Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemCompetency-based training: a study of the meaning of change in vocational education practice( 1998)This is a Doctorate (D. Ed.) thesis on the meaning given to a particular change (the introduction of an 'official' NTB/ANTA version of competency-based training in Australia) in vocational education by some of its practitioners. Its original contribution to the field of vocational education lies in reporting the practitioner view of change. The formal definition of the NTB/ANTA 'official' version CBT and those of its subsidiary components was used as a research tool to measure practitioner response to change. Responses to the change proposal were classified using the typologies of fidelity, mutual adaptation co-option and non-implementation. The work starts by discussing the origins of CBT including the historic and political events, which have shaped this teaching innovation. It then describes how a naturalistic paradigm was used to hear the voices of the practitioner and examine the attitudes and knowledge of the 'official' version of CBT held by those of various status involved in the introduction of this innovation in a number TAFE and industry sites. The study examined three research questions: 1. What meaning is given to the 'official' version of CBT by different stakeholders in different organisations? 2. How do different people at different levels in an educational hierarchy react to the implementation of the 'official' version of CBT, what was important in implementation, and what were the processes? 3. Is there a resulting grounded theory of implementation of current change, and what impact and possible consequences does it have for the implementation of future changes in vocational education? The research reports that the change has not been implemented in the way its promoters would have wished and that the meaning given to the concept of CBT by teachers and trainers has, understandably, led to widely different responses and practices within the fidelity to non-implementation range of typologies. It has been found that what was implemented was of general benefit to students and there were some unintended outcomes, which it is argued, were also valuable. The work concludes with some cautionary advice to initiators and implementers of other innovations in the same field.
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ItemA study of media units of different size and organisation in Victorian tertiary education( 1986)This is a major thesis designed to look at how three media centres in Victorian tertiary education created in recent times by major investment are operating in comparison with three other units which have developed by demand over a period of about ten years or longer. The three units which came about by major investment are: Moorabbin College of T.A.F.E. Box Hill College of T.A.F.E. Collingwood College of T.A.F.E. The three units which have developed by demand are maintained at: The University of Melbourne, Chisholm Institute of Technology, Phillip Institute of Technology. With a number of disparate units in three educational systems (T.A.F.E, C.A.E. and University) it might be argued that they can't be compared. However direct comparison is not the issue. Overall performance and the ability of a particular unit to satisfy its clients and whether it is meeting their particular goals is. It is a comparison of original aims, current goals, the output market being served and the difficulties encountered in servicing that market. This has been done by:- (1) Where possible, looking at the original documents or statements of aims (and perhaps recollections of original staff) . (2) Looking at who was originally serviced and with what were they serviced. (3) Seeing how the management has changed and developed through the years and what have been the major influences? This includes costing staffing and equipment. (4) Examining the impact of educational/educational media theory. (5) Ascertaining how the units coped with the impact of changing technology. (6) Finding what were the original products in range and quality and what are the current products. (7) Finding if the above has changed the goals of the unit and whether these goals are being fulfilled. (8) Discovering if a teaching or other function has developed (and to what level) as well as the production function. (9) Considering what sort of staff have been employed and what was their background. (10) What type of relationships exist between unit staff and institutional clients. The results illustrate the differences between units, how they function, how that function has changed and what these changes suggest the future to be for institutionalised educational media units.