Education Commons^™

Journalism Through Learning Design, Geoff Decker

Capstones

Abstract

At its core, journalism is a civic enterprise with a mission to help citizens better understand their world and communities. Fulfilling this lofty mission in today’s digital media landscape poses new and evolving challenges, but it also presents a unique opportunity to reexamine the relationship between storytellers and their audiences. Advancements in the learning sciences in recent decades offer important insights into how the mind works. In teaching and learning, pedagogical experts and practitioners increasingly utilize these insights to refine and implement instructional strategies that increase student engagement, motivation, and learning. This capstone project aims to establish a framework …

Enhancing Emotional Regulation In First Graders, Clarissa Miller

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Emotional regulation is the ability to have control over one’s emotions; and typically develops in early childhood. Once children reach school age, they tend to be able to manage their emotions. When children are not able to regulate their emotions, they may have poorer social skills, and have challenges when learning in school. To help children further their emotional regulation skills, I have created a three-day lesson for a first grader class at Robert H. Down Elementary School in Pacific Grove, California.

Reading Robot, Gillian Watts, Andrew Myers, Sabrinna Tan, Taylor Klein, Omeed Djassemi

General Engineering

Presently, there is an insufficient availability of human experts to assist students in reading competency and comprehension. Our team’s goal was to create an improved socially assistive robot for use by therapists, teachers, and parents to help children and adults develop reading skills while they do not have access to specialists. HAPI is a socially assistive robot that we created with the goal of helping students practice their reading comprehension skills. HAPI enables a student to improve their reading skills without an educator present, while enabling educators to review the student's performance remotely. Design constraints included: physical size, weight, duration …

An Exploration Of Leadership Qualities Demonstrated During Level Ii Fieldwork, Amy Maurer, Summer Besteman, Jessica Mooney, Katelyn Campbell

Education

Background. Occupational therapy (OT) students are expected to demonstrate leadership qualities throughout their Level II Fieldwork experiences; however, it has been reported that students lack this quality. The purpose of this project was to identify the leadership characteristics that master’s-level OT students demonstrate and develop during their Level II Fieldwork experiences.

Method. This study utilized an online survey tool, Qualtrics, to understand the perceptions of Fieldwork Educators (FWEds) who have taken a Level II Fieldwork student within the past five years. A code-recode procedure was used to analyze open-ended questions. The frequency and mode of responses were used to report …

The Classroom Environment: Effects On Learning, Motivation, And Behavior, Angela Pierotti

Master of Education Program Theses

This research study examined the effects of flexible seating on student learning, motivation, and behavior. Two classes of fifth graders participated in the study, so that there was an experimental group and a control group. Each group consisted of 23 fifth graders. The experimental group had flexible seating in their classroom for a period of three weeks. The options included bean bag chairs, floor cushions, exercise balls, and patio chairs with cushions. The control group had desks and chairs for their seating. Both groups took pre- and post-tests to determine student knowledge in the areas of reading and math. The …

Student-Centered, Interaction-Based, Community-Driven Language Teaching, Sharon Lyman

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation that highlights some of the author’s accomplished work while in the Master of Second Language Teaching (MSLT) program at Utah State University (USU). Organized into sections that reflect the author’s teaching and research perspectives as a MSLT graduate student and instructor, who taught intensive English reading, writing, and conversation courses for the Intensive English Language Institute (IELI).

In the first section, teaching perspectives, the author describes her desired professional environment, shares her personal teaching philosophy statement, and accounts for her professional development through classroom observations. In the second section, research perspectives, two research papers and …

Digital Learning Environment Development: Action Research Using A Situated Coaching Model With Elementary Classroom Teachers Integrating Technology, Robert Burggraaf

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the impact of a situated coaching model for participating teachers at an elementary school. This study focused on three research questions: (1) how do participants experience a situated coaching model for technology professional development? (2) how does a situated coaching model affect participants’ digital learning environment scores? and (3) how does a situated coaching model impact participants’ perception of barriers to implementing a digital learning environment?

This study situated a coach in an elementary school to work with four teachers over a six-week period in modeling, co-planning, co-teaching, and observing classroom …

Instructor Beliefs Related To Technology Use After Professional Development, Bethany Ann Croton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Faculty in higher education often see themselves as researchers and identify less as instructors. The problem is that nearly every profession has embraced technology in new ways, except in the world of education and students need 21st-century skills to be competitive in the workforce. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore instructors' lived experiences and beliefs regarding teaching and technology integration before, during, and after completion of a professional development program at a Midwestern Tier 1 research institute. The study was framed by Rogers's diffusion of innovation theory and the sustainability education academic development framework. The research …

Me, Myself, And I: The Impact Of Metacognitive Strategies On Student Locus Of Control And Critical Thinking Skills, Danielle Kuchler

All Master's Theses

We live in an era when a college degree is essentially required for entry into good-paying careers, and yet achievement of a college degree is unacceptably low. Only 60% of students who enroll go on to graduate from 4-year colleges and universities in 6 years or fewer (National Center for Higher Education 2018). Why is this happening? What are the long-term intellectual and economic implications of ill-prepared students? We must ask ourselves if students are really prepared with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to be successful in college and whether those attributes are developed while in college. Two of the …

El Uso De Canciones En Inglés Como Recurso Didáctico Para Facilitar El Aprendizaje De La Habilidad De Comprensión Oral En Los Estudiantes De Cuarto Grado De La Institución Educativa Distrital Jóse Felíx Restrepo, Liyin Lesson Cordoba Chala, Diego Andres Rocha Lara, Sandra Milena Vanegas Guardo

Maestría en Didáctica de las Lenguas

La presente investigación se planteó como objetivo formular una propuesta de intervención pedagógica que, mediante el uso de canciones como recurso didáctico, facilitara el aprendizaje de la habilidad de comprensión oral en inglés en estudiantes de grado cuarto del colegio José Félix Restrepo. Este objetivo implicó la adopción de un enfoque mixto, mediante un método de investigación exploratorio que involucró el desarrollo del diseño instruccional ADDIE (análisis, diseño, desarrollo, implementación y evaluación). Dichas fases contribuyeron a la consolidación de la propuesta y a la recolección de información durante su implementación, la cual se realizó a partir de una prueba diagnóstica, …

An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Of Teachers' Perspectives Of Differentiated Instruction In K-3 Inclusion Classrooms, Julie Franklin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have addressed teachers' perspectives of differentiated instruction or teachers' perspectives on inclusion classrooms, but there was limited research on the combined topics of teachers' perspectives of differentiated instruction in inclusion classrooms. This interpretative phenomenological analysis used one to one interviews and reflective journals to explore nine teachers' perspectives of differentiated instruction in K-3 inclusion classrooms. The study's conceptual framework was comprised of Vygotsky's social constructivist theory and Piaget's theory of cognitive development. The research question and sub-questions asked about the challenges and successes teachers encountered in planning and implementing differentiated instruction in K-3 inclusion classrooms, and what teachers believed …

The Impact Of Technology Enhanced Learning On Pedagogy: A Case Study, Seth James Ismil

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the growing trend of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) tools being integrated into pedagogy, there have been challenges preventing the transformation of pedagogy. This has included limited research on understanding why the increase in TEL integration has not resulted in movement from replacing to transforming pedagogy. The purpose of this qualitative explanatory single case study was to determine why teachers integrating TEL tools and applications have not done so in a way that transforms how teaching and learning occur. The conceptual framework of replacement, amplification, and transformation was used to examine levels of integration in this study. Participants were seven teachers …

Minority Student Growth And Development In A Rural 4-Year College, Aisha Hall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At a Mid-Atlantic, 4-year, rural, higher education institution, the minority student population, 25%, is growing compared to the 9% of minority faculty representation. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of minority faculty and students regarding student learning associated with minority students’ relationships to minority faculty. Critical race theory was used as part of the conceptual framework which provides a narrative on the perspectives of race and dispels myths, racial beliefs, and misrepresentations of the truth. Social learning theory was also used as part of the conceptual framework because it explains how social influences impact the beliefs …

College Student Confidence In Career Readiness Competencies, April Pickett

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

There is an expectation of college students to transition to their post college workplace with the necessary competencies to be successful. This study sought to explore college students’ perspective on their confidence in career readiness competencies and the experiences and activities in and out of the classroom that they feel contribute to their career readiness. Current college students may provide perspectives that illuminate how to design and develop student activities and events for workplace preparedness; therefore, an exploration into student experiences with university curricula, programs, and student services may give some insight to the learning environments that facilitate opportunities to …

Professional Learning Communities In An Elementary School: Teacher Perceptions, Implementation, And Impacts, Michael Garvin

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

The Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), signed into law by President Obama, reauthorized the elementary and secondary education act for K-12 students across the nation. A main component of ESSA resides with the professional development of teachers and administrators. The definition of teacher professional development by Learning Forward (2017) involves a sustained professional learning community (PLC) which is collaborative, intensive, job-embedded, and data driven. The idea of PLCs as a means of teacher professional development is the current popular trend amongst K-12 education (DuFour, 2004). PLCs are creating opportunities for teachers to collaborate regarding many aspects of the education profession. …

Using Children's Literature To Support Social And Emotional Learning In Third Through Sixth Grade Classrooms, Hayley L. Paljug

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research examined the use of award-winning children’s literature for social and emotional learning, focusing on its use for children in third through sixth grades. The world is ever-changing, and, as a result, the need for children to learn necessary social and emotional skills continues to increase. These skills include, but are not limited to, perseverance, friendship, grit, caring, and the like. It has been found that teaching social and emotional skills through bibliotherapy is an engaging and successful method that can be used by schools and teachers. Teachers or other educational stakeholders can use this document to begin to …

The Confluence Of Short-Term Immersion And Intercultural Competence: Positive Impacts For Australian Preservice Teachers, Julie Maakrun

Theses

Increasing global migration across geographical, linguistic and cultural borders has resulted in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms in Australia. In response, teacher education programs are exploring ways to enhance preservice teachers’ ability to engage with cultural diversity appropriately and effectively. One way is through the provision of short-term immersion programs. As experiential learning, such programs allow opportunities for students to be embedded in the breadth and depth of human experience, to better understand themselves and the ‘cultural other’. These programs also enable an examination of personal beliefs, habits, and values, which may assist students in moving from a rigid dualist …