published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

Several prominent rhetoric and composition scholars have called for researchers to forefront the activity of an interaction (see Shipka, 2005; Yancey, 2009; Spinuzzi, 2011). This focus is particularly needed in the study of online writing instruction; with its emphasis on the unit of analysis being the action itself, activity theory proves useful to analyze the human-computer and human-human interaction that occurs in the online environment. Drawing from Haas’ (1996) assertion that technology is a site to examine “the relationship between culture and cognition,” this dissertation presents findings from an ethnographic case study that investigates CMS tool use in an online FYC writing course. Using activity theory as a theoretical and methodological frame, findings show how students made CMS tool-use decisions based not only in function, but also on culturally shared beliefs held about interaction in the online instructional environment itself. Using both qualitative and quantitative data, this dissertation discusses two findings: students overwhelmingly use instructor direction when making navigation decisions and when complying with implicit rules. From the findings, this dissertation analyzes how the perceived assumptions that students and instructors in the online writing course make about the intended and unintended motivations of tool use reflect their actual practices. The dissonance that exists within the spaces created between intention and outcome are highlighted by this methodological and theoretical frame. Additionally, analyzing online writing course tool use can have larger programmatic applications in that by understanding what happens in an online writing course and what motivates its users, instructors can better deliver a course and administrators can better assess both a course/instructor and a course management system. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Department of English

Research paper (M.I.M.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Increased accountability in contemporary public elementary schools requires that teachers provide evidence they are using research-based strategies that reinforce skills assessed on standardized tests. There is a need to provide empirical evidence that literature circles can reinforce skills assessed on these tests. A literature circle is a research-based strategy that is common in language arts classrooms. This study investigates the connection between these skills and student discussion that takes place during literature circles. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of skill-focused minilessons on students' independent use of reading skills. The study investigated whether application of skill-focused minilessons prior to literature circles would have an effect on students' independent use of reading skills within student discussions during literature circles. Sixteen students participated in the study. The study also investigated the impact that minilessons prior to literature circles had on students' scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in reading. Students were randomly assigned to the researcher's fifth grade class in the 2008/2009 school year. All students read the same material and received the same treatment. During the course of the study, students first took the FCAT diagnostic in reading and then engaged in five literature circle meetings, each preceded by a minilesson. Students then engaged in five literature circles with a different book and without skill-focused minilessons, followed by the administration of the reading FCAT. The data, which included content analyses of transcriptions of students' discussion and the collection of FCAT scores, yielded several findings. / The two skills most commonly used by students in independent literature circles were analyzing character and discussing plot. The two least commonly used skills were describing conflict and using context clues. Each skill within student discussion.The way in which students transferred the use of these skills to literature circles not preceded by skill focused minilessons varied. Multiple modes of transfer were identified for each skill. A dependent t-test for the FCAT scores did not indicate a statistically significant increase in the use of the five skills identified for this study when minilessons preceded literature circles. / by Gail Kennedy. / Abstract page (p. v) has author's name as Gail Sigelakis. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Introdução: O estudo das masculinidades e suas relações com a ocorrência da violência contra a mulher são decorrentes dos estudos de gênero. Para enfrentar o problema e incorporando esta tendência, a Lei Maria da Penha recomenda o encaminhamento de homens autores de violência contra mulher a serviços específicos, sendo o grupo reflexivo uma das possibilidades de intervenção. Objetivos: Caracterizar o perfil de homens participantes do grupo reflexivo; descrever como a dinâmica e os conteúdos veiculados no grupo mobilizam a reflexão; identificar que aspectos das falas dos sujeitos são indicadores de novas posturas e ressignificações das relações; analisar alcances e limites de grupos reflexivos como estratégia de enfrentamento à violência contra as mulheres. Método: Pesquisa qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, centrada na análise de um grupo composto por homens autores de violência contra a mulher, encaminhados pela justiça para cumprimento de medida judicial. Os dados sociodemográficos e criminais dos homens foram coletados em formulários e boletins de ocorrência. As falas dos sujeitos foram obtidas através de gravação dos grupos e de entrevistas individuais. As falas foram transcritas e interpretadas por meio da análise temática e discursiva, bem como à luz da literatura sobre gênero, violência e masculinidades. Os grupos foram conduzidos por profissionais vinculados a uma ONG, em parceria com o 1º Juizado de Violência Doméstica e Familiar de SP. Resultados e discussão: Os homens, inicialmente, sentem-se vitimizados e injustiçados diante da medida judicial de participação no grupo, não se identificam como autores de violência, apresentam concepções tradicionais do padrão de masculinidade hegemônica. No decorrer do processo, o acolhimento, as intervenções dos facilitadores e a vinculação dos homens ao grupo possibilitaram a ampliação de suas visões de mundo, de modo que as questões relacionadas ao uso da violência de gênero, masculinidades, direitos das mulheres e relacionamentos fossem flexibilizadas e ressignificadas. A maioria referiu adoção de novas posturas e atitudes frente a situações de conflito, procurando evitar o uso de violência em seus relacionamentos. Ao término da participação o grupo é percebido, pela maioria, como espaço que traz contribuições. Considerações Finais: A análise demonstrou que a estratégia de grupos reflexivos para homens autores de violência contra a mulher representa uma iniciativa promissora, a ser utilizada nos serviços de responsabilização para os agressores. Além disso, é importante que tais serviços sejam implantados como parte de uma política pública, vinculada à justiça e integrada à rede de serviços. A consolidação desta política pode ser entendida como um avanço na implementação da Lei Maria da Penha e no enfrentamento à violência contra a mulher / Introduction: The study of masculinities and their relationship to the occurrence of violence against women are a result of gender studies. To tackle the problem and incorporating this trend, the Maria da Penha Law recommends referral of men who commit violence against women to specific services, being the discussion group as one of the possibilities for intervention. Objectives: To characterize the profile of discussion group participants; describe how the dynamics and transmitted content mobilize the group reflection; identify which aspects of the subjects\' statements are indicative of new attitudes and new meanings of relationships, analyze scope and limits of discussion groups as a strategy to combat violence against women. Method: A qualitative case study research, focusing on the analysis of a group of men who commit violence against women, referred by the court to comply with a judicial order. Socio-demographic data and legal convictions of men were collected on forms e police reports. The subjects\' statements were obtained by recording the groups and individual interviews at the end of the process. The contents of the speech were transcribed and interpreted using thematic and discourse analysis, as well as with the literature on gender, violence and masculinities. The groups were conducted by experts of an NGO, in partnership with the 1st Special Court of Domestic and Family Violence, both in São Paulo. Results and discussion: The men initially feel victimized and wronged before the judicial measure to attend the group, do not identify themselves as perpetrators of violence, have traditional conceptions of hegemonic masculinity pattern. In the process, the welcoming, the facilitators interventions and the pool binding enabled the expansion of their worldviews, so that issues related to the use of gender violence, masculinities, women\'s rights and relationships were resignified e made flexible. The majority reported adopting new postures and attitudes to conflict situations, seeking thereby to avoid using violence in their relationships. At the end of participation, the group is perceived by most as a space that brings contributions. Conclusions: The analysis showed that the strategy of discussion groups for men who commit violence against women represents a promising initiative to be used in the service of accountability for perpetrators. Furthermore, it is important that such services are deployed as a public policy, linked to justice and integrated into a network of care services. The consolidation of this policy can be seen as a breakthrough in the implementation of the Maria da Penha Law and in confrontation violence against women

With her Book Club, talk show host Oprah Winfrey has used the relatively new technology of television to revive literature. Despite the odds against her--selecting hard-to-read, quirky books by generally unknown authors--Winfrey has successfully created women's spaces for the 1990s, not so different from the American women's social clubs from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the French salons of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This study will show how Oprah's Book Club allows readers, especially women, to use the psychological processes of transference and transactional reading by using fictional literature from the Book Club to discuss sensitive areas of their lives.

published_or_final_version / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2008. / Title from PDF title page (viewed May 28, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-59)