Education Commons^™

Individual Public-School Teachers’ Influence On Technology Implementation, Aletcia Whren

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many teachers in the United States, despite access to and demonstrated benefits of instructional technology, are reluctant to integrate these innovations into their teaching. Although public schools spend millions to supply the technology to improve instruction and student academic achievement, teachers often choose not to adopt it. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to understand better how and why many teachers are reluctant to integrate instructional technology in their classrooms. Guided by cultural historical activity theory, the study occurred in two phases. First, the Concerns-Based Adoption Model Stages of Concern Questionnaire was used to identify a sample of …

Using Heidisongs Music As An Instructional Tool In The Elementary School Classroom: A Case Study, Leia Denise Jobe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study is to understand how teachers use HeidiSongs music as an instructional tool in the elementary school classroom. HeidiSongs uses multisensory structured language education to teach by engaging multiple senses simultaneously to increase retention. The theories guiding this study include Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, which involves kinesthetic intelligences among other types of intelligences, and Krashen’s theory of second language acquisition. HeidiSongs uses both musical and kinesthetic activities to enhance literacy. The central research question focused on how teachers use HeidiSongs music as an instructional tool in the elementary school classroom. The sub-questions …

An Autoethnographic Study Of Online Class Size And Instructor Participation In Discussions, Danielle M. Philipson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research provided a detailed description of the researcher’s experience as an online instructor who faced increasing demands while trying to maintain instructional effectiveness. This account provided online program directors who sought to balance instructor satisfaction, accreditation standards, and financial pressures with insight into the impact of class size choices on instructor behavior in the online classroom. A qualitative autoethnographic method was used to understand the nature of the connection between class size and instructor use of instructional posts and to identify factors that influence the way instructors participate in online discussions. The autoethnographic genre of qualitative research allowed the …

Instructional Leadership Practices Of Middle School Principals Regarding Students With Learning Disabilities, Sharon Dixson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractA problem existed among middle school principals in that they appeared to inconsistently apply instructional leadership practices while supporting their teachers teaching students with learning disabilities. How the principals perceived these inconsistencies and the possible effects on practice was not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of middle school principals regarding their instructional leadership practices to consistently support teachers who teach students with learning disabilities. The conceptual framework comprised the instructional leadership theory of Murphy, Hallinger, Weil, and Mitman. The research question addressed the perceptions of middle school principals regarding their instructional leadership practices …

School Leaders’ Perspectives Of The Uva Model For Instructional Leadership Competency, Shelley Anne Halverson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research shows supportive partnerships between school districts and universities can enhance school district performance. Such a relationship was used to address the problem of lacking quality instructional leadership capacity of school leaders placed in target turnaround school settings to improve teacher efficacy and student achievement. The purpose of this study was to create deep understanding of the perceptions of target turnaround school leaders that participated in the target district’s partnership with the University of Virginia Partnership for Leadership in Education (UVA-PLE), to improve their instructional leadership competency. Guided by a leadership competency framework developed by McClelland and applied by UVA-PLE, …

A Grounded Theory Study: The Lived Experiences Of K-12 Administrators Regarding Leadership Effectiveness Over Time, Sandy Georgette Deades Ritchey

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this study was to generate a theory in education comparable to studies in other disciplines by exploring how current leadership theories can be expanded to explain how leadership effectiveness changes over time. This study explored active and retired principals' experiences to see how their effectiveness may or may not have changed over time. I was particularly interested in learning if there was a point in their careers when they perceived that they were no longer as effective as they used to be or could have been, what this looked like, and how this guided their next steps. …

Three Blended Librarians' Narratives On Developing Professional Identities, Adonis Amparo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A blended librarian holds two separate and distinct responsibilities in the academic institution. One relates to instructional technology, the other relates to the information professional. In this narrative inquiry, I explore the constructed identity of three blended librarians and offer insight to inform current and future blended librarians, instructional technologists and designers, and their academic institutions. Each librarian was hired between 2012 and 2013. Each participant was the first blended librarian at each of their universities. I explored themes of transformation, inclusiveness, and connectedness. I used Mezirow’s transformational learning theory with support from secondary theories, universal instructional design and TPACK …

Instructional And Managerial Challenges Of School Principals In Small Rural Schools, Brenita Jordan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Principals in rural schools often must do more work with fewer resources and serve in many capacities performing both instructional and managerial duties. School principals in small rural school’s experience challenges when performing instructional and managerial tasks. The purpose of this case study was to examine how school principals in small rural districts handle instructional and managerial tasks and the perception of their readiness to manage these instructional and managerial tasks. The conceptual framework was Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership, which defines main quadrants of leadership as (a) telling or directing, (b) selling or coaching, (c) participating or supporting, and …

Instructional Leadership Practices Of K-12 School Principals Regarding Teachers' Burnout, Lakeva Lajune Winchester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers who experience burnout leave the teaching profession. School principals in a public school district located in the southern United States are inconsistently implementing instructional leadership practices to support teachers who experience burnout. The purpose of this basic qualitative research study was to understand the instructional leadership practices of school principals regarding teachers’ burnout. The conceptual framework was Vygotsky’s theory of zone of proximal development, which posits that people are more motivated to learn when they are supported and encouraged and is based on Malcolm Knowles’ theory of andragogy, known as the adult leaning theory. The research question considered how …

Successful Instructional Reading Practices For African American Male Third-Grade Students, Kimberly D. Whaley, Steve Wells, Nancy Williams

Journal of Educational Research and Practice

African American male third graders in U.S Title I schools frequently fail to read on grade level. However, in three Title I schools in East Texas, this demographic demonstrated exceptionally high reading ability. This explanatory case study investigated the instructional strategies and practices linked to high reading achievement for these students. The study is grounded in Ladson-Billings’s theory of culturally relevant pedagogy and supported by Vygotsky’s theory of social and cognitive constructivism. The research questions were used to examine the instructional strategies and practices used on each campus that may have resulted in such high reading achievement. This study engenders …

Building Impactful Instructional Leadership Teams That Bolster Student Growth And Achievement, Jason Stamper, Shatavia Elder

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Are you a K-12 educational leader and have been searching for that high leverage initiative that will thrust your student growth and achievement to the next level? After attending this session, you will leave with a clear blueprint for establishing and maintaining a strong Instructional Leadership Team focused on the right work and equipped for unprecedented student growth and achievement.

Cognitive Architecture And Instructional Design: 20 Years Later, John Sweller, Jeroen J. G Van Merrienboer, Fred Paas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Cognitive load theory was introduced in the 1980s as an instructional design theory based on several uncontroversial aspects of human cognitive architecture. Our knowledge of many of the characteristics of working memory, long-term memory and the relations between them had been well-established for many decades prior to the introduction of the theory. Curiously, this knowledge had had a limited impact on the field of instructional design with most instructional design recommendations proceeding as though working memory and long-term memory did not exist. In contrast, cognitive load theory emphasised that all novel information first is processed by a capacity and duration …

Secondary Biology Instruction In The General Senior Secondary Schools Of Aceh Province Indonesia: An Analysis Of Teachers’ Opinions And Teaching Practices Related To The Indonesia Biology Curriculum 2013, Wiwit Artika

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My study was to discover the perceptions of general secondary senior high school biology teachers about the application of curriculum 2013. Their further opinions of biology topics and the instructional practices in the class have supported the findings of this study. In addressing this study, general senior secondary school (GSSS) biology teachers (n=286) from 22 districts in Aceh province randomly participated in my study. Thus, six (n=6) teachers were selected as convenience sampling to have a one-on-one phone interview. The data collected were analyzed descriptively (frequency and percentage) and thematically to answer the research questions.

The documents comparison between the …

Instructional Support For Vocabulary Acquisition Among Young Dual Language Learners, Theresa L. Kohlmeier

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation examined a combined approach to teach novel vocabulary in English and Spanish for dual language learners prior to an English storybook read- aloud in a preschool setting. The 6-week intervention study was conducted in a Head Start program in the U. S. Mountain West with 60 dual-language preschoolers randomly assigned to small groups to receive the vocabulary intervention, using images and word definitions from researcher-trained teachers, teacher assistants or parent volunteers.

The experimental design included pre- and posttest assessments of target and general receptive vocabulary in English and Spanish, as well as language exposure, instructional quality, and fidelity …

Improving Instructional Practice Through Instructional Coaching, Lauren Dillard

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to determine how instructional coaching impacted implementation of shared reading strategies in kindergarten classrooms. This study included four teachers from one primary school in South Carolina. All of the teachers that participated in this study had more than two years of teaching experience. Data for this study was collected from surveys, classroom observations, lesson plans, and focus groups. Teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators at one elementary school are concerned with the students’ ability to comprehend materials that are being read to them, as well as reading materials that students are reading independently. …

Enhancing Instructional Leadership Through Collaborative Coaching: A Multi-Case Study, Gary Houchens, Thomas A. Stewart, Sara Elizabeth Jennings

Educational Administration, Leadership, and Research Faculty Publications

Purpose – Executive coaching has become increasingly important for enhancing organizational leaders’ professional effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing body of research literature that examines how coaching techniques help school principals improve their instructional leadership.

Design/methodology/approach – Using a protocol based on a theories of practice framework (Argyris and Schön, 1974) to support principals in deepening their self-reflection, this study added the element of a guided peer-coaching component in a group setting.

Findings – Results confirmed the effectiveness of the coaching protocol for assisting principals in deepening their self-awareness and critical reflection regarding their …

The Relationship Between Instructional Strategies And Teacher Evaluation In Michigan Public Schools, Stephen D. Laatsch

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine whether teachers altered instructional strategies based on their local school district’s teacher evaluation framework. Further, if changes were made to their use of instructional strategies, specific factors that influenced the changes were explored. This information is important because school districts across Michigan spend time, energy, and money for new teacher evaluation frameworks. Thus, it is essential to know if these frameworks change the use of instructional strategies in the classroom.

Teachers in 10 southeastern Michigan public school districts were surveyed to determine use of research-based instructional strategies before and after the …

Struggling Reader To Struggling Reader: High School Students' Responses To A Cross-Age Tutoring Program, Patricia Paterson, Lori Elliott

Lori Elliott

This qualitative study examines the perceptions and responses of struggling ninth-grade readers who are teaching reading to struggling second- and third-grade students in a cross-age tutoring program. The program was designed to overcome the entrenched, negative affective barriers that older students often bring to the required reading class by placing them in a leadership role. It also intended simultaneously to improve their vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Results indicate that the older students developed strong mirroring relationships with their younger counterparts based on shared community strengths and norms, shifted their perspective to see themselves as increasingly competent role models, and applied …

Augmenting Instructional Animations With A Body Analogy To Help Children Learn About Physical Systems, Wim T. J. L Pouw, Tamara Van Gog, Rolf A. Zwaan, Fred Paas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

We investigated whether augmenting instructional animations with a body analogy (BA) would improve 10- to 13-year-old children's learning about class-1 levers. Children with a lower level of general math skill who learned with an instructional animation that provided a BA of the physical system, showed higher accuracy on a lever problemsolving reaction time task than children studying the instructional animation without this BA. Additionally, learning with a BA led to a higher speed-accuracy trade-off during the transfer task for children with a lower math skill, which provided additional evidence that especially this group is likely to be affected by learning …

Adult Learners' And Millennials' Preferred Methods Of Instruction In The College Classroom, January Marie Baker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Today's college students are diverse and include students who differ in chronological age and developmental learning levels. This recent shift in student demographics, including millennials and adult learners, has created a need for instructors to understand and address their students' learning preferences. Traditionally, student feedback has been collected from course evaluation forms after each term ended, thus preventing instructors from incorporating student feedback into their teaching. Accordingly, this narrative qualitative case study was conducted to explore what instructional methods students in a community college developmental reading course preferred to meet their learning preferences and classroom needs. Willingham's interpretation of informational …

One Instructional Leadership Team’S Journey Through A Professional Learning Cycle, Elizabeth A. England

Dissertations

Schools often set a large number of goals, making it difficult to plan, support, monitor, and match strategic levers in a systematic way. This study narrates the actions and findings of one instructional leadership team as they implement an eight week cycle of professional learning around a single focus. Scripted observations of teachers and students, achievement data, student work samples, as well as exit slips with action items recount the team members’ perspectives and experiences. The team chronicled its journey, which proved to be one of inquiry, trial and error, reflection and retooling. The study closes with highlighting the changes …

Research Brief: Instructional Partners In Digital Library Spaces, Georgia Southern University

Research Briefs (2012-2019)

• Instructional Partners in Digital Library Learning Spaces* *Selected as a 2014 Top Twenty Library Instruction Article by the American Library Association.

Reforms In Relation To Research-Based Theories Resulting In Successful Test Results, Veronica Renee Christian

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The study school in Bibb County, Georgia had a passing rate of approximately 60% on 9th grade literature and composition End of Course Tests (EOCT). An instructional paradigm was needed to help provide quality instruction and facilitate students' efforts to meet the mandate for performance. Research supports differentiated instruction (DI), instructional technology (IT), Gardner's multiple intelligences, and Vygotsky's theory of constructivism as the foundation for quality instruction. This ex post facto study used a cluster sample to explore 2 questions. One research questions explored the effect of DI enhanced with IT on students' learning in 9th grade literature and composition …

Instructional Writing Practices In Grade Five, Susan Elaine Newberry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nationally and locally, a paucity of students are effective writers. The purpose of this exploratory, sequential mixed methods study was to explore effective research-based writing strategies and influences on writing skills of 5th grade students. Guided by Vygotsky's zone of proximal development theory, the research questions investigated teachers' perceptions of the best instructional writing practices, the effect of writing practices on students' state writing scores, the relationship between student attendance and performance on the state writing test, and the amount of instructional planning dedicated to best writing practices. Data were collected from interviews with 5th grade teachers (N = 5), …

The Effects Of A Humorous Instructional Video On Motivation And Learning, Hans P. Aagard

Open Access Dissertations

This study examines the effects of humor within an instructional video on student learning and motivation. Humor in education has been shown to improve students' perception of the instructor and learning environment, with mixed results on gains in actual learning. Humor has been suggested as a strategy to gain and maintain attention, improving motivation to learn. With the dramatic increase of online multimedia instruction, research on the use of humor on multimedia instructional materials can help us determine if it can be used to improve learning and motivation.

In a pretest-posttest controlled design, students viewed a short multimedia instructional video. …

Research Briefs: An Examination Of Interactive Whiteboard Perceptions Using The Concerns-Based Adoption Model Stages Of Convern And The Apple Classrooms Of Tomorrow Stages Of Instructional Evolution, Georgia Southern University

Research Briefs (2012-2019)

• An Examination of Interactive Whiteboard Perceptions Using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model Stages of Concern and the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Stages of Instructional Evolution

Instructional Strategies To Promote Incremental Beliefs In Youth Sport, Stewart A. Vella, Dylan P. Cliff, Anthony D. Okely, Dana L. Weintraub, Thomas N. Robinson

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Implicit beliefs about the nature of human abilities have significant motivational, behavioral, and affective consequences. The purpose of this article was to review the application of implicit beliefs to the youth sport context and to provide theoretically derived and evidence-based instructional strategies to promote adaptive implicit beliefs about human abilities within this context. A narrative overview of theory and a review of research pertaining to implicit beliefs in education, sport, and physical activity are undertaken. Theoretically derived and evidence-based instructional strategies are outlined, and specific coaching behaviors are suggested. Six instructional strategies to promote adaptive implicit beliefs in these contexts …

เปิดประเด็น, สิวะโชติ ศรีสุทธิยากร

Journal of Education Studies

No abstract provided.

Affective Learning Profiles In Compulsory High School Physical Education: An Instructional Communication Perspective, Collin Webster, Diana Mindrila, Glenn Weaver

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Affective learning is a major focus of the national K-12 physical education (PE) content standards (National Association for Sport and Physical Education [NASPE, 2004]). Understanding how students might fit into different affective learning subgroups would help extend affective learning theory in PE and suggest possible intervention strategies for teachers wanting to increase students' affective learning. The present study used cluster analysis (CA) and latent profile analysis (LPA) to develop a two-level affective learning-based typology of high school students in compulsory PE from an instructional communication perspective. The optimal classification system had ten clusters and four latent profiles. A comparison of …

An Assessment Of Instructional Coaching: Results Of A Survey Of Selected School Districts In South Carolina, Heather Clayton Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine teachers' perceptions of instructional coaching. Four research-based instructional coaching best practices were identified for the development of a survey. The four instructional coaching best practices were: collaborating with teachers to address school-wide instructional concerns and practices, collaboratively planning with a teacher to identify when and how an instructional intervention might be implemented, modeling instructional practices in teachers' classrooms, and observing teachers and providing teachers with feedback. Data were collected through the researcher constructed Teachers' Perceptions of Instructional Coaching survey. Elementary teachers in four school districts in the Upstate of South Carolina participated …