling on teachers to focus on the process of learning, and to use more formative and qualitative assessing. This dissertation examined the extent to which Singapore teachers' classroom assessment practices are aligned to the policy. It adopted mixed methods research to study teachers' assessment practices. Data culled from the Teacher Questionnaire used in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study provided the national pattern of assessment practices. Classroom practices were based on assessments contributed by eight teachers and from their interview comments. Classroom assessment practices were examined quantitatively using the Authentic Intellectual Work criteria (Newmann and Associates, 1996), and interpreted qualitatively using constructivist assessment (Shepard, 2000). The findings suggest there was incremental change in the teachers' assessment practices. At the national and classroom levels, three patterns of assessment practices--change, variety, and persistence--emerged. Of the three, the pattern of persistence was the most dominant, indicating that most teachers continued to use assessment practices that the policy was discouraging. The prevalence of the pattern of persistence meant that teachers were more likely to focus on achievement rather than on learning. At the classroom level, the result of such assessment practices was that teachers did not always present students with challenging tasks. There was a range of practices among the eight teachers. The extent to which the teachers' practices were aligned to the policy is the result of a complex interaction of policy, school, and classroom factors. Based on these findings, this dissertation suggests that to bring about fundamental change in classroom assessment practices, there needs to be greater macro policy coherence, a larger student role in the classroom, and more assessment leadership from principals. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Faculty of Humanities School of Education 0215438v lkotta@chemistry.uct.ac.za / The focus of this study was a case-based approach used in the first year course Introduction to Process and Materials Engineering, PRME1002, at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2005. This approach attempted to promote epistemic access to Process and Materials Engineering by moving away from the more traditional decontextualised and contrived engineering problems and introducing context-rich cases entailing more authentic engineering problems. The study investigated the extent to which the context rich problem-solving environment afforded the students epistemic access to Process and Materials Engineering. This was done through an analysis of the form and content of students’ knowledge and problem-solving skills as evidenced in their written responses to case-based problems. A modified form of the Structure of Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy was used as the instrument of analysis. The research showed that students tended to work in fragmented ways despite the context. They tended not to fully explore the context and as such could not successfully identify the salient aspects. They frequently ignored evidence in the context and invented their own in order to be able to use strategies that they were most familiar with. These findings suggest that that while the case-based approach introduced in the course, theoretically has the hallmarks of an ideal approach with which to create a favourable environment for learning, if students treat knowledge as fragmented and aren’t persuaded by the context to change their ways of working, the case-based approach does not afford students optimal epistemological access.

Were we ever in doubt of how true we are to ourselves and to others? Have we ever asked why we do what we do? Witnessing the history of great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Walt Disney, Steve Jobs and Sam Walton – they all believed in a cause and took actions to realize that belief which resulted in trust and loyalty. But, how come people with great ideas often fail to create an image? The cause is not that the ideas are faulty but rather the absent sense of purpose. And the purpose is realized when we have a clear sense of “Why”. Having a purpose translates to being true to oneself and eventually to others – being authentic. We wholeheartedly believe that, the hierarchical management structure is no more ideal in the contemporary world since it limits the freedom of creativity. Due to the changing and competitive nature of the world, the recognition of individual effort is crucial. When we believe in something that people can relate to, they will follow us. The followership results in increased commitment and the organizational culture is the embraced behavior. To understand the role of authentic leadership with regard to employee emotional commitment and organizational culture, we conducted a qualitative descriptive study involving 8 participants from around the world and using 3 case studies. The findings revealed some interesting insights in developing authentic leadership in organizations. One of the results unfolded that despite the cultural and geographical magnitude, the word authenticity has a common understanding “being true to oneself and to others”. The results also highlighted that, authentic leadership plays a major role in fostering organizational commitment unlike the financial incentives. Moreover, depending on the context, the rigidity of organizational culture may change. As a final finding, the organizational emotional commitment shapes the organizational culture as the leader pictures it. Do your actions meet your words or is it perhaps time to change?“ Your actions and your words should always agree with each other. Do not say one, then do another”

Thesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-Smith / Preparing students to participate in a democratic society means cultivating citizens who are capable of making informed, rational decisions about complex issues related to the common good. In order to do this, teachers need to provide students learning opportunities that promote critical thinking and involve in-depth examination of meaningful content. Drawing on Gutmann's (1987) theory of democratic education, this dissertation examines how beginning teachers who were prepared in a teacher education program that emphasized social justice and democratic practices think about and engage their students in this type of work. Specifically, using Newmann's (1996) framework of "authentic intellectual work" as an indicator of knowledge consistent with democratic education, this dissertation examines the extent to which the learning opportunities teachers create and the work that students produce demonstrate authentic intellectual work and examines the degree to which teachers' understandings of student learning align with authentic intellectual work. This qualitatively-oriented mixed methods study (Creswell, Plano Clark, Gutmann, & Hanson, 2003; Morse & Niehaus, 2009) used quantitative and qualitative methods concurrently to examine 11 beginning teachers' experiences during the preservice period and first two years of teaching. Using the Teacher Assessment/Pupil Learning protocol, this study draws upon quantitative methods to evaluate teachers' assessments/assignments (n=53) and students' work (n=481) on these assignments and qualitative methods to analyze interviews (n=54). Findings suggest that these beginning teachers and their students engaged in "moderate" levels of authentic intellectual work, although this varied widely. The quality of assessments was positively correlated to the quality of student learning. The degree to which teachers fostered authentic learning opportunities is complicated by teachers' beliefs about assessment and student learning and particular contextual factors such as time, accountability frameworks, classroom management, student ability, and content area. Teachers whose goals for learning aligned with authentic intellectual work were more likely to construct more authentic learning opportunities. This dissertation argues that evaluations of teacher performance and student learning must account for the quality of learning and utilize multiple measures of evaluation. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.