The overall purpose of this study was to develop a model to inform the design of professional development programs and the implementation of cooperative learning within Thai primary school mathematics classrooms. Action research design, with interviews, surveys and observations, was used for this study. Survey questionnaires and classroom observations investigated the factors that influence the implementation of cooperative learning strategies and academic achievement in Thai primary school mathematics classrooms. The teachers’ interviews and classroom observation also examined the factors that need to be addressed in teacher professional development programs in order to facilitate cooperative learning in Thai mathematics classrooms. The outcome of this study was a model consisting of two sets of criteria to inform the successful implementation of cooperative learning in Thai primary schools. The first set of criteria was for proposers and developers of professional development programs. This set consists of macro- and micro-level criteria. The macro-level criteria focus on the overall structure of professional development programs and how and when the professional development programs should be implemented. The micro-level criteria focused on the specific topics that need to be included in professional development programs. The second set of criteria was for Thai principals and teachers to facilitate the introduction of cooperative learning in their classrooms. The research outcome also indicated that the attainment of these cooperative learning strategies and skills had a positive impact on the students’ learning of mathematics.

Diss. Linköping : Univ., 2003.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Division of Environmental and Life Science, Dept. of Graduate School of the Environment, 2008. / Bibliography: p. 370-395.

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2009. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/16/2009). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-70).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Melbourne, School of Physiotherapy, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 454-459)

Educators in higher education are expected by their institutions to enhance their learning and development in order to acquire the requisite knowledge and skills to keep up with the changes being presented by the external environment. Within this environment of change, educators are faced with challenges of professional development. Under certain circumstances, there are educators who will take the initiative to intervene in the learning and development of other educators in the absence of sufficient organisational support. A developmental mentoring approach is presented as a powerful intervention to enhance the learning and development of educators. Action research, utilising a self study approach to enquiry, is used to explore how mentoring practice can, from a developmental perspective, assist in enhancing the individual learning and development of educators in one Vocational Education and Training (VET) educational institution in Botswana. In this study, one mentor and two mentees undertake an innovative mentoring journey to build personal and professional capacity. Action research cycles are used in the collection of data from face-to-face conversations, personal reflective journals and focus group interviews. The findings indicate that the mentoring process contributed effectively to learning and development and enhanced the participants’ capacity to cope with the challenges facing the organisation. The intervention assisted the mentor to improve her mentoring capacities. Overall, the behavioural change that the participants gained through the mentoring process resulted in improved practices that contributed to the learning of the organisation. The value of this study lies in the fact that it provides insight into the learning and development of educators in VET educational institutions through an innovative mentoring experience and highlights how both the mentees and the mentor grew and were empowered by this experience. The individual learning of educators can influence the organisational behaviour of the VET educational institutions using mentoring. The implication of these findings points to the fact that educators need to be proactive and pursue their own professional development by making use of mentoring as an avenue to individual learning and personal and professional development. Educators who engage with more experienced colleagues in mentoring relationships contribute to organizational learning. A recommendation to VET educational institutions in Africa is to embrace mentoring as an organisational development intervention for the continuous learning and development of educators in their institutions. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Approaches to workplace learning are continuously evolving to support business objectives but learning and development practitioners are not delivering on their mandate of developing relevant competencies which deliver on strategic objectives. Globally, the proportion of e-Learning to instructor led training is growing and the investment in e-Learning is steadily increasing. Executives expect to see better alignment of e-Learning initiatives and a proven return on investment. In order to earn their place at the executive boardroom, learning and development practitioners need to understand and align their programmes to the context of the business environment in order to positively influence business performance.This research set out to investigate the relationship between the corporate learning environment and e-Learning programme effectiveness using a self-administered questionnaire. The survey was completed by 50 corporate learning and development practitioners. It explored e-Learning programme effectiveness and the configuration of learning environments in relation to a corporate learning environment interconnectedness model proposed in this research. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression modelling were used to determine the relationship between the environment and e-Learning programme effectiveness. The strongest environmental predictors as well as the current perception of e-Learning programme effectiveness within these environments were also identified.The corporate learning environment was found to be significantly correlated with e-Learning programme effectiveness, specifically in driving higher order benefits of e-Learning programme effectiveness, behaviour change and return on investment. The two strongest predictors of e-Learning programme effectiveness in the corporate learning environment were found to be the definition of clear learning outcomes as well as the provision of opportunities for collaboration in the context of learning. The proposed model of corporate learning environment interconnectedness was also validated and found to be reliable. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

No description available.

The aim of this master thesis is to explore the process of learning and development of workers in the Czech industrial company dealing with the manufacture of tires. The thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. In the theoretical part the content of methods and processes as well as the principles of staff learning and development are explained. The practical part contains the analysis of the principles and methods used in the education and development of workers in a particular enterprise, focused on the administrative and manual workers. As part of the conducted analysis measures to improve the process of staff education and development are proposed.

In spite of the need for organisations to develop competencies among its employees as a source for gaining competitive advantage, and in spite of previous research efforts to find out what contributes to it and the effects of it, the process of Competence Development (CD) implementation is still a ‘black box’, whose internal linkages are unknown. Furthermore it is noticed in previous research that there is a lack of empirically-based research in organisations, and the purpose of this dissertation is therefore to explore the process of CD implementation, as perceived by employees within the debt-collection industry of Sweden.   A case-study on a Swedish Debt-Collection Company was conducted, and data collected through interviews with employees and managers, in order to find out how the process of CD implementation is structured. In order to investigate the internal linkages in the process an extensive literature review was performed in the field of CD, and used for developing a conceptual model, showing how the various stages interact and depend upon each other in gaining competence among its employees. The model was then tested empirically and the findings suggest that the CD implementation was structured mostly in line with the model, although adjustments had to be made.   The findings suggest that in the process of CD implementation conceptualisation of CD plans and selection of participants is conducted in one integrated step and not two distinct steps, as suggested in previous literature. Performance Management and Reflection- and Evaluation are not conducted in two steps but more or less simultaneously. Furthermore, this study suggests that it is the organisation’s responsibility to provide a foundation, opportunities and resources that enable CD, while the employees themselves set the standard for how much they will take advantage of it. Therefore this study argues that if employees can have input and influence on each stage of the process, better outcomes will be provided since it will be aligned with their objectives, personal and professional.   Up to this point, the process of CD implementation has been a ‘black box’, a mechanism that generates a certain level of output but whose internal workings are unknown. It is important to open up that box and to understand how CD operates to produce superior performance for an organisation. The findings in this study help to bridge that gap better, and are useful for managers conducting and implementing Human Resource practices that aim to develop competencies among the company’s workforce in order to gain better performance.