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Researchers in the fields of human computer interaction (HCI) and computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) have increasingly sought to understand the role that mobility takes in shaping people’s actions and interactions via technologies. This thesis contributes to this endeavour by exploring the mobile practices and technology use of a type of mobile worker little considered within the literature: film and television freelancers. The thesis expands current understandings of mobile people and their practices by examining the freelancers’: • mobile practices in terms of physical, social and temporal dimensions; • technology use, both mobile and fixed; and • cross-contextual work and social practices. The thesis’s findings can assist technology designers in developing devices and applications that support the practices of mobile people. Findings are provided from three studies of practice: a set of interviews; observation of the making of a television advertisement; and self-reporting kits with post-interviews. The analysis reveals insights into practical strategies used by freelancers to manage unpredictability in their lives. The research demonstrates the ways in which freelancers rely on stable social bases, rather than remote offices, to manage patterns of short- and long-term movements over time. The thesis argues that understanding the interplay of stability and change that shapes the technology use of mobile people is central to developing technologies to support their practices. This contrasts with a predominant focus, particularly within the mobile HCI literature, on mobility in terms of short-term travel and micro-interaction. The research makes three key contributions to existing knowledge and understandings of mobile practices and technology use to inform design. Firstly, the thesis documents the practices and technology use of film and television freelancers. Secondly, it presents a set of conceptual tools to assist designers and researchers in ‘thinking through’ the ways in which people experience and manage their mobility in practice. The conceptual tools encapsulate the temporary durations of the freelancers’ involvements in and across social situations and the key uses of their technologies to manage these involvements. Thirdly, the thesis provides practical design insights in the form of design implications, personas and research design details of the self reporting kit study. Together these contributions provide grounded insights into ways of designing technologies to enhance people’s management of their mobility in practice.

The purpose of this study is to examine how technology is being used by faculty members at Ohio University and whether the use of technology is in accordance with the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. The total number of possible participants for the study is 627 Group 1 tenure-track faculty members of Ohio University (Athens Campus). Data collection for the study was in two stages. In the first stage, thirty-eight questions from the “Flashlight Faculty Inventory” were selected and mailed to faculty members. Two hundred forty seven (247) faculty members participated in the study, yielding a 39.4 percent response rate. The second stage was a series of interviews with randomly selected individual faculty members who consent to be interviewed on the changing roles of faculty in academics. Data analysis involved both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The findings of this study indicate that faculty members at Ohio University use teaching and learning strategies that are in accordance with the “Seven Principles”. Majority of faculty members at Ohio University consider teaching and learning strategies that encourage active learning as highest/high priority. The technologies used by faculty to support teaching and learning strategies are mainly Word Processor, the Internet and PowerPoint. The study noted that the majority of faculty assessed themselves as “expert” in using word processing and the Internet (e.g., sending emails, searching for information). The study concluded that it is important that faculty members be exposed to other technologies to better model what is expected of them, or they are likely to maintain old patterns of using only “what they know best”.

The problem of this study was to determine the degree and level of research activity in the College of Education at North Texas State University through an examination of the doctoral dissertations produced by its graduates. The study had three basic purposes. One purpose was to analyze the dissertations in terms of types of study, focus of each study, subject headings of each study, design characteristics, statistical treatment of data, general results of experimental studies and data collection techniques. The second purpose was to synthesize the data of the present study with that obtained by Novak in her study, in order to provide an overall description of the characteristics of dissertation research in the College of Education from 1953 through 1986. The third purpose was to examine the research activity taking place in the College of Education in terms of the quality of dissertations produced by its graduates. Seven hundred and ninety-five dissertations were the sources of data for this study. The format developed and validated by Novak in her study of dissertation research from 1953 through 1974 was used in the analysis of the dissertations completed from 1975 through 1986. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn. The format developed by Novak in 1975 can be used to analyze dissertations completed during the years from 1975 through 1986. The degree and level of research activity in the College of Education can be assessed through an analysis of the dissertations produced by its graduates. Doctoral candidates are using statistical methods and computers to analyze and manipulate data more often. There is an indication that doctoral candidates are beginning to use a wider variety of data-gathering techniques. Four recommendations are drawn from the study.

This study was designed to investigate primary school teachers' views of mathematics teaching and learning, and to examine the implications of these views for professional development.