Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-166). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Information Sciences)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2007. / Dissertation Advisor(s): Nissen, Mark ; Arquilla, John "September 2007." Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-277). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 1999. / Field project. Includes bibliographical references.

Organisations worldwide are attempting to increase individual job satisfaction, productivity and efficiency by implementing work teams. This research study evaluates the interventions considered necessary to optimally implement and maintain self-directed work teams (SDWTs). In order to complete this study it was necessary to address the characteristics associated with SDWTs, problems commonly experienced during implementation and functioning of SDWTs and the identification of the interventions used to promote the successful implementation and maintenance of SDWTs. These objectives were achieved by means of a comprehensive literature study. Subsequent to the literature study, a process model for the successful implementation and maintenance of a SDWT within a South African organization was developed. Thereafter, a questionnaire was developed based on the findings of the literature study and distributed to a randomly selected population. The objective of the questionnaire was to evaluate the interventions utilized during the implementation and maintenance of SDWTs. The results of the empirical study were statistically analysed and interpreted. Finally, conclusions and recommendations were made. The most important recommendations are as follows: Firstly, the trade union must be consulted and involved in the decision to implement SDWTs. Members of the team must be exposed to training interventions prior to the implementation of the SDWT. Thereafter, team members must undergo advanced training in interpersonal and problemsolving skills. Salary and reward structures within the organisation must be adapted to suit a teambased environment. Finally, the success of the SDWT will depend on the support provided by management. Management needs to exhibit total commitment to the change on a continuous basis.

Experimental studies suggest alcohol facilitates deliberate self-harm (DSH). One explanation might be that alcohol increases pain tolerance (PT), which may then lead to DSH. This study aimed to examine whether PT mediated the relationship between alcohol and DSH. Further, alcohol is neither necessary nor sufficient to self-harm. Given past non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a good predictor of future DSH, NSSI may moderate these relationships. This study also aimed to examine if mediation was conditional upon past NSSI. Participants (106 men and 104 women) reported on past NSSI and received a drink sufficient to produce target blood-alcohol content (BAC = .000%, .050%, .075%, or .100%). Participants completed a behavioral measure of DSH. Results revealed that the association between BAC and DSH was mediated through PT. Additionally, past NSSI moderated the path between PT and DSH but did not affect the path between BAC and PT. Clinical implications and limitations are discussed.

The aim of self-directed team learning initiatives is to provide a further level of defence against an eventuality by ensuring that air traffic controllers are aware of the sources of human fallibility, and by developing in the individual controllers and air traffic control teams the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will result in the successful management and containment of inadvertent error. To gain a deeper understanding of self-directed team learning, I investigated the role and contribution of self-directed team learning principles and strategies that were present in the South African Air Force air traffic control team-based work environment. This research study was directed by the following primary research questions: Does self-directed team learning impact on the air traffic control work environment, and what is the nature of self-directed team learning’s impact on the air traffic control work environment? Insights gained as a result of this study contributed to the body of research concerned with learning design, development, implementation and evaluation by self-directed teams as well as the air traffic control discipline. In this mixed-method study quantitative data collection was performed by means of a self-directed team learning questionnaire and a learning approach questionnaire, whereas qualitative data collection relied on individual interviews and focus group interviews. This study involved 25 South African Air Force air traffic controllers (from three operational air traffic control centres). The nature of self-directed team learning’s impact on the air traffic control work environment was illustrated by individual and collective (team) views and dynamics. The impact of air traffic control team performances was traced in terms of identified teamwork characteristics, activities, dynamics, performance measures and focus areas and reflective practices. Results of this study indicated that self-directed team learning offered opportunities to individuals and teams to influence air traffic control performances in an air traffic control work environment. A perceived positive relationship between self-directed team learning and air traffic control operational outputs could be traced. Lastly I concluded that self-directed learning by air traffic control teams had an impact on air traffic control operational outcomes, thus contributing towards a critical air traffic control goal – aviation safety. / Thesis (PhD (Currriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

Kolb (1984) identifies learning as a process whereby knowledge is created through transformation of experience. Wenger (1998) would further suggest that education is a mutual development process between communities and its learners, well beyond mere socializing. The value of learning “in community”, then, affords educators an opportunity to create the just right conditions for themselves as both teacher and learner. The success of learning communities depends on reciprocal engagement of its members to share knowledge, experiences, and skills with colleagues (Kling & Courtright, 2003). This study examined the case for blogging as a means to facilitate a self-directed community of professional learners, educators who endeavour to further develop their knowledge, understanding, and expertise of teaching and learning via the cultivation of an authentic informal online learning community. Using social learning theory as the analytical framework, this study looked at ways participation in informal, self-directed online learning communities not only encourages, but discloses potential barriers in participants’ abilities to (1) develop their understanding of teaching and learning as a self-directed, informal online community of engaged professionals; (2) expand their understanding of blogging as a tool to engage and participate in informal, online self-directed professional learning; and (3) deepen their understanding of working within the context of community: self-directed professionals engaging informally online to support, enhance, and reflect critically as engaged learners, specifically through the blogging process. This study investigated various motivations and actions that might bring participants together as engaged, self-directed professional learners and better explain how and why these informal online communities might experience success. Ultimately, it was the researcher’s hope this study would identify specific elements within the participants’ learning, offering both insight and relevance for educators as an engaged, informal, self-directed online community of professional learners.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Foundations and Adult Education / Sarah Jane Fishback / There have been two classic models of the way self-directed learners organize their learning experiences – a planning model, discussed by researchers such as Tough (1971) and Knowles (1975), which considers self-directed learners to be actively and deliberately planning their learning projects, and an environmental model, proposed by Spear and Mocker (1984), which considers these learners to be strongly influenced by what they called the organizing circumstance. Later researchers have found support for both models. Both models posit that learning resources play an important role for self-directed learners, but there hasn’t been much research specifically looking at how learners make resource decisions. For this project, the researcher recruited 13 women from online sewing communities who had reported obtaining a particular hard-to-find sewing resource and interviewed them about their resource decisions and resource libraries. The project asked the questions of how self-directed learners are planning, the criteria they use to choose learning resources, how an environment of plentiful resources and the internet affect these choices, and how learners evaluate their resources. The researcher found that this particular group of learners are conscious only of doing short-term, project-by-project, planning, but reveal another, unconscious level of building mental maps of their entire field of interest, including judgments of their personal interests and evaluations of their personal skill sets. These learners enjoy this learning, and consider their resources to be treats as well as references; they seek relevant content, novelty, and intellectual challenge. They are strongly influenced by their communities, both local and online, but maintain independence in their learning choices.

Education is, at least, the endeavor to get people to do things they could not previously do, to understand things they did not previously understand, and perhaps, to become the people they did not expect to become. - Sockett, 1998, p. 195 In today’s fast-paced technology driven knowledge-based society, students in the Gulf and abroad, are expected to remain engaged while playing a more invested role in becoming independent, mature learners, no matter what their personal or educational challenges are. It is quite common for students to abandon their EFL studies due to a lack of motivation and/or confidence. There has been extensive research undertaken to better understand how motivation and confidence affect EFL/ESL learners, yet little attention has been paid to a more recent area of educational research in emotional intelligence (EI) and how self-coaching may also contribute to a tertiary EFL/ESL learners’ ability to succeed. It is not unreasonable to hypothesize that everyday occurrences encountered in their personal and academic life may very well, at times, have a detrimental effect on students’ confidence and motivation, and therefore impede their ability to reach set goals. This study explores the possible correlations between the three main constructs, confidence, motivation and EI while investigating female Emirati tertiary EFL students at Zayed University in the U.A.E. and their interest towards self-coaching to reach their academic and personal goals. This exploratory longitudinal interpretive study used a mixed-method approach to gather data generated from a survey (CMEII) constructed and piloted for this study and completed by 199 female Emirati tertiary EFL participants measuring motivation, confidence and EI. In addition, student journals, interviews and progress reports retrieved from CMEI workshops also informed the research questions pertaining to these aforementioned constructs. Results suggest that there is a correlation between confidence, motivation and EI. These results would indicate that when the level of motivation increases, so does the level of confidence in speaking English. Motivation to self-direct in English is positively correlated with problem solving, higher life-satisfaction and confidence levels. Surprisingly the higher the academic anxiety, the more students want to self-direct. Furthermore it was found that students participating in this study found self-coaching methods extremely helpful in supporting them in reaching both their personal and academic goals. The implications of this exploratory study into confidence, motivation and emotional intelligence has laid the foundation for future research in this area. By creating and piloting the first Confidence, Motivation and Emotional Intelligence survey instrument (CMEII) designed for the ESL/EFL learning environment, a primary obstacle has been traversed. The CMEII research instrument and results of this study will no doubt help bring light and understanding to how self-coaching and self-direction can support female EFL students in reaching their personal and academic goals in the U.A.E and abroad.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / The purpose of this study was to determine whether a match between a participant's learning style and type of online instruction improved learner performance on tests measuring comprehension and retention. Learning style was measured by the Self-Directed Leamer Readiness Scale (SDLRS) and the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scale (GRSLSS) and online instruction varied among online courses, recorded online courses, and computer-based tutorials. The setting for the study was a high tech machine vision company in Massachusetts and online users of its products were the participants. Three groups of learners participated in the study: employees, high school students, and customers. All three groups were comprised of engineers or engineering students. All 106 participants completed a survey that measured their preference for self-directed and collaborative learning style with the standard instruments SDLRS and GRSLSS. Participants completed 323 pre- and post-tests for 46 live online courses, recorded online courses, and computer-based tutorials during the data collection phase of the study. Those participants learning in their preferred learning style had the highest mean improvement from pre- to post-tests. Those participants with average or below average scores for self-directed and collaborative learning style showed the least improvement. The results of this study supported the hypothesis that matching the type of activity, collaborative or self-directed, to the learner's preferred learning style improved performance. The study included ten research questions. / 2031-01-01