Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemAn evaluation of quality assurance implementation at a higher education institution in Bangkok( 2005)This study aimed to investigate the implementation of Quality Assurance (OA) regarding two compulsory English courses in a Rajabhat University in Bangkok. Quality of these courses is considered to be crucial because they are required for the completion of all undergraduate degrees in every program of study in the Rajabhat. The study intended particularly, to examine the level of success of QA implementation in order to recommend improvements to the implementation process. The study employed a qualitative case study of the institution to reveal factors affecting QA implementation and to construct an improved QA management model for such courses. Document analysis and semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. The participants of the research were purposively selected according to their levels of participation in the QA program, namely, policy makers, transmitters of the policy and implementers. Miles & Huberman-style grids were employed to facilitate data analysis and then Fullan's theory of change was used as a framework for discussion of the findings. Analysis revealed that QA was thought to be needed but the level of success of the QA implementation was rather low at the course level due to a lack of efficient communication between the systems level and implementers on the ground. Consequently, teaching staff's knowledge and understanding of the QA operation was inadequate. However, strengths of the program included availability of financial and physical supports, i.e. multi-media teaching materials, IT infrastructure and provision of professional development. Perhaps the most important strength was the awareness and willingness of lecturers to implement QA during routine teaching. Nevertheless, IT literacy, teamwork skills and explicit systematic QA implementation documents were inadequate. Overall, this study has demonstrated a limited level of success regarding QA implementation in this Thai context due to various factors. Therefore, recommendations for improvement are presented and a QA model for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) is proposed.
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ItemHawthorn Leadership Assessment Centre : a case study of assessors' perceptions( 2001)The implementation of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Assessment Centre at Hawthorn Leadership Assessment Centre (HLAC) is a part of The University of Melbourne s post-graduate syllabus. At the completion of an assessment centre assessors were interviewed. Their perceptions indicate that H LAC is an effective professional development activity for participants and assessors alike. This finding emerged through the implementation of a semi structured interview schedule. The study also found that assessors believed a more culturally relevant model reflective of local practice be explored or incorporated into the franchised NASSP model.
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ItemComputerised accounting systems, curriculum and business needs( 2007)Globalisation, information technology, and in particular the development of sophisticated Computerised Accounting Systems (CAS) software, have become driving forces that continue to enhance and transform business needs and practices. A review of the literature suggests that the design of current accounting curricula does not sufficiently expose students to the concepts of globalisation and technology. This study aimed to discover the extent to which existing Australian CAS curriculum models did reflect business needs. Guidance was sought from the literature and from academics' accounts of how they develop the CAS curriculum, and the perceptions of business needs of business professionals, (key knowledgeables and young gun managers), and current students with business experience were explored. The study also considered the match between the CAS curriculum offered at the university where the researcher is employed as a lecturer and business needs, through an exploration of what the cohort of current students with business experience perceived the subject to offer. A mixed-method research strategy of enquiry, using two separate methods of data collection, was used, to better understand the relationship between curricula and business needs. This approach provided numeric trends from the quantitative research and detail from the qualitative research. The study was conducted in three phases: a survey gathered data relevant to the current students with business experience and the young guns, an Internet search for appropriate subject descriptions was made and an analysis was undertaken, and interviews provided rich data as the perceptions of academics, key knowledgeables, young guns and current students with business experience were explored.. Rogers' (2003) adoption-diffusion study influenced the analysis of data gathered from the Internet search for Australian relevant subject descriptions. Academics were classified into adopter categories on the basis of innovativeness of curriculum content, and thus provided a basis for understanding the aims of their CAS curriculum, their perceived importance of business needs to the curriculum, and why a particular software became a feature of the curriculum. The data was analysed thematically and the key findings were drawn from the participants' experiences in business and at university. All participants were aware of the increasingly dominant role of CAS in business but a variety of different opinions and beliefs were presented as to the value of CAS as a part of university curricula. However, the overall view was that the academic's response must prepare students to participate in the business world, by ensuring curriculum content included learning processes, teaching practices and software offerings that would provide appropriate business solutions. The findings showed a number of impediments to future curriculum design that need to be addressed. These include academic inadequacies, pedagogical beliefs and practices related to the place of software applications in curriculum design, the need for different software solutions for different business problems, and cost factors related to the decision to introduce new technologies. Recommendations were made as to appropriate topics to include in future curriculum design. All cohorts agreed that enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions will be the future business software solution of choice to both large and small to medium enterprise (SME) businesses, and a solution was proposed for innovative curriculum design in order to master the complexity of such applications.