A descriptive study of two community projects for the coordination of services for the aged

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

A descriptive study of two community projects for the coordination of services for the aged

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston Universit

Beginning Teachers’ Motivations and Aspirations through Teacher Education

ABSTRACT: Much research has focused on what motivates people to take on a teaching career. An open question remains – how do their motivations and aspirations change through their professional education? We sampled secondary teacher education candidates near the end of their qualification (N=72) in Melbourne Australia (age: M=21.44, SD 2.77). Participants rated their responses for “then” (recalling their entry to teacher education) and “now” for a range of items. They answered open-ended questions regarding future plans and aspirations, and their teaching related abilities. Responses revealed significant changes in most perceived motivations and aspirations, with all changes in an upward direction. Findings are interpreted in light of the current climate of teacher shortages

HARNESSINGCULTURE IN VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES

As the world globalizes students need hands on experience at participating in global communities of practice (COP ) for advanced knowledge creation. This paper discusses the innovative use of the Map, Bridge and Integrating Model (MBI) in a virtual setting. Here students learn to harness cultural diversity in a virtual COP. What the research discovers is that sharing cultural knowledge leads to higher levels of problem solving even in a virtual space. Furthermore, COP is a powerful and exciting way to learn

Making the Links: Domestication of ICTs in the Global Knowledge Economy

This paper considers the historical, social, economic, and political context of information and communication technologies (ICTs) used in our everyday lives. Under the pretext of engaging with a supposedly transforming new economy, society, or epoch, we are urged to be on-line everywhere and anywhere signifying new ways of living, loving, being governed, and educated. This paper critiques these perspectives through an investigation of the domestication of ICTs in families and households in the United Kingdom and draws on an empirical study of gender and home e-shopping as an illustration of the gendered consumption of ICTs in UK households. Studies of the domestication of technologies have developed from those concerning technologies of household maintenance to considerations of technologies for leisure in the home. In the so-called global knowledge economy, however, the domestication of ICTs and how they are embedded into the family and households today is a neglected area of research and one that is often rooted in flawed views of technological determinism and gender neutrality. This paper calls for analysis of the domestication of ICTs in the global knowledge economy to be placed in context rather than falling into faddish hype or unwarranted dystopia

An Organisation on the Edge of Knowledge Management

This study looks at how case management used in conjunction with information and communication technology (ICT) changed an organisation’s culture to that of knowledge management (KM). This is an important issue as many organisations have failed at KM and one solution as will be shown is to use case management. The organisation studied was the Accident Compensation Corporation of New Zealand (ACC). The findings build on previous research by the author, where it was discovered that there are two stages to KM and that the first stage, building a knowledge infrastructure, is often neglected. This study was able to show culturally what it is like for an organisation that has completed stage one and is ready to move on to stage two, in particular what the workers’ perceptions and technology use are at this stage. Thus this study extends the current theory on KM

Creating virtual communities of practice for learning technology in higher education: Issues, challenges and experiences

The need for a Web portal to support the rapidly growing field of learning technology has been well established through a number of national surveys and scoping studies over recent years. The overarching vision has been the provision of a virtual environment to assist in informing and developing professional practice in the use of learning technologies. This paper outlines the issues and challenges in creating such a portal through the experiences of developing the RESULTs Network. In the paper, design and participation issues are considered within the wider context of online and networked approaches to supporting practice and professional development. User participation methodologies and technical developments for RESULTs are described in relation to a review of existing representations of practice and a comprehensive survey amongst the learning technology users’ community. An outline of key achievements and experiences is presented, followed by some conclusions regarding the cultural and political issues in creating a viable and sustainable facility and suggestions for possible future direction in national provision