Few words have the power to make people both cringe in fear and lean forward, fascinated to know more. This thesis focuses on one such word: vulnerability. Through the Scholarly Personal Narrative writing format, I explore what vulnerability means to me and how my understanding has changed. I examine how vulnerability in my life helped refine me into a wiser, more compassionate, teacher. Teaching requires vulnerability, a willingness to risk failure and accept mistakes for what they really are: lessons to create a connection among other humans. This thesis portrays how I have come to understand and accept vulnerability as a major component of my teaching practice. I illustrated my journey of vulnerability, using the pattern, “From There, To Here, Now Where?” First, I share stories of my past, to examine my first experiences of potential vulnerability as an adult. These sections describe how those uncomfortable situations led me to question the more traditional, lecture-style teaching I absorbed through formal education. In the “To Here” chapter, I share stories of how I developed a greater understanding of vulnerability through the graduate courses I chose. These sections demonstrate my evolving need for communication and connection—two vital aspects of vulnerable teaching. Lastly, I convey what I expect to take with me into my future career, emphasizing “Now Where,” by looking forward. I shared my idea for a new, creative organization, highlights from my job search, and how my mindset has changed by accepting vulnerability. In closing, I offer a collection of universalizable statements I learned through this process. This thesis chronicles my journey to accept vulnerability both personally and professionally. I found that teaching and vulnerability are intrinsically linked, and without the strength to be vulnerable, I am not an effective teacher. However, by being open to vulnerability, I may change the world for someone.

Research suggests the collaborative role school counselors can have with administrators to bolster school reform and facilitate a safe and positive learning environment for all K-12 students (College Board, 2009a, 2009b) is vital. Unfortunately, research that explores the roles and efforts of school counselors and administrators in their collaborative work for and with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students is scare. Yet, according to Goodrich, Harper, Luke, and Singh (2013), LGBT students “have long struggled in schools with little support” (p. 319). To address this gap, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of school counselors and administrators in their work to support a safe and supportive school climate for LGBT students. The following research questions informed and guided this study: a) What are the lived experiences of school counselors and administrators who make concerted efforts to improve the educational environment for LGBT students? b) How do school counselors and administrators make meaning with their relationships in their work with LGBT students? The methods used to recruit participants for this study were modeled after College Board’s (2009b) study with seven exemplary school counselor-principal teams. In College Board’s (2009b) study, researchers identified school counselors and principals who received recognition for demonstrating exemplary contribution in their respective professional organizations. These exemplary professionals were than paired with their school counselor/administrator counterpart for joint interviews (College Board, 2009b). By paralleling the best practice protocol established by the College Board (2009b), this study consisted of three rounds of interviews with four school counselor-administrator teams. Participants were selected from national and/or state level LGBT educational organizations, where a school counselor and/or administrator were awarded/recognized for creating a safe and inclusive school environment for LGBT youth. Additional participants included school counselors and administrators identified as the school counselor or administrator counterpart to the awarded. The researcher completed an inductive approach to data analysis, utilizing both open coding and horizontalization to reduce the data. Thematic categories emerged from the data and are presented and discussed as they relate to the overarching research questions. The between-case themes include: Learning firsthand, leading by example, intentional partnering, moving beyond turf wars, and pushing the system. Recommendations for school counselors, administrators, and school counselor-administrator teams are provided. Directions for future research are also discussed. Keywords: School counselors, administrators, interdisciplinary collaboration, LGBT youth

Purpose – The purpose of this project was to extrapolate knowledge of successful leadership practices, determine what led to and nurtured what became an integrated organizational culture and identify any decisions and/or transformational events that re-defined Moffitt Cancer Center’s (MCC) course or helped propel it to levels far beyond what was originally imagined. The aims of this study were discovery of the foundational factors and events that significantly impacted the creation, growth and evolution of the center, making MCC an institution of transformational change that had achieved state and national prominence. Design – This was an exploratory study guided by a qualitative phenomenological research methodology using an interpretivist approach. Data was derived from twenty one-on-one interviews with people who had the specific knowledge and expertise necessary to obtain a better understanding of the leadership, culture and transformational events that transformed MCC into the institution that it is today. Interviewees included former and current MCC executive leaders, board members and key program directors, as well as the founder and two other former Speakers of the Florida House of Representatives. A literature review was conducted to explore founders, visionary leadership, organizational culture, and transformational organizations. Findings – Key findings included discovery of the factors and events that impacted MCC’s growth and success. The interview process revealed three foundational factors pertaining to visionary leadership qualities of the founder and others, a mission-based culture and four transformational events that set MCC on a course of independence and self-governance. The literature review, with an emphasis on founders, visionary leadership, culture and transformational institutions, revealed useful information to draw comparisons and differences in the historical context of MCC’s growth and impact. Value – MCC, created in Florida statute, existed as a private not-for-profit entity that, statutorily, served as an instrumentality of the state. As such, it had an interestingly distinct role as a hybrid organization that served a public and private sector need; while, very specifically, serving the cancer research and care needs of patients throughout the state and beyond. While the previously mentioned business literary research works are plentiful in the private and public sectors, a gap exists for hybrid organizations such as MCC. Future research could focus on organization founders who did not become part of the executive leadership structure.

This study examined the reliability and validity of scores taken from a series of four task simulations used to evaluate medical students. The four role-play exercises represented two different cases or scripts, yielding two pairs of exercises that are considered alternate forms. The design allowed examining what is essentially the ceiling for reliability and validity of ratings taken in such role plays. A multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrix was computed with exercises as methods and competencies (history taking, clinical skills, and communication) as traits. The results within alternate forms (within cases) were then used as a baseline to evaluate the reliability and validity of scores between the alternate forms (between cases). There was much less of an exercise effect (method variance, monomethod bias) in this study than is typically found in MTMM matrices for performance measurement. However, the convergent validity of the dimensions across exercises was weak both within and between cases. The study also examined the reliability of ratings by training raters to watch video recordings of the same four exercises who then complete the same forms used by the standardized patients. Generalizability analysis was used to compute variance components for case, station, rater, and ratee (medical student), which allowed the computation of reliability estimates for multiple designs. Both the generalizability analysis and the MTMM analysis indicated that rather long examinations (approximately 20 to 40 exercises) would be needed to create reliable examination scores for this population of examinees. Additionally, interjudge agreement was better for more objective dimensions (history taking, physical examination) than for the more subjective dimension (communication).

<p>The public sector in Norway purchases products and services for more then 300 billion NOK per year.</p><p>This purchasing power can play an important role in leveraging the market share of environmentally</p><p>sound products by increasing the level of environmental requirements in public contracts.</p><p>Environmental considerations in public procurement have been on the international agenda since</p><p>the 1992 conference in Rio, and the OECD, the EU and the Nordic Council of Ministers have also</p><p>placed Green Public Procurement (GPP) on their agendas. Together with statements from the 2002</p><p>World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, they all underline GPP as a tool for</p><p>making a shift to more sustainable production and consumption practices.</p><p>In Norway, the Government launched a Norwegian Action Plan on Environmental and Social</p><p>Responsibility in Public Procurement in 2007. The aim of the plan was to encourage the public sector</p><p>to demand environmentally sound products and services. However, several previous studies that</p><p>have assessed the status of GPP show that, despite efforts to promote environmental considerations,</p><p>there is a long way to go before these are fully integrated into public procurement practice</p><p>The aim of this study was to produce information about how widespread the use of environmental</p><p>criteria are in Norway, and to identify what drivers and barriers are seen to influence the GPP status.</p><p>Based on experiences from other studies, the method design chosen was an analysis of tender</p><p>documents complemented by case studies with interviews. Using both methods provided a way of</p><p>balancing the results so as to get the most objective status scores on GPP together with more</p><p>detailed answers on perceived drivers and barriers.</p><p>The results revealed that almost 60% of all tender documents included some kind of environmental</p><p>criteria, but 1/3 of these were so unclear that it was doubtful as to whether or not they would result</p><p>in any green procurement. Of the product groups that were in focus, the one that included paper and</p><p>print was by far the “greenest” of the groups, with the others both containing less GPP and more</p><p>unclear criteria. Compared to other studies this puts Norway at the same level as Sweden, and shows</p><p>a slight improvement in total GPP compared to previous assessments. Still, taking the high amount of</p><p>unclear criteria into account may lower the overall GPP score.</p><p>The interview results indicated that lack of knowledge, focus on economic considerations and</p><p>product functionality, lack of support and management focus and work pressure were the five main</p><p>barriers preventing GPP. Increased co-operation, increased focus from management, simplification of</p><p>criteria and more available products with environmental labels were identified as drivers. The drivers</p><p>and barriers identified correspond to those of previous studies, with some new finding such as</p><p>identifying the lack of product specific knowledge, where previous studies have focused more on lack</p><p>of procurement knowledge.</p><p>The findings are all important when it comes to working out a strategy to follow up the Norwegian</p><p>Action Plan. They give information about the needs identified by the procurement officers</p><p>themselves, thus giving an indication of what initiatives to prioritise.</p>

<p>När användbarheten studeras av den information som presenteras i ett användargränssnitt på en datorskärm kan det framkomma vad som fungerar effektivt och korrekt. I sådana sammanhang förs sällan någon diskussion om hur den information som presenteras kommunicerar med en användare.</p><p>Syftet med detta forskningsprojekt är att på ett generellt plan öka kunskapen om olika analytiska perspektiv för att studera den information som presenteras i ett användargränssnitt på en datorskärm, som ett led till att skapa begriplig information för människor. Mer preciserat är syftet att få en djupare förståelse för hur en informationslämnare kan kommunicera med en informationsanvändare genom den information som presenteras i ett användargränssnitt. Målet med forskningsprojektet är att presentera ett antal relevanta analytiska perspektiv som kan användas för att beskriva hur presenterad information i ett användargränssnitt kan kommunicera med en användare. Forskningsresultatet bidrar med ett ramverk som kan ligga till grund för ett analysstöd. Forskningsresultatet bidrar även med en ansats för framtida forskning inom området.</p><p>Forskningsprojektet bygger på fyra fallstudier. Analysobjekten i fallstudierna utgörs av fyra olika användargränssnitt på datorskärm, vilka används inom olika myndigheter, organisationer och företag. Vartdera användargränssnittet och dess informationsdesign studeras med hänsyn till: informationslämnarnas önskemål och intentioner, informationsanvändarnas upplevelse och förståelse av information och kontexters påverkan.</p><p>De slutsatser som dras är bland annat att informationsdesign i ett användargränssnitt på datorskärm upplevs och förstås av användare i samklang med inre, när och yttre kontext. Dessa kontexter kan studeras utifrån tre olika perspektiv, ett semiotiskt, ett retoriskt och ett narrativt perspektiv. En sådan analys kan framhäva den kommunikation som sker mellan de budskap som informationslämnaren vill berätta, hur den presenterade informationen i användargränssnittet arrangeras och komponeras och hur olika kontexter påverkar användarnas upplevelse och förståelse av den information som presenteras.</p>

<p>The foundation for the thesis is a literature study within two areas: safety and innovation science. In the thesis safety science will revolve around how different methods and various models are used to identify and reduce risks, i.e. to secure the functionality within limited systems. Theories of innovation will among other things revolve around the process of creating ideas and bring them to market. The intention is to present central thoughts and conceptions within these two disciplines. In relation to this stage, theories from innovation will be taken into consideration in order to supplement the general working order of how risks in technical system are handled. The purpose is to enrich the area of safety with inspiration from theory of innovation and to generate hypothesis for continuous research.</p><p>Theory of innovation has a tradition of bringing ideas or changes forward while theory of risk mainly revolves on identifying and acting on problems. This will be expressed as a tendency within risk and safety not to take particular parts developed within theory of innovation into consideration, and therefore you may miss valuable knowledge around the ability to bring change to a successful close. This can for example be expressed as theory of innovation has more detailed knowledge surrounding development of a solution, selection of a solution, and how these solutions are best implemented. The study has shown that theory of innovation can supplement the area of risk and safety and that these two areas, in a collected form, can improve the requirement for working with the reduction of risks. The result can from an organizational perspective be about improved conditions for long term survival by an increased awareness into different work strategies strengths’ and weaknesses’.</p>

No description available.

<p>Mälsåkers slott utanför Strängnäs saknar information för sina spontana besökare som kommer när slottet är stängt. Riksantikvarieämbetet som förvaltar slottet efterlyste fem informationsskyltar med text och bild som skulle placeras ut i slottets park. Texterna skulle bygga på slottets forna ägare och göra avstamp i fem olika tidsepoker. Vi har utifrån litteratur, undersökningar och egna erfarenheter konstaterat att många utställningstexter inte blir lästa. Genom detta examensarbete har vi försökt förändra detta och skapa texter som inte bara blir lästa utan även upplevs som intressanta och spännande. Skyltarnas bild och layout skulle passa väl in i slottets miljö och anpassas efter en given målgrupp. Våra metoder har bestått av litteraturstudier, studiebesök, intervjuer och utprovning med fokusgrupp för att få en tydlig bild av målgruppens önskemål. Under utprovningen visade det sig att konceptet med fokus på människor och vår skönlitterära stil fångade läsaren och gjorde texterna lättsmälta och intressanta. Vårt arbete bygger inte på någon förundersökning av målgruppen eller någon föranalys av utställningstexter utan grundar sig på litteratur och fältstudier. Vi har inte heller utfört någon utvärdering av slutresultatet då skyltarna vid examensarbetets deadline ännu inte placerats ut i sin miljö.</p>

<p>Förhoppningar har sedan flera år tillbaka funnits både från miljöcertifierade företags och certifieringsorganens sida att ett certifierat miljöledningssystem skulle ge skäl till lättnader i den operativa tillsynen. Det finns även en resursbrist hos tillsynsmyndigheterna så att tillsynspersonerna inte har möjlighet att utföra tillsyn i den omfattning man önskar. Det har under senare år vuxit fram frivilliga åtaganden inom miljöarbetet. Miljöledningssystem är ett av dem. För att kontrollera miljöledningssystemens funktion revideras dessa periodiskt återkommande av certifieringsorganen. Revisionerna skulle kunna utgöra ett komplement till tillsynsmyndigheternas tillsyn. Ett resurseffektivare tillsynsarbete skulle kunna nås om det då gick att frigöra resurser hos tillsynsmyndigheterna genom att införa lättnader i tillsynen vid miljöcertifierade företag. Vilket skulle kunna ge tillsynsmyndigheterna en möjlighet att lägga sina resurser där det bäst behövs.</p><p>Syftet med denna studie är att öka kunskaperna om och hur miljörevision och miljötillsyn kan samverka för ett resurseffektivare tillsynsarbete. Detta har undersökts genom kvalitativa halvstrukturerade intervjuer med tillsynspersoner, revisorer och miljöansvariga personer.</p><p>Studien visade på att det finns möjligheter till ett resurseffektivare tillsynsarbete eftersom de teoretiska skillnaderna mellan den operativa tillsynen och underhållsrevisionen är få och små. Denna studie visar även att det finns förutsättningar i praktiken för att den operativa tillsynen och underhållsrevisionen ska kunna samverka till ett resurseffektivare tillsynsarbete samt att det finns skäl till lättnader i tillsynen hos miljöcertifierade företag.</p>