The main purpose of this dissertation is to analyse why three New South Wales primary schools were successful in implementing and managing educational technology. Responding to this research focus four specific questions were considered: Why have these schools been successful in implementing and managing educational technology? What factors have helped and/or hindered the successful implementation and management of educational technology within the selected schools? What are the indicators of successful implementation of educational technology? What were the particular contributions of leadership to the successful implementation and management of educational technology within the selected schools? This qualitative research study is based on the assumption that valuable data are gathered by studying schools that have been successful with the implementation and management of technology. In particular, the study provided a description and analysis of the best practice in three New South Wales Primary schools that had successfully implemented and managed educational technology. An interactive and cyclical process of data analysis was employed with data collection, data analysis and theory development proceeding simultaneously. To reduce and display data gathered from in-depth interviews, document study and non- participant observation the qualitative data analysis program QSR NUD*IST was utilised. The development and validation of the study’s conceptual framework shaped the study leading to the formulation of the SupportIF Model of Implementation. This model posits that success with implementation and management of educational technology is closely related to the level of interdependence between the implementation factors. The study results also endorsed the prime importance of a supportive work environment in each of the studied schools and linked this environment to the level of success realised with the implementation and management of technology and the utilisation of educational technology to enhance the achievement of student learning outcomes. The study contends that the sustainability of a school based technology initiative rests with a school’s ability to dynamically balance the key implementation factors and to redesign in light of shared practice. Tantamount to this process is a supportive work environment in each school which is the critical variable that facilitates interdependence between leadership, resources, relationships and teaching and learning factors.

Previous studies analyzed how personality traits relate to education, but not in relation to technology implementation. Limited knowledge can lead to inadequate professional development. This study provided insight on the “level of technology implementation” (LoTi) and the personality traits of private school principals. The theoretical frameworks of this research were the Big Five Personality Trait Model and Concerns-Based Adoption Model. The research study answered the question of the relationship, using Kendall's Tau-b, between the LoTi and each of the personality traits: extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and agreeableness of Adventist school principals using a quantitative, non-parametric, correlational study approach. Every Adventist school principal within North America (N=799) were invited to participate. Sixty-six completed the LoTi Digital-Age Survey for Leaders and the Big Five Inventory. Findings indicated that a weak-moderate correlation was found on the personality traits of extraversion (τb = .253, p = .007) and openness (τb = .229, p = .017); no correlation was found on the personality traits of agreeableness (τb = .118, p = .215), conscientiousness (τb = .177, p = .063), and neuroticism (τb = -.157, p = .095). It is recommended that future research studies include teacher's personality traits and segregation of data by age or years of experience in education. Findings affected positive social change by providing information that could be used to provide appropriate professional development with less emphasis on trainings that focus on agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism and more on those that help principals be more open to both the process and the actual technological change.

The A/E/C industry faces the inability to meet client demands of projects completed on time and on schedule due to the minimal collaboration between parties, communication problems, and mistakes. The present project management system in the industry is paper-based, and requires the owners of information to distribute the knowledge at their discretion. This system has inherent delays in information transmission, which lead to miscommunications, mistakes, and costly rework, which in turn, cause increases in the project schedule and budget. There is a need to fundamentally change the project management philosophy of the industry. Rather than each party maintaining a project management system, there needs to be a single, integrated project-based system. One type of integrated project management systems is project-specific websites. This research focuses specifically on the project-specific websites for project management (PSWS) offered by construction-based project management application service providers (PMASPs). While there are substantial improvements in the project process including cost and time savings by using a PSWS, the industry is reluctant to adopt the new technology. There are numerous barriers to the implementation of PSWS. A large barrier is determining how to implement and use PMASP-Based PSWS. Through a literature review, a project management questionnaire, investigations of the leading construction-based project management application service providers (PMASPs), and implementation case studies, a chapter on implementation considerations and lessons was developed. The Implementation Considerations and Lessons chapter serves to provide companies a basis for PSWS implementation and use. The chapter contains three parts: background, implementation, and sustainability. The background section identifies the benefits of using PSWS, examines the ability of five construction-based project management application service providers to meet the project management need of the parties, and identifies the barriers to implementation users should expect. The second part of the chapter details the steps needed to successfully implement and use the system. The final part describes the sustainability challenges that occur after implementation. / Master of Science

The Police National Database (PND) was launched in June 2011 as a direct recommendation from the Bichard Inquiry. Its main purpose is to provide a national platform to share police information and for the first time, the PND will provide a single view of data held in police intelligence, custody, crime, child and domestic abuse systems across the UK. The PND will not replace local police systems, but it will allow all forces to see and share information - that until now has only been available within individual force boundaries.

In this thesis a study upper secondary school teachers’ experiences from using digital resources is presented. The study was carried out in two upper secondary schools where the students had each recently been given their own laptop, a so-called one-to-one computer. The purpose of the study was to describe and analyse the teachers’ experiences of using digital resources in teaching. Four teachers, three men and one woman, from two upper secondary schools in a Swedish municipality, participated in the study. Empirical material was collected during autumn 2010 and spring 2012. The methods used in the collection were interviews and participatory observations, so-called go-along observations. The study’s theoretical approach has its foundation in phenomenological philosophy. In the result care, time and teachers’ lived experiences of didactic work emerge as important for the utilisation of digital resources in teaching. In the teaching, the teachers’ experiences and knowledge of their subjects, teaching, digital resources, and life experiences and knowledge seemed to interact. This interaction between experiences and knowledge is described in the study as lived experiences of didactic work. The study shows that teachers dealt with the new digital technology and designed learning environments for the students with the starting point of their lived experiences of didactic work and assumptions about the students’ interest for digital resources. The teachers’ care with relationship building and creation of trust and confidence was shown to have importance for how, and to what extent, digital resources could be used in teaching. Both similarities and differences in the teachers’ experiences of, and knowledge about, how teaching is carried out with one-to-one computers emerged in the study. Two of the teachers were more experienced users of digital resources in comparison with the two others. The teachers’ experiences of digital resources are often related to their own interest in these, but their experiences are also related to the lack of time for learning to use digital resources as pedagogical tools. / <p>På omslaget har en liten felaktighet i titeln smugit sig in. Titeln på omslaget ska lyda: Från datasal till en-till-en</p>

In recent years, there are an increasing number of Taiwan-based enterprises building up their factories in Mainland China, possibly due to the following reasons: low manufacture cost, plentiful human resource, inexpensive land and large market. Compared to other inexpensive (or even cheapter) countries, In addition, China remains entrepreneurs¡¦ favorite destination when considering moving out factories because of the short geographic distance as well as the culture similarity. However, recent macroeconomic control, the request of labor contract and the new tax law enforced by China government dramatically increase the cost of labor, causing more risk in investment. Take stainless steel industry as an example. There is a need to exercise good competitive strategies, with the aid of information systems, so as to stay competitive in the global economy. This research, through case studies, identifies several strategies that are essential to the profitable establishment of factories in mainland China and a number of factors for successfully deploying information systems.

This thesis presents a multiple-method investigation of teachers’ responses to the adoption and implementation of a compulsory laptop program (CLP). It reports on the beliefs, opinions, and behaviours of teachers responsible for translating a CLP into classroom-based reality. The study is based on data collected from 18 interviews, 2 focus groups, and classroom observations of 5 teachers obtained from teachers and administrators at one Canadian independent school, as well as an online survey data from educators at nine independent schools across Canada. The purpose of the research was to investigate the impact of adopting and implementing a planned change initiative by examining teachers’ responses to a school-wide mandated curriculum initiative by focusing on their perceptions of (a) requisite participation, (b) essential components, and (c) changing roles when implementing a CLP. The findings of the study include four supports for teachers trying to implement a CLP into teaching practices. First, clearly communicate and revise shared, benchmark-driven policies on an ongoing basis to assist in unifying an understanding of the program. Second, address teachers’ self-imposed pressures within a CLP by ensuring individual teachers’ intrinsic motivation and affective needs are respected and addressed. Third, provide teachers with job-embedded learning opportunities to work individually and in small groups, and with access to knowledgeable resources in order to connect technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge, to meet just-in-time needs. Fourth, adopt an implementation model that is fluid and addresses elements affecting a teacher to provide a more inclusive and realistic method for explaining and supporting what may occur when teachers engage in implementing a CLP. / Thesis (Ph.D, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-06-22 16:55:43.987

In this thesis a study upper secondary school teachers’ experiences from using digital resources is presented. The study was carried out in two upper secondary schools where the students had each recently been given their own laptop, a so-called one-to-one computer. The purpose of the study was to describe and analyse the teachers’ experiences of using digital resources in teaching. Four teachers, three men and one woman, from two upper secondary schools in a Swedish municipality, participated in the study. Empirical material was collected during autumn 2010 and spring 2012. The methods used in the collection were interviews and participatory observations, so-called go-along observations. The study’s theoretical approach has its foundation in phenomenological philosophy. In the result care, time and teachers’ lived experiences of didactic work emerge as important for the utilisation of digital resources in teaching. In the teaching, the teachers’ experiences and knowledge of their subjects, teaching, digital resources, and life experiences and knowledge seemed to interact. This interaction between experiences and knowledge is described in the study as lived experiences of didactic work. The study shows that teachers dealt with the new digital technology and designed learning environments for the students with the starting point of their lived experiences of didactic work and assumptions about the students’ interest for digital resources. The teachers’ care with relationship building and creation of trust and confidence was shown to have importance for how, and to what extent, digital resources could be used in teaching. Both similarities and differences in the teachers’ experiences of, and knowledge about, how teaching is carried out with one-to-one computers emerged in the study. Two of the teachers were more experienced users of digital resources in comparison with the two others. The teachers’ experiences of digital resources are often related to their own interest in these, but their experiences are also related to the lack of time for learning to use digital resources as pedagogical tools. / <p>På omslaget har en liten felaktighet i titeln smugit sig in. Titeln på omslaget ska lyda: Från datasal till en-till-en</p>

abstract: Nurses are using health information technology during patient care activities in acute care at an unprecedented rate. Previous literature has presented nurses' response to technology obstacles as a work-around, a negative behavior. Using a narrative inquiry in one hospital unit, this dissertation examines nurses' interactions when they encounter technology obstacles from a complexity science perspective. In this alternative view, outcomes are understood to emerge from tensions in the environment through nonlinear and self-organizing interactions. Innovation is a process of changing interaction patterns to bring about transformation in practices or products that have the potential to contribute to social wellbeing, such as better care. Innovation was found when nurses responded to health information technology obstacles with self-organizing interactions, sensitivity to initial conditions, multidirectionality, and their actions were influenced by a plethora of sets of rules. Nurses self-organized with co-workers to find a better way to deliver care to patients when using technology. Nurses rarely told others outside their work-group of the obstacles that occurred in their everyday interactions, including hospital-wide process improvement committees. Managers were infrequently consulted when nurses encountered technology obstacles, and often nurses did not find solutions to their obstacles when they contacted the Help Desk. Opportunities exist to facilitate interactions among nurses and other members of the organization to realize better use of health information technology that improves quality and safety while decreasing cost in the patient experience. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Nursing and Healthcare Innovation 2013

The purpose of this multiple case-study was to determine whether the use of reflective journals during graduate coursework impacts the level of technology implementation in instructional settings for experienced teachers. This study examined the relationships between: (1) levels of reflection demonstrated in journal responses, (2) the level of technology implementation, and (3) teachers' attitudes about technology implementation. The coding scheme used to determine levels of reflection in the journals was based on the framework of Leung and Kember. The LoTi questionnaire, developed in 1995 by Chris Moersch, was used to determine the levels of perceived technology implementation. The goal of this study was to provide information that may be utilized to plan more effective technology staff development. By providing insights on how to evaluate written work consistently for reflective thinking and on teachers' perceptions of technology implementation, university programs and school districts can develop better strategies for technology professional development. The findings suggest that teachers who demonstrated the characteristics of high levels of reflection also demonstrated characteristics of higher levels of technology implementation. Four of the five cases demonstrated a relationship among their scores on the Level of Reflection, Level of Technology Implementation (Loti), and Current Instructional Practice (CIP) measures. This study adds to the research regarding evaluation of reflection, the use of journals for reflection, and the impact of this strategy on technology implementation. The results of this qualitative study illustrate the process of using the theoretical framework of Lueng and Kember to evaluate the levels of reflection in written journal responses during professional development programs. The findings suggest that the use of reflective journals, in the context of the action research process during technology training, has a positive impact on technology implementation for practicing teachers.