Literature for and about successful volunteer literacy programs highlight and advocate for practices that inform administrators and trainers of the needs and expectations of volunteer tutors. Applications of this knowledge can affect the type of policies that administrators implement in their programs and the type of support that they provide for their tutors. This project was an opportunity for the researcher to reflect on his experiences as a consultant and trainer with community-based programs and to increase his understanding of the volunteers in order to assist in future administration and training work.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Managerial and Financial Management (MAF) has traditionally been perceived by students as a difficult subject. Students do not fully grasp the underlying disciplinary concepts and struggle to transfer knowledge from one context to another. There is a dearth of research, particularly in South Africa, into how students learn in accounting programmes. This study sought to explore MAF students’ experiences of learning in a Writing Intensive Tutorial (WIT) programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The WIT programme is based on the principle of using informal exploratory writing, writing-to-learn, to support students’ learning of MAF. Informal writing is low stakes, ungraded, and encourages critical thinking and the learning of concepts, rather than focusing on grammatical correctness. The study was informed by the tenets of social constructivism and was conducted within a qualitative interpretative framework. Principles of case study research were applied in the data generation process. Purposive sampling was applied that reflected the MAF population in regard to race and gender demographics and academic ability. The participants were 15 MAF students who voluntarily participated in an 18-week WIT programme. Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA) (Northcutt & McCoy, 2004) was used for the research design and as a data analysis tool. Following IQA protocol, focus groups were used to generate affinities (themes) of students’ experiences of learning in the WIT programme. From the affinities generated a system diagram was constructed. In-depth semi-structured individual interviews were conducted at the end of the programme to further probe participants’ learning experiences. The primary affinity driving the system was the programme structure. which drove the other affinities – understanding of concepts, challenging the participants, the written tasks undertaken (secondary drivers), making learning fun, improved study techniques and test preparation, criticism of the programme (secondary outcomes), increased personal confidence and the interactive nature of the programme (primary outcomes). The thesis concludes with a proposal of an inductively theorised model. The model derives from the major findings in the study regarding students’ experiences of learning in the WIT programme. The model offers insights for higher education programme designs that utilise writing-to-learn pedagogies and can provide opportunities for students’ to develop deep, conceptual learning in higher education. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

Volunteer literacy tutors are key actors in one-on-one adult learner-tutor relationships, although few studies have examined tutors' role in literacy provision. This study had two objectives: to describe and analyse how McGill Students for Literacy tutors understand literacy and how they behave toward their learners and toward their organization, and to understand why many tutors distance themselves and their match from the organization. 18 McGill Students for Literacy tutors participated in semi-structured interviews with the researcher in this organizational case study. The hypothesis states that tutors choose autonomy from the literacy organization because of certain beliefs related to their attitudes as volunteers and to the organization's focus on individualized learning. These beliefs are: one-on-one instruction succeeds where classroom-based instruction has not, individual attention compensates for lack of training, good-will is better than good training, and volunteer activities can be justified on the basis of perceived need rather than demonstrable progress.

This thesis describes a study that was done with tutors and students in Frontier College’s Beat the Street: Literacy and Basic Skills program. Using a qualitative methodology, it focuses on stories of literacy, life and learning from tutors and students. The author’s own experiences, stories and reflections as a tutor are an important piece of the work. The thesis operates on and argues for the notion that people are made up of their stories, and that they interact with other people and the world through those stories. This research process revealed many ways in which tutor and student perceptions of literacy, learning, and each other were affected by their stories. It also revealed that in the overlaps between stories lies the potential for a moment of profound connection and learning the author describes as resonance. The thesis explores some of the ways resonance was perceived to enhance the literacy environment.

This thesis describes a study that was done with tutors and students in Frontier College’s Beat the Street: Literacy and Basic Skills program. Using a qualitative methodology, it focuses on stories of literacy, life and learning from tutors and students. The author’s own experiences, stories and reflections as a tutor are an important piece of the work. The thesis operates on and argues for the notion that people are made up of their stories, and that they interact with other people and the world through those stories. This research process revealed many ways in which tutor and student perceptions of literacy, learning, and each other were affected by their stories. It also revealed that in the overlaps between stories lies the potential for a moment of profound connection and learning the author describes as resonance. The thesis explores some of the ways resonance was perceived to enhance the literacy environment.

A quantitative, descriptive non-experimental design was used to identify the factors that influence clinical teaching of midwifery students in selected postnatal clinical settings in Tanzania. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from midwifery tutors/preceptors. The major findings of the study showed that both the professional and educational qualification of tutors was low; tutors and preceptors were overworked due to shortage of staff; the school skills laboratory and postnatal wards lacked equipment and necessary supplies; there were no clinical accompaniment guidelines, and overcrowding of postnatal patients. Recommendations included developing the clinical teaching guidelines, employing more tutors, preceptors and clinical staff; improving the tutors'/ preceptors' educational and professional qualifications and updating the qualifications of ward supervisors and clinical facilitators. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

Submitted by Lara Oliveira (lara@ufersa.edu.br) on 2017-04-10T19:19:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RafaelCS_DISSERT.pdf: 3240038 bytes, checksum: a153143f6eb3e6da1d442bbd9089c122 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vanessa Christiane (referencia@ufersa.edu.br) on 2017-04-13T14:41:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 RafaelCS_DISSERT.pdf: 3240038 bytes, checksum: a153143f6eb3e6da1d442bbd9089c122 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vanessa Christiane (referencia@ufersa.edu.br) on 2017-04-13T15:04:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 RafaelCS_DISSERT.pdf: 3240038 bytes, checksum: a153143f6eb3e6da1d442bbd9089c122 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-13T15:04:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RafaelCS_DISSERT.pdf: 3240038 bytes, checksum: a153143f6eb3e6da1d442bbd9089c122 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The growing evolution of technology in conjunction with its computing resources has provided new expectations in several areas of research such as industry, health and education. Such integration of technology in these environments combined with its widespread use has led to an increase in the volume of stored data. Therefore, researchers then realized the possibility of analyzing this large volume information in order to extract knowledge, so that this information can, for example, help to support on making decision. When applied in the education area, the collection, measurement and analysis of educational data to identify factors that may impact positively or negatively the teaching process are called Learning Analytics. Given this perspective, this work presents an assessment tool of behavioral actions of tutors teaching mode disciplines distance, so that through this be possible to evaluate the behavior of tutors and classes, as well as identify tutor behaviors that may or may not be related to the behavior of the class. With the information resulting from this work, one can better understand the impact of the behavior of tutors in the teaching mode groups at a distance, and enables pedagogical interventions guided in concise information in order to alleviate the problems faced by this type of education / A crescente evolução da tecnologia, em conjunto com seus recursos computacionais, tem propiciado novas expectativas em várias áreas de pesquisa, tais como na indústria, saúde e educação. A inserção da tecnologia nesses ambientes, combinada com sua larga utilização, tem gerado um aumento no volume dos dados armazenados. Diante disso, pesquisadores perceberam a possibilidade de analisar esse grande volume de informações a fim de extrair conhecimento, de modo que essas informações possam, por exemplo, auxiliar no suporte à tomada de decisão. Quando aplicadas no âmbito educacional, a coleta, a medição e a análise de dados educacionais, a fim de identificar fatores que possam impactar positivamente ou negativamente o processo de ensino, são denominadas Learning Analytics. Diante dessa perspectiva, o presente trabalho apresenta uma ferramenta de avaliação das ações comportamentais dos tutores de disciplinas da modalidade de ensino a distância, de modo que, por meio desta, seja possível avaliar os comportamentos de tutores e turmas, bem como identificar quais os comportamentos do tutor que podem ou não estarem relacionados com os comportamentos da turma. Com as informações resultantes deste trabalho, pode-se compreender melhor o impacto dos comportamentos dos tutores nas turmas da modalidade de ensino a distância, além de possibilitar intervenções pedagógicas pautadas em informações objetivas, a fim de atenuar os problemas enfrentados por essa modalidade de ensino / 2017-04-10

This auto-ethnographic study (i.e. an autobiographical genre of writing and research, written in the first-person voice, where the workings of self are expressed both cognitively and emotionally) qualitatively explores the changing assumptions of a training therapist. It shows how various therapies were negotiated during the training period, and explores how meaning was constructed according to basic, underlying epistemological assumptions. Significant experiences and therapies are presented, showing how the therapist's most basic, linear assumptions, were directly challenged by eco-systemic training. The study produces an in-depth, thick description of both the emotional and the cognitive journey of a training therapist, and traces the therapist's movement away from the stability and certainty of a linear epistemological 'way of knowing' to the instability and uncertainty characteristic of an eco-systemic 'way of knowing'. Conclusions are idiosyncratic and are not intended for generalization. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Tutors are key supporters within semi-distance education and as such comprehensive support of tutoring is necessary to provide the best possible support to learners. This case study investigates how tutoring can be better supported within a semi-distance part-time professional development course in environmental education. The course, aimed at adults working in environmental education fields, is seen as an important strategy for helping participants become critical, reflexive and active environmental education practitioners who can start working on solutions to environmental issues. This study found that most challenges to successful tutoring lay in the availability and competence of human resources within Namibia. Additionally improvement in the management of tutor and learner support systems, information, guidance and enrolment and finally of learning resources is seen as essential to better support a successful tutoring process. An alternative model of tutoring is offered as a way of overcoming the major tutoring challenges outlined in this study. / Educational Studies / M.Ed.