The research describes how creativity in higher education can be introduced as a concept that could enhance the creative thinking and application of adult learners enrolled in the Advertising Management Diploma. A number of different routes were attempted in order to answer the research question „can creativity be taught? ‟ Cord and Clement (2010) stated that adult learners should be allowed to practice their skills and prior knowledge, and that the learning material should promote generic workplace skills. The research discovered that the learning material for the Advertising Management diploma does little to enhance or even cater for imagination and creative application. It is vital for accurate application to take place, as this will enhance creativity. The problem formation is centered on the lack of sufficient skills in using one‟s imagination to generate creative ideas. This research study included five research activities that employed a semi-structured interview that involved sessions spanning over a period of six months, aligned to the course material‟s learning outcomes, and creative application of such acquired knowledge. It was established that, in order to further the creative application of young adults, it is important that they are able to link theory to practical and so be able to create concrete examples of what they are capable of doing. / ABET and Youth Development / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

Many engineers perform managerial roles; however, their professional education in engineering usually does not include management education. Thus, this study examined the participation of the Nigerian licensed engineers in professional development activities in management. The study proposed (1) to determine if, in fact, Nigerian licensed engineers participate in management education and training; (2) to determine the management programs in which the engineers participated and whether participation was voluntary or required, or within Nigeria or overseas; (3) to test hypotheses dealing with these variables: age, management level, academic level, years of experience in a managerial role, and sector of employment; and (4) to identify the mean number of hours of participation. Also, the engineers were asked to judge the value of non-credit versus credit programs.

The study of the Clackamas Small Business Development Center's Small Business Management Programs (SBM) had three research objectives: to ascertain what information should be transferred to small business owners and how best to transfer that information; to ascertain what information is presently being transferred to clients and what methods are used in transferring the information; and to survey clients in order to develop a current demographic profile, measure their level of satisfaction with the assistance received, and ascertain what they perceived were the benefits of the program to their companies. Prior to the study, there had been little systematic research of what information should be transferred to SBDC clients and the most effective methods for transferring that information. The small business growth stage literature was used to develop the recommended body of information. The adult learning literature was used to develop the recommended methods for transferring that information to clients. The majority of respondents were women, well educated, middle-aged, and from companies in service related industries that employed few workers. The findings suggest that clients desire an increase in both the appropriateness of the program's informational content and the level of their involvement in tailoring the SBM program to the needs of their organizations. As suggested by the Small Business Growth Stage Models, a statistically significant decline in client satisfaction of the program's informational content was found to exist between stage two and stage three business owners. The study found that instructors did not utilize specific business factors (such as sales levels, numbers of employees, etc.) in developing the informational content of the SBM programs. Instructors also did not utilize client preferred learning styles, or formal client involvement in developing the instructional design of the SBM program. The study found that clients and center personnel appear to differ in their perceptions regarding the role of the instructor and the purpose of the SBM program. Clients appear to envision the role of the instructor as more of a consultant, while instructors view their role as preparing clients to solve their own problems.

It is important that students understand not only how their local watershed functions, but also how it is being impacted by impervious surfaces. Additionally, students need experience exploring the scientific and engineering practices that are necessary for a strong STEM background. With this knowledge students can be empowered to tackle this real and local problem using engineering design, a powerful practice gaining momentum and clarity through its prominence in the recent Framework for K-12 Science Education. Twenty classes of suburban sixth-graders participated in a new five-week Watershed Engineering Design Unit taught by their regular science teachers. Students engaged in scientific inquiry to learn about the structure, function, and health of their local watersheds, focusing on the effects of impervious surfaces. In small groups, students used the engineering design process to propose solutions to lessen the impact of runoff from their school campuses. The goal of this evaluation was to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum in terms of student gains in understanding of (1) watershed function, (2) the impact of impervious surfaces, and (3) the engineering design process. To determine the impact of this curriculum on their learning, students took multiple-choice pre- and post-assessments made up of items covering the three categories above. This data was analyzed for statistical significance using a lower-tailed paired sample t-test. All three objectives showed statistically significant learning gains and the results were used to recommend improvements to the curriculum and the assessment instrument for future iterations.

The purposes of this study were to examine the oral communication skills considered important to specific companies, identify the objectives emphasized in the business and professional communication courses in Texas colleges and universities, ascertain how much course time is spent in various areas, and determine the communication needs of business and industry and the degree to which the communication departments of Texas colleges and universities are meeting those needs.

Ph. D. (Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Universities of Technology are an essential institutional type in South African higher education. However, their performance often lags behind that of traditional and comprehensive universities, which inspires the need to use research to seek ways of improving them. This study focuses on the interconnection between transformational and transactional leadership, organisational innovation and performance in South African universities of technology. Performance was measured based on the balanced scorecard perspective. The study followed a quantitative method, using the views of 387 academic and non-academic professional respondents drawn from three South African universities of technology. Hypotheses were tested using correlations and regression analysis. The study identified three transformational leadership factors, namely idealised influence, intellectual stimulation and inspirational leadership that are relevant to the tested relationship. Six performance dimensions, namely internal growth, financial performance, internal processes, customer satisfaction, learning, and grants and income were also identified and used to measure performance. The three transformational leadership factors, idealised influence, intellectual stimulation and inspirational leadership all correlated with and predicted innovation. In turn, innovation correlated with and predicted the six performance factors (internal growth, financial performance, internal processes, customer satisfaction, learning, and grants and income). The study indicates that the transformational leadership style has a direct positive effect on institutional innovation in universities of technology. Furthermore, innovation is an important driver of performance. Therefore, universities of technology that place an emphasis on transformational leadership and innovation are likely to register superior performance.

The aim of this study was to demonstrate how postgraduate students cope with the stress induced while adjusting to the various proposal and research report writing phases they are involved in. It is further purported that difficulties in adjusting to the various proposal and research report writing phases and lack of support lead to students experiencing stress. The population consisted of 815 students enrolled for masters and doctoral programmes at Unisa for the 2012 academic year. This study employed the Stress and Support Questionnaire for University Students to determine the stress postgraduate students encountered while adjusting to the proposal and research report writing phases they were in. Furthermore, this questionnaire was also used to understand how these students use support as a coping mechanism. The various research hypotheses were tested using an explanatory mixed method research design. The population consisted of 815 students enrolled for masters and doctoral programmes at Unisa for the 2012 academic year. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Strata software and Microsoft Excel. Statistical analyses included tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and chi-square tests. The results demonstrated that students experience stress during the adjustment process to the various research report writing phases. However, masters students showed higher levels of stress while adjusting to the research report writing phases, compared with doctoral students. Some of the doctoral students reported that they felt fewer levels of stress, because they were already exposed to postgraduate studies and were aware of what is expected. Furthermore, students who reported feeling stress to a large extent indicated the reasons to be a lack of support from supervisors, delayed and insufficient feedback, lack of financial support, lack of social support, procrastination, and balancing work and studies. Some of the students iv indicated that they do not feel any stress at all because they have surrounded themselves with people who have travelled the path, and their environment is conducive to study. Support from colleagues at work, supervisors, friends and family have also shown to help students adjust to the research report writing phases of their programmes. Although some of the students indicated that they do not experience stress, it is imperative that interventions be designed for those students who do experience challenges when adjusting to the research report writing phases. / Psychology / MA (Psychology)

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T18:32:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Alexandre_Silva_Rodrigues.pdf: 730519 bytes, checksum: 352a48ab1ef42b5b49d1e7a959719bda (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-04 / This research focus in identifying and analysing the main factors that determine the difficulties in the learning process related process related to mathematical disciplines present in the business graduation programs 20 managers of different areas were interviewed and disclosed "what" is really important of mathematics for the administrator, and their answers based the construction of a questionnaire that, applied to 271 students of two privates education institutions in Sao Paulo, measured the agreement level for each one of the 26 questions. Results (data) were statistically analyzed using multivariate data techniques, specially factor analysis with a computacional tool, SPSS.The results showed six main factors that were named as follow: teaching process unconnected with reality generating monotony, didatics, exclusion by natural aptitude, level of effort needed, class methodology and enviroment. Each factor was analysed according to existent theorical approaches, clarifying that teaching process unconneted with reality is generated by an obsolete class methodology, found in the bulge of an inadequate didatics, as well the students effort in such disciplines is related to their natural aptitude didatics, as well the students effort in such disciplines is related to their natural aptitude to work with them. The enviroment, pointed as an important component for the learning process, is the scenary where all the mentioned factors are lived by the business programs actors. All the factors detected were confirmed as part of the three worse identified problems in the mathematical teach-learning process: teaching imperfections, cognitive disfunctions and enviroment. At the end, some suggestions were made in order to brighten up the mentioned problems. / O tema central desta pesquisa ?? a identifica????o e an??lise dos principais fatores que geram dificuldades de aprendizagem de disciplinas matem??ticas em alunos dos cursos de Administra????o de Empresas. Um grupo de 20 gestores das mais diversas ??reas revelou atrav??s de entrevistas estruturadas "o qu??" ?? importante de matem??tica para o administrador, sendo que suas respostas constitu??ram um importante subs??dio para a constru????o de um instrumento de pesquisa que, aplicado a 271 alunos de duas institui????es de ensino particular de S??o Paulo, apurou para 26 assertivas o grau de concord??ncia quanto ?? raz??o apresentada para as dificuldades aqui pesquisadas. Os dados foram submetidos a testes estat??sticos a analisados segundo o m??todo multivariado de an??lise fatorial, com o aux??lio da ferramenta computacional SPSS??. Seis fatores foram definidos, identificados como ensino "descontextualizado" gerando monotonia, did??tica, exclus??o por aptid??o natural, esfor??o, metodologia de aula e ambiente. Cada um dos fatores foi analisado segundo as teorias existentes trazendo a percep????o de que o ensino "descontextualizado" ?? gerado por uma metodologia de aula obsoleta, que por sua vez encontra-se no bojo de uma did??tica inedequada, assim como o esfor??o dispendido pelos alunos em tais mat??rias ?? decorrente da aptid??o natural dos mesmos em rela????o a tais assuntos. O ambiente, tamb??m apontado como determinante no processo de aprendizagem, ?? o palco sobre o qual os demais fatores s??o vivenciados pelos atores do curso de gest??o empresarial. A gama de fatores relevantes aqui detectada p??de ser confirmada como parte integrante dos tr??s principais focos geradores de problemas no ensino-aprendizagem de matem??tica, identificados pela academia como: falhas docentes, falhas cognitivas e problemas ambientais. Ao t??rmino, sugest??es relevantes s??o tecidas objetivando amenizar os problemas mencionados.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Education

The aim of this study was to demonstrate how postgraduate students cope with the stress induced while adjusting to the various proposal and research report writing phases they are involved in. It is further purported that difficulties in adjusting to the various proposal and research report writing phases and lack of support lead to students experiencing stress. The population consisted of 815 students enrolled for masters and doctoral programmes at Unisa for the 2012 academic year. This study employed the Stress and Support Questionnaire for University Students to determine the stress postgraduate students encountered while adjusting to the proposal and research report writing phases they were in. Furthermore, this questionnaire was also used to understand how these students use support as a coping mechanism. The various research hypotheses were tested using an explanatory mixed method research design. The population consisted of 815 students enrolled for masters and doctoral programmes at Unisa for the 2012 academic year. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Strata software and Microsoft Excel. Statistical analyses included tests, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and chi-square tests. The results demonstrated that students experience stress during the adjustment process to the various research report writing phases. However, masters students showed higher levels of stress while adjusting to the research report writing phases, compared with doctoral students. Some of the doctoral students reported that they felt fewer levels of stress, because they were already exposed to postgraduate studies and were aware of what is expected. Furthermore, students who reported feeling stress to a large extent indicated the reasons to be a lack of support from supervisors, delayed and insufficient feedback, lack of financial support, lack of social support, procrastination, and balancing work and studies. Some of the students iv indicated that they do not feel any stress at all because they have surrounded themselves with people who have travelled the path, and their environment is conducive to study. Support from colleagues at work, supervisors, friends and family have also shown to help students adjust to the research report writing phases of their programmes. Although some of the students indicated that they do not experience stress, it is imperative that interventions be designed for those students who do experience challenges when adjusting to the research report writing phases. / Psychology / MA (Psychology)