M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Management is a typical human undertaking which occurs when people come together with the aim of striving towards achieving goals. Because of the ever increasing complexity of technology in an advanced western society, management has in all facets changed radically. Effective, modern management practice has become part and parcel of the advanced world. Because management as a science is also applicable to the Telecommunication Chief Technician, it is necessary for the business leader to apply management principles to their fullest. The world of telecommunications is characterized by complex equipment of advanced technology. The application and use of this equipment is part of the action applicable to the Chief Technician. This necessitates the business leader to use people (his subordinates) so that optinm use of men and machines (resources) will be an advantage to the organisation. The purpose of this investigation is to determine to what degree the Chief Technician is quall fled to apply management principles. As a result of this information an effort is going to be made to set guidelines and a model with the purpose of combining management techniques into a curriculum with a view to functional management. This model will serve as a guideline in training Chief Technicians. According to the researcher, functional management can only be considered when it consists of the following: Management principles and curriculum basic principles. Areview of literature which has been used as a reference during the course of this study indicate the following: There are four management principles which exist, namely: Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling...

M.Phil. (Leadership in Performance and Change) / Technicians are frequently promoted to supervisory positions based on their technical abilities, with scant attention focused on developing supervisory competencies. This oversight often poses significant challenges. The effective transition from technician to supervisor is important in any organisation. Human Resource (HR) managers, Human Resource Development (HRD) managers, and line managers need to ensure that relevant training interventions are implemented to develop the necessary management competencies for this career advancement. The primary objective of this study was to identify and verify the competencies required for the positions of both a technician and a supervisor; whilst the secondary objective was to determine the differences in the competencies between the positions of technician and supervisor, so that Human Resource (HR) managers and Human Resource Development (HRD) managers are able to design and implement relevant training interventions to ensure the smooth transition of technicians to supervisory positions. The literature review highlights that the transition of technicians to supervisory positions often poses significant challenges for technical professionals because they may lack management or supervisory competencies. Effective transitioning is a necessary step. In this study, the mixed method approach was used to enable three-phase data collection, namely, the development of a theoretical framework, quantitative, and qualitative studies. The first phase was to generate a theoretical framework to gather information from energy utility industries on the competencies that are required for a technician and a supervisor. The second phase was the quantitative phase, where a survey was used to identify and verify the competencies required for a technician and a supervisor. The third phase was the qualitative phase, where the focus groups were instructed to validate the list of competencies, assign a degree of agreement, identify the differences between the lists of competencies for the technicians and supervisors, and recommend any further competencies that are essential to successfully transition an employee from the level of a technician to the level of a supervisor.

Submitted in full compliance with the requirements for a Master’s degree in Technology: Dental Technology at the Durban University of Technology, 2009. / The Dental Technology profession in South Africa is currently undergoing a possible role transformation. In the past, Dental Technicians were restricted to laboratory work only and were not permitted to have direct contact with patients. Due to a demand for oral care, and a gap that is perceived to exist in service delivery, Clinical Dental Technology has emerged as a possible new profession in South Africa. The 1997 amendment to the Dental Technicians Act allows Dental Technicians to broaden their scope of practice through further education into the clinical aspects of the profession. South Africa is one of few countries that have an enabling legislation in terms of the recognition of Clinical Dental Technology. However, there is to date no training programme or curriculum for people who would like to practise as Clinical Dental Technicians. The three institutions in South Africa that provide training for Dental Technicians do not provide training to those technicians who would like to pursue a clinical career path. Internationally, Dentists have argued that Dental Technicians have insufficient clinical capabilities. They feel that technicians do not have sufficient knowledge and experience in dealing directly with patients, and consequently have identified a need for further training of Dental Technicians before they are recognised as Clinical Dental Technicians. The aim of this study was to evaluate educational institutions’ readiness in terms of the role transformation of Dental Technicians and to establish perceptions about the introduction of this new profession by Dentists, Dental Technicians and Dental Technology lecturers. The views of these three stakeholders have implications not only in terms of the development of a new curriculum, but were also found to raise serious concerns about the implementation of this profession in South Africa. Data was collected by means of questionnaires and personal interviews with Dentists, Dental Technicians and Dental Technology lecturers in South Africa. The responses were transcribed and then coded according to pertinent themes for interpretation purposes. The data revealed major differences in the perceptions of the proposed profession by the three sectors. This has important implications for the likely success of Clinical Dental Technology, given the need for these sectors to work together as members of the dental team. The data also reveals concerns about the type of training that would need to be incorporated into the curriculum and who would be able to provide such training. By using an overview of curriculum theory, this study also raises concerns that clinical aspects might be infused into the curriculum as simply the acquisition of additional technical skills, rather than as a significant shift in professional identity to incorporate patient care.

Submitted in full compliance with the requirements for a Master’s degree in Technology: Dental Technology at the Durban University of Technology, 2009. / The Dental Technology profession in South Africa is currently undergoing a possible role transformation. In the past, Dental Technicians were restricted to laboratory work only and were not permitted to have direct contact with patients. Due to a demand for oral care, and a gap that is perceived to exist in service delivery, Clinical Dental Technology has emerged as a possible new profession in South Africa. The 1997 amendment to the Dental Technicians Act allows Dental Technicians to broaden their scope of practice through further education into the clinical aspects of the profession. South Africa is one of few countries that have an enabling legislation in terms of the recognition of Clinical Dental Technology. However, there is to date no training programme or curriculum for people who would like to practise as Clinical Dental Technicians. The three institutions in South Africa that provide training for Dental Technicians do not provide training to those technicians who would like to pursue a clinical career path. Internationally, Dentists have argued that Dental Technicians have insufficient clinical capabilities. They feel that technicians do not have sufficient knowledge and experience in dealing directly with patients, and consequently have identified a need for further training of Dental Technicians before they are recognised as Clinical Dental Technicians. The aim of this study was to evaluate educational institutions’ readiness in terms of the role transformation of Dental Technicians and to establish perceptions about the introduction of this new profession by Dentists, Dental Technicians and Dental Technology lecturers. The views of these three stakeholders have implications not only in terms of the development of a new curriculum, but were also found to raise serious concerns about the implementation of this profession in South Africa. Data was collected by means of questionnaires and personal interviews with Dentists, Dental Technicians and Dental Technology lecturers in South Africa. The responses were transcribed and then coded according to pertinent themes for interpretation purposes. The data revealed major differences in the perceptions of the proposed profession by the three sectors. This has important implications for the likely success of Clinical Dental Technology, given the need for these sectors to work together as members of the dental team. The data also reveals concerns about the type of training that would need to be incorporated into the curriculum and who would be able to provide such training. By using an overview of curriculum theory, this study also raises concerns that clinical aspects might be infused into the curriculum as simply the acquisition of additional technical skills, rather than as a significant shift in professional identity to incorporate patient care.

Pharmacists rely on pharmacy technicians to assist with accurately dispensing prescriptions and providing information to clients. Texas does not have regulations for the education or training of pharmacy technicians, which may result in mistakes when dispensing prescriptions, causing significant harm to customers. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was assessing formally and informally trained pharmacy technicians' job performance as perceived by licensed pharmacists/managers. Data were collected via face to face interviews with 9 pharmacy managers in Texas to gain insight into their lived experiences of supervising not formally and formally trained technicians. Audio recorded interview data were transcribed and organized using the NVivo software. The job performance theory was used to help understand and interpret the data. Pharmacists/managers indicated that pharmacy technicians who receive formal training, when compared to those who have been informally trained on-the-job, have more knowledge, better job performance, less need for training and supervision, and greater salary and other job related opportunities. All 9 of the respondents indicated that the State of Texas should develop a formal set of professional standards for pharmacy technicians and require a formal certification training program. The potential positive social change of this study is a better understanding of the job training and performance of pharmacy technicians that can improve services to communities.

Ce travail de thèse porte sur la conception et l’expérimentation d’un outil d’aide au transfert de connaissances enseignées pour la formation professionnelle en alternance de techniciens supérieurs. La formation étudiée s’adresse à des étudiants d’un Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie en Statistique et en Traitement Informatique de données (DUT-STID). Elle est dispensée au sein d’un Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT Lumière Lyon 2) qui présente la particularité de ne fonctionner qu’en alternance, avec un engagement important des professionnels dans tout le processus de la formation. La durée de cette formation est de deux ans dans une formule spécifique le « 1 + 1 » où les apprenants sont sous statut d’étudiants la première année et sous statut d’apprenti la seconde année. Pour étudier le transfert de connaissances enseignées en entreprise, nous nous sommes appuyé sur un cadre théorique basé sur la théorie de l’activité (Engeström, 1987 ; Tuomi-Grohn & Engeström, 2003). Du point de vue méthodologique, nous avons fait le choix d’une approche progressive et collaborative. Nous avons tout d’abord mené, à partir de plusieurs sources de données (documents ; enquête et entretiens ; archives des traces d’activités des apprentis en entreprise issues des livrets d’apprentissage) une analyse de l’organisation pédagogique de la formation en recherchant ce qui pouvait, au sein de celle-ci, favoriser les mises en lien de situations d’apprentissage et les transferts de connaissances. Les résultats de cette analyse ont montré que l’organisation existante était peu favorable aux transferts de connaissances enseignées en situation de travail, comme cela peut être le cas dans de nombreuses formations en alternance. Puis, nous avons conçu, en nous inspirant du concept d’objet-frontière, et en étroite collaboration avec les responsables de la formation et les enseignants connaissant le mieux le cursus et les missions des apprentis en entreprise, un nouvel outil permettant d’effectuer des rapprochements entre des types de tâches réalisées en entreprise et des types de connaissances enseignées à l’IUT. Ce nouvel outil a été testé et expérimenté sur plusieurs cas d’étudiants en apprentissage en entreprise au cours de différentes périodes. L’objectif était de varier les types de contexte et les profils de tuteur pour tester la capacité de l’outil à fonctionner dans différents types de systèmes d’activité, avec différents types d’acteurs. Sur la base des cas étudiés, les tests et expérimentations réalisés en situation réelle ont révélé que notre outil répondait indéniablement à un besoin et était très favorablement accueilli notamment par les maitres d’apprentissage, les apprentis et les tuteurs universitaires, principaux destinataires de cet objet-frontière. Dans les cas étudiés, il a permis d’enrichir les missions confiées, d’expliciter davantage les étapes et les ressources nécessaires au travail de l’apprenti et de favoriser des temps d’échange sur les connaissances et outils enseignés à l’IUT qui pourraient être pertinents pour la réalisation des activités en entreprise. L’expérimentation montre, cependant, que son utilisation est complexe et repose surtout sur la capacité des tuteurs universitaires à en expliciter le fonctionnement aux maitres d’apprentissage et à faire vivre l’outil en situation. La dernière partie de la thèse rend compte du travail réalisé pour intégrer cet outil d’aide au transfert dans l’organisation pédagogique de la formation. Depuis septembre 2012, il fait officiellement partie des outils de suivi et d’évaluation des apprentis en situation de travail. / This work of thesis concerns the conception and the experiment of a help tool for the transfer of knowledge taught for the vocational training in senior technicians' alternation. The studied training addresses students of a Two-year technical degree in Statistics and IT processing of data (DUT-STID). It takes place within a University Institute of Technology (IUT Lumière LYON 2) which has the peculiarity to work only in alternation, with a significant commitment of professionals throughout the training process. The duration of this training is of two years in a specific formula " 1 + 1 " where the learners are under students' status the first year and under the status of apprentice the second. To study the transfer of knowledge taught in company, we leaned on a theoretical framework based on the theory of the activity (Engeström, 1987; Tuomi-Grohn and Engeström, 2003). From the methodological point of view, we chose a progressive and collaborative approach. We first conducted from multiple data sources (documents; survey and interviews; archives of the tracks of activities of the apprentices in company stemming from notebooks of learning) an analysis of the educational organization seeking what could, within it, promote the linking of learning situations (apprenticeship) and the transfers of knowledge. The results of this analysis showed that the existing organization was not conductive to the transfers of knowledge taught in working situation as may be the case in many sandwich courses. Then, in close collaboration with the persons in charge of the training and the teachers knowing best the program and the missions of the apprentices in company, we developed, by basing ourselves on the concept of boundary-object, a new tool allowing to make links between types of tasks realized in company and types of knowledge taught at the IUT (UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY). This new tool was tested and experimented on several cases of students in apprenticeship in company during various periods. The aim was to vary the types of context and tutor profiles to test the ability of the tool to operate in different types of activity systems with different types of actors. On the basis of the studied cases, the tests and the experiments realized in real life situation revealed that our tool answered unmistakably a need and was warmly welcomed in particular by the apprenticeship masters, the apprentices and the academic tutors, the main beneficiaries of this boundary-object. In the cases studied, it allowed to enrich the entrusted mission, to further clarify the steps and resources needed for the apprentice’s work and to foster the exchange time on the knowledge and tools taught at UIT (UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY) that may be relevant to the achievement of the activities in a company.The experiment shows however, that its use is complex and based a lot on the ability of the academic tutors to clarify the functioning to the apprenticeship masters and to make use of the tool in situation. The last part of the thesis reports the work realized to integrate this support tool for the transfer into the educational organization of the training. Since September, 2012, it is officially part of the tools for monitoring and evaluation of the apprentices in working situation.

[Truncated abstract] Objective: To investigate the demographics, success rate of application, nature and frequency of complication and the survival outcome of patients receiving advanced airway management in the pre-hospital setting. Design: Prospective observational cohort study. Participants: Patients who were attended to by St. John Ambulance Paramedics in the Perth Metropolitan area and selected regional areas within Western Australia. The patients were unconscious, unresponsive with no gag reflex and where application of an advanced airway would improve ventilation. Methods: Ambulance Paramedics received mannequin training within the classroom environment on the techniques for the application of the Endo-Tracheal Tube and the Laryngeal Mask Airway. The indication for the application of an advanced airway was any patient whose ventilation may be improved by intubation. These patients would be either deeply unconscious and areflexic, long term transport, severely injured (especially head injured) or cardiac arrest patients. Results: ... Paramedic assessment demonstrated that 14 (7.4%) 3 patients had an improvement in outcome. Of the 14 patients, 5 (2.7%) cardiac arrest patients survived to discharge from hospital compared to a 2.1 % survival rate for all cardiac arrest cases attended by the WAAS in 2002. Conclusion: Ambulance Paramedics can successfully apply an advanced airway apparatus in the pre-hospital environment. There was no statistical significance to demonstrate whether the introduction of advanced airway skills was beneficial or detrimental to patient survival outcome.

Submitted in fulfilment of requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Technology: Operations and Quality Management, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / The need for alternative teaching practices in the face of poor retention and student throughput rates has changed the context of higher education in South Africa. This study interrogates one alternative teaching practice: the use of a board game and a multimedia game. Arguments for the potential benefits of games in higher education have generated a growing body of literature, but the general focus of these studies has been empirical with little theorisation about the associated pedagogy. Using a mixed methods sequential explanatory research design, this thesis aimed to determine the quality of pedagogy through games in providing epistemological access to the subjects Tooth Morphology and Oral Anatomy in a Dental Technology Diploma at a selected University of Technology. The thesis also developed a framework for the design of games to enable quality teaching and learning of vocational subjects. Preliminary and pilot studies were conducted. The preliminary study was conducted over a five-year period from 2003 to 2006. The total sample size for the Tooth Morphology board game was n=128 and for Oral Anatomy multimedia game was n=30. Academic experts validated the study by reviewing the contents of the game. The findings suggested that games assisted students to actively learn. The pilot study was conducted in 2007 and 2008. The total sample size for the Tooth Morphology board game was n=62 and for the Oral Anatomy multimedia game was n=22. Dental technology experts validated the contents of the game. Cronbach’s alpha index was used to assess the reliability of the study and was α=0.45 and α=0.757 for the Tooth Morphology board game and the Oral Anatomy multimedia game, respectively. The low alpha score obtained for the Tooth Morphology board game prompted improvements to be made to the survey for the main study. The main study was conducted in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The total population size for the Tooth Morphology board game was n=83 and for the Oral Anatomy multimedia game was n=82. Surveys and pre- and post-tests were analysed using descriptive statistics, t-tests, factor analysis and cross tabulations. Content validity ensured that the survey focused on concepts and constructs that emerged from the review of literature on games. Cronbach’s alpha index was used to assess the reliability of the surveys and was α=0.794 and α=0.868 for the Tooth Morphology board game and Oral Anatomy multimedia game, respectively. Qualitative analyses entailed focus groups with students who used the games. The data generated was analysed using the conceptual frameworks of Bernstein’s knowledge codes and Maton’s Legitimation Code Theory of Specialisation. Trustworthiness of the data was achieved using methodological triangulation, data triangulation and peer debriefing. Quantitative results revealed that an integrated game design with an appropriate mix of instructional content and applicable game features and mechanisms facilitates the provision of epistemological access to Tooth Morphology and Oral Anatomy. By placing a sociological lens on knowledge in the games, a major finding in the qualitative analyses was that epistemological access using games provided access to particular knowledge-knower structures of the target subjects or disciplines. An LCT (Specialisation) analysis revealed that the games in this study represented a knowledge code as specialist knowledge and skills were valued over the possession of personal attributes and dispositions. This knowledge code was in turn aligned to the knowledge code of the target programme. In synthesising the results there were three recurring issues that emerged from the data as being key, namely: (1) access to knowledge; (2) instructional design of the games; and (3) technical design of the games. The thesis concluded by proposing the KITE framework, a guideline for lecturers to consider when designing games for higher education. / DAAD, NRF In-Country Scholarship