Magister Curationis - MCur / Self-directed learning (SDL) has become a focus in the past years due to the increase in the complexity and changes in the nursing profession development. Employing SDL methodologies has been advantageous to the learner nurses, since these methodologies are associated with moderate improvement in the knowledge and effective improvement in the affective and psychomotor domains. Despite the efforts to expose students to SDL, the challenge remains the lack of students‘ commitment to SDL during clinical activities in the skills laboratory. This lack of commitment may result from students‘ perceptions of SDL. Therefore, this study seeks to explore and describe the perceptions of first year learner nurses about self-directed learning activities in a skills laboratory at a school of nursing in the Western Cape. An exploratory descriptive quantitative design was used to answer the research question. All the first year learner nurses (N=336) pursuing a 4-year Bachelor Nursing Degree served as the target population and a sample of 168 respondents was selected by simple random sampling. A self-administered 5-point Likert scale questionnaire with an additional four open-ended questions was used to collect data for the study. Data was analysed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 21 software. Descriptive statistics were used to present frequencies, mean values, standard deviations, and the results were illustrated by means of tables. The Spearman correlation coefficient indicated the correlations between the 4 The findings revealed that most of the respondents positively perceived self-directed learning in the skills laboratory. However, it was also found that learners had challenges in relation to time management during the implementation of self-directed learning.

Houle conducted one of the first studies about adult learner participation. In 1961, Houle wrote The Inquiring Mind, which describes three distinct learning types: goal-oriented, activity-oriented, and learning-oriented learning. For more than fifty years, The Inquiring Mind has been read, referenced, and reviewed. Several scholars during the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s have added dimensions to Houle’s typology including: Sheffield (1964); Burgess (1971); Boshier (1971); Houle (1983); Gordon (1993); and Brockett and Donaghy (2011). What is missing in the current research is that no one has synthesized all of the literature and directly asked learners of today if the typology is still relevant, or if additional dimensions are needed for relevancy. Houle’s typology has been widely applied to various adult learners and not just non-credit adult learners. This study was conducted to explore if Houle’s typology could be applied to credit seeking adult learners in contemporary doctoral programs. The participants were doctoral students in the College of Education at a large urban research university. Results of this study concluded that participants were representative of Houle’s three learner types (goal-oriented learner, activity-oriented learner, and learner-oriented learner). However, these doctoral students did not seem to require as many social interactions as Houle’s non-degree students. Additional findings indicated that participants were role models, had a desire to contribute to society, gained self-confidence, sought self-fulfillment, and used acting as a role model to their children as a motivator. Seven themes found through this research were goal-oriented learning, activity-oriented learning, learner-oriented learning, role modeling, contributing to society, self-confidence, and self-fulfillment. All the themes seemed to be very prevalent among participants except for activity-oriented learning. One implication of this research is the importance of incorporating motivations into program planning to help adult participation in both credit and non-credit programs. Further research might be conducted with multiple universities and with participants seeking advanced degrees in varied disciplines.

In South Africa, the trend has been towards the decentralising of authority and giving greater powers to schools. This implies the active involvement of the school governing body members, the school management team members and the Level One educators in the day-to-day functioning of the school. Whilst some schools have welcomed this change and seen this devolution of power as an added advantage contributing to the efficacy of schools, some schools have struggled, while others have failed dismally to cope with this added responsibility of managing their own resources. The researcher, being an educator involved in this transition, has been intrigued by the success of some self-managing schools and the failure of others. The following words of Oliver Wendell Holmes have inspired the investigator to conduct this research to ascertain the reasons for the success of certain schools and the failure of others: “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” Since the performance of schools is normally ranked according to their matriculation pass rates, this research focused on six self-managing schools in the Port Elizabeth District. These schools were selected on the basis of their matriculation performances in 2008. Two of the schools had achieved an above 85 percent matriculation pass rate (Category A); two obtained a 50 percent pass rate (Category B); while the other two schools obtained matriculation pass rates of between 25 percent and 30 percent (Category C). Although the research relied strongly on a qualitative method of inquiry, because of the nature of the data and the need to obtain a better understanding of the feelings, attitude and perceptions of those in management positions, governing body positions and members of the personnel, multiple instruments for data collection such as a literature review and the study of school documents and questionnaires, were used. This inclusion of these multiple instruments for obtaining information, which is also called triangulation, contributed to the reliability and validity of the empirical investigation. Although the data was presented in the form of tables and graphs, vi which alludes to a quantitative approach, a narrative interpretation of the findings, which is associated with a qualitative method of inquiry, was also presented. An analysis of the findings revealed that there was a great amount of involvement of the principals, school management team members and Level One educators in Category A schools, which had a matriculation pass rate of above 85%, in the following change management strategies: the establishment of a vision, planning and organising, teamwork, training and development, communication, praise and incentives, and evaluation and feedback. There was also a great contribution by the school governing body members. However, the study revealed that Category B and Category C schools did not effectively use communication, praise and incentives and evaluation and feedback as change management strategies. It was evident from the empirical investigation that in Category B and C schools, the school governing body members were less, or not involved in the usage of the change management strategies applied. According to the results based on the six-facet model of Emotional Intelligence, Category A schools obtained 80% and above in the competencies relating to the self and social domain. Category B schools fluctuated between 50 percent and 80 percent in both dimensions, while Category C schools fluctuated between 30 percent and 80 percent. The findings suggest that there should be greater involvement of all stakeholders, especially the school governing body members, in the establishment of a vision, planning and organising, communication, teamwork, training and development, praise and incentives and the provision of feedback and evaluation for self-managing schools to become effective and improve their performances. Professional development, especially in the areas pertaining to Emotional Intelligence competencies such as personal and interpersonal skills, should be prioritised. This thesis proposes that, on the basis of the investigation carried out at the six participating schools on the influence of Emotional Intelligence on the change management strategies adopted in self-managing schools, schools use strategies such as the establishment of a vision, planning and organising, communication, teamwork, training and development, praise and incentives and evaluation and feedback to ameliorate the damaging impact of change. There should be continuous training and development at schools, especially for the school governing body members, who are elected every three years. The newly elected school governing body members need to develop the necessary skills to effectively contribute to the efficacy of schools. The human resource is the vital ingredient in schools, thus for any progression or improvement, all stakeholders need to be informed, trained and enriched. Since Emotional Intelligence can be learned, professional development in the area of Emotional Intelligence should be given more thought and included in training courses, focusing on the development of personal and interpersonal skills. The Emotional Intelligence training should be conducted as part of teacher training courses as well as on an annual basis for educators already in the teaching system, since Emotional Intelligence can influence the use of change management strategies at schools and enhance the efficacy of the functioning of self-managing schools.

Aim: This paper is a report on a study that explored the professional development of intensive care unit nurses in journal clubs. Background: Evidence-based practice is important in nursing care (Krom, Batten, & Bautista, 2010). However few nurses feel comfortable using evidence to guide their practice (Pravikoff, Tanner, & Pierce, 2005). Journal clubs are a way to establish science as conversation (Wright, 2004) and foster knowledge translation for evidence-based nursing practice (Goodfellow, 2004). Methods: Monthly journal club meetings were held with the participation of a total of 71 healthcare professionals (65 nurses, 2 physicians, 2 pharmacists, 1 physiotherapist, and 1 respiratory therapist), who worked in two intensive care units of an Ontario hospital. After six months of meetings, 21 individual interviews were conducted with nurses, physicians, pharmacists, and nurse educators. Additional data collection included two focus groups, surveys, a review of staff meeting minutes, and researcher field notes. Findings: Journal clubs provided nurses with incentive to read research articles, improved nurses’ confidence in reading research, created a community of peers who worked collaboratively to improve clinical practice, provided a structure for nurses to reflect-on-practice, and led to reported changes in clinical practice. However, the data suggests that any gains in competence of nurses with the critical appraisal of research articles were probably modest. Barriers to participating in journal clubs and evidence-based practice are also identified. Conclusion: Journal clubs can foster knowledge translation and evidence-based practice through creating a community of practice and by providing nurses with motivation, structure, and confidence to read research articles. However, nurses reported a lack of critical appraisal skills and uncertainty about how to implement evidence into practice. Journal clubs may have a greater impact when implemented alongside other knowledge translation strategies such as working with clinical nurse specialists in order to enhance evidence-based practice.

CHOICES, the career planning computer program, was evaluated by interviewing 35 grade 11 and 12 students. Using the critical incident technique, reports were elicited of what facilitated or hindered their career planning. These collected incidents were categorized by similarity to provide counsellors and others with a map of exactly what the program does to help or hinder career planning. This map potentially enables counsellors to capitalize on benefits and to minimize possible detriments. Secondly, this map was qualitatively compared to a similar evaluation of the Self-Directed Search. Overall, it was found that the two interventions have differing advantages and disadvantages. CHOICES stresses reality constraints, specificity and extrinsic work features. The SDS underlines self-awareness and an understanding of the matching process. It seems that CHOICES is more appropriate for planning and specific decisions regarding options while the SDS tends to focus on general exploration and decisions regarding fields. The writer wishes to express his appreciation to the following persons: To Dr. Larry Cochran, research supervisor, whose patience, availability and countless hours over six years made this study possible. To Dr. Marv Westwood, whose continual support especially for the clinical comprehensive, was greatly appreciated. To Dr. Bill Borgen, whose encouragement at the appropriate time enabled me to perservere. To Dr. Norm Amundson, whose inspired synthesis made the oral presentation smoother. To Dr. Ron MacGregor, whose suggestions were appreciated. To the students, to the staff of Matthew McNair Senior Secondary and to the counsellor Mike Casselman, whose co-operation and support made this study possible. To Mrs. Irma Eichler, for her devoted time and effort in typing this dissertation. And finally, to my parents Rene and Lucille, to my sisters Louise and Anita, and to my brother Jean, for their continual support and encouragement. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Dans un contexte professionnel en perpétuelle mutation, les salariés ont la nécessité de se former régulièrement, et ce quel que soit leur niveau de formation initial. Nous avons coutume de lire et d’entendre que le taux d’abandon et le taux d’échec des apprenants dans un dispositif de FOAD est supérieur à celui observé dans la formation présentielle. Ces défections ou revers peuvent être la résultante de divers facteurs dont: l'isolement de l'apprenant, un défaut d'ergonomie de l'environnement d’apprentissage (pédagogique, technologique) ou bien le manque d'autonomie de l'apprenant. Pour passer d’un système fondé sur la transmission du savoir (présentiel) à un système fondé sur l’appropriation et la création de connaissances (FOAD), il faut consentir des efforts particuliers, aussi, notre objectif est de découvrir : comment s’y prennent ceux qui vont jusqu’au bout et réussissent leur formation ? Pour répondre à cette question, nous allons investiguer les styles d’apprentissage des apprenants, qui induisent les méthodologies et stratégies d’apprentissage, ainsi que leur dimension auto-formative qui est une composante importante de la FOAD, due à l’éclatement des unités de temps, de lieu, d’action. Ainsi, nous souhaitons découvrir quels sont les styles d’apprentissage des participants d’une part, en essayant de voir quels sont ceux qui éventuellement dominent, et d’autre part, définir quelle est la capacité d’auto-apprentissage des participants dans le processus de formation ouverte et à distance. La FOAD suppose un ancrage fort dans l’humain, notamment les dimensions psycho-affectives et cognitives. Tous les participants ayant réussi leur formation, nous espérons découvrir chez eux des traits individuels, des dominantes ou constantes comportementales qui pourraient peut-être l’expliquer. / In a constantly changing professional environment, employees need to train regularly, regardless of their level of initial training. We usually read and hear that the dropout and failure rate of learners in an open distance learning device is higher than that observed in the classroom training face to face. These defections or setbacks may be the result of various factors including: the isolation of the learner, poor ergonomics of learning environments (educational technology) or the lack of learner autonomy. To move from a system based on knowledge transfer (face to face) to a system based on ownership and knowledge creation (Open Distance Learning), we must make special efforts, however, our goal is to discover how they managed to complete their education and succeed? To answer this question, we will investigate the learning styles of learners, which induce the methodologies and learning strategies and their self-formative dimension that is an important component of distance learning, due to the breakdown of unit’s time, place, and action. Thus, we would discover what are the learning styles of participants on the one hand, trying to see which ones may dominate the other hand, define what is the capacity for self-learning participants in the process of open and distance learning.ODL requires a strong anchoring in the human, including dimensions psycho-emotional and cognitive. All participants who successfully completed their training, we hope to discover in their individual traits, the dominant behavioral or constants that could possibly explain.

Information and communication technology has for long been integrated into learning and teachers utilize all forms of digital technology for communication as well as to simplify learning. To adapt, teachers need to personally or through informal learning process, learn about new technologies and how to utilize them to improve learning. To personally educate themselves, the teachers need to dedicate time and resources to identify ICT competence areas where is needed and sort for resources to solve it. This thesis investigates the process of self-directed learning with a group of teachers in a planned competence development program within a local municipality’s educational department, on the use of digital technology to integrate into classrooms. With action research that integrates instructional learning from the organizations perspective and inquiry learning from teacher’s perspective, self-directed learning process was tested as a simple and structured process for self/collaborative learning, for participants. The result was a series of events that summarized why teachers could not follow the learning process, with a conclusion that in order for teachers to be self-directed in learning new ICT, the organizational need to allocate time not only for instructional learning, but also for inquiry learning.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the teams that received interpersonal training would function more effectively as a team than the teams that did not receive training. Individuals from a large division of a major defense contractor in the southern part of the United States served as subjects. Data were collected using the Team Effectiveness Profile designed to measure team effectiveness. This survey measures the overall score as well as five sub-scores. It was hypothesized that the teams that received training would function more effectively than the teams that did not receive training. The hypotheses were not supported. Results were explained, among other things, by the internal and external changes that hampered the transition towards self-managed work teams.

This study investigates the effects of a participative-type management approach termed self-managed work teams (SMWTs) and work spillover into the family environment. The perspective of isomorphism by Aldous (1969), and Rapoport and Rapoport (1965), was used as a paradigm to examine both positive and negative effects of the work-family relationship. A total of 76 employees from the Department of Defense's Quality Division was used in the regression analysis, due to recent transitions into SMWTs. Results reported overwhelming support for the perspective of isomorphism: over 40% of the variation in positive work spillover was explained by SWMT characteristics. Communication with other teams was the single most important factor found to have a significant effect on positive work spillover.

The objective of this correlation study was to describe the association between the self-directed learning readiness (SDLR) and academic achievement among community college students enrolled in student success courses. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 35 community college students enrolled in student success seminar courses in central New Jersey. Total scores obtained from the administration of the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) were used to measure participants’ degree of SDLR. Participants’ GPA and final student success course grade was used as metrics of academic achievement. Additional analyses were conducted to determine if participants’ age and gender changed the association between SDLRS score and academic achievement. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection