Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Flexible Learning'

This study aims to address a gap in knowledge about Further Education college flexible learning centres and their contribution to lifelong learning. Flexible learning centres were established as a response to the lifelong learning agenda of the 1990s and are now in the front line in responding to government initiatives to improve employability and foster social inclusion. Their tutors work in a contested area where the boundaries between teaching and supporting learning are blurred and the learning achieved may be undervalued by the Inspectorate and college authorities. This study adopts a qualitative approach of narrative inquiry to analyse the learning culture of the Flexible Learning Centre (FLC) of Hollypark College, focusing on 15 learners’ and 2 tutors’ narratives elicited by episodic interviews. The narratives of learning biographies and work biographies of learners and tutors are explored, supplemented by quantitative data from College databases. The study evaluates the ways in which the pedagogical approach of selfdirected study with tutor support appears to be successful for predominantly mature learners wishing to acquire mainly Information Technology (IT) skills which may enhance their chances of employment or benefit them in other ways. Building on recent work on learning cultures, social capital, well-being and identity theories, the study gives a voice to these learners who are so far unheard and despite the demographic population shift to increasing numbers of older people, are not the focus of current government policy initiatives. Focus on employability which is equated with acquiring skills is seen as too narrow to encompass the wider needs met and benefits accrued by attending the FLC. The findings are that this FLC’s approach is particularly effective for older learners in general in acquiring IT skills. Those made redundant, the retired, those in work and carers who may have been out of the workforce for some time may flourish in this learning environment where mainstream courses cannot offer equivalent flexibility and opportunities to structure their own learning. The learning culture of the Flexible Learning Centre provides a space where such learners may not only acquire IT skills but may also increase their social and cultural capital while opening up new horizons for their future. Tutor/learner relationships are of key importance and the learning taking place should be re-evaluated by the Inspectorate and government alike.

The thesis investigates the use of machine learning as an effective means of supporting autonomous flexibility within complex sensor network management systems. Policy-based management has often been the tool of choice for addressing such requirements, but is often only a partial solution, due to its reliance on end-user capacity for timely and accurate policy creation. A new systems architecture HYBRID, capable of autonomous system flexibility through user-independent adaptation, is therefore proposed. HYBRID combines policy based management with self-learning algorithms to realise a single architecture capable of flexible automation at all levels of a management system. The work described in this thesis demonstrates the limitations of policy-based management, and illustrates how best to mitigate them through the adoption of self-learning techniques. The availability and suitability of today's learning algorithms for facilitating such automation is investigated, and where necessary, algorithmic enhancements to selected techniques are proposed and evaluated to explore relevant complexities. Validity of the architecture is demonstrated through two real -world trials. HYBRID has been applied to address distinct management problems, demonstrating on each occasion, 'how' the proposed architecture supports effective and safe exploitation of machine learning to enable greater behavioural flexibility within complex management systems.

Gaussian process (GP) models are widely used to perform Bayesian nonlinear regression and classification tasks that are central to many machine learning problems. A GP is nonparametric, meaning that the complexity of the model grows as more data points are received. Another attractive feature is the behaviour of the error bars. They naturally grow in regions away from training data where we have high uncertainty about the interpolating function. In their standard form GPs have several limitations, which can be divided into two broad categories: computational difficulties for large data sets, and restrictive modelling assumptions for complex data sets. This thesis addresses various aspects of both of these problems. The training cost for a GP has 0(N3) complexity, where N is the number of training data points. This is due to an inversion of the N x N covariance matrix. In this thesis we develop several new techniques to reduce this complexity to 0(NM2), where M is a user chosen number much smaller than N. The sparse approximation we use is based on a set of M 'pseudo-inputs' which are optimised together with hyperparameters at training time. We develop a further approximation based on clustering inputs that can be seen as a mixture of local and global approximations. Standard GPs assume a uniform noise variance. We use our sparse approximation described above as a way of relaxing this assumption. By making a modification of the sparse covariance function, we can model input dependent noise. To handle high dimensional data sets we use supervised linear dimensionality reduction. As another extension of the standard GP, we relax the Gaussianity assumption of the process by learning a nonlinear transformation of the output space. All these techniques further increase the applicability of GPs to real complex data sets. We present empirical comparisons of our algorithms with various competing techniques, and suggest problem dependent strategies to follow in practice.

The design and construction of American public high schools are forcibly influenced by ultra-cost effective techniques demanding simplicity in construction and durability of material. The inflexibility and banality of the architecture this paradigm typically delivers begs for exploration of the feasibility of innovative construction technologies. Technologies that influence both form and technique such as prefabrication of modular elements, utilization of CAD/CAM techniques to mill customized parts and pliable materials (i.e. plastics) crafted to achieve dynamic forms. More engaging, flexible learning environments could be realized that significantly increase the performance of the architecture, both formally and ecologically, as well as ennobling students.

This is a thesis that presents a qualitative mixed method study of 30 students engaged in distance and flexible learning (DFL) courses of study across two campuses of the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. The goals of this research were to develop an account of the personal and cultural learning practices that students draw on and use when negotiating learning in their University studies and to understand the ways that University courses including teaching and learning interactions and course materials contribute to student learning and success. At the centre of this study is the concept of learning as negotiated practice. Data sources included a questionnaire with semi-structured and open-ended questions. Data collection and analysis was guided by the construct of third space theory (Guitierrez, 1999), which provided a frame for considering students’ DFL experiences as acts of negotiation that are situated in nested socio-cultural and socio-historical contexts. Two descriptive campus cases of learning are presented, one for each of the Lautoka and Labasa campuses. Within each case, data from a student group provides background to in-depth learning stories for focus of students at each campus. Given the socio-cultural, economical, political and the geographical difficulties that DFL students face this study shows that they also face constraints within the University learning contexts that impact the way they construct meaning from their learning experiences. This study draws attention to the need for teaching and learning in DFL that is learner focused and learner centred and that acknowledges learning as a social and cultural undertaking which is constructed as students draw on personal funds of knowledge to navigate unfamiliar terrain. Findings suggest that universities offering DFL courses would benefit students if the environments for learning constructed in DFL courses were developed in such a way that provides students with opportunities to draw on their unofficial personal and cultural resources in ways that enhance their ability to learn in the official world of University study. Third space theory is utilised to develop explanations of learning in DFL as a mediated act of negotiation between these official and unofficial spaces that learners inhabit. In the process of engaging and negotiating learning between the DFL learner’s two spaces, a third space or hybrid space is created. This space represents the negotiated solution to solving learning problems.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

In recent times, a number of data rnining and machine learning techniques have been applied successfully to discover useful knowledge from data. Of the available techniques, rule induction and data clustering are two of the most useful and popular. Knowledge discovered from rule induction techniques in the form of If-Then rules is easy for users to understand and verify, and can be employed as classification or prediction models. Data clustering techniques are used to explore irregularities in the data distribution. Although rule induction and data clustering techniques are applied successfully in several applications, assumptions and constraints in their approaches have limited their capabilities. The main aim of this work is to develop flexible management strategies for these techniques to improve their performance. The first part of the thesis introduces a new covering algorithm, called Rule Extraction System with Adaptivity, which forms the whole rule set simultaneously instead of a single rule at a time. The rule set in the proposed algorithm is managed flexibly during the learning phase. Rules can be added to or omitted from the rule set depending on knowledge at the time. In addition, facilities to process continuous attributes directly and to prune the rule set automatically are implemented in the Rule Extraction System with Adaptivity algorithm The second part introduces improvements to the K-means algorithm in data clustering. Flexible management of clusters is applied during the learning process to help the algorithm to find the optimal solution. Another flexible management strategy is used to facilitate the processing of very large data sets. Finally, an effective method to determine the most suitable number of clusters for the K-means algorithm is proposed. The method has overcome all deficiencies of K-means.

Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Technikon Southern Africa defined its role as distance learning institution with the implementation of the Integrated Learner Centred Distance Learning (ILCDE) model. This model implied the establishment of regional offices as well as the implementation of a tutor system. The tutor system implied the appointment of tutors at the different regional offices. In an attempt to take the distance out of distance learning the following functions of tutors were identified: • Telephone tutoring • Conducting contact sessions • Assessing assignments The focal point of this study was tutor development within a flexible learning system as no structured learning programmes for tutors exist at TSA. The purpose was to investigate and analyse the learning needs of tutors in a flexible learning system. Various critical questions stimulated this study. However, the following three questions formed the basis of this study: • What is the role of training and development in the tutor system? • Do tutors have a need for continuing professional learning programmes? If so, what . should the nature of such learning programmes be? • What should the criteria be to evaluate and monitor the development oftutors? A qualitative research approach was followed and the data was obtained by means of interviews and participative observation sessions. The subjects of the study were the tutors of the Subject Group: Management Leadership: Policing appointed for the registration period May 1998 - May 1999. One of the conclusions of the study was that the following processes regarding the tutor system need attention: • Recruitment and selection • Interviewing and appointment • Job descriptions • Orientation, training and development programmes • Evaluation and monitoring programmes • Role clarification • Marketing strategy The following recommendations were formulated: • A guide for the recruitment and appointment processes of its tutors should be compiled. • An assessment of the support needs of learners should be performed. • Establishing a continuing professional learning unit should be considered. • A proposal for learning interventions for continuing professional learning should be developed.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: DIE ROL VAN TUTORONTWIKKELING IN 'N PLOOffiARE LEERSTELSEL Die Technikon Suider-Afrika het sy rol as afstandsonderriginstansie gedefinieer toe die Geïntegreerde Leergesentreerde Afstandsonderrigmodel (lLeD£) geïmplementeer is. Hierdie model het die daarstelling van streekkantore asook die implementering van 'n tutorstelsel veronderstel. Die tutorstelsel het die aanstelling van tutors by die onderskeie streekkantore tot gevolg gehad. Om die afstand uit afstandsonderrig te haal, is die volgende drie funksies van tutors geïdentifiseer: • Telefoonbegeleiding • Fasilitering van kontaksessies • Assessering van werkopdragte Die fokuspunt van hierdie studie was tutorontwikkeling binne 'n plooibare leerstelsel, aangesien geen gestruktureerde leerprogramme vir tutors by TSA bestaan nie. Die doel was om die leerbehoeftes van tutors in so 'n plooibare leerstelsel te ondersoek en te ontleed. Verskeie kritiese vrae het aanvanklik hierdie studie gestimuleer, maar die volgende drie vrae het die basis van die studie gevorm: • Wat is die rol van opleiding en ontwikkeling in die tutorstelsel? • Is daar 'n behoefte aan deurlopende professionele leerprogramme? Indien ja, wat behoort die aard van die programme te wees? • Wat behoort die kriteria te wees om die ontwikkeling van tutors te evalueer en te monitor? 'n Kwalitatiewe navorsingsbenadering IS gevolg en die data IS deur middel van onderhoudvoering en deelnemende waarnemingsessies ingesamel. Die tutors wat aangestel is vir die registrasietydperk Mei 1998 - Mei 1999, van die Vakgroep: Bestuursleierskap: Polisiëring is vir die studie gebruik. Een van die gevolgtrekkings van die studie IS dat die volgende prosesse lil die daarstelling van die tutorstelsel aandag vereis: • Werwing en keuring • Onderhoudvoering en aanstelling • Posbeskrywings • Oriënterings-, opleidings- en ontwikkelingsprogramme • Evaluerings- en moniteringsprogramme • Roluitklaring • Bemarking Die volgende aanbevelings is geformuleer: • 'n Handleiding vir die werwing en keuring van tutors behoort saamgestel te word. • 'n Behoeftebepaling van die ondersteuningsbehoeftes van die leerders behoort gedoen te word. • Die vestiging van 'n deurlopende professionele leereenheid behoort oorweeg te word. • 'n Voorstel vir leerintervensies vir personeelontwikkeling behoort ontwikkel te word.

Information technologies now enable people to communicate m real-time on a planetary scale. Previously isolated cultures have become interdependent in dynamic relationships of economy, government and society, where electronic information is a universal currency instantly distributed by a global web of inter-computer networks. Traditional labour theories of value are being rapidly superseded by knowledge value systems. Government and corporate rhetoric is now suffused with references to intellectual capital and employment opportunities that increasingly depend on people who can put knowledge to work in fluid, fast-changing landscapes. Thus, education has a critical and enhanced role in this new world order where knowledge is seen as the key to wealth and the engine of social change. By implication, universities are under increased pressure to develop and produce 'fast' knowledge workers by means of flexible formats of educational delivery. This dissertation examines the implications of these imperatives by undertaking an investigation into the professional development of the author as university teacher. The work responds to what has become known as the 'triple challenge' for universities, that is, i) to provide increased accessibility and student-centredness of higher education, ii) to achieve greater economy of operations but with less traditional sources of funding, and iii) to maintain quality, but also improve learning outcomes. The aim is to scrutinise the meaning of the terms 'flexible delivery' and 'lifelong learning' in the context of changing university structures and priorities. To do so, the author investigates teaching and learning practices that arise from within his specialist domains of professional music-making and education in music technology. The dissertation then argues the implications of this project for an overarching investigation of 'new learning' arising out of global change and its effects on all participants within the pedagogical arena - students, teachers, and the university as an organisational culture. The research is located amid two sets of contestations - that which exists between corporate managers and practitioners, and that which exists between practical creativity and the traditional research culture. In keeping with the challenge of working in this shifting and fragmented terrain, the research methodology makes a postmodern break with traditional formats by employing a generative 'double-science' approach to practitioner-research. However, the project was not generated out of postmodern theory, but out of the 'messiness' inherent in teaching practice. It is not, therefore, a 'postmodern' project, despite the fact that postmodern scholarship informs recent developments in the author's thinking about pedagogical praxis. The enquiry strives to transcend the divides of 'science' and 'experience' by generating a confluence of knowledges, a co-authorship arising from a symbiosis of analytical scholarship and artistic creativiry. The action is about both 'doing practice' and 'troubling practice'. It acknowledges the non-innocence of any knowledge production where the practitioner is both the researcher and the researched. Central to the design is a double-pronged engagement in/with analysis/application whereby recurring themes are deconstructed in chaptered sub-cycles that spiral toward validation and theory-building. It is a reflexive process which works through compounding reconstructions of information, through re-comparisons and member-checks that provide multiple accounts of the data-as-evidence. The dissertation argues a new logic that arises out of an explicit interrogation of the complexiry, uncertainty, and artistry of pedagogical practices in the context of the author's work. It demonstrates how flexible learning mechanisms can exist amid the artificially imposed boundaries of class segregation and discipline. In the exploration of these opportunities, it is shown that powerful new relationships can be mobilised by the supportive use of information technologies. An examination of collaborative teamwork, interdisciplinary groupings and cross-year activities suggests ways in which current demands for increased accessibility and student-centredness might be met. With its focus on improving practice, the research documents pedagogical activity that is not only generative of theory, but of learning and self-improvement. In its open-endedness, the dissertation also signals that this pedagogical project is unfinished, yet amenable to completion. It imagines a complete, yet on-going body of work that invites further experimentation, innovation and self-reflection in university teaching.

Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are production systems consisting of identical multipurpose numerically controlled machines (workstations), automated material handling system, tools, load and unload stations, inspection stations, storage areas and a hierarchical control system. The latter has the task of coordinating and integrating all the components of the whole system for automatic operations. A particular characteristic of FMSs is their complexity along with the difficulties in building analytical models that capture the system in all its important aspects. Thus optimal control strategies, or at least good ones, are hard to find and the full potential of manufacturing systems is not completely exploited.

The complexity of these systems induces a division of the control approaches based on the time frame they are referred to: long, medium and short term. This thesis addresses the short-term control of a FMS. The objective is to define control strategies, based on system state feedback, that fully exploit the flexibility built into those systems. Difficulties arise since the metrics that have to be minimized are often conflicting and some kind of trade-offs must be made using "common sense". The problem constraints are often expressed in a rigid and "crisp" way while their nature is more "fuzzy" and the search for an analytical optimum does not always reflect production needs. Indeed, practical and production oriented approaches are more geared toward a good and robust solution.

This thesis addresses the above mentioned problems proposing a fuzzy scheduler and a reinforcement-learning approach to tune its parameters. The learning procedure is based on evolutionary programming techniques and uses a performance index that contains the degree of satisfaction of multiple and possibly conflicting objectives. This approach addresses the design of the controller by means of language directives coming from the management, thus not requiring any particular interface between management and designers.

The performances of the fuzzy scheduler are then compared to those of commonly used heuristic rules. The results show some improvement offered by fuzzy techniques in scheduling that, along with ease of design, make their applicability promising. Moreover, fuzzy techniques are effective in reducing system congestion as is also shown by slower performance degradation than heuristics for decreasing inter- arrival time of orders. Finally, the proposed paradigm could be extended for on-line adaptation of the scheduler, thus fully responding to the flexibility needs of FMSs.

Master of Science

The work presented in this document deals with Machine learning algorithms used in surgical robotic problems, especially here in the Isis project. The aim of the project is to replace manual handles for endoscopic operations by a set of motors commanded via high-tech interface. The main aim of the thesis is to solve the problem of the estimation of the pose of flexible surgical instrument, using only the video flux from an endoscopic camera. After a short introduction about the system its environment and the definition of the pose problem, the work is divided in two chapters. Machine learning algorithms and learning systems are used in both parts. The first chapter deals with image processing and video tracking. Usage of colored markers and how the learning is made to perform the best segmentation is explained. It starts with simple linear classification to end with an Adaboost algorithm. The learning database construction and all the challenges it raises are explained too. Then the tracker used in the system is decomposed and its structure explained. The results of the whole tracking system are presented at the end of the chapter. The second chapter deals with function approximation: we build Radial Basis Function networks in order to approximate the final position of the instrument (or its mechanic parameters) from the data extracted by the tracking system. Learning algorithms are used too. The learning training set is built in a laboratory environment where the real position of the instrument can be measured. The last chapter is a collection of improvements that could be added to the system and opens on future perspectives about the project in general.

This study explores the understanding of academics, and students around Flexible Learning degrees in relation to pedagogy, and the implications of these perspectives for the design of effective Flexible Learning curriculum. It adopted an evaluation research methodology to investigate the Flexible Learning degrees in Computing offered at the Institution where I work during the years 2008-2010. Using open ended questionnaires, interviews and a reflective journal, data were gathered on participant perspectives on the following key areas of research interest: concepts of Flexible Learning; the Flexible Learning environment; the role of the tutor/ lecturer; the role of the learner; availability of information, resources and services; concepts of learning and the learning process. Questionnaire data and interviews were analysed using qualitative analysis to identify conceptual categories and the findings were further supported and explored by the reflective writing where personal observations were recorded, in addition to the literature. The main conclusions of the study were that: (1) learning is central to the way the Institution provides resources; (2) the design of a Flexible Learning environment influences student learning; (3) student progress depends largely on the lecturer and the feedback provided; and (4) the structure of a Flexible Learning degree must promote employability. The conclusions of the study are related to both the academics and the students. It is agreeable throughout the research that Flexible Learning requires highly motivated academics and students. With the tuition fees going up, active engagement in learning is highly encouraged in Higher Education. Flexible Learning degrees was the start of a new era in teaching and learning. The findings and successes of this project, are now applied to the whole institution that moved towards Flexible Learning in September 2015.

Thesis: M. Eng. in Computer Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 91-92).
In this thesis, we aim to simplify the building of end-to-end machine learning pipelines while preserving the performance of such pipelines on real data. As a solution to this, we propose the MLBlocks framework, a system that allows an end user to obtain a pipeline with only data and a list of data science blocks. Once a pipeline is specified, a user can tune its hyper-parameters, as well as fit and predictions, with minimal code. When building MLBlocks, we first develop a data science block library that seamlessly integrates third party blocks without integration code, providing a foundation for users to start building data science pipelines. We then provide the MLPipeline framework that allows users to simply tie together these blocks and perform the aforementioned tuning, fitting, and predicting operations with the resulting pipelines. Finally, we test the framework's usability as well as its ability to preserve performance on real data by running several pipelines on various data modalities and by integrating MLBlocks into a larger scale project. Since we are able to replicate the pipelines already in use, we are able to obtain identical results while dramatically simplifying application logic. We conclude that MLBlocks succeeds in providing a simple but effective solution to making the construction of high-performing end-to-end pipelines both simpler and more accessible.
by William Xue.
M. Eng. in Computer Science and Engineering

Background: The ongoing difficulty that nursing educators face is managing finite class time and limited instructor-student interactions to achieve balance between discourse and active learning. To complicate this predicament, technology has infiltrated all aspects of daily life demanding that education must also meet the growing expectation of students to incorporate technology into curriculum. One approach that addresses this need is the flipped classroom (FC) format, which remains operationally ill-defined and the understanding of its effects on higher-level thinking are still nascent. Aim: The purpose of this study is to explore the differences in learning between the FC format compared to the traditional classroom lecture (TL) in the context of an undergraduate nursing course. Methods: A content analysis was performed on a previous study conducted in 2015. Concept maps were used to evaluate data from transcripts of undergraduate nursing students discussing a case scenario in either a TL or FC format. Results: When comparing FC and TL groups, FC groups had a more complex concept map morphology and greater amount of identified subcategories and links. The FC groups exhibited more higher order thinking concepts compared to the TL cohort. An unexpected finding was the emergence of discussion tangents across both the FC groups and the TL cohort. Conclusion: Flipped classrooms have a place in the gamut of pedagogical approaches and this study demonstrates that the FC approach enhances student learning and aids in the development of higher-level thinking. Keywords: flipped classroom, concept maps, traditional lecture, flexible learning, content analysis
Applied Science, Faculty of
Nursing, School of
Graduate

“… the most important healing experiences in the lives of traumatised children do not occur in therapy itself…what maltreated and traumatised children most need is a healthy community to buffer pain, distress and loss caused by their earlier trauma.” (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017, p. 259-260) The experience and impact of trauma is a significant issue for young people in Australia as they seek to live healthy lives and access a fundamental human right, education. I am an educator in a flexible learning program in Sydney, for students aged 15-19 and sought to understand the issues of flexible learning and trauma informed practices more deeply. 70,000 young people in Australia access high school education through Flexible Learning Programs. The existing literature on these settings indicates that a large number of these young people have experienced trauma, however it has not acknowledged the ongoing impact of trauma as the common factor in the lives of these young people, including their school life. Some settings are therefore not being valued as safe places where trauma recovery can occur. This research project sought to understand the presence of trauma in the lives of students in flexible learning programs; its impact on student life; and how trauma informed and relational pedagogies can give educators a new lens through which to value these programs. Through field notes, student work samples, student interviews and audio recordings of group discussions, I composed a Portrait of school life at Key College, arguing that its value lies in its capacity to be a healing and supportive community for young people who have experienced trauma and been disadvantaged by the systems of neoliberalism which have pervaded mainstream educational settings. This research provides an example of a democratic schooling experience which privileges student voice and student experience.

Distributed learning environments (DLE), based in e-learning plataforms (eLP), have been presented with the potential to foster innovation and development in the teaching activitiy, at higher education institutions (HEI). However, changes within the teaching and learning processes, due to information and communication technologies (ICT), have showed to be limited and with a weak evolution rate. The present research work studied the phenomenon of eLP adoption in HEI to support DLE, building understanding about the process of adoption and use of technology and how it is influenced, and how it influence, by the context where it take place. The main goals of this work were: to identify the framework of factors influencing the success of this innovation process associated with the introduction of ICT in the teaching activity, at the pre-graduation level, and to envisage the possible role of these technologies in the development of higher education and HEI. The research work was based in a case study. The data allowed a systematic and progressive refining of the research questions and an analysis and interpretation process. Through this process the knowledge about the phenomenon was structured attending to the meanings from the different participants involved in a case of adoption and use of eLP in HEI. A detailed model was proposed for the analysis and understanding of these processes of adoption and use of ICT in higher education, evidencing and caracterising its institutional context and the mutual influences between the innovation process and the context. Based on the results achived it was possible to conclude about impacts of these technologies in the teaching and learning activities and about the perspectives to reach more flexible HEI with a renewed and reinforced role in a society where knowledge is increasingly a key factor for economic, social and cultural development.
Os ambientes de ensino distribuído (AED), suportados em plataformas de elearning (PeL), têm sido apresentados como podendo constituir importantes instrumentos de inovação e desenvolvimento da actividade de ensino nas instituições de ensino superior (IES). As mudanças registadas nos processos de ensino e aprendizagem nas IES tradicionais, associadas à incorporação de tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TIC), têm, no entanto, sido consideradas reduzidas e com um ritmo de evolução lento. O trabalho de investigação que se apresenta, consistiu num estudo visando aprofundar a compreensão do fenómeno da adopção de PeL no suporte a AED nas IES. Propusemo-nos desenvolver uma compreensão do processo de adopção e utilização de tecnologia e da forma como este é influenciado e influencia o contexto em que se desenvolve. Foram definidos como objectivos, identificar o quadro de condicionantes do sucesso deste processo de inovação associado à incorporação de TIC na prática lectiva, ao nível da pré-graduação e perspectivar o papel destas tecnologias na evolução do ensino superior e das IES. O trabalho foi desenvolvido a partir de um estudo de caso que forneceu os dados que permitiram, de forma sistemática e progressiva, um aprofundamento das questões iniciais de investigação e um processo de análise e interpretação que estruturou a construção de conhecimento sobre o fenómeno, a partir do significado atribuído pelos diferentes intervenientes num caso concreto de adopção e utilização de uma PeL numa IES. Decorreu, do trabalho realizado, uma proposta de modelo de referência para a análise e compreensão destes processos de adopção e utilização de tecnologia no ensino superior, explicitando e caracterizando o seu contexto institucional e as influências mútuas entre os elementos que determinam o contexto institucional e o processo de adopção e utilização. Procurou-se, ainda, reflectir e concluir sobre impactos e perspectivas de evolução que estas tecnologias permitem percepcionar para a actividade de ensino e aprendizagem, promovendo instituições de ensino superior mais flexíveis e com um papel renovado e reforçado, numa sociedade crescentemente baseada no conhecimento como factor de desenvolvimento económico, social e cultural.

Flexible e-Iearning refers to an intelligent educational mechanism that focuses on simulating and improving traditional education as far as possible on the Web by integrating various electronic approaches, technologies, and equipment. This mechanism aims to promote the personalized development and management of e-learning Web services and applications. The main value of this method is that it provides high-powered individualization in pedagogy for students and staff. Here, the thesis mainly studied three problems in meeting the practical requirements of users in education. The first question is how a range of teaching styles (e.g. command and guided discovery) can be supported. The second one is how varieties of instructional processes can be authored. The third question is how these processes can be controlled by learners and educators in terms of their personalized needs during the execution of instruction. In this research, through investigating the existing e-Iearning approaches and technologies, the main technical problems of current virtual learning environments (VLEs) were analyzed. Next, by using the Semantic Web concepts as well as relevant standards, a schema-driven approach was created. This method can support users' individualized operations in the Web-based education. Then, a flexible e-learning system based on the approach was designed and implemented to map a range of extensive didactic paradigms. Finally, a case study was completed to evaluate the research results. The main findings of the assessment were that the flexible VLE implemented a range of teaching styles and the personalized creation and control of educational processes.

This thesis draws on ethnographic research in a new secondary academy school in the north of England. Built under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, the school and particularly its design featuring innovative, flexible learning spaces were intended to transform education. This project sought to understand broadly how definitions of innovative education were proposed architecturally and organisationally in the school and, more specifically, on what or who flexibility depended with a particular focus on teachers’ work. Drawing on realist philosophy and architectural and spatial theory to underpin the empirical work, the research took place over two years using participant observation, interviews and questionnaires to explore teachers’ perspectives towards and uses of the school’s learning spaces. These included a mix of semi-open classrooms and larger, more open, flexible learning spaces. Flexible learning spaces are often proposed as spatial designs supporting (or even leading inevitably to) 21st century education. The thesis shows how teachers’ efforts to use the spaces flexibly for teaching were made difficult by noise levels, limited time resources, highly structured team-teaching and the wider educational culture including high stakes assessment demands. Rather than notional flexibility of the spaces, what mattered for these teachers was their ability to use the spaces in ways that they wanted. The thesis argues that the flexibility of ‘flexible learning spaces’ is both a rhetorical move and an ontological claim that is untenable – an example of spatial fetishism – and as such it can have ethical and political effects. Approaching a space as inherently flexible obscures other constraints (e.g. assessment demands and time) and how the characteristics of particular users affect whether and how a space can be flexibly used. If what matters is the use of spaces in flexible ways, then that ‘use’ should be recognised as the work it is, rather than seeing flexibility as a spatial property. The thesis also relates the promotion of flexibility within the BSF programme to changing modes of educational governance and a devaluing and dispersal of educational purpose. It proposes an alternative understanding of flexibility, based on Amartya Sen’s capability approach and Herman Hertzberger’s architectural theory, that shifts attention towards enabling teachers to achieve purposes they value.

Detta examensarbete är en studie skrivet inom informationsdesign med inriktning mot rumslig gestaltning. Arbetet handlar om hur design av iscensättning kan förmedla funktioner och bidra till ett flexibelt rum i en lärandemiljö för vuxna. Arbetet har utgått från studierummet på lärcentrumet Futurum i Västerås, där verksamheter med olika behov samsas om samma yta, och leder till osäkerhet kring rummets funktioner. Användarna i studien syftar på anställda, besökare samt studerande på platsen vilka utför olika aktiviteter och har olika roller i rummet. Arbetets syfte har varit att formge en tydlig iscensättning av rummet som stödjer målgruppens behov och underlättar användarnas förståelse för miljön. Empiri har samlats in från platsanalys, observationer, notationsanalys samt intervjuer. De tillämpade metoderna visade att rummets utformning skapade problem för en del aktiviteter som utförs i miljön. Studien har även baserats på teorier kring lärandemiljöer, formelement, struktur, ljud samt färg och ljus. Dessa aspekter har visat att ett tydligare rum kan bidra till en mer positiv upplevelse för användarna. Examensarbetet har resulterat i ett designförslag där studierummets funktioner är synliggjorda och förmedlas med hjälp av rummets utformning. Förslaget har fokus på flexibel rumslig gestaltning som är anpassad efter studierummets olika aktiviteter.
This thesis is a study conducted in the field of information design specializing in spatial design. The thesis is about how the design of staging can convey functions and contribute to a versatile space in a learning environment for adults. The study is executed in a studyroom at the Futurum Learning Center in Västerås, where activities of different needs practice in the same area, which lead to uncertainty about the room's functions. The users in the study are aimed at employees, visitors and students in the environment who perform different activities and have different roles in the room. The purpose of this study has been to form an environment with distinct areas that supports the needs of the target group and facilitates users' understanding of the environment. Empirical data has been collected through spatial analysis, observations, notation analysis and interviews. The methods used showed that the design of the room created problems for some activities carried out in the environment. The study has also been based on theories about learning environments, form elements, structure, noise, colour and light. These aspects have shown that a more distinct spatial environment can contribute to a more positive experience for users. The study has resulted in a design proposal where the functions of the studyroom are visible, which makes it easier for the users to understand the environment. The proposal focuses on a flexible spatial design that is adapted to the various activities of the study area.

The development of the web has become an attractive area, with continuously and rapid development in the area it has led to a big change in the way of learning. Learning is a concept with many definitions, but a definition that is many at hand is that learning means that individuals seeking new knowledge and experiences that shape their goals, behavior and environment. With the development of the web a new way of learning emerged, E-learning. E-learning integrates information technology with the traditional learning to offers a flexible way of learning for students where they won't be dependent on time, place or others issues that would prevent their learning.   E-learning takes shape of an application, LMS (Learning Management System). Today LMS are widely used in many universities, but with new technique comes new problems. The constant developments of the LMS have made the decision to use LMS difficult. A student may be faced with many different LMS during their study period which will lead to confusion and issues instead of enhancing their learning.   Another problem is that the professors and staff of the university will also get affected by the LMS, the professors tends to rely and use the traditional ways of teaching rather than embracing the new technique and make use of it. The purpose of this study is to investigate the problem area and propose how the LMS situation in Linnaeus University can improve and lead to an enhanced E-learning for the students of the university.   A survey was made to locate the problem area, LMS situation and what requirements and needs the student have for a LMS. The result was many different LMS is being used by the students, we have therefor based on our findings these 3 pillars that should be considered for an LMS, collaboration, communication and tools and features, together with Rosenberg's list of 11 core features is needed to satisfy the students and lead to an improved LMS and enhanced E-learning.
I och med att webbutvecklingen blivit ett lockande område som oavbrutet utvecklas i hög hastighet förändrar det också samtidigt hur lärande tidigare sett ut.  Lärande är ett begrepp med många definitioner, men en definition som ligger många tillhands är att lärande innebär att individen söker nya kunskaper och erfarenhet som tillslut formar deras mål, beteende och miljö. Tillsammans med webben har en ny form av lärande uppkommit, nämligen e-lärandet. E-lärandet innebär ett utformande av det traditionella lärandet tillsammans med informationsteknologin för att skapa ett flexibelt lärande, där studenterna kan skaffa sig nya kunskaper i egen tid, takt och vartsomhelst.   E-lärandet gestaltas i form av det som kallas LMS (Learning Management systems) eller lärplattformar. I många av dagens universitet är många lärplattformar implementerade, men ett problem har dock varit valet av rätt lärplattform till rätt kurs, eftersom att dessa lärplattformar hela tiden utvecklas och nya tekniker uppstår. Ibland händer det att studenter använder sig utav flera olika lärplattformar under en termin, vilket skapar problem.  Ett annat problem har också varit att många lärare tenderar att förlita sig på gamla metoder hellre än att använda sig utav en plattform. Därför har syftet med detta examensarbete varit att utreda problemområden och föreslå hur lärplattformssituationen vid Linnéuniversitetet kan förbättras samt undersöka om det kunde bidra med ett förbättrat e-lärandet för studenterna på Linneuniversitet.   Via en enkät fick man reda på problemområden, lärplattformssituationen och vilka funktioner och verktyg som saknades på lärplattformarna. Studenterna använde sig utav olika lärplattformar beroende på vilken kurs de läste, men många bland dem var nöjda med de lärplattformar de hade erfarenhet utav.   För att lärplattformssituationen ska förbättras och bidra till ett förbättrat e-lärandet för studenterna har vi därför utifrån studenternas behov och det teoretiska perspektivet tagit upp tre perspektiv, samverkan, kommunikation samt verktyg och funktioner. Dessa perspektiv tillsammans med Rosenbergs elva kärnfunktioner över hur en lärplattform skall utformas anser vi vara tillräckliga för ett förbättrat lärplattform och e-lärandet.

Knowledge Graph is a rising topic in the field of Artificial Intelligence. As the current trend of knowledge representation, Knowledge graph research is utilizing the large knowledge base freely available on the internet. Knowledge graph also allows inspection, analysis, the reasoning of all knowledge in reality. To enable the ambitious idea of modeling the knowledge of the world, different theory and implementation emerges. Nowadays, we have the opportunity to use freely available information from Wikipedia and Wikidata. The thesis investigates and formulates a theory about learning from Knowledge Graph. The thesis researches probabilistic knowledge graph. It only focuses on a branch called latent feature models in learning probabilistic knowledge graph. These models aim to predict possible relationships of connected entities and relations. There are many models for such a task. The metrics and training process is detailed described and improved in the thesis work. The efficiency and correctness enable us to build a more complex model with confidence. The thesis also covers possible problems in finding and proposes future work.

This thesis is a case-study of Quality Assurance (QA) practice and policy discourses for Flexible Open Distance Education/Learning (FODE/L) in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Higher Education (HE) sector. From a global to local sensemaking perspective, analysis was applied to QA for FODE/L in PNG Universities. The main argument is that PNG FODE/L has the potential to bloom providing QA is supported as an inclusive organisational culture. PNG FODE/L currently exists within a fragmented, broken and unstable QA system. The study utilised a qualitative research design approach using multiple data collection methods. Four primary data sources were used: first, semi- structured individual interviews with selected leaders of PNG universities; second, focus group interviews with FODE/L practitioners; third, open-ended questionnaires administered to students and finally, documentary evidence – FODE/L QA policy documents collected for analysis. Qualitative data analysis involved an exploratory approach for thematic coding through an interpretive process. Findings highlight existing QA grey areas. First, inclusive QA practice for FODE/L is yet to be established and sustained within QA cultures and frameworks at meso (national) and micro (institutional/individual) levels of practice. Second, meagre QA policies exist at national and institutional levels. Third, QA leadership and management lack visionary leadership for an innovative, sustainable ethical and positive FODE/L for a harmonised PNG HE sector. Given the findings, this study identifies opportunities for a sustaining QA culture and proposes a QA framework based on ethics, integrity and moral standards, called The Ethics Enterprise QA Model for PNG FODE/L. This proposed model might shape and improve the current PNG FODE/L system, hence providing research data for relevant planners and policy makers of PNG HE. Significant to research, this study fills a gap in PNG FODE/L literature. Whilst PNG FODE/L blooms, informed practice and policy through research remains vital for HE.

From 1990 to 1993 I was engaged as the Information Technology (IT) Workshop manager at Mid-Cornwall College, St. Austell. My mission during this period was to develop a new kind of IT learning environment. The main purpose was - and continues to be - to provide for mixed 'open-access’ student targets wishing to pursue generic IT activities and gain commensurate vocational qualifications. This Open-Learning (OL) environment provides on-the-job curriculum development of IT learning support systems, through a Flexible Learning (FL) management policy. An action research approach based on S-O-L provides both the methodology and technology for implementing a learning organisation. A key objective was institutional change towards the learning management policy of IT, through appropriate deployment of staffing and courseware resources to enable the practice of student centred learning. Another aim was to integrate and mix all target groups of learners together in the same domain, i. e. school leavers with adult returners for the achievement of a cost-effective, well-co-ordinated and productive learning environment. My action research applied the Centre for the Study of Human Learning's (CSHL's) ideas and tools towards the development of the IT Workshop's learning policy. I have sought to make the connection between FL delivery of the generic IT curriculum and the SOL approach towards individual and organisational learning. This came about from the link between the FL philosophy of learner-centred activity and the SOL philosophy of empowering individuals via Learning Conversations. S-O-L'Systems-7' was adopted as a conversational tool for developing the educational roles and practices of the IT Workshop. This influenced my college to make essential environmental changes to the workshop in order to develop these activities. The project also used the Personal Learning Contract (PLC) to manage and enable the 'learning-to-learn' activities of individual IT learners. With the PLC as the central tool for implementing Learning Conversations, there evolved the idea of 'Group Learning Contracts' (GLCs). This led to the practical development of 'Learning Plans' (LPs), such that IT flexible modules could be transferred to the autonomy of the learner. Evaluations from this project included sample case-study evidences of Learning Conversations obtained from individual IT case-load students. Repertory grid feedback conversations of learning experienced by individual staff members taking part in the project were also obtained. Questionnaire results from IT learners was used as another method of feedback, and conversationally evaluated using factor analysis and 'talkback' records. All the action research qualitative evidences were finally analysed using conversational techniques, leading to the overall project 'findings'.

Kyoto University (京都大学)
0048
新制・課程博士
博士(情報学)
甲第15010号
情博第369号
新制||情||68(附属図書館)
27460
UT51-2009-R734
京都大学大学院情報学研究科知能情報学専攻
(主査)教授 河原 達也, 教授 奥乃 博, 教授 黒橋 禎夫, 教授 壇辻 正剛
学位規則第4条第1項該当

Thesis (S.M. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering ; and, S.M. in Ocean Systems Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-55).
The M.I.T. Towing Tank has served as an invaluable research and educational platform for over 50 years. The hands-on learning experiences of towing tank tests have helped countless students to grasp the concepts and theories that are taught in the classroom environment. A recent upgrade of the M.I.T. Towing Tank increased the accuracy and capabilities of the facility, but also provided new capabilities to help create an Internet-based, distance learning tool. This new program has enabled M.I.T. to share its towing tank with students from other schools and universities via the Internet. The educational value of this tool was tested via an online set of experiments, performed by a partnered university, and has demonstrated the many benefits derived by this new capability. The upgrades to the facility have also increased the value of the M.I.T. Towing Tank for educational and commercial research. In recent years, the research interests at M.I.T. have significantly diversified, leading to new demands and capabilities being placed on the towing tank. As a result of the upgrades, the towing tank is now a highly flexible platform, on which a variety of research may be performed.
by Matthew L. Unger.
S.M.in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering ; and, S.M.in Ocean Systems Management

The study aimed at researching the role of materials in flexible learning teacher education courses, specifically looking at the Eastern Cape Teacher Course as a case study. The research aimed at exploring how courses and materials were developed, selected, used and adapted or redeveloped so as to support the course orientation and the intended outcomes. I did this with the hope that my research might inform the process of improving the role of course materials in flexible learning teacher education courses. I did a naturalistic enquiry within which I interviewed 39 participants (teachers and teacher educators) and two course co-ordinators. I also analysed documents such as the course materials, nine participants' journals and seven of their assignments. The observation notes compiled during the early days of the course were not used as a main source of data but as support to data sources mentioned above. Questionnaires were handed out to all the course participants, i.e. course co-ordinators, tutors and student participants. The questionnaires were intended as a means for pre interview and post interview reflection for interviewees. Through this research, I have learnt a lot about the role of materials in professional development courses, including the importance of mediation of materials and their overt use during course sessions, the importance of providing and encouraging a culture of reading through time allocation during contact sessions, through discussions on materials, and also through providing orientating comm~nts on materials rather than just handing them out to participants. Readings that are more focussed do better to motivate participants to interact with them.

Achieving and maintaining student engagement within a classroom are issues educators have dealt with since the inception of formal educational systems. The effects of seating arrangements on the classroom ecology have often been an area of concern for teachers. Recently a new trend in education called flexible seating has emerged. Flexible seating consists of a variety of alternative seating options. Proponents of flexible seating allege it creates an environment that decreases off-task behaviors which increases student outcomes through attentiveness. The purpose of this study is to understand how the effects of a flexible seating arrangement impact the ecology of the at-risk secondary classrooms, and to explore advantages and disadvantages of flexible seating in these classrooms. The study’s findings are taken from teacher interviews and observations within two at-risk secondary classrooms. The results demonstrate flexible seating increases the democracy in the classroom creating a feeling of well- being and allows self-regulation. However, based on this study educators are advised to learn their students’ needs and remember the nature of the task should influence the seating arrangement as well.

Key Words: flexible seating, traditional seating, at-risk, school ecology, on-task behaviors, off-task behaviors, engagement

HIV prevention programs in schools are acknowledged as one of the best prospects for controlling the world HIV epidemic. Epidemiological evidence indicates that deaths world-wide from AIDS are yet to peak. Although HIV notifications and AIDS deaths in the total Australian population have decreased', there has been an increase in rates in the Australian Indigenous population. There is also some evidence of complacency in HIV prevention vigilance in Australia which indicates a need for continued focus on prevention programs. The knowledge levels, attitudes toward HIV risk, and risk-taking behaviours of young Australians place them at risk of exposure to HIV. Appropriate prevention programs can be delivered to these vulnerable young people through the school setting. Programs delivered in schools have been shown to have a positive effect and teachers are vital to the delivery of these education programs. Without appropriate training, however, teachers may not optimise the outcomes of these programs. While it would be desirable for teachers to be trained in HIV prevention education in pre-service training this has not been the case in Western Australia (WA). When there is not an opportunity for pre-service training, professional development programs can be implemented to provide additional training required by teachers. Traditionally this professional development has been provided through workshops. These face-to-face delivery methods, however, do not always adequately serve the needs of all teachers, and in particular the needs of teachers in rural and remote areas. In an attempt to address the needs of these teachers, alternate methods of professional development delivery may be appropriate. The aim of this study was to test an alternate method of delivery.The study designed, disseminated and evaluated the implementation of a flexible learning professional development program for teachers of HIV education. The program was based on print-based distance learning, supported by a video and tutors. Five objectives were developed for the study. These objectives were: Objective One - To determine factors associated with teachers' enrolment in the Protect Yourself Program (PYP). Objective Two - To determine the association between factors related to entry characteristics, social integration, external attribution, academic integration and incompatibility and amount of PYP completed. Objective Three - To determine the association between amount of PYP completed and factors related to the teaching of HIV lessons. Objective Four - To examine the context in which intervention and comparison group teachers were operating for this study. Objective Five - To evaluate the process of teacher recruitment to PYP, satisfaction with the flexible learning methodology, satisfaction with the PYP materials and completion of PYP. A comprehensive theoretical framework was constructed to guide the development of the empirical study and the professional development program, as little evidence was found in the literature of similar empirically evaluated studies. This framework incorporated: Adult Learning Theory; the Model of Student Progress; the PRECEDEPROCEED Model; the Health Promoting Schools Framework; Diffusion of Innovation and the Communication Behaviour Change Model. The study was conducted in two parts. Firstly, an exploratory study was conducted which provided a basis upon which to implement the second, larger empirical study.A quasi-experimental study design was implemented due to restrictions placed upon the study by the WA Department of Health, the funding agency. The study sample was made up of teachers from government and independent, primary and second schools in WA. In total, 126 teachers were recruited to the intervention group and enrolled in the professional development program, and 128 to the comparison group, who completed some of the evaluation instruments, but did not participate in a professional development program. The professional development intervention program incorporated four comprehensive work modules, which were delivered in print form. A video and tutorial support supplemented the print materials. To evaluate the professional development program, seven instruments were developed. From these instruments five categories of variables were created, namely demographic, contextual, teacher characteristics, process and dependent. These variables were developed as single item variables, scales or indices. Quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and a combination of univariate, bivariate, and multivariate techniques (logistic regression and analysis of covariance) were conducted. Qualitative data were analysed for themes. A binary logistic regression was conducted to evaluate Objective One: to determine factors associated with teachers’ enrolment in PYP. The analysis identified four factors which were associated with enrolment in PYP.The teachers most likely to enrol in PYP had no pre-service training in health education and did not consider themselves to be a specialist or coordinator of health education. The majority of program participants had been teaching health education for between three and seven years and displayed a high level of acceptance of the flexible learning methodology. Objective Two: to determine the association between factors related to entry characteristics, social integration, external attribution, academic integration and incompatibility and amount of PYP completed was evaluated using a nominal logistic regression analysis with the intervention group sample only. Completion of the PYP program by participants was related to circumstances which were often beyond the control of the program, such as events occurring in a teacher’s personal life. However, teachers who showed a preference for flexible learning were found to be more successful in completing the program. The effects of PYP were measured by Objective Three: to determine the association between amount of PYP completed and factors related to the teaching of HIV lessons. Three of the six factors considered by this objective returned a significant association with program dose. Teacher perceived access to HIV education resources was found to be positively related to the dose of materials a participant completed.Participants who completed a high dose of the program considered HIV resources to be relatively easier to access than participants completing a low dose. Teachers who completed a high dose of PYP reported being more comfortable to teach HIV lessons than teachers completing a mid dose. In addition, intervention group teachers showed a significant change in comfort with their ability to teach HIV lessons and specified HIV topics to Years 8, 9, and 10 classes and intervention group teachers of Year 8 students thought the HIV topics were less important for this level of students. The final variable to show a significant change over time when dose of the program was considered was teacher sexual conservativeness. Both high and mid dose participants reported being less sexually conservative than low or no dose participants from pre to midtest. The context of the teachers participating in the PYP study was investigated through Objective Four: to examine the context in which intervention and Comparison group teachers were operating for this study. Two factors were found to be associated with gender, six with school location and eleven with level of teaching. These associations provided important contextual information for interpreting the findings of the study. Objective Five evaluated the process of teacher recruitment to PYP, satisfaction with the flexible learning methodology, satisfaction with the PYP materials and completion of PYP. The recruitment strategies implemented for PYP were effective in having teachers from government and independent schools in WA recruited to PYP.However, more than 90% of the intervention group were from government schools. Schools encouraged more than one teacher from a school to enrol, with nine primary schools, four district high schools, one community high school, one secondary college, four senior high schools and one combined independent primary and high school enrolling more than one teacher in the program. The flexible learning methodology was reported to be suitable for the needs of teachers who enrolled in PYP, as they felt comfortable with the learning methodology and appreciated the opportunity to choose when and where they completed the program. The opportunity for face-to-face contact, however, was still preferred by some teachers. The materials within the program were considered to be appropriate and useful. The writing style and activities were well received and the efforts of the tutors were welcomed by the majority of the intervention group. One third of teachers who enrolled in PYP completed at least some of the materials, but less than 10% completed the entire program. The most frequent suggestions made for increasing program completion rates were to set dates for completion of the program modules and to allow time release to complete the program. At baseline, this research showed that teachers considered it important for their students to have access to HIV education, but many of these teachers did not feel comfortable providing HIV education for their students.As positive effects were observed in the PYP program of impact of program dose on factors affecting the implementation of HIV education, it would appear that flexible learning professional development was a suitable alternative to face-to-face professional development. Teachers' acceptance of flexible learning professional development as an alternate methodology, however, appears to be in its infancy and will require more empirical research. Future research, study design improvements and intervention design improvements can be informed by the following recommendations. Future research Recommendation 1: There be more rigorous investigation of flexible learning as a methodology for provision of professional development for teachers of health education. Recommendation 2: The status of claiming credit for professional development toward postgraduate qualifications for teachers continue to be investigated. Recommendation 3 : Further research be undertaken to evaluate available technologies and their acceptance by teachers as a delivery method for flexible learning professional development. Study design improvements Recommendation 4: design limitations of the PYP study. Future research be designed to overcome the study Intervention design improvements Recommendation 5: The findings of the PYP study and suggestions made by PYP participants be used to improve future health education professional development programs.

HIV prevention programs in schools are acknowledged as one of the best prospects for controlling the world HIV epidemic. Epidemiological evidence indicates that deaths world-wide from AIDS are yet to peak. Although HIV notifications and AIDS deaths in the total Australian population have decreased', there has been an increase in rates in the Australian Indigenous population. There is also some evidence of complacency in HIV prevention vigilance in Australia which indicates a need for continued focus on prevention programs. The knowledge levels, attitudes toward HIV risk, and risk-taking behaviours of young Australians place them at risk of exposure to HIV. Appropriate prevention programs can be delivered to these vulnerable young people through the school setting. Programs delivered in schools have been shown to have a positive effect and teachers are vital to the delivery of these education programs. Without appropriate training, however, teachers may not optimise the outcomes of these programs. While it would be desirable for teachers to be trained in HIV prevention education in pre-service training this has not been the case in Western Australia (WA). When there is not an opportunity for pre-service training, professional development programs can be implemented to provide additional training required by teachers. Traditionally this professional development has been provided through workshops. These face-to-face delivery methods, however, do not always adequately serve the needs of all teachers, and in particular the needs of teachers in rural and remote areas. In an attempt to address the needs of these teachers, alternate methods of professional development delivery may be appropriate. The aim of this study was to test an alternate method of delivery.
The study designed, disseminated and evaluated the implementation of a flexible learning professional development program for teachers of HIV education. The program was based on print-based distance learning, supported by a video and tutors. Five objectives were developed for the study. These objectives were: Objective One - To determine factors associated with teachers' enrolment in the Protect Yourself Program (PYP). Objective Two - To determine the association between factors related to entry characteristics, social integration, external attribution, academic integration and incompatibility and amount of PYP completed. Objective Three - To determine the association between amount of PYP completed and factors related to the teaching of HIV lessons. Objective Four - To examine the context in which intervention and comparison group teachers were operating for this study. Objective Five - To evaluate the process of teacher recruitment to PYP, satisfaction with the flexible learning methodology, satisfaction with the PYP materials and completion of PYP. A comprehensive theoretical framework was constructed to guide the development of the empirical study and the professional development program, as little evidence was found in the literature of similar empirically evaluated studies. This framework incorporated: Adult Learning Theory; the Model of Student Progress; the PRECEDEPROCEED Model; the Health Promoting Schools Framework; Diffusion of Innovation and the Communication Behaviour Change Model. The study was conducted in two parts. Firstly, an exploratory study was conducted which provided a basis upon which to implement the second, larger empirical study.
A quasi-experimental study design was implemented due to restrictions placed upon the study by the WA Department of Health, the funding agency. The study sample was made up of teachers from government and independent, primary and second schools in WA. In total, 126 teachers were recruited to the intervention group and enrolled in the professional development program, and 128 to the comparison group, who completed some of the evaluation instruments, but did not participate in a professional development program. The professional development intervention program incorporated four comprehensive work modules, which were delivered in print form. A video and tutorial support supplemented the print materials. To evaluate the professional development program, seven instruments were developed. From these instruments five categories of variables were created, namely demographic, contextual, teacher characteristics, process and dependent. These variables were developed as single item variables, scales or indices. Quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and a combination of univariate, bivariate, and multivariate techniques (logistic regression and analysis of covariance) were conducted. Qualitative data were analysed for themes. A binary logistic regression was conducted to evaluate Objective One: to determine factors associated with teachers’ enrolment in PYP. The analysis identified four factors which were associated with enrolment in PYP.
The teachers most likely to enrol in PYP had no pre-service training in health education and did not consider themselves to be a specialist or coordinator of health education. The majority of program participants had been teaching health education for between three and seven years and displayed a high level of acceptance of the flexible learning methodology. Objective Two: to determine the association between factors related to entry characteristics, social integration, external attribution, academic integration and incompatibility and amount of PYP completed was evaluated using a nominal logistic regression analysis with the intervention group sample only. Completion of the PYP program by participants was related to circumstances which were often beyond the control of the program, such as events occurring in a teacher’s personal life. However, teachers who showed a preference for flexible learning were found to be more successful in completing the program. The effects of PYP were measured by Objective Three: to determine the association between amount of PYP completed and factors related to the teaching of HIV lessons. Three of the six factors considered by this objective returned a significant association with program dose. Teacher perceived access to HIV education resources was found to be positively related to the dose of materials a participant completed.
Participants who completed a high dose of the program considered HIV resources to be relatively easier to access than participants completing a low dose. Teachers who completed a high dose of PYP reported being more comfortable to teach HIV lessons than teachers completing a mid dose. In addition, intervention group teachers showed a significant change in comfort with their ability to teach HIV lessons and specified HIV topics to Years 8, 9, and 10 classes and intervention group teachers of Year 8 students thought the HIV topics were less important for this level of students. The final variable to show a significant change over time when dose of the program was considered was teacher sexual conservativeness. Both high and mid dose participants reported being less sexually conservative than low or no dose participants from pre to midtest. The context of the teachers participating in the PYP study was investigated through Objective Four: to examine the context in which intervention and Comparison group teachers were operating for this study. Two factors were found to be associated with gender, six with school location and eleven with level of teaching. These associations provided important contextual information for interpreting the findings of the study. Objective Five evaluated the process of teacher recruitment to PYP, satisfaction with the flexible learning methodology, satisfaction with the PYP materials and completion of PYP. The recruitment strategies implemented for PYP were effective in having teachers from government and independent schools in WA recruited to PYP.
However, more than 90% of the intervention group were from government schools. Schools encouraged more than one teacher from a school to enrol, with nine primary schools, four district high schools, one community high school, one secondary college, four senior high schools and one combined independent primary and high school enrolling more than one teacher in the program. The flexible learning methodology was reported to be suitable for the needs of teachers who enrolled in PYP, as they felt comfortable with the learning methodology and appreciated the opportunity to choose when and where they completed the program. The opportunity for face-to-face contact, however, was still preferred by some teachers. The materials within the program were considered to be appropriate and useful. The writing style and activities were well received and the efforts of the tutors were welcomed by the majority of the intervention group. One third of teachers who enrolled in PYP completed at least some of the materials, but less than 10% completed the entire program. The most frequent suggestions made for increasing program completion rates were to set dates for completion of the program modules and to allow time release to complete the program. At baseline, this research showed that teachers considered it important for their students to have access to HIV education, but many of these teachers did not feel comfortable providing HIV education for their students.
As positive effects were observed in the PYP program of impact of program dose on factors affecting the implementation of HIV education, it would appear that flexible learning professional development was a suitable alternative to face-to-face professional development. Teachers' acceptance of flexible learning professional development as an alternate methodology, however, appears to be in its infancy and will require more empirical research. Future research, study design improvements and intervention design improvements can be informed by the following recommendations. Future research Recommendation 1: There be more rigorous investigation of flexible learning as a methodology for provision of professional development for teachers of health education. Recommendation 2: The status of claiming credit for professional development toward postgraduate qualifications for teachers continue to be investigated. Recommendation 3 : Further research be undertaken to evaluate available technologies and their acceptance by teachers as a delivery method for flexible learning professional development. Study design improvements Recommendation 4: design limitations of the PYP study. Future research be designed to overcome the study Intervention design improvements Recommendation 5: The findings of the PYP study and suggestions made by PYP participants be used to improve future health education professional development programs.

Mobile devices are very popular among tertiary student populations. This study looks at student use of hand-held mobile devices within the context of a first year programming unit. This research sought for ways in which an educational app on these devices could be successfully integrated into such a class's learning.

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are becoming increasingly important because of their unique characteristics of connectivity. Several delay sensitive applications are starting to appear in these kinds of networks. Therefore, an issue in concern is to guarantee Quality of Service (QoS) in such constantly changing communication environment. The classical QoS aware solutions that have been used till now in the wired and infrastructure wireless networks are unable to achieve the necessary performance in the MANETs. The specialized protocols designed for multihop ad hoc networks offer basic connectivity with limited delay awareness and the mobility factor in the MANETs makes them even more unsuitable for use. Several protocols and solutions have been emerging in almost every layer in the protocol stack. The majority of the research efforts agree on the fact that in such dynamic environment in order to optimize the performance of the protocols, there is the need for additional information about the status of the network to be available. Hence, many cross layer design approaches appeared in the scene. Cross layer design has major advantages and the necessity to utilize such a design is definite. However, cross layer design conceals risks like architecture instability and design inflexibility. The aggressive use of cross layer design results in excessive increase of the cost of deployment and complicates both maintenance and upgrade of the network. The use of autonomous protocols like bio-inspired mechanisms and algorithms that are resilient on cross layer information unavailability, are able to reduce the dependence on cross layer design. In addition, properties like the prediction of the dynamic conditions and the adaptation to them are quite important characteristics. The design of a routing decision algorithm based on Bayesian Inference for the prediction of the path quality is proposed here. The accurate prediction capabilities and the efficient use of the plethora of cross layer information are presented. Furthermore, an adaptive mechanism based on the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to control the flow of the data in the transport layer. The aforementioned flow control mechanism inherits GA’s optimization capabilities without the need of knowing any details about the network conditions, thus, reducing the cross layer information dependence. Finally, is illustrated how Bayesian Inference can be used to suggest configuration parameter values to the other protocols in different layers in order to improve their performance.

Open and flexible learning can offer the prospective student a smorgasbord of possible learning activities. This study will investigate if this form of education really suits all students through an examination of relevant factors such as learning process expectations, attendance motives, study approaches (Biggs SPQ), communication initiative, expectation-based study and, finally, background variables such as socioeconomic status. Are there any variables that correlate positive to academic performance? If so, what are these variables and which are most important? This case study is an analysis of academic success involving 174 students in a business administration course in higher education.

Open and flexible learning is an approach in which distance education and campus mode converge. The emphasis shift is to the individual student’s needs and preferences, which enables students to choose there own learning paths and thus stimulates active and independent learning. The goal is to enable more effective management of learning by the learner. Open and flexible learning is often mentioned as a way to access higher education for non-traditional students. There is a large body of research, with a wide variety of theoretical frameworks and models, that try to explain, describe or predict students’ success. The research points to the fact that there is no one simple explanation or solution to help students towards degree completion or fulfilment of their goals.

A statistical correlation analysis is conducted in this study and a binary logistic regression is used to construct three models of the most important variables. The first model is based on data about the students that is known before a course starts. The second model includes variables that could be collected at the course start. The third model includes variables that could be collected when the students have attended the course. The result shows that the most important variable for academic success in the course is an achievement-oriented approach to learning. The second most important variable is expectation of the learning process as an individual activity. Other variables such as socioeconomic status and other background variables have less impact. The possibility to predict the academic success is 81 % and the third model explains 46-64 % of the variance of the academic outcome. The conclusion in this study is that the non-traditional students in the Business Administration course receives equal to, if not better results as the other students.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain student and teacher perceptions of the environment in which student learning takes place and their perceptions of how it has helped them in the cognitive and social domains. Data collected were through student and teacher perception surveys, student and teacher perception questionnaires, classroom observations, student focus group discussions, and teacher interviews. Themes that emerged from the data sources were student interactions, students' autonomy in personalizing their learning space, teacher perceptions of comfort in the classroom, and student perceptions of comfort in the classroom. The findings of this study point to four recommendations for educational leaders to ensure the effective implementation of new and dynamic learning spaces: (1) consult and support teacher and students, (2) provide professional development, (3) visit campuses and other learning spaces, and (4) add color. In order for real change to take place, teachers need to enquire about and embrace student preferences and allow for the discomfort that will be present when trying something new. Teachers must be willing to relinquish control of the learning experience for the student in order to allow for possibilities in personalized learning on the part of the student. They must risk initial failure in order to allow for greater successes in the long run.

In this thesis the aim has been to consider student learning in Business Education in the 16-19 age range through an examination of aspects of Experiential Learning. The main aspects of Experiential Learning that have been focused on include enterprise, work-related learning, risk and failure and how these impact on student learning and motivation. There is also a focus on the Young Enterprise Programme. The methodology used in the research is underpinned by a pragmatist paradigm in terms of the choice of methods, which has led to the use of a mixed methods or 'blended' approach. Data was collected from the key stakeholders in the 16-19 age phase of education and included the students themselves, educational institutions, teachers, employers, and students involved in the Young Enterprise Programme. The data was then analysed in order to illuminate the six themes for investigation. An initial study was undertaken and the findings from this indicated a dichotomy between schools and colleges in how Experiential Learning was used. More significantly however, there was contradictory evidence with regard to risk taking, and the opportunities which students are given in order to experience failure. These findings, alongside key aspects of the literature, were used to develop six main themes for investigation. The main study that then followed, indicated that experience of risk and failure, often via informal and incidental learning, can lead to new understanding and new modes of thinking. It also indicated that although valuable, work placement does not always provide a meaningful and consistent experience for students, and may encourage them to focus on success and the established ways of doing things. The findings then led to the conclusion that in a successful collaborative group, learners can have the support and encouragement to take risks and make changes. In turn, such groups and the associated support that they provide can promote more effective work related Experiential Learning. The findings from the main study, and the subsequent discussion and analysis of these, and also led to a consideration of the implications of the study for professional practice. Young people seeking work in the future are likely to need to be more flexible and entrepreneurial in their attitudes. The research indicates that the education system needs a greater capacity for innovation and creativity, in relation to facilitating the experience of risk and failure for students, in order to develop those flexible and entrepreneurial attitudes.

With the vast amount of information in various formats that is produced today it becomes necessary for consumers ofthis information to be able to judge if it is relevant for them. One way to enable that is to provide information abouteach piece of information, i.e. provide metadata. When metadata is to be edited by a human being, a metadata editorneeds to be provided. This thesis describes the design and practical use of a configuration mechanism for metadataeditors called annotation profiles, that is intended to enable a flexible metadata editing environment. An annotationprofile is an instance of an Annotation Profile Model (APM), which is an information model that can gatherinformation from many sources. This model has been developed by the author together with colleagues at the RoyalInstitute of Technology and Uppsala University in Sweden. It is designed so that an annotation profile can holdenough information for an application to generate a customized metadata editor from it. The APM works withmetadata expressed in a format called RDF (Resource Description Framwork), which forms the technical basis for theSemantic Web. It also works with metadata that is expressed using a model similar to RDF. The RDF model providesa simple way of combining metadata standards and this makes it possible for the resulting metadata editor to combinedifferent metadata standards into one metadata description. Resources that are meant to be used in a learning situationcan be of various media types (audio- or video-files, documents, etc.), which gives rise to a situation where differentmetadata standards have to be used in combination. Such a resource would typically contain educational metadatafrom one standard, but for each media type a different metadata standard might be used for the technical description.To combine all the metadata into a single metadata record is desirable and made possible when using RDF. The focusin this thesis is on metadata for resources that can be used in such learning contexts.One of the major advantages of using annotation profiles is that they enable change of metadata editor without havingto modify the code of an application. In contrast, the annotation profile is updated to fit the required changes. In thisway, the programmer of an application can avoid the responsibility of deciding which metadata that can be edited aswell as the structure of it. Instead, such decisions can be left to the metadata specialist that creates the annotationprofiles to be used.The Annotation Profile Model can be divided into two models, the Graph Pattern Model that holds information onwhat parts of the metadata that can be edited, and the Form Template Model that provides information about how thedifferent parts of the metadata editor should be structured. An instance of the Graph Pattern Model is called a graphpattern, and it defines which parts of the metadata that the annotation profile will be editable. The author hasdeveloped an approach to how this information can be used when the RDF metadata to edit is stored on a remotesystem, e.g. a system that can only be accessed over a network. In such cases the graph pattern cannot be useddirectly, even though it defines the structures that can be affected in the editing process. The method developeddescribes how the specific parts of metadata are extracted for editing and updating when the metadata author hasfinished editing.A situation where annotation profiles have proven valuable is presented in chapter 6. Here the author have taken partin developing a portfolio system for learning resources in the area of blood diseases, hematology. A set of annotationprofiles was developed in order to adapt the portfolio system for this particular community. The annotation profilesmade use of an existing curriculum for hematology that provides a competence profile of this field. The annotationprofile makes use this curriculum in two ways:1. As a part of the personal profile for each user, i.e. metadata about a person. Through the editor, created from anannotation profile, the user can express his/her skill/knowledge/competence in the field of hematology.2. The metadata can associate a learning resource can with certain parts of the competence description, thusexpressing that the learning resource deals with a specific part of the competence profile. This provides a mechanismfor matching learning need with available learning resources.As the field of hematology is evolving, the competence profile will need to be updated. Because of the use ofannotation profiles, the metadata editors in question can be updated simply by changing the corresponding annotationprofiles. This is an example of the benefits of annotation profiles within an installed application. Annotation Profilescan also be used for applications that aim to support different metadata expressions, since the set of metadata editorscan be easily changed.The system of portfolios mentioned above provides this flexibility in metadata expression, and it has successfullybeen configured to work with resources from other domain areas, notably organic farming, by using another set ofannotation profiles. Hence, to use annotation profiles has proven useful in these settings due to the flexibility that theAnnotation Profile Model enables. Plans for the future include developing an editor for annotation profiles in order toprovide a simple way to create such profiles.
QC 20110426

This study investigates the integration of lecture recordings to support flexible learning and responsive pedagogical approaches in an undergraduate LLB degree presented in a dual mode (face-to-face and online) by the University of the Free State’s Faculty of Law. In this faculty, lecture recording is observed by compulsory integration in all classes; the only options pertain to three basic software tools. According to literature, integrating lecture recording can bring about flexibility in student learning, and flexibility can have both positive and negative implications for student learning. This study uses Puentedura’s (2006) SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition) model as a theoretical lens to analyse different levels or types of integration of lecture recording by students and lecturers. The SAMR categories assisted the study to identify whether Substitution, Augmentation, Modification or Redefinition were present when students and lecturers integrated lecture recording in teaching and learning. The study implements a mixed-method research approach that included student and lecturer surveys, lecturer interviews, and telephonic interviews and focus group discussions with students. Findings indicate that students’ overall experience of lecture recording was that it enhanced their learning and gave them flexibility regarding how, where, when they could learn. Some lecturers claimed that lecture recording enhances their teaching methodology, and that it can have an impact on their students’ learning. Lecturers agreed that lecture recording can be applied and integrated to transform the way they teach. Lecturers also indicated that lecture recording, in the form of audio recordings of lectures, in some instances caused students to hold lecturers accountable, not always fairly, for their utterances in class. Both staff and students indicated that they had concerns about class attendance when lecture recording was used, regardless of whether lectures were recorded when presented online or face-to-face. The study found that campus-based and online students integrated lecture recordings as part of their learning experiences in a variety of ways. The majority of campus-based students reported using lecture recordings to augment their learning experiences, especially in relation to how and whether they attended faceto-face lectures. Modification strategies for online students included making use of lecture recordings as a substitute for their presence at face-to-face lectures. Some online students reported that engaging with lecture recordings made them feel part of the course and its community of students. Lecturers’ specific approaches to teaching play a considerable role in the way they experience lecture recording and the way they integrate it in their courses. In addition to survey findings, the study also presents lecturer views, to illustrate some of these variations and interplays. While some lecturers reported that using lecture recordings has completely transformed the way they teach, others admitted that if they had a choice, they would not use lecture recordings in their teaching. The study offers a contextual account of lecture recording integration and contributes to global debates around lecture recording. Student and lecturer experiences with lecture recording, as observed through various SAMR levels of integration, depend on the type of lecture recording tool and software used, beliefs relating to the purpose of a lecture, regardless of its mode of delivery, and the reason for recording it in the first place. The study contributes to a local understanding of lecture recording integration and stimulates new dialogue that could guide future integration of lecture recording technologies, locally and internationally.

Les images numériques sont devenues un moyen de communication standard et universel. Elles prennent place dans notre vie de tous les jours, ce qui entraîne directement des inquiétudes quant à leur intégrité. Nos travaux de recherche étudient différentes méthodes pour examiner l’authenticité d’une image numérique. Nous nous plaçons dans un contexte réaliste où les images sont en grandes quantités et avec une large diversité de manipulations et falsifications ainsi que de sources. Cela nous a poussé à développer des méthodes flexibles et adaptative face à cette diversité.Nous nous sommes en premier lieu intéressés à la détection de manipulations à l’aide de la modélisation statistiques des images. Les manipulations sont des opérations élémentaires telles qu’un flou, l’ajout de bruit ou une compression. Dans ce cadre, nous nous sommes plus particulièrement focalisés sur les effets d’un pré-traitement. A cause de limitations de stockage et autres, une image peut être re-dimensionnée ou re-compressée juste après sa capture. L’ajout d’une manipulation se fait donc ensuite sur une image déjà pré-traitée. Nous montrons qu’un pré-redimensionnement pour les images de test induit une chute de performance pour des détecteurs entraînés avec des images en pleine taille. Partant de ce constat, nous introduisons deux nouvelles méthodes pour mitiger cette chute de performance pour des détecteurs basés sur l’utilisation de mixtures de gaussiennes. Ces détecteurs modélisent les statistiques locales, sur des tuiles (patches), d’images naturelles. Cela nous permet de proposer une adaptation de modèle guidée par les changements dans les statistiques locales de l’image. Notre première méthode est une adaptation entièrement non-supervisée, alors que la seconde requière l’accès à quelques labels, faiblement supervisé, pour les images pré-resizées.Ensuite, nous nous sommes tournés vers la détection de falsifications et plus spécifiquement l’identification de copier-coller. Le copier-coller est l’une des falsification les plus populaires. Une zone source est copiée vers une zone cible de la même image. La grande majorité des détecteurs existants identifient indifféremment les deux zones (source et cible). Dans un scénario opérationnel, seulement la zone cible est intéressante car uniquement elle représente une zone de falsification. Ainsi, nous proposons une méthode pour discerner les deux zones. Notre méthode utilise également la modélisation locale des statistiques de l’image à l’aide de mixtures de gaussiennes. La procédure est spécifique à chaque image et ainsi évite la nécessité d’avoir recours à de larges bases d’entraînement et permet une plus grande flexibilité.Des résultats expérimentaux pour toutes les méthodes précédemment décrites sont présentés sur des benchmarks classiques de la littérature et comparés aux méthodes de l’état de l’art. Nous montrons que le détecteur classique de détection de manipulations basé sur les mixtures de gaussiennes, associé à nos nouvelles méthodes d’adaptation de modèle peut surpasser les résultats de récentes méthodes deep-learning. Notre méthode de discernement entre source/cible pour copier-coller égale ou même surpasse les performances des dernières méthodes d’apprentissage profond. Nous expliquons ces bons résultats des méthodes classiques face aux méthodes d’apprentissage profond par la flexibilité et l’adaptabilité supplémentaire dont elles font preuve.Pour finir, cette thèse s’est déroulée dans le contexte très spécial d’un concours organisé conjointement par l’Agence National de la Recherche et la Direction Général de l’Armement. Nous décrivons dans un appendice, les différents tours de ce concours et les méthodes que nous avons développé. Nous dressons également un bilan des enseignements de cette expérience qui avait pour but de passer de benchmarks publics à une détection de falsifications d’images très réalistes
Images are nowadays a standard and mature medium of communication.They appear in our day to day life and therefore they are subject to concernsabout security. In this work, we study different methods to assess theintegrity of images. Because of a context of high volume and versatilityof tampering techniques and image sources, our work is driven by the necessity to developflexible methods to adapt the diversity of images.We first focus on manipulations detection through statistical modeling ofthe images. Manipulations are elementary operations such as blurring,noise addition, or compression. In this context, we are more preciselyinterested in the effects of pre-processing. Because of storagelimitation or other reasons, images can be resized or compressed justafter their capture. Addition of a manipulation would then be applied on analready pre-processed image. We show that a pre-resizing of test datainduces a drop of performance for detectors trained on full-sized images.Based on these observations, we introduce two methods to counterbalancethis performance loss for a pipeline of classification based onGaussian Mixture Models. This pipeline models the local statistics, onpatches, of natural images. It allows us to propose adaptation of themodels driven by the changes in local statistics. Our first method ofadaptation is fully unsupervised while the second one, only requiring a fewlabels, is weakly supervised. Thus, our methods are flexible to adaptversatility of source of images.Then we move to falsification detection and more precisely to copy-moveidentification. Copy-move is one of the most common image tampering technique. Asource area is copied into a target area within the same image. The vastmajority of existing detectors identify indifferently the two zones(source and target). In an operational scenario, only the target arearepresents a tampering area and is thus an area of interest. Accordingly, wepropose a method to disentangle the two zones. Our method takesadvantage of local modeling of statistics in natural images withGaussian Mixture Model. The procedure is specific for each image toavoid the necessity of using a large training dataset and to increase flexibility.Results for all the techniques described above are illustrated on publicbenchmarks and compared to state of the art methods. We show that theclassical pipeline for manipulations detection with Gaussian MixtureModel and adaptation procedure can surpass results of fine-tuned andrecent deep-learning methods. Our method for source/target disentanglingin copy-move also matches or even surpasses performances of the latestdeep-learning methods. We explain the good results of these classicalmethods against deep-learning by their additional flexibility andadaptation abilities.Finally, this thesis has occurred in the special context of a contestjointly organized by the French National Research Agency and theGeneral Directorate of Armament. We describe in the Appendix thedifferent stages of the contest and the methods we have developed, as well asthe lessons we have learned from this experience to move the image forensics domain into the wild

An action research design, incorporating the repertory grid as a framework for Learning Conversations, is used to examine the management of change for a group of teachers and their schools. The study sets out to analyse how individual, teachers, from twelve primary and middle schools, in three outer London boroughs, learnt about managing change in their schools, in relation to children with Special Educational Needs. To study how the school supported these individuals, Headteachers and Deputy Heads were also included in the research. The sample of teachers was chosen from those who had attended either of two sets of in-service courses on Special Educational Needs in Ordinary Schools. The first set of teachers had recently completed their course; the second had completed courses between five and eight years previously. This gave an opportunity to compare short-term and long-term learning outcomes from these courses. As the study progressed, so did the development of the use of the conversational techniques. Flexible Learning Conversations, which went beyond the repertory grid techniques, were developed, and the evidence showed that this improved individuals' ability to reflect on their work, thus gaining confidence for future action in their schools. It was, also possible to develop a procedure for small groups of participants to share their own constructs, elicited from personal grid conversations. This led, into a Group Learning Conversation, which also included future action planning. The research also examines the interaction of action research and the Learning Conversation using the repertory grid, in helping to develop reflective practitioners and effective schools. As co-ordinating tutor for both sets of in-service courses, as a co-ordinator of LEA support services in two of the LEAs, and in the role as action researcher, my personal learning has formed part of the research outcomes.

Abstract The next-generation networks are set to support a high data rate, low latency, high reliability, and diverse types of services and use cases. These requirements come at the expense of a more complex network management, and asymmetric and time-varying traffic dynamics. Accordingly, future networks will operate at different duplexing modes and with multiple access techniques. This thesis proposes novel transmission strategies and methodologies to dynamically optimize the duplexing modes and allocate resources for small cell based cellular networks. The first part of the thesis studies dynamic time-division-duplex (TDD) operation in dynamic and asymmetric uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) traffic conditions. In this regard, we propose a dynamic TDD framework that optimizes the UL and DL frame configuration and power allocation. Due to the high interference coupling between neighboring small cells, we propose a load-aware clustering method that groups the small cell base stations (SBSs) based on their spatial and load similarities. To balance the UL and DL loads within each cluster, we study the potential of load-based UL/DL decoupled user association in balancing the traffic loads within clusters. In the second part, we study the problem of half-duplex (HD)/full-duplex (FD) mode selection and UL/DL resource and power optimization in small cell networks. Therein, SBSs operate in non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in both UL and DL to schedule multiple users at the same time-frequency resource. The goal of the study is therefore to select the optimal duplexing and multiple access scheme, based on the traffic load and interference conditions, such that users’ data rates are maximized, while stabilizing traffic queues. Finally, the last part of the thesis looks beyond rate maximization and focuses on ensuring low latency and high reliability in small cell networks providing edge computing services. The problem of distributing wireless resources to users requesting edge computing tasks is cast as a delay minimization problem under stringent reliability constraints. The study investigates the role of proactive computing in ensuring low latency edge computing, while the concept of hedged requests is presented as an enabler for computing service reliability
Tiivistelmä Seuraavan sukupolven verkot suunnitellaan tukemaan suuria tiedonsiirtonopeuksia, pientä latenssia, erinomaista luotettavuutta ja monentyyppisiä palveluja ja käyttötapauksia. Näiden vaatimusten täyttämisen kääntöpuolena ovat entistä monimutkaisemmat verkonhallintatoiminnot sekä epäsymmetrinen ja ajallisesti muuttuva dataliikenteen dynamiikka. Verkot toimivat tulevaisuudessa eri dupleksointitiloissa hyödyntämällä useita eri liittymätekniikoita. Tässä tutkielmassa ehdotetaan uusia siirtostrategioita ja menetelmiä dupleksointitilojen dynaamista optimointia ja resurssien allokointia varten piensoluperustaisissa solukkoverkoissa. Tutkielman alkuosassa tarkastellaan dynaamisen aikajakodupleksin (TDD) toimintaa dataliikenneympäristöissä, joissa on käytössä dynaaminen ja epäsymmetrinen lähetysyhteys (UL) ja laskeva siirtotie (DL). Ehdotamme tältä osin dynaamista TDD-kehystä, joka optimoi UL- ja DL-kehyksen konfiguroinnin ja tehon allokoinnin. Vierekkäisten pienten solujen välisten kytkösten suuren interferenssin takia ehdotamme kuormituksen huomioivaa klusterointimenetelmää, jossa piensolutukiasemat (SBS) ryhmitellään niiden tilallisten ja kuormitusominaisuuksien yhteneväisyyden perusteella. Tutkimme UL- ja DL-kuormitusten tasapainottamista kussakin klusterissa tarkastelemalla UL/DL-yhteyksistä irti kytketyn, kuormitukseen perustuvan käyttäjän yhdistämisen mahdollisuuksia dataliikennekuormituksen tasapainottamisessa. Tutkielman toisessa osassa tarkastellaan puolidupleksi (HD)- ja kaksisuuntaisen (FD) -tilan valinnan ongelmaa ja UL-/DL-resurssien ja tehon optimointia piensoluverkoissa. Siinä piensolutukiasemat toimivat ei-ortogonaalisessa moniliittymässä (NOMA) sekä UL- että DL-yhteyksissä useiden käyttäjien ajoittamiseksi samalle aika-taajuusresurssille. Tutkielman tavoitteena on siten valita optimaalinen dupleksointi- ja moniliittymäkaavio dataliikenteen kuormituksen ja interferenssin perusteella siten, että käyttäjän tiedonsiirtonopeudet voidaan maksimoida ja dataliikennejonot tasata. Lopuksi tutkielman viimeisessä osassa tarkastellaan tiedonsiirtonopeuden maksimoinnin lisäksi pienen latenssin ja suuren luotettavuuden varmistamista piensoluverkoissa, jotka tuottavat reunalaskentapalveluja. Langattomien resurssien jakelemista käyttäjille, jotka vaativat reunalaskentatehtäviä, käsitellään viiveen minimoinnin ongelmana soveltamalla tiukkoja luotettavuusrajoituksia. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan proaktiivisen tietojenkäsittelyn roolia pienen latenssin reunalaskennassa