Education Commons^™

Adaptive Analytics: It’S About Time, Charles Dziuban, Colm Howlin, Patsy Moskal, Tammy Muhs, Connie Johnson, Rachel Griffin, Carissa Hamilton

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

This article describes a cooperative research partnership among a large public university, a for-profit private institution and their common adaptive learning platform provider. The focus of this work explored adaptive analytics that uses data the investigators describe as metaphorical “digital learning dust” produced by the platform as a matter of course. The information configured itself into acquired knowledge, growth, baseline status and engagement. Two complimentary models evolved. The first, in the public university, captured end-of-course data for predicting success. The second approach, in the private university, formed the basis of a dynamic real-time data analytic algorithm. In both cases the …

Student Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Adaptive Courseware For Learning, Patricia O'Sullivan, Christina Forgette, Stephen Monroe, M. Tyler England

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Despite the increasing research on the effectiveness of adaptive learning courseware by vendors and academic institutions, there are few published, peer-reviewed studies on adaptive courseware that address the student experience and student perception of this teaching and learning tool. Over the course of two academic years, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, researchers at the University of Mississippi conducted 16 course-based student focus groups and gathered data from 4 end-of-semester surveys to understand how students are experiencing adaptive courseware and whether or not they find it adds value to their education. Our study found that, although students generally find courseware to be helpful …

A Transformative Approach To Incorporating Adaptive Courseware: Strategic Implementation, Backward Design And Research-Based Teaching Practices, Tonya A. Buchan, Stanley Kruse, Jennifer Todd, Lee Tyson

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

In July 2016, Colorado State University (CSU) joined seven other land-grant institutions in the Accelerating Adoption of Adaptive Courseware grant sponsored by the Personalized Learning Consortium (PLC) of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). A primary objective of the grant was to scale the adoption of adaptive courseware in general education courses at each of the grant institutions. CSU targeted high-enrollment, general education courses and took a three-pronged, transformative approach to the integration of adaptive courseware. Specifically, CSU divided the courseware integration into three components: 1) strategic implementation of courseware, 2) backward course design, and 3) incorporation of …

Designing And Teaching Adaptive+Active Learning Effectively, Peter Van Leusen, James Cunningham, Dale P. Johnson

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

To fulfill the promise of providing all learners with access to education, institutions of higher education are exploring personalized learning for individuals with different skills, abilities, and interests. These universities have turned to an instructional model that combines adaptive courseware and learner-centered instruction. This is often referred to as active learning. Despite growth in adaptive courseware and generous support through national organizations, successful implementation of adaptive systems is mixed (SRI Education, 2016). This article highlights the need for a systems approach and illustrates this approach through design and pedagogy decisions that have contributed to the success of adaptive learning at …

Adaptive Courseware Implementation: Investigating Alignment, Course Redesign, And The Student Experience, Patricia O'Sullivan, Janelle Voegele, Tonya Buchan, Raiza Dottin, Kari Goin Kono, Misty Hamideh, Wendy S. Howard, Jennifer Todd, Lee Tyson, Stanley Kruse, Johannes De Gruyter, Kevin Berg

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

In this paper, four institutions share student and faculty feedback on the implementation of adaptive courseware through a common case study: biology for undergraduate non-majors. Additionally, each institution has provided a second case study of their choice. Together, researchers at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO, Portland State University in Portland, OR, University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL, and the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS consider student perception of the benefits to the implementation of adaptive courseware, and how the deliberate alignment between adaptive courseware and course organization and structure impacts student experience. This paper highlights the …

Foreword: Implementing Adaptive Learning At Scale, Karen Vignare

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

What follows is the second of now two Specials Issues of the CIEE journal to have been produced and guest edited by the Personalized Learning Consortium (PLC) of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). Both special issues feature important research resulting from university initiatives to launch, implement and scale up the use of adaptive courseware and the strategies of adaptive learning. The Personalized Learning Consortium has been working with institutions for more than five years to improve student success in high enrollment undergraduate courses. Using a combination of active learning and adaptive courseware, many universities are reporting higher …

Current Issues In Emerging Elearning, Volume 7, Issue 1: Aplu Special Issue On Implementing Adaptive Learning At Scale

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

The second of two Specials Issues of the CIEE journal to have been produced and guest edited by the Personalized Learning Consortium (PLC) of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), featuring important research resulting from university initiatives to launch, implement and scale up the use of adaptive courseware and the strategies of adaptive learning.

Hype-On-Campus: A Pilot Online Learning Program Designed For Helping Youth On The Path To Employment (Hype), Sam P. Lenox

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Helping Youth on the Path to Employment (HYPE) is a research-based program housed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The program aims to provide support and services to young adults with mental health conditions as they identify meaningful career paths and achieve goals for sustained employment. HYPE has developed a multi-stage trial program called Hype-On-Campus (HOC) that will expand the HYPE model to colleges and universities across the United States beginning with the fall semester of 2020. Graduate-level Student Practitioners, selected to participate in the initial HOC feasibility trial, will be enrolled in an HOC online distance training program …

Pre-Employment Transition Services For Students With Intellectual Disabilities Who Applied For Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Alberto Migliore, John Butterworth

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

This data note addresses participation in Pre-ETS for students with intellectual disabilities (ID) who applied for VR services. Of the 45,110 people with ID who exited the VR program in 2018, a total of 8,809 (18%) were students who applied for Pre-ETS. Of these, 1,712 (21%) received Pre-ETS and of those who received Pre-ETS, 744 (43%) gained employment.

Educator Perspectives On English Learner Identification: An Explanatory Mixed Methods Study, Rachel E. Hoffman

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore English learner identification and placement through the lens of teacher knowledge and attitude, with the goal of identifying ways to ensure that the intended outcome (correct identification and placement) occurs. Employing explanatory mixed methods research, data was collected from teachers and other educators in the Jackson Public School district through both a web administered survey and one to one phone interviews. The survey data showed that the number of ELs that an educator has had in the past few years had a statistically significant effect on educator knowledge, but none of the …

Preventing Injuries While Training For An Endurance Event, Stephanie Culver

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Team FX is a team that trains for endurance events. Coach Gary Walker launched the team in 2005was started by in response to his own experiences training with other endurance event teams. The training regimens of these teams scaled too quickly and were too intense for most athletes, resulting in the fact that he and many athletes on the teams were consistently sustaining injuries. Coach Gary researched and worked with many professionals to develop coaching materials for his own team, Team FX, in order to make endurance event training more accessible and less injury ridden. However, each season, there are …

Notes On Artificial Intelligence, Brian Meyer

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

From leveraging insights in data-driven marketing, to utilizing machine-learning algorithms for medicine, artificial intelligence has been seamlessly integrated in industry to optimize professional performance. While AI technologies attract their fair share of critics, their prevalence in the public domain attests to their profound potential, both as a tool for corporate transformation, and, more recently, as a means to enhance current, pedagogical practice. These notes explore coverage in the current literature regarding both concerns related to and the potential value of integrating AI technologies into the classroom to customize the learning experience through data-driven insights, to facilitate a more efficient allocation …

Parent-Teacher Relationship Quality As A Predictor Of Changes In Externalizing Behaviors At School For Children With Asd, Lana Andoni

Graduate Masters Theses

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit high rates of externalizing behaviors compared to children with other disabilities and typically developing peers. These behavioral challenges may impede their ability to successfully transition into school settings. Higher quality relationships between parents and clinicians working with children with ASD have been shown to yield positive student outcomes. Additionally, parent involvement is considered to play a critical role in the success of interventions for children with ASD. Teachers may benefit from parents’ extensive knowledge about their child and parents may benefit from greater knowledge of school behavior plans to promote continuity of behavior …

Convergence Of Senior Administrators And Professional Employees: Case Studies Of Institutional Transformation Via Convergent Hybrid Planned And Emergent Change, Michael C. Metzger

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Higher education institutions are struggling to engage in transformational changes to meet novel environmental forces. These struggles in part may be due to change approaches that lack coordination of professional employee and senior administrator change activity. Kezar’s (2012) Kaleidoscope Convergence—could address such separation of change agent activity. However, a limited understanding of the approach currently exists. This study seeks to gain a better understanding of how and why convergence is used for institutional transformation and engage in analysis to improve the utilization of convergence methods. Research has been organized for this study with a conceptual framework assessing institutional context, desired …

A Comprehensive Model Of Employment Support, Alberto Migliore, Thinkwork! At The Institute For Community Inclusion At Umass Boston

All Institute for Community Inclusion Publications

This brief describes a model of employment supports centered around achieving quality job matches and based on five key elements: building trust, getting to know job seekers, support planning, finding jobs, and support after hire.

Designing A Toolbox To Improve Creative Output: A Guide For Cultivating Critical, Creative, And Conceptual Thinking Skills In An Increasingly Distracted Society, Cara Tuttle

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Frequent digital distractions can hamper undergraduate design students’ ability to perform the kind of deeper level thinking needed for creative problem solving and creative output, yet there are tools that can help students focus on the present and delve deeper into their creative work. This paper focuses on the details of a pedagogical toolbox created for educators of undergraduate design students to target critical thinking, creative thinking, and conceptual thinking (the 3Cs) in order to improve creative output. I explain how critical, creative, and conceptual thinking work holistically to develop and promote creative output. By demonstrating 3Cs tools and activities, …

Food And Health: Promoting The Importance Of Maintaining A Healthy Diet To Minimize Disease In Individuals At Greatest Risk, Nadjia Edwards

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Diets high in calories, saturated fats, sodium, and added sugars can lead to adverse health events such as; heart disease, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis, and certain cancers. Maintaining a healthy diet can help decrease this potential, but those experiencing food insecurity remain at risk as they may have challenges accessing and affording healthier items. Quality may be sacrificed for quantity leading to the purchasing of food that increases these health risks. Initiatives have been developed to address these obstacles, but aren’t widely utilized. This underuse can be due to a lack of emphasis on the importance of …

Advocating For Culturally Responsive Practices In The Ib Diploma Programme: Tapping In The Potential Of Acid Tests To Foster Coherence Between The Ib Principles And Teaching Practices, Timizay Ruiz Pineda

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

International education programs, like the one proposed by the IB Organization, offer students across the world education for global, internationally-minded citizens. Nonetheless, the definition and often, the use of these terms are vague and, for the most part, refers to education and practices of Western countries that are Eurocentric in nature. It is necessary to develop coherence between the principles expressed in many international education frameworks and the reality of their practices. For this, it is fundamental that explicit guidance on culturally responsive teaching practices is acknowledged and provided by organizations like the IB. This paper provides theoretical support explaining …

The Role Of Play In Fostering Creativity And Purpose, Caitlin Quarrington

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

While play is a universal experience that transcends age, discipline, and location, it is often understood to be a juvenile experience and is not intentionally pursued into adulthood. However, play has positive benefits for people of all ages; it can drive intrinsic motivation, increase creativity, and build a sense of meaning and purpose in both individuals and teams. Building on existing understandings of play and creativity, this Synthesis develops a transdisciplinary Play-Flow Intervention Model that leverages play as an intervention at two critical points during the flow cycle to alleviate struggle and expedite movement towards flow. Integrating play during periods …

Art And Science: Utilizing Steam Education To Promote Empathetic Scientific Literacy And Global Citizenship, Ali Orsi Davis

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This research expounds on the history of, hurdles facing, and future goals and possibilities for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) education, including how it can create empathetic, scientifically literate global citizens. Reasons for the cultivation of empathy, scientific literacy, and global citizenship in the classroom are numerous; escalating worldwide nationalism, accelerated climate change, and the increased need to address sustainable development and poverty have produced particular urgency for such student development. Science educators today rarely prioritize the “art” in STEAM education, despite a panoply of cognitive benefits including perspective-taking, critical thinking, and increased personal connection to scientific content. Development …

Finding Pathways: Best Practices For Ongoing Learning In Toastmasters, Veronica Brown

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Toastmasters International, an educational organization consisting of an international network of public speaking clubs, has developed a sophisticated elearning educational program called Pathways as an update to a simpler program, published in booklets, that was nearly a century old. Reactions from club members have been mixed and the transition has required a great deal of training and support efforts at all levels of the organization. This research seeks to identify best practices Toastmasters clubs and members can use to successful transition to Pathways. The hypothesis of the research is that Toastmasters, as a community of practice (CoP), is a connectivist …

Ilt To Mobile Elearning Design For At-Risk Populations, Jacqueline R. Tomrdle

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

This capstone assisted a non-profit company to produce mobile learning for the vulnerable, at-risk population they serve. A fellow University of Massachusetts Boston Instructional Design Program graduate created an eLearning visual brand guide laying the foundation for a consistent accessible brand for the company. As a result, this author used the tools of analysis, instructional design, development, implementation and evaluation to create deliverables of six workshop modules. The non-profit company is one-step closer to their goal of online support for their graduates and promotion of their program to a larger audience reach in Massachusetts.

More Seats At The Table: An Examination Of The Role Of Natural Supports In Promoting Postsecondary Transition For Students With Disabilities In Rural Maine, Elizabeth Stone-Sterling

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Students with disabilities who receive special education services are entitled under federal law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, to have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) that includes measurable postsecondary goals and identifies the transition services that are needed in order for the student to reach those goals. Transition planning for students with disabilities in rural areas can be uniquely challenging due to lack of access to transportation, service providers, and accessible programs. Failure to prepare for postsecondary education or employment is correlated with life-long challenges, including poverty, un/under-employment, and limited educational attainment. Natural supports, in the form of family …

The Entanglement Of Gender, Science, And Interdisciplinarity: Standpoints Of Women Phd Students In Interdisciplinary Traineeships, Kate Bresonis Mckee

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Grounded in the suggestion by Rhoten and Pfirman (2007) that the core practices of interdisciplinary research were embedded with gendered properties and thereby held the potential to offer more welcoming spaces for women’s participation and advancement in scientific fields, this study investigated how women PhD students’ participation in the specific context of interdisciplinary training programs influenced their educational and professional socialization. Narrative inquiry methodology guided in-depth interviews with 19 women PhD students who were participating in one of three National Science Foundation-funded Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) programs at three research universities in the greater Northeast region of …

Lost In Translation: Understanding Education Policy Implementation In Nepal, Sushmita Subedi

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the impact of the School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP), a national education reform in Nepal, on primary and secondary education. The study uses mixed-methods to analyze indicators of educational outcomes and identify the underlying environmental, organizational, and individual factors that affect reform implementation.

The first phase of the study is a quantitative analysis of annual, district-level data on 75 districts for 10 years, from 2006 to 2016 using regression models to predict dropout and promotion rates. The second phase of the study is a qualitative analysis of the perceived effectiveness of SSRP using in-depth interviews with 33 …

High School Teachers' Perceptions Of Social Studies In The Context Of Accountability, Kristina M. Kelleher-Bianchi

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe urban public high school social studies teachers’ perceptions of social studies curriculum narrowing and its influence on their professional identity within the context of Massachusetts’ school accountability policies. This study gave nuance to larger quantitative studies by allowing policy and school leaders to hear directly from teachers who mediate the influence of accountability policies on students. It examined these questions: What were public school teachers’ understandings of the influence of testing pressure in their school? What were high school teachers’ experiences with social studies curriculum narrowing? How did teachers perceive their …

Socio-Economic Well-Being Of International F-1 Students Living And Working In The United States, Elena K. Taborda

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

According to United States law, international F-1 students are nonimmigrant aliens residing in the United States temporarily. Yet, they are more than just short-term visitors, as many of them live in the country for years while pursuing their postsecondary studies. Since international students are foreign citizens, their rights and freedoms are bound by the constraints of the country’s immigration policies. This study is concerned with work-related restrictions imposed on F-1 students by the U.S. government, positioning international students’ limited opportunities for employment as being in violation with their basic human right to economic and social development.

This multi-method project drew …

Educators Bailan With Policy Et Le Pouvoir In The Educação Of Multicultural And Multilingual Learners (Wida Eld Standards And The Education Of English Learners), Fernanda Marinho Kray

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The larger frame of this study contributes to the literature that examines how educators negotiate, contest, appropriate, and reconstruct federal and state-level policy in their classrooms. More specifically, the study contributes to the field of language education policy, and in particular to how educators make sense of, and implement, English Language Development (ELD) Standards. I focus on WIDA ELD Standards, as they are currently in use in 42 U.S. states, territories, and federal agencies as well as more than 500 international schools throughout the world. The literature review identifies a problem for standards-based education systems using the 2012 WIDA Standards …

Where Do We Come From? A Quantitative Study Of The Backgrounds And Professional Qualities Of Special Education Transition Specialists In Massachusetts, Jennifer Carr Callison

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The position of secondary Special Education Transition Specialist has evolved into a pivotal role in the transition planning process for students with disabilities. Through state level legislative efforts, licensed Special Educators and select others are able earn a Transition Specialist Endorsement through the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Yet, there is no requirement that school districts in Massachusetts have a person on staff who solely acts as a Transition Specialist or employ a person who holds a Transition Specialist Endorsement. Further, little is known about those across the Commonwealth working in this unique capacity. Using a self-administered questionnaire, …

Public-Private Partnerships In Education: A Vertical Case Study Of The Right To Education Act (2009), India, Sheetal Gowda

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

One of the most contentious issues that elicits heated debates in the field of international and comparative education is the role of private actors in the provision of educational services using public monies. As the programmatic idea of public-private partnerships (PPPs) gains momentum internationally, educational PPPs has emerged as a key strategy in reducing educational and social inequities. Despite growing research evidence suggesting the contrary, the neo-liberal agenda of positioning PPPs as the best mechanism for achieving educational rights enshrined in international declarations and national constitutions continue to be perpetuated. Of particular relevance to this study is Section 12(1)(c) of …