Tesis sobre el tema "Legitimated peripheral participation"

Idag är miljö ett ämne som diskuteras ivrigt av både regering, media och företag. Att bara göra en sökning på internet på ordet miljö ger över 6 miljoner träffar och de första som kommer upp är oftast kopplade till miljöhot, klimatet eller hur kommuner/företag arbetar för miljön med hållbarhetsprogram. Det skrivs som sagt mycket om miljön idag, men hur påverkas vi egentligen av den informationen vi får? Och vad gör vi av den kunskap som vi tar till oss? Detta var något av utgångspunkten för examensarbetet och det som sedan kom att ligga som motivation till den förundersökning som gjordes inom Axfoods butiker. Förundersökningen som skulle ligga till grund för hur man skulle skapa en webbaserad utbildning inom ämnet miljö för de anställda hos Axfood. En utbildning som i och med Axfoods nya hållbarhetsarbete ska kunna få upp kunskapsnivån, medvetenheten och motivationen hos Axfoods anställda, för att de ska börja agera för miljön, både i sitt arbete men också utanför. Frågeställningarna är de följande: Vilka olika innebörder går att identifiera i de anställdas och kunders uppfattningar av begreppet miljö? Vad är de bakomliggande faktorerna till de anställdas och kundernas beteende när det kommer till att agera för miljön? Vad anser anställda och kunder inom Axfood vara det avgörande steget för att människor ska bli mer engagerade och motiverade att agera för en bättre miljö?Det empiriska materialet bygger på ett 70-tal kvalitativa och kvantitativa intervjuer ifrån anställda och kunder inom Axfoods verksamhet. Ett material som enligt en induktiv metod sammanställts och analyserats och som ligger till grunden för de slutsatser som dragits i rapporten.Undersökningen visade på att det idag är relativt jämt fördelat mellan vår positiva och negativa attityd genemot området miljö, men att en person som inte bär på några tidigare erfarenheter kring ämnet och som idag matats med en mängd negativa intryck har en negativ attityd till ämnet miljö. På samma sätt har också en person som bär på negativa erfarenheter ifrån sin uppväxt idag en negativ attityd. Samtidigt som en person som bär på positiva erfarenheter från sin uppväxt har en positiv attityd till ämnet miljö. Det visar sig också att detta kan vara avgörade för hur vi idag agerar för miljön. Negativa erfarenheter har en förmåga att bromsa oss i vårt arbete.Materialet som togs fram visar på att de anställda och kunderna som deltog i underökningen efterfrågar en utbildning inom miljö som ska bidra med de grunder som krävs för att ett fortsatt deltagande i det framtida hållbarhetsarbetet ska vara möjligt. Där tyngdpunkterna som undersökningen visar på ligger i att utbildningen ska bidra med motivation, enkelhet i att bidra och att få reda på hur man faktiskt är med och påverkar sin omgivning. Utifrån detta material ges flertalet orsaker till varför man idag inget gör för miljön och vad som skulle förändra detta beteende. Den största orsaken till att vi idag inte agerar för miljön visade sig vara bekvämlighet, deltagarna har livsstilar och rutinartade mönster som är svåra att bryta eller skära ner på. Detta kan också uppenbara sig i kombination med att man känner osäkerhet inför ämnet miljö i och med att man saknar kunskap, samtidigt som man inte känner motivationen i och med den maktlöshet som sprids bland deltagarna via medias negativa information kring ämnet miljö. Det som prioriteras högst idag bland deltagarna för att väcka ett engagemang är utbildningen som under våren och sommaren 2010 skapades hos Axfood.
Today the environment is a topic discussed eagerly by both the government, media and businesses. Just to do a search on the internet on the word environment provides more than 6 million hits and the first thing that comes up is most often linked to environmental threats, climate changes or how the municipalities / companies are working with environmental sustainability programs. As said before, the environment is a hot topic today, but how much are we humans affected by the information we receive? And what do we make of the knowledge that we receive? This was one of the starting points for this thesis that came to serve as motivation for the pre-investigation that took place in Axfoods stores. A pre-investigation which would be the basis for how to create a Web-based education in the Department of Environment for the employees of Axfood. An education that should be able to bring up the level of knowledge, awareness and motivation of the employees of Axfood, so that they will start thinking more about the environment, both at their work but also outside of it. The questions for this report are: What are the different meanings that can be identified in the employees and customers perception of the concept of environment? What are the underlying factors to the employees and customers behavior when it comes to acting for the environment? What does employees and customers in Axfood consider to be the crucial step for humans to become more engaged and motivated to act for a better environment? The empirical material is based on qualitative and quantitative interviews of employees and customers within Axfood enterprises. A material that according to an inductive method has been compiled and analyzed and which forms the basis for the conclusions reached in the report. The survey showed that it today is relatively equally between our positive and negative attitude towards the field environment, but one person who does not carry any previous experience on the topic and is now fed with a variety of negative impressions is showed to have a negative attitude to the subject environment. Similarly, a person who also carries the negative experiences from their childhood will today have a negative attitude. While a person who carries the positive experiences from their childhood have a positive attitude to the subject environment. It turns out that this can be crucial for how we act today to the environment. Negative experiences have a tendency to prevent us from working. The material shows that the staff and customers who participated in the investigation has a increased demand of an education in the department of Environment that will provide the foundations needed for a continued participation in the future work for sustainability. Where the focus of the study shows that an education like this one should help the employees with motivation, simplicity of contribution and to find out how I im fakt are with and are affecting my surroundings. Based on this material, several reasons on why one doesn´t do anything today for the environment is presented and also what would change this behavior. The biggest reason of why we today are not acting on the environment proved to be convenience, participants have lifestyles and routine patterns that are difficult to break or cut down on. This can also manifest itself in combination with the feeling of uncertainty about the subject Environment in connection with the lack of knowledge, while you at the same don’t get the motivation that is needed from media which leads to the feeling of powerlessness among the participants. The top priority today for bringing involvement among the participants is the education that was created by Axfood in the spring and summer of 2010.

The purpose of the study was to describe the nature of the architectural apprenticeship experience from a curricular, instructional, social, and transformative perspective to help interns move from novice status to entry-level expertise in architectural practice. The study examined the apprenticeship experience from a holistic perspective to develop a better understanding of the architectural internship program. To meet the study purpose and inquiry, a case study research design was used to explore and describe the nature of the apprenticeship experience from the perspectives of three stakeholder groups: the interns, the mentors, and the members of the community of practice (CoP). Overall, as evidenced by the perspectives of the Interns, the Firm serving as the case study emphasized all-aspects of architectural practice as the basis for the development of a holistic apprenticeship experience. That is, the Interns participated in the whole of the Firm’s architectural practice. Additionally, the Firm used work- and project-based learning as the vehicle for the apprenticeship curriculum and instruction. As a result, the Interns were grounded in authentic learning and work contexts requiring the application of architectural knowledge and skills. Further, because of the all-accepts of architectural practice and the grounding of work- based and project-based learning, the interns purposefully progressed in expertise through increased participation in architectural projects requiring enhanced demands in terms of knowledge and skills. Study findings highlighted the role of a holistic approach to the apprenticeship experience, the value of immersion in all aspects of architectural practice, and the firm’s commitment to be engaged in a process of shared transformation. As such, related findings should be helpful in the conceptualization and implementation of the architectural apprenticeship experience in the field.

This research investigates the experiences of 18 mature career-changing physiotherapists over the first three years of belonging to their new profession, employing and critiquing Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of community of practice in so doing. Such newcomers to a profession bring with them social and cultural capital which can impact upon the new workplace and their progress within it, as might their biographies, atypical for their chosen profession. Very little has been written about the effect of importing people experienced in another occupation into a profession. This leaves an empirical and theoretical gap to be explored regarding both the effect on the individuals and on the practice of the communities they join. No-one has considered what might be involved in what amounts to identity re-construction in the new career, and what impact the employment context (possibly unstable or fluctuating) might have on the process. Annual semi-structured interviews were chosen as the appropriate mode of generating data from the main respondents, augmented by single interviews with six physiotherapy managers and four established clinicians to provide additional necessary context. The recorded transcripts were analysed using brief interviewee narratives, pro formas and reflective questions. It was found that previous experience, including upbringing and habitus, were particularly influential in these newcomers’ progress, and individuals may be beginning to self-manage their careers, a practice which questions and adds to Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theory of legitimate peripheral participation. Other elements that contradicted community of practice theory included the fact that it was with patients and their carers that social interaction leading to learning occurred most, and it was often to this client group that practitioners felt loyalty and a sense of belonging, rather than to any community of fellow practitioners. Also solo workers are often isolated from the newcomer and cannot pass on their learning as Lave and Wenger (1991) suggest. Full participation was found to be difficult to define, equating with proficiency rather than expertise. The thesis as a whole gives some indication of the way in which a profession’s traditions may be changing with respect to widening participation and the problems of a context of fractured and uncertain employment.

Denna studie handlar barn och ungdomar upplevelser av sitt deltagande i kampsportsprojektet Golden Life av idrottsföreningen Golden Leaf. Uppsatsen har utförts på ett kvalitativts sätt där barn och ungdomar slumpmässigt har valts ut genom att delta via semistrukturerande intervjuer. Ändamålet med studien är att tolka och förstå de barn och ungdomar som har deltagit i ett kampsportsprojekt under hösten 2017. Hur var deras upplevelse under tiden som de deltog och hur gick det sedan när projektet avslutades. Frågeställningen för denna uppsats blir således hur kampsportsprojektet fungerade som socialisations arena. Den teori jag använder mig av är situerat lärande från Lave och Wenger (1991) där social inlärning kan appliceras på ett idrottsfenomen för hur människor anammar instruktioner och hur inlärning sker i socialt sammanhang i relation till sitt idrottsutövande. Men även legitima perifera deltagandet som handlar om hur man tar till sig kunskap där kunskapsbyggandet inte är det viktigaste utan förmågan att lära sig genom att ta in kunskap i en grupp som redan är etablerade i det som ska utövas. På så vis skapas legitimitet och det är inom denna ram som man lär sig det som ska genomföras.Resultatet i denna undersökning utgår från respondenternas egna berättelser där en analys görs i relation till teorin och i viss mån den tidigare forskningen som berör idrott och integration i relation till den sociologiska processen. Resultatet utifrån insamling av empirin visar även hur det finns samband mellan vad intervjudeltagarna beskriver i relation till teorin Legitimt perifert deltagande. Sambandet är tydligt för hur man beskriver utövandet av träningen. Där kampsportmiljön och omgivningens struktur av tränare och andra medlemmar i föreningen tydligt kan kopplas ihop med teorin. Genom att föreningen är öppna mot andra människor även om de inte tillhör den ordinarie verksamheten och bjuder in till deltagande. Detta medför att deltagarna känner sig välkomnade vilket leder till att man deltar och lär sig kampsport.
Abstract This study involves the experiences of children and adolescents with regard to their participation in the Golden Life martial arts project of the Golden Leaf Sports Association. I have conducted qualitative research, in which I have randomly selected children and adolescents who have then participated in semi-structured interviews. The purpose of this study is to understand how children and adolescents experienced the martial arts project in the fall of 2017, and what happened to the participants after the project was over. The question of this paper thus becomes how the martial arts project served as an arena of socialization. The theory used is situational learning from Lave and Wenger (1991) in which social learning used in athletic contexts can be applied to people embracing instructions. Futhermore this theory relates to how physical activity in a social context facilitates learning. But also legitimate peripheral participation that deals with how to acquire knowledge where knowledge building is secondary to the ability to learn and acquiring knowledge in a group already established. In such a way, legitimacy is created and it is within this framework that one learns what is going to be performed.The result of this study is based on the respondents own stories, where an analysis is made in relation to the theory and, to a certain extent, the previous research relating to sport and integration in relation to the sociological process. The result from the gathering of the data also shows how there is a connection between what the interviewees described in relation to the theory of legitimate peripheral participation. The resemblance between how the excercise is described and the actual training is easily identified. The martial arts environment and the environment's structure of coaches and other members of the association can be clearly linked to the theory. Due to the association being open to other people, even if they do not belong to the regular business they do invite others for participation. This means that the participants feel welcome, which leads to the participation and learning of martial arts.

This dissertation examines the role that culinary entrepreneurship communities of practice, using Lave and Wenger's Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) model (Lave & Wenger, 1991), can lead to better social and economic inclusion for Middle Eastern Muslim refugee chefs in Utah. The life history approach was used to construct life histories for two Middle Eastern Muslim refugee chefs in Utah who joined the Spice Kitchen Incubator (SKI) program. SKI is a community of practice funded by the International Rescue Committee to assist refugee chefs in the resettlement process. This was an exploratory study, and given the limited number of cases reviewed, the conclusions cannot be generalized. However, this study concludes that SKI, as a community of practice, despite the many difficulties faced by refugee programs in the period 2016-2018 (the study period), had a positive impact on the social and economic inclusion outcomes for the participants.

Communities of practice that occur naturally within an organisation enable the members to learn through participation in practice together (Lave & Wenger, 1991). However, when a community lacks expertise in 21st century practices, learning these skills through shared practice becomes difficult. E-learning is often marketed as if the tools were easy to adopt and adapt, but effective professional development is required to support educators in learning to employ e-learning tools in their practice. Research shows that effective professional development is timely, relevant, flexible, and often collaborative in nature with examples of good practice. The research presented in this thesis describes the design and implementation of professional development which supports a community of practitioners in building the expertise to incorporate e-learning within its professional practice. The research was informed by a comprehensive review of literature on professional development, with a focus on the area of e-learning, the theory behind the communities of practice concept, and the application of that theory. A design-based methodology was employed to gather data from a range of sources of evidence, over two years, in four iterative cycles of collaborative design, implementation, evaluation and redesign. The context in which the research took place was a small educational organisation with an average of twenty staff members over the duration of the study. This staged implementation of an online environment, designed in collaboration with the community, supported the development of a blended community of online practice and provided timely, relevant professional development in e-learning. Analysis of the research findings produced two instruments: (1) a matrix of strategies for enabling and supporting the development of a blended community of online practice, and (2) a heuristic model to guide the investigation of the learning taking place within the online aspect of a blended community of online practice. These instruments are recommended to designers, developers or researchers supporting the development of a blended community of online practice and the professional development taking place in its online environment.

In a society where knowledge is more and more valuable, every moment that knowledge can be shared between colleagues is of great importance. According to our earlier personal experiences, we thought that organizations prioritised explicit knowledge and not tacit knowledge.  To contribute to knowledge on the subject we choose to do a study where we focused on the experiences of coworkers that works in shops. The purpose of the study then became: “to investigate how tacit knowledge is made use of in shops from the perspective of coworkers”. With the purpose in mind, we created two questions: “How does the coworkers of shops perceive that tacit knowledge occurs on their workplace?” and “how does coworkers perceive that they share their tacit knowledge”?  The study is made with a qualitative approach the collection of data has been made through seven semistructured interviews with coworkers. When we analyzed the empiric material, we’ve analyzed it through the theory of situated learning by Lave and Wenger that is included in the sociocultural perspective. Some things that the result showed according to our interpretation was observation and social interactions with other colleagues is the most common way that tacit knowledge can be shared through on the respondent’s workplaces, that the organizations do have a plan to make use of the explicit knowledge in greater extent than tacit knowledge, the respondents views trust as an important factor when it comes to sharing their tacit knowledge.
I ett samhälle där kunskap blir mer och mer värdefullt är vartenda tillfälle där kunskap kan delas mellan kollegor av stor vikt. Våra personliga uppfattningar är att organisationer prioriterar formell kunskap som kan förmedlas i ord och skrift och inte den tysta kunskapen.  För att bidra med kunskap i ämnet valde vi att göra en studie där vi fokuserar på medarbetare som arbetar i butik för att ta reda på deras uppfattningar. Syftet blev då: “att undersöka hur tyst kunskap tas tillvara på inom detaljhandeln utifrån medarbetares perspektiv”. Utifrån syftet skapade vi de två frågeställningarna: ”Hur uppfattar butiksmedarbetare att tyst kunskap förekommer på deras arbetsplats?” och ”Hur upplever medarbetare att de delar sin tysta kunskap?  Studien har gjorts med kvalitativ ansats och datainsamlingen har skett genom sju stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med medarbetare. När vi analyserat det empiriska materialet har vi gjort det ur teorin situerat lärande av Lave och Wenger som ingår i det sociokulturella perspektivet. Några saker som resultatet visar enligt vår tolkning är att: observation och socialt samspel med andra kollegor är de vanligaste sätten som tyst kunskap delas på respondenternas arbetsplatser, att organisationerna har en plan för att ta tillvara på explicit kunskap i högre utsträckning än tyst kunskap samt att respondenterna ser tillit som en viktig faktor när de ska dela sin tysta kunskap.

This study aims to explore the development of employee acceptance and process challenges and opportunities that surface when new technologies are introduced in a workplace environment. In the case of the implementation of automated vehicles, this study was conducted in close relationship with the organisation. In particular, we investigate employee acceptance and process challenges with an assistance of an analytic model, TAPA, built on the theoretical framework of trust, practice theory and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which is supported with trust and practice theory to form a comprehensive framework.   The study stands on the philosophy of engaged scholarship and uses qualitative material from an exploratory case study, interviewing 22 respondents in order to cover an extensive part of the processes and practices affected by this implementation. Interestingly, the empirical data suggests that developing employee acceptance and combating process challenges and harnessing opportunities are not separate subjects, but streams in the same river. Therefore, to develop acceptance, the organisation would also need to work through the process challenges the respondents warrants action.

I slutet av 1990-talet beslöt den dåvarande regeringen att initiera ett antal projekt i medelstora och större svenska städer. Projekten skulle förläggas till förorternas miljonprogramsområden och målen skulle vara att stärka kompetensen hos de invandrare som bodde i bostadsområdena, öka deras arbetskraftsdeltagande och öka kontaktytorna mellan svenskar och invandrare. Kooperativet Latitud är ett av dessa projekt. Inom kooperativet arbetar flyktingar, långtidsarbetslösa och lågutbildade. Männen har kommit dit genom arbetsmarknadsplaceringar, praktikplatser, aktivitetsgaranti, medan de flesta av kvinnorna har kortvariga anställningar. Studien bygger på Lave och Wengers teorier kring legitimt perifert lärande och lärande i en handlingsgemenskap. Dessutom prövas teoriernas användbarhet i den kontext som kooperativet utgör. Grundläggande i dessa teorier är att lärandet är situerat och sker i handling i en social gemenskap och att lärande och utveckling av identitet är sammanvävda. Arbetsplatsen Latitud studeras i dess egenskap av en handlingsgemenskap, där människors lärande är beroende av och förknippat med den mening de finner i verksamheten och i sin egen tillvaro i kooperativet, lika väl som av den gemenskap de formar som arbetsgrupp. Lärandets betydelse för individens identitet tydliggörs i fyra individers lärande och agerande under deras tid i kooperativet. Avhandlingen visar att de använda teorierna är väl skickade för att studera Latitud som miljö för lärande, dock krävs ytterligare utveckling av teorierna för att utforska och förklara individens lärande och samspelet mellan individ och kontext. En fördjupning av teorin krävs för att beskriva hur en människas identitet byggs från deltagande och lärande i olika lokala praktiker och behov, och hur varje individs lapptäcke av livserfarenheter och lärande formar ett individuellt mönster.
At the end of the 1990s, the then Swedish Government initiated a number of projects in large and medium-sized Swedish cities. The projects were to be conducted in suburban housing areas built during the Million Programme and the objectives were to improve the skills of migrants living in these areas, increase their participation in the workforce and strengthen contacts between them and Swedish people. The Latitude Cooperative (Kooperativet Latitud) was one of these projects. Refugees, long-termed unemployed and low-educated people work within the cooperative. The men have arrived there as labour market placements, whilst most of the women are on short-term employment contracts. The study is based on Lave and Wenger's theories on Legitimate Peripheral Participation and learning in a Community of Practice. The applicability of these theories was also tested in the context of the cooperative. The basic premise of these theories is that learning is situated and occurs when participating in a social community and that learning and development of identity are interwoven. The Latitude Cooperative is studied in its capacity as a community of practice, where people's learning is dependent on and associated with the meaning they find in the activities and in their own existence in the cooperative, as well as on the community they shape as a working group. The significance of learning for individual identity is exemplified in the learning of four individuals and their actions during their time in the cooperative. The thesis shows that the theories employed are well suited to the study of Latitude as a learning environment. The theories require further development, however, in order to research and explain individual learning and the interplay between the individual and the context. Dreier provides the necessary further development of the theory to describe how a person's identity is constructed from participation and learning in different local practices and needs, and how each individual's patchwork of life experiences and learning forms an individual pattern.

This study investigates the impact of an online communityâ s control structure on the knowledge sharing process in that community. Using a framework comprised of legitimate peripheral participation theory and the weak-ties phenomenon, the study focuses on a comparative analysis of self-organizing online communities (e.g., weblog networks) and centralized online communities (e.g., discussion forums communities) with respect to the efficacy of knowledge sharing in these communities. The findings of this study indicate that self-organizing communities of practice have more weak-ties among their members compared to centralized communities. As per weak-ties theory of Granovetter (1973, 1983), these findings suggest that self-organizing communities facilitate greater dissemination of knowledge and flow of information among their members than centralized communities. The abundance of weak-ties in their community structure also makes self-organizing communities better environments for the discovery of new information compared to centralized community environments. This study did not find any evidence of community structure impact on peripheral participation and the interaction activity level among peripheral participants of a given online community. These observations may have stemmed from the limitations of research design, however, it is safe to say as of now that verdict on peripheral participation differences in different community structures is inconclusive at best.
Master of Science

Work integrated learning was established at Swedish universities about twenty years ago; and today there are some different attitudes about the purpose of integrating theoretical perspectives to practical experiences, during higher education. For example, there are arguments that students tend to become clients or tools in order to gain regional development if the practical perspectives overcome the possibilities of reflection. Education will in this case only serve to facilitate employment after graduation, rather than to facilitate developmental learning. To understand the relationship between reproductive- and developmental learning, this thesis explores the different kinds of strategies student teachers develop, during their teacher training – to gain the skills and knowledge needed to work as a professional teacher. The focus is how the students respond to the various emerging contradictions, while crossing the boundaries – between the university, and the workplace. The activity theory approach conceptualizes boundary-crossing as a phenomenon based on the idea of horizontal development – which requires the ability to find relevant information wherever it may be available. The implication is that change and development occur as a result of collaboration through mutual boundary objects, and via emerging contradictions between two or more interacting activity systems. The overall design resembles a phenomenological case study performed over a period of approximately six months. The population providing the empirical data consisted of five student teachers, in their first year, attending a teacher training program in Sweden. Data collection where gathered through a three-step design, where exploratory narrative interviews were conducted at three different occasions: (i) after their first period of work placement, (ii) before entering their second period of work placement and (iii) immediately after their second period of work placement. The results indicate that the students’ processes of learning include four distinct learning strategies (questioning, challenging, adjusting and imitating), to transform the information given in various situations. These strategies are consequences of the students´ prior experiences when encountering contradictions during their teacher training program.

För omkring 20 år sedan utvecklades arbetsintegrerat lärande som en ny pedagogisk form på svenska högskolor och universitet Det råder dock delade meningar om syftet bakom högskolans ambition att integrera teoretiska perspektiv till individuella praktiska erfarenheter. Exempelvis riskerar studenter att liknas vid klienter, eller verktyg för regional utveckling om fokus på praktiska erfarenheter överordnas möjligheten till reflektion. Utbildningens roll kan i så fall bli att underlätta anställningsbarhet efter examen istället för att leda till ett utvecklingsinriktat lärande. För att förstå relationen mellan anpassnings- och utvecklingsinriktat lärande undersöker denna uppsats vilka strategier lärarstudenter utvecklar, under utbildning på lärarprogrammet, för att uppbära den kunskap som behövs för att kunna arbeta som lärare. Fokus ligger på hur studenterna svarar mot de varierande motsättningar som uppstår vid övergångarna mellan högskolan och arbetsplatsen. Uppsatsen utgår från verksamhetsteoretiska resonemang och speciellt fenomenet ”boundary-crossing” som innebär grunden för horisontell utveckling och innefattar förmågan att finna relevant information där den är tillgänglig. Utgångspunkten är att förändring och utveckling sker som ett resultat av samverkan mot gemensamma mål och på grund av motsättningar mellan två eller flera verksamhetssystem. Det övergripande upplägget av studien kan liknas vid en fenomenologisk fallstudie och utfördes under sex månader. Populationen som ligger till grund för studiens empiriska data består av fem lärarstudenter som studerar sitt första år vid en av Sveriges lärarutbildningar. Data samlades in genom narrativa intervjuer vid tre olika tillfällen: (i) efter studenternas första praktikperiod, (ii) innan studenterna påbörjade sin andra praktikperiod och (iii) direkt efter att studenterna avslutat sin andra praktikperiod. Studiens resultat visar att lärarstudenterna använder fyra olika lärandestrategier (ifrågasättande, utmanande, anpassande och imiterande), för att omvandla den information de möter till kunskap, vid olika tillfällen under lärarutbildningen. Dessa strategier utvecklas som följd av de erfarenheter studenterna har med sig när de möter olika motsättningar under lärarutbildningen.

Denna rapport har studerat hur lär- och identitetsprocessen att formas till artist har sett ut för några av Sveriges mest aktuella kvinnliga artister. Valet att studera denna yrkesgrupp beror på att formell utbildning genom skolväsendet saknas för att till fullo förbereda individer för yrket. Syftet har varit att genom artisternas beskrivningar av de egna erfarenheterna bidra med kunskap om hur dessa processer kan se ut. Sex stycken semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med hjälp av utformad frågeguide för insamlandet av data. Intervjuerna transkriberades sedan och analyserades därefter med drag av hermeneutisk tolkning. Förförståelsen hos mig som forskare har haft en central roll i rapporten då jag själv är verksam som frilansande trummis inom musikbranschen. Då tidigare forskning rörande lär- och identitetsskapande processer för artister inte hittades baserades litteraturöversikten till stor del av forskning om de lär- och identitetsskapande processer som elitidrottare gjort. Valet av denna yrkesgrupp baserades på att framgång som idrottare ofta leder till medial uppmärksamhet, i likhet med artisternas. Insamlad empiri analyserades sedan genom Lave och Wengers (1991) teorier om hur kunskap uppstår och utvecklas genom sociala interaktioner i olika kontexter, något de kallar för situerat lärande. I analysen användes även Goffmans (2009) rollteoretiska modell som behandlar hur identiteter skapas, upprätthålls och förändras. Slutsatserna i studien visade på att kunskapen till stor del skapats genom observation av de mer erfarna inom musikbranschen samt interaktion med dessa. Artisternas föreställningar om vad det innebär att vara en artist samt till vilken grad de interagerat med olika delar av musikbranschen tycks ha påverkat deras förmåga att själva identifiera sig som artister. Gemensamt för samtliga respondenter var den beskrivna upplevelsen av att kunna påverka rollen som artist till högre grad i och med ökad erfarenhet och framgång som artist.
This report has studied how the processes of learning about the role as an artist and the ability to identify oneself as one has been for some of Sweden’s most popular artists. The choice to study this profession is due to the lack of formal education through the school system to fully prepare individuals for the profession. The purpose has been to provide knowledge about these processes thru the described experiences from the artists. Six semi- structured qualitative interviews were conducted using a designed questionnaire for data collection. The interviews were then transcribed and analyzed by means of hermeneutic interpretation. The preconceptions have played a central role in the report, as I myself am a freelance drummer in the music industry. Since earlier research about learning and identity-creating processes among artists was not found, the literature review has been based largely on research about the learning and identity-creating processes that elite athletes have made. The choice to study this profession was based on the similarity between professions in the terms where their success often leads to great media attention. Collected empirical data was then analyzed thru Lave and Wenger’s (1991) theories of how knowledge arises and develops through social interactions in different contexts, something they call situated learning. The analysis was also made thru used Goffman's (2009) role theory model that addresses how identities are created, maintained and changed. The conclusions of this study showed that knowledge about the role as an artist was largely created by observing the more experienced in the music industry as well as thru interaction with these. The artists' perceptions of what it means to be an artist and the extent to which they interacted with different parts of the music industry seem to have influenced their ability to identify themselves with the role. Commonly to all respondents was the described experience that the ability to influence the role of an artist increased with experience and success as an artist.

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The development of academic literacies in a certain area of knowledge allows, to the one who is learning, conditions for reading the world and acting in the contemporary society, for engaging in the disciplinary debate, and for developing an opinion concerning the effects of scientific and technological innovations of the area and the potential consequences resulted from their use (MOTTA-ROTH, 2013a, p.145). Recognizing the importance of academic literacies in the university context and in the formation of students in different areas of knowledge, this research aims at identifying and discussing characteristics of academic literacies processes of a group of students from the course of Publicity and Advertising (PA) (Publicidade e Propaganda) in a PA experimental agency located at south of Brazil. In order to do that, we adopt the perspective of Critical Genre Analysis (MEURER, 2002; BHATIA, 2004; MOTTA-ROTH, 2008; 2011a), academic literacies studies (LEA; STREET, 1998; 2006; MOTTA-ROTH 2013a) and the notion of Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LAVE; WENGER, 1991). As part of the umbrella project Academic/scientific literacy and Legitimate Peripheral Participation in the knowledge production (Letramento acadêmico/científico e participação periférica legítima na produção de conhecimento) (MOTTA-ROTH, 2013b), this study consists in a qualitative research based on ethnography (LAUTOR; WOLGAR, 1997), in which, observations of social activities from the PA experimental agency were made. The corpus of this research is constituted by a) notes collected by prticipant observation; b) field notes/photography; c) answers from questionnaires applied to the agency members; and d) advising sessions between professors and students. With the observations and field notes, the intention was to collect information about the laboratory context. Through the observations and field notes, it was detected the need to apply questionnaires and to analyze advising sessions between professors and students. It is understood that the advising sessions through writing and rewriting processes and text editions, by students, based on professor s notes are a rich source to identify characteristics of students academic literacies. The results seem to indicate that students academic literacies depend on their interaction with other members from the laboratory and their engagement in genres and activities that arise from those genres in the agency. As the students participate in the agency, they develop literacies that turn them into more experienced publicists in the PA professional performance practices. Aligned to this characteristic, it seems that the academic literacies in PA are permeated with the development of personal taste. The members speech, in the advising sessions, is marked with lexicogramatical choices that privilege emotional mental clauses (e.g. amar, gostar, adorar). In this sense, it seems that emotional mental processes work as teaching parameters in this laboratory. These linguistic cues seem to be related to the recency of the PA area of knowledge (BORGES, 2002; DURAND; 2006; PÚBLIO; MADER, 2009). With this research, it is expected to contribute/reflect upon the academic literacies processes as for the PA area of knowledge as well as for the Applied Linguistic area of knowledge.
O desenvolvimento de letramentos acadêmicos em determinada área do saber permite, a aquele que está aprendendo, condições para a leitura de mundo e a ação na sociedade contemporânea, o engajamento no debate da disciplina, e desenvolvimento de uma opinião quanto aos efeitos das inovações científico-tecnológicas de sua área e as eventuais consequências acarretadas por seu uso (MOTTA-ROTH, 2013a, p.145). Reconhecendo a importância dos letramentos acadêmicos no contexto universitário e na formação de estudantes, em diferentes áreas do saber, esta pesquisa busca identificar características dos processos de letramentos acadêmicos de um grupo de estudantes do curso de Publicidade e Propaganda (PP) em uma agência experimental de PP alocada em uma universidade do sul do Brasil. Para isso, adota-se a perspectiva da Análise Crítica de Gêneros (MEURER, 2002; BHATIA, 2004; MOTTA-ROTH, 2008; 2011a), dos estudos de letramentos acadêmicos (LEA; STREET, 1998; 2006; MOTTA-ROTH 2013a) e da noção de Participação Periférica Legítima (LAVE; WENGER, 1991). Inserido no projeto guarda-chuva Letramento acadêmico/científico e participação periférica legítima na produção de conhecimento (MOTTA-ROTH, 2013b), este estudo consiste em uma pesquisa qualitativa de base etnográfica (LAUTOR; WOLGAR, 1997), na qual, foram realizadas observações das atividades sociais da agência experimental de PP. O corpus da presente pesquisa é constituído por: a) observações coletadas a partir de observação participante; b) notas de campo/fotografias; c) respostas de questionários aplicados com os membros da agência; e d) sessões de orientação entre professoras e estudantes. Nas observações e nas notas de campo, a intenção foi coletar informações acerca do contexto do laboratório. Por meio das observações e notas, detectou-se a necessidade da aplicação de questionários e da análise das sessões de orientação entre professoras e estudantes. Entende-se que as orientações por meio de processos de escrita, rescrita e edição de textos, por parte dos estudantes, com base nos apontamentos dos professores são uma fonte rica para identificar características dos letramentos acadêmicos dos estudantes. Os resultados parecem indicar que os letramentos acadêmicos dos estudantes dependem de sua interação com demais membros no laboratório e de seu engajamento em gêneros e atividades decorrentes desses gêneros na agência. À medida que esses estudantes participam, eles desenvolvem letramentos que os tornam publicitários mais experientes nas práticas de atuação profissional de PP. Aliada a essa característica, parece que os letramentos acadêmicos em PP são perpassados pelo desenvolvimento de gosto pessoal. A fala dos membros, nas sessões de orientação, é marcada por escolhas lexicogramaticais que privilegiam orações mentais emotivas (p. ex., amar, gostar, adorar). Nesse sentido, parece que processos mentais emotivos funcionam como parâmetros de ensino nesse laboratório. Esses indícios linguísticos parecem estar relacionados com a recência da área do saber da PP (PINHO, 1998; BORGES, 2002; DURAND, 2006; PÚBLIO; MADER, 2009). Com esta pesquisa, almeja-se trazer contribuições/reflexões acerca dos processos de letramentos acadêmicos tanto para área do saber da PP, como para a área do saber da Linguística Aplicada.

Each year, students who are newly enrolled in the University of Ottawa Cooperative Education Programs prepare for their first co-op work terms. In this period of pre-employment, students ask themselves important questions like, “What do I have to do to get a job?” and “What do I want to be?” As a co-op practitioner I am exposed to students’ experiences and the dilemmas they face but I still wondered what was hidden from my view and outside of my understanding. Thus, during one-on-one interviews that occurred prior to their first co-op work terms, six co-op students shared the photographs and stories of their co-op experiences with me and I shared my photographs and stories with them. Goffman’s (1959) theory of dramaturgy provided the theoretical framework to present, interpret, and understand the words and pictures that emerged from these interviews. What resulted were dramas, narratives, and allegories: six participant descriptions written as mini-biographies, verbatim transcripts prepared as a reader’s theatre script, and a set of five themes composed with vivid symbolism. The five metaphoric themes of co-op student experience are (a) journey, (b) circus, (c) metamorphosing, (d) anglers at sea, and (e) warriors. Taken together, what emerged was a deeper seeing and a richer understanding of what’s “really going on” in the time prior to students’ first co-op work terms (Goffman, 1974, p. 8) particularly with regards to legitimate peripheral participation, reflection, and experiential learning.

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The objective of this research is to analyze critically the discourses from Political Pedagogical Project (PPP) and from students and graduates in an Undergraduation Course in English Language (CLI) from a Brazilian southern university about the academic literacies practices and events in professional teaching. For that, we try to identify the academic literacies practices predicted in PPP to students and academic literacies events by students and graduates experience reports. We based ourselves on concepts that would enable us to analyze the PPP and students and graduates discourses about the academic literacies. So, we chose the theoretical and methodological approach Critical Genre Analysis (MEURER, 2002), that interweaves three social theories, Critical Discourse Analysis (FAIRCLOUGH, 1992, 2003), Sociorretórica (MILLER, 1984; SWALES, 1990; BAZERMAN, 2005) and Systemic Functional Grammar (HALLIDAY; MATTHIESSEN, 2004). In addition, conversations about academic literacies (BARTON, 1991; LEA; STREET, 2006), the concept of Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) (LAVE; WENGER, 1991) and the theoretical and methodological approach ethnography (SAVILLE-TROIKE, 1989) allowed us to analyze and discuss the PPP and students and graduates discourses. To unveil the PPP discourse, we analyze the Egress Profile and Curriculum sections and to the discourse from students and graduates we developed semi-structured questionnaires from PPP excerpts. On the PPP analysis, we identify the academic literacies practices predicted to students and graduates in the CLI. Three academic literacies practices are recognized in the PPP: participation in projects, text production and consumption and professional performance. These three practices were described by identifying the skills and competences predicted for egress and the disciplines. We also recognize that the text production and consumption seems to carry a central role among the practices participation in projects and professional performance. In the analysis of questionnaires, from the search for textual rich features in meaning (BARTON, 2002), we noted four academic literacies practices: participation in the activities of the courses in CLI, participation in projects, participation in scientific events and professional performance. These four practices are recognized in the students and graduates discourse by reporting the academic literacies events they said engage to and participate in. Students and graduates more clearly described the events that constituted practices in that were engaging in the activities of CLI. It seemed also that as these students participated in these events, (re)constitute themselves as English teachers, from the recognition of this context and the individuals involved in these events (FAIRCLOUGH, 2010).
O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar criticamente o discurso do Projeto Político Pedagógico (PPP) e de alunos e egressos de um curso de Letras/Inglês (CLI) de uma universidade do sul do Brasil sobre as práticas e os eventos de letramentos acadêmicos na formação como profissional de línguas. Para tanto, buscamos identificar as práticas de letramentos acadêmicos previstas no PPP para os estudantes do CLI e os eventos de letramentos acadêmicos por meio dos relatos de experiência dos estudantes e egressos. Embasamo-nos, assim, em conceitos norteadores que nos possibilitassem analisar o discurso do PPP e dos alunos e egressos sobre os letramentos acadêmicos. Por isso, escolhemos a abordagem teórico-metodológica da Análise Crítica de Gênero (MEURER, 2002), que entrelaça três teorias de cunho social, Análise Crítica do Discurso (FAIRCLOUGH, 1992; 2003), Sociorretórica (MILLER, 1984; SWALES, 1990; BAZERMAN, 2005) e Gramática Sistêmico-Funcional (HALLIDAY; MATTHIESSEN, 2004). Além disso, as conversações sobre letramentos acadêmicos (BARTON, 1991; LEA; STREET, 2006), o conceito de Participação Periférica Legítima (PPL) (LAVE; WENGER, 1991) e a abordagem teórico-metodológica da etnografia (SAVILLE-TROIKE, 1989) nos permitiram analisar e discutir os discursos do PPP e dos alunos e egressos. Para desvelar o discurso do PPP, analisamos as seções Perfil Desejado do Egresso e Currículo e para o discurso dos alunos e egressos, desenvolvemos questionários semiestruturados a partir de excertos do PPP. Na análise do PPP, identificamos as práticas de letramentos acadêmicos previstas para os estudantes e egressos do CLI. Três práticas de letramentos acadêmicos foram reconhecidas no PPP: participação em projetos, produção e consumo de textos e atuação profissional. Essas três práticas foram descritas por meio da identificação das habilidades e competências previstas para o egresso e das ementas das disciplinas. Reconhecemos também que a produção e consumo de textos parece carregar um papel central entre as práticas participação em projetos e atuação profissional. Na análise dos questionários, a partir da busca por elementos textuais ricos em significação (BARTON, 2002), evidenciamos quatro práticas de letramentos acadêmicos: participação nas atividades das disciplinas do CLI, participação em projetos, participação em eventos científicos e atuação profissional. Essas quatro práticas foram reconhecidas no discurso dos alunos e egressos por meio do relato sobre os eventos de letramentos acadêmicos que eles disseram se engajar e participar. Os estudantes e egressos mais claramente descreveram os eventos que constituíam as práticas na medida em que iam se engajando nas atividades do CLI. Pareceu-nos também que à medida que esses estudantes participavam desses eventos, (re)constituíam-se como professores de inglês, a partir do reconhecimento do contexto e dos sujeitos envolvidos nesses eventos (FAIRCLOUGH, 2010).

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The objective of this study is to analyze the discourse of students from an undergraduate Letters course at a university in southern Brazil and at an Applied Linguistics Laboratory the LLAp from the same department, based in the triad of teaching, research and extension, who were asked to speak about their academic discursive practices, in order to identify the characteristics of academic literacy processes, using the frameworks of ACD (FAIRCLOUGH, 1992; 2003), academic literacies (LEA; STREET, 1998; STREET, 2010) and the notion of legitimate peripheral participation (LAVE; WENGER, 1991). We developed and applied written semi-structured questionnaires and oral interviews dealing with three characteristics of academic literacy processes: genre systems, the roles played in academic literacy and the processes of authoring and co-authoring. In 58 written questionnaires answered by students of Letters and of the LLAp, we identified 47 genres mentioned by students. Among the most cited genres were those, which are most routine and formulaic in academic communities, such as reviews, abstracts and articles. On the other hand, genres less cited were those, which are more diffused and imprecise, such as conversation and defining the meaning of 'text'. Besides genre diversity, the diversity of roles mentioned by students indicates the plurality of possibilities made available by the projects developed at this university, especially at the LLAp. In the four interviews with LLAp students, we sought to focus on issues that were not explored thoroughly in the written questionnaire. In terms of genre system, students stressed different aspects. Two students emphasized bureaucratic genres, one student pointed out genres produced within the research project, co-authored with other group members and, finally, one student emphasized genres produced in the classroom and for the classroom, in relation to her role as a teacher in training and as a teacher in action. Regarding the authoring and co-authoring process, as well as the roles played, we identified different degrees of engagement and participation of students in the community. In theory, the longer a student participates and the greater the degree of engagement in the social practices of academic literacies in the community, the greater, proportionately, will be the legitimate peripheral participation process and, consequently, the greater the learning.
O objetivo deste estudo é analisar o discurso de alunos de um curso de Letras de uma universidade do sul do Brasil e um laboratório de Linguística Aplicada o LLAp que tem como base o tripé ensino, pesquisa e extensão da mesma universidade sobre suas práticas discursivas acadêmicas, de modo a identificar as características dos processos de letramentos acadêmicos, a partir da perspectiva da ACD (FAIRCLOUGH, 1992; 2003), dos estudos de letramentos acadêmicos (LEA; STREET, 1998; STREET, 2010) e da noção de participação periférica legítima (LAVE; WENGER, 1991). Para isso, elaboramos e aplicamos questionários semiestruturados escritos e entrevistas que tratavam especialmente sobre três características dos processos de letramentos acadêmicos: o sistema de gêneros, os papeis desempenhados e o processo de autoria e coautoria. Em síntese, alguns dados gerados parecem se salientar. Nos 58 questionários escritos respondidos por alunos do curso de Letras e do LLAp, identificamos 47 gêneros mencionados pelos discentes. Entre os gêneros mais citados estão aqueles mais rotineiros e formulaicos de comunidades acadêmicas como resenhas, resumos e artigos. Por outro lado, entre os gêneros menos citados, estão aqueles mais difusos e imprecisos como conversação e definição do significado de texto . Além da diversidade de gêneros, a diversidade de papeis mencionados pelos discentes indica a pluralidade de possibilidades oportunizadas pelos projetos desenvolvidos nesta universidade com destaque para o LLAp. Nas quatro entrevistas realizadas com alunos do LLAp, buscamos focar em questões que não foram exploradas profundamente no questionário escrito. Sobre o sistema de gêneros, identificamos que os alunos enfatizaram diferentes aspectos. Dois alunos enfatizaram gêneros da esfera burocrática , um aluno destacou gêneros produzidos no âmbito do projeto de pesquisa, em coautoria com outros membros do grupo e, por fim, um aluno deu ênfase em gêneros produzidos em sala de aula e para a sala de aula , seja em relação ao seu papel como docente em formação quanto docente em atuação. Em relação ao processo de autoria e coautoria, bem como dos papeis desempenhados, percebemos diferentes graus de engajamento e participação dos discentes na comunidade. Em tese, quanto maior o tempo de participação e maior o grau de engajamento dos discentes nas práticas sociais de letramentos acadêmicos na comunidade, maior, proporcionalmente, será o processo de participação periférica legítima e, consequentemente, maior será a aprendizagem.

碩士
國立中央大學
資訊工程研究所
90
In traditional teaching environment，teacher use one teaching strategy to all student，and no use different strategy by student ‘s ability，so not all student has suitable learning way，and student’s learning experiment only contribute and share in discuss board and homework submitting，so distribute expertise is difficult to integrate。 This paper according situated learning by Lave and journal publication process to construct Journal Based Assessment System to achieve LPP from peripheral participation to full participation。We use homework , journal submitting , review and learn from peer’s work to acquisition student’s Learning experiment and use portfolios、ZPD and rules by decision tree to separate different roles by student’s Knowledge、Comprehension、application、analysis、synthesis、Evaluation and creativity ability，finally give different student different task to improve their ability ，and archive the goal of multiple evaluation。 Subject were 51 computer science majors show that they like to contribute their experiment more and more，and can improve their submitting and evaluation ability by peer’s work and lift learning performance by different task . Besides questionnaire show this system is useful to learning and student want to promote to other classes。

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2003. Graduate Programme in Education.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-102). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL:http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url%5Fver=Z39.88-2004&res%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss&rft%5Fval%5Ffmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft%5Fdat=xri:pqdiss:MQ99292

This research report describes the learning histories of computer assistants and expert assessment practice. This takes place in a workplace where computer training, specifically the fixing of hardware (CPU) occurs. It is hoped that the evidence collected might contribute towards the recognition and understanding of tacit assessment on the National Qualifications Framework, (NQF). In uncovering these learning histories and expert assessment practices, a component of ethnography which involves case history interviews and discussions was used. The theoretical framework used was situated learning theory and the legitimate peripheral participation of the computer assistants. This framework is itself embedded in the theory of constructivism. Case histories used as a component of ethnography is part of a bigger ethnographic project developed by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). This particular study will contribute along with other projects in the University of Witwatersrand research group, to make up a full ethnographic account of learning and assessment in the workplace.

Although other research has addressed some features of successful school group visits to museums, such as preparation and follow up and emphasis on first-hand experience, there has been little research on the practices being used by the teachers who take their classes to the museums. I examined how teachers from five schools conducted their visits to one of four museums (Scibono Discovery Centre, HartRAO, Johannesburg Planetarium or Adler Museum) with their learners. The case study involved observing the five teachers before, during and after the visit and interviewing them before and after the visit. The data were analysed using communities of practice theory to determine the practices of the selected teachers. An in-depth analysis of the five teachers’ interviews and observations was done both for the rich data it provided and for triangulation purposes. The analysis shows that three teachers had what was described as task-oriented preparation while the other two had learning-oriented preparation. One teacher preparation was also described as not directly about the visit. The analysis further shows that four teachers were observed to have no interaction with their learners in some instance. Three teachers had learning oriented interaction with their learners at the museums. Three teachers were also observed controlling the behaviour of their learners. Furthermore, the analysis shows that the purposes and objectives of the field trips as given by teachers were for entertainment, edutainment,curriculum, interactive, career and tradition. Lastly, teachers follow up activities were described as either task-oriented or learning-oriented. The study shows that some teachers are old timers while others are newcomers in the community of teachers who take their classes to the museums.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES; 2016), contingent faculty comprise nearly half of the higher education teaching workforce. I was a contingent faculty member working in a music teacher preparation program at a small college in the Northeast U.S. Using Wenger’s communities of practice (1998) and Lave and Wenger’s legitimate peripheral participation (1991) as a theoretical lens, I conducted a self-study to understand: (a) how our group of two full-time and two part-time contingent faculty negotiated our work, and (b) how my contingent faculty identity was shaped through participating in the group. I analyzed transcriptions of group meetings, email messages sent among the group members, and brief interviews to establish that our community of practice (CoP) was positioned relative to broader enterprises, such as accrediting bodies and the state department of education that regulated teacher licensure. We negotiated our practices in response to their standards and regulations, and we often felt that our practices were constrained. I learned that the members of our CoP had rich histories of membership in other CoPs, and knowledge and identity from those CoPs were constantly reconciled with new understandings and identity. I learned that multimembership can be a hindrance for some, yet it can also be a benefit that helps propel the work of a CoP forward. My identity was shaped through dialogue with other members of the community. I learned that it is common for contingent faculty to feel as I did: autonomous and competent in my teaching practices, yet detached from the department (Kezar & Sam, 2010; Levin & Hernandez, 2014; Shaker, 2008). Learning some of the history of the joint enterprise helped me feel more connected and empowered, and as my dialogue with the full-time tenure-track faculty continued, I was given additional responsibility for developing and subsequently teaching two new courses. Very little research has been conducted from the perspective of contingent faculty in higher education. This self-study was therefore a timely addition to the literature, and it should be replicated, extended to other teacher education faculty, and also to collaborative self-studies between full-time and contingent faculty.

This study researches phenomenon of the Biology Teachers Network (BTN), a distributed Community of Practice (CoP). The membership of the BTN is voluntary. The BTN is supported by a core group of members and administered by single moderator. The network uses a manually operated email system to communicate and share information as an automatic listserv proved to be beyond the capabilities of the membership. Etienne Wenger is the authority on the theory of CoPs and provides in depth background to the processes that are evident in a CoP. A CoP consists of the Domain, Practice and Community and through a process of negotiation of meaning, learning takes place through identity formation. CoPs can exist online in the form of distribute CoPs. Passionate leadership is essential for the formation of a CoP as is the voluntary participation of the members. A Naturalistic case study methodology is considered to be the most appropriate research tool. In this study a focus group interview and a collection of emails were used as data sources. The data was analysed using three instruments derived from the literature. The conclusion from the analysis of the data was that the BTN is a vibrant and fully functional distributed CoP in the coalescing stage. Participation in the BTN has led to an increase in professional development and ICT skills amongst some of the member teachers. The fact that this was achieved through the use of email instead of sophisticated websites suggests that this model of distributed CoP is suitable for the professional development of teachers in South Africa.
Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2009.
Curriculum Studies
unrestricted

This research set out to explore the curriculum experiences of French-speaking students in a private tertiary education institution. The study was qualitative in nature and utilized narrative inquiry and the case study approach. Data-gathering methods included a blend of semistructured interviews, document analysis, participant observation and field notes. Data analysis employed content and thematic analyses. Findings that emerged from the study were seven-fold: First, the academic experiences of French-speaking students from pre-degree to third-year degree programme entailed a rigorous negotiation with the LoLT. They negotiated the pre-degree route to mainstream degree programme due to non-compliance with academic standards set for higher education. Second, French-speaking students negotiated the pre-degree route to mainstream degree programme because their curricula of study, while they negotiated secondary school education in French-speaking countries were not recognized by most South African public universities. Third, French-speaking students experienced a number of hidden curriculum experiences which were not visible but influenced the planned, enacted and assessed curricula. Fourth, the deportment of lecturers was a useful asset. Lecturers were sourced from different sociocultural perspectives of the world. The impact of lecturers’ deportment led to commitment to achieve excellence and dedication towards student learning. Fifth, the use of Zulu, Sotho and sporadic use of Afrikaans languages by lecturers became sociocultural experiences of French-speaking students. The impact of this was felt by French-speaking students when they took a longer time to negotiate transition from French-speaking to English-speaking. The rate at which white lecturers spoke and the unfamiliar accents of black South African lecturers became important aspects of experiences they negotiated at Montana College. Sixth, learning ensues when there is a hybridization of the three sociocultural factors namely language of communication, acculturation to the domain of influence and mediated identity. Seventh, it was found that power relations manifested themselves in different perspectives at Montana College. Lave and Wenger (1991) proposed that power relations exist in the field of education where teachers exercise their roles as facilitators of learning and students see that they are in possession of economic power, by virtue of the fact that they pay fees. Consequently the issues of power relations abound in the form of the “continuity-displacement contradictions” as suggested by Lave and Wenger (1991:115-116). Much new knowledge came to light, especially in terms of the three sociocultural factors (language, acculturation and identity). When these are in a state of redress, there is an emergent learning, depending on the extent of hybridization between the sociocultural factors. The magnitude of learning is conceptualized to depend on the extent of redress or hybridization among the sociocultural factors.
Curriculum and Instructional Studies
D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)