Education Commons^™

Critical Thinking And Analyzing Assumptions In Instructional Technology, Bruce William Gabbitas

Theses and Dissertations

In the field of instructional technology critical thinking is valued both as a practice for those in the field and as a skill or habit to teach and measure. However, traditional conceptions of critical thinking are limited in their usefulness and restricted to particular kinds of thinking and reasoning. Conceptions of critical thinking in instructional technology are dominated by these traditional perspectives. Missing is a substantive dialogue on the nature of critical thinking. despite the fact that such dialogue is a part of critical thinking scholarship outside of instructional technology. One of the primary limitations of traditional critical thinking is …

Evaluation Use And Influence Among Project Directors Of State Gear Up Grants, Erin Mehalic Burr

Doctoral Dissertations

Evaluation use is a major goal of program evaluators, because it can lead to program improvement and sustainability. This dissertation adds to the literature on ―Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs‖ (GEAR UP) grant evaluation use by assessing (1) the extent to which project directors of state grants use evaluation results (i.e., instrumental use, conceptual use, persuasive use, and/or process use), (2) the extent to which the evaluations of the state GEAR UP grant programs have had an influence at the individual, interpersonal, and collective levels, and (3) what factors have an impact on the use of those …

Life Lived Well: A Narrative Analysis Of One Woman‟S Wellness Across The Life Span, Whitney Locke Jarnagin

Doctoral Dissertations

The Indivisible Self (Myers & Sweeney, 2004; Myers & Sweeney, 2005a) model of wellness was proposed in the counseling literature to serve as a framework for enhancing wellness across the life span. Numerous researchers conducted a variety of investigations related to this model; however, gaps in the literature still exist. The aim of the current study was to add to the body of existing literature by investigating one woman‟s wellness across the life span utilizing qualitative methods. The senior adult participant provided a narrative of her life in the form of an oral history. This narrative was then analyzed through …

The Relation Among Sleep, Routines, And Behavior In Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jill Angelique Henderson

Dissertations

Children with an ASD have a propensity for routines and reportedly have a greater incidence of sleep disturbance and externalizing behaviors than typical children. In addition, significant relations have been identified among routines, sleep behavior, and externalizing behavior in a community sample of children, suggesting that a lack of routines maybe related to sleep disturbance and externalizing behaviors. However, to date, no known studies have thoroughly examined the relation between these variables in children with an ASD. The primary purpose of the present investigation was to examine relations among routines, sleep, and behavior in children with an ASD. Primary caregivers …

Effects Of Spritual Well-Being, Religious Coping, And Hardiness On Parenting Behaviors In Low Socioeconomic Status Families, Jane Elizabeth Schenck Varner

Dissertations

Children from low socioeconomic status families are at risk for poor academic, emotional, and behavioral outcomes (Owens & Shaw, 2003). Multiple variables have been associated with resiliency in such families (Walsh, 2003). Spiritual and religious constructs have demonstrated positive effects on quality of life (Perrone, Webb, Wright, Jackson, & Ksiazak, 2006), emotional well-being (Davis, Kerr, & Kurpius, 2003; Calicchia & Graham, 2006), and positive health outcomes (Edmondson et al., 2005) in various populations. Previous research has not examined the relationship between spiritual and religious variables and resiliency, nor has previous research considered how the religious, spiritual, and resiliency variables affect …

Selecting Effective Mathematics Interventions In The Rti Process Via Brief Experimental Analyses, Carmen Daniela Reisener

Dissertations

The treatment utility of brief experimental analyses (BEAs) for identifying effective treatments for individual students experiencing mathematics difficulties is a novel area of research; especially in a Response-to-intervention (Rtl) framework. One fourth and three sixth grade students served as participants in the current study. The effects of a variety of evidence-based mathematics computation fluency interventions were examined in a BEA format. Effective treatments identified from the BEA for each participant were alternated during an extended analysis. The results of the current investigation indicated variability within and across participants in response to a variety of evidence-based interventions. Visual analysis of the …

Matching Time Of Day And Preference For Adolescent Achievement, Leisha Moree Parker

Dissertations

Research shows that adolescents enter a circadian-phase delay as they approach and enter high school. On or about age 14, teens become less of a morning learner due to biological factors. Researchers have determined consequences to the adolescent's circadian shift as related to learning; therefore, morning time may have a negative influence on the cognitive functioning of teens resulting in lower test scores. This study was an attempt to determine if time of day, gender, and learning preference using the Morningness/Eveningness Scale for Children (MESC) as proposed by Carskadon, Vieira, and Acebo (1993) would result in a statistical difference in …

Do Measures Of Emotional Intelligence Predict Social Acceptability?, Sunny Marie Windingstad

Doctoral Dissertations

The concurrent and predictive utility of three measures of Emotional Intelligence (EI) were determined by administering the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test: Youth Version (MSCEIT:YV; Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, in press), the Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version ( EQ-i:YV; Bar-On, 2000), the Emotional Aptitude teacher rating scale of the UNIT: Gifted Screening Scale (UNIT: GSS; McCallum & Bracken, in press) and a sociometric measure to 102 third, fourth, and fifth grade students in two rural elementary schools in the Southeastern United States and one elementary school in the North Central United States. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients of scales across instruments ranged …

The Effects Of Differential Negative Reinforcement Of Task Engagement On Escape From Academic Tasks, Brett Vivian Mehrtens Prince

Dissertations

The effects of differential negative reinforcement of alternative behavior (DNRA) were examined on the escape behavior of four 1st and 2nd grade general education students. The alternative behavior that was negatively reinforced was task engagement during reading or math periods. The DNRA treatment was evaluated for its effects on task engagement in either a DNRA with access to a preferred activity condition or a DNRA without access to a preferred activity condition. In the preferred activity condition, the participants were allowed to engage in a high preferred activity when they had been engaged with an academic task for a certain …

The Design And Development Of A Statistics Performance Support System: An Application Of Behavioral Modeling And Case Based Reasoning, Isaku Tateishi

Theses and Dissertations

The following report is a description of the design, development, and evaluation of an online statistics performance support system. The target audience for the support system is students of Instructional Psychology and Technology (IP&T), especially those who have taken the IP&T 550 "Empirical Inquiry and Statistics" course. The product is designed to be used as a supplemental reference tool. The main purpose of the online performance support system is to help IP&T students select appropriate statistical procedures for their research and learn how to perform the necessary calculations using a statistics analysis software package called SPSS. This report summarizes the …

It Is Not Good That Man Should Be Alone: What Adam And Eve Can Teach Us About Relationships In Learning Communities, Julene Bassett

Theses and Dissertations

Human existence (or be-ing) is profoundly relational. Yet educational environments often assume that learning happens individually. Though many educators are trying to rectify this problem by introducing community into the learning process, these efforts are too often simply overlaid onto a system that works through competition and rewards individual achievement. Therefore, an alternative perspective for who we are as humans and how we should be together is needed. In this dissertation, I examine what it means to be fundamentally related and show how such an understanding might impact learning. We often think of “community” as a place, but I also …

Planning Their First Language Lesson: Applying Constructivist Values To The Design Of Objective Training For Part-Time Teachers At The Missionary Training Center, Chandler Scott Rudd

Theses and Dissertations

The newly hired teachers at the Missionary Training Center are expected to learn to teach foreign language well enough to prepare students to communicate functionally in that language within 2-3 months. These teachers have very little to no language teaching experience and must tend to the responsibilities of this part-time job while juggling the demands of full-time school work and social lives. This report details the design and development of a prototype training program aimed to initiate young teachers into the culture of methods and tools employed at the MTC by walking them through the process of planning their first …

The Presence Of Tranquil Sounds In Relation To Augmented Focus And Concentration, Jennifer L. West

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the presence of tranquil sounds created augmented focus and concentration among undergraduate college students, who prefer silent learning environments. Participants were randomly selected from an undergraduate pool of students from a northeastern college in the United States. Student's focus and concentration was assessed using the Personal Emotion Survey and Personal Habits Survey. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the scores of those who prefer silent or prefer sounds in the environment to their scores on the Personal Emotional Survey. As we have found from past studies, music plays an important …

Exploring The Complexities Of Learning Motivation In Pre-Service Teacher Education Students: A Grounded Theory Approach, Kristin K. Grosskopf

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative, grounded-theory study investigated learning motivation differences among three achievement groupings of undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Education and Human Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Nine students participated in in-depth interviews that explored their reasons for pursuing their degree, their learning experiences in a university setting, their perceptions about meaningful learning experiences, and the nature of factors that both enhance and challenge their learning motivation. Participant responses conveyed strategies and conditions that were coded and analyzed, and a theoretical model was developed describing causal conditions that underlie students’ motivation to learn, phenomena that arose from those …

The Influence Of The Family Context And Intervention Implementation Integrity On Child Behavior During Conjoint Behavioral Consultation, Michelle Swanger-Gagne

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of the study was to determine the role of family context variables (i.e., parenting stress and positive parenting practices) as possible moderators and mediators of the relationship between conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) and change in child problem behavior in the home setting. Another aim of the study was to evaluate the mediator roles of two dimensions of intervention implementation integrity (i.e., adherence to interventions and full engagement in the plan implementation phase) on parenting stress and change in child problem behavior for families involved in CBC. Participants were 203 parents, 81 teachers (81 classrooms), and 203 children who …

The Open High School Of Utah: Openness, Disaggregation, And The Future Of Schools, David Wiley

Faculty Publications

While the charter movement has a rich history in Utah, virtual charters are a recent development. In 2007, a founding board consisting of faculty, staff, and graduate students in Utah State University's Center for Open and Sustainable Learning prepared and submitted an application to create the state's second virtual charter, called the Open High School of Utah (OHSU). OHSU opens its virtual doors to ninth graders in the fall of 2009. While students are not yet through the virtual doors, OHSU still provides a glimpse at the ways in which openness, disaggregation, and the Internet will shape the future of …

Supporting Induction Teachers' Development Using Performance-Based Video Evidence, Peter Rich, Richard E. West, Michael Hannafin, Arthur Recesso, Craig Shepherd

Faculty Publications

This formative research study was designed to inform the development of the Teacher Success Model (TSM), an initiative to develop a systematic, evidence-informed model for teacher assessment. While the overall initiative includes all teachers, support professionals, and evaluators, this study focused on induction teachers and their mentors/administrators. Participants were shown sample digital videos corresponding to seven pre-selected TSM attributes, and were asked to identify, annotate, and rate instances where specific attributes were evident. Overall, our findings indicated that participants could identify examples of key teaching attributes in the videos and that group reflection and discussion enabled many to refine their …

Optimising The Use Of Note-Taking As An External Cognitive Aid For Increasing Learning, Tamas Makany, Jonathan Kemp, Itiel E. Dror

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Taking notes is of uttermost importance in academic and commercial use and success. Different techniques for note-taking utilise different cognitive processes and strategies. This experimental study examined ways to enhance cognitive performance via different note-taking techniques. By comparing performances of traditional, linear style note-taking with alternative non-linear technique, we aimed to examine the efficiency and importance of different ways of taking notes. Twenty-six volunteer adult learners from an information management course participated in this study. Cognitive performance scores from a traditional linear note-taking group were compared with another group by using a commercially available non-linear note-taking technique. Both groups were …

Test Anxiety And Other Factors As Predictors Of Outcome For An Undergraduate University's Examination Of Writing Competency, Carrie D. Smith

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Testing in American schools has increased dramatically in recent years (Cizek & Burg, 2006), increasing the need for research in test anxiety (TA). Writing apprehension, a subcategory of TA, may be of particular concern among students at all levels of education given the recent addition of writing assessments on the SAT and GRE tests.

Very few recent studies have examined demographic correlates of TA and the demographics of students in higher education have been changing for some time. These changes include an increase in all categories of nontraditional students. Nontraditional students, by definition, face a particular set of challenges in …

Toward Creating Computer-Based Math Learning Favoring High-School Females, Yanghee Kim

Yanghee Kim

Research indicates that teenage females prefer to work and perform better at the learning environment that supports frequent interactions and allows them to build relationships with others. This paper will introduce a computer-based algebra-learning environment MathGirls equipped with pedagogical agents (digital life-like characters) that simulate real-world social interactions and relations. The goal of MathGirls is to help young women of high-school age build positive attitudes toward and self-efficacy in math learning through this simulated social context. To investigate the efficacy of MathGirls, a classroom experiment was conducted with 83 high-school females. The experiment examined the effects of agent attributes (female …

Facilitating Communication In A Developmentally Delayed Child, Ryan Finlay

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was an attempt to facilitate the communicative capabilities of a developmentally delayed child. Specifically, the target goal was to have the student mand (request) the word "juice." Aspects of four intervention techniques were implemented. The four techniques included; Easy Does it for Articulation : An Oral Motor Approach, Total Communication (TC), Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), and Verbal Behavior Analysis (VBA). The participant was a 7 year old developmentally delayed female student at a small school for special services in southern New Jersey. The study was conducted in five phases. Data was collected during the …

A World Without Adolescents, David Moshman

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Review of 1) Robert Epstein, The case against adolescence: Rediscovering the adult in every teen (Quill Driver Books, 2007), and 2) Roger J. R. Levesque, Adolescents, media, and the law: What developmental science reveals and free speech requires (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Robert Epstein believes American teens are in chaos. They drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, abuse a variety of other drugs, have eating disorders, contract sexual diseases, and get pregnant. They carry weapons, join gangs, and commit all manner of crimes. They partake of a mindless peer culture. They are angry, violent, depressed, and suicidal. Not all of them, of …

Peer Victimization, Student Engagement, And School Attendance: Structural Equation Models, Jason Benjamin Dunkle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Survey data from a study of 6^th grade students in Colorado (n=860) were used to estimate structural equation models in which peer victimization types were hypothesized to have significant relationships with both student engagement and attendance. Then, student engagement and attendance variables were hypothesized to have significant effects on achievement (measured as grade point average). Student engagement was viewed as a multi-faceted construct, composed of behavioral, cognitive, and emotional aspects. Four different types of peer victimization variables (verbal, physical, exclusion, and intensity) were combined to form a latent measure for peer victimization that was expected to predict …

Career Decision Making For Male Students With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Model Of Critical Factors Aiding In Transitional Efforts, Gregory B. Gray

Dissertations

This study is intended to reveal helpful information that will guide high school practitioners in serving students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) more effectively. ADHD is neurological in origin, making it invisible. This disorder makes people susceptible to distractibility, impulsivity, disorganization, frustration, anxiety, and moodiness (Janus, 1999). Fifteen percent or more of the U.S. population has ADHD. These individuals, who often are viewed by career counselors, teachers, and employers as frustrating or difficult, are uniquely vulnerable in high school and beyond. Because individuals with ADHD have invisible handicaps, their academic performance and social behaviors can be interpreted incorrectly. Thus, …

Curriculum-Based Measures In Writing: A School-Based Evaluation Of Predictive Validity, Christina M. Terenzi

Dissertations

Recent research in the area of Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM) in writing has shown that traditionally used metrics, such as total words written and total words correct, may not be the best tools for measuring writing performance, for both secondary and elementary aged children (e.g., Gansle, Noell, VanDerHeyden, Naquin, & Slider, 2002; Tindal & Parker, 1989a; Watkinson & Lee, 1992). Evidence suggests that more advanced measures, such as production-independent measures (e.g., percentage of correct word sequences) may be stronger predictors of student skill level in the area of writing. The present study replicated portions of a recent seminal study and investigated …

The Development And Application Of A Checklist For Evaluating E-Learning In Organizations, Anne-Marie Guidy-Oulai

Dissertations

In the last two decades, organizations have increasingly used computer-based instruction as a method to deliver training to employees and instruction to students. The e-learning market reached $50 billion in 2005 and is expected to double by 2010. A number of different evaluation models can and have been used to measure effectiveness and worth of programs. However, the literature indicates the evaluation of e-learning may need to develop new models for evaluation.

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework to enhance the process of elearning evaluation in organizations. The E-Learning Evaluation Checklist (ELEC)— which was developed and …

Psychologism And American Instructional Technology, David Wiley, Bekir Gur

Faculty Publications

Note: This is not the final draft of the article. The centrality of psychology in the field of instructional technology has never been comprehensively questioned; most instructional technologists have assumed that (behaviorist, cognitivist, constructivist, or another) psychology is the natural foundation for education and thus for instructional technology. The driving question of this article is: What are the problems of psychologism as found in the theories and practices of instructional technology? We present a brief genealogy of American instructional technology in relation to the influence of psychology; review critical psychology and discuss some problems of psychologism focusing on positivism, metaphysics, …

What Is Shared? A Framework For Understanding Shared Innovation Within Communities, Richard E. West

Faculty Publications

The 21st century economy often requires the innovative production of conceptual and physical artifacts. These innovations frequently are developed collaboratively within communities of workers. Previous theories about the nature of work and learning within communities have emphasized shared meaning or shared practice, but now shared innovation is required. In this paper, I describe the development of a model for conceptualizing and studying shared innovation within communities. This model was created from merging elements of social learning and creativity/innovation theories. I explain that at an intersection of these two domains is a unique kind of social structure, called a Community of …

Patterns Of User Activity In The Different Features Of The Blackboard Cms Across All Courses For An Academic Year At Brigham Young University, Michael E. Griffiths, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

In the past decade, course management systems (CMS) have become an integral part of most institutions of higher education. While there has been a significant amount of research looking at CMS usage at the course level, there has been less research looking at the institution-wide CMS usage from a CMS activity database perspective. This article shares findings from a study which analyzes over 36 million student and instructor clicks within the Blackboard CMS across the entire campus of Brigham Young University (BYU) during one full academic year. This research reports overall levels of user activity across campus, patterns of user …

Implementing A Mastery Model Through Self Quizzing In An Online Learning Environment, Amy E. Scrima

Dissertations

Mastery learning has an extensive and long-standing research base as an efficacious instructional methodology. The use of mastery learning with current technological advances, however, is a new endeavor. The current study evaluated the effects of adding a mastery learning component to an introductory college course by using an online course management system to facilitate frequent, self-given, chapter review quizzes. Thirty-two first- and second-year college students of similar demographic makeup at a midsize community college were the participants for this study. An alternating treatment design was used to assign students to mastery and nonmastery conditions in two sections of an introductory …