Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Higher level learning'

Doctor of Philosophy
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Steven Warren
Linear Systems (a.k.a., Signals and Systems) is an important class in an Electrical Engineering curriculum. A clear understanding of the topics in this course relies on a well-developed notion of lower-level mathematical constructs and procedures, including the roles these procedures play in system analysis. Students with an inadequate math foundation regularly struggle in this class, as they are typically able to perform sequences of the underlying calculations but cannot piece together the higher-level, conceptual relationships that drive these procedures. This dissertation describes an investigation to assess and improve students’ higher-level understanding of Linear Systems concepts. The focus is on the topics of (a) time-domain, linear time-invariant (LTI) system response visualization and (b) Fourier series conceptual understanding, including trigonometric Fourier series (TFS), compact trigonometric Fourier series (CTFS), and exponential Fourier series (EFS). Support data, including exam and online homework data, were collected since 2004 from students enrolled in ECE 512 - Linear Systems at Kansas State University. To assist with LTI response visualization, two online homework modules, Zero Input Response and Unit Impulse Response, were updated with enhanced plots of signal responses and placed in use starting with the Fall 2009 semester. To identify students’ conceptual weaknesses related to Fourier series and to help them achieve a better understanding of Fourier series concepts, teaching-learning interviews were applied between Spring 2010 and Fall 2012. A new concept-based online homework module was also introduced in Spring 2011. Selected final exam problems from 2007 to 2012 were analyzed, and these data were supplemented with detailed mid-term and final exam data from 77 students enrolled in the Spring 2010 and Spring 2011 semesters. In order to address these conceptual learning issues, two frameworks were applied: Bloom’s Taxonomy and APOS theory. The teaching-learning interviews and online module updates appeared to be effective treatments in terms of increasing students’ higher-level understanding. Scores on both conceptual exam questions and more traditional Fourier series exam questions were improved relative to scores received by students that did not receive those treatments.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of Toledo, 2007.
Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction." Bibliography: leaves 118-135.

Students' lack of participation in higher-level mathematics courses is a pressing concern. In a small rural district in Alaska, many high school students elect to opt out of taking higher-level mathematics once the minimum requirement is reached. According to Bandura's self-efficacy construct, a learners' motivation is influenced by their self-beliefs and affect towards learning. Moreover, research on student learning experiences in mathematics suggests a gender difference, with girls preferring that less abstract conceptual knowledge be taught through hands-on activities. As mathematics instruction is traditionally taught through lecture and demonstration, both of which are preferences of the assimilator learning style, this study explored the role of learning styles in the lack of participation (particularly amongst girls) in higher-level mathematics. A mixed methods sequential explanatory design was used to explore the relationships among students' learning styles, participation in higher-level mathematics, and gender through a self-efficacy framework. Archival survey data were obtained for all high school students in the district (n = 63) and interviews were conducted with a subsample of students (n = 8) who volunteered to participate. Chi square analyses were performed on survey data to test for relationships between participation in higher-level mathematics, gender, and learning style. No significant relationships were found. Findings from the analysis of interview data indicated that students who opted not to take higher-level math had little knowledge of the importance of math as it relates to potential college and career options. A series of guidance lessons aimed at increasing awareness of the importance of math for future learning and potential career fields was created. This project study will promote social change by improving student awareness of, and achievement in, mathematics-related careers.

Includes abstract.
Includes bibliographical references.
The use of mobile devices has grown in recent years and has overtaken the proliferation of desktop computers with their dual affordances of small size and easy connectivity in diverse fields. The usage of these devices has not been widespread in higher education. Mobile technology is a new and promising area of research in higher education. The affordance of mobile technologies has prompted their adoption as a means of enhancing face-to-face (f2f) learning. In this thesis, mobile lecturing is presented as a means of achieving mobile learning. The availability of mobile devices has positively enabled the mobile lecturing process. F2f lectures are recorded and distributed as lecture vodcasts using mobile devices. The vodcasts are generated through Opencast Matterhorn and YouTube. Currently, there are few descriptive models of mobile lecturing that can be used to enhance learning in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This thesis has several contributions: first I propose a “MOBLEC” theoretical model of mobile lecturing; mobile lecturing represents a new paradigm in mobile learning which enhances students’ engagement with lecture vodcasts to foster deep learning. The second contribution of this thesis is a mobile lecturing tool, MOBILect. MOBILect is developed in HTML5 for cross-platform solution across most mobile devices. This tool enables students to use mobile devices to actively interact with lecture vodcasts and with peers using the vodcast. Finally, I use different case studies to evaluate the MOBLEC model to explore the effectiveness of mobile lecturing in enhancing learning in HEIs. The MOBLEC model is proposed to define mobile lecturing: it describes mobile lecturing as a process resulting from the convergence of mobile technologies, learning engagements and learning interactions. The case studies are evaluative, relying on a group of students to evaluate the MOBLEC by accessing MOBILect. Empirical data was acquired through triangulation method involving focus group discussions, open-ended questions and interviews. All the questions were based on the MOBLEC model. The result of the studies provided positive indicators as to the usefulness and effectiveness of mobile lecturing in engaging students to enhance and foster deep learning. Mobile lecturing, through augmenting and accessing lecture vodcasts on students’ mobile devices anywhere and at any time, with an affordance to comment and respond to comments, has potential for empowering students who might be struggling to understand f2f sessions and the aggregated comments become a valuable educational resource. The thesis also outlines areas for future research work.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the perceived benefits of an English language learning architecture of a preparatory language school of a private university from the current students&rsquo
, previous students&rsquo
, teachers&rsquo
and administrators&rsquo
point of view. The study investigated the reactions towards the two parts of the learning architecture designed to teach English through a blended learning system, focusing on the system&rsquo
s benefits for the students&rsquo
language skills as well as transferable skills such as computer literacy, working collaboratively, and taking responsibility for their own learning. In this case study both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from four parties: questionnaires from current students, instructors, administrators and faculty students, classroom and language laboratory observation forms, interviews with the current students as well as with faculty students who passed the preparatory school&rsquo
s proficiency exam and were in their freshmen year, studying in their departments. The qualitative data were analyzed using a coding system and quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS and Excel. In general it can be said that there was a positive reaction towards the use of computers in the preparatory program for providing an effective platform for teaching and learning English as well as transferable skills such as computer literacy, taking responsibility for one&rsquo
s own learning and working collaboratively. The materials were found useful and there was a request for similar materials in the other levels of the program. Nevertheless, it was found that students did not really enjoy doing the materials and needed more incentives to complete them. From the instructors&rsquo
and administrators&rsquo
point of view issues of time needed to get familiar with and integrate the materials into the daily teaching, ways of integrating the materials as well as learner and teacher training emerged as a result of the study.

Developmental math currently poses a hurdle that many community college students are unable to overcome. Eighty percent of developmental math students do not successfully complete any college-level course within three years (Bailey, Jeong, & Cho, as cited by Strother, Van Campen & Grunow, 2013, p. 1). Despite numerous reform attempts, there has been a lack of consistent improvement and a lack of understanding regarding which methods are the most successful and the reasons why. Faculty need a new pedagogy to connect with developmental math students and effectively engage them in order to improve student learning outcomes. Proponents regard game-based learning as a way to leverage the intense engagement of video games in an educational context to increase engagement, increase the amount of time on task, and improve overall student success metrics.

The author has reviewed the studies and the evidence; weighed the value and legitimacy of the studies; synthesized the weight of the evidence of introducing a game-based learning pedagogy, and then examined the potential efficacy of game-based learning in the developmental math environment. The author has created an evidence-based implementation plan to incorporate game-based learning into developmental math education in a way that has the highest potential to improve student learning.

Key words: Game-based learning, gaming, serious games, developmental math, developmental education reform, innovation.

The following explores the phenomenon of perceived organizational culture change resulting from involvement in the establishment of program-level student learning outcomes assessment at colleges and universities. The goal of the research was to understand what elements of organizational culture may have changed on the part of the faculty and administration during the assessment development and implementation process, and how the combined effects may have shifted elements of organizational culture.

Two primary research questions guided the exploration of perceived organizational culture change. The first question focused on how the process of developing and implementing plans to assess student learning at the program level influences the attitudes, behaviors, values, and practices of faculty. The second question considered ways in which the assessment initiative changed or affected the program's organizational culture.

Critical to answering these research questions for each program studied was an understanding of the assessment development and implementation process. Further, it was important to identify and comprehend those decisions perceived most influential on the organizational culture of the program's faculty and administration.

The review of current knowledge supported and focused on research from the following four areas: 1. a basic history of assessment and the role of accreditation; 2. perceived cultural conflicts associated with assessment; 3. institutional interpretations of assessment; and, 4. research on organizational culture and the change process most relevant to higher education.

The researcher used the qualitative method of case study analysis and focused on efforts at three private liberal arts institutions. Selected from each institution were two programs of study that have successfully established learning goals and methods to measure student learning.

Across the three institutions and six programs studied, common themes and unique features emerged relative to the process of assessment development and the elements indicative of organizational culture change. Further, general assertions emerge concerning how the program's efforts affect attributes of organizational culture.

Both faculty and administrators may benefit from the conclusions of the research. Individuals charged with demonstrating academic integrity as well as those involved in the decision-making process regarding measuring student learning may also find the research valuable.

The thesis presents a critique of the learning and competence agenda', ie currently-dominant approaches to graduate employability and managerial competence expressed in terms of learning as a process, and of transferable skills, competence, etc as outcomes of learning. The thesis argues that this agenda is based on a set of assumptions, referred to as the `conventional model of learning and competence', which is highly contestable. Key assumptions include that of learning as an individualised process sui generis, resulting in outcomes ('skills', `competencies' etc), causally related to behaviour or performance. Using both primary and secondary evidence, the claims made for the conventional model are shown not to be upheld. This is taken as warranting more fundamental consideration of the conventional model. It is argued that the `common sense' appeal of the model arises from the systematic ambiguity of the term `learning' (and other word-forms from the verb `to learn'). Conceptual analysis and clarification shows that the language of `learning', `skills' and so on relates to ways of expressing aspects of behaviour or performance. The thesis argues that performance is not objectively observable, but requires the construal or interpretation of activity as performance-of-a-kind. Drawing on various interpretive and constructionist traditions within the social sciences, this analysis is taken forward to develop a relational perspective on learning and competence. It is argued that, the notions of (social) `practices' and `emergent identity' are critical to such a perspective. The relational perspective is applied to the reconsideration of interviews with recent graduates and novice managers, particularly in respect of analysing career trajectories in terms of `modalities of emergent identity'. The forms of warranting of identity claim are also examined. The thesis concludes with a consideration of implications of the relational perspective, for further research, for policy and for pedagogic practice.

Linguistic error has proven to be a recurrent area of interest for researchers. There exist several types of approaches to error; some studies have focused on specific errors, such as grammatical errors, others on more general or exogenous issues, such as the perception of error of the group object of study, etc. From the point of view of methodology, some have been dedicated to the definition and description of error, while others have studied the identification of erroneous uses of language. Several proposals for error categorisation have also been propounded. In the case of error production in languages foreign to the speaker, the learning factor must also be included. Some authors have focused on the underlying reasons, questioning if the cause for errors rests upon an inadequate teaching method, or the actual teacher, or even if the cause is intrinsic to any learnt language, as opposed to the Mother Tongue. From the principle that it is possible to improve the language proficiency level of students by looking at the errors produced, this doctoral dissertation studies pragmatic error in the production of written English. In addition, it includes pedagogic perspectives that introduce a Second Language to potential speakers and the European Framework of Reference. The thesis is structured as follows: the first part is dedicated to a theoretical justification of the research, with an introduction to Pragmatics, Error Analysis, Contrastive Analysis, Second Language Acquisition -in particular the Communicative Approach- and the European Framework for Languages. The third chapter is dedicated to the objectives. Chapter 4 explains the methodology used for data processing and analysis. The results are explained in chapter 5 and chapter 6 presents the conclusions derived from these. To begin with, a proposal for error analysis and identification is presented. This takes into account error distribution and classification and language levels proposed in the Common Europea Framework of Reference for Languages as an open tool for the analysis of errors investigated.
Mestre I Mestre, EM. (2011). Error in the learning and teaching of english as a second language at higher education level [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/11277
Palancia

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003.
"A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree Doctor of Philosophy from University of Western Sydney" Bibliography : leaves 483-501.

This thesis examines the attitudes of students to teaching strategies that are aimed at encouraging autonomous learning in university level biology. Attitudes determine the learning which occurs within a student as he/she selects from the environment what he/she learns according to his ideas, values and feelings as well as his concepts. Attitudes may indeed lead to a rejection or acceptance of new ideas. Hence there is the need to inculcate the right attitudes in the students. Favourable attitudes to a subject could be promoted by the use of appropriate teaching strategies. The result indicated that :- (1) The students were encouraged to become autonomous in their learning and this position was more evident when the changes were made to the course in 1995/96 session. (2) The laboratory method with its many activities which serve to ensure that each student has an opportunity to participate effectively also indicated that the students were encouraged to think for themselves. (3) The tutorial method which had become more varied and frequent encouraged the students to become more free in airing their views thereby enabling them to become more independent. (4) The project method enhanced the student's ability to carry out their studies independently. (5) The organisation of the course, especially the new course, was considered very good as it facilitated their moving towards autonomy. (6) The Perry model confirmed that the changes made in the course did make a difference in students' attitudes to their learning producing a shift towards a higher degree of autonomy. The findings have shown that students were undergoing changes in their perception and approach to their study while at university.

This thesis used an action learning approach to achieve two aims. Firstly to develop the authors knowledge of research and research methods and secondly to design, deliver and evaluate interprofessional education (IPE). An undergraduate IPE module was designed using the Contact Theory and delivered, in February 1999, to final year students of midwifery, nursing, occupational therapy and radiography through a problem-based learning approach. This IPE experience was evaluated in two phases. Phase one was a positivist/post-positivist evaluation and used a quasi-experimental approach. Questionnaires measured the role perception, subject and skills knowledge that one profession had regarding another profession and participants enthusiasm for IPE. Pre and post module group interviews with staff and students were also undertaken. Phase two was a 1-year follow up of students’ perceptions of their experiences on the module and used an interpretivist approach. This interview data was analysed from a phenomenological perspective. Phase one results demonstrated some statistically significant differences for some of the questionnaire items but little more than would be expected by chance. Interview and learning index data showed that students had learned about the subject knowledge of other professions with all students combined learning the most about subject knowledge for nurses. Midwifery was revealed as the profession that students had learned most about for skills knowledge. There was a statistically significant difference between professions’ enthusiasm for IPE with radiography the least enthusiastic. Phase two uncovered several themes including factors that have a detrimental effect on interprofessional working (IPW), the positive effect of the module on practice and positive and negative views of IPE. My personal leaning led me to a broader inquiring approach to research and developed my understanding of research paradigms. I gained knowledge and skills in qualitative research and improved my interviewing and analysis skills. The future of multiprofessional education is positive at both faculty and NHS levels and I conclude that there is a need for diverse forms of IPE including its delivery in the clinical context. Future research in IPE outcomes should use the qualitative paradigm.

The development of student’s mental models of chemical substances and processes at the molecular level was studied in a three-phase project. Animations produced in the VisChem project were used as an integral part of the chemistry instruction to help students develop their mental models. Phase one of the project involved examining the effectiveness of using animations to help first-year university chemistry students develop useful mental models of chemical phenomena. Phase two explored factors affecting the development of student’s mental models, analysing results in terms of a proposed model of the perceptual processes involved in interpreting an animation. Phase three involved four case studies that served to confirm and elaborate on the effects of prior knowledge and disembedding ability on student’s mental model development, and support the influence of study style on learning outcomes. Recommendations for use of the VisChem animations, based on the above findings, include: considering the prior knowledge of students; focusing attention on relevant features; encouraging a deep approach to learning; using animation to teach visual concepts; presenting ideas visually, verbally and conceptually; establishing ‘animation literacy’; minimising cognitive load; using animation as feedback; using student drawings; repeating animations; and discussing ‘scientific modelling’.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M.S.)--Central Connecticut State University, 2000.
Thesis advisor: Carol A. Jones. " ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Chemistry." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-44).

This study focused on how lesson planning takes place at the college level in contrast to how the process takes place in grades K through 12. The study was conducted through a survey and interviews to English professors at the College of General Studies at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras. In order to conduct the research, factors such as academic background, teaching experience, context, age, teaching practices, motivation, and syllabus design were considered.

Data collected showed that planning does take place at the college level, first in the form of a semester-long syllabus and then in daily/weekly lesson plans that include varying degrees of detail. Lesson planning helps improve teacher performance by providing confidence. It improves student learning outcomes by helping them better understand the materials. Both, teachers and students, benefit from the focus and guidance planning provides.

Recommendations include creating teacher training programs in institutions of higher educations to provide the support teachers need to perform at their best and conducting further research in other departments, colleges, or campuses to see how planning takes places outside English courses.

The purposes of this study were to (a) determine graduate students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the delivery system and their level of comfort with the delivery system, (b) determine graduate students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the delivery system and their level of comfort with the teacher, (c) determine graduate students' level of comfort with the delivery system and their level of comfort with the teacher, (d) determine differences in graduate students' ratings of the effectiveness of the delivery system before a distance education session and after a distance education session, and (e) determine differences in graduate students' level of comfort with the teacher before a distance education session and after a distance education session.

This study expanded on current research on study abroad and global learning, using the Global Perspective Inventory (GPI), and conducted at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL. The GPI assesses the holistic development of a global perspective in higher education within three domains and their respective FIU-determined equivalents: cognitive (global awareness), intrapersonal (global perspective), and interpersonal (global engagement). The main purpose of this study was to assess FIU’s undergraduate students’ perceptions of study abroad on their level of achievement of global awareness, global perspective, and global engagement. The secondary purpose was to determine how the students described their study abroad experience and achievement of global learning. The research design for this study consisted of parallel mixed methods. The quantitative component was an ex post facto with hypothesis design, using a pretest/posttest nonequivalent group methodology. FIU undergraduates (N=147) who studied abroad for one semester or more completed the GPI pre- and post-tests. Descriptive statistics and paired t-tests were conducted to compare the means. The interviews included 10 students, and were analyzed through Structural coding, Saldaña’s In Vivo coding, and Value coding. Quantitative analyses indicated positive changes in the students’ global awareness and global perspective. These analyses also showed that the FIU students achieved higher post-test means on all the domains of the GPI compared to other studies. Qualitative analyses showed that the students’ experiences incorporated all three global learning outcomes, most notably global awareness and perspective.

This Master thesis sets its goals in researching and understanding the structure of different educational systems. The main goal that this paper inflicts is to develop a middleware aiming at translating courses between different educational systems.

The procedure is to find the meaning of objects and courses from the different educational systems point of view, this is mainly done through processes such as identifying the context, semantics and state of the objects involved, perhaps in different activities. The middleware could be applied, with small changes, to any structured system of education.

This thesis introduces a framework for using ontologies in the translation and integration of course aspects in different processes. It suggests using ontologies when adopting and structuring different educational systems on an international level. This thesis will, through an understanding of ontologies construct a middleware for the translation process between different courses in the different educational systems. As an example courses in Sweden, Germany and Tajikistan have been used for the mapping and constructing learning goals and qualifications.

Today's global culture makes communication through writing in a foreign language a most desirable tool to expand personal and professional relations. However, teaching writing is a complex, time-consuming endeavor in any language. Foreign language teachers at every level struggle to fit writing into an already full curriculum and need the most effective methods and tools with which to teach. Technology may provide a viable scaffold to support writing instruction for teachers and students. The purpose of this research was to determine any benefits of weekly/structured, in-class, computer-assisted grammar drill and practice on the composition quality and quantity of intermediate university Spanish learners. A related purpose was to determine whether students who participated in such practice would access a computer-based writing assistant differently during writing than students without the treatment. The research design was a nonequivalent groups pretest-posttest design. Fifty-two subjects' compositions were graded with both holistic and analytic criteria to analyze composition quality and quantity, and statistical analyses assessed interactions of treatment and effects. The computer-based Atajo writing assistant, which could be accessed during composition, had a logging feature which provided unobtrusive observation of specific databases accessed by each student. There were no statistically significant differences found between the two groups in overall composition scores or in subscale scores. Improvements across time were observed in composition performance for both the experimental and control groups. The implementation of computer-based grammar and vocabulary practice did show a small to moderate positive effect; that is to say, students who received weekly, structured computer grammar and vocabulary practice had higher scores for composition quality and quantity on the posttest measure and accessed the databases less than the control group. The consistent positive trends in the composition data results intimate that over a more extended period of time, computer-based grammar instruction might enhance the quality and quantity of written composition in the foreign language classroom.

An examination of the research regarding the problems associated with student academic writing indicated that two abilities, writing abilities and information literacy skills, intersect, and that an accepted term for this intersection is information literacy. The University of Central Florida’s Information Fluency Initiative recognized information literacy as a key component in developing students’ information fluency skills. This qualitative case study of the initiative used semi-structured interviews, study of documents, and observations to gather data in order to describe how the university planned, developed, and implemented the initiative. Study of relevant literature, narrative analysis (Tierney & Lincoln, 1997), inductive analysis (Hatch, 2002) and the elements of educational criticism (Eisner, 1998) informed the analysis of data. Participants in the Information Fluency Initiative identified as successful the creation of online information literacy modules by librarians and faculty, program-wide efforts to embed information fluency into curriculum, and individual faculty projects. Additionally, the initiative encouraged a scholarly approach to the study of information fluency with the implementation of an annual Information Fluency Conference held at the University of Central Florida and publication of a peer-reviewed Information Fluency Journal. Results from the study suggested that administrative support for the initiative and the leadership’s empowerment of faculty and librarians to undertake leadership roles were important factors in the initiative’s success. Results also suggested that collaboration between faculty, librarians, and instructional technologists to construct curriculum produced a professional learning community that proved valuable to participants both professionally and personally.

There has been a significant shift in initial teacher training (ITT) and teachers’ professional development (PD) to include masters level (M level) study in recent years in England and this research investigates aspirations for the M level teaching profession, providing a rationale for the M level Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), a masters level profession and the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) and providing the perceptions of key stakeholders. Although these initiatives represented a major shift in the training and development of teachers, only limited consideration has been given to these areas, despite the plethora of research regarding ITT and teachers’ PD. Findings suggest that HEIs superimposed their own rationale for these initiatives, in addition to the imposed rationale. Findings also indicate that universities consider M level ITT and PD to have many benefits, but there was much scepticism regarding the MTL. Furthermore, although trainees and newly qualified teachers (NQTs) were positive about M level study in principle, especially when there was an element of choice, they were sceptical regarding its benefits to practice and considered M level to be more important later in their careers, due to their more immediate concerns to meet statutory professional requirements.

Many functions that at one time could only be performed by humans can nowadays be carried out by machines. Automation impacts many areas of life including work, home, communication and mobility. In the driving context, in-vehicle automation is considered to provide solutions for environmental, economic, safety and societal challenges. However, automation changes the driving task and the human-machine interaction. Thus, the expected benefit of in-vehicle automation can be undermined by changes in drivers’ behaviour, i.e. behavioural adaptation. This PhD project focuses on motivational as well as higher cognitive processes underlying behavioural adaptation when interacting with in-vehicle automation. Motivational processes include the development of trust and acceptance, whereas higher cognitive processes comprise the learning process as well as the development of mental models and Situation Awareness (SA). As an example for in-vehicle automation, the advanced driver assistance system Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) was investigated. ACC automates speed and distance control by maintaining a constant set cruising speed and automatically adjusting vehicle’s velocity in order to provide a specified distance to the preceding vehicle. However, due to sensor limitations, not every situation can be handled by the system and therefore driver intervention is required. Trust, acceptance and an appropriate mental model of the system functionality are considered key variables for adequate use and appropriate SA. To systematically investigate changes in motivational and higher cognitive processes, a driving simulator as well as an on-road study were carried out. Both of the studies were conducted using a repeated-measures design, taking into account the process character, i.e. changes over time. The main focus was on the development of trust, acceptance and the mental model of novice users when interacting with ACC. By now, only few studies have attempted to assess changes in higher level cognitive processes, due to methodological difficulties posed by the dynamic task of driving. Therefore, this PhD project aimed at the elaboration and validation of innovative methods for assessing higher cognitive processes, with an emphasis on SA and mental models. In addition, a new approach for analyzing big and heterogeneous data in social science was developed, based on the use of relational databases. The driving simulator study investigated the effect of divergent initial mental models of ACC (i.e., varying according to correctness) on trust, acceptance and mental model evolvement. A longitudinal study design was applied, using a two-way (3×3) repeated measures mixed design with a matched sample of 51 subjects. Three experimental groups received (1) a correct ACC description, (2) an incomplete and idealised account omitting potential problems, and (3) an incorrect description including non-occurring problems. All subjects drove a 56-km track of highway with an identical ACC system, three times, and within a period of 6 weeks. Results showed that after using the system, participants’ mental model of ACC converged towards the profile of the correct group. Non-experienced problems tended to disappear from the mental model network when they were not activated by experience. Trust and acceptance grew steadily for the correct condition. The same trend was observed for the group with non-occurring problems, starting from a lower initial level. Omitted problems in the incomplete group led to a constant decrease in trust and acceptance without recovery. This indicates that automation failures do not negatively affect trust and acceptance if they are known beforehand. During each drive, participants continuously completed a visual secondary task, the Surrogate Reference Task (SURT). The frequency of task completion was used as objective online-measure for SA, based on the principle that situationally aware driver would reduce the engagement in the secondary task if they expect potentially critical situations. Results showed that correctly informed drivers were aware of potential system limitations and reduced their engagement in the secondary task when such situations arose. Participants with no information about limitations became only aware after first encounter and reduced secondary task engagement in corresponding situations during subsequent trials. However, trust and acceptance in the system declined over time due to the unexpected failures. Non occurring limitations tended to drop from the mental model and resulted in reduced SA already in the second trial. The on-road study investigated the learning process, as well as the development of trust, acceptance and the mental model for interacting with ACC in real conditions. Research questions aimed to model the learning process in mathematical/statistical terms, examine moments and conditions when these processes stabilize, and assess how experience changes the mental model of the system. A sample of fifteen drivers without ACC experience drove a test vehicle with ACC ten consecutive times on the same route within a 2-month period. In contrast to the driving simulator study, all participants were fully trained in ACC functionality by reading the owner’s manual in the beginning. Results showed that learning, as well as the development of acceptance and trust in ACC follows the power law of learning, in case of comprehensive prior information on system limitations. Thus, the major part of the learning process occurred during the first interaction with the system and support in explaining the systems abilities (e.g. by tutoring systems) should therefore primarily be given during this first stage. All processes stabilized at a relatively high level after the fifth session, which corresponds to 185 km or 3.5 hours of driving. No decline was observable with ongoing system experience. However, in line with the findings from the simulator study, limitations that are not experienced tended to disappear from the mental model if they were not activated by experience. With regard to the validation of the developed methods for assessing mental models and SA, results are encouraging. The studies show that the mental model questionnaire is able to provide insights into the construction of mental models and the development over time. Likewise, the implicit measurement approach to assess SA online in the driving simulator is sensitive to user’s awareness of potentially critical situations. In terms of content, the results of the studies prove the enduring relevance of the initial mental model for the learning process, SA, as well as the development of trust, acceptance and a realistic mental model about automation capabilities and limitations. Given the importance of the initial mental model it is recommended that studies on system trust and acceptance should include, and attempt to control, users’ initial mental model of system functionality. Although the results showed that also incorrect and incomplete initial mental models converged by experience towards a realistic appreciation of system functionality, the more cognitive effort needed to update the mental model, the lower trust and acceptance. Providing an idealised description, which omits potential problems, only leads to temporarily higher trust and acceptance in the beginning. The experience of unexpected limitations results in a steady decrease in trust and acceptance over time. A trial-and-error strategy for in-vehicle automation use, without accompanying information, is therefore considered insufficient for developing stable trust and acceptance. If the mental model matches experience, trust and acceptance grow steadily following the power law of learning – regardless of the experience of system limitations. Provided that such events are known in advance, they will not cause a decrease in trust and acceptance over time. Even over-information about potential problems lowers trust and acceptance only in the beginning, and not in the long run. Potential problems should therefore not be concealed in over-idealised system descriptions; the more information given, the better, in the long run. However, limitations that are not experienced tend to disappear from the mental model. Therefore, it is recommended that users be periodically reminded of system limitations to make sure that corresponding knowledge becomes re-activated. Intelligent tutoring systems incorporated in automated systems could provide a solution. In the driving context, periodic reminders about system limitations could be shown via the multifunction displays integrated in most modern cars. Tutoring systems could also be used to remind the driver of the presence of specific in-vehicle automation systems and reveal their benefits
Viele Aufgaben, die ehemals von Menschen ausgeführt wurden, werden heute von Maschinen übernommen. Dieser Prozess der Automatisierung betrifft viele Lebensbereiche von Arbeit, Wohnen, Kommunikation bis hin zur Mobilität. Im Bereich des Individualverkehrs wird die Automatisierung von Fahrzeugen als Möglichkeit gesehen, zukünftigen Herausforderungen wirtschaftlicher, gesellschaftlicher und umweltpolitischer Art zu begegnen. Allerdings verändert Automatisierung die Fahraufgabe und die Mensch-Technik Interaktion im Fahrzeug. Daher können beispielsweise erwartete Sicherheitsgewinne automatisch agierender Assistenzsysteme durch Veränderungen im Verhalten des Fahrers geschmälert werden, was als Verhaltensanpassung (behavioural adaptation) bezeichnet wird. Dieses Dissertationsprojekt untersucht motivationale und höhere kognitive Prozesse, die Verhaltensanpassungen im Umgang mit automatisierten Fahrerassistenzsystemen zugrunde liegen. Motivationale Prozesse beinhalten die Entwicklung von Akzeptanz und Vertrauen in das System, unter höheren kognitiven Prozessen werden Lernprozesse sowie die Entwicklung von mentalen Modellen des Systems und Situationsbewusstsein (Situation Awareness) verstanden. Im Fokus der Untersuchungen steht das Fahrerassistenzsystem Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) als ein Beispiel für Automatisierung im Fahrzeug. ACC regelt automatisch die Geschwindigkeit des Fahrzeugs, indem bei freier Fahrbahn eine eingestellte Wunschgeschwindigkeit und bei einem Vorausfahrer automatisch ein eingestellter Abstand eingehalten wird. Allerdings kann ACC aufgrund von Einschränkungen der Sensorik nicht jede Situation bewältigen, weshalb der Fahrer übernehmen muss. Für diesen Interaktionsprozess spielen Vertrauen, Akzeptanz und das mentale Modell der Systemfunktionalität eine Schlüsselrolle, um einen sicheren Umgang mit dem System und ein adäquates Situationsbewusstsein zu entwickeln. Zur systematischen Erforschung dieser motivationalen und kognitiven Prozesse wurden eine Fahrsimulatorstudie und ein Versuch im Realverkehr durchgeführt. Beide Studien wurden im Messwiederholungsdesign angelegt, um dem Prozesscharakter gerecht werden und Veränderungen über die Zeit erfassen zu können. Die Entwicklung von Vertrauen, Akzeptanz und mentalem Modell in der Interaktion mit ACC war zentraler Forschungsgegenstand beider Studien. Bislang gibt es wenige Studien, die kognitive Prozesse im Kontext der Fahrzeugführung untersucht haben, unter anderem auch wegen methodischer Schwierigkeiten in diesem dynamischen Umfeld. Daher war es ebenfalls Teil dieses Dissertationsprojekts, neue Methoden zur Erfassung höherer kognitiver Prozesse in dieser Domäne zu entwickeln, mit Fokus auf mentalen Modellen und Situationsbewusstsein. Darüber hinaus wurde auch ein neuer Ansatz für die Analyse großer und heterogener Datenmengen im sozialwissenschaftlichen Bereich entwickelt, basierend auf dem Einsatz relationaler Datenbanken. Ziel der der Fahrsimulatorstudie war die systematische Erforschung des Effekts von unterschiedlich korrekten initialen mentalen Modellen von ACC auf die weitere Entwicklung des mentalen Modells, Vertrauen und Akzeptanz des Systems. Eine Stichprobe von insgesamt 51 Probanden nahm an der Studie teil; der Versuch wurde als zweifaktorielles (3x3) gemischtes Messwiederholungsdesign konzipiert. Die 3 parallelisierten Versuchsgruppen zu je 17 Personen erhielten (1) eine korrekte Beschreibung des ACC, (2) eine idealisierte Beschreibung unter Auslassung auftretender Systemprobleme und (3) eine überkritische Beschreibung mit zusätzlichen Hinweisen auf Systemprobleme, die nie auftraten. Alle Teilnehmer befuhren insgesamt dreimal im Zeitraum von sechs Wochen dieselbe 56 km lange Autobahnstrecke im Fahrsimulator mit identischem ACC-System. Mit zunehmendem Einsatz des ACC zeigte sich im anfänglich divergierenden mentalen Modell zwischen den Gruppen eine Entwicklung hin zum mentalen Modell der korrekt informierten Gruppe. Nicht erfahrene Systemprobleme tendierten dazu, im mentalen Modell zu verblassen, wenn sie nicht durch Erfahrung reaktiviert wurden. Vertrauen und Akzeptanz stiegen stetig in der korrekt informierten Gruppe. Dieselbe Entwicklung zeigte sich auch in der überkritisch informierten Gruppe, wobei Vertrauen und Akzeptanz anfänglich niedriger waren als in der Bedingung mit korrekter Information. Verschwiegene Systemprobleme führten zu einer konstanten Abnahme von Akzeptanz und Vertrauen ohne Erholung in der Gruppe mit idealisierter Beschreibung. Diese Resultate lassen darauf schließen, dass Probleme automatisierter Systeme sich nicht zwingend negativ auf Vertrauen und Akzeptanz auswirken, sofern sie vorab bekannt sind. Bei jeder Fahrt führten die Versuchsteilnehmer zudem kontinuierlich eine visuell beanspruchende Zweitaufgabe aus, die Surrogate Reference Task (SURT). Die Frequenz der Zweitaufgabenbearbeitung diente als objektives Echtzeitmaß für das Situationsbewusstsein, basierend auf dem Ansatz, dass situationsbewusste Fahrer die Zuwendung zur Zweitaufgabe reduzieren wenn sie potentiell kritische Situationen erwarten. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass die korrekt informierten Fahrer sich potentiell kritischer Situationen mit möglichen Systemproblemen bewusst waren und schon im Vorfeld der Entstehung die Zweitaufgabenbearbeitung reduzierten. Teilnehmer ohne Informationen zu auftretenden Systemproblemen wurden sich solcher Situationen erst nach dem ersten Auftreten bewusst und reduzierten in entsprechenden Szenarien der Folgefahrten die Zweitaufgabenbearbeitung. Allerdings sanken Vertrauen und Akzeptanz des Systems aufgrund der unerwarteten Probleme. Erwartete, aber nicht auftretende Systemprobleme tendierten dazu, im mentalen Modell des Systems zu verblassen und resultierten in vermindertem Situationsbewusstsein bereits in der zweiten Fahrt. Im Versuch unter Realbedingungen wurden der Lernprozesses sowie die Entwicklung des mentalen Modells, Vertrauen und Akzeptanz von ACC im Realverkehr erforscht. Ziele waren die statistisch/mathematische Modellierung des Lernprozesses, die Bestimmung von Zeitpunkten der Stabilisierung dieser Prozesse und wie sich reale Systemerfahrung auf das mentale Modell von ACC auswirkt. 15 Versuchsteilnehmer ohne ACC-Erfahrung fuhren ein Serienfahrzeug mit ACC insgesamt 10-mal auf der gleichen Strecke in einem Zeitraum von 2 Monaten. Im Unterschied zur Fahrsimulatorstudie waren alle Teilnehmer korrekt über die ACC-Funktionen und Funktionsgrenzen informiert durch Lesen der entsprechenden Abschnitte im Fahrzeughandbuch am Beginn der Studie. Die Ergebnisse zeigten, dass der Lernprozess sowie die Entwicklung von Akzeptanz und Vertrauen einer klassischen Lernkurve folgen – unter der Bedingung umfassender vorheriger Information zu Systemgrenzen. Der größte Lernfortschritt ist am Beginn der Interaktion mit dem System sichtbar und daher sollten Hilfen (z.B. durch intelligente Tutorsysteme) in erster Linie zu diesem Zeitpunkt gegeben werden. Eine Stabilisierung aller Prozesse zeigte sich nach der fünften Fahrt, was einer Fahrstrecke von rund 185 km oder 3,5 Stunden Fahrzeit entspricht. Es zeigten sich keine Einbrüche in Akzeptanz, Vertrauen bzw. dem Lernprozess durch die gemachten Erfahrungen im Straßenverkehr. Allerdings zeigte sich – analog zur Fahrsimulatorstudie – auch in der Realfahrstudie ein Verblassen von nicht erfahrenen Systemgrenzen im mentalen Modell, wenn diese nicht durch Erfahrungen aktiviert wurden. Im Hinblick auf die Validierung der neu entwickelten Methoden zur Erfassung von mentalen Modellen und Situationsbewusstsein sind die Resultate vielversprechend. Die Studien zeigen, dass mit dem entwickelten Fragebogenansatz zur Quantifizierung des mentalen Modells Einblicke in Aufbau und Entwicklung mentaler Modelle gegeben werden können. Der implizite Echtzeit-Messansatz für Situationsbewusstsein im Fahrsimulator zeigt sich ebenfalls sensitiv in der Erfassung des Bewusstseins von Fahrern für potentiell kritische Situationen. Inhaltlich zeigen die Studien die nachhaltige Relevanz des initialen mentalen Modells für den Lernprozess sowie die Entwicklung von Situationsbewusstsein, Akzeptanz, Vertrauen und die weitere Ausformung eines realistischen mentalen Modells der Möglichkeiten und Grenzen automatisierter Systeme. Aufgrund dieser Relevanz wird die Einbindung und Kontrolle des initialen mentalen Modells in Studien zu automatisierten Systemen unbedingt empfohlen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen zwar, dass sich auch unvollständige bzw. falsche mentale Modelle durch Erfahrungslernen hin zu einer realistischen Einschätzung der Systemmöglichkeiten und -grenzen verändern, allerdings um den Preis sinkenden Vertrauens und abnehmender Akzeptanz. Idealisierte Systembeschreibungen ohne Hinweise auf mögliche Systemprobleme bringen nur anfänglich etwas höheres Vertrauen und Akzeptanz. Das Erleben unerwarteter Probleme führt zu einem stetigen Abfall dieser motivationalen Faktoren über die Zeit. Ein alleiniges Versuchs-Irrtums-Lernen für den Umgang mit automatisierter Assistenz im Fahrzeug ohne zusätzliche Information wird daher als nicht ausreichend für die Entwicklung stabilen Vertrauens und stabiler Akzeptanz betrachtet. Wenn das initiale mentale Modell den Erfahrungen entspricht, entwickeln sich Akzeptanz und Vertrauen gemäß einer klassischen Lernkurve – trotz erlebter Systemgrenzen. Sind diese potentiellen Probleme vorher bekannt, führen sie nicht zwingend zu einer Reduktion von Vertrauen und Akzeptanz. Auch zusätzliche überkritische Information vermindert Vertrauen und Akzeptanz nur am Beginn, aber nicht langfristig. Daher sollen potentielle Probleme in automatisierten Systemen nicht in idealisierten Beschreibungen verschwiegen werden – je präzisere Information gegeben wird, desto besser im langfristigen Verlauf. Allerdings tendieren nicht erfahrene Systemgrenzen zum Verblassen im mentalen Modell. Daher wird empfohlen, Nutzer regelmäßig an diese Systemgrenzen zu erinnern um die entsprechenden Facetten des mentalen Modells zu reaktivieren. In automatisierten Systemen integrierte intelligente Tutorsysteme könnten dafür eine Lösung bieten. Im Fahrzeugbereich könnten solche periodischen Erinnerungen an Systemgrenzen in Multifunktionsdisplays angezeigt werden, die mittlerweile in vielen modernen Fahrzeugen integriert sind. Diese Tutorsysteme können darüber hinaus auch auf die Präsenz eingebauter automatisierter Systeme hinweisen und deren Vorteile aufzeigen

The American demographic landscape is no longer a homogeneous melting pot where all colors and flavors blend into indistinct variants. The challenges brought about by such a societal shift have made diversity issues increasingly important. Chief among them is the issue of organizational diversity. Although there has been an increase in organizational diversity research, there is a noted lack of organizational diversity research in the area of college-level forensics programs. This study seeks to fill this void. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to describe diversity levels in college and university forensics programs, and to compare current levels with those of five years past. Survey questionnaires were completed by almost 200 college and university coaches in AFA, CEDA, and Phi Rho Pi. The results of the survey show no significant increase in diversity levels has occurred since Swanson's indictment of elitism in 1989. Forensics continues to have an overwhelming white majority of coaches and competitors; two-thirds of all programs indicate no effort has been made to increase diversity. These results suggest forensics may be in a state of stasis, one inconsistent with its evolving environment.

The impact of personality type on question preference is an area of new endeavor. It is the purpose of this study to determine if a relationship exists between the Sensing and Intuiting dimensions of personality as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the questioning preference of students. A Chi Square analysis of the data revealed a trend. Frequency distributions were used to determine the direction of the trend. Both the Sensing and the Intuiting subjects showed a tendency to follow type with regard to question preference. In other words those subjects showing a Sensing preference on the MBTI tended to choose questions that matched their type preference. The same trend was observed for the Intuitive subjects as well. The data seem to indicate that there is a relationship between personality type and question preference, but more research is needed to describe and define the relationship.

Over the past 20 years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of adults enrolling in institutions of higher education across America. Adult students presently constitute nearly one-half of all undergraduate enrollment. This influx of adults has generated interest in nontraditional programs, including external degree programs, degree completion programs, and prior learning assessment programs. The purpose of this study was to determine if an association existed between membership in the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and quality in prior learning assessment services as provided by senior level institutions in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accrediting region. CAEL has been a pioneer in developing adult degree programs and commissioned Urban Whitaker in 1989 to define the standards for quality in such programs. A survey instrument utilizing these standards, principles, and procedures as the criteria for quality prior learning assessment services was mailed to a random sample of CAEL member and non-member institutions in the Southern Association accrediting region. Member and non-member responses were compared utilizing the Chi-square statistical analysis to determine any differences.

This thesis reports an insider case study conducted by an active participant in the setting which is the UHI Millennium Institute. UHI is a federal, collegial partnership of 13 academic partner colleges. This partnership is made up of Further Education Colleges and smaller and specialised institutions. The case study focuses on one programme team, the BA Social Sciences team and at its role in the implementation of the institutional learning and teaching policy and its related strategies. The case study uses literature on policy implementation and of Further/Higher Education links. It makes use of social practice theory and the notion of the teaching and learning regime to analyse the cultural characteristics of the team and a typolgy of responses to change, to review the response of the team to policy objectives. In doing so the case study is a response to calls for more 'close-up' research at the meso-level of analysis. The study reviews the response of the team over a 10-year trajectory from the initial validation of the programme to 2009. The study takes an interpretive, participant-obervation based approach to examine the cultural characteristics and response of the programme team. The methods used to gather data include examination of comprehensive documentation relating to the programme over this time frame and semi-structured interviews with team members. The findings are that the cultural character of the team is dominated by its origins in Further Education and by the social relationships involved in a team which spans three colleges and deals with three sets of college managers and UHI. The response of the team to institutional policy is to embrace its objectives but also to reconstruct policy in ways possible within constraints. The team can make certain choices but is also constrained by policy from 'the top'. The study discusses implications for the notion of the teaching and learning regime and for the typology of responses used and proposes ways in which these might be modified. Proposals for further research in this field are made, particularly involving the implications for policy making of the relationship between college management and UHI.

The purpose of this study was to determine a student’s computer knowledge upon course entry and if there was a difference in college students’ improvement scores as measured by the difference in pretest and post-test scores of new or novice users, moderate users, and expert users at the end of a college level introductory computing class. This study also determined whether there were differences in improvement scores by gender or age group. The results of this study were used to determine whether there was a difference in improvement scores among the three campus locations participating in this study. Four hundred sixty-nine students participated in this study at a community college located in Northeast Tennessee. A survey, pretest, and post-test were administered to students in a college level introductory computing class. The survey consisted of demographic data that included gender, age category, location, Internet access, educational experience and the self-rated user category, while the pretest and post-test explored the student’s knowledge of computer terminology, hardware, the current operating system, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. The data analysis revealed significant differences in pretest scores between educational experience categories. In each instance, the pretest mean for first semester freshmen students was lower than second semester freshmen and sophomores. The study also reported significant differences between the self-rated user categories and pretest scores as well as differences in improvement scores (post-test scores minus pretest scores). However, the improvement scores (post-test scores minus pretest scores) were higher than the other self-rated user categories. Of the three participating campus locations, students at Location 1 earned higher improvement scores than did students at Location 2. The results also indicated that there was a significant difference between the types of course delivery and course improvement scores (post-test scores minus pretest scores). The improvement scores for on ground delivery was 5 points higher than the hybrid course delivery. Finally, study revealed no significant differences according to the gender and age categories.

This qualitative case study research examined how constructivist problem-based learning facilitated higher level thinking, increased interest in art, and affected attitude toward on-line courses in an undergraduate philosophical aesthetics and interpretation of art criticism course. The research conducted for this study suggests that constructivist problem-based learning does facilitate higher level thinking and increases student interest in art and in on-line classes. Active learning assignments, along with the constructivist collaborative class atmosphere, encouraged students to think more deeply about their personal values concerning art and to consider alternative views. Problem-based learning in this class acted as a scaffold to aid in understanding the material and then in applying the material to unique and real-life situations. Each subject came to the course with certain thinking skills and left with increased knowledge about art but also with increased critical thinking skills for critically examining and discussing art. Participants completed the course with more confidence in their critical thinking ability and in dealing with visual art images. Data was gathered from seven study participants in the form of highly-structured interviews, an early and final critical writing analysis, a major problem assignment and its reflection journal, a beginning survey, and two final surveys. The final major problem involved an individual proposal followed by a collaborative group proposal. Group collaboration constituted the most frustration and problem within the constructivist design of the class. This research took a relativistic viewpoint in gathering data and interpreting meaning.

The SCANS report issued in 1990 brought national attention to concerns about lagging competencies of US workers and their lack of preparedness for the high-performance workplace. Since the SCANS report, several national and statewide efforts have attempted to identify skill sets appropriate for success in the changing workplace. Recent discussion has included skill sets appropriate for college graduates. This study was designed to determine perceptions of Maryland community college chief academic officers and department chairs toward one such skill set, the Maryland Skills for Success, and whether they are appropriate learning expectations for associate degree completers. The Maryland Skills for Success (MSS) are comprised of five skill goals: (1) learning skills, (2) thinking skills, (3) communication skills, (4) technology skills, and (5) interpersonal skills. Three to five â learning expectations' elaborate what students should be able to accomplish under each skill goal to be successful in future work and learning. The study involved a survey of 293 chief academic officers and department chairs at the 18 community colleges across Maryland. A 75 percent response rate was achieved. The survey assessed the extent to which respondents agreed that: (a) the Maryland Skills for Success are appropriate expectations for associate degree completers, (b) students currently achieve MSS expectations, (c) respondent's courses and programs contain specific learning objectives that require students to learn and perform such skills, (d) all Maryland community colleges should teach and assess a common set of higher-order knowledge application skills. Respondent ratings indicated that the Maryland Skills for Success represent valid learning expectations for associate degree completers. Deans were more favorable toward the MSS than were department chairs, and were more confident that students were required to learn and perform learning expectations similar to those listed in the MSS. The department chairs were also divided into groups to determine attitudinal differences by disciplines. The department chairs were more likely than the deans to agree that students currently achieve the MSS learning expectations. Most chair groups somewhat disagreed their courses and programs contained specific learning objectives requiring students to learn and perform the skills represented in the MSS. Of the chair groups, the English/fine arts/humanities, and the technologies/health care groups tended to produce significantly higher ratings than other chairs and supported the notion of Maryland community Colleges teaching and assessing a common higher-order knowledge application skill set. Based on respondent ratings, the communication, thinking and interpersonal skill sets in the MSS have the best chance of gaining acceptance by colleges interested in integration of purposeful teaching and assessment of a higher-order skill set across the curricula. Respondent ratings also indicated that it is unlikely that the colleges would undertake a common initiative to teach and assess a common skill set like the MSS without intervention from the state. Respondents expressed distrust of bureaucratic intervention, were somewhat concerned about the difficulty of teaching and assessing the entire skill set, and felt that the skill sets were too broad to be feasibly taught. Recommendations include the need for extensive faculty development and the provision of incentives from the state educational agencies to provide support for colleges interested in teaching and assessing a common higher-order knowledge application skill set.
Ed. D.

This study focuses on two roll-outs of a, year-long National Qualification Framework (NQF) level 5, environmental education learnership in South Africa and attempts at enhancing collaborative learning at workplaces using a familiar social networking site called Facebook. This study uses the Facebook group sites created for the workplace course component of the course as one of the means of data collection. Additional interviews and focus groups with learners and administrators on both Environmental Education Training and Development Practices (EETDP) courses also informed the study. The study is located within the context of the rise of the information age, its effects on socio-ecological landscape at large and ways of using social networking sites in order to facilitate scaffolding and meaning making within zones of proximal development for environmental education learnerships. It also looks at the model of apprenticeship and workplace based learning as it is broadly located at the nexus of the SAQA-led academic inquiry into workplace based learning and professional development. It was found that the use of Facebook on the EETDP learnership allowed for collaborative learning to take place between peer to peer interactions as well as between tutors and learners. It was also noted that scaffolding processes requires both technical assistance and strong instructional input from course tutors. One of the most important findings in terms of collaborative learning and engaging within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) was that learners were able to communicate more effectively and freely with both fellow learners and tutors on course after participating on the Facebook group sites. The study offers recommendations on how a social networking platform like Facebook can be utilised effectively for environmental education. The study recommends that scaffolding of workplace based tasks and concepts needs to be better integrated with the course and in both online and offline interactions between learners. It also illustrates how social networking sites can become powerful tools for creating meaning making when combined with course work.

Abstract Examining the efficacy of literacy improvement, general education development (GED) completion, and GED completers’ perceptions of college readiness and social capital was the purpose of this study. The participant sample (n=321), derived from the target population (N=1050), consisted of former participants of Adult Literacy Education (ALE)/GED programs in the Greater New Orleans area (GNO), who have earned the GED credential, and, are currently enrolled in entry-level courses at two community colleges in Southeast Louisiana; specifically, in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes. The study was framed by the social capital theoretical perspective. The study used quantitative methodology, with a descriptive, cross-sectional research design. Specific quantitative analyses were employed including; descriptive statistics which were used to characterize the sample and to describe the features of the data; preliminary analysis using principal axis factoring (PAF), to determine survey items that cluster together and to identify relevant factors that influence perceptions of college readiness and social capital; Cronbach’s alpha, to test internal consistency and reliability of the survey instrument; regression analysis, to investigate the relationships between GED completers’ perceptions of college readiness and social capital and their literacy level; and finally, a one-way ANOVA, to compare the means of groups within literacy levels. Using a researcher-created survey instrument with a Likert scale rating of 1-4, perceptions of college readiness and social capital of GED completers were assessed. A field test of 10 participants and an expert panel review ensured validity and reliability of the instrument. The results of this study could serve as a framework for strategic planning of ALE/GED programs, ALE/GED curriculum alignment with high school content and entry-level introductory or developmental college courses, and post-secondary (community college) recruitment endeavors.

Iskustvo u radu sa studentima pokazalo je da studenti nedovoljno ĉesto ostvaruju zadovoljavajuće ishode uĉenja na lingvistiĉkim predmetima na studijama engleskog jezika, što je takoĊe opisano i u stranoj literaturi. Kao jedan od razloga navodi se nastava koja upućuje studente na pasivnost, te oni pribegavaju memorisanju i reprodukciji materijala kao najĉešćim ishodima uĉenja. Biggs (1999) razraĊuje koncepte dubinskog i površinskog pristupa uĉenju, koje relevantna literatura smatra kljuĉnim faktorima za kvalitet ishoda uĉenja. Dubinski pristup uĉenju korelira sa kvalitetnim ishodima uĉenja i funkcionalnim znanjem, a karakterišu ga motivacija, zadovoljstvo usled uĉenja, studentska aktivnost i to aktivnost visokih kognitivnih funkcija. Visoke kognitivne funkcije (Bloom i dr. 1956, Anderson i dr. 2001) i povezane kognitivne radnje (rešavanje problema, analitiĉko, kritiĉko i kreativno razmišljanje) jesu najvaţniji ciljevi visokog obrazovanja jer samo one, usled primene transfera uĉenja, govore o steĉenom i primenljivom, tj. funkcionalnom znanju. Obuka i razvoj visokih kognitivnih funkcija omogući će studentima da uĉenju pristupe dubinski što je još jedan razlog da budu osnovni nastavni cilj svih predmeta na ustanovama tercijarnog obrazovanja. U skladu sa ovim teorijskim postavkama postavljene su osnovna i pomoćna hipoteza: upotreba posebno konstruisanih veţbi za aktivaciju viših kognitivnih funkcija u nastavi lingvistiĉkih predmeta dovešće do sticanja funkcionalnog znanja na teorijskom i praktiĉnom nivou; steĉeno znanje kroz ovakvu eksperimentalnu nastavu i upotreba tog znanja odraţavaće kognitivne funkcije ne samo niţeg nego i višeg reda: primeniti, analizirati, proceniti, stvoriti, kao i kritiĉko i kreativno razmišljanje i rešavanje problema. Kako bi se proverile hipoteze, sproveden je eksperiment sa studentima prve godine engleskog jezika (N=34) na Fakultetu za pravne i poslovne studije dr Lazar Vrkatić u Novom Sadu. U istraţivanju sa paralelnim grupama, eksperimentalna grupa je imala veţbe sa aktivnostima koje razvijaju više kognitivne funkcije na predmetu uvod u opštu lingvistiku tokom zimskog semestra školske 2012/2013. godine. UporeĊeni su kvantitativni rezultati kolokvijuma eksperimentalne i kontrolne grupe na kraju semestra, a potom je sproveden intervju sa po pet studenata iz svake grupe radi utvrĊivanja kvalitativnih razlika u kognitivnim procesima kod ove dve grupe. Obe grupe su ostvarile podjednak uspeh na kolokvijumu, te je osnovna hipoteza odbaĉena. Kodirani podaci iz intervjua pokazali su da obe grupe podjednako koriste kognitivne funkcije po broju i distribuciji, te je i pomoćna hipoteza odbaĉena. Kao objašnjenje za odsustvo većeg uspeha EG navedena su metodološka ograniĉenja istraţivanja: duţina eksperimentalne nastave, problem dokazivosti transfera i problem kodiranja intervjua. Drugi faktori koji mogu objasniti neuspeh su: prethodno steĉene navike u uĉenju, neshvatanje svrhe izuĉavanja predmeta i dr. UporeĊeni su rezultati boljih i slabijih studenata, te je utvrĊeno da bolji studenti pokazuju veći stepen samostalnosti, da upotrebljavaju više kognitivne funkcije kao i duţe nizove kognitivnih radnji. Posmatrajući kvalitativne podatke, bolji studenti eksperimentalne grupe pokazali su promenu gledanja na svet usled izuĉavanja lingvistike i izrazili su zadovoljstvo zbog uĉenja ovog predmeta. Oni pokazuju i upotrebu najduţih nizova vezanih kognitivnih radnji. Iz ovoga se moţe zakljuĉiti da su oni pristupili uĉenju dubinski i zbog toga ostvarili kvalitetnije ishode uĉenja. U cilju donošenja ĉvrstih zakljuĉaka neophodno je sprovesti dugotrajniji i obuhvatniji multidiciplinarni istraţivaĉki projekat, s obzirom da bi pozitivni rezultati bili od velikog znaĉaja za poboljšanje ishoda uĉenja na tercijarnom nivou obrazovanja. Ključne reči: uĉenje i nastava na tercijarnom nivou, taksonomija obrazovnih ciljeva, pristupi uĉenju, više kognitivne funkcije, transfer uĉenja, funckionalno znanje.
The experience of working with university students has shown that the learning outcomes of linguistic courses are infrequently satisfactory, which is also described in literature worldwide. Teaching philosophy in which students are forced into passives roles is one of the causes since such teaching results in low motivation with memorizing and reproduction of learned materials as the most frequent outcomes of learning. Biggs (1999) develops the concepts of deep and superficial learning approaches which have been declared in the relevant literature as key factors for the quality of learning outcomes. Deep approach to learning correlates with high quality learning outcomes, and is characterized by high motivation, satisfaction with learning and student activity of appropriately high cognitive levels. Higher cognitive functions (Bloom et. al. 1956, Anderson at al. 2001) and related cognitive activities (problem solving, analytical, critical and creative thinking) are the most important goals of higher education since these thinking skills are transferable and therefore represent applicable and functional knowledge. The training and development of the higher cognitive skills enables students to use deep approaches to learning, which is an additional reason to consider them as fundamental teaching goals in all courses in tertiary education. Based on this theoretical framework the main hypothesis and sub-hypothesis were formulated as follows: the use of specially designed practices which activate higher cognitive functions (HCF) will result in acquiring functional knowledge at both theoretical and practical levels; the knowledge gained through such teaching will reflect the use of higher cognitive functions: apply, analyze, evaluate, create, as well as show problem solving skills and critical and creative thinking. To test the hypotheses an experiment was conducted with the first year English language students (N=34) at the Faculty of Legal and Business Studies dr Lazar Vrkatić in Novi Sad. In the parallel groups design, the experimental group (EG) was involved with activities which develop HCFs in the course of Introduction to General Linguistics during the winter semester of the 2012/2013. Quantitative data were collected at the end of the semester (the final test) and compared between the two groups to determine whether the EG scored better results than the control group (CG). This was followed by interviews with five respondents from each group to qualitatively compare the cognitive processes. No statistically significant difference between test results in the two groups was found and so the main hypothesis was rejected. The coded data from the interviews showed an equal number of identified CFs with both groups with similar distribution patterns, thus the sub-hypothesis was also rejected. The absence of better scores of the EG can be explained by some methodological limitations of the experiment, such as the length of the experimental activities, the problem of proof of transfer and the coding of the interview data. Other factors include the existing learning habits of students, the inability to grasp the purpose of studying linguistics, etc. The results of better students were compared to those of the weaker ones, which showed that better students are more autonomous, use a greater number of HCFs and string more CFs into a complex response. Qualitative data also showed that better students of the experimental group expressed a change in how they see the world around them and express satisfaction because of studying linguistics. They also string the longest chains of cognitive activities. These findings lead to a conclusion that better students of the EG used deep approaches to learning which resulted in higher quality learning outcomes. In order to achieve conclusive results, a comprehensive long-term multidisciplinary research project should be carried out, since its results would have a significant impact on the quality of learning outcomes in tertiary education.

The ability to recognize and interpret the complex displays of nonverbal behavioral cues that arise in social interaction comes naturally to humans. Indeed, the survival and flourishing of early groups of homo sapiens may have depended on this ability to share implicit social information. It is a process so innate that complex social behaviours can occur without conscious awareness, even in young babies. Though we would benefit from artificial devices having the ability to understand these nonverbal cues, it has proven an elusive goal. In this thesis we are primarily motivated by the problem of recognizing and exploiting displays of high–level social behavior, focusing on behavioural mimicry. Mimicry describes the tendency of individuals to adopt the postures, gestures and expressions of social interaction partners. We first provide a background to the phenomenon of behavioural mimicry, disambiguate it from other related phenomena in social interaction, and survey its surprisingly complex dependencies on the broader social context. We then discuss a number of methods that could be used to recognize mimicry behaviour in naturalistic interaction. We list some publicly available databases these tools could be trained on for the analysis of spontaneous instances of mimicry. We also examine the scarce prior work on recognition of naturalistic mimicry behaviour, and we discuss the challenges in automatically recognizing mimicry in spontaneous data. Subsequently we present a database of naturalistic social interactions, designed for analysis of spontaneous mimicry behaviour. This has been annotated for mimicry episodes, low-level non-verbal behavioural cues, and continuous affect. We also present a new software package for web-based annotation, AstAn, which has been extensively deployed for temporal event segmentation and continuous annotation. Collecting annotation data for high-level social affect is a difficult problem. This is due to inter-annotator variance, dependent on a variety of factors including i) the content of the data to annotate ii) the complexity of the variables to annotate, and iii) the annotators' cultures and personality traits. AstAn is the first software package to enable large-scale collection of annotations relevant to affective computing, without the costly manual distribution and management of (perhaps sensitive) data. Large-scale and cost-effective data collection can significantly help to overcome the aforementioned difficulties. We present experiments showing that prevailing methods for mimicry recognition on posed data, generalize suboptimally to spontaneous data. These include methods based on cross-correlation and dynamic time warping, which are prevalent in current work on recognition of interpersonal co-ordination, including mimicry and synchrony. We also show that popular temporal models such as recurrent neural networks, when applied in a straightforward classification approach, also find it challenging to discriminate between mimicry and non-mimicry. We expand upon these baseline results using methods adapted from work on multimodal classification. Nonlinear regression models are used to learn the relationships between the non-verbal cues from each subject. Namely, for mimicry and non-mimicry classes, we learn a set of neural networks to forecast the behaviour of each subject, given the behaviour of their counterpart. The set of networks that produces the best behavioural forecast corresponds to the predicted class. Subsequently, we investigate whether high-level social affect like mimicry, conflict, valence and arousal are uniquely displayed between individuals. Specifically, we show that for episodes of a given behavioural display such as mimicry or high-conflict, the spatiotemporal movement characteristics are unique enough to construct a "kinematic template" for that behaviour. Given an unseen episode of the same behavioural display, we can compare it against the template in order to verify identity. This is useful in verification contexts where facial appearance and geometry can change due to lighting, facial hair, facial decoration, or weight loss. We present a new method, Multi-Sequence Robust Canonical Time Warping (M-RCTW), in order to construct this subject- and behaviour-specific template. Unlike prior methods, M-RCTW can warp together multiple multivariate sequences in the presence of large non-Gaussian errors, which can occur due to e.g. tracking artefacts in naturalistic behaviour, such as those resulting from occlusions. We show on two databases of natural interaction that identity verification is possible from a number of high- and low-level behaviours, and that M-RCTW outperforms existing methods for multiple sequence warping on the task of subject verification.

Learning techniques are drawing extensive attention in the robotics community. Some reasons behind moving from traditional preprogrammed robots to more advanced human fashioned techniques are to save time and energy, and allow non-technical users to easily work with robots. Learning from Demonstration (LfD) and Imitation Learning (IL) are among the most popular learning techniques to teach robots new skills by observing a human or robot tutor. Flawlessly teaching robots new skills by LfD requires good understanding of all challenges in the field. Studies of imitation learning in humans and animals show that several cognitive abilities are engaged to correctly learn new skills. The most remarkable ones are the ability to direct attention to important aspects of demonstrations, and adapting observed actions to the agents own body. Moreover, a clear understanding of the demonstrator's intentions is essential for correctly and completely replicating the behavior with the same effects on the world. Once learning is accomplished, various stimuli may trigger the cognitive system to execute new skills that have become part of the repertoire. Considering identified main challenges, the current thesis attempts to model imitation learning in robots, mainly focusing on understanding the tutor's intentions and recognizing what elements of the demonstration need the robot's attention. Thereby, an architecture containing required cognitive functions for learning and reproducing high-level aspects of demonstrations is proposed. Several learning methods for directing the robot's attention and identifying relevant information are introduced. The architecture integrates motor actions with concepts, objects and environmental states to ensure correct reproduction of skills. This is further applied in learning object affordances, behavior arbitration and goal emulation. The architecture and learning methods are applied and evaluated in several real world scenarios that require clear understanding of goals and what to look for in the demonstrations. Finally, the developed learning methods are compared, and conditions where each of them has better applicability is specified.

In order to introduce learning cases with real-world contexts to the Computer Science students in their early stage of learning, a set of Web applications that utilize Web services are simplified and customized to demonstrate the core concept of high-level test-driven learning methodology. Four e-commerce Web applications were implemented for this project. These applications show how real-world Web services work and interact with each other. By systematically planting a number of errors into the services, we created a learning environment for the students to understand the system structure and basic programming through their critical thinking. A goal is to keep students' interest in computer science. In doing so, a set of features that help students observe the systems' behavior are designed, and collectively formed a pattern of user interface "the Learner's Corner."

Automatic recognition of events in video is an immensly challenging problem. If solved, the number of potential domains in which such a system could be deployed is vast and growing; including traffic monitoring, surveillance, security, elderly care and semantic video search to name but a few. Much prior research in the area has focused on producing a solution that is tailored towards one of these applications, applying methods which are most appropriate given the constraints of the target domain. For the moment, this remains to some extent the only practical way to approach the problem. The aim in this thesis is to build a high-level framework for event recognition which is in the main generic and widely transferrable, yet allows domain-appropriate elements to be incorporated. A detector is constructed for low-level events which is based on dense extraction of Histograms of Optical Flow. This descriptor has only recently been adopted by the event detection community, and as such there are aspects of the features which have not been optimized. This thesis performs extensive experimentation on normalization scheme and finds that the strategy most widely in use is suboptimal compared to one of the alternatives proposed. The detector is then trained on a challenging real world domain to run in a sliding window fashion on continuous video input. A high level model which exploits temporal relations between different event types is constructed. The model is designed with transferrability and computational tractability in mind. Several methods are benchmarked for learning the distributions over time differences between pairs of events. Three different connection strategies are proposed and evaluated for creating a tree structured prior that permits fast, exact inference. An efficient iterative optimization scheme is presented for handling scenarios which contain unknown numbers of event instances. Finally, the model is extended in a Conditional Random Field framework that allows weights to be learned to balance the response from independent detectors with the pairwise temporal relationships.

Society needs scientists who can collaborate to become keener analysts so that they might better inform citizens. College students who are well educated in science are likely to become better analysts. The purpose of this grounded theory constructivist-oriented study was to illuminate the influence of undergraduate freshman inquiry learning on thinking skills in science courses during the senior college year. The conceptual framework involved the 3 components of the cognitive learning cycle: exploration, concept invention, and application. Research questions concerned college seniors' perceptions of their freshman process-oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) experience in general chemistry and its influence on their current learning in terms of data collection and interpretation, knowledge synthesis, and group interaction. Currently, little or no such senior student perception data exist. The grounded theory approach was used in an inductive analysis toward developing a model of action deriving from the participants' perceptions. Individual and discussion group interviews were conducted with 15 college seniors. Data were sent to participants for member checking, were peer reviewed, were coded, and were analyzed for patterns and themes. Participants reported that collaboration within POGIL promoted freshman and senior cognitive learning, particularly in concept practice, problem solving, and leadership. The findings indicate that improved understanding of the benefits of POGIL can help college chemistry course designers appreciate the benefits of collaborative activities in science. The resulting social change may be that graduates of such courses provide leadership and collaborative skills in their adult lives, benefitting society.

This dissertation deals with customised image analysis tools in cancer research. In the field of biomedical sciences, mathematical imaging has become crucial in order to account for advancements in technical equipment and data storage by sound mathematical methods that can process and analyse imaging data in an automated way. This thesis contributes to the development of such mathematically sound imaging models in four ways: (i) automated cell segmentation and tracking. In cancer drug development, time-lapse light microscopy experiments are conducted for performance validation. The aim is to monitor behaviour of cells in cultures that have previously been treated with chemotherapy drugs, since atypical duration and outcome of mitosis, the process of cell division, can be an indicator of successfully working drugs. As an imaging modality we focus on phase contrast microscopy, hence avoiding phototoxicity and influence on cell behaviour. As a drawback, the common halo- and shade-off effect impede image analysis. We present a novel workflow uniting both automated mitotic cell detection with the Hough transform and subsequent cell tracking by a tailor-made level-set method in order to obtain statistics on length of mitosis and cell fates. The proposed image analysis pipeline is deployed in a MATLAB software package called MitosisAnalyser. For the detection of mitotic cells we use the circular Hough transform. This concept is investigated further in the framework of image regularisation in the general context of imaging inverse problems, in which circular objects should be enhanced, (ii) exploiting sparsity of first-order derivatives in combination with the linear circular Hough transform operation. Furthermore, (iii) we present a new unified higher-order derivative-type regularisation functional enforcing sparsity of a vector field related to an image to be reconstructed using curl, divergence and shear operators. The model is able to interpolate between well-known regularisers such as total generalised variation and infimal convolution total variation. Finally, (iv) we demonstrate how we can learn sparsity promoting parametrised regularisers via quotient minimisation, which can be motivated by generalised Eigenproblems. Learning approaches have recently become very popular in the field of inverse problems. However, the majority aims at fitting models to favourable training data, whereas we incorporate knowledge about both fit and misfit data. We present results resembling behaviour of well-established derivative-based sparse regularisers, introduce novel families of non-derivative-based regularisers and extend this framework to classification problems.

This research focuses on the learning of a class of behaviors defined as high-level behaviors. High-level behaviors are defined here as behaviors that can be executed using a sequence of identifiable behaviors. Represented by low-level contexts, these behaviors are known a priori to learning and can be modeled separately by a knowledge engineer. The learning task, which is achieved by observing an expert within simulation, then becomes the identification and representation of the low-level context sequence executed by the expert. To learn this sequence, this research proposes FAMTILE - the Fuzzy ARTMAP / Template-Based Interpretation Learning Engine. This algorithm attempts to achieve this learning task by constructing rules that govern the low-level context transitions made by the expert. By combining these rules with models for these low-level context behaviors, it is hypothesized that an intelligent model for the expert can be created that can adequately model his behavior. To evaluate FAMTILE, four testing scenarios were developed that attempt to achieve three distinct evaluation goals: assessing the learning capabilities of Fuzzy ARTMAP, evaluating the ability of FAMTILE to correctly predict expert actions and context choices given an observation, and creating a model of the expert's behavior that can perform the high-level task at a comparable level of proficiency.
Ph.D.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Engineering and Computer Science
Computer Engineering