The aim of this essay has been to find out whether the individual development plan does make it easier to teachers to discover any needs of the students to get education or material changes and by that make adjustments in the classroom. I chose to seek information by interviewing special educators at four compulsory schools, since they have an overall apprehension of how the work is carried out at the school, especially the work with students in need of any form of extra support. All students at the Swedish compulsory school shall have an individual development plan. The purpose with the plan is, besides that the student is to be given possibilities to form his own pedagogical and social goals, that the teacher shall get early signals if a student may be in need of getting education and materials changed and adjusted for to easier manage his studies. The individual development plan of the student should have the function as a tool to the teacher to facilitate for his students. The answer of my question can be sum-up in a no, the inherent potential in the individual development plan is not utilized by the teachers that seem to have the apprehension that the plan is for the student all by him/herself. The teaching staff has obviously not understood the use they can get out of it.

This study pertains to the provision of learning support to remote distance learners from the Basarwa and Bakgalagadi communities in Botswana who enrolled for a secondary school-leaving certificate. The purpose of this case study was to document these learners’ perceptions and experiences of learning at a distance and to improve service delivery. The literature on distance learning support emphasises the importance of making learners’ voices audible as these help gauge the efficacy of learning support. The study was informed by an interpretive paradigm using a mixed-methods approach and is underpinned by Holmberg’ theory of conversational learning (2003). Qualitative data methods collection involved semi-structured interviews, journals, document analysis and observations while a questionnaire provided nested quantitative data. Data sets were triangulated and trustworthiness was enhanced by using Atlas.ti® for qualitative analysis and SAS version 8 software to generate percentages. The key findings showed that distance learners exhibited high intrinsic motivation and 72.1% of them were satisfied with the learning support provided. This substantiates that learner motivation remains a key attribute for successful distance learning in any context. However, policy and managerial flaws did frustrate and unintentionally disadvantage these remote distance learners. Despite their adverse circumstances positive perceptions and experiences were exhibited where learners had access to personalised academic and affective support from empathetic tutors. Implications for practice include policy reviews, ODL staff training and adoption of best practice. A needs assessment to establish learner needs, expectations and aspirations is critical for the design and development of relevant learning materials, and for the delivery of quality learning support to enhance the academic experience of remote learners from marginalised communities. Recommendations may be applicable in other underdeveloped distance learning contexts. Topics for further research exploration in learning support, policy and curriculum issues have been suggested. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

This research focuses on the perception of the learning support teacher regarding the use of play therapy with learners with special educational needs. The purpose of the research was to determine the perception of learning support educators regarding the utilization of play therapy as an aid with foundation phase learners with special educational needs. In order to achieve this purpose, information was gathered and a theoretical framework drawn up through an extensive literature study in consultation with experts. An empirical study was conducted by means of in-depth interviews with ten different learning support educators, in order to obtain empirical information. The researcher worked from an applied research perspective to attempt to use this newly gained practical information to determine whether play therapy could be utilized to help the learner with special educational needs. The researcher made use of an exploratory research design and the following research question formed the basis of the study: What is the perception of the learning support educator regarding the value of using play therapy as a form of aid with the foundation phase learner having special educational needs? Flowing from the empirical information gleaned during the interview schedule the following points emerged: · Learning support educators identify emotional, social, behavioural, family and academic problems, as well as other forms of trauma, associated with the learner who has special educational needs; · The learning support educator regards it as his or her task to refer problems connected to the learner and the learner’s family, where such problems are outside of his or her field of expertise. · The learning support educator has both positive and negative perceptions, as well as misconceptions regarding play therapy; and · The learning support educator has a need for a working relationship with the play therapist in the assistance of the learner with special educational needs. The research has therefore shown that the learning support educator has a positive perception regarding the utilization of play therapy with the foundation phase learner with special educational needs. / Dissertation (MSD (Play Therapy))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

The purpose of my study was to explain how adult learners in distance education experienced short message service (SMS) technology as a learning support tool. The study focused on a single unit of analysis, namely a SMS for academic purposes that was implemented in the final module, Practical Experience, of the Advanced Certificate in Education: Special Needs Education. This course is one of three in-service teacher training programmes offered by the Unit for Distance Education at the University of Pretoria (UP). The theoretical framework and literature review were operationalised by the development of a questionnaire. A record of the text message response schedules, and telephonic interviews comprised the other two data collection instruments. These data were integrated to provide an explanation of how learners experienced SMS technology as a learning support tool. Participants who were able to utilise and access the SMS said that it seemed to: motivate them, help them focus on their work and set goals. They could check on their progress and found the creation of flexible learning environments an additional benefit. Interactive learning environments that enabled them to construct new knowledge by actively engaging in the learning process benefited the participants. Constructivist principles of teaching and learning are inherent in this. The SMS did not seem to facilitate the development of interactive learning environments characterised by two-way communication channels for all the participants, as it also establishes one-way communication channels focused on delivering course content. Although participants indicated that this was helpful in giving them more information, they also expressed a need for more contact with their lecturers and with other learners for learning support purposes. Barriers to communication included faulty cellular phones, the cost of the SMS, and the lateness of text messages in relation to the due dates for assignments and projects. An overriding barrier was the difficulty participants seemed to have in understanding the instructions in the text messages. Recommendations are therefore made to improve future short message services in order to overcome this. / Dissertation (MEd (Educational Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / MEd / unrestricted

With the transition to a new philosophy of education in post-apartheid South Africa a paradigm shift began from banking education to outcomes-based education. South Africa looked to other countries for a framework on which to build its curriculum. The first post-apartheid curriculum as well as the subsequent revised curriculum seems to be a contentious matter as outcomes-based education as practised in South Africa is widely criticised by educationists. This study endeavours to interrogate the structure and underlying principles of the current curriculum to gain an understanding of whether and how critical consciousness, learning support materials and environmental education feature in the national curriculum. The purpose of the study is to gain an understanding of what happens in South African environmental education classrooms especially with regard to the construction of meaning and the prospects for Freirean critical education. The research questions elucidate the nature of critical education and its capacity to inform the sociology of learning in environmental education within the South African context. The research purpose is therefore exploratory and descriptive. The research questions emerge from the literature review which informs the study and also conceptualises the key tenets of the inquiry. The literature study reveals that there is adequate mention in policy documents regarding the importance of learning support materials in teaching and learning, but there seems to be a gap in the literature about how learning support materials are currently used in South Africa to develop critical consciousness particularly in environmental education classrooms. This research attempts to address this gap. The research conducted falls within the conceptual framework of critical pedagogy. It is however the humanist approach asserted by Paulo Freire that premises the study. The research design and philosophy of the study is delineated and the researcher’s role in the research process is elucidated. An ethnographic case study positioned within the qualitative approach serves as the methodology by which the research questions are explored. The choice of methodology and the ontological premise of the study are accounted for and issues of quality are discussed with regard to credibility, transferability, dependability and conformability. The purpose of this study was not to find solutions and no definitive answers were sought or obtained. The findings of the study point to three critical contentions and the following was established: Firstly, that although the National Curriculum Statement pays lip service to some of the ideals of Freirean pedagogy, it is inherently behaviourist in that it has clearly defined outcomes and assessment standards that learners should attain regardless of learner diversity. Secondly, that the manner in which the educator facilitates the learning support materials is the determining factor in the attainment of the set learning outcomes by the learners. Thirdly, that the manner in which knowledge transmission happens in a lesson influences the development of critical consciousness in learners. The findings only serve as suggestions and the reader is invited to look at the possibilities that Freirean pedagogy has to offer and what might be possible in environmental education classrooms. The findings of the study cannot be generalised and have to be interpreted and applied by the reader within a specific context of teaching and learning. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Humanities Education / unrestricted

Stock Forecasting is commonly used in different forms everyday in order to predict stock prices. Sentiment Analysis (SA), Machine Learning (ML) and Data Mining (DM) are techniques that have recently become popular in analyzing public emotion in order to predict future stock prices. The algorithms need data in big sets to detect patterns, and the data has been collected through a live stream for the tweet data, together with web scraping for the stock data. This study examined how three organization's stocks correlate with the public opinion of them on the social networking platform, Twitter. Implementing various machine learning and classification models such as the Artificial Neural Network we successfully implemented a company-specific model capable of predicting stock price movement with 80% accuracy.

Det svenska skolsystemet genomgår en digitaliseringsprocess. I och med digitaliseringen har ett starkt intresse av att utforska olika typer av lärodata via olika läroplattformar utvecklats. För att analysera sådan data kan man ta hjälp av Learning Analytics (LA). LA är när man samlar, analyserar och rapporterar lärodata från diverse lärandeaktiviteter. För att analysera datan mer effektivt kan man ta hjälp av visualisering. Denna studie presenterar ett visualiseringsverktyg riktat till lärare. Det har utvecklats för att stödja lärare i deras förståelse av hur valda självreglerat lärande (SRL)strategier har utvärderats av studenter. Att kunna applicera SRL-strategier är av stor vikt eftersom studenter som lär sig att applicera dessa kommer att ha fördelar båda vid framtida studier och framtida arbete. Syftet med denna studie var att se hur lärodata kan visualiseras för att förstå studenters användning av lärostrategier och hur bra visualiseringsverktyget var ur ett användbarhetsperspektiv. Användbarheten av verktyget testades genom ett experiment där ett antal frågor ställdes. Svaren gick att finna i visualiseringen. Deltagarna i studien fick sedan svara på ett System Usabilityformulär. Resultaten visar att det utvecklade verktyget är användbart och att olika användare använder sig av, om möjligt, olika metoder för att komma fram till ett svar. Denna uppsats presenterar riktlinjer att ha i beaktande när ett visualiseringsverktyg som ska stödja lärare i att förstå studenters användning av SRL-strategier ska designas. / The Swedish school system is going through a digitalization process. With digitalization, a strong interest in exploring learner data available through various digital platforms has emerged. In order to analyse the data, one can take help of learning analytics (LA) which relates to collect, report and analyse data from learners or learning activities. To be able to analyse it in a more efficient way, one can take help from visualization. This study presents a visualisation tool aimed at teachers. It has in particular been developed to support teachers in their understanding of how chosen self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies were evaluated by students. SRL strategies are important to be able to apply since students who can learn to apply SRL strategies have an advantage during both future studies and work compared to those who cannot. The aim with this study was to see how learner data can be visualized in order to understand students' use of learning strategies and how good the developed visualization tool is from a usability perspective. The perceived usability of this tool was tested by means of interviews where a series of questions was asked where the answers could be found in the visualization tool. The participants also answered a System Usability Questionnaire. The results showed that the tool developed is usable and that different users of the tool tend to, if possible, use different methods to reach the answer. This thesis presents design guidelines to have in consideration when designing a visualization tool in order to aid teachers in analysing students' use of SRL strategies.

Thesis(MEdPsych)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Following the United Kingdoms of Great Britain Government's commitment to social inclusion in the 1990s, dramatic changes have taken place in education policy. A large amount of time and money has been invested into the development of inclusive practices, one of the more recent programmes being the Learning Support Unit (LSU). The LSU programme is seen as a way forward for social inclusion and now it is playing a growing role in the context of national strategies to improve behaviour and attendance. As little evaluation research has been done, this study aims to verify good practice in relation to the guidelines set out by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES, 2002b) and identify whether the LSU programme is truly an inclusive model. Given the commitment to inclusive education the world over, this study also seeks to assess whether the LSU programme would work within the South African Inclusive Education and Training Policy. An interpretive approach was applied to the research undertaking a programme evaluation. The qualitative techniques of interviewing, observations and discussions were used for data collection. Interviews were conducted with LSU managers and their pupils, which were then triangulated with data obtained from observations, informal and focus group discussions. Using an interpretive approach allowed me to become immersed in the research process and develop an intuitive feel for the subject. This enabled more effective verification of good practice in use. Interpreting the experiences and beliefs of LSU managers and their pupils in the London Borough of Hillingdon has verified a range of good practices. It is particularly important that LSUs are an extension of, and fully integrated into, whole school behaviour policy. The LSU programme promotes social inclusion by offering in-school support to pupils with behavioural, social and emotional development needs. These needs are addressed through a short-term fixed period stay in the LSU while the pupils still engage in the curriculum and their reintegration back into class facilitated. The LSU programme could compliment the South African Inclusive Education and Training Policy by offering a viable programme to address challenging behaviour in an inclusive manner. In conclusion, the LSUs have proved to be effective in introducing social inclusion in schools. This is achieved through their uniqueness, which allows them to target the greatest needs in their school. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Onderwysbeleid in die Verenigde Koninkryk het dramatiese veranderinge ondergaan ná die regering van die Verenigde Koninkryk se verbintenis tot sosiale insluiting in die negentigerjare van die vorige eeu. 'n Groot hoeveelheid tyd en geld is bestee aan die ontwikkeling van inklusiewe praktyke. Een van die jongste programme is die Leerondersteuningseenheid (LSE). Die LSE-program word gesien as 'n stap vorentoe in die rigting van sosiale insluiting en dit speel tans toenemend 'n rol in die bepaling van nasionale strategieë vir die verbetering van gedrag en bywoning. Aangesien min evalueringsnavorsing tot dusver gedoen is, beoog hierdie navorsing om goeie praktyk in die lig van die riglyne soos uiteengesit deur die Departement van Onderwys en Vaardighede van die Verenigde Koninkryk (DfES, 2002b) te ondersoek en om te vas te stelof die LSE-program 'n waarlik inklusiewe model is. Met inagneming van die verbintenis tot inklusiewe onderwys wêreldwyd, poog hierdie navorsing ook om te bepaal of die LSE-program binne die Suid-Afrikaanse inklusiewe Onderwys- en Opleidingsbeleid met sukses aangewend sou kon word. 'n Interpretatiewe benadering is gevolg met betrekking tot die navorsing waartydens 'n evaluering van die programme gemaak is. Die kwalitatiewe tegnieke van onderhoudvoering, waarneming en bespreking is gebruik vir die insameling van data. Onderhoude is gevoer met Leerondersteuningseenheid-bestuurders en hulle leerders, wat dan weer getrianguleer is met data wat uit waarnemings, informele besprekings en fokusgroep-besprekings verkry is. Die gebruik van 'n interpretatiewe benadering het die navorser in staat gestelom verdiep te raak in die navorsingsproses en 'n intuïtiewe aanvoeling vir die onderwerp te ontwikkel. Dit het doeltreffender verifikasie van goeie praktyk wat tans gebruik word, moontlik gemaak. Die interpretasie van die ervaringe en oortuigings van Leerondersteuningseenheidbestuurders en hulle leerlinge in die distrik Hillingdon, Londen, het bewys gelewer van 'n reeks goeie praktyke. Dit is veral belangrik dat die LSE-program 'n uitbreiding is van geheelskool- gedragsbeleid, en ook ten volle daarin geïntegreer is. Die LSE-program werk sosiale insluiting in die hand deur inskoolse ondersteuning aan leerlinge met gedrags-, sosiale en emosionele ontwikkelingsbehoeftes te bied. Daar word tydens 'n vasgestelde korttermynbywoning van die LSE na hierdie behoeftes omgesien terwyl die leerlinge steeds by die kurrikulum betrokke is en hulle heropname in die klas gefasiliteer word. Die LSE-program sou as aanvulling tot die Suid-Afrikaanse Beleid van Inklusiewe Onderwys en Opleiding kon dien deurdat dit 'n lewensvatbare program aanbied waardeur uitdagende gedrag op 'n inklusiewe wyse aandag kry. Ten slotte kan genoem word dat die LSE-program as doeltreffend bewys is by die invoer van sosiale insluiting in skole. Dit is vermag deur hulle eensoortigheid waardeur die grootste behoeftes in die besondere skool bereik kan word.

Cis-regulatory elements are the short regions of DNA to which specific regulatory proteins bind and these interactions subsequently influence the level of transcription for associated genes, by inhibiting or enhancing the transcription process. It is known that much of the genetic change underlying morphological evolution takes place in these regions, rather than in the coding regions of genes. Identifying these sites in a genome is a non-trivial problem. Experimental (wet-lab) methods for finding binding sites exist, but all have some limitations regarding their applicability, accuracy, availability or cost. On the other hand computational methods for predicting the position of binding sites are less expensive and faster. Unfortunately, however, these algorithms perform rather poorly, some missing most binding sites and others over-predicting their presence. The aim of this thesis is to develop and improve computational approaches for the prediction of transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) by integrating the results of computational algorithms and other sources of complementary biological evidence. Previous related work involved the use of machine learning algorithms for integrating predictions of TFBSs, with particular emphasis on the use of the Support Vector Machine (SVM). This thesis has built upon, extended and considerably improved this earlier work. Data from two organisms was used here. Firstly the relatively simple genome of yeast was used. In yeast, the binding sites are fairly well characterised and they are normally located near the genes that they regulate. The techniques used on the yeast genome were also tested on the more complex genome of the mouse. It is known that the regulatory mechanisms of the eukaryotic species, mouse, is considerably more complex and it was therefore interesting to investigate the techniques described here on such an organism. The initial results were however not particularly encouraging: although a small improvement on the base algorithms could be obtained, the predictions were still of low quality. This was the case for both the yeast and mouse genomes. However, when the negatively labeled vectors in the training set were changed, a substantial improvement in performance was observed. The first change was to choose regions in the mouse genome a long way (distal) from a gene over 4000 base pairs away - as regions not containing binding sites. This produced a major improvement in performance. The second change was simply to use randomised training vectors, which contained no meaningful biological information, as the negative class. This gave some improvement over the yeast genome, but had a very substantial benefit for the mouse data, considerably improving on the aforementioned distal negative training data. In fact the resulting classifier was finding over 80% of the binding sites in the test set and moreover 80% of the predictions were correct. The final experiment used an updated version of the yeast dataset, using more state of the art algorithms and more recent TFBSs annotation data. Here it was found that using randomised or distal negative examples once again gave very good results, comparable to the results obtained on the mouse genome. Another source of negative data was tried for this yeast data, namely using vectors taken from intronic regions. Interestingly this gave the best results.

Submitted by Angela Maria de Oliveira (amolivei@uepg.br) on 2018-04-27T18:01:49Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Simone Bueno.pdf: 1195113 bytes, checksum: 3695f41a285e5ce80b622569c8b558f2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-27T18:01:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) Simone Bueno.pdf: 1195113 bytes, checksum: 3695f41a285e5ce80b622569c8b558f2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-04 / Esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal analisar os documentos que dão suporte ao trabalho na Sala de Apoio à Aprendizagem (Programa SUED/SEED/PR), procurando observar qual concepção de alfabetização está presente nesses textos. Os documentos analisados são os seguintes: a) Resolução nº 1690/2011 GS/SEED; b) Instrução nº 05/2017 SUED/SEED; c) Ficha de encaminhamento. Também verificamos se há, e quais são, os direcionamentos apontados para superação de dificuldades de aprendizagem em língua materna e fazemos um levantamento da legislação das SAA (2004 a 2017) observando em que sentido as mudanças nesses documentos significam avanços ou retrocessos. Como referencial teórico para discutir a temática da alfabetização e, principalmente, a noção de sistema de escrita alfabética (SEA) nos baseamos em Cagliari (2008), Ferreiro (2011, 2012), Morais (2012) e Soares (2016). Para discussão sobre letramento, em Kleiman (2007). A metodologia de pesquisa utilizada foi a da pesquisa bibliográfica e documental dentro da perspectiva qualitativa (LÜDKE; ANDRÉ, 2015). Os dados analisados demonstraram que a ficha de encaminhamento aponta para uma concepção de alfabetização baseada no SEA como forma de compreender a natureza das defasagens na alfabetização dos alunos das SAA. Entre os direcionamentos para superação de dificuldades identificamos referência à ampliação do tempo de permanência na escola (PARANÁ, 2011) e a atribuição de uma sobrecarga de responsabilidades aos profissionais que atuam nas SAA (PARANÁ, 2017). A comparação entre os documentos das SAA, que vigoraram entre os anos de 2004 e 2017, revelou uma descontinuidade das disposições (no que diz respeito aos anos atendidos, número de alunos, escolha das escolas), o que consideramos fragilizar o trabalho que acaba não tendo uma continuidade. / This dissertation aims to analyze the documents that support the work in the Learning Support Room (SUED / SEED / PR Program), trying to observe which conception of literacy is present in these texts. The documents analyzed are as follows: a) Resolution nº 1690/2011 GS/SEED; b) Instruction nº 05/2017 SUED/SEED; c) Referral card. We also check the direction of overcoming learning difficulties in the native language and have surveyed Learning Support Room legislation (2004 to 2017), noting in what sense the changes in these documents mean advances or regression. As a theoretical reference to discuss the theme of literacy and, especially, the notion of alphabetic writing system we based on Cagliari (2008), Ferreiro (2011, 2012), Morais (2012) and Soares (2016). For discussion on literacy, on Kleiman (2007). The research methodology used was the bibliographical and documentary research within the qualitative perspective (LÜDKE; ANDRÉ, 2015). The data analyzed showed that the referral form points to alphabetic writing system based conception of literacy as a way to understand the nature of the lags in the literacy of Learning Support Room students. Among the guidelines for overcoming difficulties we identified reference to the length of stay in school (PARANÁ, 2011) and the assignment of overload of responsibilities to the professionals who work in the Learning Support Room (PARANÁ, 2017). The comparison between the Learning Support Room documents, which ran between 2004 and 2017, revealed a discontinuity of the provisions (in terms of the number of years attended, number of students, choice of schools), which we consider to weaken the work, which ends up not having a continuity.