The purpose of this research was to investigate the education and training of retail managers through management training programs in three apparel retail organizations and to inform educators and retailers about recommended retail management training practices in order to better prepare their students and employees. Methodology was based on qualitative research, using the multiple-case study method, with an open-ended questionnaire type of interview. Interviews of apparel retail managers and trainers gave insights into the objectives of the study. These objectives were to review: (a) the content of education and management training programs used by three apparel retailers, (b) the training methods, (c) the assessment tools, and (d) the evaluation techniques used in those training programs. The findings show that, since the restructuring of the selected companies during 1995 and 1996, overall educational reimbursement had decreased. Training programs used both on-the-job and classroom methods, and were conducted primarily in stores. Managers were responsible for most of the training. Participants of the study perceived the goals of their company's management training to be profit, managerial continuity, employee development, and career or self-improvement related. Assessment tools varied, with observational techniques, examinations, self-evaluations, and reviews reported. Participants commented on the lack of overall program evaluation, training consistency, and communication. Conclusions of the study indicate that apparel retail management training content was limited in technological advances and had little content pertaining to the changing demographics of employees. Methods and assessment tools used in training were conducive to learning. Program goals and objectives were not always clearly defined. Evaluations of the overall effectiveness of a training program were rarely conducted. Recommendations to retailers and educators were to: (a) update programs to meet the technological and human relation needs of a changing retail environment, (b) consider all company employees as potential trainers, (c) utilize different assessment techniques and methods of teaching, (d) standardize and evaluate training programs, (e) improve communication among retail company personnel, and (f) continue to develop curricula that include communication, feedback and assessment techniques, and field practica.

The American educational system has come under fire in the last several years. At the national level, new laws have been enacted which have helped fund innovative educational programs. Consequently, the individual states have responded with sweeping educational reform laws to revamp their educational systems and improve student learning. In 1992–93, in an effort to improve education and the preparation of teachers, Massachusetts opted to review and examine teacher education programs. Upon the review of these programs and the students' scores in standardized tests, Massachusetts created and passed legislation for educational reform. The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 (MERA) was passed and new standards were developed for the education of students, the preparation of teachers, and the roles played by the schools, the administrators, and all of the other personnel within the public school system. This study addresses the edicts of the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 that deal with the recertification of teachers and their professional development. For this study, the Delphi method was used to gain a perspective on developing standards to assess quality of professional development programs as they are presently delivered. The results have been subjected to a factor analysis that yielded four factors: Impact of Professional Development Programs in Teaching; Evaluation and Follow-up of Professional Development Programs; Worth/Accountability of Professional Development Programs; and Motivators for Effective Professional Development Programs. These factors should be considered when assessing quality of professional development programs.

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The study was conducted to investigate the design, and implementation of an interprofessional continuing education (IPE) course in biomedical ethics to healthcare providers; and to evaluate this course. The impact of the course on teamwork and perception among participants was also examined. The course was designed using a problem-based learning (PBL) approach using the We Learn framework (Macdonald, Stodel, Thompson, & Casimiro, 2009). The study was conducted in the Ministry of Health in Oman. The participants of the study included the instructional designer (who was also the researcher), the course instructor, five group instructors, and 28 learners. The learners were different healthcare professionals who work in the four tertiary hospitals in the capital city. The study employed design and development research (Richey & Klein, 2007) and focused on examining the process of product development and evaluation. A case study method was applied for data collection. Data were collected from all of the participants using surveys, interviews, and logs. The study findings indicated there was a decrease in learners' perceptions that may be due to unrealistic entry level. However, they expressed that working in IPE was enjoyable. They had consensus that PBL was appropriate and promoted interactions between learners. Overall, the course was implemented as designed. The course is to be revised and include cases with local context. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2015. / April 27, 2015. / Design and Development, Health Professional Education, Instructional Design, Interdisciplinary Education, Interprofessional Education, Problem Based Learning / Includes bibliographical references. / James Klein, Professor Directing Dissertation; James Whyte, IV, University Representative; Vanessa Dennen, Committee Member; Fengfeng Ke, Committee Member.

Current policy statements concerning adult literacy in Guatemala state that Mayan women need literacy skills in order to better themselves and their families socially and economically and need to possess these tools and skills in order to participate in the emerging civil society. Responding to this rhetoric, and a chance to win funding, organizations that design and develop literacy programming have responded with adult literacy “classes” that focus on a single model of literacy learning for women that tends to be equated to a school model of basic education. Central to this single model for literacy learning, is a single conception of literacy, as a unified, quantifiable easily attainable goal. This reductionist tendency in Guatemala has led to focusing on a single literacy as the solution to the problem of indigenous women's illiteracy. Assumptions about the needs and desires of beneficiaries are made by literacy experts and planners without taking the time to understand the literacy practices that Mayan women and communities are already engaged in. Examining and analyzing the literacy and numeracy practices women are already engaged in is a very different approach to program planning than the hegemonic centralism of the more traditional autonomous model. By using ethnographic methods to conduct literacy research, a potentially empowering model for literacy programming can emerge that is sensitive to local context and needs. The following guidelines resulted from this study: It cannot be assumed (1) that programs designed for literacy acquisition are in the best educational or social interests of the target audience; (2) that “best practices” of teaching and learning developed and advocated by Western educators and planners are the most effective and successful in all contexts. Whole language approaches or learner-generated materials may work in some contexts and not in others and we cannot simply impose “state of the art” approaches in all contexts and expect them to work well. Any sustainable, meaningful literacy intervention in Guatemala would best be conceptualized as a long-term process that helps to establish an intergenerational network of communicative relationships that focus on the social, cultural, economic and linguistic processes of communities.

This qualitative study explored how people in rural Nepal understand and make meaning of development, Bikas, at the local level. In Nepal, the terms "development," Bikas, and "modernization," Adhunikaran, are often used interchangeably. At the community level, the experience of change is how most people describe their perception of development. Open ended in-depth interviews and participant observations were the primary methods used. The research questions engaged the participants in reflecting about past and present experiences with development in their community, especially in how they have observed their quality of life change. Additionally, the members of the Mothers Group, Ama Toli, were also interviewed. The members were interviewed for two reasons, (1) to better understand the role of women and their experiences with development and (2) to develop a case study to understand how community based organizations can be agents of change. The findings showed that local people have recognized that development does not necessarily mean good changes for everyone. The rich narratives provided a glimpse into how different generations and gender experience development. These findings have major implications for sustainable development in rural communities. How individuals or groups of individual experience development will have an impact on how they participate, support or resist future initiatives. Additionally, what each group believes the gains and losses to be is important for those working as change agents. The study raises to the surface the experiences and views of those whose views and opinions are generally not included even though they are the supposed recipients of development. The development discourse focuses on the critical need for sustainability. This study affirms that for development to be sustainable all members of the community must have a voice and role in determining the community's course of change/development.

In this dissertation, I explore a different concept in program evaluation. There is little literature on using evaluation research as a tool for social justice. The Oppression Evaluation Approach I am introducing is about an alternative method in conducting program evaluation under dominant political conditions, simply dealing with the ethical question: whose side are the evaluators on? The study is based on the experiences of environmental activists in Sudan who have worked under oppressive environments for decades, and how this reflected on the microenvironment of projects run by authoritative managements. The purpose of this study was: (1) To critically review the concept of educational evaluation, with a focus on areas that are not usually tackled, e.g., evaluation abuse. I introduce a number of illegitimate purposes for doing program evaluations in addition to the ones cited in the U.S.A evaluation literature. I also highlight major contemporary models and approaches, which have emerged during the past three decades. (2) To introduce a new approach or model, tentatively called Oppression Evaluation, to develop its theoretical framework based on my experience with evaluation projects in the Third World. I accomplished this and introduced the distinct characteristics of this approach (pre-starting conditions, evaluators' role, covert agenda, power relationships, type of data, risk factors, etc.). This was a major achievement of this research. (3) To explore similarities and differences of this approach in two environmental social justice projects in Sudan and Massachusetts, using a comparative case study design. The key findings were similar methods used in both cases, even with different political environments, due to the shared environmental vision by the two organizations. The adopted methodology in this research was qualitative, focusing on detailed descriptions of the two case studies. I relied on my role in the Sudanese case on reviewing its literature and documents, and introducing a distinguished data gathering technique that is used among left movement in Sudan, and called “Zameel Network.” In the second case, I gathered data via email, media documentation, in-depth interviews, direct and participant-observation, and photography.

This study describes and analyses a collaborative research process used to initiate inquiry and change in a health system in a First Nation, Aboriginal community in Canada. As background, the author reviews issues in transferring government health programs to local control, describes traditional and government health systems in the Split Lake Cree First Nation community and grounds the rationale for the research approach in the traditions of action research and participatory research. The case presentation covers the first year and a half of participatory education and collaborative research activities. Initially it deals with the formation and development of a community research group, with the author serving as co-operating external researcher and training resource. This represents the first instance in Canada of an Aboriginal group doing its own study in preparation for taking over and transforming its health system rather than employing an external consultant to do the study. Specific activities include the preparation of a proposal for funding a study to help with the transfer and the initial design and field work on a study of traditional health practices and resources in the community. The account is based on audio recordings and transcriptions of fourteen meetings, each two to three days in length. In the meetings, the efforts, constraints, interactions, training and skill development of the research group as well as its analysis of systems and reflections on its own process are documented. The author intersperses his own observations in italics. In conclusion, the author reflects on issues arising out of this innovative experiment and on insights it offers for specific problems in collaborative research. Finally, there are recommendations for the use of such an approach as a means for community empowerment and control over change in local health systems.

This study reports on the results of a research project designed to explore the everyday life experiences of women who work as popular educators. Popular education is defined as education that seeks to promote change; is based on dialogue; begins with an examination of people's everyday experience; employs a highly participatory methodology; and promotes action and reflection. By examining the experiences of women who work as popular educators, this study seeks to understand how women have come to understand themselves as actors in the world and their reflections on education as part of a process of radical social change. Two primary questions framed the research: (1) who are the women who choose to work as popular educators and (2) what has been the nature of their everyday experience. The study examines common themes that emerged from the interviews, and draws out implications so that all practitioners of popular education may reflect on the potential for a gendered analysis of their work. The study was undertaken by conducting phenomenological interviews with an international sampling of ten women who have substantial experience working as popular educators. The information gathered from these interviews is "represented" here in four ways. Autobiographical profiles introduce the participants and provide contextual data on the range of their experience and background. Five selected work profiles are then presented for the purpose of focusing in on everyday practice and experience. With this information as background, the study then examines five themes that emerged from the interview data: identity; social and political activism; participation and organization; power; and resistance and independence. The women's voices are then brought forward once more in a final section entitled reflections. The final chapter of the study looks at the implications of the knowledge brought forward from the women's voices, and posits some initial thinking regarding gender issues in popular education, as well as the potential for further research and study.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education (D.Ed) in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, University of Zululand, South Africa, 2014. / The study compared the perceptions of continuing education programmes by in-service teachers from two universities in Africa; University of Zululand, South Africa (UZ), and Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria, (AAU). The study covers the impact, effectiveness and efficiency of UZ and AAU on in-service teachers of continuing education programme. The target population and sample for the study were the current teachers of continuing education programmes of these universities. The instrument tagged ‘Questionnaire for Perceptions of Continuing Education Programmes by in-service Teachers’ (QPCEPIT) was designed and used for data collection. The descriptive survey research design of ex-post facto was adopted for the study.150 questionnaires were randomly used for pilot study, carried out at University of Ado Ekiti, Nigeria, whilst 500 questionnaires each were administered at both UZ and AAU of which 365 and 321 responses were valid and analysed respectively. Five research hypotheses and questions were carefully formulated to ascertain the perceptions of continuing education programmes by in-service teachers in the selected universities. Inferential statistics was used to draw conclusions and test the research hypotheses and questions for the study. The results of the comparative study revealed that the conclusiveness of the learning environment, the nature and quality of student support services provided, the quality and learners’ perception of course modules or materials, accommodation problems and venue of the programme were the major predictors for motivation of in-service teachers of the programme. There were similarities and dissimilarities between the methods of operation of the programmes in the two selected universities. Based on the findings of the study recommendations were made on how the programme will have impact on the in-service teachers and how the universities that are running the programme will be effectively and efficiently manage the programme for the acceleration and advancement of socio-economic growth in South Africa, Nigeria, and the world at large. / University of Zululand