Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemTeacher perceptions of using immersive virtual environment (IVE) in a second language class( 2011)This study examines a teacher’s perception on the use of Immersive Virtual Environment (IVE) in a second language class. It is proposed that understanding teacher perception has a significant role in the adoption of any technology. Very little research has been conducted in this area that is specifically aimed at IVE adoption. This paper reveals that even if positive pedagogical outcomes and student experience are realised and acknowledged by the teachers in the use of IVE, the practical and technical difficulties perceived and experienced prior to and during its use eludes its continued adoption in teaching contexts. This study revealed that when using IVE for second language teaching, the affordance of communicating in the language being learnt is vital for second language learning and should be incorporated in the design of an educational IVE tool. Additionally this study revealed that the instant gratification offered by recent technologies like text messaging and social media overcasts the user experience offered by an IVE due to the inherent lack of spontaneity offered in the IVE medium. This is an important consideration during the evaluation of IVE tools. The findings make the case of recognition for time for experimentation and professional development for the teachers if they are to embrace new technologies including IVE. The importance of technical support and building technical confidence in teachers is highlighted in this study. Finally the lack of a comprehensive framework for the integration of IVE is revealed as an impediment for uptake of IVE in formal teaching contexts. As an outcome of this study it is recommended that the already existing Four dimensions framework (de Freitas, 2008) for evaluating IVE be modified to include practical considerations as the Fifth dimension for the selection process and new framework be developed as a guide for teachers with emphasis on the practical considerations to be addressed while using IVE in teaching contexts.
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ItemCultural others: a new conception of cross-cultural management( 2011)Organisations have increasingly become stages for cultural pluralism through engaging in workforce diversity, cross-border expansion and international cooperative arrangements. This thesis argues that much of the cross-cultural management literature has portrayed cultural differences as potentially damaging to organisational effectiveness. In emphasising culture-as-difference, this literature has marginalised a view of culture as differentiated perspectives in ways of ‘seeing’ and ‘doing’. This thesis contends that culture is a unique form of knowledge that can make a valuable contribution to the organisational learning practices of organisations and argues that this can be facilitated through better understanding of the impact of the organisational environment on ‘cultural others’. The argument is advanced through exploring traditional conceptions of culture and organisational culture that within organisations encourage management practices that mitigate individual cultural differences and promote cultural homogeneity based on unifying organisational values, beliefs and goals. As a result, organisational learning is confined to a subset of what is known by cultural others, filtered by the organisation’s own actions. It is argued that a new conception of culture is needed that considers an individual’s cognition as basic to the formation of knowledge as cultural and therefore as more than the de-contextualised accumulation of information in the ‘black box’ of the individual mind. As such, a framework of cognitive science, and in particular connectionist theory of learning and distributed cognition, are used to provide a more holistic account of knowledge as the meaning and actions that arise from situated learning and experiences that are contextually bound. At the individual level this thesis seeks to explain how individuals come to share in the ‘knowing’ and the ‘doing’ required in their activities. This view is expanded to the practice of workgroups where individual knowledge is combined, revealing the nature of cognition as socially distributed and regulating the group’s activities. Approaching the argument from the organisational context, this thesis draws attention to the factors that influence an organisation’s structure and culture, which in turn influence their perception of the value of knowledge and the learning strategies they employ. In particular, it focuses on ‘organisational culture’ as setting the context for the organisation’s activities which workgroups interpret to frame their practice. In bringing individual cognition and organisational context together, the discontinuity between the two is exposed as inhibiting both the effectiveness of ‘cultural others’ in deploying their knowledge and the organisation’s opportunity for realising value in differing perspectives and practices. To redress this failure, this thesis proposes a new framework as connection to practice that guides organisations to reconceptualise culture as knowledge to support their organisational learning ambitions.
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ItemLearning through simulation: powerful, purposeful and personal( 2011)Simulation has been in use for many years in the education of health professionals. The value of this as an educational pedagogy is under-researched. While there have been some valuable studies, these mostly focus on the technical aspects of simulation. The aim of this research was to examine simulation beyond the development of technical skills, to determine the validity of simulation in the development of higher-order thinking and clinical judgement. Simulation has been in use in one form or another in the development of health care professionals for many years. Until recently simulation was generally seen as an adjunct to the education and training process, and not part of the overall development of the professional. However in more recent times with the reduction in the availability of clinical practicums and the increased demand for these placements, simulation has become a more important part of the educational process. Yet the research into the effectiveness of simulation in the development of the health care professional is currently under researched as discussed above. For this reason it is an area requiring further research. This is a qualitative study involving educators and students from nursing, medicine, paramedicine and the fire brigade. Eighteen educators and eighteen students were interviewed through semistructured interviews. The observations were restricted to the pseudo-authentic workplace and consisted of seven educators, forty-six students from paramedicine and the non-emergency patient transport sectors. A review of curriculum documents was also undertaken to locate and assess the espoused views of the teaching organisation on simulation in the education of their students. The findings were triangulated to provide reliability to the results. This research has shown that simulation is a pedagogy that can assist in the development of higher-order thinking and judgement-making during “hot action”. This study has identified that the development of higher-order thinking and judgement-making through public reflection occurs best in the third phase of a simulation. In conclusion, simulation is a powerful learning and teaching pedagogy, and can be considered as one of the active learning pedagogies. Furthermore, if the simulation is well constructed and executed, it can provide valid experiences for the participants. These experiences can provide for the development of an epistemology of practice with highly developed higher-order thinking and clinical judgement capabilities.