Education Commons^™

A Grounded Theory Of Individualized Learning Practices In New Jersey Higher Education, Dennis William Devery

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to develop a theory, grounded in data provided by faculty, administrators, and institutional document analysis, concerning why and how faculty and administrators at three New Jersey higher education institutions use individualized learning practices. Individualized learning practices, as defined in this study, are the actions, activities, and procedures performed by faculty and administrators at the course, program, and institutional levels that assist students as they progress through a higher education institution. The study found a variety of individualized learning practices are utilized by faculty and administrators at the course, program and institutional levels …

Technical Communication As Teaching: A Grounded Theory Study Of Cognitive Empathy And Audience Engagement Among Computer Science Majors In A Technical Communication Classroom, Robert Michael Rowan

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a grounded theory study of empathy, ethical awareness, and audience engagement activities in students in a technical writing service course. The course was designed around an empathy-oriented approach to teaching technical writing and writing research. The students are primarily computer science majors, and the teaching methods include a genre and writing research approach as well as the use of an extended metaphor of technical communication as a form of teaching. Findings indicate that students respond to the metaphor by drawing upon positive and empathetically-informed models of teachers and teaching to guide how they would work with and …

The Storm Still Echoes: Suspense And Ambivalence As A Way Of Life, Shailen Mishra

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three interrelated components that inquire into two themes: the epistemological and aesthetic merit of narrative suspense, and the generative potential of constraint-based writing. In the opening chapter, titled "Doubt in Perpetuity: Rethinking Suspense as a Mode of Aesthetics, and an Epistemological Inquiry," I undertake a theoretical inquiry to prove that suspense can be a rich analytical device to study complex aesthetics of writers. I theorize suspense at its elemental level and from an epistemological standpoint to prove that suspense is not simply a plot-level concept of "what happens next." Instead, by analyzing particular scenes from …

An Extensible Technology Framework For Cyber Security Education, Frank Jordan Sheen

Theses and Dissertations

Cyber security education has evolved over the last decade to include new methods of teaching and technology to prepare students. Instructors in this field of study often deal with a subject matter that has rigid principles, but changing ways of applying those principles. This makes maintaining courses difficult. This case study explored the kind of teaching methods, technology, and means used to explain these concepts. This study shows that generally, cyber security courses require more time to keep up to date. It also evaluates one effort, the NxSecLab, on how it attempted to relieve the administrative issues in teaching these …

Waking Dormant Researchers: Student Co-Research As Writing Research Methodology And Pedagogy, Angela Renee Sheets

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways that students took up writing researcher skills, knowledges, and identities through a teacher-student co-research investigation of writing in an online writing research course. The following questions guided this study:

* How did literate activity occur in an online Composition as Critical Inquiry Course?

* What writing research skills, knowledges, and identities did the students take up and demonstrate as they participated in a co-research project?

The study also examined the efficacy of co-research as a methodology and pedagogy.

Chapter 1 reviews literature from the relevant English studies fields. Central topics include the rationale for writing …

Watch And Learn: A Documentary Exploring The Effects Of Video-Based Pedagogy, Chris Matthew Noel

Theses and Dissertations

This 20 minute film explores the use of hybrid lesson plans, those consisting of traditional in-class teaching and interactive video outside of the classroom. Using six voluntary Graduate Teaching Assistants as participants, the documentary follows the participants as they give their ideologies on teaching, perform either a traditional lesson plan or the hybrid lesson plan, and participate in a focus group to give their opinion on the perceived benefits or drawbacks of having hybrid lesson plans in the classroom.

An Investigation Of The Impact Of A Flipped Classroom Instructional Approach On High School Students' Content Knowledge And Attitudes Toward The Learning Environment, Matthew R. Bell

Theses and Dissertations

The idea of the “flipped classroom” is a relatively new concept in education that has become increasingly popular. Instructors who flip their classrooms reverse the roles of school work and homework by recording video lectures for students to watch before coming to class. Students then work on their homework in the classroom while the instructor is present to help them. Very little research has been done on the effectiveness of the flipped classroom to determine if students can perform better on exams by learning in a flipped classroom environment, especially for high school demographics. The purpose of this research is …

Raising The Standard: An Assessment Of Peer Collaboration As An Enhancer Of Speech Evaluation Fidelity, Terrell Kody Frey

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the state of speech evaluation training in the basic communication course at Illinois State University. Specifically, a new type of pedagogy known as the "peer workshop" is integrated into the course as a potential supplement to the speech evaluation training procedures. Quantitative and qualitative methods reveal how the course has become engrained into the academic expectations of the student body and identify written peer feedback as a necessary focus of future training in the classroom. Specific theoretical and pedagogical implications, as well as limitations and future directions, are discussed in detail.

Exploring Stakeholders' Perceptions Of The Evaluation Of Early Fieldwork Experience In An Undergraduate Teacher Preparation Program, Amber R. Peacock

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a qualitative meta-evaluation of the early field experience (EFE) program at a small, private, undergraduate teacher preparation program in Virginia focusing on the perceptions of preservice teachers, cooperating teachers and course instructors about the EFE evaluation objectives, evaluation experience, and resulting data usage. The EFE evaluation protocol at the study site is explored using a participatory-oriented evaluation model that solicited the perceptions of stakeholders. Analysis of EFE evaluation documents and semi-structured interviews with the stakeholders were conducted to explore the extent to which (1) official EFE objectives are congruent with the EFE evaluation, (2) the intended evaluation …