Personal knowledge development in online learning environments : a personal value perspective

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyThis thesis investigates personal knowledge development in online learning environments and the impact that personal values have on it. Personal knowledge development was investigated from the perspective of Nonaka’s SECI model of organisational knowledge creation. This model served as the basis for an adapted model that conceptualises personal knowledge development in online learning at the individual level. The personal value types of the Schwartz Value Survey and the Portrait Values Questionnaire were adopted to measure personal values and their impact on personal knowledge development in online learning environments. Three data collection approaches were used. First, an exploratory study was conducted which elicited online learners’ experiences of their personal knowledge development in online learning; this study used online discussion forums for data collection. Second, a Delphi study was carried out. Experts were asked which of the ten individual-level value types by Schwartz are likely to be particularly relevant in the context of online learning. Third, an online survey was created. Its aim was to measure the impact that personal values and background variables, such as gender and age, have on personal knowledge development in online learning. A measurement instrument was devised that measures three of the SECI modes, namely Externalisation, Combination and Internalisation. This instrument measures the magnitude of online learners’ Externalisation and Combination activities as well as their level of Internalisation, i.e. the outcomes of personal knowledge development. Results of the exploratory study show that there are widely diverging experiences of personal knowledge development in online learning. The literature review suggests that the cultural situatedness of an online learning environment is an important influencing factor on personal knowledge development. The results of the Delphi study suggest that Self-Direction, Stimulation, and Achievement are particularly relevant value types in the context investigated here. Finally, the online survey confirms this view, as all three value types were found to be positively correlated with Externalisation, Combination, and Internalisation, with the exception of the Achievement-Combination relationship. A modified version of the SECI model is proposed, which extends the applicability of the original SECI model from the organisational to the individual level. It is argued that this model is suitable to describe personal knowledge development in the context of online learning. The study also contributes to closing the gap in research on the impact of personal values in the context investigated in this study. Moreover, a measurement instrument was created that can be used to measure Externalisation and Combination, i.e. personal knowledge development processes, and Internalisation, i.e. personal knowledge development outcomes

Identifying the relevance of personal values to e-government portals' success: insights from a Delphi study

Most governments around the world have put considerable financial resources into the development of e-government systems. They have been making significant efforts to provide information and services online. However, previous research shows that the rate of adoption and success of e-government systems vary significantly across countries. It is argued here that culture can be an important factor affecting e- government success. This paper aims to explore the relevance of personal values to the e-government success from an individual user’s perspective. The ten basic values identified by Schwartz were used. A Delphi study was carried out with a group of experts to identify the most relevant personal values to the e-government success from an individual’s point of view. The findings suggest that four of the ten values, namely Self-direction, Security, Stimulation, and Tradition, most likely affect the success. The findings provide a basis for developing a comprehensive e-government evaluation framework to be validated using a large scale survey in Saudi Arabia

Interactive Chemical Reactivity Exploration

Elucidating chemical reactivity in complex molecular assemblies of a few hundred atoms is, despite the remarkable progress in quantum chemistry, still a major challenge. Black-box search methods to find intermediates and transition-state structures might fail in such situations because of the high-dimensionality of the potential energy surface. Here, we propose the concept of interactive chemical reactivity exploration to effectively introduce the chemist's intuition into the search process. We employ a haptic pointer device with force-feedback to allow the operator the direct manipulation of structures in three dimensions along with simultaneous perception of the quantum mechanical response upon structure modification as forces. We elaborate on the details of how such an interactive exploration should proceed and which technical difficulties need to be overcome. All reactivity-exploration concepts developed for this purpose have been implemented in the Samson programming environment.Comment: 36 pages, 14 figure

Moving Away from the Norms: Adopting Classic Grounded Theory in Information Systems Research

Information Systems (IS) discipline have evolved over the years and new areas of research have emerged such as Artificial intelligence (AI), Big data, cyber and internet related research. But often researchers tend/ to rely on existing theories which have either been outdated or are not often fit for purpose in a research setting. Due to this, there is often a need for development of new theories to allow researchers to approach research from a different theoretical lens. We suggest that this need for new theory development can be met by the adoption of Classic Grounded theory (CGT) methodology within the IS discipline. CGT is argued to be an approach specifically designed for theory development and allows researchers to make contributions in a form of new theories. We argue that by using CGT methodology researchers can develop new theories which area unique and tend to help providing new theoretical perspectives for future researc

Thomas Reid

Der Begriff der Idee ist der Schlüsselbegriff in der frühneuzeitlichen Philosophie. Von Descartes' richtungsweisenden Arbeiten des beginnenden 17. Jahrhundertbis zu den Werken Thomas Reids im ausgehenden 18. Jahrhundertwird die Diskussion der theoretischen Philosophie von der Auseinandersetzung mit dem Leitbegriff der Idee dominiert. Das Studienbuch stellt in zwei Bänden elf maßgebliche Autoren dieser Zeit vor. Im ersten Band werden die zentralen Texte in aktuellen Übersetzungen präsentiert, die vielfach auf der Textgrundlage der Quellen neu erstellt wurden. Der zweite Band enthält Kommentare zu jedem Text ‑ mit einer systematischen Einführung, einem Zeilenkommentar und einer inhaltlichen Einordnung. Das Studienbuch bietet somit einen umfassenden Überblick über die neuzeitliche Diskussion des Ideenbegriffs für die Studierenden der Philosophie. Neues Studienbuch Geeignet für Seminare und zum Selbststudium Texte vielfach erstmalig auf Deutsch zugänglich Texte einiger der wichtigsten frühneuzeitlichen Philosophe

Importance of Lipopolysaccharide and Cyclic β-1,2-Glucans in Brucella-Mammalian Infections

Brucella species are the causative agents of one of the most prevalent zoonotic diseases: brucellosis. Infections by Brucella species cause major economic losses in agriculture, leading to abortions in infected animals and resulting in a severe, although rarely lethal, debilitating disease in humans. Brucella species persist as intracellular pathogens that manage to effectively evade recognition by the host's immune system. Sugar-modified components in the Brucella cell envelope play an important role in their host interaction. Brucella lipopolysaccharide (LPS), unlike Escherichia coli LPS, does not trigger the host's innate immune system. Brucella produces cyclic β-1,2-glucans, which are important for targeting them to their replicative niche in the endoplasmic reticulum within the host cell. This paper will focus on the role of LPS and cyclic β-1,2-glucans in Brucella-mammalian infections and discuss the use of mutants, within the biosynthesis pathway of these cell envelope structures, in vaccine development

Development of an Applied Field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster Design Supported by Numerical Simulations at IRS

In this paper an overview is given on a numerical simulation program for applied field magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters which is currently under development at the Institute of Space Systems (IRS). The simulation code for argon plasma flows in thermal and chemical non-equilibrium uses an axisymmetric finite volume scheme on unstructured, adaptive meshes. The external magnetic field is taken into account employing the vector potential formulation. Azimuthal velocity and magnetic field are handled by a quasi-three dimensional approach with vanishing azimuthal derivatives. Besides the numerical analysis, a radiation-cooled laboratory model of an applied field magnetoplasmadynamic thruster is under development at IRS. The modular design allows adjustments of the thruster to find an optimized thruster geometry based on numerical and experimental results

Screening for PTSD and functional impairment in trauma-exposed young children: evaluation of alternative CBCL-PTSD subscales

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL 1.5–5 years) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) subscale by Dehon & Scheeringa (2006) as a screener for PTSD in trauma-exposed young children has yielded inconsistent results so far. Therefore, the aim of this study was to create and examine the validity of alternative CBCL-PTSD subscales and compare them to the existing CBCL-PTSD subscale based on the DSM-5 PTSD diagnostic criteria for children 6 years and younger. Further, the CBCL-PTSD subscales were examined regarding their usefulness in screening for posttraumatic stress-related functional impairment. The sample comprised 116 trauma-exposed young children (M$_{age}$ = 3.42 years, SD$_{age}$ = 1.21 years, female = 49.1%). The psychometric properties of the existing CBCL-PTSD subscale as well as the alternative subscales based on expert rating (CBCL-PTSD-17) and based on variable importance (CBCL-PTSD-6) were evaluated by means of receiver operating characteristic curves, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values, and negative predictive values. Area under the curves for all three investigated CBCL-PTSD subscales were good to excellent for PTSD and functional impairment. Further, all three CBCL-PTSD subscales showed high sensitivity for PTSD and functional impairment. Considering the length and the performance of the three investigated subscales, the CBCL-PTSD-6 appears to be a promising and clinically useful CBCL-PTSD subscale as a screener for PTSD and functional impairment due to the easiest and most practicable application. For purposes of discriminant validation of the CBCL-PTSD-6, young children without a history of trauma should be compared to young children with trauma history