In three low socioeconomic urban communities of Greenwood (pseudonym), young men's lack of education provides dim prospects of employment, possibly causing the young men to turn to gun violence. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of concerned clergy, law officials, and members of a Neighborhood Watch organization regarding the factors that contribute to gun violence in the southern communities in the United States. The conceptual framework for this study was Bandura's modeling theory. The central research question addressed how the community stakeholder groups described their perceptions regarding gun violence among young male adults. For this qualitative case study, a total of 9 stakeholders from the clergy, law officials, and Neighborhood Watch organization who had knowledge about the issues being investigated were selected through purposeful sampling and interviewed individually and in a focus group. The data were coded and categorized for themes. Thick descriptions of the stakeholder perspectives were combined with notes and interviews. The emerging themes were lack of education, inappropriate leadership, and an unhealthy community life; therefore, suggesting that professional development needs to be provided to the stakeholders on how to support the unemployed men in achieving skills through education, developing leadership skills through positive role modeling, and building a better community life through nonviolent social skills. The results indicated that applying skills to the service of young men exposed to gun violence would contribute to positive social change by understanding other potential causes of the gun violence problem. The implications for positive social change will become evident as young men become educated, find employment, and regain self-esteem and confidence in their ability to lead.

Thesis (MEd(Education Management))--University of Pretoria, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

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The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the organizational structure of computer user groups and what roles they play in adult computer learning. The research consisted of two stages that used triangulation methodology.The pilot study involved a survey, which used a 34 item questionnaire, answered by 128 persons. The second stage consisted of a nationwide survey, which used a 57 item questionnaire, telephone interviews, and content analysis of newsletters. The nationwide survey was answered by 72 groups, representing 55,222 members.Findings1. Computer user groups were a major provider of computer learning for adults in the United States.2. Computer user groups were one form of autonomous learning groups.3. Computer user groups existed in all parts of the United States and tended to have a formal organization.4. Members of computer user groups were typically over 35, had a high family income, were college graduates, and were male.5. Members of computer user groups preferred self-directed learning and peer led learning to classes at educational institutions.Recommendations1. Adult and community educators should study other autonomous learning groups to discover the role that they play in adult learning.2. Practical research should be conducted to determine if and how educational institutions can best assist autonomous learning groups.3. Adult and community education practitioners should survey their local communities to identify autonomous learning groups and determine methods that can be used to cooperate with these groups.4. Adult and community educators should identify local computer user groups and determine how their educational institutions could cooperate with computer user groups.5. More innovative programming should be conducted by adult and community educators that takes advantage of the learning model provided by computer user groups.6. Training and development personnel should examine the potential benefits of implementing computer user groups and other autonomous learning groups within their organizations to promote learning new knowledge and skills.ConclusionComputer user groups were organized primarily to assist their members in learning more about computers. In addition to satisfying the learning needs of members, the groups provided supplemental services that supported other computer related needs of the members. Computer user groups were one form of autonomous learning groups and the results of this study suggested that the role of such groups in adult learning may be far more important than was generally recognized by adult and community educators.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf [92-96]).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf [92-96]). Also available in print.

This study examined the current marketing and advertising practices used in university continuing nursing education. The focus of this study was on evaluation of the effectiveness of direct-mail advertising pieces used by this adult education institution. Direct-mail pieces provided by survey respondents were assessed by independent raters using the Evaluation Tool for Print-Related Advertising which was developed specifically for use in this study. Direct-mail advertising was found to be moderately effective as it was currently used in divisions of university continuing nursing education in Canada and the United States. This result indicated that there is significant room for improvement in the area of planning and developing direct-mail advertising pieces for university continuing nursing education. Institutional advertising has not been used by these divisions to inform the target population about the philosophy, aims, purposes and ideas of continuing nursing education, nor has institutional advertising been used to inform the general public or potential sources of funding about the benefits to be derived by the public from supporting continuing education activities in this profession which would include improved patient care. Little effort has been made to inform the future target market which is comprised of student nurses about the purpose and need to continue education beyond initial graduation in this profession. Variance in scores of effective advertising were found to be influenced by a variety of factors. These factors included the media mix currently used by university continuing nursing education divisions, the media mix which was proposed to be used in the future by the directors of these divisions, the age of the director, the knowledge that the director had about advertising and marketing concepts and practices, the time spent by the director on completing advertising responsibilities on a weekly basis, the financial resources which were allocated for advertising expenditures during the fiscal year 1979-1980 and the financial resources proposed for future advertising expenditures, the educational preparation of the director in the field of nursing, and the attitude of the director towards the use and preparation of advertising for the continuing nursing education division. The Evaluation Tool for Print-Related Advertising was found to be a reliable evaluation tool and a useful evaluation tool because it can be used to identify areas which require improvement in direct-mail advertising pieces while they are in the process of development. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

M.Ed. / From the researcher’s experience as well as in the literature on continuing professional teacher development (CPTD) it seems that teachers in South Africa in general, but in particular technology teachers experienced problems with CPTD. With this in mind, TechnEd launched the Catalyst Project in 2003 with the financial support of Anglo Platinum in the Bojanala Region of the North West province in South Africa. The Catalyst project entails the CPTD of technology teachers from 130 schools which takes place at one central venue (so-called school-focused CPTD). A literature study was done in which a variety of international CPTD models, as well as a model that focuses on the process of developing appropriate CPTD programmes for technology teachers in a South African context were considered, and criteria for sound CPTD were identified. The criteria were used to develop the TechnEd’s school-focused CPTD programme. Although TechnEd has been offering schoolfocused CPTD in partnership with trade and industry, as well as with a department of education to technology teachers, it was still unknown how these teachers experience the workshops. The purpose of this research was to describe a CPTD model where partners from trade and industry, a department of education and a higher education institution are involved, and to determine the teachers’ experience of the CPTD intervention. The research questions addressed in this research were: 1. What are the training needs of technology teachers in South Africa? 2. Which criteria for CPTD can be derived from existing CPTD models? 3. What is the teachers’ experience of the CPTD?An evaluative case study, which drew on qualitative research methodology, was conducted. The participants in the research were technology teachers who are participating in the Catalyst project. Data were collected through the observation of the teachers during the various workshops, open-ended questionnaires (questions were adapted after each workshop to try and get the richest data possible) and interviews. The data were analysed through the constant comparative method in order to derive findings. The main finding is that the teachers experienced the workshops as rewarding and fruitful. This finding is supported by four further specific findings, namely: 1. Teachers felt empowered by the workshops through the development of their technological knowledge (both conceptual and procedural) as well as their pedagogy. 2. Teachers experienced the workshops as being conducive to learning among learners. 3. Teachers experienced the accompanying learning and teacher support material (LTSM) as well as the materials and tools, supplied during the workshops, as informative and helpful, and have a need to use it in their classrooms. 4. Organisational aspects (some over which TechnEd had control, and some over which the department of education had control) regarding the workshops were part of the teachers’ experience. In contradiction to the earlier reference that teachers found CPTD too generic, it seems that teachers experience TechnEd’s CPTD with a specific focus where they are supplied with customised LTSM, material and tools that they can implement in their classrooms, and where they are orientated and trained in the underlying (school and content) knowledge and pedagogy, as rewarding and fruitful.

This study was conceived as an attempt to determine .and analyze factors deterring participation in continuing professional education among social workers in environments where continuing education for relicensure is mandatory and voluntary. The specific research design implemented to complete this study was the ex-post facto descriptive design. The sample included 106 social workers randomly selected in the state of Texas where continuing education is mandatory and 94 social workers in the state of Louisiana where continuing education is voluntary. The instrument used was the Deterrent to Participation Scale developed by Scanlan (1983) and a demographic inventory. Scanlan (1983) earlier identified six factors deterring participation in continuing professional education: Disengagement, Lack of Quality, Family Constraints, Cost, Lack of Benefit, and Work Constraints. The study concluded that social workers in both states considered work constraint as a major factor deterring participation in continuing professional education. Also the factors of cost and lack of quality were also considered as crucial barriers in their efforts to participate in continuing professional education. The Wilks' multivariate test of significance of the means and univariate F tests at alpha level p < .05 revealed differences in the combined mean scores of social workers in both states when the variables of age, marital status, and position held were tested. In comparing the ranking of the six factors deterring participation in continuing professional education, a Spearman rank correlation coefficient revealed respondents in both states rank the six factors in the same order. The findings were congruent with earlier studies of barriers to participation in continuing education among professionals. The researcher recommended a study which would include a larger number of social workers and a longitudinal study to measure changes in barriers to participation in continuing professional education.

Problem: To determine the relative effectiveness of four methods of contacting non-attending adult students with an invitation message to return to class. The four methods used to contact students were (1) personally, (2) by telephone, (3) by letter, (4) no contact (control). Purpose: The major purpose of this study was to analyze (1) the proportion of classes students attended after being absent and then being contacted by a volunteer, {2) the dropout rate of students after being contacted by a volunteer, and (3) the reenrollment rate of students after being contacted by a volunteer.