The Act of Reflective Practice explores the manner in which three individuals, young architects, came together and the manner in which their inherent value systems inform and determine the way they produce architecture. The research offers a systematic distillation of the common value systems behind the individuals who comprise iredale pedersen hook architects, identifying the particularity of each practitioner in terms of their expertise, experience and character within the collective and the situations from which the individuals have emerged. The PhD tracks the evolution of the practice and identification of its architecture through the RMIT Invitational Masters of Architecture by Project program and PhD by Project program, contextualizing the work through the establishment of a network of mentors and peers and ultimately locates the work locally, nationally and globally. When introduced to the idea of the 'Reflective Practitioner', the architecture of iredale pedersen hook has taken a significant evolutionary step where the three individuals have begun to operate in a more cohesive manner and the inherent value system and concerns behind the work are now able to inform the future direction of the architecture. The research also explores how this shift has expand the character of the work and transform the manner in which the architecture is conceived, described and ultimately produced. Through the PhD and the accompanying Masters by my two practice partners and collaborators, Adrian Iredale and Finn Pedersen, the primary concerns embedded within our work have been isolated and a systematic but qualitative method developed that may assess the impact of these concerns across a selection of iredale pedersen hook projects. The PhD defines a methodology, The Field of Concerns, by which the projects produced by iredale pedersen hook architects may be scrutinised and assessed in a qualitative framework, based on the agreed parameters and inherent value system underpinning the work. The definition of the Field of Concerns is critical in the ability to establish an identity for each project and place it within the evolutionary output of the practice. Subsequent testing of the projects against the Concerns through the creation of spider diagrams enables the establishment of a visual process for evaluating the success of the projects against the aims of the practice and can be applied throughout the design process and upon completion. Together, the process of clarification, the questioning of our ability to claim authorship, and presence of all partners in each project may offer a qualitative framework for other 'Self-Curating Collectives' to establish criteria for exploring the evolution of their work.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on January 3, 2008) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2003. / Title from title page screen, viewed Dec. 16, 2004. Dissertation Committee: Dissertation Committee: Robert L. Fisher (chair), Deborah J. Curtis, William J.F. Hunter, Darryl A. Pifer. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-266) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (EdD)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2009. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Elisabeth Swanson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 263-272).

Introduction: A systematic review was undertaken to identify any psychological predictors of treatment dropout for individuals diagnosed with an eating disorder, to help inform psychological therapy and reduce attrition. An empirical study was conducted to understand developmental psychological mechanisms at play in the aetiology and maintenance of eating disordered symptomology by assessing reflective functioning and attachment from a trans-diagnostic perspective. Methods: Twenty-one papers were identified through a systematic search of databases using predefined extraction criteria, identifying psychological predictors of treatment dropout in eating disorders. Fourteen female adolescents with a diagnosis of an eating disorder were recruited to the empirical study from CAMHS inpatient and outpatient departments in NHS Scotland, as well as eighteen same age controls from local secondary schools. Participants completed questionnaires regarding eating behaviour, difficulties in emotion regulation, reflective functioning and were interviewed using the Adult Attachment Projective. Results: The systematic review revealed varied psychological predictors of dropout falling onto a continuum ranging from maturity fears to interpersonal difficulties. Results did not significantly differ for inpatient or outpatient treatment or diagnosis. The empirical study found adolescents with an eating disorder to have significantly more difficulties with their emotion regulation and reflective functioning as well as a more insecure attachment style when compared to controls, none of which were weight dependent. Conclusion: Further research is required to operationalise a definition of dropout. Although eating disorders can be seen as a defence mechanism to control and avoid emotional distress, this actually exacerbates them and causes disengagement from treatment. Clinical interventions need to focus on therapeutic rapport from the outset of treatment in order to reduce interpersonal difficulties leading to attrition. The results of the empirical study support the use of early intervention and person centred therapies for adolescents with an eating disorder, even when acutely starved. Specifically therapies that target reflective functioning and take insecure attachment styles into account may improve psychological efficacy and engagement.

The research presented in this dissertation explores the interaction between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and the classroom materials they develop. It aims to illuminate the potential value of this creative process for teachers’ development of critically reflective practice (CRP). For many EFL teachers, materials are an essential part of their pedagogy. Despite the widespread availability of publications for this compulsory subject in Dutch secondary education, many teachers choose to supplement the coursebook with their own materials. A premise of this research is that the materials teachers develop embody their personal theories of action regarding EFL teaching and learning. These theories, consisting of espoused principles and principles-in-use, are conceptualised as the teachers’ pedagogic principles. Critical reflection may help teachers uncover their espoused and tacit principles with the aim to align them, and improve their teaching practice. The central question is: In what ways does classroom materials development offer teachers of English a tool for CRP? The research questions are addressed through a qualitative, exploratory, embedded multiple-case study approach. Four Dutch EFL teachers are considered as individual cases. The components of each case are analysed to present an encompassing view of the materials development process: reflective logs (creation), the materials themselves (product), and lesson observations (use) are supplemented with pre- and post-lesson interviews to complete data collection. Data are analysed through deductive and inductive within-case analysis and cross-case synthesis. Findings suggest that teachers’ pedagogic principles are multifarious, informed by practical and pragmatic considerations, and revealed at several points and in a variety of ways during the materials development process. Yet it is only when teachers engage in dialogue about them that increased awareness of these principles ensues. CRP may thus be stimulated by a critical friend, and the materials development process can provide an impetus for discussion and dialogue.

How to manage a dynamic environment and how to provide task partitioning are two key concerns when developing distributed computing applications. The emergence of Grid computing environments extends these problems. Conventional resource management systems are based on a relatively static resource model and a centralized scheduler that assigns computing resources to users. Distributed management introduces resource heterogeneity: not only the set of available resources, but even the set of resource types is constantly changing. Obviously this is unsuitable for the present Grid. In addition, the Grid provides users with the physical infrastructure to run parallel programs. Because of this increasing availability, there are more requirements for parallelization technologies. Therefore, based on problems outlined above, this thesis provides a novel scheduler which not only enables dynamic management but also provides skeleton library to support the task partition. Dynamic management is derived from the concept of reflectiveness, which allows the Grid to perform like an efficient market with some limited government controls. To supplement the reflective mechanism, this thesis integrates a statistical forecasting approach to predict the environment of the Grid in the next period. The task partitioning support is extended from the skeleton library in the parallel computing and cluster computing areas. The thesis shows how this idea can be applied in the Grid environment to simplify the user’s programming works. Later in this PhD thesis, a Petri-net based simulation methodology is introduced to examine the performance of the reflective scheduler. Moreover, a real testing environment is set up by using a reflective scheduler to run a geometry optimization application. In summary, by combining knowledge from economics, statistics, mathematics and computer science, this newly invented scheduler not only provides a convenient and efficient way to parallelize users’ tasks, but also significantly improves the performance of the Grid.

This proposed interactive panel brings together teachers and teacher educators from northern, middle, and southern states in the U.S. and Canada to explore, highlight, and value pre-service and in-service teachers and teacher educators’ reflective narratives in working with ELs. Our panel explores the often-discounted stories of our teachers. This interactive session will engage participants into discussion around how fellow researchers and teachers effectively used “narrative” as reflective and effective practice in their current and future work with English learners, including ELs with disabilities. The findings have important implications for the improvement of our own and peer institutions’ teacher preparation programs.

In post-basic education of neonatal nurses the challenge is in how to prepare reflective practitioners for their role in neonatal nursing practice. Generic outcomes from SANC and higher education are available that promote the education of reflective neonatal nurses, but do not give much clarity on exactly how this is to be achieved. This prompted the research question: ‘How can professional nurses in a South African context be educated to become reflective neonatal nurses?’ This study aims to develop a model for the education of reflective neonatal nurses in a South African context. To achieve the aim of the study, an exploratory and descriptive design was used, which was in essence qualitative and contextual in nature, to develop the model. The model was developed following the process for developing nursing theory: a topic of interest was selected, which was a framework of several concepts; relationships between the concepts supported by evidence was identified and clarified; and relational statements were organised to describe the components of the conceptual model. The structural components of the model were identified as a purpose (specific learning-, critical- and end-product outcomes of education of reflective neonatal nurses); a framework (higher education, nursing education and neonatal nursing practice in a South African context); dynamics (reflective learning); a recipient (neonatal nurses as students); an agent (neonatal educator); and a procedure (education programme). The study had three phases that had different goals, but occurred simultaneously, overlapping and interrelating in the process of developing the model. The first phase was identifying and clarifying the concepts related to educational aspects of importance in education of reflective neonatal nurses. It was based on theoretical inquiry, concept analysis and inductive and deductive reasoning to describe the framework of education (higher- and nursing education), reflective learning, neonatal nursing students, role of the educator and educational approaches. The second phase was identification and clarification of concepts in neonatal nursing practice related to education of reflective neonatal nurses. This was done by means of inductive and deductive reasoning, based on the extensive experience and knowledge of the researcher in the field, followed by literature control and confirmed by peer review of neonatal nursing Model for education of reflective neonatal nurses in a South African context experts and/or educators. As a result the competences and professional characteristics expected of reflective neonatal nurses were synthesised and the content outline of an educational programme was deduced. The third phase was constructing and describing a model for educating reflective neonatal nurses in a South African context, which involved developing relational statements linking the concepts clarified in the previous two phases. Experts in model development, higher education, nursing education and / or neonatal nursing practice evaluated the model in this phase. Ethical considerations of relevance in this study were especially informed consent by the participants (peer- and expert review), and to give credit to all sources used. Strategies to enhance trustworthiness included triangulation of sources, prolonged engagement of the researcher, clarification of the underlying assumptions of the study, thick description of the process, and validation by means of peer- and expert review. Recommendations were made regarding dissemination of the model, practice, education and further research. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Nursing Science / unrestricted

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