Education Commons^™

Using Academic And Learning Analytics To Explore Student Success In An Online Graduate Program In Communication, Megan N. Bergman

Open Access Theses

Fueled by the increase in data associated with the use of learning management systems, scholars and practitioners alike have been trying to explain and predict student success; yet the use of data analytic methods (academic and learning analytics) in higher education has created challenges and shortcomings for those who wish to adopt learning and academic analytics practices for their institution or program. Very little is known about either online education, particularly in the field of communication, as well as in online graduate and professional degree programs in any field from a learning and academic analytics perspective. This work reviews the …

Lightcraft Previzion In Distance Education, Perry L. Cox

Open Access Theses

Visual Effects has continued to progress at an astonishing rate and green screen technology can be seen in all aspects of the video industry from Hollywood blockbusters down to training videos and distance education.

As video technology has increased, so has the quality and capability of distance education. Purdue University has set itself to be at the forefront of distance education. This study looked to evaluate Purdue's investment in the Lightcraft Technology's Previzion system and its impact on distance education at Purdue. There were 65 initial participants and this study compared the impact of two separate videos on their learning. …

Development And Initial Validation Of A Culturally Responsive Classroom Climate Scale, Horane A. Holgate

Open Access Theses

This study describes the development and initial validation for a measure of a culturally responsive classroom climate in postsecondary classrooms. By examining multiple frameworks of culturally responsive teaching four factors were identified as representing cultural responsiveness in the classroom: inclusiveness, cultural inclusion, diverse language and diverse pedagogy. Using these factors and conceptual definitions a survey measure was developed and the overall factor structure and reliability of the measure examined using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The results provide evidence for a second order factor model with cultural responsiveness as a higher order construct represented by four factors. The results are …

Community Engagement, Graduate Students, And "Naive Complicity": Service In The University, Jonathan S. Isaac

Open Access Theses

This thesis takes issue with current models of community engagement and service learning that do not take into consideration the constraints imposed upon graduate students or short-term instructors who teach a service learning course or who undertake community-oriented research. Bound up in the long history of academic needs overshadowing or entirely neglecting community concerns, campus-community partnerships involving graduate students are much more likely to maintain, to quote Linda Flower, a “naïve complicity in the social structures that put power and prestige on the university side of the ledger while putting passive need and incapacity on the debit, community side” (105). …

Enhancing The Campus Experience: Helping International Students To Adapt To North American Campus Life, Qiaoying Wang

Open Access Theses

This thesis investigates how culture adaption topic can be applied to a design solution by enhancing international students experience on North American campus. Each year more than half a million international students enroll in American colleges and universities. Many will spend several years on a campus working toward their degree. Most of them arrive with clear academic goals, but they may have no clue what their social lives will be like. In that case, a common phenomenon that most of the international students need to get along with is called “Culture Shock”, which involves culture and academic adapting difficulties, limited …

Effects Of A Timed Dictation Activity In The Introductory Course In Japanese Focusing On The Accuracy And Fluency Of Writing Katakana, Aya Okada

Open Access Theses

The importance of mastering one of the Japanese syllabaries, Katakana, is acknowledged by both Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) learners and teachers. Katakana is a phonetic syllabary that is used to transcribe loanwords primarily from European languages and onomatopoeia words. These loanwords are nowadays called Katakana words. The number of Katakana words in Japanese language has been increasing, and it is reported that many JFL learners in Japan often encounter difficulty in understanding these words. Though teachers are also aware of the importance of teaching Katakana, it is treated less importantly. For example, after spending some time and effort …

Modernizing The Current Afghan Engineering Education System: Challenges And Opportunities, Khalilullah Mayar

Open Access Theses

Having an effective engineering education system in place can play a crucial role in the development and reconstruction process of a war-ravaged country, such as Afghanistan, where tens of billions of dollars of international aid has been spent in the past 14 years for that process, including higher education. Unfortunately, at this point, the Afghan engineering education system is not yet financially self-sufficient nor can it address the education requirements of today’s job market. This thesis aimed to identify the major challenges still faced by Afghanistan and to provide a comprehensive list of recommendations and priorities that can make the …

Implementing The Caspie Coursebased Research Experience At The United States Military Academy: Affective Responses And Effects On Critical Thinking, Anthony Michael Chase

Open Access Theses

The Center for Authentic Science Practices in Education (CASPiE) pioneered a course-based research experience approach to teaching chemistry laboratory courses. The method had previously been studied in a variety of institutional settings. Recently, the United States Military Academy at West Point decided to develop CASPiE-style modules for the introductory honors chemistry course. This research setting presents clean experimental-control comparisons and a group of faculty who were completely new to the method. Equipping students with authentic research experiences early in their education is important regardless of the institution. However, cadets at a military academy must make decisions relatively early (the outset …

Impact Of A Visual Programming Experience On The Attitude Toward Programming Of Introductory Undergraduate Students, Saurabh Godbole

Open Access Theses

Traditionally, textual tools have been utilized to teach basic programming languages and paradigms. Research has shown that students tend to be visual learners. Using flowcharts, students can quickly understand the logic of their programs and visualize the flow of commands in the algorithm. Moreover, applying programming to physical systems through the use of a microcontroller to facilitate this type of learning can spark an interest in students to advance their programming knowledge to create novel applications. This study examined if freshmen college students' attitudes towards programming changed after completing a graphical programming lesson. Various attributes about students' attitudes were examined …

Designing Sustainable Mentoring Programs: Examining The Role Of Social Community In The Stem College Student Experience, Joi-Lynn Mondisa

Open Access Theses

In order to begin to understand how to design programs that promote community development and produce beneficial outcomes for community members, we must first define the elements and functions of such a community. In this thesis, I define social community as an environment where like-minded individuals engage indynamic, multidirectional interactions that facilitate social support . Using a human-integrated systems approach, I propose a social community model for STEM minority mentoring programs to understand how a community's design plays a role in the learning and enrichment of its members. The social community model is comprised of three main components: program …

Design And Evaluation Of An E-Learning Service For Online Self-Presentation Education: A User-Centered Design Approach, Zhihua Dong

Open Access Theses

With the booming of Web 2.0, cyber recruiting becomes much more prevalence. This makes online self-presentation literacy a necessity for college students to prepare for better career opportunities. This study proposed to design and implement a working prototype of an online educational platform for college students to learn about online self-presentation management. The design and implementation of the working prototype followed an iterative design process, through which the design was created, evaluated, and improved. Within this process, cognitive walkthrough study, competitive analysis, and usability testing study were adopted as major methods to design and evaluate the prototype.

Through the design …

The Influence Of An Advanced Agriculture & Life Science Course On Students' Views Of The Nature Of Science, Megan N. Anderson

Open Access Theses

One of the goals in today's society is to ensure that students exiting school have the ability to understand, develop, and comprehend scientific information. For students to be able to meet these goals, it is imperative that they become scientifically literate and understand the concept of the Nature of Science (NOS). The discipline of Agricultural Education has strong connections with science and today many students are earning science credit and developing science understanding through Agricultural Education courses. If students are continuing to gain science mastery through their Agricultural Education courses, they should also be gaining adequate conceptions of science and …

An Exploratory Study Of Diversified Mentoring Relationships Among Graduate Students And Their Advisors In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Fields, Krystin R. Bodden

Open Access Theses

Minorities and women continue to be underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In graduate education, factors such as racism, prejudice, discrimination, sexism, stereotypes, tokenism, and a lack of role models can all plague students and contribute to uncompleted degrees and non-entrance into STEM fields. One of the tools being used to combat these barriers is effective mentoring. Graduate students and their advisors generally have close working relationships and advisors serve in a tremendously important role in the development of the graduate student, so an effective mentoring relationship is vital.

The purpose of this study was to explore …

Integrating The Sap Software Into The Manufacturing Engineering Curriculum, Lin Qian

Open Access Theses

The concept of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) was developed to integrate data efficiently and eliminate redundancy within organizations. Worldwide industries rely on ERP systems to keep a competitive advantage in world market place. Besides, cross-functional knowledge is required in industry. It is critical that schools integrate ERP concepts and methods in to academic curricula for Technology and Engineering School.

This thesis examined the effectiveness of a simulation game as a method for teaching for ERP systems in Technology and Engineering. The quasi-experimental design was used in this study to determine if the SAP simulation game had an impact on students' …

Understanding Chinese Hospitality Management Master's Students' Satisfaction With Their Education, Yanbin Li

Open Access Theses

The purpose of the present research was to understand Chinese students' expectations and experiences with their Master's education in hospitality-related programs in the U.S. Three groups of persons could potentially benefit from the results of the study: university administrators, professors, and graduate students of hospitality management programs (both current and future students). In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-one Chinese Master's students in a Hospitality and Tourism Management (HTM) program at a Midwest research university. Content analysis was performed to identify themes regarding students' expectations, experiences and satisfaction with their graduate programs.

When comparing Chinese hospitality management Master's students' expectations and …