College professors face many pressing challenges: staying current in their disciplines, becoming familiar with new technology, responding to national accountability issues, publishing scholarly research in their fields, and facilitating student learning in their classes. Teaching and learning are complex processes. Humor is a powerful instructional resource. The purpose of this study is to understand how and why college professors intentionally use humor in the classroom and what influence humor has on their teaching. This qualitative study focuses on ten college professors who have a reputation for using humor in their classrooms. I conducted semi-structured interviews with these faculty and made four classroom observations. The interview transcripts were coded and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Three major findings emerged from the research. First, humor, for these professors, is a constitutive part of their identities as teachers. The professors articulated the belief that their sense of humor and the ways they used humor in the classroom made them better teachers. Their teaching identities were created as they learned from their own teaching mentors, developed their personal teaching philosophies, and became confident enough to show their own personalities in their classrooms. The second finding was that these professors have constructed very student-centered, positive classroom climates. All of them recognized the benefits of humor for their students and were aware of the advantages of humor for the learning process and to foster bonds between students and teacher. They also said humor made their jobs as teachers more satisfying. They were also cognizant of appropriate and inappropriate uses of humor and were careful exactly how they used humor in their teaching. The final finding refers to how a professor may be viewed as a performer. These professors have constructed teaching identities that allow them to go into the classroom and present information often in a dramatic, striking manner. The teachers in this study have developed teaching methods that capture the students? attention, and the techniques often reflect theatrical styles or approaches that make them feel like performers.

Η παρούσα εργασία έχει σκοπό να διερευνήσει τους παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν τις αξιολογήσεις των διδασκόντων από τους φοιτητές. Γνωρίζουμε ότι η αξιολόγηση είναι μια σύνθετη και πολύπλοκη διαδικασία που περιλαμβάνει σύνολο παραγόντων που εκφράζουν τόσο ποσοτικά όσο και ποιοτικά χαρακτηριστικά που διαφοροποιούν το τελικό αποτέλεσμα. Σκοπός της εργασίας είναι να διερευνηθεί η σχέση της αξιολόγησης των πανεπιστημιακών τμημάτων από τους φοιτητές σε συνάρτηση με την δυσκολία των πανεπιστημιακών τμημάτων, τα ιδιαίτερα χαρακτηριστικά των μελών ΔΕΠ και των διαχωρισμό των επιστημών βάση της τυπολογίας Bigglan. Μέσα από την ανάλυση δευτερογενών δεδομένων και της χρήσης της περιγραφικής στατιστικής διερευνήθηκαν οι παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν την αξιολόγηση των διδασκόντων από τους φοιτητές. / This study aims at investigating the factors affecting the evaluation of professors by students. We know that the evaluation is a complex and complicated process that involves all factors expressing both quantitative and qualitative characteristics that differentiate the final outcome. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship of the evaluation of university departments from students in relation to the difficulty of the academic departments, the particular characteristics of faculty members and the separation of science through Bigglan typology. The factors affecting the assessment of students in relation to the attention of courses, textbooks and academic notes, as well as the teaching provided were investigated through the analysis of secondary data and the use of descriptive statistics factors.

As the United Nation Decade of Education for Sustainable Development draws to a close, there are growing calls for a critical reappraisal of the state of sustainability in Higher Education. The emerging literature suggests that despite modest gains in some areas, Higher Education’s overall engagement with the principles of sustainability has been both piecemeal and accommodatory leading many to ask: what is blocking this transformation? The questions that guided this research were: how do academics conceptualize 1) sustainability, 2) sustainable universities, and 3) the role they see for the university in envisioning a sustainable future. The purpose was to better understand what a culturally sensitive vision of organizational change for sustainability at the university could resemble and to offer insight into how to negotiate cultural or values-based barriers to change. This thesis discusses how culturing a perspective of critical ‘sustainabilities,’ based in pluralism and critical openness, as a vision of change for sustainability at the university is likely to be more aligned with academic culture while concomitantly helping to foster the development of diverse and transformative notions of sustainability.

This thesis is an exploratory investigation of how apprenticeship instructors in two of Ontario's colleges perceive and have experienced professional development over the duration of their careers and the role their employer-colleges, played in that professional development. As the primary agents for skills and knowledge transfer, the instructors of apprenticeship training provide a key role in preparing competent, skilled-trade workers for a complex and changing work environment. This research is relevant at this time because of the many changes to the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology since their inception in the mid-nineteen- sixties. The original mission of the colleges, to deliver occupation preparation programs has evolved to a much-expanded mandate to include degree granting. Other changes include a much more diverse student population with diverse needs, backgrounds and values. Have the apprenticeship instructors received the requisite training and development to deal with changes in technology, student needs, teaching and learning strategies and the evolving complexities of the college environment? This study contributes to the literature of professional development in the apprenticeship professoriate by examining the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours concerning professional development. The findings reveal that there are issues of physical location, discourse and methods of instruction, unique to apprenticeship training, which have a profound impact on the apprenticeship instructors' disposition and participation in professional development. Data were attained from a series of in-depth interviews, which revealed that the apprenticeship instructors are a dedicated and motivated group of educators who are committed to providing the highest quality of education to their students. However, the professional development offered or supported by the college-employers attracts very little, if any, participation by the apprenticeship professoriate. The findings indicate that changes to facilitate the active participation in professional development, creating a more inclusive environment between the apprenticeship instructors and other faculty members and restructuring the professional development programs to include review and evaluation of every faculty member's needs would create a more comprehensive and continuing enhancement of instructors' capabilities and student learning outcomes.

This thesis is an exploratory investigation of how apprenticeship instructors in two of Ontario's colleges perceive and have experienced professional development over the duration of their careers and the role their employer-colleges, played in that professional development. As the primary agents for skills and knowledge transfer, the instructors of apprenticeship training provide a key role in preparing competent, skilled-trade workers for a complex and changing work environment. This research is relevant at this time because of the many changes to the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology since their inception in the mid-nineteen- sixties. The original mission of the colleges, to deliver occupation preparation programs has evolved to a much-expanded mandate to include degree granting. Other changes include a much more diverse student population with diverse needs, backgrounds and values. Have the apprenticeship instructors received the requisite training and development to deal with changes in technology, student needs, teaching and learning strategies and the evolving complexities of the college environment? This study contributes to the literature of professional development in the apprenticeship professoriate by examining the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours concerning professional development. The findings reveal that there are issues of physical location, discourse and methods of instruction, unique to apprenticeship training, which have a profound impact on the apprenticeship instructors' disposition and participation in professional development. Data were attained from a series of in-depth interviews, which revealed that the apprenticeship instructors are a dedicated and motivated group of educators who are committed to providing the highest quality of education to their students. However, the professional development offered or supported by the college-employers attracts very little, if any, participation by the apprenticeship professoriate. The findings indicate that changes to facilitate the active participation in professional development, creating a more inclusive environment between the apprenticeship instructors and other faculty members and restructuring the professional development programs to include review and evaluation of every faculty member's needs would create a more comprehensive and continuing enhancement of instructors' capabilities and student learning outcomes.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1969. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Resumo: A transposição da teoria para a prática, juntamente com o desenvolvimento de habilidades e competência, têm sido, ao longo de anos, um problema para alunos e professores nos cursos de formação do profissional Administrador de Empresas. A metodologia utilizada pela maioria dos professores do ensino superior, em especial no curso de Administração de Empresas, tem como prioridade a aula expositiva, centrada na figura do professor. Os conceitos são apresentados de forma linear, sendo o aluno o sujeito dependente, um modelo similar ao encontrado em nossas escolas de ensino fundamental e médio. Dentro deste contexto, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar o trabalho desenvolvido na disciplina "Informática Aplicada" no curso de Administração de Empresas de uma instituição de ensino superior, onde a preocupação do professor foi significar e contextualizar a aprendizagem desses profissionais através de Projetos de Trabalho, potencializados pelas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TIC). Para atender a este objetivo, a presente pesquisa teve como sujeitos: os alunos da disciplina Informática Aplicada, do curso de Administração de Empresas, 1o ano - noturno e o professor da disciplina, que também se identifica como pesquisador. Estes sujeitos tiveram como contexto uma instituição de ensino superior particular: Associação Educacional Toledo de Presidente Prudente - SP, Brasil. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida segundo a abordagem qualitativa do tipo pesquisa-ação. Os resultados da pesquisa mostraram ser possível a criação de um ambiente favorável ao aprendizado, através de uma aprendizagem contextualizada e significativa, um novo modo de contemplar o conteúdo programático da disciplina e, por conseguinte, atingir aos objetivos do curso, com o desenvolvimento de habilidades e competência, as quais contribuem para a formação do Administrador de Empresas. / Abstract:The transposition from theory to practice, together with the development of skills and competence, has been a problem for students and teachers in Business Administration graduation courses for quite a long time. The methodology used by most professors, particularly in Business Administration courses, has considered the speech class as a priority, centred upon the teacher. The concepts are presented in a linear way, being the student a dependent subject, a model similar to the one found in our elementary and secondary schools. Within that context, this study aims to analyze the work developed by Applied Information Technology, a subject in the Business Administration course of a college institution, where professors' concern has been to signify and contextualize the learning of such professionals through Work Projects, potentialized by Communication and Information Technologies (CIT). To reach that aim, the present study had the freshmen of Applied Information Technology, in the Business Administration course, and their teacher (also identified as the researcher) as subjects. They had a private college as the context (Toledo Educacional Association, in Presidente Prudente, São Paulo State, Brazil). The reasearch was developed according to the qualitative approach, research-action type. The results showed that it is possible to create a favorable environment for teaching, through contextualized and significant learning, as a new mode of contemplating the subject's programmed contents, and, consequently, to reach the course's aims, with the development of skills and competence, which contribute to the education of a Business Manager. / Orientador: Klaus Schlünzen Júnior / Coorientador: Maria Elizabeth Bianconcini de Almeida / Mestre

Orientador: Luci Banks Leite / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T21:13:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Magro_RaquelSouza_M.pdf: 4555459 bytes, checksum: d5796139b498e6c067cc74183331c2a1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: O presente texto tem como objetivo caracterizar, no âmbito da profissão docente, a atividade de professoras auxiliares, eventuais e substitutas. Para tanto, optamos por evidenciar o discurso dessas professoras, através de entrevistas e/ou respostas fornecidas em um questionário escrito. Pesquisamos como essas professoras vivenciam a experiência docente e como a coordenação pedagógica entende essa função no contexto da instituição escolar. Assumindo uma perspectiva histórico-cultural, procedemos a uma análise dessas falas e escritas, destacando elementos que emergiram nos relatos pessoais e que se tornaram significativos à luz dos estudos psicológicos para compreender o trabalho e a (des)profissionalização dessas docentes / Abstract: The objective of this text is to characterize the activities of part-time and substitute teachers and also those of teaching assistants. For this, we chose to use these teachers¿ own words as evidence, through interviews and/or answers provided to a written questionnaire. Our research was focused both on how these teachers experienced their profession, and on how the pedagogical coordinators understood the function of these individuals, in the context of a school institution. Taking a historical-cultural perspective, we went on to analyze this spoken and written language, highlighting elements which emerged in the personal accounts. In the light of psychological studies, these elements became significant to enable a fuller understanding of not only their work, but also the (de)professionalization of these members of the teaching staff / Mestrado / Educação, Conhecimento, Linguagem e Arte / Mestre em Educação

Orientador: Samuel de Souza Neto / Banca: Juarez Vieira do Nascimento / Banca: Flavia Medeiros Sarti / Resumo: Esta pesquisa se insere nos estudos que abordam o tema formação de professores, saberes docentes, prática pedagógica e identidade do professor. Entre os objetivos relacionados buscou-se averiguar os saberes docentes e a prática pedagógica na proposta do curso de Licenciatura em Educação Física da Unesp/ Rio Claro; apontar os elementos constitutivos da identidade do professor; e identificar no exercício da profissionalidade docente habitus dos professores universitários. Trata-se, portanto, de uma pesquisa qualitativa, estudo de caso, que utilizou como técnica para a coleta de dados: fonte documental, entrevista e observação. Os dados foram apresentados contemplando à análise do conteúdo nas seguintes categorias; (a) Os saberes docentes e as práticas pedagógicas presentes na proposta curricular e na perspectiva docente; (b) A identidade docente; e (c) O habitus do professor universitário. Da discussão dos resultados observou-se que, dentro da proposta curricular, há um conjunto de saberes presentes, mas que, no entanto, são priorizados os de caráter conceitual/procedimental, apresentando uma fundamentação pautada no modelo da racionalidade técnica. Com relação aos saberes, de forma geral, foram visto como plurais. Porém, em alguns momentos são alguns são mais priorizados que iv outros. Com relação a prática pedagógica vislumbra-se a percepção desta em diversos momentos: ora relacionados ao conhecimento da disciplina e a forma de se ensinar, e ora ao universo do aluno e a sua intencionalidade. Este encaminhamento direciona para a compreensão de uma identidade que abarca a compreensão da docência como um dom, vocação, até a dimensão atitudinal, fazendo jus a composição de uma identidade historicamente construída e modificada pelos saberes, pela ação do exercício profissional, pelo contexto, pela formação, entre outros... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This research deals with teachers formation, professors knowledge, pedagogical pratical and teaching identity. Between the related objectives will search to inquire the constitution of the professor knowledge and of the pedagogical practical in the proposal of professor formation of the Degree in Physical Education Course of the Unesp/Rio Claro; to point the constituent elements of the professor identity; and to recognize in the teaching exercise habitus of the professors. It is treated, therefore, of one searches qualitative, case study, that it used as technique for the data collection: documentary source, interview and participant comment. The data presented contemplating the content analysis in the following categories; (a) professors knowledge and pedagogical practical presents in the curricular proposal and teaching perspective; (b) teaching identity; and (c) professor habitus. In the discussion of the results was observed that inside of the proposal curricular have a set of the knowledge, however they are prioritized of conceptual / procedures character, presenting a recital in the model of the technique rationality. The knowledge was understood with plural. Though, in some moments are prioritized someone in detriment of others. With regard to pedagogical practical is glimpsed perception of this at diverse moments: related with the disciplines knowledge and the teaching form, and with students universe and its scienter. This guiding directs to understand of the professors as a vocation, until the atitudinal dimension, 181 relationship the composition of an historical identity constructed and modified by knowledge professor, action of the professional exercise, context and formation, among others. However, it perceives, also, that the professor identity, with relation to superior education needs to be explored. Inside of this context habitus created in the university... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

The purpose of this study was to determine whether participation in an instructional module on procedures for individualizing instruction produced results different from those produced by a traditional education approach with respect to the performance, attitude, self-concept, and dogmatism of special education student teachers. The findings were (1) there was no significant difference between the experimental and comparison groups with respect to teaching-performance; (2) the experimental group's mean self-evaluation teaching-performance score was significantly different in a negative direction than the mean self-evaluation teaching-performance score for the comparison group; (3) both groups had positive correlations between teaching-performance scores and self-evaluation scores, but the experimental group had a significantly higher correlation; (4) there was no significant difference between the experimental group and the comparison group with respect to change in attitudes; (5) there was no significant difference between the experimental and comparison groups with respect to the degree of change in self-concept, and (6) there was no significant difference between the experimental and comparison groups with respect to degree of change in dogmatism.