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Published Article / The paper reports on the findings of a study that investigated the impact of leadership and management on the construction of professional identity of teacher trainees. The writer argues that the overall leadership and management of the host schools, where student teachers do experiential training (teaching practice), has an impact on the construction of their professional identity. The host schools provide different learning experiences (environment) which may either enhance or hinder the development of a positive professional identity. A questionnaire comprising of open-ended questions was administered to 40 teacher trainees at the School of Teacher Education, Central University of Technology, Free State. The students had just return from a six-month period of experiential training. The aim of the questionnaire was to examine their views on their experiences and expectations of the teaching practice, and whether or not the leadership and management of the school has had an impact on the construction of their professional identity. The findings revealed that a supportive and enabling environment within the host school provided a good learning experience and consequently enhanced the development of a positive professional identity whereas a non-welcoming and threatening environment had the opposite effect. Suggestions and recommendations for providing a supportive and enabling environment for all students are made.

Project failures are a reality that most project managers face several times in their careers, but even more significant than the failure itself, is what these individuals learn after experiencing it. Studies do exist within the entrepreneurship literature which analyze failure of entrepreneurial projects. But these are not particularly focused on projects executed within organizations and the experiences of entrepreneurs would be different to those of project managers within firms, after a failure occurs. The authors have made a research from a sample of 6 project managers over such project failures. Using Kolb's experiential Theory to understand the learning that occurs after project failures helped the authors to create a model which the project managers can use in their process of learning after failures. This study also elaborates about the project management literature in association with project failures and also the various aspects of learning that can be achieved in an organization.

This qualitative study aimed to identify how personnel working in a residential home in Sweden work withCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) orientation within the organization. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five personnel. The research questions were; How do the personnel describe the CBT orientation? How do the personnel describe the CBT tools and methods? How do the personnel describe and measure the implementation of CBT? The results were analyzed an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) tool in order to gain a greater understanding of the data. The theories used to analyze the results were the learning theory, attachment theory and New Public Management (NPM). The results of this study indicate that CBT was incorporated in the daily lives of the residents throughout the course of the day and the personnel described common methods such as Aggression Replacement Therapy (ART), Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI).

This small-scale ethnographic research study investigated student perceptions of social identity and agency and the usefulness of the construct of the Community of Practice for struggling writers in the context of a pre-university EAP program. The appropriateness of socio-cultural theories in language teaching and learning today stems from social constructivist and social interactionist theories of the role of language in the discursive construction of society, knowledge and power. This study problematised these constructs in the development of writing for learners in a pre-university Higher Education context. Comparing data from focal students who were struggling with writing and from students who were more successful, the biographies of struggling students and their awareness of their futures, or imagined selves and communities, revealed not only learning histories in which they had radically different identities as learners and writers, but also a lack of clarity about their learning trajectory in the writing program. There was no apparent lack of investment in learning among the focal students, who identified themselves as weak writers, although there was frustration and anger at their predicament. The data suggest that they did not identify with the learning community at the start of the project, probably because they resisted belonging to a community which labeled them as failures. During the study a variety of means were used to elicit participants’ perceptions of their status as novice writers and to support their learning trajectory on an individual basis by elucidating the reasons for and requirements of academic writing. By the end of the study the focal students had developed more awareness of the subject positions the writing trajectory afforded them and had chosen ways in which to continue along their learning path. The Community of Practice appears to have potential as a means of supporting the roles of EAP students and teachers as members of the academic community of practice.

Thesis advisor: Joseph O'Keefe / This qualitative case study examined how, when faced with an externally driven policy, central office administrators worked as an internal team to interpret mandates, match mandates to current needs, and reorient the organization through professional learning opportunities. In order to comply with state mandates, in this case the Massachusetts Model System for Educator Evaluation (MMSEE), central office administrators had been called upon to interpret the requirements of the new system, thus impacting professional development, decision-making, relationships, and forcing COAs to consider how best to meet the needs of the mandate and constituents simultaneously. Through interviews with one district’s COAs and principals, in addition to a document review, findings revealed a district COA team committed to the full implementation of the MMSEE for teachers, but who were in the middle of figuring out how best to accomplish the mandate’s goals to support principal growth and development. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

The dramatic rise in childhood obesity is a major concern nationwide. Unprecedented media exposure, drastically decreased time spent interacting as a family, and the consumption of calorie-dense foods are all heated topics of discussion with ties to weight gain. In this research, possible associations are examined between media, social groups and a favorite fast-food restaurant among children: McDonald's. Q methodology was used to analyze the various factors that draw children to McDonald's. With a theoretical background in social learning theory, this study had 29 children rank-order 30 photographs depicting elements of the McDonald's experience. Pictures included the most and least popular food items, social events like birthday parties and eating with family, physical aspects of McDonald's, such as the Playplace and dining area, famous McDonald's characters and celebrities, promotional events and giveaways, like the monopoly game, food coupons and Happy Meal toys. The participants then took part in an interview. Results of the study resemble existing research into what motivates children to go to McDonald's, including the food and Playplace. However, this study also reveals three new factors contributing to the restaurant's popularity for kids: their need to be with friends and family, frequenting the restaurant as a sort of comfortable rite or tradition, and the fame with which McDonald's is associated. The findings suggest the importance of social education about food habits from parents, in spite of an increased dependence on media and peers for information.

<div>Following a natural disaster, one of the most important facet that influence a persons chances of survival/being found out is the time with which they are rescued. Traditional means of search operations involving dogs, ground robots, humanitarian intervention; are time intensive and can be a major bottleneck in search operations. The main aim of these operations is to rescue victims without critical delay in the shortest time possible which can be realized in real-time by using UAVs. With advancements in computational devices and the ability to learn from complex data, deep learning can be leveraged in real time environment for purpose of search and rescue operations. This research aims to solve the traditional means of search operation using the concept of deep learning for real time object detection and Photogrammetry for precise geo-location mapping of the objects(person,car) in real time. In order to do so, various pre-trained algorithms like Mask-RCNN, SSD300, YOLOv3 and trained algorithms like YOLOv3 have been deployed with their results compared with means of addressing the search operation in</div><div>real time.</div><div><br></div>

The purpose of this study was to compare the flipped and traditional classroom pedagogies in relation to retention, critical thinking skills, and student engagement as measured by the multiple choice and short answer questions on the final exams, course evaluations, and CUCEI scores. Radiologic technologists, nuclear medicine technologists, and radiation therapists play vital roles in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications in patient care. Employers today are seeking graduates who know more, are better able to apply this knowledge, and solve more challenging problems (McLean, et al., 2016). This quasi-experimental study aimed to compare the flipped and traditional classroom pedagogies at increasing retention and critical thinking skills, as measured by final exams, and student engagement, as measured by course evaluations. The model was delivered and assessed for 61 radiation science students at Virginia Commonwealth University’s College of Health Professions Radiation Science program. Based on numerical results for the final exam and College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI), no significant difference in critical thinking skills, retention, or student engagement was observed between the flipped and traditional pedagogies for radiation science students. For the purpose of this study, pedagogy referred to the application of a method of teaching, the flipped or traditional classroom, in relation to constructs of the Cognitive Learning Theory (CLT). For this study retention is defined as the amount of information that a student can retain for the length of a semester, 15 weeks. Critical thinking is defined as the students’ successful ability to take several concepts and put them together to make an analysis of a given situation. Student engagement for this study was defined as the level of attention and interest for the material being taught. Further analysis of the results indicated that the demographics (gender, age, years in college, and race) did not affect preference for flipped or traditional pedagogy. Statistically significant results on the CUCEI subcategories of satisfaction and innovation indicate that students found the flipped classroom more enjoyable and innovative than the traditional classroom. These results support professor exploration of different teaching pedagogies that they are comfortable with. Further studies are needed to ensure model validity and generalizability of findings.

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