ABSTRACT ¡@¡@With the global economic change and rising pressure of market competition, product-oriented business trend changed into customer-oriented gradually. It becomes an important task about how to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises, response the requirement from customer, and making better interaction with customer. Therefore, the role of boundary spanner has become more and more important for organization. The past research of boundary spanner almost focus on the quantitative research method of personal managerial skills of boundary spanner, validity and verification for boundary spanner personal scale and the performance between boundary spanner and organization. This research adopts the narrative method, taking customer service engineer as example, Start from the borders of boundary spanner, hoping to provide another observation of boundary spanner. The result of research indicates that there are four features of the work of boundary spanner : Practice bring efficient learning, Situated learning lead adaptive behavior, Low profile adapt role conflict and adaptive behavior is negative to continued learning and challenge the management of company. Hope these results could be the reference of academic continued research and company training. Also hope these result could be the inspiration of other customer service engineer and encourage them to make more contributation on their job.

Diss. Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2008.

Key to designing instruction for situated learning is ensuring the ability of learners to transfer acquired knowledge to a variety of situations. Common to models of instruction and frameworks for situated learning is the importance of including activities for promoting reflection within the design of the learning environment. However, these models currently do not include detailed support for reflective practice that will help instructional designers prepare learners to meet the demands of situated learning. One method to meet the demand of the ill-structured nature of situated learning and provide adaptability for instructional design is through reflection-in-action and mindfulness. The purpose of this study was to apply design and development research methodologies to develop a conceptual model of reflection that incorporates mindfulness to enhance reflection-in-action within a situated learning environment. This model illustrates the relationship of incorporating mindfulness to help learners increase and direct attention to the present moment in order to improve performance through reflection-in-action. Based on the results of the study, mindfulness and reflection strategies are incorporated before, during, and after the learning experience to enhance reflection-in-action. / Ph. D.

Cyberlearning has the ability to connect learners from diverse settings to educational resources regardless of the learners' proximities to traditional classroom environments. Prior research has shown that hybrid learning systems more effectively improve student learning than do either traditional or cyberlearning approaches used individually. The Online Watershed Learning System (OWLS) is an interactive cyberlearning system for use in hybrid education. It serves as the end user interface of the Learning Enhanced Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS), a watershed monitoring system for use in research and education. The LEWAS/OWLS has been integrated into 26 courses. Within the theoretical framework of situated learning, the OWLS uses data and imagery to situate users at the LEWAS site. The current research has the dual goals of developing the OWLS and evaluating its effectiveness within a hybrid learning environment as part of watershed monitoring education. Within goal 1, HTML5, CSS and JavaScript code (11,112 lines) were used to achieve platform independence, and student and faculty feedback suggests a hierarchy of cyberlearning interface features, where anywhere/anytime access is the most important class of features for these users followed by real-time data visualization, system background information and how-to-use information in descending order. For students at the community college freshmen, university senior and graduate levels, goal 2 investigated how much the OWLS increases student learning of environmental monitoring topics and motivates them to study these topics. For this goal, use of the LEWAS/OWLS increased learning and motivation for most students with the caveats that the these gains were not always statistically significant and that these gains may be caused by use of the LEWAS in general rather than by the OWLS component of it. Additional studies are needed to resolve these issues. Additionally, a pilot test of anonymous user tracking (11,231 page views) showed how it can be used to obtain general information about which groups of users are accessing a cyberlearning system, how they are accessing it, and how navigation through the system can be improved to better match user goals. The full results and their limitations are included along with areas for future work. / Ph. D. / Online learning has the ability to connect learners from diverse settings to educational resources regardless of the learners’ proximities to traditional classroom environments. The Online Watershed Learning System (OWLS), which runs in any modern web browser on desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones, is an interactive online learning system for use in learning settings that combine online and traditional classroom components. The OWLS delivers integrated video, weather data and water quantity and quality data collected by the Learning Enhanced Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS) to users. The goals of this research were 1) to develop the OWLS and 2) to evaluate its effectiveness as part of watershed monitoring education. Within goal 1, student and faculty feedback suggests that anywhere/anytime access to the OWLS and near-current data availability are two of the OWLS most important features. For students at the community college freshmen, university senior and graduate levels, the results for goal 2 indicate that use of the LEWAS/OWLS increased learning and motivation for most students. However, the statistical results were not always conclusive and further research in this area is needed.

While (big) data promises immense opportunity, initiatives focused on using data to pursue insight have mixed outcomes. The Management Support Systems (MSS) model summarises what we currently understand within Information Systems (IS) about the implementation and use of systems to improve organisations’ use of data. Adopting an ethnographic approach to observe how practitioners in two contrasting organisations actually generate insight from data, this research challenges the implicit information processing and implementation logics of the MMS model. The pragmatic messiness of pursuing insight is described in two monographs, which reveal the socially constructed nature of data in relation to phenomena, and the importance of data engagement to produce insight. Given that this PhD study also seeks to generate insight from data, it is compared and contrasted reflexively to the two cases observed. While the inquiry logic pursued in this study was made explicit, and was regularly reviewed and challenged, the two cases left this largely implicit. The use of tools is shown to facilitate and constrain inquiry, with related data acting as boundary objects between the different practitioner groups involved. An explanatory framework is presented and used to suggest various enhancements to the MSS model. First, the Problem Space is reframed to reflect the distinct, though interdependent logics involved in inquiry versus realising envisaged benefits from insights. Second, the MSS artefact itself is contextualised and Data Engagement rather than MSS or Tool Use is positioned as central. Third, Data are disentangled from the wider MSS artefact, as a critical, distinct construct. Fourth, an Alignment construct is introduced to address the boundary spanning nature of data initiatives. The thesis also highlights the value of using Wenger’s (1998) Communities of Practice (CoP) situated learning framework to study data initiatives, and the related value of mapping groups as a technique for further development. Some questions are provided for practitioners to gain a better understanding of data initiatives. Wider implications are also noted for the socio-material theorising of Data, and distinguishing between Data, Information and Knowledge concepts within the IS discipline.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a mathematics enrichment activity used to improve the mathematics performance of students relative to participation in the State Agricultural Mechanics Career Development Event (CDE) and in mandated assessments. The treatment group (13 schools, 43 students) participated in a mathematics enrichment activity situated in an agricultural mechanics context. The control group (16 schools, 56 students) did not participate in the enrichment activity. Both groups, as part of the CDE, were tested with a 100-question word problem examination, completed a individual skill and team activity, and completed a demographic instrument regarding participation in agricultural mechanics CDEs, scholastic performance, use of graphing calculators, enrollment in STEM, agricultural science, and fine arts courses, and other information. After the survey was conducted, schools were asked to provide TAKS exit scores on participating students. These scores were compared between schools and against statewide TAKS scores. Results of the study showed a significant improvement in scores on the individual written examination and teams scores for the agricultural mechanics CDE and on the TAKS exit level mathematics assessment. Mean written examination scores for the treatment group were 69.53; non-cooperators were 57.16. Mean total team scores for cooperating teams were 420.39; non-cooperators had a mean score of 368.13. Mean TAKS exit level mathematics scores for cooperators were 2336.78; non-cooperators had a mean TAKS exit level score of 2331.77. Participation in the enrichment activity improved both CDE and mathematics achievement scores.

This research aims to construct a brand-new teaching and learning environment called Transportable Digital Learning Center (TDLC) which contains three important features: mobility, ready-made and self-contained features. TDLC is constructed for providing learning opportunities to (a) people in disaster areas with a temporary teaching and learning environment before their reconstructions finished; (b) people in undeveloped countries who do not have learning opportunities due to the lack of financial resources; (c) people in geographically isolated places like deserts or high mountain areas who do not have learning opportunities due to the isolation of their geographic locations. The mobility feature means that it can be transported to different geographic locations easily; The ready-made feature means that all the components of a TDLC such as access point, TDLC Server, power supply, Tablet PCs and charging devices used to provide a teaching and learning environment are all equipped inside the TDLC in advance; Self-contained feature means that it is unnecessary to provide it with any other resources like network connections and electricity to sustain its operation. Therefore, once a TDLC has been transported to its destination, it can be used to conduct teaching and learning activities immediately. In this paper, we describe the overall concepts, main components, system design and implementation, and teaching & learning activity design of TDLC. We also conducted an experimental English Situated Learning activity to evaluate the effects of using TDLC in the teaching and learning activity. Finally, some future research topics of TDLC are proposed.

<p>Cognition has for a long time been viewed as a process that can be described in terms of computational symbol manipulation, i.e. a process that takes place inside people’s heads and is largely unaffected by contextual aspects. In recent years, however, there has been a considerable change in the way researchers look at and study human cognition. These changes also have far-reaching implications for education and educational research. Situated learning is a theoretical framework in which sociocultural aspects of cognition and learning are strongly emphasised, that is, the context in which learning takes place is an important part of learning activity. The concept of activity is central to situated learning theories, but activity has been considered an exclusively sociocultural process in which the body only plays a minor role. In embodied cognition research, on the other hand, there is an increasing awareness that mind and body are inextricably intertwined and cannot be viewed in isolation. Findings in cognitive neuroscience provide additional evidence that cognition is tightly linked to perception and action. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate the role of the body in situated learning activity by integrating these different perspectives on cognition and learning. The analysis suggests that, like individual human conceptualization and thought, situated learning is in fact deeply rooted in bodily activity. In social interactions the body provides individuals with a similar perspective on the world, it functions as a means of signalling to others what cannot (yet) be expressed verbally, and it serves as a resonance mechanism in the understanding of others.</p>

Triple Learning: The Journey from Student to Scholar emanates from a phenomenological exploration of the lived experiences of six international graduate students studying at the University of Saskatchewan. Grounded in the knowledge of the growing numbers of students studying at post-secondary institutions, I aimed to unearth and re-present the daily lives of the selected participants to shed light on the experience of being an international graduate student. A phenomenological inquiry through in-depth and semi-structured interviews and observations, undergirded by an interdisciplinary culture, allowed me to explore their daily experiences. Exploring and airing their daily practices, though difficult, illuminated the worlds of international graduate students as they study in and negotiate communities of practice overseas. Furthermore, by examining and ventilating their stories I was able to portray and clarify the essence or meaning of being an international graduate student at a Canadian university in a new way. This research reaches into the lives of the selected students uniquely, revealing their personal and academic experiences while studying at the university. To date, such experiences have been minimally addressed by university officials and prior qualitative research. The anecdotes and reflections shared by participants bordered on and were based in lingua-cultural, social, and academic adaptations, and, ultimately, transformation. Participants were enthralled by the adaptive process of living in a new community. Being newcomers, these students viewed themselves fundamentally as outsiders within the community of practice. Yet their stories encapsulated change from being dependent “scholars to be” to becoming independent scholars. Essentially, findings pointed to the international graduate experience being similar to advancing from student to scholar. Through participation in the academic community of practice, they were learning to become independent scholars in the university. Participant accomplished the non-linear movement from student to scholar by seeking to engage in the communities of practice through situated learning and a process of triple learning. Triple learning emerged as a lingua-cultural phenomenon and was a significant finding borne of participants’ storied experiences. Qualitative data revealed that, in learning, participants were constantly weaving around and through three distinct registers of English lingua-cultures. They were negotiating the English lingua-culture acquired in their home countries, which positioned English as a formal language; that of the provincial community, which seemingly was less formal; and the academic English language specific to their area of study in the university. The academic language includes a variety of discipline-specific language skills, such as vocabulary, syntax, and discipline-specific terminology, and rhetorical conventions that allow students to acquire and develop knowledge and academic skills. These lingua cultures differed significantly, so students constantly shifted among the three to make approximations deemed appropriate for their academic purposes. A significant implication of this research is that it highlights the daily experiences of international graduate students, their perceptions, and conceptualized meanings of these experiences. Findings from this study also have implications for social learning theories and places learning as lingua-cultural in nature. In addition, an understanding of the phenomenon of being an international student can inform universities’ policy makers, recruiters, faculty members, and other staff of the daily plights and experiences of international students as they study. This knowledge has the potential to inform policies and plans to attract and retain a diverse international student body.

The purpose of this research is to address ongoing challenges in American education that relate to student engagement, retention, and achievement. The intent is to examine current high school language arts pedagogical practices and to explore journalism's potential to make a broader and more positive difference in the overall learning process -- in previously unconsidered ways. The study employs a multimethod approach. Through qualitative fieldwork, it examines the award-winning scholastic journalism program at Palo Alto High School, in Northern California. Quantitatively, this study surveys 664 high school language arts students from 10 high schools across the United States. Specifically, it investigates how journalism and non-journalism students self-report motivational beliefs and learning strategies, after controlling for school and student demographics (community type, class-standing, or socioeconomic status). Further, the study compares journalism students with Advanced Placement Literature students to investigate why they enroll in their respective courses. This study fills several significant gaps in the literature surrounding journalism and educational research. First, it applies situated-learning and communities of practice theories to journalism pedagogy by specifically looking at peer-to-peer mentoring within student publication staffs. Second, it applies self-determination theory to high school journalism students to explore variables that can catalyze intrinsic motivation and enhance learning. Finally, it examines the lived experiences of high school journalism students to explore how this course of study affects their personal growth, sense of self, and group affiliations. / 10000-01-01