Evaluation of Teacher Education Programs by Students and Graduates

The purpose of this research was to do a repeated cross-sectional research on class teachers who study in the 4th year and also graduated at the Faculty of Education, University of Turku between the years of 2000 through 2004. Specifically, seven research questions were addressed to target the main purpose of the study: How do class teacher education masters’ degree senior students and graduates rate “importance; effectiveness; and quality” of training they have received at the Faculty of Education? Are there significant differences between overall ratings of importance; effectiveness and quality of training by year of graduation, sex, and age (for graduates) and sex and age (for senior students)? Is there significant relationship between respondents’ overall ratings of importance; effectiveness and their overall ratings of the quality of training and preparation they have received? Are there significant differences between graduates and senior students about importance, effectiveness, and quality of teacher education programs? And what do teachers’ [Graduates] believe about how increasing work experience has changed their opinions of their preservice training? Moreover the following concepts related to the instructional activities were studied: critical thinking skills, communication skills, attention to ethics, curriculum and instruction (planning), role of teacher and teaching knowledge, assessment skills, attention to continuous professional development, subject matters knowledge, knowledge of learning environment, and using educational technology. Researcher also tried to find influence of some moderator variables e.g. year of graduation, sex, and age on the dependent and independent variables. This study consisted of two questionnaires (a structured likert-scale and an open ended questionnaire). The population in study 1 was all senior students and 2000-2004 class teacher education masters’ degree from the departments of Teacher Education Faculty of Education at University of Turku. Of the 1020 students and graduates the researcher was able to find current addresses of 675 of the subjects and of the 675 graduates contacted, 439 or 66.2 percent responded to the survey. The population in study 2 was all class teachers who graduated from Turku University and now work in the few basic schools (59 Schools) in South- West Finland. 257 teachers answered to the open ended web-based questions. SPSS was used to produce standard deviations; Analysis of Variance; Pearson Product Moment Correlation (r); T-test; ANOVA, Bonferroni post-hoc test; and Polynomial Contrast tests meant to analyze linear trend. An alpha level of .05 was used to determine statistical significance. The results of the study showed that: A majority of the respondents (graduates and students) rated the overall importance, effectiveness and quality of the teacher education programs as important, effective and good. Generally speaking there were only a few significant differences between the cohorts and groups related to the background variables (gender, age). The different cohorts were rating the quality of the programs very similarly but some differences between the cohorts were found in the importance and effectiveness ratings. Graduates of 2001 and 2002 rated the importance of the program significantly higher than 2000 graduates. The effectiveness of the programs was rated significantly higher by 2001 and 2003 graduates than other groups. In spite of these individual differences between cohorts there were no linear trends among the year cohorts in any measure. In respondents’ ratings of the effectiveness of teacher education programs there was significant difference between males and females; females rated it higher than males. There were no significant differences between males’ and females’ ratings of the importance and quality of programs. In the ratings there was only one difference between age groups. Older graduates (35 years or older) rated the importance of the teacher training significantly higher that 25-35 years old graduates. In graduates’ ratings there were positive but relatively low correlations between all variables related to importance, effectiveness and quality of Teacher Education Programs. Generally speaking students’ ratings about importance, effectiveness and quality of teacher education program were very positive. There was only one significant difference related to the background variables. Females rated higher the effectiveness of the program. The comparison of students’ and graduates’ perception about importance, effectiveness, and quality of teacher education programs showed that there were no significant differences between graduates and students in the overall ratings. However there were differences in some individual variables. Students rated higher in importance of “Continuous Professional Development”, effectiveness of “Critical Thinking Skills” and “Using Educational Technology” and quality of “Advice received from the advisor”. Graduates rated higher in importance of “Knowledge of Learning Environment” and effectiveness of “Continuous Professional Development”. According to the qualitative data of study 2 some graduates expressed that their perceptions have not changed about the importance, effectiveness, and quality of training that they received during their study time. They pointed out that teacher education programs have provided them the basic theoretical/formal knowledge and some training of practical routines. However, a majority of the teachers seems to have somewhat critical opinions about the teacher education. These teachers were not satisfied with teacher education programs because they argued that the programs failed to meet their practical demands in different everyday situations of the classroom e.g. in coping with students’ learning difficulties, multiprofessional communication with parents and other professional groups (psychologists and social workers), and classroom management problems. Participants also emphasized more practice oriented knowledge of subject matter, evaluation methods and teachers’ rights and responsibilities. Therefore, they (54.1% of participants) suggested that teacher education departments should provide more practice-based courses and programs as well as closer collaboration between regular schools and teacher education departments in order to fill gap between theory and practice.

Evaluation of Implementation of BSc IT Curriculum at Tumaini University

In Tanzania computer knowledge is vital to supplement the pace fast growing economic and development activities, which demands high and reliable level of expertise in com- puting field. In 2006, a research carried out at Tumaini University with purpose to design and implement a contextualized curriculum that can supplement for such needs hence facilitate development in Tanzanian context. A contextualized curriculum took advantage of six principles namely curriculum contex- tualization, projects, practical, interdisciplinary orientation, international recognition and continuous research for the program’s formative and development. Implementation of the curriculum followed the CATI (Contextualize, Apply, Transfer, and Import) model with emphasis on students to identify societal expectations at the early stage in learning process, in which case the graduates will potentially cater for societal expertise needs on ICT. This study adopts an emergent exploratory cross-section research design, while employ- ing a qualitative approach. This study was conducted at Tumaini University in Iringa where by purposeful sampling was used to obtain participants such as students, teach- ers, administrators and employers who participated in several focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and participant observation. The study reveals that six principles are satisfactorily met,despite of bottlenecks such as incompatibility in pedagogical thinking and technology availability for e-learning, learning attitudes, insufficient experts with actual skills and experience,in academic field among the others. The study recommends that iterative longitudinal study should be car- ried out to design for proper intervention in response to these problems which will help in improving and stabilize the curriculum.

Software SMEs asStrategic Partners in the Partner Programs of Large International Companies

Tutkielman tavoitteena oli tutkia pienten- ja keskisuurten (PK) ohjelmistoyritysten kansainvälisiä kumppanuuksia. Päätavoitteena oli löytää keinoja kuinka PK-ohjelmistoyritykset voisivat tulla strategisiksi kumppaneksi suurten kansainvälisten yritysten kumppanuusohjelmissa. Lisäksi tutkielmassa oli tavoitteena selvittää kuinka kumppaneiden välistä sitoutumista voitaisiin vahvistaa, jotta PK-ohjelmistoyritykset voisivat saavuttaa todellista lisäarvoa ja kansainvälistä kasvua kumppanuusohjelmien kautta. Tutkielma jakaantuu teoreettiseen ja empiiriseen osaan. Teoreettinen osa keskittyy tarkastelemaan korkean teknologian markkinointia ohjelmistoalalla sekä kansainvälisiä kumppanuuksia. Suurten yritystenkumppanuusohjelmia ei ole tutkittu suomalaisten PK-ohjelmistoyritysten näkökulmasta, minkä vuoksi empiirinen tutkimus on perusteltua. Empiirinen tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena case-tutkimuksena ja tutkimusmenetelmänä käytettiin puolistrukturoitua haastattelua. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että strategisen kumppanin aseman saavuttaminen on pitkä ja haastava matka PK-yrityksille. Suurten kansainvälisten yritysten kumppanuusohjelmat ovat useimmiten monimutkaisia ja todellisen lisäarvon saavuttaminen kumppanuusohjelman kautta vaatii paljon resursseja PK-yrityksiltä. Jotta PK-yritykset voisivat saavuttaa ja säilyttää strategisen kumppanin aseman kumppanuusohjelmassa, vaatii se aktiivista ja päivittäistä vuorovaikutusta kumppaneiden kesken. Erityisesti tiiviit henkilösuhteet oikeiden avainhenkilöiden kanssa ovat välttämättömyys. Läheiset kontaktit mahdollistavat sen, että PK-yritykset voivat ainakin osittain ohittaa kumppanuusohjelman byrokratian, mikä lisää luottamusta ja sitoutumista kumppanuussuhteessa sekä edistää kansainvälistä kasvua ja menestystä liiketoiminnassa.

Tuning Performance of Multi-threaded programs

Diplomityö tarkastelee säikeistettyä ohjelmointia rinnakkaisohjelmoinnin ylemmällä hierarkiatasolla tarkastellen erityisesti hypersäikeistysteknologiaa. Työssä tarkastellaan hypersäikeistyksen hyviä ja huonoja puolia sekä sen vaikutuksia rinnakkaisalgoritmeihin. Työn tavoitteena oli ymmärtää Intel Pentium 4 prosessorin hypersäikeistyksen toteutus ja mahdollistaa sen hyödyntäminen, missä se tuo suorituskyvyllistä etua. Työssä kerättiin ja analysoitiin suorituskykytietoa ajamalla suuri joukko suorituskykytestejä eri olosuhteissa (muistin käsittely, kääntäjän asetukset, ympäristömuuttujat...). Työssä tarkasteltiin kahdentyyppisiä algoritmeja: matriisioperaatioita ja lajittelua. Näissä sovelluksissa on säännöllinen muistinkäyttökuvio, mikä on kaksiteräinen miekka. Se on etu aritmeettis-loogisissa prosessoinnissa, mutta toisaalta huonontaa muistin suorituskykyä. Syynä siihen on nykyaikaisten prosessorien erittäin hyvä raaka suorituskyky säännöllistä dataa käsiteltäessä, mutta muistiarkkitehtuuria rajoittaa välimuistien koko ja useat puskurit. Kun ongelman koko ylittää tietyn rajan, todellinen suorituskyky voi pudota murto-osaan huippusuorituskyvystä.

Facilitating coordination improvement efforts in cross-functional process development programs

Business process improvement is a common approach in increasing the effectiveness of an organization. It can be seen as an effort to increase coordination between units. Process improvement has proved to be challenging, and most management consultation firms facilitate organizations in this kind of initiatives. Cross-functional improvement is one of the main areas for internal consultants as well. However, the needs, challenges and means of cross-functional help have been rarely discussed in the literature. The objective of this thesis is on one hand to present a conceptual and descriptive framework to help understand the challenges of facilitating coordination improvement efforts in cross-functional improvement programs, and on the other hand to develop and test feasible solutions for some facilitation situations. The research questions are: 1. Why and in what kind of situations do organizations need help in developing coordination in cross-functional processes? 2. How can a facilitator help organizations in improving coordination to develop cross-functional processes? The study consists of two parts. The first part is an overview of the dissertation, and the second part comprises six research publications. The theoretical background for the study are the differentiation causing challenges in cross-functional settings, the coordination needed to improve processes, change management principles, methods and tools, and consultation practises. Three of the publications introduce tools for helping in developing prerequisites, planning responsibilities and supporting learning during the cross-functional program. The three other papers present frameworks to help understand and analyse the improvement situation. The main methodological approaches used in this study are design science research, action research and case research. The research data has been collected from ten cases representing different kinds of organizations, processes and developing situations. The data has been collected mainly by observation, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. The research contributes to the rare literature combining coordination theories and process improvement practises. It also provides additional understanding of a holistic point of view in process improvement situations. The most important contribution is the addition to the theories of facilitating change in process improvement situations. From the managerial point of view, this study gives advice to managers and consultants in planning and executing cross-functional programs. The main factors increasing the need for facilitation are the challenges for differentiation, challenges of organizational change in general, and the novelty of initiatives and improvement practices concerning process development. Organizations need help in creating the prerequisites to change, in planning initiatives, easing conflict management and collaboration between groups, as well as supporting the learning of cross-functional improvement. The main challenges of facilitation are combining the different roles as a consultant, maintaining the ownership for the improvement project with the client, and supporting learning in the client organization.

Characterisation of pigment particles by scanning electron microscope and image analysis programs

Coating and filler pigments have strong influence to the properties of the paper. Filler content can be even over 30 % and pigment content in coating is about 85-95 weight percent. The physical and chemical properties of the pigments are different and the knowledge of these properties is important for optimising of optical and printing properties of the paper. The size and shape of pigment particles can be measured by different analysers which can be based on sedimentation, laser diffraction, changes in electric field etc. In this master's thesis was researched particle properties especially by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and image analysis programs. Research included nine pigments with different particle size and shape. Pigments were analysed by two image analysis programs (INCA Feature and Poikki), Coulter LS230 (laser diffraction) and SediGraph 5100 (sedimentation). The results were compared to perceive the effect of particle shape to the performance of the analysers. Only image analysis programs gave parameters of the particle shape. One part of research was also the sample preparation for SEM. Individual particles should be separated and distinct in ideal sample. Analysing methods gave different results but results from image analysis programs corresponded even to sedimentation or to laser diffraction depending on the particle shape. Detailed analysis of the particle shape required high magnification in SEM, but measured parameters described very well the shape of the particles. Large particles (ecd~1 µm) could be used also in 3D-modelling which enabled the measurement of the thickness of the particles. Scanning electron microscope and image analysis programs were effective and multifunctional tools for particle analyses. Development and experience will devise the usability of analysing method in routine use.

The Pursued Benefits of Customer Loyalty Programs

Customer loyalty programs have increased in recent decades and customers are members in several loyalty programs. Loyalty programs are seen as a tool of exploiting customer relationship management with the aim of long-term, profitable customer relationships. Companies have created such a market where customers are rewarded automatically, even if they are disloyal. In addition, companies are struggling as they try to motivate customers to purchase more and make more frequent visits.

Teaching mathematics and programming : new approaches with empirical evaluation

Programming and mathematics are core areas of computer science (CS) and consequently also important parts of CS education. Introductory instruction in these two topics is, however, not without problems. Studies show that CS students find programming difficult to learn and that teaching mathematical topics to CS novices is challenging. One reason for the latter is the disconnection between mathematics and programming found in many CS curricula, which results in students not seeing the relevance of the subject for their studies. In addition, reports indicate that students' mathematical capability and maturity levels are dropping. The challenges faced when teaching mathematics and programming at CS departments can also be traced back to gaps in students' prior education. In Finland the high school curriculum does not include CS as a subject; instead, focus is on learning to use the computer and its applications as tools. Similarly, many of the mathematics courses emphasize application of formulas, while logic, formalisms and proofs, which are important in CS, are avoided. Consequently, high school graduates are not well prepared for studies in CS. Motivated by these challenges, the goal of the present work is to describe new approaches to teaching mathematics and programming aimed at addressing these issues: Structured derivations is a logic-based approach to teaching mathematics, where formalisms and justifications are made explicit. The aim is to help students become better at communicating their reasoning using mathematical language and logical notation at the same time as they become more confident with formalisms. The Python programming language was originally designed with education in mind, and has a simple syntax compared to many other popular languages. The aim of using it in instruction is to address algorithms and their implementation in a way that allows focus to be put on learning algorithmic thinking and programming instead of on learning a complex syntax. Invariant based programming is a diagrammatic approach to developing programs that are correct by construction. The approach is based on elementary propositional and predicate logic, and makes explicit the underlying mathematical foundations of programming. The aim is also to show how mathematics in general, and logic in particular, can be used to create better programs.

Curriculum innovation in teacher education : exploring conceptions among Tanzanian teacher educators

The focus of the study is to understand curriculum innovation from the perspective of Tanzanian teacher educators. It is argued that the deterioration of quality of education in schools is partly to be attributed to the way in which teachers are educated. Curriculum innovation is considered as an essential strategy for bringing about improvement in teacher education. Therefore, in 2000 a new curriculum was introduced; however, right from the inception the curriculum was criticised by teacher educators. The overall aim of the study is to investigate teacher educators’ conceptions of curriculum innovation. In the theoretical framework the main focus is on discussion about different curriculum approaches for teacher education and innovation. In order to achieve the aim of the study, a phenomenographic approach is employed. This approach is used in order to identify similarities and variation in educators’ conceptions of curriculum innovation. The empirical basis of the study consists of interviews with thirty teacher educators working in eight teachers’ colleges situated in various parts of Tanzania. The findings, in brief, reveal variation in teacher educators’ conceptions of the dominant domains of innovation. Two broad conceptions of teaching with six aspects are identified. Conceptions of educational studies are presented in four broad categories of description with four aspects. Similarly, in methodology subjects two conceptions are described with four aspects. On the integration of subject matter studies and subject methods, two broad conceptions are presented with six aspects. Conceptions of textbook prescription policy are characterised in two broad categories of description with four aspects. With the use of modules two broad conceptions are identified with six aspects. In addition, the study identifies four broad conceptions of future curriculum approaches with eight aspects. Looking across the categories of description, the results indicate that educators cope with innovation individually. Three character types of teacher educators are presented: loyal, creative and critical. Furthermore, four types of phenomena suggesting critical areas about teacher educators’ conceptions of innovation are described: educators’ prior educational background, technical factors, student teachers’ factors and shifting from teaching to learning. On the whole, educators express a number of frame factors in the process of change towards the aim of curriculum innovation. This indicates that the new curriculum (2000) is not implemented as intended by curriculum developers. Constraints to the implementation are presented and discussed in detail. From these findings, two models of educators’ stance towards curriculum innovation are presented and can be used as a framework for planning successful curriculum innovations and analysing practice in teachers’ colleges.

Integrating environmental education in primary school education in Tanzania : teachers’ perceptions and teaching practices

The study focuses on primary school teachers’ perceptions of environmental education, its integration into primary school education and teachers’ teaching practices in Tanzania. The thesis is based on empirical research. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are based on Palmer’s (1998) model of environmental education. According to the model, meaningful environmental education should include education about, in or through and for the environment. The study is supported by national and international literature from research done on environmental education and education for sustainable development and policy statements. The study is qualitative in nature, adopting phenomenography and phenomenology as points of departure. The empirical data was collected from four primary schools in Morogoro region in Tanzania. The study sample consisted of 31 primary school teachers. Data was collected through interviews and lesson observations. According to the results of the study, primary school teachers expressed variations in their perceptions of environmental education and education for sustainable development. Most of the teachers focused on the aspect of knowledge acquisition. According to Tanzanian education and training policy, environmental education has to be integrated into all subjects. Although there is environmental education in the primary school curriculum, it is not integrated on an equal footing in all subjects. Some subjects like science, social studies and geography have more environmental content than other subjects. Teachers claim that the approach used to integrate environmental education into the school curriculum was not favoured because many claimed that what is to be taught as environmental education in the various subjects is not shown clearly. As a result, many teachers suggested that to ensure that it is taught properly it should be included in the curriculum as an independent subject or as specific topics. The study revealed that teachers’ teaching practices in integrating environmental education varied from one subject to another. Although most of the teachers said that they used participatory methods, lesson observations showed that they limited themselves to question and answer and group discussion. However, the teachers faced a number of barriers in the teaching of environmental education, some of which include lack of teaching and learning resources, time and large class size. The role of teachers in the implementation of environmental education in developing an environmentally literate citizenry is of great significance. The responsibility of the government in developing a curriculum with clear goals and content, developing teachers’ capacity in the teaching of environmental education and provision of teaching and learning materials needs to be taken seriously by the government in educational plans and programs.