The development of the next generation of researchers is a priority if South Africa is to make a significant contribution to the international knowledge economy and establish itself as a force to be reckoned with in international research circles. In the context of this knowledge economy, researchers are increasingly being recognised as agents of economic growth. In order to be competitive, therefore, an extensive pool of active researchers needs to be cultivated. One way of doing this is to promote and develop doctoral capacity at the country’s universities. This entails, among other things, a move away from the traditional focus on what the supervisor does, to a more student-centred understanding of how the doctoral candidate experiences the process, and by implication, how this impacts on their research contribution. In this qualitative study, thirty doctoral candidates from the Faculties of Science and Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, were interviewed in order to establish firstly, how they had experienced their supervision at this level, and secondly, whether or not these experiences had influenced the successful completion of their doctorates. One of the principal findings of the research was that the role of the supervisor was not central to the achievement of their degree; rather, many of the doctoral candidates asserted a significant level of agency in both identifying and making contact with experts beyond their university-appointed supervisors in order to supplement their access to relevant knowledge. In the majority of cases, this was encouraged by the supervisors. Such enterprises represent a marked departure from the traditional models of supervision in the Science and Humanities faculties. In the case of the former, the customary co-supervision arrangement is increasingly being augmented by student-initiated collaboration with authorities located outside the formal boundaries of the institution. The traditional Humanities model of supervision is also transforming from a one-on-one relationship to a style characterised by multiple supervisors, each from separate but cognate disciplines. The research suggested that these emergent models are eclipsing their predecessors as doctoral candidates increasingly recognise the value of extending the breadth of their disciplinary exposure beyond the confines of the university.

Student Number : 7262070 - M Ed research report - School of Education - Faculty of Humanities / This research report investigates the development of undergraduate history students’ knowledgeability and identity as historians. Drawing on a sociological paradigm, it examines the classification of the discipline or practice of history that informs undergraduate history teaching at a sample of three South African universities. It suggests that most undergraduate courses focus on and aim to apprentice students into a partial experience of the practice of history – the adjudicative task of the historian. The report then presents findings from an analysis of student feedback on their participation in an extended local history assignment. The analysis of student work draws upon socio-cultural notions of situated learning and the community of practice. This analysis suggests that as an instance of situated learning, the local history engagement enhances students’ understanding of the interpretative task of the historian and their own identity as constructors of history. The findings also suggest that there are implications for curriculum development in undergraduate history programmes.

This study has investigated the take-up, at a range of South African tertiary institutions, of Open Educational Resources (OER) designed for mathematics teacher education. Although numerous studies (e.g. Darling-Hammond, 2006; Jonassen & Rohrer-Murphy, 1999; Loughran, 2006) have identified criteria for the development of quality materials for teacher education, and have investigated ways in which these have been and should be used, little attention has been paid to the implications of these findings for the use of OER in teacher education. In 2006 the South African Institute of Distance Education (SAIDE) initiated the ACEMaths project to pilot a collaborative materials design and adaptation process in response to a Department of Education call for large scale teacher upgrading programmes leading to an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) in priority areas. Nine South African tertiary institutions formed the collaborative group for the development of Mathematics teacher education materials. Six of these institutions committed to using the pilot materials in their teacher education programmes in 2007. Methodologically, the research is a case study of cases (Adler & Reed, 2002), in which the varying uses of the materials in these six institutional sites constituted the individual cases. At each site data were gathered from session observations, questionnaires and interviews. Artefacts, such as examples of customised materials, were also collected. Cross case analysis revealed that institutions used the ACEMaths materials in both similar and different ways and in a range of programmes. Findings from this analysis and their implications for both initial inter-institutional designing and subsequent intra-institutional re-designing and re-use of OER are discussed.

Föreliggande uppsats ämnar öka kunskapen och förståelsen gällande chefers synsätt på betydelsen av lärande samt hur dem arbetar för att generera ett lärande hos de anställda. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats, där datamaterialet består utav sex stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer. De frågeställningar som ligger till grund för studien är följande: Hur uppfattar cheferna lärandes betydelse? Vilka möjligheter för lärande ges de anställda? Hur struktureras arbetsplatsen för att generera ett lärande hos de anställda? Det framkomna materialet har sedan analyserats genom en tematisk analysmetod. Diskussion kring resultatet sker med stöd i tidigare forskning samt genom teoretiska begrepp från Etienne Wengers teori Communities of Practice (COP). Studiens resultat visar att respondenterna betraktar lärande som en ständigt närvarande process, som har stor betydelse både för den enskilda individen, gruppen eller företaget. Det är bland annat genom lärande som företaget och de anställda kan behålla sin aktuella position på arbetsmarknaden, vilket innebär att det är viktigt att hela tiden underhålla lärandet. Resultatet visar respondenternas ståndpunkt att för medarbetarna har ett eget ansvar för sitt lärande, genom att leta upp önskvärda utbildar och därefter motivera för relevansen av dessa i arbetet. Respondenterna betonar även vikten av att som chef utmana medarbetarna, ge dem förtroende och därmed mandat till att fatta vissa beslut. Ytterligare ett resultat som uppvisas är att kulturen på arbetsplatsen har betydelse för lärandet, där samtliga respondenterna strävar efter ett tryggt klimat där det finns utrymme för misstag.

No ambiente de projetos, a Gestão do Conhecimento CG é cada vez mais importante para ganhar competitividade. Atualmente, não é suficiente trabalhar só com o conhecimento explícito dos projetos cuja principal ferramenta de gestão é o sistema de lições aprendidas, pois o conhecimento é socialmente construído e muito desse conhecimento não é registrado. Por isso, torna-se necessário o uso de outras ferramentas de GC que trabalhem com aquele conhecimento gerado nas interrelações sociais, o conhecimento tácito. Nesse sentido, a CoP se caracteriza por ser uma ferramenta de GC que não apenas permite, como também aproveita o conhecimento tácito das pessoas, oferecendo um ambiente propício para o surgimento de dinâmicas sociais que favoreçam a troca de conhecimento (tácito e explícito). Entretanto, a Comunidade de Prática CoP é ainda pouco estudada no ambiente de projetos. Em consequência, essa pesquisa analisa as CoPs como ferramenta de GC em tal ambiente. Essa ferramenta está formada por três elementos estruturais (domínio, comunidade e prática) cuja dinâmica permite a transferência de conhecimento. A tese analisa as características desses elementos estruturais no ambiente de projetos, e as relações entre novato e especialista que surgem dentro da CoP, no intuito de entender melhor a utilidade e os benefícios que esta ferramenta oferece à GC no ambiente de projetos. Na pesquisa empírica, o objeto de estudo foram CoPs desenvolvidas em empresas que trabalham com projetos. O trabalho está organizado em duas etapas: na primeira, foi utilizado o método de entrevistas em profundidade e, na segunda, o método de estudo de caso. As informações foram coletadas a partir de entrevistas junto aos líderes das CoPs, líderes de equipes de projetos e pessoal de GC das empresas sob estudo. Também foram aplicados questionários online direcionados aos membros especialistas e a outros membros da CoP. Os resultados finais demonstram que dentro do ambiente de projetos o elemento da CoP com maior desenvolvimento corresponde ao domínio, uma vez que é o primeiro a aparecer e é o elemento mais gerenciável, já os outros elementos (comunidade e prática) dependem da interação entre os membros. Essa interação requer tempo, um recurso especialmente escasso no ambiente de projetos, portanto, estes elementos costumam ficar menos desenvolvidos. A CoP contribui com a aproximação entre novatos e especialistas no sentido de facilitar a troca de conhecimentos; por essa razão, foi observado que os novatos participam mais e se beneficiam da comunidade porque localizam e contatam diretamente os especialistas; dessa forma, os novatos reduzem seu tempo de aprendizagem. Já os especialistas participam menos, beneficiando-se da CoP pela rede de contatos que ela oferece. Observou-se que o maior ganho da utilização de CoPs, no ambiente de projetos, é a redução de tempo no planejamento dos projetos. Isso ocorre devido à troca de conhecimento mais rápida, bem como à aplicação de outras ferramentas de GC, como lições aprendidas e mentoring que são facilitadas ao serem inseridas na dinâmica da CoP. / Within the project environment, Knowledge Management becomes increasingly necessary in order to gain competitiveness, because currently is not enough to perform work only with the explicit knowledge from a Project, where the primary management tool is the system of lessons learned, this is because knowledge is socially constructed and much of this knowledge remains not registered. So it becomes necessary to use other Knowledge Management tools for working with that knowledge generated in social inter-relations, this is tacit knowledge. In this sense, the CoP is characterized by being a tool of KM that not only allows but also takes advantage of the tacit knowledge from people, providing an enabling environment for the emergence of social dynamics that foster the exchange of knowledge (tacit and explicit). However, the CoP has been little studied in the project environment, for this reason, this research studied the CoPs as KM tool in such an environment. This tool is composed of three structural elements (domain, community and practice) whose dynamics allows the knowledge transfer. The thesis analyzes the characteristics of these structural elements in the project environment and the relationships between novice and expert that arise within the CoP, in order to better understand the usefulness and benefits that this tool offers to KM in the project environment. In this empirical research, the object of study developed were CoPs within companies working with projects. The work was organized in two stages: in the former was used the method of in-depth interviews and in the second stage, the case study method. The information was collected from interviews with the leaders of CoPs, team leaders and people from the project staff, belonging to the firms under study. Were also applied online questionnaires addressed to experts and other CoP members. The final results show that within the project environment the element of CoP with further development lies on the domain, since it is the first to appear and is more manageable element, because the other elements (community and practice) depend on the interaction between members, moreover, this process requires time, a particularly scarce resource in the project environment; therefore, these elements tend to be less developed. A CoP contributes to the approximation between novices and experts in order to facilitate exchange of knowledge; thus, it was realized that newcomers participate more and benefit the community because locate and directly contact experts; thus, beginners reduce their learning time. Experts already participate less by benefiting themselves from the CoP by networking that it offers. Was observed that the biggest gain from the use of CoPs in the project environment, is the reduction of time in project planning; this due to faster exchange of knowledge as well as the application of other KM tools like lessons learned and mentoring that are facilitated when inserted in the dynamics of CoP.

Thesis advisor: Jane E. Regan / Today's Christian communities find themselves situated within a dynamic framework of "otherness" in relationship to society in general, as well as in ecumenical and interreligious contexts. In addition to this complex ad-extra environment, there are also intra-ecclesial tensions within the Catholic community that arise from its own pluralistic reality, hindering the church from being the kind of community it is called to be. Chapter One acknowledges these concerns, and suggests that against such a pluralistic backdrop, the human need for connection and relationality cannot be overvalued. Toward this end, conversation as a means toward building mutuality cannot be overlooked. Indeed, "dialogue" has become a buzzword in religious, business, social and political circles, as people recognize the value of having spaces of meaningful relationship with those "other" than themselves. Yet, a sense of true connection--one that might be more adequately expressed by "conversation" and that supports a mutual movement toward understandings of difference in a spirit of reverence--continues to elude. The impoverished condition of conversation within the church raises questions: why isn't life-giving, intra-ecclesial conversation happening? Why aren't we having meaningful interactions that lead to an expanded sense of honoring the other, and a desire to come together in understanding, reciprocity and mutual support, in view of the church's ministry? Chapter Two suggests that one way to begin addressing the issue of creating space for more effective conversation within a pluralistic church broadly considered, is to look to small faith communities within the church as "communities of practice" in which adult learning can occur. These small faith communities of practice, such as parish councils, faith-sharing groups, ministerial teams, etc., are not merely task-oriented groups, focused on management strategies, business tactics or the mere exercise of democracy in their ways of being together. In an ecclesial context, they are communities intent on being and becoming groups that learn together and create conditions that support a lived adult faith. Because conversation factors largely in adult learning, attending to and valuing conversation in these small faith communities can lead to a "habitus of conversation" that might serve the wider ecclesial community as a whole. To realize such a "habitus of conversation", small faith communities must be supported by inner convictions and shored up by a theological perspective that points toward this stance, a perspective that is capable of upholding a life of koinonia/communio and sustaining it over the long haul required by the hard work of meaningful conversation. The theological lens that grounds such a "habitus of conversation" is a living Trinitarian faith. Exploring the dialogic dynamism of Godself reveals the consequent relationality of the human person made in Imago Dei. The dialogic nature of Godself thus provides a rich theological warrant for the anthropological stance that can support conversation as a theological posture and an educational project. This is the topic of Chapter Three. Chapter Four looks to established dialogical teaching methods as a resource for religious education. Within small faith communities, fostering such a "habitus of conversation" toward the teleos of koinonia/communio is a unique contribution that adult faith formation can offer, providing a concrete locus for enacting a conversational pedagogy that might suggest a model for venues beyond religious education itself, at the service of the broader Catholic Christian community as a whole. With this in mind, Chapter Five concludes the dissertation by addressing pedagogical practices that religious educators can resource as a framework for placing conversation at the center of educating in faith. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

Thesis advisor: Jane Regan / This dissertation argues that adults need to develop a potential ecclesiology of youth such that adults envision, anticipate, and empower adolescent contribution to the faith community. A potential ecclesiology begins when adults see adolescents for what he or she may contribute and invite them to join the church's work in the world for the reign of God. Relationships are understood as the primary location for Christ's transforming activity among people and communities. Christianity is an ecclesial faith, and the mark of maturity includes learning to move from being with others to being for others, a shift from me to we. Therefore, belonging to a community where adolescents can learn to live as Christians with others, cultivating both knowledge and competence, is vital to a maturing faith in Christ. In light of this, a potential ecclesiology compels adults to invite adolescents into the unfolding drama as growing contributors to God's redeeming work in the world. A potential ecclesiology is somewhat antithetical to a service-based youth ministry, which is a dominant model among contemporary Protestant churches characterized by adults providing a service (both content and experiences of faith) for adolescents to passively receive. Individual faith formation is the primary objective. Research verifies a disparity between increased efforts and resources allocated to support adolescent faith formation and the high attrition of post-high school participation in faith communities. When reconciled, this assumed problem of retention is actually a problem of integration, revealing that the service-based model resists inviting adolescents to join with a local community of faith as contributors to God's redemptive purposes in the world. Built on a biblical and theological foundation, this dissertation argues that fostering a maturing Christian faith is bound to the vital relationship between the person and the community where maturity is both personal and communal. Positive Youth Development literature affirms the central role of others in adolescent development broadly, which includes changes in knowing who I am (independence) alongside who I am with others (interdependence). Adolescents who are "thriving" are those who contribute to the larger purposes of the community. Additionally, a social theory of learning takes seriously doing the faith with others as a means of learning, which includes exposure to and engagement with the larger purpose of the faith community. Faith communities support a maturing faith by contextually enacting five values: communal memory, responsible mutuality, burgeoning maturity, generative relationships, and imaginative contribution. Attending to the adolescent's experience with the community and creating avenues for authentic contribution should guide a church's vision and practices and thus enact a potential ecclesiology of youth. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

Thesis advisor: Rebecca Lowenhaupt / This qualitative case study examined the organizational learning mechanisms used by school and district leaders to support professional learning within the context of curriculum reform. Elements of organizational learning theory provided a conceptual framework through which the researcher explored how teachers learned and how district leaders supported their learning about a district-wide curriculum reform. Data were collected through document review and semi-structured interviews with eighteen professionals from an urban district in the Northeast. Findings showed that (a) the district implemented an integrated system of organizational learning mechanisms to support teacher/instructional coach learning relevant to curriculum reform efforts, (b) teachers and coaches perceived these learning mechanisms to be effective in supporting their learning and (c) teachers and coaches demonstrated varying levels of understanding regarding the district’s curriculum reform priorities. Recommendations included: (a) enhancements to school and district strategic planning documents, (b) connecting principals closely to the teaching and learning operations of the district and (c) implementing feedback mechanisms to monitor individual interpretations of district priorities. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Larry Ludlow / In this dissertation study, I examined the extent to which a relational network of teachers, administrators, two-way immersion (TWI) experts and mentors promote productive communities of practice (CoP). In a conventional instruction, teachers are often isolated in their classrooms, and a private practice culture prevails. In 2012, the Two-Way Immersion Network for Catholic Schools (TWIN-CS) was launched in an effort to support school reform by engaging school leaders and teachers to collectively learn toward implementing TWI models in their schools. Using the framework of communities of practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1999), I employed a case study design (Yin, 2009) to explore a national network of Catholic elementary school educators. Data sources included qualitative data featuring semi-structured interviews and quantitative source from a relational network survey. Qualitative results revealed that organizational features of TWIN-CS are critical in promoting participants’ learning to implement TWI. In particular, participants discussed the annual TWIN Summer Academy and bi-monthly webinars to be instrumental for their learning. Many participants also shared that an expansion of CoPs beyond TWIN-CS further prompted productive learning. However, the qualitative evidence also showed a lack of clear internal and external network structures and role definition, and sustaining connection beyond the Summer Academy and webinars were perceived as a great challenge. Quantitative results suggest that TWIN-CS has a core-and-periphery network structure with the Boston College design team at the innermost core, with visibly dense ties connecting to and from them. Most teachers, on the other hand, occupy the most peripheral positions in this network. Survey evidence also showed that participants generally perceived a much stronger learning relationship within schools and showed less certainty on cross-network relationships. In terms of learning characteristics, majority of the respondents viewed knowledge sharing, trust, and advice-oriented dimensions “strongly” but perceived a lack of data-driven learning for both within school and cross-network. I conclude this study with a discussion of implications for future research and practice. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement and Evaluation.

Thesis (DTech (Informatics))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / The concept of virtual community of practice (VCoP) emanates from the need to create a new mode of learning and knowledge creation. It is found that highly structured forums are not necessarily the best way to assist people to learn and improve their knowledge. This then, requires organisations to seek alternative informal ways to share knowledge. The significance of optimising knowledge sharing results in VCoPs receiving considerable attention while searching for new ways to draw on expertise dispersed across global operations. This impacts organisations, thereby enabling them to respond more speedily to the demands of their stakeholders. The fast pace of change in their business environments is also a factor to contend with. Within this context, the use of VCoPs to optimise both, tacit and explicit knowledge sharing within stakeholders, is the central theme of this research. The findings from literature enables the researcher to explore scientific based models that may have the potential to enhance knowledge sharing in an enterprise. The Life Cycle knowledge flow model is found to be the most comprehensive compared to two other models – namely, a Spiral knowledge flow model and Dynamic knowledge flow model. The outflow from the findings in literature is that the Life Cycle knowledge flow model is selected as the basis to conduct two surveys to determine if the model could be adapted to improve knowledge sharing within VCoPs in particular, and in an enterprise in general. The result of the two surveys conducted (in 2011/2012 and 2016), leads to establishing an extended Life Cycle knowledge flow model. The established model enhances knowledge sharing within VCoPs, and in turn, assists when optimising knowledge sharing in an enterprise. This extended model covers six phases of knowledge development to improve knowledge sharing within VCoPs. The first phase enhances the creation of both, tacit and explicit knowledge. The second phase enables to optimise the organisation of knowledge. The third phase enables the formalisation of tacit knowledge, that is, conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge. The fourth phase improves the distribution of knowledge. The fifth phase enables to optimise the application of knowledge and the final phase enables the evolution or continuous development of knowledge. The contribution of this research proposes that a comprehensive knowledge flow model, namely the Life Cycle knowledge flow model found in literature, served as the basis for this research. However, this model was never tested or verified if it indeed optimises knowledge sharing within VCoPs. The two surveys (Survey One 2011/12 and Survey Two 2016) were developed and distributed to respondents to verify the model’s suitability to VcoPs. As a result of responses received from the two surveys, the researcher was then able to develop an extended Life Cycle knowledge flow model that particularly, optimises knowledge sharing within VCoPs. This research further contributes in formulating a scientific based knowledge flow model that can be adapted to social networks. Therefore, this research also creates the foundation to further study to investigate the optimisation of knowledge sharing in social networks. In recent literature, social networks are established as one of the informal mechanisms to share and enhance knowledge sharing in an enterprise.