Women comprise half of the world's population but less than half of the paid workforce, less than half of organized workers, and far less than half of union leadership positions. Women benefit from union membership by enjoying a smaller gender wage gap than women without union representation. Unionized teachers enjoy higher salaries and better working conditions than those who are not union members. Despite the advantages of being in a union, women are under-represented in union membership and, more importantly, leadership positions. Considering these disparities, I conceptualized this critical study to describe and better understand how women's participation in union activities is meaningful to them. My ultimate goal was to find ways in which more union women could be encouraged to take leadership roles in the workers' rights movement. The primary purpose of this research is to identify factors that explain the dearth of women's participation in their labor union. Gender disparity in union leadership is, in part, a reflection of gender disparity in the workforce. Women make up less than half of the paid workforce but occupy the majority of the contingent workforce, which enterprise-based unions in Japan have been reluctant to organize (Weathers, 2012). Furthermore, a lack of female role models in union leadership might also contribute to gender disparity in unions' leaderships. From this, I suggest changes that potentially allow more women to participate and eventually lead in their unions. The theoretical justification of the methodology used in this study is to show the utility of communities of practice theory and intersectionality in this type of research. Because I examined participation, I used communities of practice as the primary theoretical framework, and because the participants were all women, intersectional feminism served as the secondary theoretical framework. Furthermore, I review conceptual research on communities of practice, women, and labor and review empirical research on labor, communities of practice, and women in the labor movement. For the methodology, I applied a qualitative critical case study approach to this investigation of a labor union in western Japan that primarily organizes foreign language teachers. This study is a collection of case studies of female non-Japanese English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers from inner circle countries. I investigated how these women participated in their labor union in western Japan and how their participation was meaningful to them. I was a participant observer, and the three core participants were all American. I am Canadian. At the time of this study, all four of us were union leaders. Data sources included interviews, a focus group discussion, artifacts, and the research journals that I kept over the years. The findings echoed aspects of communities of practice theory as well as intersectionality. Communities of practice theory highlighted the transformational nature of participating in a community. Furthermore, the importance of trust in the community was made clear. I considered the participants’ identities from the perspective of intersectionality. Considering differing emphases on these aspects of identity led me to realize that increasing solidarity between women working for workers’ rights and women working for women’s rights might lead to the growth of both movements. I drew the main conclusion from considering differing emphases on aspects of research participants’ identities. As has been well documented in research literature, women in the workers’ rights movement and women in the women’s rights movement place an emphasis on different aspects of their identities (Dye, 1975; hooks, 2012; Milkman, 2016). Therefore, what is lacking is a sense of solidarity, the fundamental principle of the workers’ rights movement, between these two groups of women. The original contribution to knowledge of this dissertation is an enhanced understanding of how both the workers’ rights movement and the women’s rights movement are held back by this lack of solidarity among women. / Teaching & Learning

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A significant body of writing and rhetoric research focuses on the literate practices that reflect or construct the professional self, particularly in disciplines that rely heavily on the use of forms to categorize or identify customers, clients, or patients. Many of these studies examine the influence of discipline-specific genres on the creation of a professional self for healthcare practitioners. Occupational therapy, a nearly 100-year-old yet little understood profession, is significantly different from many other healthcare disciplines, in part, because the genres used by occupational therapists reflect the profession's careful attention to the whole life of a patient. These genres are built around an understanding of a patient's occupation as the object of the profession's activity system. "Occupation" (commonly defined too narrowly by those outside of the profession as "work"), is, quite simply, anything that meaningfully and purposefully occupies a person's time. This broadly defined object invites an expansive professional vision that includes the patient's life and history outside of a diagnosis. This study presents the narratives of four occupational therapists and the literate activities that inform their practice. Their voices, as excerpted in this case study, join a strong, ongoing conversation in writing and rhetoric studies about the relationship between genre and identity. Using the lens of activity theory, this is one account of a healthcare profession that pays unusual attention to patients' whole lives through genres that mediate shared agency between the caregiver and patient. It is also, however, the story of the ways in which this identity, as a uniquely occupation-based discipline, becomes obscured as therapists translate their work to genres created and controlled by other, more powerful activity systems.

Information security has become a major challenge for all private and public organizations. The protection of proprietary and secret data and the proper awareness of what is entailed in protecting this data are necessary in all organizations. This treatise examines how simulation and training would influence information security awareness over time in virtual communities of practice under a variety of security threats. The hypothesis of the study was that security-trained members of a virtual community of practice would respond significantly better to routine security processes and attempts to breach security or to violate the security policy of their organization or of their virtual community of practice. Deterrence theory was used as the grounded theory and integrated in the information security awareness training with simulated scenarios. The study provided training with simulated scenarios and then tested the users of a virtual community of practice over an approximately twelve-week period to see if the planned security awareness training with simulated security problem scenarios would be effective in improving their responses to the follow-up tests. The research subjects were divided into four groups, the experimental group and three control groups. The experimental group received all of the training and testing events throughout the twelve-week period. The three control groups received various portions of the training and testing. The data from all of the tests were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis iv ranked order test, and it was determined that there was no significant difference between the groups at the end of the data collection. Even though the null hypothesis, which stated that there would be no difference between the groups scores on the information security awareness tests, was not rejected, the groups that received the initial training with the simulated scenarios did perform slightly better from the pre-training test to the post-training test when compared with the control group that did not receive the initial training. More research is suggested to determine how information security awareness training with simulated scenarios and follow-up testing can be used to improve and sustain the security practices of members of virtual communities of practice. Specifically, additional research could include: comparing the effect of training with the simulated scenarios and with training that would not use the simulated security scenarios; the potential benefits of using adaptive and intelligent training to focus on the individual subjects’ weaknesses and strengths; the length of the training with simulated scenarios events, the time between each training event, and the overall length of the training; the demographics of the groups used in the training, and how different user characteristics impact the efficacy of the training with simulated scenarios and testing; and lastly examining how increasing the fidelity of the simulated scenarios might impact the results of the follow-up tests.

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Idag ställs högre krav på lärare i sitt yrke, då utförandet av arbetsuppgifter kräver att ständigt uppdatera sina ämnes- samt yrkeskunskaper. Detta kan göras genom kollegialt lärande, som en form av kompetensutvecklingsinsats för lärare vilken innefattar kunskapsöverföring mellan kollegor. Denna studie har därför syftat till att undersöka lärares upplevelser av kollegialt lärande. Studien har genomförts genom digitala semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex yrkesverksamma lärare i två fristående högstadieskolor med samma huvudman i Stockholmsområdet. Resultatet har sedan analyserats utifrån tre övergripande teman: inträffande, upplevelser och resultat av det kollegiala lärandet, samt teman som framkommit av empirin. Begreppen informellt och formellt lärande samt teorin om communities of practice (CoP) har använts som verktyg under analysen för att bidra med kunskap kring vart samt hur det kollegiala lärandet sker. Resultatet visar att det kollegiala lärandet sker framförallt genom informella aktiviteter som spontana samtal, men även genom formella aktiviteter som veckomöten eller planerade träffar. Ett välfungerande kollegialt lärande uppfattas ha stor betydelse för de intervjuade lärarna, och påverkas av både formella förutsättningar som styrning från skolledare samt känslomässiga förutsättningar utifrån individen själv och arbetslaget. Vidare anser lärarna att det kollegiala lärandet har många positiva resultat både för de själva som individer samt för eleverna och skolan i stort. Däremot finns det både individuella och organisatoriska faktorer som kan förhindra det kollegiala lärandet. Individuella faktorer handlar delvis om olika personligheter och samarbetsförmåga, och de organisatoriska faktorerna handlar bland annat om tidsbrist och för strikt eller lös styrning. Lärarna upplever delvis risker med kollegialt lärande, exempelvis ur en synpunkt att inte dela samma syn på undervisning eller elever, men de ser också stora möjligheter med att ta inspiration och lära sig av varandra. Sammanfattningsvis resulterar studien i en ökad förståelse för lärares upplevelser av kollegialt lärande, och ett förslag på vidare undersökningar inom området är att undersöka skolor där det kollegiala lärandet inte värderas lika högt som i denna skolverksamhet samt hur digitaliseringen påverkar det kollegiala lärandet.

Sharing of information between health care workers improves evidence dissemination and quality of care. One way to share information is through a community of practice (CoP), whereby members interact regularly towards a common goal. Advances in technology allow CoPs to exist virtually, removing the traditional barriers to information sharing. Virtual CoPs have been shown to be effective, but little is known about why health care workers choose to use them — warranting further investigation. This exploratory research consisted of 86 participants and took place in partnership with Health Quality Ontario. At the time of data collection, the organization was developing a virtual CoP for those in health care to learn from one another about quality improvement. The research utilized the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) — a theoretical model of persuasion that posits that one’s motivation and ability determines how information is processed — to guide the study of attitude formation. ELM distinguishes between Central Route information processing, whereby one is highly motivated and able and pays attention to argument quality, and Peripheral Route processing, whereby lower motivation and ability cause one to be persuaded by peripheral messaging cues. The sustainability of resulting attitudes is influenced by the route through which information is processed. Higher motivation to use a virtual CoP was found to be more strongly correlated to the central route than peripheral route, as expected. Post-hoc analysis found that argument quality had the greatest overall influence on attitudes towards virtual CoPs, regardless of the user’s experience level with them. Users with more experience were also influenced by peripheral cues. The chosen theoretical framework provided insight into the determinants of attitude formation, allowing for a better understanding of how to design and position a virtual CoP for those working in health care — a population yet to be studied through ELM. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people with a shared interest who regularly interact to share knowledge and increase their expertise. Virtual CoPs use information and communications technology to support these knowledge-sharing activities, and have been shown to effectively improve knowledge utilization, but researchers have not examined them from a health care practitioner point of view. The present research aimed to explore the factors affecting how attitudes towards virtual CoPs are formed. The elaboration likelihood model was used to guide this study and suggests that a person’s motivation and ability determine the route through which they process information and form attitudes, leading to their intention to use the system. By understanding what influences attitudes, we can better understand how to design and position a virtual CoP for health care practitioners.

No / This paper examines the current circumstances of minority ethnic media production. It particularly addresses the tensions that may exist for minority ethnic media workers between their commitment to a professional identity and status, and their negotiation of their own ethnic identity. Through employing a specific model of communities of practice this paper provides an analytic frame which illuminates some of the challenges which may be particularly present in the institutional dynamics and identity politics operating within minority ethnic media enterprises. In noting the synergy between the minority ethnic media activities and the media systems of the dominant ethnic communities this paper argues for a recognition of the role of minority ethnic media in shaping a vigorous public sphere, and advocates a more extensive commitment of research resources to the analysis of their role in the multi-ethnic nation-state and transnationally.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having remarkable effects and promise potential solutions to many of the South Pacific islands’ geographic, economic and social challenges. Access to ICTs is also an increasingly important factor for education and training in the region. While the Pacific eLearning Observatory, supported by the University of the South Pacific, has been monitoring the development and access to ICT in education across the 12 university’s campuses, studies that specifically examine the attitudes and understanding of educators working on the islands of the South Pacific towards the use of ICT in their profession, as well as for their professional development, are rare. This study aims at addressing the gap in the literature by examining the professional development of facilitators working in blended learning environment across the remote islands of the Cook Islands. The research outcomes of this study are based on the analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and the theoretical foundation of this thesis is grounded in the social and situated theory of learning. By closely examining the facilitators’ perceptions, the project sheds new light on the still little recognised concept of online communities of practice in teaching and learning. The central finding of the study is that participation in online communities of practice offers on-going opportunities for learning, development and support, and reduces the feeling of remoteness and isolation associated with the geographical conditions of the South Pacific region.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are having remarkable effects and promise potential solutions to many of the South Pacific islands’ geographic, economic and social challenges. Access to ICTs is also an increasingly important factor for education and training in the region. While the Pacific eLearning Observatory, supported by the University of the South Pacific, has been monitoring the development and access to ICT in education across the 12 university’s campuses, studies that specifically examine the attitudes and understanding of educators working on the islands of the South Pacific towards the use of ICT in their profession, as well as for their professional development, are rare. This study aims at addressing the gap in the literature by examining the professional development of facilitators working in blended learning environment across the remote islands of the Cook Islands. The research outcomes of this study are based on the analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews, and the theoretical foundation of this thesis is grounded in the social and situated theory of learning. By closely examining the facilitators’ perceptions, the project sheds new light on the still little recognised concept of online communities of practice in teaching and learning. The central finding of the study is that participation in online communities of practice offers on-going opportunities for learning, development and support, and reduces the feeling of remoteness and isolation associated with the geographical conditions of the South Pacific region.