Thesis (DTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management))--Cape Technikon, 2003. / Many scholars in the social sciences, especially in the Hospitality industry have seen many changes over the years, based on research conducted in the workplace. Skills seem to be a popular research agenda. The literature is rich on how changes have occurred overtime in the hospitality industry workplace. With such a competitive environment this industry is functioning, it is important that entry level employees or current employees in the workplace possess a variety of non-technical skills. Once attained, these employees, will benefit the Hospitality industry, as happy clients / guests, will return, which will create a profitable workplace. It is vitally important that tertiary institutions pay specific attention to students and graduates, that they obtain non-technical skills, via co-operative education programmes, with a focus on the real employment world outside of education. This will equip them to find a job that could be satisfying and rewarding. Industry on the other hand should identify important non-technical skills and conduct on the job training, inducing such skills. The researcher found that the need for willingness to adapt and eagerness to learn was a consistent theme. The non-technical skills of communication, teamwork, initiative, problem solving and decision making were also highly valued. Respondents were dissatisfied with the quality of entry-level employees beginning their careers, especially graduates who lack non-technical skills. A need was seen for a long-term view of preparation of young people for work, beginning with parents and guardians, who should lay the foundations. Alongside them, educators should be fostering good attitudes and a love for learning, as well as lecturing verbal, numerical and other specific skills. Successful co-operative education programmes often could involve three key role-players, that of employers (managers / supervisors), students / graduates in this context and the tertiary institution they are studying at Technikon’s providing vocationally orientated co-operative education programmes, therefore need to continually examine what skills employers (managers / supervisors) consider to be important with regard to the skills required by students, entering the workplace. This research study revealed that there is a gap between the skills that students acquire in their formal studies and what employers (managers / supervisors) require. If this need is not recognised, the programmes, institution and students will suffer. The study is aimed at making a contribution towards co-operative education programmes in Hospitality and Tourism at technikons by identifying what non-technical skills the Border Technikon is not addressing. It was found that the skills not being adequately addressed fall in the non-technical skills category. The study identifies the non-technical skills required by employers (managers / supervisors) of Border Technikon Hospitality and Tourism students undertaking experiential learning.

O objetivo desta pesquisa exploratória é analisar, sob a ótica da pedagogia experiencial, a disciplina Prática Contábil, inserida na matriz curricular dos cursos de graduação em Ciências Contábeis. Utilizando o método do estudo de caso, são destacados e, ou criticados aspectos pertinentes à educação contábil. Ressalta-se, na abordagem experiencial, a potencialidade motivacional e a capacidade de estimular o senso crítico. Destacam-se, ainda, consequências para a profissionalização. Através da aplicação ao caso selecionado, investiga-se a percepção sobre o laboratório de contabilidade no curso de graduação em Ciências Contábeis, oferecido por uma IFES brasileira. Focalizam-se, finalmente, o papel dos docentes da Instituição Federal de Ensino Superior (IFES), os principais agentes de mudança para a melhoria do processo ensino-aprendizagem da Contabilidade. A partir da revisão bibliográfica foi elaborado um roteiro semiestruturado abordando diversas questões sobre o tema, depois utilizado para a coleta de dados nas entrevistas. As respostas e reações ao roteiro foram utilizadas para relatar e analisar os resultados da entrevistas. São propostas quatro hipóteses para pesquisa futura, justificadas pela evidência coletada através do caso. / This explorative research aimed to analyze, under the experiential pedagogic view, the Practical Accounting class, which is found in the curricula of the undergraduate courses of Accounting Sciences. Aspects pertinent to the accounting education are highlighted and/or criticized by using study case methods. The motivational potentiality and the ability to stimulate criticism are emphasized in the experiential approach. Consequences for professionalization are also pointed out. By applying this methodology on the selected case, the perception on the accounting laboratory in the undergraduate course of Accounting Sciences offered by a Brazilian IFES is investigated. The role of the Instituição Federal de Ensino Superior (IFES) faculty, the main agents responsible for the improvement of the teaching-learning process in Accounting, is finally focused. By means of a bibliographic review, a semi-structured guide including several questions on the theme was prepared. This guide was later used for the collection of data during the interviews. The answers and reaction to this guide were used to report and analyze the results of the interviews. Four hypotheses for future research, justified by evidence collected from the case, are proposed.

Os empreendedores sociais são protagonistas na abordagem de problemas sociais no Brasil. Contudo, mesmo com esse destaque, pouco ainda se sabe sobre as particularidades desses profissionais. A aprendizagem desses indivíduos é um dos assuntos que carecem da atenção dos acadêmicos. Desse modo, uma das teorias que oportuniza análises a respeito da aprendizagem desses indivíduos é a Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) de Kolb (1984), que relata que a aprendizagem é o processo de criação de conhecimentos a partir da transformação das experiências do indivíduo. Um dos subprodutos da ELT é o conceito dos estilos de aprendizagem: traços pessoais que servem como indicadores de como os indivíduos percebem, interagem e respondem aos ambientes de aprendizagem. Para Alonso et al. (1997), existem quatro diferentes tipos de estilos de aprendizagem: o pragmático, o teórico, o ativo e o reflexivo. Assim, os autores elaboraram o instrumento Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) para verificarem os estilos de aprendizagem dos indivíduos e realizarem análises relativas ao assunto. Dessa forma, a presente pesquisa se propôs a analisar a aprendizagem dos empreendedores sociais brasileiros à luz da Experiential Learning Theory, utilizando, para isso, o instrumento CHAEA. Primeiramente, os 90 empreendedores sociais brasileiros pesquisados tiveram seus estilos de aprendizagem verificados e os resultados foram analisados por meio de análises estatísticas univariadas e bivariadas. Assim, foi constatado que o estilo pragmático, o estilo teórico, o estilo ativo e o estilo reflexivo somam, respectivamente, 36,7%, 31,1%, 24,4%, e 7,8% da preferência geral dos pesquisados. Num segundo momento, particularidades e tendências relativas à aprendizagem desses indivíduos foram discutidas, e hipóteses foram produzidas. Essas hipóteses oferecem margem para o desenvolvimento de novos estudos relacionados ao tema. É indicado que as futuras pesquisas procurem trabalhar com amostras mais numerosas e com outros tipos de análises estatísticas. À parte das descobertas em relação à aprendizagem dos pesquisados e das hipóteses desenvolvidas, esta pesquisa também teve outro desdobramento relacionado ao estudo do empreendedorismo social no Brasil: o delineamento do perfil do empreendedor social brasileiro. Foi encontrado que esse indivíduo se caracteriza, majoritariamente, por ser identificado com o gênero masculino, ser jovem, declarar-se da raça ou cor branca, possuir alto grau de escolaridade e estar envolvido há pouco tempo com iniciativas sociais. O perfil constatado corrobora o perfil encontrado por outros autores e traz maior solidez para a discussão do tema. De forma geral, esta pesquisa colaborou para o avanço das pesquisas relativas ao empreendedorismo social e à aprendizagem experiencial no Brasil. Também foi viabilizada para os empreendedores sociais brasileiros participantes a oportunidade de verificarem seus estilos de aprendizagem e, assim, entenderem melhor suas próprias particularidades quanto à aprendizagem. Por último, destaca-se a contribuição para com instituições voltadas à educação, que por meio dos resultados desta pesquisa poderão aprimorar seus cursos direcionados aos empreendedores sociais. / Social entrepreneurs are central figures in addressing societal problems in Brazil. Nevertheless, despite the spotlights being pointed on these individuals, little is known about their particularities. Their learning process, for instance, is a subject lacking academic research. Therefore, one way to analyze their learning process is through the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) present by Kolb (1984), which says that learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. One of the ELT's sub-products is the learning styles concept, which suggests that personal traits work as indicators of how someone perceives, interacts and responds to learning environments. Alonso et al. (1997) proposed four different learning styles: pragmatist, theorist, activist and reflector. As a result, the authors created the survey Cuestionario Honey y Alonso sobre Estilos de Aprendizaje (CHAEA) to verify someone's learning style and to carry out analysis about their learning process. Thus, the present research aims to analyze Brazilian social entrepreneurs' learning process in the light of the Experiential Learning Theory, using, to that end, the CHAEA survey. Primarily, the 90 Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied in this research had their learning styles verified and their results analyzed through univariate and bivariate techniques. Thus, it was determined that the pragmatist style, the theorist style, the activist style and the reflector style represented, respectively, 36.7%, 31.1%, 24.4%, and 7.8% of the participant’s general preference. Secondly, particularities and tendencies regarding the Brazilian social entrepreneurs studied were discussed, and hypotheses were produced. This hypotheses offer a clear research path to anyone interested in developing new studies about the subject. It is indicated for future researches to work with larger samples and with other types of statistical analysis. Besides the discoveries regarding the participant's learning process and the hypotheses developed, this research also presented other outcome related to social entrepreneurship studies in Brazil: the establishment of the Brazilian social entrepreneur profile. It was found that these individuals are characterized, mostly, by recognizing themselves as males, by being young, by declaring themselves as white individuals, by possessing a high schooling level and by getting involved recently with social enterprises. The profile formed supports profiles described by other authors in their researches and brings a meaningful consolidation regarding the subject discussion. In general, this research contributed to the advance of researches related to social entrepreneurship and to experiential learning in Brazil. In a practical viewpoint, it was made possible for the Brazilian social entrepreneurs which were part of this research to verify their learning styles and, thus, understand better their own particularities regarding their learning processes. Lastly, the contribution to educational institutions needs to be addressed. Through the results of this research it will be possible for these establishments to improve their courses designed for social entrepreneurs.

abstract: During the design of interactive dance performances, dancers generate a strong relationship to the responsive media after they are given information about how to use the system. This case study observes a dancer's experience of improvising in a responsive audio system (RAS). A triangulated analysis and conclusion is formed from Laban Movement Analysis in conjunction with post-experience discussions relating to Optimal Flow. This study examines whether or not providing information about how an audio system responds to movement affects a dancers ability to achieve a heightened state of Embodied Flow while improvising in a RAS. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.F.A. Dance 2014

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A sociedade contemporÃnea carece cada vez mais de iniciativas que proporcionem experiÃncias verdadeiramente formativas. ExperiÃncias que possam desenvolver as vÃrias dimensÃes do humano, em prol de uma formaÃÃo integral. A Doutrina EspÃrita traz propostas objetivas neste sentido, tratando, nÃo sÃ, do desenvolvimento do homem enquanto ser social, mas em seus diversos aspectos de EspÃrito encarnado em processo constante de educaÃÃo de si. O Movimento EspÃrita surge a partir das prÃticas cotidianas dessa Doutrina, que nÃo se caracteriza apenas como uma religiÃo, mas como um conjunto de princÃpios, valores e conhecimentos cientÃficos e filosÃficos. Levando em consideraÃÃo que a Doutrina EspÃrita abre ao indivÃduo uma sÃrie de novos olhares sobre si e sobre o mundo, a Arte EspÃrita brota da necessidade de trabalhar e expressar as dificuldades e os aprendizados vivenciados e construÃdos a partir da prÃtica do Espiritismo. Com base nos fundamentos da pesquisa (auto)biogrÃfica (JOSSO, 2010; DELORY-MOMBERGER, 2008) utilizamos o procedimento metodolÃgico chamado CÃrculo Reflexivo BiogrÃfico-CRB (OLINDA, 2009; 2010) para construir as biografias educativas (DOMINICÃ,1988) de sete jovens que participaram do grupo Arte Em Cena da Mocidade EspÃrita Paulo e EstevÃo, em Fortaleza, no perÃodo de 2000 a 2011. O objetivo deste trabalho à compreender o significado da Arte EspÃrita na formaÃÃo juvenil, avaliando seu papel na produÃÃo de saberes e sentido para a vida. O material produzido no CRB foi tratado seguindo as orientaÃÃes da anÃlise textual discursiva (MORAES, 2003) para que pudÃssemos chegar atà Ãs produÃÃes de saberes e aos aprendizados experienciais. A Arte EspÃrita proporcionou a esses jovens uma experiÃncia formadora de amplo alcance em que as amizades, as dificuldades, as lembranÃas, o sentimento de famÃlia, a descoberta da juventude, os sorrisos, as lÃgrimas, as raÃzes, os desafios, as superaÃÃes, o caminho, o palco, a alegria, o trabalho, sÃo apenas exemplos das preciosas marcas de uma experiÃncia que mudou a vida deles de uma forma que sà suas prÃprias narrativas podem expressar e representar. / Contemporary society lacks more and more initiatives that provide truly formative experiences. Experiences that can develop the various dimensions of the human, in favor of a comprehensive formation. The Spiritist Doctrine brings objective proposals in this sense, regarding not only the development of man as social being, but in its various aspects of incarnate spirit in a constant process of self-education. The Spiritist Movement arises from the everyday practices of this Doctrine, which is not characterized only as a religion, but as a set of principles, values and scientific and philosophical knowledge. Taking into consideration that the Spiritist Doctrine makes the individual open to a series of new looks at himself and at the world, the Spiritist Art springs from the need to work on and express the difficulties and the learning experienced and built up from the practices of Spiritism. Based on the fundamentals of the auto/biographical research (JOSSO, 2010; DELORY-MOMBERGER, 2008), we used the methodological procedure called Biographical Reflective Circle-BRC (OLINDA, 2009; 2010) to build the educational biographies (DOMINICÃ, 1988) of seven youngsters who participated in the group Arte Em Cena (Art On Scene) of Paulo e EstevÃo Mocidade EspÃrita (Paulo and EstevÃo Spiritist Youth), in Fortaleza, in the period from 2000 to 2011. The objective of this work is to comprehend the meaning of the Spiritist Art in the youth formation, evaluating its role in the production of knowledge and meaning for life. The material produced in the BRC was treated following the guidelines of discursive textual analysis (MORAES, 2003) so we could get to the production of knowledge and to the experiential learning. The Spiritist Art provided these youngsters with a wide-range formative experience in which the friendships, the difficulties, the memories, the feeling of family, the discovery of youth, the smiles, the tears, the roots, the challenges, the overcoming, the way, the stage, the joy, the work, are just examples of the precious marks of an experience that changed their lives in a way that only their own narratives can express and represent.

Fundamentado nos conceitos de competÃncias e da aprendizagem experiencial, esta pesquisa, investiga, na percepÃÃo dos gerentes gerais de agÃncia do Banco do Brasil no Estado do CearÃ, qual a contribuiÃÃo da aprendizagem experiencial para o desenvolvimento das competÃncias gerenciais requeridas no dia-a-dia do seu ambiente de negÃcios e nÃo supridas pela abordagem formal de desenvolvimento gerencial. AtravÃs de levantamento bibliogrÃfico e de consultas a analistas responsÃveis pela elaboraÃÃo de estratÃgias de desenvolvimento profissional do Banco, identificou-se as competÃncias gerenciais desenvolvidas pelos programas formais da Empresa. Posteriormente, utilizando-se competÃncias constantes na literatura como relevantes ao desempenho dos gerentes na atualidade, construiu-se um questionÃrio com 80 itens, para mapear, numa pesquisa preliminar e na percepÃÃo dos gestores em estudo, quais destas competÃncias eram desenvolvidas atravÃs da aprendizagem experiencial, no seu dia-a-dia de trabalho. Os resultados da pesquisa preliminar mostraram que as competÃncias requeridas no dia-a-dia de trabalho dos gerentes sÃo desenvolvidas pela aprendizagem experiencial, identificando-se uma lacuna (gap) significativa entre as competÃncias formais e as competÃncias experienciais desenvolvidas. Estes dados permitiram a elaboraÃÃo de um questionÃrio com 25 itens, respondidos numa escala Likert, aplicado atravÃs de um survey à populaÃÃo total de 140 gerentes gerais de agÃncia do Banco do Brasil no Estado do CearÃ, com o objetivo de aferir, a partir da percepÃÃo destes gestores, se o seu desempenho atendia ao desempenho esperado pelo Banco nos segmentos de competÃncias identificados. A anÃlise exploratÃria demonstrou que as performances dos gerentes pesquisados atende aos nÃveis de desempenho esperado pelo Banco nos dois conjuntos de competÃncias, sendo desprezÃvel o gap encontrado, e a anÃlise fatorial revelou um Ãnico fator, cuja correlaÃÃo entre os significados e as semelhanÃas semÃnticas das suas variÃveis permite identificar oito competÃncias dos gestores avaliados como vinculadas aos papÃis de mentor e facilitador, do Modelo das RelaÃÃes Humanas (QUINN et al., 2003). / Based on the concepts of competencies and experiential learning, this research investigates, according to the view of general managers from the agencies of Bank of Brazil in the state of CearÃ, the contribution of experiential learning to the development of managerial competencies which are required at their ordinary work environment and were not provided by the formal approach of managerial development. Firstly, through documental analysis review and consulting the analysts in charge of the elaboration of professional development strategies at the Bank, the managerial competencies developed by the formal program of the company were identified. After that, with the help of an intense literature review relevant to the managersâ performance nowadays, a questionnaire of 80 items was built in order to observe, as a preliminary research, which of these competencies were developed through the experiential learning in their every day work. The results of this previous investigation showed that the competencies required were developed by managers through experiential learning so that it was possible to identify a significant gap between the formal competencies and the experiential competencies. These data allowed the elaboration of a 25-item questionnaire answered on a Likert scale and applied as a survey to 140 general managers from the bank mentioned before. The objective of this survey was to evaluate if the managersâ performance on the competencies required achieved what was expected by the company. The results pointed out that the analyzed managersâ performance corresponded to the performance expected by the company on both groups of competencies so that the gap which was found previously, became unimportant. The factorial analysis showed only one factor whose correlation with the meanings and the semantic similarities of its variables allows the identification of eight competencies which were put together as a unique factor known as Human Resource Model (QUINN et al. 2003).

The sustainability challenge currently poses one of the biggest challenges society has ever faced. With declining natural resources, climate change and a rising human population the need to change humanity’s trajectory towards sustainability has never been more urgent. A greater degree of engagement in sustainability by people in positions of power and influence within society is necessary if this transition is to occur quickly. This thesis explores the dynamics of Outdoor Experiential Learning Processes (OELPs) as applied to individuals from a professional background. The purpose is to assess how the OELP can be designed within society to engage influential professionals in sustainability. The research combines the existing powerful approach of the OELP with the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD). Strategic recommendations are made for how to achieve greater engagement in sustainability amongst OELP participants for a more sustainable future.

Motivation: Today’s sustainability challenges are increasingly being addressed by Product Service Systems to satisfy customers needs while lowering their overall environment impact. These systems are increasingly complex containing diverse artifacts and interactions. To provide a holistic solution centered on the human experience element, design of product-service systems are best driven by data gathered from design thinking methods.     Problem: When considering innovation challenges, such as the deployment of autonomous electric machines on future construction sites, data driven design can suffer from a lack of available tangible user feedback upon which to make design decisions.   Approach: In the case of this study, the development of a scaled down construction site structured around generally applicable operations was built as a prototype for involving various users in early phase development of a HMI for interacting with prototype machines built by Volvo CE called the HX01. Qualitative data acquisition methods were derived from Design Thinking approaches to needfinding including: a questionnaire, unstructured interviews and observations.   Results: The prototype scale site became a 5 meter x 5 meter semi-portable site with 1:11 scale ratio machines including: excavators, wheeled loaders and autonomous haulers. The product tested with the site was an augmented reality interface to provide a communication platform between workers and the autonomous haulers designed at building trust to enable collaboration. Test users and observers provided feedback confirming the effectiveness of the scale site scenario to convey the necessary context of a realistic interaction experience. Beyond HMI testing, the site served as a tangible artifact to instigate conversations across domain boundaries.   Conclusions: The tangible experiential scenario platform developed displayed the capability to go beyond one-way concept communication of concepts to customers, by including customers as integral participants in the testing of new products/services. For design teams, the site can facilitate deeper learnings and validation via a shared contextualization of user feedback. The further implications may also include: the ability to increase rationale at design decision gate’s assessment of risk in new products and enable the identification of emergent issues in complex future scenarios.

This dissertation aims to integrate various learning approaches, i.e., multiple literacies, experiential learning, game-enhanced learning, and global simulation, into an extracurricular module, in which it remodels traditional ways of teaching input, specifically, the lexical- and grammatical-only approaches of business English at a private university in Bangkok, Thailand. Informed by those approaches, a game-enhanced simulation was specifically designed as an experiential space for L2 learners to experience the dynamic and real business contexts of language use. A strategy-simulation video game, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 Platinum (RCT3), was selected and used in the implementation of the pilot course. The game was embedded in a global simulation of two amusement park companies – where students worked in groups of five to form characters and socially interact with others. The global simulation involved learners in a sequence of genre-based (e.g., memoranda and business presentations) and technology-based tasks (e.g., using Gmail, Google Docs, and LinkedIn). Ten second-year students from five disciplines – Accounting, Logistics Engineering, Technology and Creative Business, Logistics Management, and Airline Business Management, participated in the study. Within this game-enhanced simulation, it turned out that each student simulated the role of a department head that was relevant to her or his discipline, for example, department heads of Financial Management, Technical Service Management, Customer Relationship Management, Legal and Operations Management, and Human Capital Management. The findings show that the learners' interactivity within the gameplay depicted the pedagogical affordances of RCT3 for a business English simulation, that is, exploratory interactivity, goal-orientedness in gameplay, goal-orientedness for roleplaying, and emergent narratives. The data present how this videogame features an interplay between two game perspectives – ludology and narratology. That is, ludic affordances in RCT3 could be activated in a narrative system: meaningful personal or emergent narrative by well-designed global simulation tasks. The simulations were established through students’ interpretation and creativity in gameplay and roleplay as related to their disciplines. Moreover, the game-enhanced simulation appeared to provide learners with an effective social context for promoting global English development and professional identity formation, which moved them beyond the learning practices of traditional coursebooks and classroom settings. Students of the study had opportunities to use professional Discourses related to their disciplines as ways to establish their desired identities within the simulated global workplace.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / The relatively rapid development of cognitive-behavioural approaches to various psychological conditions, has prompted clinicians and researchers to investigate the effects of this therapeutic modality on Bulimia Nervosa sufferers more closely. Research has evidenced the complexity and uniqueness of this disorder and much speculation still remains with regard to the etiology, description and treatment of Bulimia. Of the various treatments proposed, the cognitive~behavioural approaches have appeared to be most effective. Latest developments in this modality emphasize cognitive factors like content-specific cognitions and Early maladaptive schemas. These factors are important for psychotherapeutic purposes. The hypothesis formulated for this study, stated broadly that cognitive-behavioural approaches would result in equal treatment efficacy, whether process(schema) or content based interventions. This was investigated in the context of a pilot clinical trial with four selected subjects. Apart from measures for depression and cognitive processes associated with eating and self image in Bulimia, a depth-of processing task and a schema questionnaire were used in investigating the hypothesis. These measures, in addition to the CB interventions were applied to a small group of carefully selected Bulimics ,diagnosed acccording to the DSM III-R. The findings supported the basic hypothesis of the study, and demonstrated that cognitive-behavioural approaches of either content or process types are equally efficacious in the treatment of Bulimia Nervosa.