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The utilisation of collaboration and collaborationism as a strategy to address the Kurdish question in Iraq and the involvement of the collaborators in the perpetration of mass violence and genocide is a subject that has not been thoroughly investigated.  The objective of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying motivations that drove a specific subset of the Kurdish population to engage in collaboration and collaborationism with the Iraqi regime. Additionally, the study seeks to comprehend the factors that contributed to the behavioural changes within those collaborationists “Jashes”, as they shifted from a collaborative role to assuming a rescue role during the Anfal Campaign.  This study employs the theoretical frameworks of collaboration and collaborationism, as well as altruism and egoism, to analyse data obtained from in-depth interviews with the Jashes. By employing qualitative content analysis, this research could be able to gain insights into the motivations underlying their actions.  This study posits that the collaborative activities observed in southern Kurdistan can be most accurately categorised as collaborationism. The motivations behind participating in these activities were varied, encompassing factors such as evading conscription and punishment, tribal conflict, economic incentives, and internal political disputes within the Kurdish political parties. Moreover, this research contends that the incentives behind behavioural changes within jashes encompassed both egoistic and altruistic motivations.

Today multi-touch technology is the basis for many new techniques designed to improveinteractions with computers and mobile devices. It seems that multi-touch screen interfacemakes the user handling very natural in the sense that there is no need for a manual in how tointeract with the object on the screen.The aim with this paper is to establish a fundamental set of design principles intendedspecifically for large multi-touch interfaces. To reach this goal we have implemented a coupleof sub-goals beforehand:It was essential that we acquired a good understanding of the current state of the multi-touchinterface and the different implementations that exist today. To make this possible weconstructed a multi-touch display, "Rosie". Knowing how the hardware is produced today willhelp us understand the limitations and also the possibilities of the design implementationstoday and in the future.We also needed to devise a sound interaction design process that conveys the moderndesigners work. During this design process four methods were implemented that gave usdeeper understanding how to reach the result in this paper (design principles). The methodsare: Qualitative conceptualisation, Qualitative user-testing, Participatory design, and Iterativeprototyping. Doing these methods we gained knowledge through the process and experienceof for example, building, running workshops, doing video-prototypes and etc. Creative designwas very relevant in our design process.The result in this paper is a foundation for a set of design principles with relevance for multitouchinterfaces and a interesting design process for developing multi-touch applications.

Den ideella samhällsentreprenörliga organisationen Spiritus Mundi behöver hjälp med att marknadsföra deras sociala innovation InteOkej. De behöver samtidigt hjälp med att uppmärksamma mobbingen som är det specifika samhällsproblem som InteOkej ska bekämpa. Spiritus Mundis önskan är att kunna utveckla en fysisk aktivitet där ungdomar själva skapar idéer och budskap som syftar till att väcka uppmärksamhet om InteOkej och mobbingproblemet. Denna studie hjälper Spiritus Mundi med att ta reda på hur de på egen hand kan skapa den önskade marknadsföringsaktiviteten. Spelifiering och kollaboration är de två resurskällor som studeras i denna studie på grund av att deras egenskaper har potential till att hjälpa Spiritus Mundi att skapa en marknadsföring.För att kunna ta reda på hur spelifiering och kollaboration går att använda utfördes ett experiment där orsakssamband och orsakskombinationer mellan kollaboration och spelifiering testas och studeras. Experimentet genomförs i en skapad experimentmiljö. Fyra deltagargrupper med olika behandlingar baserade på orsaksvariablerna spelifiering och kollaboration testas i experimentmiljön, samt en kontrollgrupp som fungerar som en jämförelsegrupp. Deltagarnas uppgift i experimentmiljö är att lösa uppdrag och samla poäng. Alla uppdrag är mobbingproblem som ska lösas av deltagarna. Deltagarna löser uppdragen genom att skapa och idéer och budskap om hur mobbing kan stopppas som de sedan sprider till andra ungdomar.Med hjälp av resultatet från experimentet och teorier går det att konstatera att om Spiritus Mundi vill utveckla en fysisk aktivitet där ungdomar marknadsför budskapet om InteOkej och bekämpar mobbingproblemen, så kan Spiritus Mundi använda sig av spelifiering för att strukturera aktiviteten. Tävlingsmekanik hämtat från spelifiering kan användas för att snabbt skapa eller öka ungdomarnas engagemang i aktiviteten. Kollaboration kan användas för att få ungdomarnas idéer till att bli större och mer genomtänkta. Informering om mobbingproblemet kan göras tillsammans med empati för att skapa förståelse. Användning av sociala medier via smartphonen kan användas som kommunikationsmedel och låter ungdomar sprida sina egna idéer och budskap till andra ungdomar där de talar om hur mobbing kan stoppas. / The social entrpreneur organisation Spiritus Mundi need help to promote the social innovation InteOkej. At the samte time they need help to draw attention to the bullying problem which is the specific social problem InteOkej stroggling with. Spiritus Mundi´s wish is to develop a physical activity where young people create ideas and messages aimed to draw attention about InteOkej and the bullying problem. This study intends to find out how Spiritus Mundi could use collaboration and gamification as resources for developing a physical activity where young people promoting the message of InteOkej and try to prevent bullying. To find out how they could be used as resources an experiment was conducted in which causation and causal relations between collaboration, gamification and social entrepreneurship were tested and studied. The experiment consists of an experimental environment (where the expiriment took place), four groups of participants and four different treatments based on gamification and collaboration that each group of participants received, aswell as a controll group that works as a comparison group. In the experiment environment the participants were tested through four different tasks on how to prevent bullying. The participants task was to solve quests and collect as many points as possible during each mission.Using the results from the experiment and the theoretical facts it was possible to conclude that the Spiritus Mundi want to develop a physical activity where young people are marketing the message of InteOkej, prevent bullying and use gamification to structure the activity. Competition mechanism can be used to quickly create or increase young people’s engagement in the activity. Collaboration can be used to turn young people's ideas to great and clever ones. Informing about bullying problem can be done with empathy to create understanding. Social media through smartphones can be used as means of communication, and allow young people to spread their ideas and message to other young people. Through young people and their messages there should be a reference to InteOkej to a knowledge their existence. This to help kids find out where they can get help and also where the can offer to help.

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to describe the ways two elementary general music teachers participating in a teacher collaboration group (TCG) used reflective strategies in their classrooms. The following questions initially framed the case: When these two teachers engaged in reflective strategies, (1) What did they notice about their students’ performance and their own teaching practices? (2) What did they describe as the benefits and challenges of incorporating reflective strategies? and (3) What insights did they articulate as a result of their participation in a TCG? I (student investigator) invited two purposefully sampled elementary general music teachers to participate in a TCG focused on incorporating reflective strategies. In my interactions with the two teachers, I served three roles: researcher, facilitator, and colleague. The theoretical lens for this research was professional learning through collaboration. As researcher, I embraced the required tasks for this research, including studying existing literature, obtaining the necessary approvals, devising data collection tools, analyzing the data and drawing conclusions based on the data. Since I chose to conduct the research in the school district where I currently teach, I needed to be mindful of my professional relationships with all 10 of my elementary general music teacher colleagues, since the two of my elementary general music teacher colleagues participated in the TCG. Throughout the study I strove to maintain balance between my roles of researcher, facilitator and colleague as I drew on my review of research and practice literature on reflective strategies to make decisions throughout this research. To reduce over rapport during the study, I continually examined my motives for all choices, and sought to be mindful of how each choice affected research design, TCG agendas, and my colleagues’ professional responsibilities. I strove to identify sources of tensions relative to each of my roles, and remain as neutral as possible to each role during data analysis. The two teachers engaged in member checks, and I invited a critical friend with experience in qualitative research to serve as an auditor of the data. Based on my research on reflective strategies, I offered participants four reflective strategies, from which they chose one, to incorporate with a fourth grade general music class of their choice. Over seven months, the participants documented in their professional reflective journals what they noticed about their students and themselves while engaged in reflective strategies. The participants studied reflective practice independently and collaboratively. The participants completed two solo interviews and attended five group meetings. Data sources for this study were transcripts of TCG meetings and interviews, researcher’s field notes, participants’ professional reflective journals, and artifacts of student work shared with parent consent and student assent: video recorded teaching examples and students’ written classwork, both of which participants shared during TCG meetings. I studied the transcripts and professional reflective journals for emerging patterns and themes. Three themes emerged: Noticings About Students and Self, Learning About Students and Self, and Changing Attitudes and Beliefs about Teaching and Learning. The overarching theme, Sharing Experiences, served as the catalyst for participant noticing, learning, and changing. The participants reported that the use of reflective strategies designed for their elementary general music students informed their instruction and decision-making processes, and provided insights to their students’ levels of understanding. Additionally, the participants reported learning the value of reflection, both for themselves and for their students. The participants also reported that participating in the TCG as a form of collaborative professional development alleviated feelings of isolation and provided an opportunity for teachers to learn from one another in a professional environment. The research presented in this study has implications for teachers and administrators. Because of the benefits associated with engaging students in reflective strategies, teachers should consider how to include reflective opportunities appropriately as part of their instruction. Further, administrators should consider providing collaborative professional development opportunities for teachers of any subject area or grade level. The two elementary general music teachers in this research described gaining valuable insights regarding music teaching and learning by incorporating reflective strategies. Further, they valued the professional development in the form of the TCG, which developed over time and offered them an opportunity to reflect as partners who generated collective knowledge with each other as supportive peers, all while individually growing as teachers. Suggestions for future research include researching a curricular approach to implementing reflective strategies with PreKindergarten through 5th grade elementary general music students, reflective strategies elementary musical ensembles, investigating how reflective strategies relate to different approaches for teaching elementary general music, and exploring teacher collaboration groups consisting of music teachers from various grade levels or music teaching disciplines. / Music Education

A thorough reflection on the process of costume design for the theatrical production of Hedda. An adaptation of Hedda Gabler, by Henrik Ibsen, translated by Eva Le Gallienne, edited by Finn Lefevre and Directed by Christina Pellegrini. Performed at The Rand Theater, University of Massachusetts Amherst, February 24th to March 4th, 2017. Ibsen is considered “The Father of Modern Drama”, with Hedda Gabler as one of his most widely performed plays. Hedda Gabler in the 1890’s was a disruptive reflection of society, and is considered by many to be a feminist work. I disagree with this assessment of the text. There are relevant gendered issues present within Hedda Gabler, however the play presents suicide as the only solution. Hedda Gabler could become a feminist work if presented in a way to address the issues raised. A collaborative, devised process, was used to produce this play. This created an iterative process of design reacting to discoveries made throughout the process. Costume design, in concert with set design, functioned as a visual medium creating the abstracted world of Hedda. Tracking artistic and social influences on costume design for Hedda; I provide the evolution of the design from analysis to production while examining the design’s influence on show development, and role in the devising process. Our show featured a seven women ensemble, each actress alternatively portraying Hedda and each of the other characters within the play. Set in a flat, surrealistic, paper covered library, the paper costume constructs blended with the background when each was not in use. This role switching resulted in the presentation of Hedda as a widely felt feminine experience rather than a singularity. Through the abstraction of Hedda Gabler we presented a production that challenged the canonical text while reviving its feminist dialogue with our contemporary moment.

The psychosocial needs of couples impacted by aphasia are often unmet. Sixty-one marriage and family therapists' (MFTs) experiences, perceived knowledge, confidence, comfort, and barriers in working with couples impacted by aphasia, and their interactions with speech-language pathologists (SLPs) were investigated using survey methodology. All MFTs were licensed, practicing in the US, and had at least 3 years of experience. Participants completed the following in order: (a) a pre-intervention survey, (b) one of two intervention conditions, and (c) a post-intervention survey. Twenty-eight respondents were randomly assigned to an education-alone intervention and 33 respondents were assigned to an education plus Relationship-Centered Communication Partner Training program (RC-CPT). The results of the present study suggest that MFTs who participated in this survey consider providing therapy to couples impacted by aphasia to fall within their scope of practice and already feel comfortable with various skills needed to provide therapy to this population. Aphasia education alone and education plus RC-CPT can both improve MFTs' knowledge, confidence, and comfort in working with couples impacted by aphasia but being shown a model of RC-CPT likely helped MFTs better visualize therapy, which bolstered changes in respondents' perceptions. Future development of RC-CPT should prioritize MFT involvement as collaborators and consultants. Continuing education courses and interprofessional collaboration are needed to better address the psychosocial needs of people with aphasia (PWA) from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Thesis advisor: Eric Dearing / The value of home-school collaboration has been repeatedly touted in psychology and education (e.g., Pomerantz et al., 2007). However, impacts on learning may depend on whether home-school relationships are, in fact, truly collaborative. Indeed, the importance of educators having asset-based partnership attitudes – viewing families as partners who bring strengths to the collaboration, including knowledge, skills, and cultural capital – and the pedagogical skills to make use of these assets has become clear in the literature (McWayne et al., 2022). Yet, many questions remain around how asset-based partnership practices can be supported for teachers working with marginalized and disadvantaged families, especially around teaching early math.The present dissertation study examined preschool teachers’ and families’ uses of early math home-school collaboration kits—Family Math Kits—that were co-designed to build asset-based home-school partnerships in 24 Head Start classrooms in the Boston area. The study aimed to examine implementation testing and correlational indications of kit impact on teachers and families. Four key findings emerged. First, there were large differences in fidelity of implementation both across study sites and within study sites. While site and center leadership was likely critical to some of these differences, teacher and family focus groups also revealed both implementation challenges and opportunities that deserve future attention in the field. Second, despite variability in implementation fidelity, the kits were not only enjoyable for families, but the kits also provided meaningful early math learning opportunities (i.e., uncovering family strengths in their daily lives) that families could communicate with teachers. Third, while teachers were able to learn more about their families (i.e., family strengths) via the kits, challenges remained as to how to best utilize experiences from families in the classroom. Fourth, kits appeared to be positively associated with changes in teachers’ beliefs and attitudes such that teachers who implemented the kits with higher fidelity displayed a trend toward improved attitudes and beliefs (e.g., general pedagogical beliefs to specific beliefs around early math and home-school collaboration), especially around teachers’ math confidence. However, the use of the kits appeared to have somewhat mixed associations with family attitudes and beliefs. Taken together, these study findings underscore the importance and challenges of effective home-school collaboration for early math learning that is strengths-based. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

The professional development school (PDS) has had a recent resurgence in teacher education. Professional development schools were designed to reform teacher education programs and revitalize K-12 education. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a professional development school: The School Teacher Education Partnership (STEP) at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU). STEP is a partnership between Elizabeth City State University and one elementary school in each of three participating school districts -- Edenton-Chowan, Elizabeth City-Pasquotank, and Gates -- in North Carolina. The study took place over two years. Participants from the 1998-2001 school years were the primary informants. Data were collected through extended interviews. Documentary data and end-of-the-year qualitative evaluations were used to substantiate interview data. The constant comparative method of Maykut & Morehouse (1994) was used to analyze the data. Data were unitized, coded, grouped, categorized, and compared for patterns and themes. The results of this evaluation were strong enough to recommend that a year-long internship be required for all prospective teachers at the university. The STEP graduates come from the program with strong pedagogical skills. The students are prepared to begin working with children from the first day of teaching. They can manage classes well handling routines with little difficulty. Mentor teachers were found to be primary contributors to the development of new teachers, and they are paid little for their efforts. It is recommended that they be paid an amount commensurate with their effort and contributions to the development of new teachers. This compensation should be an integral part of the budgets of the state, local, or university agencies responsible for the preparation of teachers. / Ed. D.