Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2129. Adviser: Sasha Barab. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed June 21, 2007)."

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2008. / Title from title screen (viewed January 27, 2009). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Information Technologies, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

<p> Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing career fields, with the demand for qualified professionals growing at a rate 3.5 times faster than traditional information technology or computing-related jobs and 12 times faster than the overall job market. Women are largely underrepresented in the field, comprising a mere 11% of the global workforce. This qualitative study uses a modified grounded-theory methodology to explore factors influencing women&rsquo;s perceptions of the field of cybersecurity. Interviews were conducted to gain an understanding of how female college students perceive the existing gender gap and to identify motivators or barriers of entry to the field. This study resulted in the development of a substantive theory depicting the core concept of finding her way and how women take action by seeking to relate, seeking reassurance, and seeking return. Findings from this research will be used to inform efforts to attract, train, and retain future generations of women in the cybersecurity profession and to aid in meeting the growing workforce needs. </p><p>

Establishing proficient practices for technology teaching and learning is an immense challenge, especially since technology is a new subject that was added as one of the new learning areas within the South African education curriculum. This happened when the South African education system was reviewed after the 1994 democratic elections and OBE was chosen as not only the hub, but the underpinning philosophy of education. As part of the challenges that followed implementing a new subject, when technology was first implemented, there were no qualified teachers to teach it, and there were no official academic programmes to train those who were inevitably selected to teach it. After a while, the government found out that all was not well with the national curriculum technology and that in many schools, it was not as well taught as other subjects. From ever since, institutions of higher learning and service providers across the country made efforts to develop programmes and offer formal training in technology education. This study intended to carefully examine how technology academic programmes are conceptualised, planned, and implemented; and how that contributes to efficient training and development of student-teachers in technology education. This it did by purposefully sampling the University of Pretoria (UP) and performing a case study on its technology education pre-service programme. The investigation necessitated the concept: "the essential features of an effective and comprehensive technology education programme", which the researcher believes are inescapable because they forms the core, effect and success of technology programmes' design features; and they have a propensity to guide educational practice to enhanced performances and yield. From literature, the essential features are centred on programme design, content, teaching methods, programme coordination, staffing, student assessment policies and practices and the context of study. The investigation at UP started with programme conceptualisation and planning, which the researcher performed by interviewing the developers, designers and the lecturing staff. She then performed document analysis on the study guides and university general programme to investigate programme content; and she did lecture observations to explore teaching methods. The results of the study indicated that UP technology education pre-service programme is conceptualised and planned based on problem-based learning, project-driven approach and standard-based design. The lecturing staff applies learner-centred, activity-based, and outcome-based approaches that provide student teachers with opportunities to engage in authentic, real-life problems. The programme content consists of modules that are made up of study units that engage various technology concepts and knowledge base. They have good resources and specialised venues for technology teaching and learning. UP-D&T is balanced and auspicious; students and lecturers are enthusiastic and positive about the activities of this programme. However there exist a few hiccups, which are resembled in the level at which certain essential features are engaged within UP-D&T. The designers and lecturing staff might want to conduct some impact studies of this programme, as well as evaluations of practice on student-teachers presently training and those who were trained under this programme in the past. The study reflected in-depth descriptions of how technology education programmes can be comprehensively designed; by providing a window, patterns, essential features and rubrics for enhanced planning, practice and implementation. Discussions thereof might serve to mobilise, critique and further the discourse on effective pre-service teacher education. / Dissertation (MEd (Science and Technology Education))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

The impacts resulting from the integration of students with moderate-to-severe disabilities into a contemporary technology education program are described in this study. The research centered around questions that addressed impacts on students with disabilities, on regular students, on teachers, and on parents of students with disabilities. The study took place in a ninth-grade technology education class and involved two students with moderate-to-severe disabilities. One subject was a 15-year-old male student who was autistic, had a speech handicap, and was mildly retarded. The other student was a 17-year-old male who was emotionally disturbed and learning disabled. Data were collected through classroom observations, videotaped sessions, and interviews with teachers and parents. Notes taken during observations and from videotaped sessions were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Interviews were also transcribed. The transcripts were reviewed, and significant data were transferred to interview synopsis sheets for incorporation with the other findings. No major problems were found with the integration of the students with disabilities into the technology education program. The students with disabilities caused no discipline problems and were readily accepted by the regular students. However, because the students with disabilities were not actively involved in many of the activities of the class, much of their time was spent off task. The findings reveal that the technology education teacher, who was provided only minimal orientation prior to the placement of the students with disabilities in his class, used regular students as well as individual attention to direct the students with disabilities. A strong need for in-depth, ongoing communication was indicated between special education staff members and mainstream teachers. The importance of providing an orientation for regular students before students with disabilities are placed in mainstream classes was also evident from this study.

This study explores how technology teachers evaluate, select and use commercially prepared textbooks, comparing practices in well-resourced and medium-resourced schools in South Africa. The study is led by two research questions, firstly how technology teachers evaluate and select textbooks and secondly how technology teachers use textbooks in their classrooms. This is a comparative case study, involving nine schools, sampled for convenience. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and classroom observation. Two conceptual frameworks were used to interpret data. Evaluation and selection of textbooks were explored in terms of ‘textbook register’, while the use of textbooks was explored in terms of ‘didactical transposition’. From the literature, I extracted seven categories on textbook evaluation. These were content, connections, language, format, activities, context, and teaching strategies. I merged these categories with the two conceptual frameworks to design instruments and analyze data. Results showed that teachers in both contexts regarded the requirements of the curriculum as crucial in textbook selecting. They also regarded suitable activities as very important, and preferred that textbooks clearly present the technological steps. In well-resourced schools, teachers also preferred support in the form of teachers’ guides. There was a clear difference in the ways teachers from the two contexts used textbooks in the classroom. In medium-resourced schools, the relevant section from the textbook was read to class while in wellresourced schools, teachers compiled additional notes, indicating that they set a higher standard for their learners. However, in both contexts teachers explained difficult concepts and used discussions to involve learners in making connections and to reduce the language level used in textbooks. In medium-resourced schools, teachers also allowed learners to code-switch to their mother-tongue language. In terms of activities, teachers in both contexts used textbook activities without adaption but also developed additional activities. In terms of contextualising, teachers discussed or explained content information by relating it with real-life experiences, but didn’t attempt to contextualise textbook activities. Regarding teaching strategies, they mostly used their own preferred strategies instead of that proposed by the textbook. In particular, teachers in well-resourced schools preferred that learners do activities individually, indicating that they valued traditional teaching methods. In this study, the teachers in medium-resourced schools did not question the authority of the textbook. In well-resourced schools, the teachers set a higher standard than the textbook, but at the same time required support in the form of teacher’s guides. This suggests that teachers in both contexts were unsure about what exactly is required by the curriculum in terms of content and pedagogy, and that they did not know how to adapt activities offered in textbooks to suit their context. It is recommended that teachers be assisted by specialists to align textbook evaluation, selection and use with curriculum expectations. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

New literacies within schools is supported by both education policy and research; despite this, new literacies have yet to enter and transform the classroom. The COVID-19 pandemic offered an unprecedented opportunity to study teachers' experiences as they are required to navigate new literacies while teaching online. Therefore, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experience of three upper elementary school teachers as they navigated the use of new literacies in a Title I school during a global pandemic. Data sources included three in-depth interviews and were analyzed through a thematic approach. Data analysis resulted in identifying the essence unfamiliar, and three essential themes which included unfamiliar space, unfamiliar pedagogy, and unfamiliar teacher. The findings indicate that the teachers experienced challenges to their teacher identities and pedagogical modalities as they navigated teaching online. Additionally, teachers continued to favor print-based reading and writing, rather than embracing a new literacies mindset. A key implication of this study is the need for professional development and teacher education programs that prepare and support teachers as they navigate new literacies in their classrooms.

No description available.

This study investigated whether in a modular technology education (MTE) classroom, gender groupings and learning styles predicted degree of curiosity. Based on the assumption that gender grouping and learning style are factors that influence the degree of curiosity of both individuals and teams, it was hypothesized that a student's learning style (i.e., Accommodating, Converging, Diverging, and Assimilating) and gender grouping (girl/girl, boy/boy, and girl/boy) at the module would be essential elements to consider when measuring the degree of curiosity of learners in MTE classrooms. During a meeting with the deputy superintendent and the technology education supervisor in a mid-sized, suburban public school district in Virginia, three MTE teachers from different schools were identified to participate in this study in the spring of 2004. The sample for this study consisted of middle school students (n = 116; 22 girls and 94 boys, grades 6-8) enrolled in technology education classes using Synergistic SystemsTM modules. Students completed three consecutive MTE activities. This study was conducted in the technology education classroom in three different middle schools. Schools were classified as School A, B or C. Students selected technology education as an elective subject. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI), Version 3 was used to identify students' preferred learning style. The My Point of View (MyPOV) instrument adapted by Brusic and based on Leherissey's instrument, the State Epistemic Curiosity Scale (SECS), was used to measure individual degree of curiosity. The MyPOV instrument was administered three times; once after each module. Data was analyzed using a multiple linear regression analysis. Descriptive statistical analysis revealed that boys (81%; n = 94) continue to outnumber girls (19%; n = 22) in technology education classrooms. Participants (n = 101) preferred the following learning styles as identified by the LSI: Accommodating (35%), learning from "hands-on" experience, followed by Diverging (25%), preferring to brainstorm ideas, Assimilating (24%), interested in abstract ideas and concepts, and Converging (17%), rather deal with technical tasks and problems. Mean curiosity scores for students were analyzed by school. Results revealed scores from School B were lower than students at Schools A and C as measured by the MyPOV instrument. Mean curiosity scores for students were also analyzed by gender, learning style, and gender grouping. Statistics revealed that scores for girls were higher than boys. An independent-samples t-test was done to evaluate the difference between the means of the genders. According to the analyses, the tests were not significant, t(108) = .932, p = .353 (Score 1), t(110) = 1.282, p = .202 (Score 2), and t(104) = 1.564, p = .121 (Score 3). Overall scores for girl/girl groupings were higher than girl/boy and boy/boy groupings, and scores for girl/boy groupings were higher than boy/boy groupings. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate whether the gender grouping means differed significantly from each other. According to the analyses, the F-tests revealed no significant differences in gender groupings, F(2, 97) = 1.65, p = .198 (Score 1), F(2, 95) = .50, p = .608 (Score 2), and F(2, 92) = 1.84, p = .165 (Score 3). Additionally, curiosity scores for students by learning styles showed that participants that preferred to deal with technical tasks and problems or Converging had the highest scores followed by Assimilating, Accommodating and Diverging. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to test if there was a significant relationship between the pairing of students of different gender groupings and different learning styles in the prediction of degree of curiosity. The F-tests revealed that the linear combination of gender groupings and learning styles for the three schools were not significantly related to degree of curiosity, R2 = .09, adjusted R2 = .04, F(5, 86) = 1.65, p = .155 (Score 1), R2 = .09, adjusted R2 = .04, F(4, 79) = 1.84 , p = .130 (Score 2), and R2 = .02, adjusted R2 = -.03, F(4, 73) = .382, p = .821 (Score 3). The t-tests analyses indicated that the Converging learning style, t(79) = 2.06, p =.043, in Score 2 was the only significant predictor variable with this sample. Although it seems that learning style and gender grouping might predict degree of curiosity in MTE laboratories, this assumption was not supported by this study. / Ph. D.

Within the educational community, there is a growing shift towards the development of essential skills, emphasizing process-skills over mastery of content. This shift is mirrored in the rapid changes in workplace-related technology, outpacing the creativity and flexibility of current graduates. Makerspaces and related technology education approaches have been increasingly implemented to offer students opportunities for developing these desired skills. Parallel to this effort, students who receive special education services but access the general education curriculum continue to lag behind the general education population in high-stakes testing, graduation-rates, and long-term employment outcomes. Remediation-based services often preclude students receiving services from exposure to technology- or other enrichment-based educational opportunities. The initial phase of this exploratory case study focused on the impacts of a technology-based enrichment club on a small group of special education learners. Through this proof-of-concept study, it became apparent that adult participants across stakeholder groups were showing evidence of transformative learning through their experiences with the club. The follow-up study, therefore, focused on changes in adult perceptions and/or practices resulting from these experiences, as evidenced through the Nerstrom Transformative Learning Model (2014). Following exposure, interviews were conducted with participating cosponsors, school-based educational leaders, and guest presenters from technical fields. These interviews were analyzed for both commonly identified and group-specific themes. Results suggest that experiences with the club challenged various assumptions held by participants, often leading to new perspectives on special education practices and students who receive services. These results suggest that potential shifts are a function of how many established perspective-based obstacles these challenged and reformed assumptions can address. Recommendations for future research include replication, extension beyond a club setting, and further exploration of identified themes, as well as investigating the deeper implications of obstacles to transformative learning. / Doctor of Education / Within the educational community, there is a growing shift towards the development of essential skills, emphasizing process-skills over mastery of content. This shift is mirrored in the rapid changes in workplace-related technology, outpacing the creativity and flexibility of current graduates. Makerspaces and related technology education approaches have been increasingly implemented to offer students opportunities for developing these desired skills. Parallel to this effort, students who receive special education services but access the general education curriculum continue to lag behind the general education population in high-stakes testing, graduation-rates, and long-term employment outcomes. Remediation-based services often preclude students receiving services from exposure to technology- or other enrichment-based educational opportunities. The initial phase of this exploratory case study focused on the impacts of a technology-based enrichment club on a small group of special education learners. Through this proof-of-concept study, it became apparent that adult participants across stakeholder groups were showing evidence of transformative learning through their experiences with the club. The follow-up study, therefore, focused on changes in adult perceptions and/or practices resulting from these experiences, as evidenced through the Nerstrom Transformative Learning Model (2014). Following exposure, interviews were conducted with participating cosponsors, school-based educational leaders, and guest presenters from technical fields. These interviews were analyzed for both commonly identified and group-specific themes. Results suggest that experiences with the club challenged various assumptions held by participants, often leading to new perspectives on special education practices and students who receive services. These results suggest that potential shifts are a function of how many established perspective-based obstacles these challenged and reformed assumptions can address. Recommendations for future research include replication, extension beyond a club setting, and further exploration of identified themes, as well as investigating the deeper implications of obstacles to transformative learning.