Education Commons^™

Social Presence As A Predictor Of Social Construction Of Knowledge In Discussion Forums In Asynchronous Online Higher Education Courses, Austin Megli

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

The three research papers completed and compiled to make up this dissertation explore the relationship between social presence and social construction of knowledge in asynchronous online discussion forums in higher education courses in the instructional technology field. Paper 1 is a literature review of the interaction analysis model (IAM) (Gunawardena et al., 1997) as a methodology, which is used to measure and determine the social construction of knowledge in online discussion forums. This literature review identified and highlighted the need to determine how the social environment of online learning influences the social construction of knowledge. This led to the second …

The Development Of Discourse Markers In Narrations Written By Spanish Heritage Language Learners: A Case For Explicit And Implicit Instruction, Mark Cisneros

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

This Dissertation attempted to determine the types and number of discourse markers (DMs) used in narrations written by Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) learners and if they benefitted from the following pedagogical intervention (i.e., Explicit Instruction + Input Flood + Textual Enhancement) regarding the use of DMs. It also calculated the syntactic complexity, morphosyntactic accuracy, and fluency of their narrations. For this study, 39 SHL learners served as participants: 19 in an Experimental group and 20 in a Control group. All participants wrote two narrations of two short, silent films: a pre-test narration and an immediate post-test narration. Before completing the …

Adults Perspectives Of Friendships And Social Interaction Between Students With And Without Complex Support Needs During A Pandemic, Jorden Morales

Special Education ETDs

Social interactions and friendships are important for all individuals including those with complex support needs (CSN). The voices of adults including parents/guardians, primary caregivers, teachers, and related service providers who responded to a survey provided insight into supporting social interactions and friendships for children with CSN during the Covid-19 pandemic This mixed methods study used thematic analysis to explore participants’ responses to open-ended questions while multiple choice questions were analyzed through descriptive statistics. Additionally, this study included a research narrative to speak to the various roles I hold related to this study (i.e., parent, educator, researcher). Three themes emerged from …

Social Network Centrality, Social Construction Of Knowledge, And Nurse Practitioner Competency In Asynchronous Online Discussions Among Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Students, Sharon Schaaf

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

The relationships between social network centrality, social construction of knowledge, and nurse practitioner competency among adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner students participating in asynchronous online discussions were explored. Social network centralities (betweenness, in-degree, out-degree, closeness, and eigenvector) were determined through social network analysis. Social construction of knowledge was assessed by the Interaction Analysis Model (IAM). Nurse practitioner competency was evaluated using the Novice to Expert model. A retrospective exploration of an online discussion board from the College of Nursing at the University of New Mexico was conducted. The centralities of betweenness, closeness, and eigenvector demonstrated a significant relationship with …

Analyzing Social Construction Of Knowledge And Social Networks In Online Discussion Forums In Spanish, David R. Gomez

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

This mixed methods research project examined social construction of knowledge and social networks in three non-structured student centered online discussion forums, which were part of a graduate online course on web conferencing in Spanish within the Mexican sociocultural context. The purpose of the study was to identify interaction patterns among twenty-one graduate students by analyzing discussion forum posts, measuring student centrality, and generating social network diagrams in order to explain the characteristics of posts and social networks that may contribute to social construction of knowledge.

The researcher used a sequential approach, starting with the application of an interaction analysis model …

The Influence Of Student Characteristics On The Preferred Ways Of Learning Of Online College Students: An Examination Of Cultural Constructs, Linda Barril

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

The ongoing popularity and increased availability of online college courses and programs has attracted a greater diversity of students. Along with continued female-majority enrollment, increasing numbers of students of traditional college age and students from a variety of ethnicity groups are taking online courses. The prevailing guiding assumptions that have informed much of the online pedagogical and instructional practices have primarily come from theories of adult learning, particularly andragogy, which has been heavily criticized for not acknowledging student diversity. As online education becomes ever more established in higher education, it is vital to examine the diversity of contemporary student populations …

The Relationship Between Online Students' Use Of Services And Their Feelings Of Mattering, Tracy L. Hart

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this single case study was to examine the relationship between online students’ use of support services and their feelings of mattering using a convergent parallel research design to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Students enrolled exclusively in online classes during the academic year 2015-2016 at the University of New Mexico (UNM) were invited to participate. The survey was based on the theoretical and conceptual frameworks for comprehensive services and mattering theory. Responses provided descriptive statistics and correlation analysis with stories that added to the description of students’ service experiences.

Service-to-service correlations showed correlation strength of moderate, strong, …

An Alternative Pathway To College: A Qualitative Case Study Of An Adult Learner In An Online Competency-Based Education (Cbe) Bachelor’S Degree Program, Fang Chen

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

My dissertation research investigated an adult learner’s experience in an online competency-based education (CBE) bachelor’s degree program. The purpose of my study was to understand how CBE was transforming the practices of traditional post-secondary education and how CBE was serving the needs of students, particularly nontraditional adult students in higher education.

The methodology used in this dissertation research was a qualitative case study. The participant was an adult learner enrolled in an online CBE bachelor's degree program at a public institution. My case study used a series of face-to-face interviews, document analysis, participant-guided web tours, and participant observation to collect …

How Do Faculty At The University Of New Mexico Use Humor In Online Teaching, John T. Granato

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Humor is a ubiquitous experience that facilitates learning, social coordination and wellbeing. This study examined how the faculty at the University of New Mexico used humor in its online courses. The process involved faculty interviews, a focus group of instructional online designers, questionnaires and documentation to collect data, and then used thematic analysis and code development to arrive at its findings. The study found that the humor pedagogy at the University of New Mexico has fallen into disuse for online courses because of (1) a hesitation (fear) to use humor, (2) fear of what students would think, and (3), hesitation …