In this study the author attempts to evaluate structural evolutionary networks after turbulence using reconstructive logic. Analysing contingent stages of evolution provide for an in-depth study of the various forces impacting on a non-linear social system's recovery after turbulence. Similarly, such a mode of analysis allows for studying the inter-relationships among a system's endogenous and exogenous forces. Although each crisis is unique, yet an analysis of previous events would pave the way to generate learning curves geared towards the prevention, or at least mitigation, of the impact of future similar events. A detailed conceptual analysis of decision-making contexts and behavioural styles under varying levels of turbulent environmental states are evaluated to illustrate the direct and indirect inter-relationships among the actors/participants and their contributions to the creation and prolongation of a state of turbulence and instability. Since environmental states relate to the perceptions of the actors involved and their interactions over time, the connection between the two main environmental levels, namely, the system's internal micro-environmental factors - including inherent socio-political contradictions - and its external uncontrollable macro-environmental influences - incorporating regional and international forces - are evaluated. This study primarily deals with contingency planning for system's evolution after crisis. It is essentially a case study of turbulence at the national level of analysis, mainly dealing with the development of normative and predictive transferable policy implications geared towards a system's embarkation on a recovery and reconstruction mode. With this purpose in mind, this research study aims at developing a Reconstruction - Governance Contingency Path Analysis (RGPA) in terms of identifying and evaluating contingent stages of evolution based on an analysis of developmental leadership pathways. This is accomplished through an in-depth analysis of the components and conditions for a system's evolution as well as evaluating the inter-relationship between the system itself and its environment, both at the micro- and macro-levels. To illustrate its application to a specific country, the RGPA is applied to the case study of Lebanon / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Doctor of Philosophy / The main aim of this research is the exploration of relationships and correlations between thinking styles of student designers, their personal aptitudes, and design education. It involves discovering the role/s several groups of learning styles and cognitive abilities may play in problem solving during administered design tasks; and the influence they may have on academic performance and quality of produced design solutions. The main hypothesis is that differences in designers’ individual problem solving strategies and, ultimately, products of their expertise – designed artefacts – can be correlated with the differences in their learning styles and cognitive abilities. We suggest the following. (a) Designers with different styles adopt different approaches to design situations and use different strategies during problem solving. It is possible to find the supporting evidence by investigating their performance on design tasks. (b) Individual differences in design reasoning and problem solving could be correlated with the differences in individual cognitive abilities. (c) It may be possible to find correlations between cognitive styles and cognitive abilities. (d) It is likely that a number of visible or measurable qualities of students’ design drawings, would in some way reflect different characteristics of the above individual styles and abilities. The methodological approach draws on theoretical and empirical knowledge from several domains, including: design studies, psychology, cognitive science and study of creativity. This study is concerned with selecting and substantiating the input – a number of cognitive styles and abilities chosen for evaluation; and their subsequent assessment. It involves administering design sessions and exploring them as a process to see whether and how the above abilities and styles are reflected in problem solving. It also deals with the assessment of the product i.e. produced design solutions, and their relation to the academic performance reports. And, finally, it explores correlations between the input, the process and the product to help finding explanations for the students’ preferences in adopting particular problem solving strategies in designing. This study is based upon the analysis of six major datasets from (1) an electronic test assessing individual positions on four dimensions (two dichotomies) of learning styles; (2) tests of cognitive abilities chosen on the basis of their relevance to designing; (3) design sessions, administered individually under retrospective protocol guidelines; (4) questionnaires, containing summaries of design sessions, and introspective reports of imagery use and problem-solving styles and strategies; (5) judgements of academic performance from course supervisors based on marks and grades; and (6) assessments of design drawings by professional architects. The analysis revealed fundamentally different ways by which students approach design situations; they are positively correlated with their learning styles. Students’ approaches to problem situations change with the task and within the task. However, eighty percent of the first year and half of the final year subjects showed various degrees of inflexibility in dealing with design problems; this may have decreased the quality of performance. Learning styles proved important in predicting the process and the outcome of problem solving. They may account for moderate to low quality of design solutions in cases with either style (from both dichotomies explored) being of low development. Styles were also observed to may have a moderate to strong influence on the students’ academic performance. Correlations between the measured cognitive abilities and academic performance were moderate to significant for the first year and similar but marginally lower for the final year students. At the same time, final year students scored higher on the ability tests and showed better results on the learning styles assessments. One of the likely reasons for this is the enhancement of abilities and styles during the course of study. No significant linear correlations between preferred learning styles and most of the measured cognitive abilities have been observed. The probable inference is that abilities are among many other factors affecting the development of learning styles. It has been, however, possible to establish a number of important correlations between the measurements of learning styles, cognitive abilities, observed problem solving behaviour, and students’ design solutions. Overall, it has been demonstrated that the applied methodology, although requiring further refinement, does enable examining and elucidating the influence of learning styles and cognitive abilities on design problem solving and academic performance.

Growing concern for an improvement in the formal learning situations experienced by adults is reflected in much of the literature currently available. Evidence from studies of adult learning suggests that (i) adults are generally well able to accept a significant degree of responsibility for the management of their own learning, and (ii) that an adult's learning is enhanced if the learning situations are matched to the preferences and strengths of the learner. In this study a design for adult instruction, which takes these factors into account, is developed. The Educational Cognitive Styles of 47 adult learners are mapped using a self-report inventory. The profiles thus obtained are used in the development of instructional techniques for the learners who are enrolled in a first-year, TAFE, para-professional course. Comparison of this experimental group with a control group indicates that the attrition rate is reduced, learners have more positive feelings toward their course of study, and performance on a content achievement test is, arguably, improved.

Most departmental policy statements on the education of gifted and talented students recommend their retention, where possible, in mainstream classes in neighbourhood schools. The educational experience in such classes, of 14 students identified as academically gifted by their teachers, was investigated using a case study approach. Their cognitive style was studied by reference to information processing strategies as revealed in WISC-R subtest scores. Interpersonal and communication skills were investigated through classroom observation and structured interviews. The theories of deviance and authority were applied in interpreting this data. Results indicated relationships between students' cognitive style and teachers' identification methods, and between students' cognitive style and their school satisfaction. Sex differences in teacher response and student interaction were also noted.

Despite the fact that there is an increasing call from the community for principals to provide leadership in their schools, little work has been conducted in Australia into the question of educational leadership. This study attempts to describe the leadership styles of principals at one A.C. T. secondary school over the period 1961 to 1981. Immegart (1973), when considering possible alternative approaches to the study of leadership suggested that the genealogical approach, that is the study of the succession of leaders in one situation, may be a viable alternative. Taking up this suggestion the present study attempts to trial the genealogical approach in order to contribute to a body of knowledge on the leadership styles of principals in schools in the A.C.T. A shortened form of Likert's Management Systems Questionnaire was used to describe the leadership style of the principals. A brief survey of the staff was conducted in order to build up a profile of the staff with whom each principal worked. A number of hypotheses were tested. It was found that there had been a change in the leadership styles of the principals over the twenty year period, but this change was not uniform. Subscales of leadership, communication, decision making, goals and control were found to follow the same pattern as the overall result, with the exception of the subscale communication which had a more restricted range. The number of years a teacher taught at the school, previous teaching experience, qualifications and position on the staff were not found to affect teachers' perceptions of the leadership style of the principal.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Type of thesis: Bachelor thesis</p><p>Number of pages: 98</p><p>Title: Understanding leadership in successful Non-profit organizations: a case-study of IKSU</p><p>Authors: Linnéa Larsson, Peter Storhannus</p><p>Supervisor: Jessica Eriksson</p><p>Date: 2008-01-24</p><p>Summary:</p><p>Most leadership research has made within regular corporations or public sector organizations in the business world. However, the research on leadership in the non-profit organizations (NPOs) has been scarce even though these organizations play an important part in society and the economy as well. It is argued that leadership in NPOs is different from that of a for-profit organization due to the different preconditions that exist in a non-profit organization.</p><p>The research question of this thesis is therefore; “what characterizes leadership in NPOs and what leadership styles can be found?”.</p><p>Our purpose with this thesis is to provide an understanding of the leadership in a successful non-profit organization. More specifically, understand the leadership at IKSU. We identify IKSU as a combination between a mutual benefit organization and a voluntary association. We have chosen to make a case study by interviewing managers in different positions at the successful non-profit organization IKSU located in Umeå.</p><p>The interviewees also answered a questionnaire about their leadership as a complement to the interviews. Further, a questionnaire was sent out to the interviewed managers’ employees in order to receive better contextual understanding about their self-perceived leadership. Literature about NPOs and leadership in both NPOs and for-profit organization has been used. Two frameworks are central throughout the thesis; the situational leadership model constructed by Hersey & Blanchard (1981) have been used to analyze and understand the leadership styles and the four cornerstones of leadership by Ekstam (2002) have been used to construct the interview guide and to analyze the leaders’ roles in the organization.</p><p>The results have shown that he leadership styles that we can find at IKSU are supporting and coaching and that the leaders most developed roles are the roles as developers and teambuilders. We conclude that the use of high supportive behaviour might be due to both the fact that they have such close relationships between leaders and subordinates that the leaders feel uncomfortable adopting a low task/low relationship style, as that could instead damage the close relationship and lead to lower motivation and commitment from the employee. Another reason to use high relationship leadership style is due to that there exist no clear goals within the organization. The leaders work close together with their employees and the employees seem to work independently, thus with the support from the leaders. They let the employees be part of the decision making processes and they take care of the employees skills and knowledge rather than doing everything themselves. Further, they lead the employees through the constantly changing organization and understand that the organization have to develop since the profits have to be reinvested which will lead to further development of the organization.</p>

<p>Denna studie hade som syfte att undersöka och analysera hur pedagoger arbetar med inlärningsstilar utifrån Dunn & Dunns modell. Data samlades in genom en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervjuer med tre pedagoger, samt observationer i klassrumssituationer för att få kunskap om hur olika lärstilar fungerar i praktiken. Undersökningen visade att de observerade eleverna jobbade med alla sina sinnen i större eller mindre omfattning. Informanternas definition av inlärningsstilen var att individanpassa undervisningen, att ge eleverna möjlighet att testa sina multisensoriska sinnen, att undervisa från helheten till detaljerna, samt att skapa stimulans genom informell möblering. Informanterna jobbade i enlighet med sin egen definition av modellen, som däremot skiljde sig i förhållande till Dunn & Dunns teorier, genom att inte diagnostisera eleverna och att använda mindre andel av studiematerial. Inlärningsmodellen är ingen fulländad metod för undervisning, utan snarare ett verktyg att använda utifrån varje elevs individuella sätt att lära, i kombination med annan metodik, för att skapa motivation, självkänsla och arbetsglädje.</p>

<p>Elevperspektiv på lärstilsmetodiken. Upplever eleverna att det är lättare att lära i de ämnen som tillämpar lärstilsmetodiken.</p>

<p>Examensarbetet är en studie om inlärningsstilar där även en jämförelse görs med andra sätt att se på inlärningen. I min litteraturgenomgång går jag igenom hur man tidigare såg på inlärning och hur inlärningsstilar ser på inlärningen idag. Jag har valt att begränsa mig till att skriva om de främsta och mest betydande pedagogiska inriktningarna. I avsnittet om inlärningsstilar utgår jag från Dunn och Dunns inlärningsstilsmodell vilken anses vara den mest omfattande och bäst utforskade av alla modeller. Intervjuerna som genomförts tar i första hand upp lärarnas uppfattning om att arbeta med inlärningsstilar i skolan. I diskussionen redovisar jag mitt resultat vilket visar att mycket av det inlärningsstilar förespråkar kan hittas i tidigare pedagogiker eller metoder. Mitt resultat visar att det finns en skillnad i hur stor utsträckning man som lärare mycket man jobbar med inlärningsstilar i de olika åren 1-3 och 4-6.</p>

<p>Detta examensarbete handlar om hjärnans utveckling, inlärningen och våra inre inlärningsstilar. Det tar också upp kort om hur man kan utnyttja inlärningsstilar i skolan. Syftet har varit att ta reda på hur vi utvecklas och hur de utvecklingsstrukturer ser ut som vi föds med och utvecklar efterhand. </p><p>De frågeställningar jag haft under skrivandets gång har varit: </p><p>Vilka är "de sju olika intelligenserna"? </p><p>Hur utvecklas hjärnan? </p><p>Var och när börjar vi lära, och vad är det som ligger till grund för vår inlärning? </p><p>Hur kan man bearbeta olika inlärningsstilar i skolans högre stadier? </p><p>Den metod jag använt är en litteraturstudie med litteratur som behandlar inlärningen, hjärnans utveckling, hur vi tänker och lär mm. Jag har också besökt en högstadieskola som bedriver viss av sin undervisning med hjälp av olika inlärningsstilar. I projektbeskrivningen beskrivs kortfattat hur man kan använda inlärningsstilar i skolan.</p><p>I diskussionen har jag behandlat min frågeställning lite mer ingående om saker och ting jag anser mer eller mindre trovärdiga från litteraturen, jag har också dragit en mer eller mindre trovärdig parallell mellan vår utveckling och handlande till hur dagens samhälle ser ut. </p><p>Jag hoppas att du som läsare känner igen dig i vissa delar eller har lärt dig något av att läsa detta examensarbete, det har i alla fall jag gjort</p>