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Full-Text Articles in Education
Learner Agency And Responsibility In Educational Technology, Michael Thomas Matthews
Learner Agency And Responsibility In Educational Technology, Michael Thomas Matthews
Theses and Dissertations
Though the topic of learner agency has received relatively little discussion in the literature of educational technology, it is nevertheless a significant and actually omnipresent concern of both scholars and practitioners. Through the journal-ready articles contained herein, I show how theories of learning and certain practices of instructional designers reflect implicit positions on the agency of learners. I also discuss agency in more concrete terms as the responsibility for learning that is shared with learners in instructional design contexts. In addition, I provide practical suggestions to help designers keep the learner at the forefront of their design thinking. Through this …
Becoming An Altruistic Learner, Aaron W. Snyder
Becoming An Altruistic Learner, Aaron W. Snyder
Theses and Dissertations
This master’s thesis is a qualitative research project that explored the transformation of multiple individuals who initially learned for self-interested purposes, but later had a shift in their desire to learn so as to benefit others. The author collected rich narratives that described this phenomenon and provided insight into the following question: what is the experience of a learner who transitions from learning out of self-interest to learning out of altruistic purposes? The author found the following five major themes across six participants as they transitioned to more altruistic learning: humility, self-efficacy, resources, success and agency. These themes give insight …
Turning Points: Stories Of How Students Get Beyond Antipathy Toward An Academic Course, Cheryl Lynn Morse
Turning Points: Stories Of How Students Get Beyond Antipathy Toward An Academic Course, Cheryl Lynn Morse
Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the narratives of 10 students who began an academic course with strong negative attitudes but finished the course with strong positive attitudes. In the beginning of the course, each student exhibited one of these three tendencies: apathetic, compliant, or disillusioned; however, by the end of the course, they exhibited a transformed disposition. This study attempts to answer the question of what the turning points were for their transformation and how they made the change. The findings of this study were that regardless of individual tendencies, the ability to exercise agency was …
Contextualized Motivation Theory (Cmt): Intellectual Passion, Mathematical Need, Social Responsibility, And Personal Agency In Learning Mathematics, Janelle Marie Hart
Contextualized Motivation Theory (Cmt): Intellectual Passion, Mathematical Need, Social Responsibility, And Personal Agency In Learning Mathematics, Janelle Marie Hart
Theses and Dissertations
Student motivation has long been a concern of mathematics educators. Here, I characterize motivation, defined as an individual's desire to act in particular ways, through analysis of students' extended, collaborative problem solving efforts. Grounded in a longitudinal research project in calculus learning and teaching, Contextualized Motivation Theory (CMT) offers a means for understanding the complexities of student motivations in mathematics learning. Students in this study chose to act upon various intellectual-mathematical motivations and social-personal motivations, existing simultaneously, within a supporting "web" of motivations. Students exhibited intellectual passion in persisting beyond obtaining correct answers to build understandings of mathematical ideas. CMT …
Deriving Operational Principles For The Design Of Engaging Learning Experiences, Richard Heywood Swan
Deriving Operational Principles For The Design Of Engaging Learning Experiences, Richard Heywood Swan
Theses and Dissertations
The issue of learner engagement is an important question for education and for instructional design. It is acknowledged that computer games in general are engaging. Thus, one possible solution to learner engagement is to integrate computer games into education; however, the literature indicates that pedagogical, logistical and political barriers remain. Another possible solution is to derive principles for the design of engaging experiences from a critical examination of computer game design. One possible application of the derived design principles is that instruction may be designed to be inherently more engaging. The purpose of this dissertation was to look for operational …
Probing For Reasons: Presentations, Questions, Phases, Kellyn Nicole Farlow
Probing For Reasons: Presentations, Questions, Phases, Kellyn Nicole Farlow
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis reports on a research study based on data from experimental teaching. Students were invited, through real-world problem tasks that raised central conceptual issues, to invent major ideas of calculus. This research focuses on work and thinking of the students, as they sought to build key ideas, representations and compelling lines of reasoning. This focus on the students' and their agency as learners has brought about a new development of the psychological and logical perspectives, as well as, highlighted students' choices in academic and social roles. Such choices facilitated continued learning among these students.
Second Graders' Solution Strategies And Understanding Of A Combination Problem, Tiffany Marie Hessing
Second Graders' Solution Strategies And Understanding Of A Combination Problem, Tiffany Marie Hessing
Theses and Dissertations
I inquire about second graders' capabilities of developing solution strategies and the original variety of strategies they bring forth while solving a combination problem. Based on analysis of the data presented in this paper, students developed five different general strategies. After analyzing what the second grade students were capable of developing, we can conclude that young children are capable of developing powerful systematic strategies grounded in their personal experiences. This research shows that even when the teacher does not foster personal agency, children will still exercise agency. The social interactions in the classroom helped students learn to propose mathematical ideas, …