This paper reports a qualitative evaluation study conducted to explore the perceptions of students who joined the Tier 1 Program of the Project P.A.T.H.S. A total of 92 students were randomly selected to participate in 10 focus groups, which provided qualitative data for the study. With specific focus on how the informants described the program, the descriptors used were primarily positive; the...

This paper details the evaluation of human modelling software, which provides visual access to dynamic biomechanical data on older adult mobility to a new audience of professionals and lay people without training in biomechanics. An overview of the process of creating the visualisation software is provided, including a discussion of the benefits over existing approaches. The qualitative evaluat...

This paper reports on strategies 26 Year 3 students used to solve a range of division word problems in a oneto-one interview, following the participation of half of the group in a teaching experiment. The focus here is on the strategies used by case study students to solve equivalent groups and times as many division tasks. Results suggest that young children are capable of solving complex divi...

Universities face increasing numbers of students leading to increasingly large lectures, and decreasing interaction and collaboration, which are important factors for learning success and satisfaction. The use of IT can help overcoming this challenge by increasing the interaction in large-scale lectures without massively increasing the workload of lecturers. In this research-in-progress paper, ...

This paper presents the results of a qualitative study conducted by midwife researchers into women's experience of new motherhood. Data were collected using focus groups involving 55 first-time mothers and analysed using grounded theory method. The analysis produced six categories: 'realizing', 'unready', 'drained', 'aloneness', 'loss' and 'working it out'. The core category, 'becoming a mother...

Success in college is not simply a matter of students demonstrating academic ability. In addition, students must master the ‘‘college student’’ role in order to understand instructors’ expectations and apply their academic skills effectively to those expectations. This article uses data from focus groups to examine the fit between university faculty members’ expectations and students’ understan...

In this technical report we summarise the spatio-temporal features and present the core operators of Focus specification framework. We present the general idea of these operators, using a Steam Boiler System example to illustrate how the specification framework can be applied. Focuswas inspired by Focus [11], a framework for formal specification and development of interactive systems. In contra...

Background Detailed descriptions of implementation strategies are lacking, and there is a corresponding dearth of information regarding methods employed in implementation strategy development. This paper describes methods and findings related to the alpha testing of eLearning modules developed as part of the Housing First Technical Assistance and Training (HFTAT) program's development. Alpha te...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically examine how social augmented parameters impact on the effective adoption of Information and communication technology (ICT) by small scale agribusinesses operating in Southeast Nigeria. The relevance of incorporating social imperatives in scholarship focused on technology adoption is due to its role in sustaining the process of adoption and diff...

In face-to-face conversation, participants often give the floor, or the voice, to nonpresent participants – virtual participants. These are made present in the conversation by actual speakers quoting them, voicing them or referring to their opinions. In this paper, we examine instances of such virtual talk. Data are drawn from focus group discussions and public meetings about genetically modifi...