Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 342-369).

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 227-245).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (site viewed on August 25, 2006). PDF text of dissertation: 196 p. ; 0.45Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3208090. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm, microfiche and paper format.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / On t.p.: Master of Philosophy in Education (Education and Training for Lifelong Learning) Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

M.Ed. / Academic staff development is seen as a vehicle of empowerment that focuses on assisting individual members of staff to acquire knowledge, understanding and skills needed to teaceffectively. A great number of South African Higher Education institutions have made inroads and advances with regard to academic staff development programmes. However many such programmes are usually general to all staff members including administrators and professionals and do not address the specific needs of academics. Managers often plan these programmes without consulting the envisaged participants or conducting any needs assessment despite the literature on academic staff development emphasising the importance of conducting a proper needs assessment. As a result academic staff members in these institutions still feel left behind when it comes to academic issues affecting them directly, such as an absence of continuous staff development and the development of their research and academic writing skills. Many academics feel that such programmes are irrelevant and boring and do not attend. Based on the above the aim of this study was to explore the needs of academics within the Education Department of Vista University Soweto Campus in order to arrive at an informed understanding of such needs for the purpose of informing future academic staff development programme planning. For the purposes of this study qualitative research was conducted using semi-structured interviews with a purposefully selected sample of eleven academics within the Education Department in order to ascertain their academic staff development needs. Data were analysed using the constant comparative method. The findings of the research reveal that the majority of the academics were dissatisfied about the manner in which academic staff development activities are planned and conducted. Among the factors mentioned, the following feature prominently: the need for continuous staff development; the necessity of conducting a proper needs assessment prior to planning academic staff developmental programmes, the needs of the academics in acquiring the skills for research and academic writing, and the availability of more funding for staff development activities. This report concludes with a number of recommendations for planning with regard to academic staff development programmes.

D.Ed. / This study originated from a need for an improved understanding of the legal academic as teacher. It is an ethnographic exploration of the culture of the legal academic as teacher. To this end, the aim was to create an image of the very essence of how legal academics create and live their lives as teachers. In exploring the culture of the legal academic as teacher, I drew on various theoretical concepts in literature. The four primary concepts framing this study theoretically are culture, identity, the teacher and the law domain. I conducted studies of three law teachers at a South African university through observation during class visitation, discussion about teaching in interview sessions and review of teaching related documents. In analysing the data a thematic pattern, constituting the findings emerged. From three categories namely students, self and discipline, and sub-categories, themes emerged. Based on the category of student with sub-category of care and support of students, the theme of supportive relationship with students emerged; the focus being on participants as law teachers’ attitudes and behaviour in as far as relationships with students are concerned. From the category of the self and sub-categories of seeking feedback and recognition, dedication and enjoyment materialised the theme of participants’ primary identity as teacher. From the category of discipline and the sub-categories of being a subject specialist, what participants teach and how they teach as well as the “universal” language of law the theme of social identity as teacher and the law teacher as subject specialist emerged. In line with the ethnographic design type of the study findings were organised according to two topics harmonious to cultural ethnographic writing namely the topic of social organisation of culture and the topic of ideational organisation of culture. Since the topic, social organisation of culture is concerned with social behaviour and the way that individuals organise themselves into interacting social systems, participants’ interaction with students and the way they mediate a sense of self within the social systems within which they function relates to the topic of social organisation. Findings suggest that participants share dimensions of their teaching role with academics in general and even teachers in general. These common dimensions mainly relate to the way that participants experience the self as teacher and the supportive relationships they forge with their students. One could therefore argue that features related to the sense of selfhood and relationship with students form part of a culture of academics at a macro level. Notwithstanding, both these components are integral to the teaching identities of the legal academics that participated in this study. From the perspective of participants’ sense of self, their identities as teachers have at its core a sense of choice. Not only do participants choose to be law teachers but also they demonstrate passion, take pride in teaching and constantly measure their success in order to ensure they live up to their own and their students’ expectations. In contrast to their individual selves, touched on above where identity is driven by self-interest in their relationship with students, participants were found to be sensitive and caring in their dealings with students.

The aim of this research was to investigate the type of learning that is involved in the development of university lecturers professional identity. Furthermore, it also aimed to identify ways of optimising the type of learning involved for lecturer development purposes. The research questions that guided this mini-dissertation were firstly, “How do university lecturers develop their professional identities?” and secondly, “What type of learning processes are involved in the identity development of university lecturers?” In light of the above, aspects of narrative as well as constant comparison methods were employed using interviews for data collection. Nine participants were purposefully selected in terms of them being typical university lecturers within a university. A typical lecturer in this study refers to one in which teaching and research form the basic requisites of service. They were interviewed to investigate how they develop a professional identity and also to ascertain the types of learning processes involved in the development of this identity. The data gathered was analysed and the findings were written up. The findings of this research indicated that lecturers develop their professional identity through informal learning experiences in a university context. These experiences are characterised by support or a lack of support from other more knowledgeable and experienced lecturers or whether the lecturer enters the university with already well developed social skills. A lack of support leads to the strengthening of a personal identity and inhibits the development of professional identity. Support gained leads to a strengthening of social identity and assists the development of professional identity. Mentoring and communities of practice are the support structures required which form supportive informal professional relationships. These relationships are characterised by narrative which is the primary learning process involved in the development of professional identity. It is my contention that through informal learning in a situated context lecturers are empowered to take more responsibility with others for the results of their work – thus developing a professional identity. University management does not presently see the merits for lecturers or the university itself for developing the professional identity of lecturers. Such an initiative would lead to more innovative, quick and effective problem solving through collaboration and shared efforts. In today’s economy and with competition for student numbers in private universities there is a need to seek new ways to understand and deliver learning outside formal contexts – this is fuelled in part by radical changes in the market that have pushed many other organisations to work, organize and think and learn in very different ways. / Prof. S.J. Gravett

This study attempts to determine the Profile and Problems of Part-time Faculty in British Columbia Community Colleges, based on a sampling from six of the fourteen colleges in the province. These institutions were British Columbia Institute of Technology, Capilano College, Douglas College, East Kootenay College, Fraser Valley College, and Vancouver Community College. Each of the six institutions represented a unique combination of characteristics such as age of the college, geographical area covered, multi-campus or single campus, melded or unmelded (i.e. amalgamation of the college with local provincial vocational institutes), and historical usage of part-time faculty. Data for a time analysis were collected from college records which gave the distribution of part-time faculty by semester and by curriculum area for the last three to five years. This helped to determine trends in the use of part-time faculty. A questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument for establishing the profile and problems. It was sent to every part-time faculty member who had taught in the selected colleges for the past two years. The ratio of part-time to full-time faculty in the colleges varied from approximately 0.3:1 to 1.8:1 with an average ratio of 0.7:1. The ratios are highest in the vocational training area (approximately 2:1) followed by the university transfer area (approximately 0.7:1) and the career/technical area, (approximately 0.6:1). There is a significant difference in the ratio of part-time to full-time faculty members among the colleges in the study. Furthermore in almost all other categories differences were significant. This could reflect the autonomy and varying needs of individual colleges. Based on the data gathered in the study the'typical' part-time college faculty member is male; lives within an hour's drive of the college; works in business and commerce as a managerial employee; makes about $24,000 a year from all sources; or makes about $15,000 a year if his principal source of income was from teaching in colleges; would accept an offer of full-time employment in a college if he were given suitable credit for his work experience and academic credentials; is willing to take an appreciable salary cut to teach at a community college to satisfy a career choice; is not now actively looking around for a new job; teaches at only one subject and that one usually repeated while he is at the college; teaches after 4 p.m., but would prefer to teach before 4 p.m.; has at least 8 years of work experience; has at least one teaching credential and a Master's degree; has taught courses at the secondary school level and in adult education programs; teaches a non-laboratory-oriented course with technician assistance available but no marking assistance; is apt to be invited to college professional development programs, but does not attend; is not sure how much non-teaching activities are expected of him; is a member of the college's faculty association but not a voting member unless he teaches at least one-half a load; is paid proportionately less than full-time faculty; is not represented in the college faculty's bargaining unit; usually has a mail box; is as likely as not to have a desk to work at; has his teaching evaluated; and, finally, can be released without cause at the end of his contract or employment period. Officially, the colleges extend the same administration - support services to part-time faculty as to full-time faculty except that they usually do not grant the former the privilege of taking free credit courses. Salaries for part-time faculty are less than for full-time faculty. Credit is seldom given for academic and teaching credentials or for work experience. Pay rates are usually based on the lowest rate of the full-time faculty scale. Among the colleges, there is a significant difference in these pay rates. Increments are not usually given and when they are they plateau at a level below that attainable by full-time faculty. Faculty agreements say very little about part-time faculty beyond defining their category as a teacher. Generally part-time faculty are not officially represented by faculty associations. The recently enacted "British Columbia Colleges and Provincial Institutes Act" may resolve this restriction with some form of province-wide representation. There was no agreement among the colleges on the criteria - for transition from part-time to full-time status. College administrations reported that generally part-time faculty have the same right, if not as ready access to, administrative support services. Part-time faculty at all colleges, are usually unorganized. They do not have positions on faculty association executives and are not members of bargaining committees. Faculty associations seem quite ambivalent about the interests of part-time faculty. There is an obvious community of interest between full-time and part-time faculty but there are equally obvious problems in granting part-time faculty more representation on faculty associations. Part-time faculty are generally defined in terms of full-time faculty. College faculty agreements deal mainly with the interests of full-time faculty. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate