This thesis focuses on the contest that can be defined as an epoch in Irish political discourse, the Treaty of Lisbon referendum 2008. It approaches the subject from an alternative angle to current research, which predominately focuses on the outcome of the referendum rather than the causes of the outcome. Principally, this research offers a critical discourse analysis of the preliminary debate covering the sessions of Dáil Éireann from the begin of the debate on 3rd April 2008 to the final statements on the 23rd April 2008 which debated the controversial government backed Treaty of Lisbon. This thesis wishes to trace the ways in which opposition actors attempted to resonate their arguments with chronicled master frameworks of Irish foreign policy a tactic which has emerged as a key ideological resource, and to the extent they utilised neutrality as a persuasive tool in influencing the outcome of the debate.

This study aims to analyse the relationship between the design and implementation of an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) in Mathematical Literacy (ML) (reskilling) program and the development of teacher identities. This study confirms that teacher learning in an in‐service context is a social process that demands a social‐cultural perspective and therefore Wenger’s theory was used in this study. This study illustrates that teachers’ participation in an ACE ML community of practice involved the complex intersection of various components of learning: meaning (learning as experience), practice (learning as doing) and community (learning as belonging) when development of teacher identities takes place. The course was also designed in such a way as to promote a changing way of being. The emerging identities were different in each individual as identity is influenced by the past, the present and the future according to Wenger. The study reveals that when meaning of the subject ML is gained, the meaning can be translated into changed classroom practice. These result in fostering a specific identity influenced by the ACE ML course’s attempts to support the development of understanding in relation to the meaning of ML. This leads to a change in classroom practice and ultimately a change in teachers’ way of ‘being’. This resonates with Wenger’s claim that the four learning components are deeply interconnected and mutually defined. The new trajectories that teachers developed can be grouped into three categories: • Where teachers back grounded their previous identities and fore grounded their ML identities. • Where the teachers added their ML identity to their existing identity, leaving them with a dual identity, the one they had before their involvement in the ACE ML course and the ML identity. • Where those teachers whose existing identity stayed strong, and their ML identity was still developing or was less strong.

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<p><h1>Abstract</h1></p> <p><strong>Succeeding in Level 1 of a BScN Program: A Grounded Theory Inquiry</strong></p> <p>This research is an inquiry into the journey of student success as experienced by Level 1 nursing students in a BScN program. It is a qualitative study using a constructivist grounded theory methodology that looks at the psychosocial processes that are integral to the nursing student’s experience of Level 1. Fifty 1 to 1 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Level 1and Level 2 nursing students, experienced level 1 faculty and academic advisors (n=46). Participants were asked to define student success, and discuss their experience of success. The constant comparison method and theoretical sampling informed the findings. The result was an emerging substantive theory for student success entitled: <em>Succeeding in Level 1 of a BScN Program (Succeeding Substantive Theory or SST).</em> There are four conceptual processes that make up the <em>SST</em>: Learning, Balancing, Connecting and Becoming. Each concept has several categories that summarize the codes reflected in the data. The <em>SST</em> offers a fresh and novel perspective on student success as it reflects the processes involved in a comprehensive and integrated way. The insights and understanding that result from the <em>SST</em> can be used to direct policy and resources for student success, inform curricular revision, and suggest further research.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This research explored the existence and importance of interaction in online courses as perceived by online learners and instructors. The study was based on data from online students and instructors in the fall 2002 semester at Mid-Atlantic Community College(1). Two web-based surveys were used to collect data. Eighty-eight of 267 online students completed the survey, for a response rate of 33%. The study was based on constructivist theory which suggested that students learn by actively participating in the learning process through interaction with the instructor, other students, and course materials. This interaction was measured by different online interaction modalities and a five-step interactivity model developed by Salmon. This model suggested that the intensity of interactivity involves five steps: access and motivation, online socialization, information exchange, knowledge construction, and development. In addition, student characteristics (age and gender) and pedagogical variables (online experience and learning preferences) were included. Findings of the survey revealed that students perceived a moderate to high level of availability in a majority of the interactivity modalities. The highest interaction was reported between students and instructor through email communication and feedback on students? work by instructors. In addition, student ratings of the availability of different interaction modalities in online instruction were correlated with their perceptions of the importance of these modalities. Students reported satisfaction with the level of interactivity in their online courses. In contrast, responses to Salmon?s model revealed a high level of unavailability of the various interactivity criteria. The result of instructor survey, based on 13 responses, revealed that online instructors perceive interaction with students through email communication and providing feedback on their work were important. They did not perceive many of the interactivity criteria introduced by this research to be important. Therefore, they reported these criteria as unavailable in their online courses. This study is important because the extent of systematic research on availability and importance of online interaction is limited. (1)- To preserve the anonymity of respondents, this name is a pseudonym. / Ph. D.

Recent studies indicate that American high school students are not performing adequately on standardized tests in the area of science. In response, there has been a call to reform science education in the United States. These reform efforts coincide with advances in electronic communication and information technology that have revolutionized knowledge sharing. This study describes an effort to assess the effects of inter-school electronic collaboration on the quality of student final written products. In this study, students ranging in grade levels from 9-12 completed a problem-based earth science module delivered via the Internet. The module presented students with an ill-structured problem, problem-solving model, resources, and recommendations for further inquiry, all related to an authentic environmental issue. Students were also given a set of guidelines for a final written product and a minimum of 4 weeks to complete the project. While all students worked in cooperative groups within their classrooms, selected cooperative groups worked with cooperative groups of students in other schools via e-mail. These groups were collectively referred to as parallel groups. Cooperative groups of students who did not work via e-mail with other groups were collectively referred to as nonparallel groups. A team of evaluators scored the written products of parallel and nonparallel groups. The results were unexpected: The nonparallel groups scored significantly higher than the parallel groups on the final written product. / Ph. D.

Industrial Design in China seldom addresses the issue of sustainability in mass production. Failure to incorporate sustainable design as a core principle will result in long term environmental and economic loss for both business and society. This research studies the current Industrial Design educational system in Mainland China and proposes a new educational framework to engage sustainability as a design objective. This study adopts the philosophical perspectives of constructivism, sustainable design theory, critical pedagogy, and systems thinking. Literature related to sustainability is collected and organized and overlaid with educational constraints identified through the interviews with educators, students, and practitioners of Industrial Design in four major cities of Mainland China. Using the grounded theory approach, from these two sources a new educational framework is proposed. The educational framework categorizes courses in a four year undergraduate Industrial Design educational program into four domains: ecological literacy, artistic, technological, and professional. Suggestions for the appropriate timeline, content, and pedagogical approaches for curriculum are also provided. The proposed framework was then critically reviewed Chinese educators that served as feedback for the final proposition. / Ph. D.

This study aimed at determining whether classroom teachers&lsquo / attitudes toward change correlate with their perceptions of constructivist curriculum change and implementation of constructivist teaching and learning activities in class at primary school level. Through a questionnaire, data were collected from 236 classroom teachers teaching in all public primary schools in the city center of Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. Demographical data of the participants, their attitudes toward change, perceptions of constructivist curriculum change, and implementation of constructivist teaching and learning activities were reported in terms of frequencies, percentages, and means. Bivariate correlations were employed to understand the relations among classroom teachers&lsquo / attitudes toward change, perceptions of constructivist curriculum change and implementation of constructivist teaching and learning activities at primary school level. The results revealed that classroom teachers were open to change and often implemented constructivist teaching and learning activities in class whereas they had mixed perceptions about constructivist curriculum change carried out in Turkey in 2004-2005 academic year. Classroom teachers&lsquo / attitudes toward change were significantly but moderately correlated with their perceptions of constructivist curriculum change and implementation of constructivist teaching and learning activities at primary school level. Besides, classroom teachers&lsquo / perceptions of constructivist curriculum change were significantly but moderately related to their implementation of constructivist teaching and learning activities.

Since the late 20th Century, the consulting industry has grown significantly. Today, consulting is a widespread, one-size-fits-all term that includes virtually any form of advice-giving in a business setting. Irrespective of the industry, there is a large market and high demand for consulting. Knowing how to engage clients and ensuring successful consulting has never been more critical for consultancies looking to capitalise on scarce client demand. The purpose of this research study was to gain a collective understanding of those aspects that constitute successful consulting, focusing on the implicit dimensions that influence client-consultant engagement. In this regard, the research study aimed to add value by presenting a new perspective on, and extend understanding of the implicit dimensions influencing the client-consultant relationship by focusing on both clients and consultants though the unique lens of the Psychological Contract. This exploration of the Psychological Contract between client and consultant was conducted through the interpretivist paradigm, or to be more specific, a social constructivist approach. This approach allowed the researcher to explore the Psychological Contract between client and consultant through the constructed meanings that both clients and consultants attach to their experience of the client-consultant relationship, and enabled the researcher to explore their perceptions and interpretations of the dimensions that influenced that relationship. The researcher furthermore applied a qualitative research design and constructivist grounded theory method to explore the subjective meanings of clients and consultants, and to discover their reality. This design and method generated rich, in-depth data and understanding of the participants’ beliefs, perceptions, and subjective experiences to develop a comprehensive framework of the Psychological Contract between client and consultant. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted