This study presents a critical investigation into the teaching of computer ethics. A qualitative pluralistic approach (a mixture of qualitative approaches) was used to investigate case studies of teaching computer ethics to university-level students from Bahrain. The main issue was that ethics to Arabs and Muslims is a matter of religion than a matter of philosophy whereas the dominant perception in the academic literature which discussed computer ethics teaching is that computer ethics is a form of practical philosophy and hence separate from religion. In order to shed light on this, the study investigated computer ethic’s perceptions and teaching practices which were occurring in universities in Bahrain. The study found that the issue was not a matter of perception but rather a matter of confusion and a misconception. Computer ethics was being confused with morality, religion, basic computer skills to name just a few. And such confusion was causing computer ethics to gradually disappear from the curriculum and become substituted with concepts which were not necessarily capable of building students’ ethical thinking. The study recommends that computer ethics teachers and policy makers from Bahrain distinguish computer ethics from religion, morality and from any other concept and identify it as an independent field of study, also teachers need to involve their students in social and ethical analysis of various kinds so that students understand that ethics is not a set of rules on what is forbidden and allowed aimed at providing straightforward answers to a given problem but rather ethics is a ‘cognitive tool’; a mechanism through which different competing ethical theories and standards are used to reflect on a given problem.

Le Sénégal est situé dans une zone soudano-sahélienne particulièrement exposée aux changements du climat, ce dernier rendant l’agriculture, activité principale du pays, précaire. La modification des conditions climatiques, en particulier depuis la fin des années 1960, a fortement affaibli le secteur agricole, majoritairement vivrier et pluvial. Face à l’importance de l’activité agraire vivrière du pays, il apparaît primordial de savoir comment les agriculteurs vivriers du Sénégal ont modifié ou prévoit modifier leurs pratiques en vue de satisfaire leurs besoins alimentaires dans un contexte de changement et de variabilité du climat. Cette étude a été effectuée au sein de la communauté rurale de Sessène selon une approche qualitative et à l’aide d’entretiens, de l’observation participante et d’analyse phénoménologique. Elle a permis de mettre en avant les caractéristiques générales des familles agraires et des exploitations de cette zone, de montrer comment les agriculteurs ont vécu le changement climatique et comment ils envisagent les prochaines années et enfin de discuter de leur capacité d’adaptation. Face au raccourcissement de la saison des pluies, à la diminution des précipitations, à l’intensification des évènements extrêmes et aux impacts de ces modifications sur l’environnement naturel, les agriculteurs vivriers adoptent des mesures aussi bien techniques que socio-économiques. / Senegal is located in a sudano-sahelian region vulnerable to climate change that renders agriculture, the country's main activity, precarious. In fact, changing climate conditions, particularly since the late 1960s, have considerably weakened the agricultural sector, which is mostly subsistence and pluvial in nature. Because of the importance of the country’s subsistence agriculture, it is imperative to know how subsistence farmers in Senegal have changed or will change their practices in order to satisfy their nutritional requirements in the context of climate change and variability. This study was undertaken in the rural community of Sessène using a qualitative approach composed on interviews, participant observation and phenomenological analysis. The research revealed the general characteristics of the agrarian families and farms, demonstrated how farmers dealt with climate change in the recent past and how they envisage doing so in the next few years, all aimed at contributing to a discussion of their adaptive capacity. In response to the shortening of the rainy season, the decrease in rainfall, the increased frequency of extreme events and the impacts of these changes on the natural environment, subsistence farmers are adopting both technical and socio-economic measures.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Hormis l'intérêt croissant que suscitent l'entrepreneuriat international et l'entrepreneuriat organisationnel comme nouvelles voies de réflexion, la recherche académique dans les deux champs ne semble pas suffisamment insister sur les processus et les dynamiques sous- jacentes de l'internationalisation rapide des PME et de la formation de leurs orientations entrepreneuriales (OE). La présente recherche se donne comme objectif de proposer une compréhension systémique des processus entrepreneuriaux de la PME à internationalisation rapide en plaçant la logique de identification des opportunités d'exportation au cœur de notre réflexion. Le travail s'achèvera par une modélisation qualitative expliquant le phénomène en question.La première partie de cette thèse est consacrée aux fondements théoriques de la recherche, abordant les concepts clés de notre cadre conceptuel. La deuxième partie aborde empiriquement la problématique de la recherche. Après une première analyse de contextualisation, sont présentés et analysés les résultats d'une étude de cas multiples, réalisées au sein de six jeunes PME exportatrices marocaines du secteur agro-industriel.La recherche met en évidence des vecteurs internes (connaissances, expériences et capital social) et des contraintes externes (nature de l'activité et caractéristiques du marché local) comme déterminants de l'internationalisation rapide des PME étudiées. Plus important encore, deux configurations différentes de l'OE sont décrites en relation avec deux logiques distinctes de identification des opportunités d'exportation (une logique de type causale et une autre de type effectuale). / Despite the growing interest in international entrepreneurship and organizational entrepreneurship as new ways of thinking, academic research in both fields does not seem sufficiently emphasize the underlying processes and dynamics of the accelerated internationalization of SMEs and the formation of their entrepreneurial orientation (EO). This research aims to provide a systemic understanding of entrepreneurial processes of the SMEs by placing the logic of determining export opportunities at the heart of our thinking. The work will conclude by a qualitative model explaining the phenomenon in question.The first part of this thesis is devoted to the theoretical foundations of research, addressing key concepts of our conceptual framework. The second part addresses the problem of empirical research. After an initial work of contextualization, are presented and analyzed the results of a multiple case study, conducted in six young Moroccan exporting SMEs in the agro-industrial sector.The research highlights the internal vectors (knowledge, experience and social capital) and external constraints (nature of the activity and the local market characteristics) as determinants of the accelerated internationalization of young SMEs studied. More importantly, two different configurations of the EO dimensions are described in relation with two distinct logics of determining export opportunities (causal logic vs effectuale logic).

This study explores what happens as the ideals of a learnership, envisioned in the South African legislation, become real practice in a workplace within the financial services industry. Learnerships are at the centre stage for illuminating the processes of acquiring a vocational qualification, which combines education with work readiness. The constructivist philosophy to this research and its qualitative paradigm resonates well with the postmodernist thinking that knowledge has different purposes strongly linked to performance, demanding education that is value adding. It is through this postmodern lens that the broad theoretical framework for study is located. It encompasses theories of learning and workplace learning, such as Wenger’s (1998) perspectives on communities of practice and Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning circle. Mezirow’s (1981) transformative learning theory adds the dimension of dialogue. The method of illuminative evaluation is used to examine one event in order to explore its contextual insights. Qualitative inquiry has a fundamental people orientation and, for this reason, observation adds depth to the information gathering possibilities of interviews and document analysis. This report is enriched by narratives of people’s perspectives on events. This illuminative evaluation brought out rich and varied insights into the acquisition of knowledge, skills and work identity (values and attitudes), with some surprising and unexpected insights on success and failures. The workplace’s control of the learning process, while impacting extremely positively on the quality of the theoretical learning (which is interesting as education is not its core purpose), compromised in some respects the success of the end product of the learnership, the work readiness and employment possibilities of learners.

No description available.

No description available.

BAKGRUND: Föreningslivets hälsofrämjande potential var utgångspunkten för projektet Aktivitet Förebygger (AF) som 2009 startades upp som ett samarbete mellan skolorna och föreningslivet i Ängelholms kommun, i syfte att främja ungdomarnas fysiska och psykiska hälsa. I tidigare studier kring hälsofrämjande interventioner för ungdomar, riktades fokus mot mottagarna av projektet, d.v.s. ungdomarna, men eftersom processen i vilken hälsa främjas och skapas, är lika intresserat ur ett hälsopedagogiskt perspektiv, riktade denna studie istället fokus mot ledarna. SYFTE OCH FRÅGESTÄLLNINGAR: Syftet med studien var att belysa aktivitetsledarskapet i Aktivitet Förebygger ur ett ledarskapsdidaktiskt perspektiv och att be­svara följande frågeställningar, a) Vilka villkor för aktivitetsledarskapet, i form av utmaningar och möjligheter, ger ledarna uttryck för i relation till rollen som aktivitetsledare i AF? b) Vad (vilka värden, kunskaper och erfarenheter etc.) uppger aktivitetsledarna att de vill utveckla hos eleverna inom ramen för AF-aktiviteten och hur förhåller det sig till de hälso­främjande ambitioner som finns för projektet? c) Vilka hälsopedagogiska strategier och metoder ger ledarna uttryck för i relation till den egna AF-aktiviteten, för att uppnå dessa värden, kun­skaper och erfarenheter? METOD: Studien var kvalitativ med hermeneutik­inspirerad ut­gångspunkt, och genomfördes som en intervjustudie med sex aktivitetsledare från såväl idrottsliga som estetetiska verksamheter. RESULTAT: Studien visade att ledarna både såg AF som en möjlighet att marknadsföra den egna aktiviteten mot en bredare publik och att göra något för de ungdomar som står utanför föreningslivet. Däremot framkom att ledarna upp­levde låg motivationsnivå som en utmaning. Dessutom framgick att ledarna hade en bred variation av hälsofrämjande ambitioner, där vissa var direkt relaterade till aktiviteten medan flertalet ambitioner berörde områden som sträcker sig utöver själva aktiviteten såsom att bidra till personlig utveckling och ett socialt kontaktnät. De strategier som om till uttryck var något otydliga, men kunde relateras till de tre områdena, aktivitetsmiljön, aktiviteten som sådan samt till det egna ledarskapet. DISKUSSION OCH SLUTSATS: Den här studien gav en bild av hur aktivitetsledarna beskriver sitt arbete. De hälsofrämjande ambitioner som framfördes med fokus på såväl aktivitetsspecifika som sociala färdigheter, bekräftade resultatet av tidigare studier om ledarskap i ungdomsaktiviteter. Ledarskapets sociala och uppfostrande dimension var framträdande i ledarnas berättelser. Mötet mellan föreningsliv och skol­verksamhet be­skrevs som positivt främst eftersom det utgjorde en kontaktyta mellan föreningarna och ung­domarna. För framtida forskning föreslogs observationsstudier som belyser hur ledarskapet tar sig uttryck i praktiken liksom såväl kvalitativa som kvantitativa studier som belyser ung­domarnas syn på ledarskapet och AF-programmet. / BACKGROUND: The health promoting potential of recreational leisure activities was the starting point for the project Aktivitet Förebygger (AF) which was started up in 2009 as collaboration between the schools and the leisure activity associations in Ängelholm, in order to promote young people’s physical and mental health. In previous studies of health pro­motion interventions for young people, the focus was directed towards the beneficiaries of the project, i.e. the adolescents, but as the process in which health is promoted and created, is equally interesting from a health education perspective, this study focused on the leaders instead. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to highlight the activity-leadership in Aktivitet Förebygger from a didactic perspective and to answer the following questions: a) What conditions for the activity-leadership, in terms of challenges and opportunities, are expressed by the leaders in relation to the role as activity-leaders in the AF? b) What (values, skills and experiences, etc.) do the activity-leaders say they want to develop in pupils during the AF-activity and how does that relate to the promoting aspirations of the project? c) What health education strategies and methods are expressed by the leaders in relation to their own AF-activity, to achieve those values, skills and experiences? METHOD: The study was qualitative, inspired by a hermeneutical approach, and was conducted as an interview study with six activity-leaders from both athletic and esthetic activities. RESULTS: The study showed that leaders both saw AF as an opportunity to present their own activities to a wider audience as well as to do something for those young people not participating in recreational leisure activities. However, it emerged that the leaders experienced a low level of motivation, as a challenge. Moreover, it appeared that the leaders had a wide variety of health promotion aspirations, some of which were directly related to the activity, while the majority of the aspirations concerned areas that extended beyond the activity itself, such as personal develop­ment and contributing to a social network. The strategies expressed by the leaders, were somewhat unclear, but could be related to the three areas, activity environment, activity as such and to the leaders’ own leadership. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study provided an insight of how the activity-leaders describe their work. The health promoting aspirations expressed, focusing on activity itself, as well as on specific social skills, confirmed the results of previous studies on leader­ship in youth activities. The social and educative dimension of the leadership was prominent in the leaders’ narratives. The meeting between the leisure activity associations and schools were described in positive words, mainly due to the contact area created between the associa­tions and the adolescents. For future research observational studies that illustrate how the leadership is manifested in practice was suggested, as well as both qualitative and quantita­tive studies that illustrate the youths’ views on the leadership and the AF-program as a whole.

Le Sénégal est situé dans une zone soudano-sahélienne particulièrement exposée aux changements du climat, ce dernier rendant l’agriculture, activité principale du pays, précaire. La modification des conditions climatiques, en particulier depuis la fin des années 1960, a fortement affaibli le secteur agricole, majoritairement vivrier et pluvial. Face à l’importance de l’activité agraire vivrière du pays, il apparaît primordial de savoir comment les agriculteurs vivriers du Sénégal ont modifié ou prévoit modifier leurs pratiques en vue de satisfaire leurs besoins alimentaires dans un contexte de changement et de variabilité du climat. Cette étude a été effectuée au sein de la communauté rurale de Sessène selon une approche qualitative et à l’aide d’entretiens, de l’observation participante et d’analyse phénoménologique. Elle a permis de mettre en avant les caractéristiques générales des familles agraires et des exploitations de cette zone, de montrer comment les agriculteurs ont vécu le changement climatique et comment ils envisagent les prochaines années et enfin de discuter de leur capacité d’adaptation. Face au raccourcissement de la saison des pluies, à la diminution des précipitations, à l’intensification des évènements extrêmes et aux impacts de ces modifications sur l’environnement naturel, les agriculteurs vivriers adoptent des mesures aussi bien techniques que socio-économiques. / Senegal is located in a sudano-sahelian region vulnerable to climate change that renders agriculture, the country's main activity, precarious. In fact, changing climate conditions, particularly since the late 1960s, have considerably weakened the agricultural sector, which is mostly subsistence and pluvial in nature. Because of the importance of the country’s subsistence agriculture, it is imperative to know how subsistence farmers in Senegal have changed or will change their practices in order to satisfy their nutritional requirements in the context of climate change and variability. This study was undertaken in the rural community of Sessène using a qualitative approach composed on interviews, participant observation and phenomenological analysis. The research revealed the general characteristics of the agrarian families and farms, demonstrated how farmers dealt with climate change in the recent past and how they envisage doing so in the next few years, all aimed at contributing to a discussion of their adaptive capacity. In response to the shortening of the rainy season, the decrease in rainfall, the increased frequency of extreme events and the impacts of these changes on the natural environment, subsistence farmers are adopting both technical and socio-economic measures.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal