Technology is changing the face of both the sales and service domains. Honebein and Cammarano (2006) note that properly implemented self-service technologies serve dual purposes of decreasing firm overhead costs, while simultaneously engaging the customer in a way encourages the co-create of value for both parties. To get these benefits stakeholders must be willing to adopt and use the technologies that are available. Traditionally, this has lead to the research question "How do firms do this?" However, according to a recent article by Woodall, Colby and Parasuraman (2007), consumers are now demanding more technology-based options and becoming more technologically savvy. This changes the research focus to answering the question "How can firms be seen as able to deliver technology-based options effectively, efficiently and securely to meet the demands of this new "e-service" model?" The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the role of stakeholder perceptions of firm attitudes toward technology in answering this question. Perceived corporate affinity for technology (Fleming and Artis forthcoming) is a measure stakeholder perception of a firm's general positive affect toward technology, and was developed and validated in sales and services contexts using samples of both employees and customers. The studies of this dissertation test potential antecedents, consequence and boundary conditions of stakeholder perceptions of corporate affinity for technology in three key groups, namely managers, employees and customers. To accomplish this purpose, the following research questions, one for each key group of stakeholders, were proposed for this study: 1) Do manager perceptions of corporate affinity for technology influence employee perceptions of corporate affinity for technology?; 2) Do employee perceptions of corporate affinity for technology influence employee learning behavior?; 3) Do customer perceptions of corporate affinity for technology influence how they perceive the quality of the service delivery and their rating of other key customer service outcomes? Separate conceptual models were developed and tested to answer these questions.

Five models for designing work teams from the Work Group Design Measure (Campion & Medsker, 1992b) and the models7 relationships to effectiveness criteria were compared using 30 self-directed work teams (SDWTs) in a manufacturing/production setting of a large defense contractor. The models which are from social psychology, socio-technical systems theory, industrial engineering, and organizational psychology include Job Design, Composition, Context/Resources, Potency/Interdependence, and Process. The study also examined distinguishing demographics, team characteristics, and interpersonal processes within the teams that differentiate higher performing teams and/or teams with higher job satisfaction. Effectiveness criteria were performance and job satisfaction. Among the findings, four of the five team design models (i.e., excluding the Composition Model), and the team-oriented interpersonal group processes correlated with performance and SDWT member job satisfaction.

As a response to finding innovative ways of using games as tools for learning we explore the design process of creating a game system meant to promote self-directed learning. This thesis explores what design pillars a game system needs to follow when making a game that is meant to promote self-directed learning through reflection on cause and effect relations. We use a theoretical framework based on procedural rhetoric and self-directed learning in video games to inform our design process when creating an eco-adapted game system that provides experimentation opportunities. We adapt an ecosystem as a simulated real life context for our game environment and identify the major design pillars that video games looking to promote self-directed learning needs to consist of. The major pillars we found most important were; 1, activate participation, to engage the player by allowing them to experiment with different perspectives and the game state. 2, avoid correlating rhetorical arguments, to not influence players as they set their own goals when playing in an informal setting. 3, provide observational clarity, to let players learn how the actions they perform affect the actors and events in the game system. 4, enable trial and error, to give players time to explore multiple approaches in a safe environment where they can fail and try again without penalties. This thesis focuses primarily on the design process and documentation around the creation of a game system that adapts self-directed learning principles as a central design directive. In our design documentation we provide an open discussion of our design process around the decisions, findings, and implementations that make our simulation. / Som ett svar på att hitta innovativa sätt att använda spel som verktyg för lärande undersöker vi designprocessen för skapandet av ett spelsystem som är avsett att främja självstyrd inlärning. Denna uppsats undersöker vilka designpelare ett spelsystem behöver följa när man skapar ett spel som är avsett att främja självstyrd inlärning genom reflektion över orsaks- och påverkansrelationer. Vi använder ett teoretisk ramverk baserat på procedurell retorik och självstyrd inlärning i datorspel för att informera vår designprocess när vi skapar ett eko-adapterat spelsystem som ger experimenteringsmöjligheter. Vi anpassar ett ekosystem som en simulerad verklig omgivning till vår spelmiljö och identifierar viktiga designpelare som datorspel som vill främja självstyrd inlärning behöver bestå av. De huvudsakliga pelarna som vi fann viktigast är; 1, aktivera deltagande, för att engagera spelarna genom att låta dem experimentera med olika perspektiv och spelets tillstånd. 2, undvik korrelerande retoriska argument, för att inte påverka spelarna när de sätter sina egna mål medan de spelar i en informell miljö. 3, ge observationsklarhet, så att spelarna lär sig hur handlingarna de utför påverkar aktörerna och händelserna i spelsystemet. 4, möjliggör försök och misstag, för att ge spelarna tid att utforska flera tillvägagångssätt i en säker miljö där de kan misslyckas och försöka igen utan straff. Denna uppsats fokuserar främst på designprocessen och dokumentationen kring skapandet av ett spelsystem som tillämpar självstyrda inlärningsprinciper som ett centralt designdirektiv. I vår designdokumentation ger vi en öppen diskussion om vår designprocess kring de beslut, resultat och implementeringar som utgör vår simulering.

Suicide is a significant public health issue in the US. Despite national and international prioritization since 1996, little definitive progress has been made in terms of identification and intervention in cases of elevated suicide risk. Forty percent of those who died by suicide attended an emergency department within a year of death. Therefore, universal suicide risk screening in emergency departments could prove a vital component to a national suicide prevention strategy. The present study empirically evaluated the universal suicide risk screening program recently implemented at Parkland Health and Hospital System. The sample consisted of patients over 18 years of age (N=333,855; Mage=42.7, 32% male) screened as part of routine clinical care from May 4th, 2015, through November 3rd, 2015. The Parkland Algorithm for Suicide Screening (PASS) is part of a clinical decision support system for responses to Columbia - Suicide Severity Rating Scale Clinical Practice Screener (C-SSRS) items, leading to an automated clinical response via three suicide risk stratification levels: no action for no risk identified, psychiatric social worker assessment for moderate risk identified, and psychiatrist/psychologist interview for high risk identified. The present study used receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, which found the PASS predicted disposition (z=30.46, p<.001, AUC=.78, CI95=.77, .81). This study also evaluated the cutpoints separating suicide risk stratification and levels of clinical response. The results supported the first cutpoint and highlighted a need for additional data to address the second cutpoint. The results of the present study suggest that the universal suicide risk screening program at Parkland Health and Hospital System is an important step toward addressing suicide prevalence in the US.

The goal of this dissertation was to explore how self-directed learners assess their learning in informal contexts. Self-directed learners experience high intrinsic motivation and learner control, so studying these learners? experiences provides valuable insights into learning. I pose four questions: 1) How do self-directed learners in informal contexts satisfy their need for a) autonomy, b) relatedness, c) competence, and d) prioritize the satisfaction of these needs? 2) How do self-directed learners in informal contexts self-regulate their learning? 3) What affordances are perceived by informal learners during self-directed learning? 4) What relationships exist between the satisfaction of learners? basic needs, self-regulation, and perceived affordances during self-directed, informal learning? I employ multiple methodologies, including interviews (N = 19) and an open-ended survey (N = 154), and based on this evidence, theorize a Lanes of Learning model to explain how learners regulate learning, assess competence, involve others, and use tools to meet their needs. Participants? needs also influenced which learning tools they integrated and, from those, what they perceived as possible, including accessibility, personalizability, and adaptability. Evidence shows learners in 1) Lane A prefer efficiency, collect confirming cues, involve others to meet a goal, and use tools that provide a set of correct steps; 2) Lane B prefer structure, collect confirming cues and add affirming cues, involve others for functional purposes, and used tool that resemble the real thing; 3) Lane C prefer depth and chase information as it becomes relevant, collect affirming cues, involve others for emotional reasons, and use tools that provides more information to chase; and, 4) Lane D prefer innovation, collect affirming cues and add confirming cues, involve others to build a network, and use tools that are inspirational, not educational. I argue people are motivated to learn when that learning is on their terms, and this motivation manifests in the strategies and processes taken by individuals during learning.

Experiential learning in adult education is on the rise. A small private college in the southeast United States initiated a program that required 3 experiential learning projects to be completed in addition to coursework. The problem was that less than 8% of students had independently developed their first project. Instead, they completed a project proposed by faculty. This situation resulted in student dependency on faculty rather than promoting self-directed learning. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding about how to help students develop independent projects for the self-directed learning program. Experiential and self-directed learning theories formed the conceptual framework. The guiding question focused on how a select group of students described their ability to conduct a self-directed learning project. For this case study, individual interviews and documents were collected from 7 participants in the self-directed learning program. Analysis of the data by coding individual units of meaning revealed these 5 themes, which formed the basis of the findings: characteristics, self-motivation, lack of assistance received, personal gain, and advice for others. The commonly held major theme was personal gain. The second theme, goal setting, was discrepant. These were the major findings, which formed the basis for a proposed professional development training program for faculty facilitating the self-directed learning program. The implication for social change include emphasizing the importance of self-directed learning, supporting faculty for self-directed learning, and promoting lifelong learning. As a result of participating in this training, faculty will be better able to mentor students in the self-directed learning program.

Nous cherchons dans ce travail à qualifier et quantifier les différentes formes d’attrition prévalant dans les MOOC. En sus du retrait volontaire, dont nous détaillons les différentes formes, l’attrition est dominée avant tout par différentes formes de non-participation : la majorité des inscrits ne se connectent jamais à la formation, ou n’y réalisent qu’un nombre minimal d’actions, sans intention de s’y investir. La prépondérance de cette forme d’attrition s’explique en partie par l’existence sur les plates-formes d’hébergement d’une offre abondante, qui incite les utilisateurs à s’inscrire à plus de cours qu’ils n’ont la possibilité de suivre. Un certain nombre de participants s’investissent dans la formation jusqu’à son terme bien qu’ils n’obtiennent pas le certificat. Ils représentent néanmoins une forme d’attrition marginale. Il en va de même pour l’échec académique, compris comme l’incapacité à répondre au niveau d’exigence des activités évaluées. Les MOOC sont le plus souvent de niveau introductif, les participants peuvent le plus souvent recommencer des activités auxquelles ils auraient échoué. La plupart des utilisateurs suivent le cours avec l’intention d’en réinvestir le contenu dans leur vie personnelle ou professionnelle. L’incapacité des dispositifs à répondre à cette logique, qui correspond à certains égards à un projet d’apprentissage, explique vraisemblablement une partie significative du retrait volontaire. La plupart des répondants souhaitent obtenir le certificat de la formation, bien qu’il ne représente que rarement la principale motivation sous-tendant l’inscription. Cet intérêt ne relève pas systématiquement de buts de performance. / We aim at describing, quantifying and understanding the diversity of situations that explain the low completions observed in MOOCs, based on learning analytics, registration data from the French MOOC platform FUN, course structures, surveys and semi-structured interviews. Most of the attrition is explained by different types of non-starts, and to a lesser extent by voluntary withdrawal: most registrants do not show up in the cours, or do a minimal number of actions, with no intention to engage in the course whatsoever. The existence of an abundant catalog in most platforms drives users to register to more courses than they can follow. Some users view most of the videos of the course without engaging in the tasks required to obtain the certificate, but they represent a small part of the attrition. Academic dismissal is likely to be limited given the fact that most MOOCs are of introductory level, most evaluations are automated and multiple attemps are allowed. Most users follow the course with the intention to apply its content in their personal or professionnal life; a MOOC is most often the equivalent of a learning project. The inability to answer the needs of such learning projects may explain a significant proportion of the voluntary withdrawal. Few learners register in order to obtain a certificate, but most of them are interested in it.

Intrapreneurship is a phenomenon that differs from entrepreneurship as it is seen as entrepreneurship within an existing organization. The purpose of this qualitative study has been to explore the conditions for the individual’s intrapreneurship and the relationship between intrapreneurship and the individuals learning in organizations. The purpose was achieved by answering the following research questions: “What is employee’s attitudes towards intrapreneurship”, “What opportunities for intrapreneurial activities do employees feel exist in organizations” and “What obstacles for intrapreneurial activities do employees feel exist in organizations”. To investigate the study's purpose semi-structured interviews were chosen as a method and performed with eight informants with different roles, positions and in different organizations. The interviews were conducted remotely based on an interview-guide that allowed for follow-up questions. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed. The results of the study showed that all informants have a positive attitude towards intrapreneurship. We could identify four factors that were considered to enable intrapreneurship: encouragement from managers and colleagues, support from managers, freedom and personal responsibility and communication and collaboration. We could also identify four obstacles for intrapreneurship: time and priorities, hierarchy and organizational politics, employee’s resistance towards change and to motivate your ideas. In conclusion the study shows that for the individual ́s intrapreneurship to be promoted, the organization must contribute with a good innovation climate, support and necessary resources and the individual must be motivated. Therefore, it takes a good collaboration between the individual and the organization for successful intrapreneurship to happen. When these factors are met, it can also contribute to the individual’s personal development and learning.

Although self-directed marriage and relationship education (MRE) has the potential to reach a larger or different audience than traditional MRE, little has been done to examine the characteristics of those who access self-directed materials. This study examined individual, couple, family, and sociocultural context variables that predicted participation in both self-directed and traditional MRE programs. A series of logistic regressions were conducted using SPSS 19.0. Different factors predicted participation for each intervention. For self-directed programs, those who were older, more educated, more religious, less materialistic, whose partners were more neurotic, who had been dating for a shorter amount of time, and who had poorer relationships with their mothers were more likely to participate, while a wider range of factors predicted participation in traditional programs. Family life educators should consider creating self-directed materials designed to reach a wider audience.

Competency-based education (CBE) has become well-accepted as a powerful way to personalize learning. Today's advanced technologies have enhanced CBE even further. Practitioners in the field are seeking means to take advantage of technology to increase CBE's effectiveness and efficiency, especially for adult learners. Microlearning and digital open badges are two examples. This dissertation, which consists of three articles, aimed to provide more in-depth insights into the two innovative approaches. The first article is a literature review of the current understanding of microlearning. While microlearning is commonly defined as breaking down learning into manageable bite-size chunks, the review of the existing literature identified key principles for effective microlearning while also suggesting gaps in the research. Because of the limited number of peer-reviewed and research-based articles about microlearning, this literature review justified microlearning as a practical approach for workplace learning through CBE and digital open badges, which were relatively more well-studied. The article concluded with suggestions on how to design and facilitate effective microlearning experiences. The second and third articles from this dissertation resulted from an ongoing design-based research (DBR) project began in 2018. The study aims to contribute theories and practices about developing microcredentials and microlearning experiences to support self-directed learning (SDL) in educational settings. The project started with implementing competency-based microcredentials to train student instructors to teach software workshops at the Brigham Young University multimedia lab (Clement et al. 2020). It is in the second iteration to offer microcredentials to all students on campus through project-based assessments. Following the timeline of this project, the second article presents a case study that discusses microcredential use for student instructor training at the multimedia lab. We collected surveys and interviews from the current and former employees to determine if the badge-assisted training design has been meeting its intended goals for tracking skills. The result shows that while the badge-assisted training is effective for tracking skills and progression. It also provides insights to inform the next iteration's design. The third article is a product from the second iteration of this DBR project. The objective was to understand if and how microcredentials could promote continuous SDL. We collected 104 survey responses and 7 interviews from students who attended the software training workshops. Our findings suggest that marketing digital open badges as individual skills identification may be insignificant for supporting continuous SDL, but their stackable feature is. We aim to provide insights for practitioners to avoid similar pitfalls when implementing digital open badges through our reflections and suggestions.