Workplace learning can contribute to a reformative change in an economy’s workforce development.  Learning, whether formal or informal, is subject to various power balances in each context. Factors affecting learning decisions can include legal framework, market requirements, organizational culture, organization of work, and financing limits. This research explores the application of learning practices in workplace, in addition to the institutionalization of the application and its sustainability’s enforcement factors from the participants’ perspective. Through a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews’ outcome, a sample from several departments in two organizations in the Egyptian services sector share their impression, experience, and recommendations for fostering learning in workplace practice. The data was analysed thematically in the light of Lave and Wenger’s (1991) communities of practice theory, Ellstrom’s (2011) competency development study, and Fuller and Unwin’s (2006) expansive learning environment framework. The findings highlights the various initiatives for organizational development logic and  investigates both the barriers and the enforcers for practical continuity. The study is aligned with the constructivist approach as it identifies opportunities and organizational settlement through social interaction to ensure inclusive learning for its population.

Educational credentials have a central role in contemporary societies. However, social origins continue to affect educational performances and transitions well before children enter compulsory school, thus threatening future outcomes and development. By interacting research streams from economics, psychology, and pedagogy, this dissertation locates within the literature on child development, early education, and social stratification, and it aims at further contributing to the sociological evidence on the mechanisms that lead to inequalities in skills. The core of this dissertation lies in the analysis of the characteristics of the early childhood educational system (ECE) and of the home learning environment (HLE), as growth-promoting or unfavourable contexts for the development of both cognitive and noncognitive skills. Adopting recent cross-national and longitudinal data, this dissertation asks (1) whether and how much ECE matters in the lives of children around Europe, leaving long-lasting traces on their achievements once adolescents; (2) whether and how much parental social position, beliefs, and other family and child characteristics play a role in the care selection process in Germany; and (3) whether and how much quality in HLE and ECE contributes at explaining differences in skills before entering primary school in Ireland.

The study investigates preschool children’s perspectives on the outdoors as a learning environment in an Irish context. The aim is to gain preschool children’s perspectives on their outdoor learning environment as too often children’s perspectives are not represented in research. The research aims to answer questions regarding how children engage with the outdoor environment, how the environment affords them different possibilities and what parts of the environment the children deem important. This study is a qualitative study using different methods to gain the children’s perspectives. The methods include participant observations, photography tours and semi-structured interviews. The research was conducted in three outdoor preschools in Ireland, a total of 45 children participated.   The findings of the research show that children are very creative in the way in which they use their preschool environments. Outdoor spaces were where the children engaged in physical activities and imaginative play in the outdoor environments, revealing the multifaceted engagement of children. The environment also afforded the children many sensory experiences which resonated differently among the children. The children also placed importance on the relationships they have formed within the preschool with friends and teachers. The connection children had with nature was also evident throughout the results and reflected their curiosity about their surroundings. Children from different preschools seem to have many similar experiences while also having individual and unique experiences of their own. It is evident while shared experiences exist among the participants each child’s experience is distinct in its own way. The study is significant as it highlights the importance and need for young children to be a part of the research process and how their opinions are important as they are the ones with first hand experiences. Ultimately this study shows the pivotal role children’s perspectives play in understanding their experiences in outdoor educational environments.

This research project is about the lived experiences of upper secondary school and adult education teachers from a remote region of Sweden, during the global pandemic of 2020 – 2021. Educational change can be understood in terms of experiences, through listening to teachers’ voices, which have the capacity to bring new knowledge for future usage of digital platforms in education. Teaching is an embodied experience and opportunities for movement have become limited in the virtual learning environment. A radical change in the methods of communication has also occured, in particular the verbal and non-verbal clues of oral interaction, which differ in physical and virtual classrooms. Interpersonal relationships have been shown to be of the utmost importance for successful learning, and these need to be formed and maintained both online and offline. Some students are at risk of falling behind academically and socially due to remote learning. The research has shed light on this situation and illustrates how governments should work effectively with teachers to ensure that all students can succeed, regardless of individual setbacks experienced during the global pandemic. This is an ethical responsibility of importance to ensure that no student will be disadvantaged as a result of remote learning.

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This study examined public primary school teachers' perceptions of the factors contributing to safe school learning environments. Teachers' perceptions and behaviors were examined to assist task force members to develop and conduct a self-study process for enhancing a safe learning environment for pupils. Twenty-eight primary school teachers from one public primary school in Malawi participated in the study. Data on teachers' perceptions and behaviors were collected through a survey. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the survey data on teachers' perceptions. The data from the self-study process generated the discussions in the task force meetings where teachers shared their perceptions of classroom practices that contributed to a safe learning environment. The task force conducted a four-step self-study process. The steps of the process were building awareness and community, developing a group focus, implementing the ideas of the group focus, and reflecting on the practice. The participating teachers' experiences suggested that the process discouraged teachers from direct instruction and encouraged them to actively engage students more in their learning. As a result the teachers experienced fewer discipline problems in their classes. The perceptions of teachers in the survey indicated that the school environment was generally positive for teaching and learning. However, there were some elements that could adversely affect school safety. For example, there were problems in maintaining some of the school facilities such as books and children's latrines. The finding of the self-study process indicated that the school could develop elements of school safety. For example, the teachers in the study developed positive attitudes toward their teaching and learning. They reported for school activities on time and involved learners in their learning. The study had a number of implications for teaching and learning and teacher educators. The self-study process, for example, was able to change teachers' attitudes about their learners, thereby enhancing the learner-teacher classroom relationship. Suggestions for further research are also given. For example, further studies could focus on the replication of the study in other schools in order to examine the self-study process in different school contexts. And such replication could assist further understanding and refinement of the self-study process for addressing school safety as well as other identified school problems. / Ph. D.

Over the last years, online learning has gained significant popularity, and this trend is expected to continue in the future. Online learning is a multi-dimensional activity where each dimension should be adequately supported by an online learning system to provide a fruitful learning experience to its users. Similar to online learning, a particular approach in the way systems are designed has gained increasing popularity over the last years as a result of the emergence of the computer network. Systems have started to be envisioned as integrated collections of components that are deployed over the network. This network-centric approach addresses some of the issues that are not directly addressed by the traditional architectural design approaches. We believe that such an approach can be employed for the architectural design of online learning environments (OLEs) where different dimensions of online learning are addressed by different components residing on the network. This thesis presents a network-centric system architecture for OLEs. The architecture is based on the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) paradigm and web services. The proposed architecture is described using a number of Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF) representations. We also developed a quality model for OLEs and evaluated the architecture using this quality model. We believe that this research is an important first step in reconciling those two emerging ideas, namely online learning and network-centric architecture. This reconciliation is important as the flexible nature of SOA can be very useful in creating OLEs that address a wide variety of user needs. / Master of Science

In this thesis we present our research project on an augmented environment developed using the technology available in the field of Augmented Reality, capable of delivering learning contents on Information and Communication Technologies and e-services to older adults without computer and digital literacy. The learning environment is meant to provide a contribution in solving a problem of social exclusion in older adults. In recent years, technology has helped older adults in many ways to slow down the effects of ageing. Yet, at the same time, technology has also created new problems for older adults. Indeed, technology has transformed society into a strongly technological-based e-society, in which citizens without competences on the use of computer and digital tools, such as older adults, are progressively pushed to the margins, and run the risk of being socially excluded. Learning is the key-concept for a possible solution to such a problem. Older adults can still learn, even in older age. Learning is beneficial to older adults in many ways. So, why not using learning for teaching older adults the basic of technology necessary to make them citizens of e-society? That is the purpose of our research: our learning environment is meant to teach older adults the basic of technology through a technological device. We designed our augmented environment specifically for older adults without computer and digital literacy: it takes into account older adults’ needs and possible disabilities; it does not require any particular psycho-physical competence to be used; it does not require any technological knowledge. In this thesis we show how we designed a learning augmented environment with such features, how we developed it, and how we tested it on a group of older adults to ensure that what we have developed meets the requirements we set during the design process.

Several paradigms have been developed to define what constitutes deeper learning, how to foster it, and what desired outcomes or competencies can result from it. Much of the literature, however, has been based on studies in economically developed Western countries. There has been little, if any, that is based on developing country settings where culture and context can account for differences in the manner of promoting deeper learning. This qualitative case study explored the experiences of learners in the Mudita Mission School (MMS; pseudonym), a K-12 school in a rural part of northern Cambodia, and investigated how deeper learning was enacted, valued, and fostered there. It also examined challenges and opportunities for promoting deeper learning faced by the school. This study sought to contribute to the global movements for deeper learning by highlighting voices from marginalized communities, thus expanding the conceptual frameworks which have been exclusive of experiences of students and educators in impoverished country contexts. This study also sought to contribute to the literature that informs Cambodian educational reform. Study findings suggest that fostering eco-humanistic value-systems and respect for Khmer culture scaffold arcs of deeper learning in the MMS, and that several innovative pedagogical practices uncommon to many rural schools in Cambodia were transforming the educational experiences of students there. Based on the findings, the author proposes a theory of Epistemologies of Deeper Learning to complement frameworks in the literature.