Education Commons^™

Peer Feedback To Facilitate Project-Based Learning In An Online Environment, Yu-Hui Ching, Yu-Chang Hsu

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

There has been limited research examining the pedagogical benefits of peer feedback for facilitating project-based learning in an online environment. Using a mixed method approach, this paper examines graduate students’ participation and perceptions of peer feedback activity that supports project-based learning in an online instructional design course. Our findings indicate that peer feedback can be implemented in an online learning environment to effectively support project-based learning. Students actively participated in the peer feedback activity and responded positively about how the peer feedback activity facilitated their project-based learning experiences. The results of content analysis exploring the peer feedback reveal that learners …

The Intersection Of Preservice Teachers’ Confidence, Perceptions, And Ideas For Using Instructional Technology For Teaching And Learning, Louis Nadelson, Darcie Bennett, Ezra Gwilliam, Catherine Howlett, Steve Oswalt, Jaime Sand

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The evolving landscape of instructional technology is influenced by access to a wide range of technology tools that can be accessed to enhance teaching and learning. Technological tools such as smart phones, apps, tablets, social media, and YouTube exemplify the kinds of resources that are readily availabl e for teaching and learning. Further, the development of different course delivery systems and the exposure to concepts such as flipped classrooms and electronic portfolios have extended the use of mainstream technology into new instructional applications. The ongoing evolution of technology hardware, software, and instructional applications has numerous educational implications. In an effort …

Special Educator Evaluation: Cautions, Concerns And Considerations, Carrie Semmelroth, Evelyn Johnson, Keith Allred

Early and Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

There is currently little consensus on how special education teachers should be evaluated in a way that is effective, fair and responsive to their unique teaching responsibilities. In this paper, we explain several of the current approaches to teacher evaluation under consideration, and then provide an overview of the challenges associated with the use of these models for special education teachers. We describe a model currently under development that is designed to better meet the unique characteristics of special education teacher evaluation. Our alternative approach proposes to evaluate special education teacher effectiveness through two primary components: observations of the special …

Biliterate Literature Circles: Talks As Tickets To Ride, Claudia Peralta

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study aimed to explore the impact of Literature Circles in a fourth grade bilingual classroom (Spanish and English) and investigate how classroom literary practices were framed and shaped by the classroom teacher. Further study revealed that community building, and shifts in questions affected the type of narratives constructed. During this five-month study, the researcher conducted weekly participant observations of instruction in the classroom, primarily during the language arts blocks. The researcher gave specific attention to observing a classroom practice: Literature Circles. Data was collected through the use of fieldnotes, informal and formal interviews, video- and/or audiotaping, and artifact collection. …

Mobile App Design For Teaching And Learning: Educators’ Experiences In An Online Graduate Course, Yu-Chang Hsu, Yu-Hui Ching

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research explored how educators with limited programming experiences learned to design mobile apps through peer support and instructor guidance. Educators were positive about the sense of community in this online course. They also considered App Inventor a great web-based visual programming tool for developing useful and fully functioning mobile apps. They had great sense of empowerment through developing unique apps by using App Inventor. They felt their own design work and creative problem solving were inspired by the customized mobile apps shared by peers. The learning activities, including sharing customized apps, providing peer feedback, composing design proposals, and keeping …

Learning Analytics: Readiness And Rewards, Norm Friesen

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper introduces the relatively new field of learning analytics, first by considering the relevant meanings of both “learning” and “analytics,” and then by looking at two main levels at which learning analytics can be or has been implemented in educational organizations. Although turnkey systems or modules are not yet available for review, specific technologies for analyzing online student activities have been implemented and piloted. As a result, this paper recommends an incremental approach to institutional preparedness.

Community, Home, And School Partnerships: A Critical Issue In Bilingual Education, Claudia Peralta

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

How can we help educators realize the wealth and relevancy that culturally and linguistically diverse families and students bring into the schools? Preparing teachers to effectively teach across socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, and gender differences is complicated by a lack of familiarity with or valuing of the cultures, learning styles, and communication patterns of diverse groups (Bohn & Sleeter, 2000). Today, however, 84% of teachers are white (Feistritzer, 2011), despite serving 74 million children in the United States (defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as those under 18 years of age), of which 59% are White; 19% Hispanic, 15%; Black, 4%; …

Developing Mathematical Thinking: Changing Teachers’ Knowledge And Instruction, Jonathan L. Brendefur, Keith Thiede, Sam Strother, Kim Bunning, Duane Peck

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In the present research, we evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-year professional development program in mathematics for elementary teachers. Each year the program focused on a different domain of mathematics. We found the program increased teachers’ knowledge of (a) number and operations, (b) measurement and geometry, and (c) probability and statistics. We also examined the relation between mathematical knowledge and teaching practices. Across the three domains neither pretest nor posttest mathematical knowledge were related to classroom teaching practices. However, change in knowledge was positively related to six different dimensions of teaching practice for number and operations, and for measurement and …

Development Of A Scale For Fantasy State In Digital Games, Beomkyu Choi, Jie Huang, Annie Jeffrey, Youngkyun Baek

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Digital games appear to motivate players intrinsically. Of various game features, fantasy in particularly plays a crucial role in enhancing motivation and is a key factor in immersion in gameplay. As with its inherent value, fantasy also plays a vital role in distinguishing digital games itself from other media. Despite its significance, fantasy has received little attention, and this concept is still ambiguous to define with any certainty. This study thus aims to create a framework to explore a dimension of fantasy and to develop a scale to measure a state of fantasy in digital games. As a result, four …

Collaborative Learning Using Voicethread In An Online Graduate Course, Yu-Hui Ching, Yu-Chang Hsu

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Collaborative learning enables participants in a learning community to externalize and share knowledge, experiences, and practice. However, collaborative learning in an online environment can be challenging due to the lack of face-to face interaction. This current study examined twenty graduate students’ experiences of using VoiceThread for a collaborative activity in an entirely online course to explore students’ perceptions of using multi-modal communication for collaboration and knowledge sharing. The results of this study revealed that graduate students had very positive experiences toward using VoiceThread for collaborative learning. The participants found VoiceThread easy to learn and use, and reported that audio and …

Styleless Style? What Photorealism Can Tell Us About “The Sixties”, Craig J. Peariso

Art, Design & Visual Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay reads 1960s “photorealist” painting and its critical reception against two sets of contemporary social analyses. First, it places these artistic and critical works next to Pierre Bourdieu's 1965 text Photography: A Middle-Brow Art, demonstrating that, although the critical literature surrounding “photorealism” tended to assume that its involvement with photography grew out of a desire for an objective realism, contemporary thought on photography was anything but convinced of the medium's transparency. Second, it looks to cultural critics like Susan Sontag and Jacob Brackman to propose that, rather than seeing the art of this period in opposition to the …

Using A Learner-Centered Approach To Develop An Educational Technology Course, Mariam Abdelmalak, Jesús Trespalacios

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The article explores the structure of a graduate educational technology course that used a learner-centered approach to prepare students to be independent responsible learners. Key features of this approach were the balance of power between the instructor and students, involving students in decision-making about their learning, sharing the responsibility for learning between the instructor and students, and using students' needs and interests in the course content. The article describes how the decision-making power was shared between the instructor and students, as well as how students responded to the course structure. This work has implications for creating learner-centered environments in which …

Beyond Educational Voyeurism: An Analysis Of A Ugandan-North American Teacher Partnership Program, Philip P. Kelly, Amy Cordileone

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Beyond simply watching teachers in international settings as tourists might, teachers in a Ugandan-North American international teacher partnership program went further, reflecting on the social/political contexts within which they taught. Teachers’ surveys and reflections are analyzed for factors addressing the successful negotiation of both teaching and relationship making across the cultural, pedagogical and political divides that separate them. In the midst of the international teacher partnership program, concerns arose regarding teacher-centered pedagogy and student passivity as after effects of Uganda’s colonial education system.

Quantitative Assessment Of Program Outcomes Using Longitudinal Data From The Fe Exam, Joe C. Guarino, James R. Ferguson, V. Krishna C. Pakala

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

There have been many studies providing details on using results from the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam as metrics for meeting ABET program outcomes¹. However, implementing an FE-based set of metrics poses challenges not limited to assessing validity of results. Programs using FE-based metrics must also determine the position of the metrics in the overall assessment process. We present a method for using FE-based metrics as an integral part of the ABET program assessment process. The principle issues we address are: (1) The validity of using FE metrics for a group of graduating students when not all of …

The Arrows In Our Backs: Lessons Learned Trying To Change The Engineering Curriculum, Steven W. Villachica, Anthony Wayne Marker, Donald Plumlee, Linda Huglin, Amy Chegash

Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Published research has provided a robust set of documented tools and techniques for transforming individual engineering courses in ways that use evidence-based instructional practices. Many engineering faculty are already aware of these practices and would like to use them. However, they still face significant implementation barriers. The E²R2P effort addresses the question: How can successes in engineering education research translate into widespread instructional practice?

This poster session will describe hard-won lessons the E²R2P team has learned as it begins its third year attempting such curricular change.

Lesson 1: “Wonder workshops” and visible course redesigns don’t produce …

Comprehensible Output And The Effects Of Music And Movement In Spanish Language Acquisition, Tricia Pinkert-Branner

Student Research Initiative

Music and movement may have the potential to trigger memories and connections that affect mood and behavior. According to research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) (Del Campo, 1997), meaningful communication is composed of three important elements: gestures, verbal language and intonation. Gestures and movement account for nearly 70% of communication, whereas the remaining 30% of meaningful communication lies in intonation and verbal language. Earworms, or Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI), have played an important role in marketing by using music that gets “stuck” in the brain. Factors such as note duration, pitch intervals and exposure to an environment or movement associated …

Assistive Technology User Groups And Early Childhood Educators, Howard P. Parette, Jack J. Hourcade, Craig Blum, Emily H. Watts, Julia B. Stoner, Brian W. Wojcik, Shannon B. Chrismore

Early and Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article explores the potential of User Groups as a professional development venue for early childhood educators in developing operational and functional competence in using hardware and software components of an Assistive Technology (AT) Toolkit. User Groups are composed of varying numbers of participants having an interest in technology, and are led by one or more skilled facilitators who meet with participants across time to help them acquire and demonstrate new technology skill sets. A series of these groups were conducted with seven early education professionals serving young preschool children who were at risk or who had disabilities. The impact …

Stem + Visual Art: The Development Of An Art Integrated Curricular Resource For K-12 Educators In Idaho, Drew Elaine Williams

Art Graduate Theses and Projects

The purpose of this M.A. Art Education project is to explore the reasoning, methods and justification for integrated art curricula in K-12 education, drawn from the belief that art is essential and inseparable from academics. In Idaho, the need for art teaching resources is especially great, as present funding circumstances and educational mandates have shifted away from the arts. Teachers do not always have access to resources and high-quality curricular materials. They do not always feel that they possess the knowledge, skills or confidence to successfully implement art lessons within their classrooms. The rationale and methods used to develop a …

Student Attitudes Towards And Impressions Of Project Citizen, Sara Winstead Fry, Adil Bentahar

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Project Citizen is a civic education curriculum used across the United States and internationally, yet research about its impact on students is lacking in the literature. This article reports the results of a preliminary study designed to answer the following questions: What are students’ attitudes toward and perceptions of Project Citizen? How do their attitudes and perceptions compare to those of students who completed senior projects? Ten high school students and 23 first-year college students completed a questionnaire designed for this study. Our findings indicate that the high school students had positive perceptions of Project Citizen, and they self-reported an …

A Professional Development Program To Improve Math Skills Among Preschool Children In Head Start, Jonathan Brendefur, Sam Strother, Keith Thiede, Cristianne Lane, Mary Jo Surges-Prokop

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of providing early educators professional development experiences and activities to improve the mathematical skills of preschool children in Head Start around four domains of mathematics. Because of the need to provide necessary mathematical experiences to young children to improve their early understanding and skills and provide the foundation for future success in mathematics, we provided the treatment group of early educators with professional development and center-based activities to promote four critical areas in mathematics. By randomly selecting Head Start centers to participate as the treatment group or control group, we …

Comprehensible Output And The Effects Of Music And Movement In Spanish Language Acquisition, Tricia Pinkert-Branner

College of Arts and Sciences Poster Presentations

Music and movement have the potential to trigger memories and connections that affect mood and behavior. According to research in Second Language Acquisition (Del Campo 1997), meaningful communications is composed of three important elements: gestures, verbal language and intonation. Gestures and movement account for nearly 70% of communication, whereas the remaining 30% of meaningful communication lies in intonation and verbal language. Earworms, or Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI), have played an important role in marketing by using music that gets “stuck” in the brain. Factors such as note duration, pitch intervals and exposure to an environment or movement associated with the …

Leading A Multiple Project Mobile Learning Initiative: The Approach At Boise State University, Susan E. Shadle, Ross A. Perkins, Doug J. Lincoln, Michael J. Humphrey, R. Eric Landrum

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many colleges and universities have launched wide-ranging, device-specific mobile initiatives or invested substantial resources to make services mobile friendly in a platform-neutral manner. For others, a more measured approach toward integration of mobile devices can be a reasonable and pragmatic way forward. Faculty and staff from a number of units within Boise State University convened in Fall 2010 to develop a series of specific recommendations that would allow for the development of one or more innovative, technology-based projects across campus. In 2011, the task force submitted a proposal titled “Mobile-Learning for Boise State: A Proposal to Catalyze Transformation in Teaching …

Trapped In A Cycle Of Low Expectations: An Exploration Of High School Seniors' Perspectives About Academic Reading, Diana S. Hooley, Lee Ann Tysseling, Beverly Ray

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reports show that the reading proficiency scores for 17-year-olds have stagnated over the past several decades. In this study, the authors explored older students' academic reading perceptions that might suggest links to proficiency. What do high school seniors really think about class reading? Do they understand what they read? How do they view teacher support for content reading? A quarter of the senior class of one mid-sized high school responded to open-ended questions such as these as well as a Likert-style reading attitude survey. Additionally, the teachers of the student study sample were interviewed about their students' reading behaviors and …

The Moral Nature Of Teacher Candidate Beliefs About The Purposes Of Schooling And Their Reasons For Choosing Teaching As A Career, Richard D. Osguthorpe, Matthew N. Sanger

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study reports teacher candidate beliefs about the purposes of schooling and their reasons for choosing a career in teaching. The beliefs are analyzed in relation to the moral work of teaching, and the findings suggest that teacher candidates choose teaching as a career, in part, to engage in moral work, and that they believe that schooling has moral ends. The article concludes by providing implications for teacher education research and practice, suggesting that these implications have particular relevance in the current environment of high-stakes testing and accountability, as well as for constructivist teacher educators who seek to understand and …

The Variables Related To Public Acceptance Of Evolution In The United States, Benjamin C. Heddy, Louis S. Nadelson

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: The current study explores variables related to public acceptance of evolution in the United States by state. Data on acceptance of evolution, religiosity, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degree attainment, educational attainment, high school dropout rate, average teacher salary, and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita were analyzed for the 50 states.

Methods: Employing secondary data analysis, bivariate correlations were used to investigate the relationship between US acceptance of evolution and each variable.

Results: As predicted, there was a strong negative correlation between acceptance of evolution and religiosity and a strong positive relationship between acceptance and science degrees …

Make Or Buy?: The Software Developer Shortage That Isn’T, Chris Blanchard

University Author Recognition Bibliography: 2013

No abstract provided.

Education Revitalization Is The New Reform: Five National Classroom Trends For Idaho, Diane Boothe

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Critics have long assailed American education for failing to train a globally competitive workforce. All too often, we are faced with a shortage of highly qualified graduates in fields that are essential to our economic growth as a state and nation. An emphasis on education in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) is crucial for our children’s future.

Why Did They Come Here? - The Influences And Expectations Of First-Year Students’ College Experience, Louis S. Nadelson, Carrie Semmelroth, Gregory Martinez, Matthew Featherstone, Casey Alexander Fuhriman, Andrew Sell

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Students’ expectations and experiences with university life are influenced by a number of variables. Many universities develop programs or promote aspects of existing programs to market the university’s image. This research was motivated by our desire to determine the relationships between first-year students’ college expectations and experiences, their awareness of the university’s programming and projected image, the influence of the programming and image on their decision to attend the institution, and the students’ personal characteristics. Our survey of 351 first-year students revealed positive perceptions of their university expectations and experiences, a mixture of influences on their decision to attend the …

Alternative Service Delivery Models For Students With Learning Disabilities, Evelyn S. Johnson, Carrie Semmelroth

Early and Special Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

More than 40 years of intervention research describes effective interventions for increasing the academic performance of students with learning disabilities. However, the performance and outcomes for students with learning disabilities remain discouraging, especially in light of the increasing cost to provide special education services. Between 60 – 70 percent of students with learning disabilities are unable to meet grade level performance standards in the basic academic areas of reading, writing and mathematics. The disconnect between research and practice suggests a need for rethinking special education service delivery. This paper reports the results of a program evaluation of a not-for-profit center …

Antonio Gramsci: Life And Impact On Critical Pedagogy, Arturo Rodriguez, Matthew David Smith

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Antonio Gramsci was born in the province of Cagliarli, Sardinia on 22 January 1891. One of seven children, his formative years was spent roaming the hills of Sardinia. Antonio's political understanding was heavily influenced by the Socialism of his brother Gennaro and the imprisonment of his father, Francesco, from 1898-1904. Francesco's imprisonment caused Antonio to curtail his formal education and take up employment. This continued for several years until Francesco was released, allowing young Antonio to return to formal studies.