The researcher investigated internet usage among students at the University of Nairobi using a quantitative case study method. A questionnaire-based survey was done among 381 students and face-to-face interviews were conducted with the university‟s library staff. The research findings indicate that the students' level of awareness about the internet services offered at the university was high. The students had good basic computer and internet skills; however, they lacked more advanced skills and this negatively affected their use of internet resources. The students used the internet for various purposes, including to study, teach and do research; to communicate; and for social interaction. The major recommendations of the study include providing formal internet training and adequate facilities; implementing a better, inclusive policy on internet use; and better co-ordinated university efforts. Free internet access should be made available to all the university students, if not all members of the university community. / Information Science / M.A. (Information Science)

Framväxten av sociala mediers etablering i samhället har bidragit till att individers dagliga användning har ökat. Det har resulterat i att användarbeteenden har förändrats och att sociala medieplattformar numera kan användas för att främja karriären. En plattform som används för att framställa en professionell identitet inför andra är den sociala nätverksplattformen LinkedIn. Dock har det framkommit att det är svårare för universitetsstudenter att framställa en professionell identitet på plattformen, vilket påverkar möjligheten att bli upptäckt av rekryterare. Studien har därför ämnat att undersöka och skildra mötet i förstadiet av en rekryteringsprocess mellan universitetsstudenter och rekryterare på LinkedIn. Syftet har varit att rama in det förväntade rollagerandet på plattformen och besvara frågeställningen: “Vilka faktorer ligger till grund för universitetsstudenters professionella identitetsskapande i mötet med rekryterare på LinkedIn?”. Studien har av den anledningen tillämpat en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi och utfört sju semistrukturerade intervjuer, varav fyra med universitetsstudenter samt tre med rekryterare. Dessutom har ett teoretiskt ramverk för identitetsskapande tillämpats med syftet att undersöka de faktorer som ligger till grund för universitetsstudenternas professionella identitetsskapande i mötet med rekryterare på LinkedIn. I studiens resultat kunde fyra faktorer identifieras och skildras. Faktorerna är: konstruktion av framställning på front-stage, osäkerhet i framställningen, den idealiserade framställningen samt den sociala normen. Det råder olika uppfattningar mellan rekryterare och universitetsstudenters gällande den professionella framställningen som förväntas av universitetsstudenter och som berör ideal, sociala normer, stigman och okända observatörer på LinkedIn. / The emergence and establishment of social media in society have increased individuals' daily use. As a result, user behaviors have changed, and social media platforms allow individuals to advance their careers. One platform used to present a professional identity is the social networking platform LinkedIn. However, it has appeared to be more difficult for university students to present a professional identity on the platform, which affects the possibility of being discovered by recruiters. Therefore, the study aims to investigate and describe the meeting between university students and recruiters on LinkedIn in the pre-stage of a recruitment process. The purpose has been to frame the expected role-playing on the platform and answer the question: "What factors underlie university students' professional identity creation in the meeting with recruiters on LinkedIn?". For this reason, the study has applied a qualitative research strategy and conducted seven semi-structured interviews, four with university students and three with recruiters. In addition, the study applied a theoretical framework for identity creation. The purpose was to examine the factors that form the foundation of university students' professional identity creation in the meeting with recruiters on LinkedIn. The study identified and described four factors. The factors are the creation of front-stage presentation, uncertainty in the presentation, the idealized presentation, and the social norm. In addition, there are various perceptions between university students and recruiters of the professional presentation expected of university students, which affects the ideals, social norms, stigma, and the unknown audience on LinkedIn.

This master thesis "Undergraduates establishing their families in the context of the family policy in the Czech Republic" offers a new view upon a dilemma of college-educated women within the Czech society in establishing their families - it is focused on the parenthood strategy during the university studies. The thesis provides analysis of both positive and negative aspects of the parenthood decision and it investigates what sort of support is given to the undergraduate mothers in the Czech Republic. Measures that could be introduced to the framework of family policy in order to create suitable conditions for the undergraduates establishing their families during the studies are proposed. Subjective views of seven respondents, describing their life as an undergraduate mothers, are included in the analytical part to help approach the undergraduate parenthood strategy development. The key underlaying basis for this thesis is the assumption that undergraduate parenthood could be a suitable life strategy for a number of women undergraduates, should the government support improve.

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Au Canada, près du tiers des étudiants de niveau postsecondaire souffrent de détresse psychologique (Mackean, 2011), ce qui représente la proportion la plus élevée de tous les groupes d’âge (Baraldi et al., 2015). Bien que des efforts aient été déployés pour aider les étudiants, les établissements d’enseignement supérieur assistent à une augmentation notable de la demande de services psychosociaux et peinent à y répondre. Face à cette situation alarmante, les ateliers KORSA, une intervention de groupe basée sur la thérapie d’acceptation et d’engagement (ACT), ont été implantés dans plusieurs universités et cégeps du Québec afin de promouvoir la santé mentale des étudiants. Les résultats des études réalisées pour évaluer l’efficacité de cette intervention sont prometteurs (Grégoire et al., 2016; Grégoire et al., 2018) et vont dans le même sens que d’autres essais contrôlés randomisés ayant montré que des programmes d’intervention basés sur l’ACT permettent de réduire les symptômes de stress, d’anxiété et de dépression des étudiants (Levin et al., 2017; Muto et al., 2011; Räsänen et al., 2016). Cependant, la plupart de ces études se sont concentrées sur des indicateurs négatifs de santé mentale et n’ont pas exploré les médiateurs de changement qui pourraient expliquer l’efficacité de ce type d’intervention. Afin de pallier ces limites, l’objectif de cette thèse visait à évaluer l’impact des ateliers KORSA sur le bien-être psychologique des étudiants, de même que sur certains de ses déterminants (c.-à-.d. l’auto-compassion, les valeurs intrinsèques et les valeurs extrinsèques) qui n’avaient pas été testés à ce jour. La thèse visait aussi à déterminer si l’auto-compassion et ces valeurs pouvaient agir en tant que médiateurs de changement dans l’efficacité de cette intervention sur le bien-être bien-psychologique. À ces fins, 137 étudiants universitaires ont été recrutés pour participer à un essai contrôlé randomisé de type liste d’attente. Les données ont été recueillies à l’aide de questionnaires auto-rapportés avant et après l’intervention. Dans le premier article de la thèse, l’effet des ateliers KORSA sur l’auto-compassion et le bien-être psychologique (mesuré par la satisfaction de vie et par la présence de sens dans la vie) a été évalué. L’étude visait également à déterminer si l’auto-compassion représentait un médiateur de changement de l’intervention sur ces indicateurs de bien-être. En comparaison avec le groupe contrôle, les résultats ont révélé que l’intervention a permis d’accroître significativement le niveau de satisfaction de vie, de présence de sens dans la vie et d’auto-compassion des participants. Les analyses de médiation ont montré que l’auto-compassion médiait partiellement les effets de l’intervention sur la satisfaction de vie et la présence de sens. Dans le deuxième article de la thèse, l’effet des ateliers KORSA sur l’importance accordée aux valeurs intrinsèques et extrinsèques a été évalué, de même que l’impact de l’intervention sur le niveau de bien-être psychologique des étudiants, mesuré cette fois-ci par l’épanouissement personnel. Le rôle des valeurs comme médiateurs de l’effet des ateliers KORSA sur l’épanouissement personnel a également été examiné. Les résultats ont révélé que les étudiants qui ont participé aux ateliers KORSA ont accordé moins d’importance aux valeurs extrinsèques au terme de l’intervention et ont rapporté un niveau d’épanouissement personnel plus grand, en comparaison aux participants du groupe contrôle. Aucune différence statistiquement significative n’a été observée entre les deux groupes pour les valeurs intrinsèques, possiblement en raison d’un effet plafond. Les analyses de médiation ont montré que l’intervention augmentait significativement l’épanouissement personnel des étudiants via la diminution de l’importance accordée aux valeurs extrinsèques. Les deux études soulignent la pertinence de continuer à offrir les ateliers KORSA en milieu universitaire afin de favoriser le bien-être psychologique des étudiants. Elles mettent également en lumière que le niveau d’auto-compassion des étudiants ainsi que l’importance qu’ils accordent à certaines valeurs représentent des leviers intéressants pour favoriser leur bien-être. / In Canada, nearly one third of postsecondary students experience psychological distress (MacKean, 2011), which represents the highest proportion among all age groups (Baraldi et al., 2015). Although efforts have been made to support students, requests for psychological help have significantly increased over the years, and counselling centers have struggled to respond. To address this alarming situation, the KORSA workshop, a group intervention based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), has been implemented in various postsecondary institutions in Quebec to help promote students’ mental health. Results of studies conducted to evaluate KORSA’s efficacy are promising (Grégoire et al., 2016; Grégoire et al., 2018) and consistent with other randomized controlled trials that have shown that ACT-based interventions help reduce students’ stress, anxiety and depression (Levin et al., 2017; Muto et al., 2011; Räsänen et al., 2016). However, most of these studies have focused on negative indicators of mental health and have rarely explored potential mediators of change that could explain why this type of intervention leads to mental health benefits. To address these limitations, the objective of this thesis was to assess the impact of the KORSA workshop on students’ well-being, as well as on some of its determinants that had not been explored thus far (i.e., self-compassion, intrinsic values and extrinsic values). This thesis also aimed to determine whether self-compassion and values could mediate the benefits of this intervention. To these ends, 137 university students were recruited to participate in a waitlist randomized controlled trial. Data were collected with self-report questionnaires both before and after the intervention. In the first article, we evaluated the effect of the KORSA workshop on self-compassion and psychological well-being (measured by life satisfaction and meaning in life). We also explored whether self-compassion could mediate KORSA’s well-being benefits. Results showed that compared to students on the waitlist, participants in the intervention group reported higher life satisfaction, meaning in life, and self-compassion at post-intervention. Mediation analyses suggested that the intervention indirectly influenced life satisfaction and meaning in life, partly through its positive effect on self-compassion. In the second article, we assessed KORSA’s impact on students’ intrinsic and extrinsic values and on psychological well-being (measured this time by life fulfillment). We also examined whether the importance ascribed to intrinsic and extrinsic values could mediate KORSA’s impact on life fulfillment. Results revealed that KORSA led to a decrease in the importance placed on extrinsic values as well as an increase in life fulfillment, compared to the control group. There was no significant between-condition difference in the importance of IV, possibly due to a ceiling effect. Path analyses revealed that the intervention indirectly influenced life fulfillment through a lower importance placed on extrinsic values. Together, these studies suggest that continuing to offer the KORSA workshop in universities is a worthy avenue to promote students’ psychological well-being. They also highlight that students’ self-compassion and the importance they ascribe to some values represent interesting mechanisms involved in the promotion of well-being.

Recent language policy developments at the University of South Africa (Unisa) indicate that the language attitudes of its students should be researched, particularly the attitudes of students who have an African language as their first language. This study takes a first but solid step towards meeting this requirement. It conducts exploratory research into the nature of the relevant language attitudes and, based on the findings of this research, constructs an attitude scale that can be usefully employed in the measurement of such attitudes, both at Unisa and other tertiary institutions in South Africa. In order to achieve its aims, the study places much emphasis on the use of proper methodology, in order to counteract the trend in much local language-attitude research of ignoring the complexity of language attitudes and avoiding methodologically sophisticated and rigorous statistical techniques that are equipped to accommodate such complexity. / Linguistics / M.A. (Linguistics)

The effect of the academic literacy intervention programme on the SATAP English scores was evaluated. This study begins as a longitudinal study in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology (FSET). 120 subjects from the Electrical, Civil, Building and Mechanical departments in the FSET were randomly selected to serve as an experimental group. The research design employed a quantitative methodology. Data was collected using the Standardised Assessment Tests for Access and Placement (SATAP) English Test. The test was administered to the experimental group as a pre- test and post-test measure at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year. The SPSS statistical programme with frequency tables and graphs was utilised to analyse the data obtained. The results indicated that the difference between the pre-test scores and the post-test scores was statistically significant. The post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test ones. It was concluded that the academic literacy intervention programme was effective in increasing the SATAP scores and therefore addressed some of the language needs of students. / Language Education Arts and Culture / M. Ed. (Adult Education)

Appendix B (leaves 217-218), Appendix M (leaves 239-247) and Appendix O (leaves 253-259) in English and Amharic / The purpose of this research was to develop HIV testing Health Belief Scale (HTBS) that contains the constructs of Health Belief Model (HBM), and also to analyse HIV testing intention and behaviour among university students. The mixed method approach was used in phases. First, Literature review and in-depth interviews were conducted to develop item pool for HTBS, which was followed by content validity assessment by experts. In the second phase, a pilot survey was conducted on randomly selected 318 university students to refine the HTBS using item analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Lastly, cross-sectional survey was conducted on representative sample of 612 students in order to further refine the HTBS using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and also analyse predictors of HIV testing intention and behaviour. A total of 61 items was written for the HTBS and 23 of these were generated from the in-depth interviews. Content validity assessment by three experts indicated that the average content validity index (CVI) for the 61 items was 91.2% which was more than the recommended cut off point of 90%. The HTBS, after experts review, contained 64 items. EFA indicated that a five factor model which was roughly consistent with HBM was identified and 44 items were retained based on factor loading and reliability analysis. The Cronbach’s alpha for all the six constructs of HBM and HIV testing intention in the HTBS were >0,70. (susceptibility, benefit, self-efficacy and HIV testing intention) fitted the sample data based on chi-square test. However, all the seven constructs demonstrated RMSEA value of less than 0.08 and GFI value of >0.90 indicating acceptable fit. The final HTBS was reduced to 39 items based on factor loading and reliability assessment. All the constructs demonstrated a Cronbach’s alpha value >0.70 except for perceived susceptibility and cues to action. Analysis of multiple linear regression indicated that class year, perceived benefit, perceived self-efficacy and cues to action were significant predictors of HIV testing intention. However, only marital status and cues to action were significant predictors of recent history of HIV testing through analysis of binary logistic regression. / Health Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

A combination of theoretical perspectives is used to create a rich description of student reasoning when facing a highly-geometric electricity and magnetism problem in an upper-division active-engagement physics classroom at Oregon State University. Geometric reasoning as students encounter problem situations ranging from familiar to novel is described using van Zee and Manogue's (2010) ethnography of communication. Bing's (2008) epistemic framing model is used to illuminate how students are framing what they are doing and whether or not they see the problem as geometric. Kuo, Hull, Gupta, and Elby's (2010) blending model and Krutetskii's (1976) model of harmonic reasoning are used to illuminate ways students show problem-solving expertise. Sayer and Wittmann's (2008) model is used to show how resource plasticity impacts students' geometric reasoning and the degree to which students accept incorrect results. / Graduation date: 2013