Promoting VET teachers’ individual and social learning activities: the empowering and purposeful role of transformational leadership, interdependence, and self-efficacy

Background This study explores the interaction between organizational and psychological factors that play a role in professional teacher learning. More specifically, how teachers’ engagement in learning activities (e.g. keeping up to data, self-reflection, and experimenting, respectively, asking for feedback and information sharing) is influenced by the organizational factors transformational leadership and perceived interdependence, and the psychological factor self-efficacy. Methods The study is conducted in the context of Vocational Education and Training (VET) colleges in the Netherlands, using a survey among 447 VET teachers working in 66 teams. Results Results showed that self-efficacy and task interdependence directly, and positively, influence a variety of learning activities. Task interdependence influenced self-efficacy positively. Goal interdependence influenced self-efficacy positively, but from the learning activities it only affected information sharing and social reflection positively. From the transformational leadership practices vision building positively affected goal interdependence, and consideration and stimulation positively affected task interdependence. Conclusions In general, two configurations for the facilitation of teacher learning were found: one that empowers individual teachers to acquire new knowledge, and another that helps teachers to focus on shared goals and binds them to social learning. Teachers’ engagement in learning activities, and consequently VET colleges’ change capacities, is optimally facilitated by empowerment and purpose

Seismic Applications of Interactive Computational Methods

Effective interactive computing methods are needed in a number of specific areas of geophysical interpretation, even though the basic algorithms have been established. One approach to raise the quality of interpretation is to promote better interaction between human and the computer. The thesis is concerned with improving this dialog in three areas: automatic event picking, data visualization and sparse data imaging. Fully automatic seismic event picking methods work well in relatively good conditions. They collapse when the signal-to-noise ratio is low and the structure of the subsurface is complex. The interactive seismic event picking system described here blends the interpreter's guidance and judgment into the computer program, as it can bring the user into the loop to make subjective decisions when the picking problem is complicated. Several interactive approaches for 2-D event picking and 3-D horizon tracking have been developed. Envelope (or amplitude) threshold detection for first break picking is based on the assumption that the power of the signal is larger than that of the noise. Correlation and instantaneous phase pickers are designed for and better suited to picking other arrivals. The former is based on the cross-correlation function, and a model trace (or model traces) selected by the interpreter is needed. The instantaneous phase picker is designed to track spatial variations in the instantaneous phase of the analytic form of the arrival. The picking options implemented into the software package SeisWin were tested on real data drawn from many sources, such as full waveform sonic borehole logs, seismic reflection surveys and borehole radar profiles, as well as seven of the most recent 3-D seismic surveys conducted over Australian coal mines. The results show that the interactive picking system in SeisWin is efficient and tolerant. The 3-D horizon tracking method developed especially attracts industrial users. The visualization of data is also a part of the study, as picking accuracy, and indeed the whole of seismic interpretation depends largely on the quality of the final display. The display is often the only window through which an interpreter can see the earth's substructures. Display is a non-linear operation. Adjustments made to meet display deficiencies such as automatic gain control (AGC) have an important and yet ill-documented effect on the performance of pattern recognition operators, both human and computational. AGC is usually implemented in one dimension. Some of the tools in wide spread use for two dimensional image processing which are of great value in the local gain control of conventional seismic sections such as edge detectors, histogram equalisers, high-pass filters, shaded relief are discussed. Examples are presented to show the relative effectiveness of various display options. Conventional migration requires dense arrays with uniform coverage and uniform illumination of targets. There are, however, many instances in which these ideals can not be approached. Event migration and common tangent plane stacking procedures were developed especially for sparse data sets as a part of the research effort underlying this thesis. Picked-event migration migrates the line between any two points on different traces on the time section to the base map. The interplay between the space and time domain gives the interpreter an immediate view of mapping. Tangent plane migration maps the reflector by accumulating the energy from any two possible reflecting points along the common tangent lines on the space plane. These methods have been applied to both seismic and borehole-radar data and satisfactory results have been achieved

The development of a questionnaire on metacognition for students in higher education

Background Interest in the role of metacognition has been steadily rising in most forms of education. This study focuses on the construction of a questionnaire for measuring metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive regulation and metacognitive responsiveness among students in higher education and the subsequent process of testing to determine its validity. Purpose The aim of the study was to construct an original instrument for measuring features of metacognition, henceforth referred to as the Awareness of Independent Learning Inventory (AILI), and further to establish the similarities and differences between this model and existing instruments for measuring metacognition. Sample The AILI questionnaire was distributed to 1058 students in various types of Teacher Training Institutes in the Netherlands and Belgium. The abridged English version of the questionnaire was administered to another sample of 729 students reading Economics and Business Administration at the University of Maastricht in the south of the Netherlands. Design and methods The AILI instrument was constructed on the basis of a facet design along two dimensions: components of metacognition and topics of concern to students in higher education. The data gathered with the instrument was analyzed by means of a generalisability study and a decision study, respectively. The validity of the instrument was investigated by using confirmatory factor analysis. Results The generalisability study showed that the reliability of the instrument was satisfactory. The decision study revealed that the number of items included in the questionnaire could be reduced substantially by leaving out two components of one of the dimensions in the facet design, without losing too much generalisability. The validity study showed that there was a considerable level of congruity between parts of the AILI questionnaire and the relevant parts of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Conclusions The AILI questionnaire is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring metacognitive knowledge, regulation and responsiveness. It is suitable for use in the evaluation of the effects of interventions that purport to increase metacognitive knowledge, regulation and responsiveness of students in higher education

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Een uitdaging voor schoolleiders: werken aan visieontwikkeling

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School en beleidsvoering: een onderzoek naar de relatie tussen het beleidsvoerend vermogen van scholen en het benutten van de beleidsruimte door scholen

Contains fulltext : mmubn000001_132029502.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Promotores : J. Giesbers en T. BergenXII, 219 p