Adapting Progress Feedback and Emotional Support to Learner Personality

Peer reviewedPostprin

An exploration of financial conscientiousness among School Governing Bodies and School Management Teams and its impact on Boundary Spanning Management on selected Section 21 High Schools in the Eastern Cape Province

The study investigated the underlying factors which induce the School Governing Bodies (SGBs) and School Management Teams (SMTs) to boundary cross into each other’s finance functional domain despite the fact that their responsibilities are demarcated in the South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996. The study also intended to examine financial conscientiousness as a critical strategy, which was aimed at achieving the following: restricting the boundary spanning management among School Governing Bodies and School Management Teams, giving direction and strengthening the relationship between the two structures in section 21 high schools. Pragmatism was used as a paradigm for this study as it has been hailed as one of the best paradigms for justifying the use of mixed methods research. The researcher located the study within mixed methods research and employed the convergent parallel design characterised by collecting concurrently both qualitative and quantitative data. The study used a nonprobability sampling strategy – a purposive sampling technique. The study focused on 147 participants. The sample consisted of the following participant sub-groups: (a) 138 questionnaires participants (46 school principals, 46 SGB chairpersons and 46 school finance officers) sampled from 46 high schools, and (b) 9 face-to-face interviews participants (3 school principals, 3 SGB chairpersons) and purposively sampled from 3 different section 21 high schools located in rural, semi-urban and urban areas of the Butterworth District, and 3 Departmental Officials (The District Director, An Education Development Officer, and District National Norms and Standards for School funding coordinator) sampled from the Butterworth Education District. The study was guided by the following research question: What ideas of consciousness raising strategies could help alleviate the crossing over of boundaries between SGBs and SMTs on financial matters of the section 21 high schools? The financial conscientiousness conceptual framework for this study hinged on the conscious raising concept of Paulo Freire supported by philosophical ideas of theorists of school-based management concept, school-based participative partnership concept, school-based participative management concept and teamwork concept. These theories are expected to encourage the inclusive participation when finances are handled in section 21 high schools. The study used a survey questionnaire to collect quantitative dataset and interviews for the qualitative dataset to find answers to the research question and also to enhance the reliability and validity of the research findings. The quantitative data were presented in tables with frequencies and percentages as well as pie charts. Themes and Natural Meaning Units (NMUs) were used to analyse the qualitative data. The overall findings backed by the extant literature and research data indicated that there was lack of trust among SGBs and SMTs. Owing to this mistrust the day to day activities of the school were compromised. There were power struggles between SGBs and SMTs in schools for the control of school finances. There were corrupt practices by both SGBs and SMTs in the management of school finances. The findings also revealed lack of capacity building by the department of education. Furthermore, the SGBs parent component was characterised by high illiteracy level – a systemic weakness worsened by the manipulation perpetrated by both school governing bodies and school management teams during school finance management processes. Resulting from the data analysis, the study recommended the utilisation and application of Sifuba’s School Finance Management Awareness Model (SSFMA) as a new model that could be adopted and adapted by the Department of Education for the school finance management. This will create educational sound atmosphere and realities at school level – a model that is capable of inducing the participative and inclusive behaviour of the SGBs and SMTs when they perform their financial responsibilitie

Enabling teachers through action research: A case study of building social and emotional skills for the Kenya Competency-Based Curriculum

This exploratory case study was conducted in Grades 1-3 of one government primary school in Kwale county, Kenya, between June and October 2019. It used mixed methods within a transformative paradigm, informed by action research approaches. The research aimed to understand better how best to support teachers in their teaching and assessment of the Kenya Competency-Based Curriculum (KCBC). The Basic Education Curriculum Framework (BECF), launched in 2017, promotes inclusive, holistic, quality education. It reflects the Kenyan government’s recognition of the importance of social and emotional competencies, or ‘life skills’, for coming generations in Kenya, and its commitment to working towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. The research process and its findings provide a space for the voices of teachers: their commitment, discoveries, and relationships with learners and their families. Teachers experienced that a deeper understanding of the competencies of the KCBC positively influenced their practice, noting the inter-connectedness of competencies as they supported their pupils to acquire them. Changes in teaching practice were observed, including increased teacher sensitivity and self-reflection. Teachers were found to be role models for strong relationship skills throughout the school day, facilitating awareness of the new curriculum in the community. A teacher-led social and emotional competency rating scale was adapted and tested. The updated tool provides five questions per competency, for four of the seven KCBC competencies. Use of the tool at two timepoints showed significant progress in Grade 1-3 learners’ demonstration of behaviours that build the competencies. Significant correlations were found between results for individual competencies, and for Grade 3 pupils, between reading and mathematics scores and the competencies of Self-efficacy, Communication and collaboration and Critical thinking and problem solving. The study offers important insights for teacher support and professional development nationally in Kenya, which are relevant to the growing number of competency-based curricula worldwide

Tracing learning strategies in online learning environments: a learning analytics approach

Learning has expanded beyond formal education; yet, students continue to face the challenge of how to effectively direct their learning. Among the processes of learning, the selection and application of learning tactics and strategies are fundamental steps. Learning tactics and strategies have long been considered as key predictors of learning performance. Theoretical models of self-regulated learning (SRL) assert that the choice and use of learning tactics and strategies are influenced by the internal (cognitive) and external (task) conditions. These conditions are consistently updated when students receive internal/external feedback. However, internal feedback generated based on students’ evaluation of their own performance against the expectation and/or learning goal is not accurate. Guiding students to apply appropriate learning strategies i.e. providing external feedback, hence, could enhance the students’ learning. Recent research literature suggests that learning analytics can be leveraged to support students in the selection and use of effective learning tactics and strategies. However, there has been limited literature on the ways this can be achieved. This thesis aims to fill this gap in the literature. This thesis begins by exploring the state of the art regarding how students receive learning analytics-based support for the selection and application of learning tactics and strategies. The systematic literature review on this topic reveals that students rarely receive feedback on learning tactics and strategies with learning analytics dashboards. One of the barriers to providing feedback on learning tactics and strategies is the difficulty in detecting learning tactics and strategies that students used when interacting with learning activities. Hence, this thesis proposes a novel analyticsbased approach to detect learning tactics and strategies based on digital trace data recorded in learning environments. The proposed analytics-based approach is based on process, sequence mining and clustering techniques. To validate the results of the proposed approach and the credibility of the automatically detected learning tactics and strategies, associations with academic performance and different feedback conditions are explored. To further validate the approach, the efficacy of each proposed approach in the detection of learning tactics and strategies is investigated. In addition, the thesis explores the alignment of the automatically detected learning tactics and strategies with relevant models of SRL. This is done by examining the association between the internal conditions and external conditions. Specifically, internal conditions are represented by the disposition of students based on self-reports of personality traits, whereas external conditions are represented by course instructional designs and delivery modalities. The thesis is concluded with a discussion of the implications of the proposed analytics methodology on research and practice of learning and teaching

My living theory of the transformational potential of my educational leadership

In democratic South Africa, policies place much emphasis on the need for transformational leadership. This challenges school leaders to ensure that their practice is in line with the democratic and inclusive values espoused therein. This thesis is an account of my journey of learning about educational leadership and how I attempted to influence transformation at my own school. The development of my living theory of educational management is grounded in my desire to make a positive change to the quality of teaching and learning at my school, by embodying and exemplifying such values in my leadership. My learning as an educational leader comprises my living theory on improving my educational leadership within a socially challenged context. I explain the context and problems experienced at my school and provide evidence of the need to move from the hierarchic, autocratic form of leadership, still prevailing at many South African schools. I adopted the theoretical framework of servant leadership to enable me to develop a more contextually sensitive and visionary style of leadership through critical reflection on my own practice. My stimulus for this journey of learning stemmed from the perceived contradiction between my espoused beliefs about leadership and my actual practice. My own autocratic leadership style was one of the main barriers that prevented teachers from attaining autonomy and taking on leadership roles within the school. My leadership style was more in alignment with the values of accountability, discipline and efficiency than those of care, trust and the development of the potential of others. This interrogation of my ontological values informed my subsequent interventions to improve my practice. Following an action research design, I investigated the quality of my leadership to determine which areas I needed to improve, took action to improve these and evaluated the change against the values inherent in the notion of servant-leadership. I embarked on a journey that helped me to shift my practice from being based on previously held authoritarian professional values towards values that underpin a more transformational leadership, such as care and trust. My journey of learning was guided by the tenets of self-study action research, which required critical self-reflection and holding myself accountable for my own actions The practical knowledge I gained through this self-reflection on my practice enabled me to make professional judgements, which then became conceptual knowledge in the form of a living theory generated by my research. This was made possible through a continuous process of data generation to extract evidence to test the validity of the claims to knowledge I made. Multiple sources of data (written, graphic and multimedia) were used to better understand the scope of happenings throughout the research and to monitor my practice over time. I explain how I used my improved understanding of leadership to promote collegiality for building quality relationships to promote teacher leadership for school improvement and how I subjected these claims to social and personal validation procedures. The significance of this study is that it contributes to new forms of practice and theory in terms of showing how a values-based approach to school leadership can influence positive change in teacher practice. While this study is a narrative of my practice, it is also a narrative of theorising about how my colleagues and I have come to know and how our thinking has changed about our work and ourselves. Although I had to indicate a cut-off point in this action research enquiry, the knowledge gained will continue to develop and influence my practice in the future and hopefully will be judged as useful by others in positions of leadership. The thesis is thus an original contribution to educational knowledge in the field of self-study action research. It demonstrates how sociohistorical and sociocultural insights from Apartheid to Post-Apartheid South Africa can be integrated within a living theory of transformational leadership

Supporting employees in their development: Exploring the role of tailored support in informal learning

Informal learning is relatively underexplored in the work psychology literature, with most existing efforts tending to focus on formal learning or general workplace learning. This thesis develops understanding as to how employers can best support their employees’ informal learning, using samples drawn from a large UK energy firm, a small UK charity, and an international telecoms business. The study is of a mixed methods design: a qualitative study, in which 31 interviews and 900 open-ended survey responses are thematically analysed, explores the barriers that learners may face when attempting to engage in informal learning, as well as the roles that other groups of people play in supporting, or hindering, learners’ informal learning. The quantitative study tests hypotheses relating to personality (curiosity, proactive personality, Big Five, age, tenure) and situational factors (interpersonal support, time demands, autonomy) that may predict informal learning, contrasting how these relate to formal learning and intention to develop. Relative importance analysis and mediation analyses are also carried out so as to better understand the importance of, and the processes that may underlie, these antecedents. Differences between groups of employees are also tested. The findings from both studies are discussed separately, and are later integrated to form a broader understanding of how employers might support informal learning. Together, both studies offer new suggestions for both research and practice, especially in terms of curiosity, autonomy, and the consideration of support sources outside of the workplace. The study is one of a few to focus on informal learning, and is the first to consider the differences between informal and formal learning, and between incidental and intentional informal learning

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

Impact of artificial intelligence on education for employment: (learning and employability Framework)

Sustainable development has been a global goal and one of the key enablers to achieve the sustainable development goals is by securing decent jobs. However, decent jobs rely on the quality of education an individual has got, which value the importance of studying new education for employment frameworks that work. With the evolution of artificial intelligence that is influencing every industry and field in the world, there is a need to understand the impact of such technology on the education for employment process. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and assess how AI can foster the education for employment process? And what is the harm that such technology can brings on the social, economical and environmental levels? The study follows a mapping methodology using secondary data to identify and analyze AI powered startups and companies that addressed the learning and employability gaps. The study revealed twelve different AI applications that contribute to 3 main pillars of education for employment; career exploration and choice, skills building, and job hunting. 94% of those applications were innovated by startups. The review of literature and study results showed that AI can bring new level of guidance for individuals to choose their university or career, personalized learning capabilities that adapt to the learner\u27s circumstance, and new whole level of job search and matchmaking

Design leadership and communication: Characteristics and abilities of design leaders communicating design to non-designers during the fuzzy front end of new product development

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThis research investigates the key characteristics of design leaders in the context of New Product Development (NPD) at the Fuzzy Front End (FFE) or early stage of this process. It particularly focuses on how design leaders communicate design to non-designers. It is often observed that designers struggle to communicate design to non-designers. Previous research has identified design leaders as competent design communicators. However, the definition and key characteristics of design leaders remain unclear. By reviewing the literature on leadership studies, design leadership and project leadership, it is evident that no single universal definition of leadership exists. The most common definition is that leaders apply their knowledge and skills to conduct activities and use their traits to influence other people’s actions. Leadership requires different characteristics for different tasks. To understand the characteristics of design leaders, triangulated research was employed at a real-life NPD project involving young designers and non-designers at early stages of NPD as part of the first study. All participants (N=32) were directly observed, interviewed in semi-structured interviews and administered with assistive questionnaires to compare design and non-design participants’ leadership and communication styles. The second study was in-depth, focusing on UK design leaders (N=11) through semi-structured interviews and based on deficiencies in leadership and communicating design, identified from the first study and the literature review. Comparative studies indicate that designers and design leaders vary their attitudes towards non-designers, motivation and communication style. This study highlights the key characteristics of design leaders: an epiphany by experiencing the entire NPD process, interest in the benefits of NPD stakeholders, a good understanding of design competency, reflectively flexible working attitude and strong, active listening. Thus, a conceptual model was formulated and evaluated, able to guide designers who wish to become design leaders and help to enhance design communication and relationships with non-designers

Enhancing Free-text Interactions in a Communication Skills Learning Environment

Learning environments frequently use gamification to enhance user interactions.Virtual characters with whom players engage in simulated conversations often employ prescripted dialogues; however, free user inputs enable deeper immersion and higher-order cognition. In our learning environment, experts developed a scripted scenario as a sequence of potential actions, and we explore possibilities for enhancing interactions by enabling users to type free inputs that are matched to the pre-scripted statements using Natural Language Processing techniques. In this paper, we introduce a clustering mechanism that provides recommendations for fine-tuning the pre-scripted answers in order to better match user inputs