Education Commons^™

Higher Education Access And Participation For Persons With Disability In Ghanaian Public Universities, Mary Afi Mensah

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Globally, there is a growing interest in widening access and supporting participation for persons with disability in higher education. This situation is stimulated in part by major international treaties and protocols. Ghana has demonstrated its commitment to this global trend to formulate and implement national legislation on inclusive education across the country’s educational system. However, in Ghana, access to and participation in the higher education system by persons with disability remains poor despite national legislation and policies to address this issue. It appears that national policies have not fully translated into institutional policies and provisions dedicated to supporting persons with …

English Proficiency Of Vietnamese Business Graduates: Requirements Of Government, Private Universities, And Foreign Employers, Tien Tung Le

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

English is the global language of business, trade, tourism, technology, science and politics. It is also the official language in many foreign companies (Kam, 2002) and proficiency in English is therefore an advantage for acquiring employment in foreign companies where the working environment is multilingual, professional and highly competitive.

As a dynamic developing country in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has attracted substantial foreign investment since the introduction of Doi Moi or the Renovation policy in 1986. Over the last three decades, a number of foreign companies have established themselves in the country, creating numerous employment opportunities for young Vietnamese people, especially …

A Public Health Perspective Of The Higher Education Experiences Of Women Studying Nursing: A Hermeneutic Inquiry Into Commencement And Progression, Lesley Jane Andrew

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

While student retention is a central goal across higher education, the projected shortage in the Australian health workforce has intensified its importance to undergraduate nursing.

Nursing degrees attract a higher proportion of mature-age women students than ever before. More are therefore beginning university at life stage characterised by marriage (or co-habitation) and traditional family structures. Nursing retention strategies require an understanding of the unique university experiences of these women, however, this is missing in the nursing literature. This study is the first to explore the experiences of these women students, doing so from the perspective of Bachelor of Science (Nursing) …

The Online Student Experience: An Exploration Of First-Year University Students’ Expectations, Experiences And Outcomes Of Online Education, Melanie Henry

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Online higher education presents a critical opportunity to extend and diversify the student body. The Online Student Experience (OSE), and online student outcomes, however, remain shrouded in ambiguity. The literature presents conflicting reports of online education (OE) quality, confounded by a lack of appreciation for potential differences between online and on-campus education, and a diversity of interpretations for what constitutes OE. The present research conceptualises OE as representing university courses that require students to interact with instructors and course materials via the internet, with no expectation of attending a university campus. A broad student-centred perspective is notably lacking from the …

Learning To See, Seeing To Learn: The Learning Journey Of Three Pre-Service Teachers In A Video Club Setting, Catherine Moore

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study sought to develop a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of professional growth in pre-service teachers during their final practicum. The research was situated in a primary school and involved three pre-service teachers with widely differing backgrounds who brought differing experiences to the practicum. The study identified personal and contextual variables that affected the pre-service teachers’ professional growth and explored how professional discourse within a learning community of peers, informed by multiple perspectives on teaching practice that were facilitated by video, influenced professional growth.

This qualitative research project used a broad phenomenological approach in that the methods used were …

Motherhood First: An Interpretive Description Of The Experience Of Mature Age Female Students With Dependent Children At One Regional University Campus In Australia, Amanda Draper

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study explored the experience of mature age female students with dependent children at one regional university campus in Western Australia, Edith Cowan University South West (ECUSW). These students are one of many student groups whose experience differs to that of more traditional students such as young, unmarried, and well-supported school-leaver students. Although all students enter university with experiences that make them valuable to the university institution, mature age female students with dependent children enter university with unique knowledge, experiences and attitudes making them potentially valuable contributors to their own and others’ learning (Martins & Anthony, 2007). Whilst at university, …

The Outcomes Of New Teachers Being Reflective, John Whittington Seddon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

New university teachers are typically advancing scholars who have recently commenced academic teaching duties. Referred to as neophytes in this study, these teachers are usually early career academics, postgraduate students or sessional lecturers who begin teaching with little more training than attendance at short professional development courses or seminars. Their teaching and learning theories are generally naive and their practice is often limited. In view of the already substantiated connections that have been found between teachers’ conceptions of teaching (COTs) and their practical approaches to teaching, the COTs held by neophytes are of consequence, as they are usually indicative of …

Infusing Critical Thinking Into An Employability Skills Program: The Effectiveness Of An Immersion Approach, Sophie Kennedy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The demands of the knowledge economy have placed renewed emphasis on graduate employability and the development of higher-order thinking skills. Preparing graduates for the workplace requires new instructional approaches to develop a matrix of interrelated skills. This study investigates an immersion approach to developing employability skills with emphasis on the infusion of critical thinking skills in an undergraduate business degree.

The research is situated within the pragmatic paradigm and comprises a mixed methods approach. Analyses of project instructions, student reflections and test scores are presented in an explanatory case study in three parts: the infusion of critical thinking skills in …

An Evaluation Of The Procedures Used To Assess And Remediate The Perceived Writing Difficulties Of Undergraduate Students In The Faculty Of Education At Edith Cowan University, Les Puhl

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The standards of written literacy of teacher-education students at Edith Cowan University are perceived by many staff to be inadequate. The Faculty of Education's response to this perceived inadequacy is to carry out a mandatory skills-based remedial writing programme for students whose literacy competencies are judged to be deficient, The instrument used to assess the students' literacy competencies is the English Skills Assessment test. The students' performances in the various skills which the test purports to measure, also determine the area in which they are given remedial instruction if the results of the test suggest this is necessary. However, many …