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Full-Text Articles in Education

Examining The Social Interactions Of Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders In A Virtual Environment, Jennifer Gallup Jan 2015

Examining The Social Interactions Of Young Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorders In A Virtual Environment, Jennifer Gallup

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined the social interactions during online game play in a virtual environment for five young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who attended a large metropolitan university, enrolled in the first 60 credits of a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) field of study. Given the evolution of technology and opportunities to socialize in virtual communities, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how young adults with ASD assimilate into new social opportunities that provide supports for extraneous variables such as face-to-face situations. As research begins to emerge on virtual environments there is little research addressed …


A Case Study Evaluation Of Quality Standards And Online Faculty Development, Erin O'Brien Jan 2015

A Case Study Evaluation Of Quality Standards And Online Faculty Development, Erin O'Brien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation in practice was designed to provide an evaluation case study of two institutions, one college and one university, in the field of online learning and quality assurance. The writer evaluated these two institutions of higher learning to discover what online teaching criteria are required and what quality assurance processes are being used to assess the quality of the institutions* online courses. An analysis of the data revealed that both institutions were at the appropriate stage of development, support, training and quality assurance measures for their sizes, online populations and for the length of time they have been involved …


Understanding The Beliefs And Attitudes Of Mid-Career Secondary School Teachers Toward Teacher Evaluation And Its Effect On Their Professional Practice: A Mixed Method Phenomenological Study, William Booth Jan 2015

Understanding The Beliefs And Attitudes Of Mid-Career Secondary School Teachers Toward Teacher Evaluation And Its Effect On Their Professional Practice: A Mixed Method Phenomenological Study, William Booth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-method phenomenological study is to understand the beliefs and attitudes that mid-career secondary school teachers have regarding the teacher evaluation process and its effect on their professional practice. Mid-career secondary school teachers (defined as having between 14-21 years of classroom experience) from Bayview Public Schools were selected to participate. A total of 152 mid-career secondary school teachers completed an electronic survey. Additionally, a total of 9 participants took part in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The theoretical framework used to guide the study was the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1988; 1991) and Bandura*s theory of self-efficacy …


The Relationship Between Participation In An Academic Intervention Program And Performance In Coursework For At Risk Eighth-Grade Middle School Students, Victoria Hyatt Jan 2015

The Relationship Between Participation In An Academic Intervention Program And Performance In Coursework For At Risk Eighth-Grade Middle School Students, Victoria Hyatt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of the research was to examine the academic intervention program implemented to address academic concerns in the middle grades in one large urban school district in central Florida. Educational leaders at all levels are concerned with the choice of one in four students who make the decision to not complete high school coursework, leaving before earning a high school diploma. The researcher examined to what extent, if any, participation in the middle grades academic intervention program affected academic success in coursework and what difference, if any, there were between academic coursework grade point averages and at-risk eligibility factors, …


An Investigation Of The Impacts Of Face-To-Face And Virtual Laboratories In An Introductory Biology Course On Students' Motivation To Learn Biology., Amber Reece Jan 2015

An Investigation Of The Impacts Of Face-To-Face And Virtual Laboratories In An Introductory Biology Course On Students' Motivation To Learn Biology., Amber Reece

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the effects of face-to-face and virtual laboratories in a large-enrollment introductory biology course on students* motivation to learn biology. The laboratory component of post-secondary science courses is where students have opportunities for frequent interactions with instructors and their peers (Seymour & Hewitt, 1997; Seymour, Melton, Wiese, & Pederson-Gallegos, 2005) and is often relied upon for promoting interest and motivation in science learning (Hofstein & Lunetta, 2003; Lunetta, Hofstein, & Clough, 2007). However, laboratory courses can be resource intensive (Jenkins, 2007), leading post-secondary science educators to seek alternative means of laboratory …


An Examination Of Administrators' Knowledge Of The Standards For Mathematical Practice - A Think Aloud, Vernita Glenn-White Jan 2015

An Examination Of Administrators' Knowledge Of The Standards For Mathematical Practice - A Think Aloud, Vernita Glenn-White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Administrators who observe mathematics teachers need to have knowledge and an understanding of mathematics teaching and learning to effectively evaluate teachers and how their instructional practices relate to student thinking. This research study was conducted to illustrate the importance of understanding the thought process of administrators as they make decisions about teacher effectiveness based on what they notice during observations of mathematics classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine what administrators attend to in the instructional environment and how what they notice influences their ability to identify the Common Core State Standards, Standards for Mathematical Practice. A purposive …


Classroom Error Climate: Teacher Professional Development To Improve Student Motivation, Sean O'Dell Jan 2015

Classroom Error Climate: Teacher Professional Development To Improve Student Motivation, Sean O'Dell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Student motivation and achievement are often low for students from low socioeconomic status households and may decline when children from all walks of life enter middle school. Despite years of studies describing these declines and efforts to improve learning outcomes, the trends continue. Motivation has been studied from several theoretical standpoints, among them, self-efficacy, beliefs, goal orientations, and emotions. This dissertation introduces error orientation: how teachers and students react to and use errors in the classroom. A positive error orientation, one that views errors as opportunities to learn rather than punishments, may help improve students* emotions, self-efficacy, and future goal …