This study, conducted in a junior high school in Canberra, used naturalistic research methodology and idiographic data analysis. As the results obtained in the study were time and context specific, the object was to reveal the personal factors which affected the nature of the reading experience for individual research participants. The theoretical basis of the research was derived from Louise Rosenblatt's transactional theory and focused on the reading experiences of adolescents with whole class novels. Three research techniques were employed in the exploration of aesthetic reader responses to two whole class novels. The techniques: reading journals, small group discussions and creative written responses to the text were implemented sequentially and revealed different levels and stages of individual and group responses from the 'primary spontaneous' to a considered reflective response. Data was explored through the case study mode of analysis which included information relevant to the individual research participants and the study context. The research explored the integration of the individual's evocation of the text with the individual's awareness of self, text, literature and the wider social context. The research data concluded that the employment of classroom practices which focus on a full, individual transaction with a text promotes the development of critical awareness of and familiarity with the text. This sound understanding of the individual's evocation of the text forms a self-aware and firm basis for the development of active, engaged and critical readers of texts.

Empirical research on parents’ decision making process and parents’ actual criteria when considering preschool is critical when considering its relationship to early educational experiences and subsequent outcomes for children. Research has consistently demonstrated that the type and quality of preschool program children attend has implications for future academic success. A review of past research suggests parents often have difficulty assessing quality and include a wide range of considerations that include both practical and educational features of care. The current study utilized a transactional ecological framework to examine parent considerations and related family, child and cultural factors. A series of focus groups and interviews were conducted with parents to identify parent considerations and inform creation of a survey measure designed to assess these considerations. Surveys were then completed by 203 parents from varying socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds who had a child that qualified for state-funded preschool the following year. Parents were recruited from 20 centers including Head Start programs, private-for profit programs, religiously affiliated programs and one YMCA center. Exploratory factor analysis identified two highly correlated categories of considerations: 1) characteristics that designate several types of quality indicators and 2) characteristics that designate a program’s practical features. A series of hierarchical regressions indicated a combination of cultural, family and child factors are important when assessing parents’ considerations for pre-kindergarten. In particular, socioeconomic status, parents’ beliefs about childrearing and involvement and children’s prosocial skills and family structure were uniquely related to parental endorsement of quality and practical considerations. These findings have important implications for policymakers and practitioners.

Empirical research on parents’ decision making process and parents’ actual criteria when considering preschool is critical when considering its relationship to early educational experiences and subsequent outcomes for children. Research has consistently demonstrated that the type and quality of preschool program children attend has implications for future academic success. A review of past research suggests parents often have difficulty assessing quality and include a wide range of considerations that include both practical and educational features of care. The current study utilized a transactional ecological framework to examine parent considerations and related family, child and cultural factors. A series of focus groups and interviews were conducted with parents to identify parent considerations and inform creation of a survey measure designed to assess these considerations. Surveys were then completed by 203 parents from varying socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds who had a child that qualified for state-funded preschool the following year. Parents were recruited from 20 centers including Head Start programs, private-for profit programs, religiously affiliated programs and one YMCA center. Exploratory factor analysis identified two highly correlated categories of considerations: 1) characteristics that designate several types of quality indicators and 2) characteristics that designate a program’s practical features. A series of hierarchical regressions indicated a combination of cultural, family and child factors are important when assessing parents’ considerations for pre-kindergarten. In particular, socioeconomic status, parents’ beliefs about childrearing and involvement and children’s prosocial skills and family structure were uniquely related to parental endorsement of quality and practical considerations. These findings have important implications for policymakers and practitioners.

Distance learning has been playing an ever more influential role. Yet there remains little rigorous academic research into distance learning pedagogy, lacking of serious study in management, delivery and organization of distance learning has destabilized the field. Recently, the boom of Web 2.0 has made websites a lot more intuitive, interactive and interesting; Web 2.0 is also widely used in distance education. Study of distance education as a result sometimes has been misdirected, instead of understanding and solving the real issues facing distance education, research in the field devoted entirely to technology usage discarding the very issue of effective education in distance context. In other words, instead of pursuing technology-relevant policies we focus on technology-driven policies. This thesis starts by reviewing learning theories and arguing for the case of why one is more suitable for distance learning than others. The author argues that constructivism, which favors a dynamic learning process, encourages people to interact, share ideas and bounce ideas is the more effective learning theory. But deploying constructivist pedagogy into real life is difficult. We need more concrete ideas as to how to organize distance learning, a framework to benchmark distance education, to evaluate distance education. That is where Moore’s transactional theory which actually derives from constructivist pedagogy comes into the picture. Moore pointed out 3 key areas of distance education: dialogue, structure and learner autonomy. Moore argues that by having enough constructive dialogue, flexible structure catering individualism and a high level of learner autonomy to execute learning; we can reduce “distance” in distance education. Moore is equally concerned about pedagogy as he is about technologies and he has incorporated into his theory how technological changes have influenced the way distance education has been delivered for the better. This is the brilliance of Moore’s, he has not sided with either pedagogy or technology, he observed the rise of technology and the influence it has on distance education but refused to see technology as the sole factor that makes distance learning more effective or reduces “distance” in distance education. The linkage between constructivism and Moore’s theory is of significance although it is only barely acknowledged in Moore’ writing. The magnitude of this connection is that first it highlights that the work that Moore has done has been based on strong theoretical pedagogy, his contribution is that he has simplified a grand ideology into something that can be applied in the class room. Also he has succeeded in refining elements of constructivism into working variables for quantitative research. His theory is still highly relevant today but his analysis of technologies’ roles has not yet included the latest explosion of technologies in the post-1993 age: the Internet, the booming Web and especially the new Web 2.0. The aim of this thesis is to extend his analysis to these new technologies. We studied how the explosion of Web 2.0 services have been facilitating rich dialogue among peers, teachers and learning materials, allowing more individualization to educational settings and structures. Also Web 2.0 lowers the barrier to participation and content generation and thus would be expected to encourage learner autonomy. A large part of the thesis has been dedicated to literature review. This is because the author believes that in order to improve distance education, it is necessary to first understand learning theory to know when and how people learn, and explore the nature of distance education to see the differences between distance and non-distance education, and then have a comprehensive plan to implement distance education, and evaluate that plan. The implementation bit is of course a practical project; the author used a real-life course at Umeå University where students from various backgrounds signed-up to learn about how Web 2.0 can be leveraged to enhance distance education. A constructivist approach was adopted so we had a chance to see how it actually turned out. We used Moore’s transactional distance theory to evaluate the impact of introducing Web 2.0. / In my thesis, I have discussed the role of distance-learning and have discussed how constructivism makes better education, Moore’s analysis that distance education is naturally education and thus what makes education makes good distance education. Better education according to Moore is when you can reduce “transactional distance” by influencing its makeup dialogue, structure and learner autonomy. I also looked at examples of where Web 2.0 has been successfully applied to reduce “transactional distance” grounded in Moore’s theory. I looked at the humble historical context of distance-learning and the spectacular achievements that distance-education teachers and students despite all those forces against change. I discussed the development of distance-education to become what it is today. I believe technologies are part of the solution but also we need strong pedagogy and a rigorous framework to guide it. The discussion of constructivism vs. objectivism showed the contrasting differences as well as certain overlapping elements of both ideologies. I believe constructivism was the pedagogy of the 21st century which involves a great deal of personal reflection, interaction among course peers and teachers as well as a shift in how education must be organized. Moore’s theory of transactional distance is grounded in constructivist pedagogy but has his fair share of genius thought. First, he convinced us that distance education is also education because the distance in distance education or what Moore called “transactional distance” also exists in face-to-face classroom education, to make better distance learning means to reduce “transactional distance”. Second, his ability to benchmark an operational framework to organize distance education and measure transactional distance as a result or influencing the three variables dialogue, structure and learner autonomy. His work has been proved by Saba (1994) with dynamic systems modeling as well as questioned by few critics of his poor theory construction as well as unconvincing empirical data gathered from a few studies. However, Moore’s theory of transactional distance is still the prominent theory and Moore himself a leading figure in the field. Transactional theory is realized by a new wave of highly interactive web technologies built on the architecture of openness and participatory. This plays well into constructivism of build a virtual learning community for collaborative learning. We looked at a prime example of employing Web 2.0 technologies for better distance education by Kane and Fichman (2009). The benefits of instruction activities that otherwise would not be possible without Web 2.0 have been analyzed and evaluated using Moore’s variables to yield a positive result. I also demonstrated a personal experience being part of a distance learning course at Umea University in Spring semester 2010 where we all learned about distance learning in the modern age and apply constructivism pedagogy and Moore’s transaction theory distance in evaluating the course. Understanding the theory makes me a better student because I know what makes effective learning and also further confirm my belief in the mandate of distance education, a distance education for all because you can’t learn individually. Kane and Fichman (2009) have surprised me to the extent of their creative ideas of applying Web 2.0 in education such as the idea of crowdsourcing and peer review by wikis. Able to use technologies especially in a live environment such as the course at Umea University gave me a real sense of gaps between theory and practice. / Author: Tran Huy Duc Mobile: 00-84-1283 27 47 09 Address: CC23 Truong Son St, Ward 15, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam E-mail: ductranhuy@yahoo.com

Purpose: The population of Sweden is steadily increasing, which raises the need for new infrastructure and new buildings. To meet these demands the construction industry must become more efficient. According to several researchers, better leadership can be a part of accomplishing this. Discussions regarding leadership are mostly from the leaders’ perspective and usually the decisions about what kind of leadership is needed is made by the leaders themselves. Not very often do the followers get a chance to share their thoughts on what they need to become more efficient. Earlier research shows a correlation between motivation and efficiency. Therefore, this study attempt to find out what motivates construction workers. This study intended to examine what type of leadership construction workers think they need to become more efficient. The study’s aim was to contribute knowledge about how leadership can increase the efficiency on the construction site. Method: Two methods for data collection were used. A literary review based on effective leadership and interviews with construction workers about their thoughts on what type of leadership would increase their motivation and efficiency. Findings: This study has, by answering the research questions, contributed knowledge about how leadership can increase the efficiency on the construction site. The construction workers are of the opinion that their leaders have a big impact on their efficiency. The leaders’ knowledge and experience of the production phase as well as their ability to communicate and plan ahead were all seen as factor that affect their efficiency. The literary review for this study found 23 effective leadership traits. According to the construction workers the leadership skills that contribute the most to their motivation and efficiency are humility, relationship-management, and self-awareness. Connecting the construction workers responses to the efficient leadership theories showed that the most relevant theories for increasing the workers motivation and efficiency are Transformational and Servant Theory. The theory of Servant is the most relevant since it focuses on the followers. Implications: To increase the efficiency one must focus on the people in the industry. By changing the leadership based on the construction workers' opinions their efficiency can be increased. Therefore, it is recommended that leaders on the construction site work with the leadership theories Transformational and Servant and that they develop the effective leadership traits, especially the traits the construction workers find most important. Limitations: This study was limited to the leadership from the site supervisor to the construction workers. The focus was on what type of leadership the construction workers wanted to become more motivated and efficient. Furthermore, the study was limited to four leadership theories and effective leadership traits. Keywords: Efficiency, motivation, effective leadership traits, Contingency Theory, Transformational Theory, Transactional Theory, and Servant Theory. / Syfte: Sveriges befolkning växer stadigt vilket medför en ökad efterfrågan på nya bostäder och ny infrastruktur. För att tillgodose denna ökade efterfrågan behöver byggbranschen bli effektivare. Enligt flera forskare kan effektiviteten delvis ökas genom bättre ledarskap. Diskussioner om ledarskap utgår nästan enbart från ledarnas perspektiv och det är vanligt att ledarna bestämmer vilken typ av ledare som behövs. Det är sällan följarna får chansen att framföra åsikter sina om vad de behöver för att bli mer effektiva. Tidigare forskning har också visat att det finns ett samband mellan motivation och effektivitet. Därför undersöktes även vad som motiverar yrkesarbetarna. Denna undersökning avsåg att ta reda på vad yrkesarbetarna anser sig behöva för ledarskap för att bli mer motiverade och effektivare. Målet med undersökningen var att bidra med kunskap kring hur ledarskap kan öka effektiviteten i byggproduktionen. Metod: I undersökningen användes två metoder för datainsamling. En litteraturstudie med utgångspunkt i effektivt ledarskap samt intervjuer med yrkesarbetare om deras syn på vilket ledarskap som skulle öka deras motivation och effektivitet. Resultat: Genom att svara på frågeställningarna har undersökningen bidragit med kunskap kring hur ledarskap kan öka effektiviteten i byggproduktionen. Yrkesarbetarna anser att produktionsledaren har stor inverkan på deras effektiviteten. Det som påverkar är produktionsledarens kunskap och erfarenhet om produktionen samt deras förmåga att kommunicera och planera arbetet. Under litteraturstudien påträffades 23 effektiva ledaregenskaper. Enligt yrkesarbetarna är det egenskaperna ödmjukhet, relationshantering och självkännedom som bidrar mest till att öka deras motivation och effektivitet. Genom att koppla yrkesarbetarnas svar till de effektiva ledarskapsteorierna har det visat sig att Transformational och Servant Theory är de mest relevanta teorierna för att öka yrkesarbetarnas motivation och effektivitet. Eftersom Servant Theory fokuserar på följarna anses den mest relevant. Konsekvenser: För ökad effektivitet ska fokus läggas på de människor som branschen består av. Genom att anpassa ledarskapet efter yrkesarbetarnas åsikter kan deras effektivitet öka. Med anledning av detta rekommenderas det att ledare i byggproduktion arbetar med ledarskapsteorierna Transformational och Servant, samt att ledaren utvecklar de effektiva ledaregenskaperna, framförallt de egenskaperna som yrkesarbetarna efterfrågade. Begränsningar: Undersökningen behandlade endast ledarskapet mellan produktionsledaren och yrkesarbetarna. Fokus låg på vilket ledarskap yrkesarbetarna ville ha för att bli motiverade och effektiva. Vidare begränsningar var att enbart undersöka fyra ledarskapsteorier samt de effektiva ledaregenskaperna. Nyckelord: Effektivitet, motivation, effektiva ledaregenskaper, Contingency Theory, Transformational Theory, Transactional Theory, och Servant Theory.

Interaction with their students during classroom instruction is often a source of stress among many teachers. The academic setting of Disciplinary Alternative Educational Programs (DAEP) poses a risk factor for teachers to experience stress, given that student disruptive behavior has been associated with higher stress levels among teachers. The problem underlying this study was that most studies on DAEP have focused on the experiences of students, with limited information available about the experiences of teachers in this type of academic setting. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the role of job-related stress and coping on the job performance of DAEP teachers, from a transactional theory of stress and coping approach. This exploration was grounded in the theoretical lens of the transactional theory of stress and coping, which served as the link between the importance of the psychological health of teachers and the successful administration of public programs. The geographical setting of the study was a single DAEP campus. Data were collected using 20 individual, face-to-face semi structured interviews. Data were analyzed using the modified van Kaam method of phenomenological analysis, which involves the systematic analysis of data through the process of dividing large quantities of qualitative data into smaller units of meaning. The results produced significant thematic themes. The findings from this study could help scholars and practitioners gain important insight about job-related stressors in DAEP, which could facilitate the improvement of administration and development policies in order to promote a positive work environment in DAEP settings.

This qualitative, action research study was guided by two primary research questions. First, how do students negotiate aesthetic, efferent, and critical stances when reading a novel set in Afghanistan? Second, how do aesthetic and efferent stances contribute to or hinder the adoption of a critical stance? A large body of research exists that examines student responses to literature, and much of that research is based on the transactional theory of reading. However, it remains unclear how critical literacy fits into this theory. This study describes how one group of high school students’ aesthetic and efferent responses to a novel set in Afghanistan supported their development of critical stances. Six students enrolled in a ninth-grade English course participated in this study. Data were collected for 13 weeks. Data included two individual interviews with each student, student writing assignments in the form of 6 assigned journal entries and 7 assigned essays, transcriptions of 12 class discussions, field notes, lesson plans, a teacher researcher journal, and research memos. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Three major findings emerged from this study. First, class discussions provided a context for students to adopt stances that were not evident in their individual written responses to the novel, which were completed prior to the discussions. Second, the discussions provided scaffolding that helped several of the students adopt world-efferent and critical stances. Third, both the aesthetic and the efferent stances contributed to students’ adoption of critical stances.

Telecommunicators (e.g., dispatchers and 911 operators) experience firsthand the death and suffering of friends, family, peers, and strangers in a chaotic work environment characterized by chronic stress and lack of support. Previous research has demonstrated telecommunicators are at increased risk for negative health outcomes; however, existing research does not identify predictive pathways to posttrauma symptoms in telecommunicators. In an application of the transactional theory of stress and coping, I used structural equation modeling to examine occupational antecedents, work-family conflict, negative appraising, and coping as predictors of posttraumatic stress symptoms in telecommunicators. A convenience sample of 103 telecommunicators, recruited through agencies across the United States, completed a series of PTSD, stress, and coping surveys. Results supported three theorems from the transactional theory of stress and coping: (a) Chronic antecedents are correlated with work-family conflict (r = .54, p < .01), (b) work-family conflict predicted negative appraising ( β = .64, p < .01), and (c) coping predicted posttraumatic stress symptoms in telecommunicators ( β = .30, p = .01). These findings contribute to the current body of occupational health literature by expanding understanding of telecommunicators'€™ occupational experiences and appraisals and provide insights into modifiable processes and policies that can enhance and protect telecommunicator long term health. Specifically, employee-focused policies directed at preserving work-home balance and reducing chronic stressors in the workplace are recommended. Additionally, further research can be initiated to evaluate effectiveness of policy changes in telecommunicator appraising, health, and wellbeing.

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This study aims to explore how well literature with a linked pedagogical material from Litteraturbanken skola correlates with pedagogical material that will promote aesthetic reading in accordance with Louise M. Rosenblatt’s transactional theory. To examine the selected pedagogical material, I perform a qualitative close reading and determine if the content in the literature correlates with the kind of content that Rosenblatt argued would promote aesthetic reading. Moreover, the linked pedagogical activities are studied to determine if they support a situational understanding that furthers aesthetic reading. The result shows that the content in the literature correlates well with the suggested content by Rosenblatt but that the main part of the linked pedagogical activities promotes efferent reading. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur väl litteratur med tillhörande kopplat pedagogiskt material från Litteraturbanken skola överensstämmer med ett pedagogiskt material som främjar estetisk läsning enligt med Louise M. Rosenblatts transaktionsteori. För att undersöka det utvalda pedagogiska materialet genomför jag en närläsning av den utvalda litteraturen för att avgöra om innehållet överensstämmer med ett innehåll som Rosenblatt menar främjar estetisk läsning. Vidare granskas det kopplade pedagogiska materialet för att se om det främjar en situationsförståelse som främjar estetisk läsning. Resultatet visar att innehållet i litteraturen stämmer väl överens med den typ av innehåll som Rosenblatt förordar. Men resultatet visar även att merparten av det kopplade pedagogiska materialet främjar efferent läsning.