Professional growth and development in nursing is essential for public welfare and safety. The public expects competent and safe nursing care. Student nurses spend a large number of hours in the clinical practice as part of their professional and clinical development. A clinical environment that is supportive to the improvement of student teaching and learning is imperative to the development of competency of student nurses. One strategy that has been identified to facilitate professional growth and development in student nurses is mentoring in the clinical practice. This is where student nurses are socialized into the nursing profession by experienced professional nurses. Mentoring is regarded as the deliberate pairing of student nurses with an experienced and knowledgeable person. The primary purpose of this research was to explore and describe the experiences of student nurses regarding mentoring in the clinical practice at the Eastern Campus of the Free State School of Nursing (ECFSSON). The secondary purpose was to recommend to the nursing college and clinical service areas to jointly formulate guidelines for mentoring student nurses in the clinical practice. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was chosen in order to describe the experiences of mentoring of student nurses in the clinical practice. Purposive sampling was utilized to identify participants who complied with the set selection criteria. The sample comprised student nurses who were in their final year of the four year programme. Data collection took place by means of four focus group interviews with a total of twenty four student nurses (7:6:6:5), which was followed by a confirmatory focus group interview with ten participants. Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Data was captured on an audiotape and transcribed verbatim. Field notes were taken during each focus group. Content analysis of the data was analyzed by the researcher and an independent co–coder. After consensus and data saturation, four major themes and twenty–one sub–themes were identified. The first theme described the student nurses' experiences of being mentored in the clinical practice and has five sub–themes. The second theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring by personnel and has eight sub–themes. The third theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring in different disciplines. The fourth theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring in different institutions. Each of these themes was discussed together with relevant data obtained from literature and reduced to a conclusive statement which serves as a basis for recommendation to formulate guidelines for mentoring student nurses in the clinical practice. Several conclusions were reached. Student nurses have positive as well as negative experiences about their mentoring in clinical practice. The personnel in clinical practice have different roles in the mentoring of students and the responsibility of mentoring is not clear. The mentoring of lecturers from the educational institution was also experienced as not enough. The research report concluded with the researcher's evaluation of the research and recommendations for nursing service, nursing education and nursing research to improve mentoring of student nurses in clinical practice. / Thesis (M.Cur. (Nursing Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Professional growth and development in nursing is essential for public welfare and safety. The public expects competent and safe nursing care. Student nurses spend a large number of hours in the clinical practice as part of their professional and clinical development. A clinical environment that is supportive to the improvement of student teaching and learning is imperative to the development of competency of student nurses. One strategy that has been identified to facilitate professional growth and development in student nurses is mentoring in the clinical practice. This is where student nurses are socialized into the nursing profession by experienced professional nurses. Mentoring is regarded as the deliberate pairing of student nurses with an experienced and knowledgeable person. The primary purpose of this research was to explore and describe the experiences of student nurses regarding mentoring in the clinical practice at the Eastern Campus of the Free State School of Nursing (ECFSSON). The secondary purpose was to recommend to the nursing college and clinical service areas to jointly formulate guidelines for mentoring student nurses in the clinical practice. A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was chosen in order to describe the experiences of mentoring of student nurses in the clinical practice. Purposive sampling was utilized to identify participants who complied with the set selection criteria. The sample comprised student nurses who were in their final year of the four year programme. Data collection took place by means of four focus group interviews with a total of twenty four student nurses (7:6:6:5), which was followed by a confirmatory focus group interview with ten participants. Trustworthiness was ensured in accordance with the principles of credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability. Data was captured on an audiotape and transcribed verbatim. Field notes were taken during each focus group. Content analysis of the data was analyzed by the researcher and an independent co–coder. After consensus and data saturation, four major themes and twenty–one sub–themes were identified. The first theme described the student nurses' experiences of being mentored in the clinical practice and has five sub–themes. The second theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring by personnel and has eight sub–themes. The third theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring in different disciplines. The fourth theme described the student nurses' experiences regarding mentoring in different institutions. Each of these themes was discussed together with relevant data obtained from literature and reduced to a conclusive statement which serves as a basis for recommendation to formulate guidelines for mentoring student nurses in the clinical practice. Several conclusions were reached. Student nurses have positive as well as negative experiences about their mentoring in clinical practice. The personnel in clinical practice have different roles in the mentoring of students and the responsibility of mentoring is not clear. The mentoring of lecturers from the educational institution was also experienced as not enough. The research report concluded with the researcher's evaluation of the research and recommendations for nursing service, nursing education and nursing research to improve mentoring of student nurses in clinical practice. / Thesis (M.Cur. (Nursing Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

ABSTRACT A SURVEY ABOUT THE OPINIONS OF STUDENT PHYSICS TEACHERS, SUPERVISORS AND MENTORS ON PRACTICE TEACHING COURSE &Ccedil / etin Se&ccedil / kin, Nihan M.S., Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Ali Eryilmaz August 2005, 136 pages The purpose of this survey is to describe the opinions of student physics teachers registered in the Practice Teaching Course, supervisors giving that course for physics education students in the Secondary Science and Maths Education Departments of Education Faculties in Turkey and the mentors of student physics teachers at co-ordinating schools on practice teaching course. After reviewing the related literature, three prallel questionnaires were developed depending on the formal directive of Ministry of National Education (MEB) and the handbook of Higher Education Council (Y&Ouml / K) about practice teaching. The research was conducted on 142 student physics teachers registered in the Practice Teaching Course in 2004- 2005 spring semester and 14 supervisors giving this course in 7 Secondary Science and Maths Education Departments of Education Faculties and 10 mentors in 7 co-ordinating schools in Turkey.. The analysis of data was made by using SPSS 10. According to the findings from the study, the formally stated responsibilities and procedures related with practice teaching in the directive do not overlap with the actual ones completely, participants do not carry out all their responsibilities as stated in the directive, physical conditions of co-ordinating schools are not adequate for teacher education, and insufficient number of supervisors in the faculties and lacking of co-ordination among the units in practice teaching cause many problems.

The Resident-Medical Student Shadowing Program is a novel program in which first-year medical students shadowed a first-year resident during their clinical duties. It was developed to enhance the preparedness of medical students for clinical training. To examine the program’s effectiveness, a randomized control trial was conducted within a concurrent triangulation mixed methods study. Student participants were compared to controls using validated questionnaires. Participants’ experiences were further explored using semi-structured interviews. Results indicate that participation gave students an understanding of the clinical environment and their role within it, and taught them the skills and knowledge needed to perform that role. Students’ learning was enhanced by the relationship developed with their resident, facilitated by the residents’ approachability and relatability and their dedication to teaching. Residents, in turn, gained expertise in teaching and learned about professionalism. Suggestions for implementing this program in the future as well as future directions for research are discussed. / Measurement, Evaluation and Cognition

This thesis describes the architecture, implementation issues and evaluation of Mentor - an educational support system designed to mentor students in their university studies. Students can ask (by typing) natural language questions and Mentor will use several educational paradigms to present information from its Knowledge Base or from data-mined online Web sites to respond. Typically the questions focus on the student’s assignments or in their preparation for their examinations. Mentor is also pro-active in that it prompts the student with questions such as "Have you started your assignment yet?". If the student responds and enters into a dialogue with Mentor, then, based upon the student’s questions and answers, it guides them through a Directed Learning Path planned by the lecturer, specific to that assessment. The objectives of the research were to determine if such a system could be designed, developed and applied in a large-scale, real-world environment and to determine if the resulting system was beneficial to students using it. The study was significant in that it provided an analysis of the design and implementation of the system as well as a detailed evaluation of its use. This research integrated the Computer Science disciplines of network communication, natural language parsing, user interface design and software agents, together with pedagogies from the Computer Aided Instruction and Intelligent Tutoring System fields of Education. Collectively, these disciplines provide the foundation for the two main thesis research areas of Dialogue Management and Tutorial Dialogue Systems. The development and analysis of the Mentor System required the design and implementation of an easy to use text based interface as well as a hyper- and multi-media graphical user interface, a client-server system, and a dialogue management system based on an extensible kernel. The multi-user Java-based client-server system used Perl-5 Regular Expression pattern matching for Natural Language Parsing along with a state-based Dialogue Manager and a Knowledge Base marked up using the XML-based Virtual Human Markup Language. The kernel was also used in other Dialogue Management applications such as with computer generated Talking Heads. The system also enabled a user to easily program their own knowledge into the Knowledge Base as well as to program new information retrieval or management tasks so that the system could grow with the user. The overall framework to integrate and manage the above components into a usable system employed suitable educational pedagogies that helped in the student’s learning process. The thesis outlines the learning paradigms used in, and summarises the evaluation of, three course-based Case Studies of university students’ perception of the system to see how effective and useful it was, and whether students benefited from using it. This thesis will demonstrate that Mentor met its objectives and was very successful in helping students with their university studies. As one participant indicated: ‘I couldn’t have done without it.’

Zweite Studienarbeit ZHAW, 2008.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Bradley Burenheide / This study addressed an existing gap in research on after-school programs, a lack of qualitative research. It consisted of a case study, conducted through a phenomenological theoretical framework, aimed to explore the experiences of four youth enrolled in a privately-funded, faith-based after-school program in an urban Midwest community. Unlike most after-school programs, the program studied provides services to youth that run continuously from sixth grade through high school graduation. Research was conducted primarily through observation at both the youth’s public school affiliated with the program and at program events outside of school, as well as both group and individual interviews. The Hirsch, Deutsch, & DuBois (2011) conceptual framework of the role of comprehensive after-school programs on youth, the Rhodes (2005) Model of Youth Mentoring, and the philosophy of positive youth development were key to this study.

Clinical facilitators facilitate the clinical training of students in the hospitals at which students are placed for the practical component of their studies. Clinical facilitators’ success depends on their ability to facilitate students effectively. Students who have been effectively facilitated have the potential to become competent bedside nurses to their patients. This is sure to lead to better patient outcomes and will therefore have a direct impact on the quality of nursing care. The clinical facilitators who are appointed to facilitate students in the clinical learning environment are, however, not necessarily empowered and skilled to teach their students effectively. If their own mentoring needs are addressed, clinical facilitators may be assisted to become more effective in their transition from clinician to clinical facilitator. A qualitative study was conducted with the purpose to explore and describe the mentoring needs of clinical facilitators with a view to proposing a mentoring programme for effective clinical facilitation. Data were collected by means of focus groups with clinical facilitators working in a private hospital group. The findings of this study confirmed the need for mentoring. Mentoring of clinical facilitators contributes to their skills and understanding of clinical facilitation. As an outcome of the study, an outline of a mentoring programme was drawn up which could be used in the orientation and mentoring of novice clinical facilitators. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

The master thesis named {\clqq}Differences in the relationships between nurse mentors and Bachelor´s and Master´s degree students`` is divided into the theoretical and practical part. In the practical part it was discovered with the aid of the qualitative research, that the nurse mentors does not see differences in the relationships between Bachelor´s and Master´s degree students. The hypothesis stating that the students of Master´s degree programmes enjoy better relationships with mentors than the students of Bachelor´s degree programmes has been disconfirmed. The interviews with the mentors showed that one of the factors affecting the relationships of the nurse mentors to the Master´s and Bachelor´s degree students is the lack of time they have for the students. The results of the questionnaires confirmed the hypothesis stating that the most frequent factor which affects the relationships of students to the mentor is the mentor{\crq}s attention given to them.

FundaÃÃo Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Cientifico e TecnolÃgico / nÃo hà / A presente pesquisa constitui-se em um estudo investigativo sobre as prÃticas docentes dos preceptores desenvolvidas junto aos alunos como complemento da educaÃÃo escolar no municÃpio de Juazeiro do Norte-CE entre os anos de 1930 e 1940. Nesta perspectiva, o estudo tem a intenÃÃo de contribuir para uma reflexÃo sobre a importÃncia das prÃticas docentes dos preceptores e sua repercussÃo na histÃria da educaÃÃo do referido municÃpio. A questÃo principal que norteou a pesquisa foi: como aconteceram as primeiras experiÃncias educacionais dos preceptores de Juazeiro do Norte-CE no contexto social, polÃtico, cultural e educacional da Ãpoca? E mais especificamente, com que prÃticas docentes os preceptores desenvolviam as suas atividades? Nesse sentido, a pesquisa teve por objetivos compreender as prÃticas docentes desenvolvidas pelos preceptores na busca de acompanharem as tendÃncias da educaÃÃo escolar no perÃodo entre 1930 e 1940, identificando a formaÃÃo docente dos mesmos e refletindo sobre as suas prÃticas pedagÃgicas. Esta âpropostaâ de preservaÃÃo da histÃria da educaÃÃo de Juazeiro do Norte-CE conduziu ao resgate da memÃria de professores e estudantes enquanto protagonistas da histÃria do lugar. Assim, inserindo-se em estudos de HistÃria da EducaÃÃo, esta proposta tem intenÃÃo de contribuir para o debate sobre a importÃncia da funÃÃo educacional e social que teve a atuaÃÃo dos preceptores na histÃria da educaÃÃo deste municÃpio. O âcaminho percorridoâ foi à atuaÃÃo dos preceptores na histÃria da educaÃÃo entrelaÃada à histÃria do lugar a partir da perspectiva educacional. Procuramos construir, portanto, uma retrospectiva histÃrica ordenada, com o intuito de apreender os fatos, eventos, forÃas sociais e polÃticas que determinaram a histÃria assinalada mediante a memÃria dos preceptores e de seus ex-alunos, numa abordagem qualitativa, como meio de encontrar o sentido histÃrico da educaÃÃo por meio dos preceptores e os princÃpios formadores em que se apoia a institucionalizaÃÃo da profissÃo docente. A seleÃÃo de fontes bibliogrÃficas, documentais e orais (entrevistas) foi realizada em vÃrios lugares de Juazeiro do Norte-CE, entre os quais se destacam: acervos da biblioteca do Memorial Padre CÃcero, da Sala da MemÃria AmÃlia Xavier de Oliveira, residÃncia dos entrevistados, indicaÃÃo bibliogrÃfica de outros pesquisadores e materiais consultados para fazer parte do referencial teÃrico da pesquisa. Como referencial teÃrico seguimos especialmente os pressupostos de Rousseau e Pestalozzi, por denotarem o sentido real de preceptor re-significando a educaÃÃo a partir da atuaÃÃo desse agente. Outros autores, como Barros (2007), Freire (1992), Bosi (1998), Pollack (1989) foram tambÃm considerados para compor o quadro teÃrico da pesquisa. Os resultados da pesquisa demonstraram que o preceptor foi um agente educativo e formador. Planejando, tomava para si o controle do processo de aprendizagem incluindo uma responsÃvel anÃlise do desempenho de seus alunos. Singularmente, orientando ao mesmo tempo em que exigia, sempre na perspectiva do avanÃo. O preceptor atuava tambÃm na formaÃÃo moral do aluno, ensinando e permitindo valores que enxergava enquanto necessÃrios à formaÃÃo integral. Constatamos, acima de tudo, que a escola preceptora promoveu tanto ao preceptor quanto ao seu aluno, uma convivÃncia diÃria que os tornavam Ãntimos. Nesse sentido, a casa-escola do preceptor foi um ambiente propÃcio ao desenvolvimento cognitivo. Mas, tambÃm, foi um espaÃo de relaÃÃes.