Approaching the experiences of young immigrants for the citizenship learning

This thesis seeks to answer the question: how do the participation experiences of young girl immigrant contribute to citizenship learning? Citizenship learning in youth comes from different contexts(family, school, friends and leisure and ambiguous) –where participation experiences take place–, combined with interpersonal relationships and personal dispositions (BiestaLawy& Kelly, 2009). So that, I want to know which are the young girl immigrants’ contextsand relationships and which kind of learning comes from each one. In addition, being young, girl and immigrant, are categories to take into account to understand their learnings.

Towards adoption of eLearning technologies at Lappeenranta University of Technology: Understanding Teachers‟ Adoption of Blackboard Learning System

The electronic learning has become crucial in higher education with increased usage of learning management systems as a key source of integration on distance learning. The objective of this study is to understand how university teachers are influenced to use and adopt web-based learning management systems. Blackboard, as one of the systems used internationally by various universities is applied as a case. Semi-structured interviews were made with professors and lecturers who are using Blackboard at Lappeenranta University of Technology. The data collected were categorized under constructs adapted from Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and interpretation and discussion were based on reviewed literature. The findings suggest that adoption of learning management systems by LUT teachers is highly influenced by perceived usefulness, facilitating conditions and gained experience. The findings also suggest that easiness of using the system and social influence appear as medium influence of adoption for teachers at LUT.

The nature of communication structures of university students in an international web-based computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) course

Communication, the flow of ideas and information between individuals in a social context, is the heart of educational experience. Constructivism and constructivist theories form the foundation for the collaborative learning processes of creating and sharing meaning in online educational contexts. The Learning and Collaboration in Technology-enhanced Contexts (LeCoTec) course comprised of 66 participants drawn from four European universities (Oulu, Turku, Ghent and Ramon Llull). These participants were split into 15 groups with the express aim of learning about computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). The Community of Inquiry model (social, cognitive and teaching presences) provided the content and tools for learning and researching the collaborative interactions in this environment. The sampled comments from the collaborative phase were collected and analyzed at chain-level and group-level, with the aim of identifying the various message types that sustained high learning outcomes. Furthermore, the Social Network Analysis helped to view the density of whole group interactions, as well as the popular and active members within the highly collaborating groups. It was observed that long chains occur in groups having high quality outcomes. These chains were also characterized by Social, Interactivity, Administrative and Content comment-types. In addition, high outcomes were realized from the high interactive cases and high-density groups. In low interactive groups, commenting patterned around the one or two central group members. In conclusion, future online environments should support high-order learning and develop greater metacognition and self-regulation. Moreover, such an environment, with a wide variety of problem solving tools, would enhance interactivity.

Effects of caffeine on learning and memory in rats tested in the Morris water maze

We studied some of the characteristics of the improving effect of the non-specific adenosine receptor antagonist, caffeine, using an animal model of learning and memory. Groups of 12 adult male Wistar rats receiving caffeine (0.3-30 mg/kg, ip, in 0.1 ml/100 g body weight) administered 30 min before training, immediately after training, or 30 min before the test session were tested in the spatial version of the Morris water maze task. Post-training administration of caffeine improved memory retention at the doses of 0.3-10 mg/kg (the rats swam up to 600 cm less to find the platform in the test session, P<=0.05) but not at the dose of 30 mg/kg. Pre-test caffeine administration also caused a small increase in memory retrieval (the escape path of the rats was up to 500 cm shorter, P<=0.05). In contrast, pre-training caffeine administration did not alter the performance of the animals either in the training or in the test session. These data provide evidence that caffeine improves memory retention but not memory acquisition, explaining some discrepancies among reports in the literature.

Learning about brain physiology and complexity from the study of the epilepsies

The brain is a complex system, which produces emergent properties such as those associated with activity-dependent plasticity in processes of learning and memory. Therefore, understanding the integrated structures and functions of the brain is well beyond the scope of either superficial or extremely reductionistic approaches. Although a combination of zoom-in and zoom-out strategies is desirable when the brain is studied, constructing the appropriate interfaces to connect all levels of analysis is one of the most difficult challenges of contemporary neuroscience. Is it possible to build appropriate models of brain function and dysfunctions with computational tools? Among the best-known brain dysfunctions, epilepsies are neurological syndromes that reach a variety of networks, from widespread anatomical brain circuits to local molecular environments. One logical question would be: are those complex brain networks always producing maladaptive emergent properties compatible with epileptogenic substrates? The present review will deal with this question and will try to answer it by illustrating several points from the literature and from our laboratory data, with examples at the behavioral, electrophysiological, cellular and molecular levels. We conclude that, because the brain is a complex system compatible with the production of emergent properties, including plasticity, its functions should be approached using an integrated view. Concepts such as brain networks, graphics theory, neuroinformatics, and e-neuroscience are discussed as new transdisciplinary approaches dealing with the continuous growth of information about brain physiology and its dysfunctions. The epilepsies are discussed as neurobiological models of complex systems displaying maladaptive plasticity.

Generalization of temporal order detection skill learning: two experimental studies of children with dyslexia

The objective of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of learning generalization of a specific skill of auditory temporal processing (temporal order detection) in children with dyslexia. The frequency order discrimination task was applied to children with dyslexia and its effect after training was analyzed in the same trained task and in a different task (duration order discrimination) involving the temporal order discrimination too. During study 1, one group of subjects with dyslexia (N = 12; mean age = 10.9 ± 1.4 years) was trained and compared to a group of untrained dyslexic children (N = 28; mean age = 10.4 ± 2.1 years). In study 2, the performance of a trained dyslexic group (N = 18; mean age = 10.1 ± 2.1 years) was compared at three different times: 2 months before training, at the beginning of training, and at the end of training. Training was carried out for 2 months using a computer program responsible for training frequency ordering skill. In study 1, the trained group showed significant improvement after training only for frequency ordering task compared to the untrained group (P < 0.001). In study 2, the children showed improvement in the last interval in both frequency ordering (P < 0.001) and duration ordering (P = 0.01) tasks. These results showed differences regarding the presence of learning generalization of temporal order detection, since there was generalization of learning in only one of the studies. The presence of methodological differences between the studies, as well as the relationship between trained task and evaluated tasks, are discussed.

Developmental patterns of individiuals within a sensory-based learning environment in art education : insights emerging from a case study /

My research permitted me to reexamine my recent evaluations of the Leaf Project given to the Foundation Year students during the fall semester of 1997. My personal description of the drawing curriculum formed part of the matrix of the Foundation Core Studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Research was based on the random selection of 1 8 students distributed over six of my teaching groups. The entire process included a representation of all grade levels. The intent of the research was to provide a pattern of alternative insights that could provide a more meaningful method of evaluation for visual learners in an art education setting. Visual methods of learning are indeed complex and involve the interplay of many sensory modalities of input. Using a qualitative method of research analysis, a series of queries were proposed into a structured matrix grid for seeking out possible and emerging patterns of learning. The grid provided for interrelated visual and linguistic analysis with emphasis in reflection and interconnectedness. Sensory-based modes of learning are currently being studied and discussed amongst educators as alternative approaches to learning. As patterns emerged from the research, it became apparent that a paradigm for evaluation would have to be a progressive profile of the learning that would take into account many of the different and evolving learning processes of the individual. A broader review of the student's entire development within the Foundation Year Program would have to have a shared evaluation through a cross section of representative faculty in the program. The results from the research were never intended to be conclusive. We realized from the start that sensory-based learning is a difficult process to evaluate from traditional standards used in education. The potential of such a process of inquiry permits the researcher to ask for a set of queries that might provide for a deeper form of evaluation unique to the students and their related learning environment. Only in this context can qualitative methods be used to profile their learning experiences in an expressive and meaningful manner.

Learning English as an adult: a narrative of women's improvised and empowered lives /

This thesis is a narrative inquiry of learning English as an adult. It stories the journey of 7 women, including me, and unravels lived experiences that serve as learning models. Learning English as an adult presents challenges and results in lifelong implications both in personal and professional life. Every learner's experience is imique and, when reflected upon, each experience is a valuable source of knowledge for constructing meanings and forging new identities. The stories are testimony to the participants' lives: interrupted yet improvised, silenced yet roused, dependent yet independent, intimidated yet courageous, vulnerable yet empowered. The personal experiences elucidate the passion, the inner voices, the dreams, and the rewards that compel persistence in learning a new language and releaming new social roles. The stories provide encouragement and hope to other women who are learning or will learn English in their adult years, and the lived experiences will offer insights for English language teachers. This thesis employs the phenomenology methodology of research with heuristic (discovery) and hermeneutical (interpretative) approaches using the reflective-responsivereflexive writing and interviewing methods for data gathering and unravelling. The narrative inquiry approach reaffirms that storytelling is an important tool in conducting research and constructing new knowledge. This thesis narrates a new story about sharing experiences, interconnecting, and continuing to learn.

Invisible disability, visible people: a closer look at the experiences of teachers with learning disabilities /

Throughout their schooling experiences, students with learning disabilities (LD) face numerous academic and socioemotional challenges. Some of these individuals rise above these obstacles to obtain a postsecondary education and become professionals. Recently, there have been a number of individuals with learning disabilities who have chosen a career in teaching. There is a lack of research that documents the experiences of teachers with learning disabilities. The purpose of this qualitative study is to gain an understanding of the challenges that the teachers with learning disabilities strive to overcome and the supports that they receive ^^^ch facilitate their inception into teaching. Four teachers with learning disabilities were the participants in this collective case study research. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. These data were coded, collapsed into themes, and the results were presented in a narrative form. The resultant 9 themes are: (a) Perspectives on School Experiences, (b) Identification and Effective Accommodations, (c) Isolation, Frustration, and Support, (d) Awareness of Learning Disability at Age 18, (e) Disclosure of Learning Disability, (f) Negative Impact of the Learning Disability Label, (g) Desire, Drive, and Obstacles, (h) Empathy, Compassion, and Self-Concept, and (i) Critical Views of Colleagues. The themes reflect the common experiences among participants. The discussion brings forth new information that is not found in other research. The impHcations of this research will interest teacher federations, parents of students with LD, teachers, and educational researchers.

Displaced women professionals: an exploration of perceived learning processes during workplace transition /

This study focused on obtaining a deeper understanding of the perceived learning of female professionals during workplace transition. The women's lived experiences were explored through a feminist interpretive lens (Bloom, 1998). The study also drew upon concepts from adult learning such as barriers and facilitating factors to learning, resistance, transformative learning, and multiple ways of knowing. Five women participated in a 1 -hour interview and a focus group activity. The findings are presented under the 2 broad themes of perceived learning and factors affecting learning. The most common theme of perceived learning was participants' experience of increased self-knowledge. Additionally, while learning was thought of as a struggle, it provided either an opportunity for a reexamination of goals or a reexamination of self. Reflection by participants seemed to follow two orientations and other types of perceived learning included experiential, formal, and informal learning. In the broad theme of factors affecting learning, contradictions and conflict emerged through the examination of participants' multiple subjectivities, and within their naming of many factors as both facilitating factors and barriers to learning. The factors affecting learning themes included personal relationships, professional communities, selfesteem, attitude and emotion, the gendered experience of transition, time, and finances. The final theme explored participants' view of work and their orientations to the future. A proposed model of learning during workplace transition is presented (Figure 1 ) and the findings discussed within this proposed model's framework. Additional developmental theories of women (Josselson, 1987; Levinson & Levinson, 1996), communities of practice theories (Wenger, 1998), and career resilience theories (Pulley, 1995) are discussed within the context of the proposed model. Implications to practice for career counsellors, people going through workplace transition, human resource managers and career coaches were explored. Additionally implications to theory and future areas of research are also discussed.

A study of self-directed learning at an Ontario college of applied arts and technology

Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATs) are currently in the process of restructuring to ensure quality, accountability, and accessibility of college education. References to learner involvement and self-directed learning are prevalent. "Alternative delivery" and "paradigm shift" are current buzzwords within the Ontario CAAT system as an environment is created supportive of change. Instability of funding has also dictated a need for change. Therefore, a focus has become quality of learning with less demand on public resources. This qualitative case study was conducted at an Ontario CAAT to gather descriptive, perceptual data from post-secondary community college educators who were identified as supportive of self-directed learning and from post-secondary, traditional-aged college students who were perceived by their educators to be selfdirected learners. This college was selected because of initiatives to modify its academic paradigm to encourage what was reputed in the Ontario CAAT system to be self-directed learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate how postsecondary, traditional-aged college students and their educators perceive self-directed learning as part of the teaching-learning experience within a community college setting. Educator participants of the study were selected based on the results of a teaching and learning survey intended to identify educators supportive of self-directed learning. A total of 317 surveys were distributed to every full-time educator at the sample college; 192 completed surveys were returned for a return rate of 61 %. Of these, 8% indicated instructional beliefs and values supportive of self-directed learning. A purposive sample of six educators was selected using a maximulp variation sampling strategy. A network selection sampling strategy was used to select a purposive sample of seven post-secondary students who were identified by the sample educators as selfdirected learners. The results of the study show that students and educators have similar perspectives and operating definitions of self-directed learning and all participants believe they either practice or facilitate self-directed learning. However, their perspectives and practices are not consistent with the literature which emphasizes learner autonomy or control in course structure and content. A central characteristic of the participants represented in this study is the service-oriented professions with which each is associated. Experientiallearning opportunities were highly valued for the options provided in increasing learner independence and competencies in reflective practice. Although there were discrepancies between espoused theory and theory in practice in terms of course structure, the process of self-directed learning was being practiced and supported outside the classroom structure in clinical settings, labs and related experiences.

Changes in education and student-centred learning as related to senior secondary school English

The main purpose of this thesis is to t r ace broadly the educational changes in the past two decades showing a shift of emphasis from a teacher-directed, content-centred philosophy of teaching to a self-directed, student-centred mode of learning. The major justification for an Independent or an Individualized Learning programme with emphasis on "the response to literature approach" is 2 to produce the independent learner. Comprehensive r eading and t he use of t he ERIC system reveal widespread educational thought and practice related t o Individualization and Independent Study as a really democratic way of learning with freedom, independence and responsibility.

Experiential learning instruments : an examination of the concept of the instrumental approach in experiential learning

Experiential Learning Instruments (ELls) are employed to modify the leamer's apprehension and / or comprehension in experiential learning situations, thereby improving the efficiency and effectiveness of those modalities in the learning process. They involve the learner in reciprocally interactive and determining transactions with his/her environment. Experiential Learning Instruments are used to keep experiential learning a process rather than an object. Their use is aimed at the continual refinement of the learner's knowledge and skill. Learning happens as the leamer's awareness, directed by the use of Ells, comes to experience, monitor and then use experiential feedback from living situations in a way that facilitates knmvledge/skill acquisition, self-correction and refinement. The thesis examined the literature relevant to the establishing of a theoretical experiential learning framework within which ELls can be understood. This framework included the concept that some learnings have intrinsic value-knowledge of necessary information-while others have instrumental value-knowledge of how to learn. The Kolb Learning Cycle and Kolb's six characteristics of experiential learning were used in analyzing three ELls from different fields of learning-saxophone tone production, body building and interpersonal communications. The ELls were examined to determine their learning objectives and how they work using experiential learning situations. It was noted that ELls do not transmit information but assist the learner in attending to and comprehending aspects of personal experience. Their function is to telescope the experiential learning process.

Health-related learning needs and interests of selected non-institutionalized elderly

The research question in this study was "How do the noninstitutionalized elderly in the Hamilton-Wentworth Region perceive their learning needs and interests related to health?" The theoretical foundations of instruction for adults were reviewed as well as learning needs and interests in adult education, the assessment of learning needs in general, and the assessment of the learning needs of the elderly. The methodology used was a descriptive design. A research-based questionnaire-interview was developed, refined, and pilot tested. From a random sampling procedure, a participant group of 23 was secured. The questionnaireinterview was administered in a home visit situation. Data, which were collected, were coded, analyzed, processed, and printed. The results indicated that each participant had many learning needs and interests of varying intensities. The participants had many preferences in the delivery of health promotion. The learning needs and interests had several significant correlations with other variables. The implications of the result~ were discussed.

The assessment of self-directed learning among pre-service students in an Ontario faculty of education

The study determined students' perceptions of self-directed learning in their courses. Tests to assess perceptions are not being used in many programs. Assessments such as the Self-Directed Readiness Scale (SDLRS) and the Oddi continuing Learning Inventory (OCLI) have weaknesses that may have affected the use of tests. In this study, the creation of the Self-Directed Learning Test (SDLT) monitored students' perceptions by addressing what students were told before registration, how much input students had in developing the structure of the course, how much input students have in determining the evaluation for the course, what style of learning is taking place, and the characteristics of learning found among students. Fifty-one students in the pre-service program at Brock University completed the SDLT. Results showed that 47.1% of the sample liked self-directed learning. Several students who stated that they did not like selfdirected learning did not know what self-directed learning was. Results supported Brookfield's (1986) claim for more education on what self-directed learning is. The study did not support Knowles' (1980) assumption that adult students know and want to follow self-directed approaches to learning. The SDLT is a good method for monitoring self-directed learning and how students perceive their courses.