Education Commons^™

Learning: A Teaching Philosophy, Stephen Allen Warren

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio presents the author’s current understanding of second language teaching. The main section of the portfolio consists of a teaching philosophy that expresses the author’s believe that definitions of learning direct second language teaching. Three artifacts explore language, culture, and literature and express the development of the author’s teaching philosophy. An annotated bibliography covers the essential readings done in the course of study and provides the foundations for the author’s ontological arguments.

What Is The Participant Learning Experience Like Using Youtube To Study A Foreign Language?, Yuan-Hsiang Lo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research is to explore and understand participants' experience using YouTube to learn a foreign language. YouTube and learning has become more and more popular in the recent years. The finding of this research will be adding more understanding to the emerging body of knowledge of YouTube phenomenon. In this research, there are three interviews and two questionnaires. The interviews are conducted to find in-depth responses from participants; the questionnaires are used to inquire demographic and basic information about the participants. There are twelve themes found in this research. These themes reflect on the perceived experience using YouTube to learn …

A Study Of District Leadership Practices In The Principal Professional Learning Community, Danielle Grace Miller

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This qualitative study was implemented in an urban, Title I school district in the southern portion of the United States. The problem the study addressed was that the various phenomena pertaining to the implementation of the principal professional learning community (PPLC), as perceived by the 14 participating elementary school principals, had not been examined to determine their influence. Qualitative data were acquired from the principals through personal interviews.

Findings suggested that, with the regular opportunities for principals to share ideas and thoughts with their colleagues, PPLC participants perceived improved performance involving (a) the attributes of high skillfulness and high participation …

Movement In Learning: Revitalizing The Classroom, Marcus Van

MA TESOL Collection

Movement is a vital part of our every day lives, and it is also important for a healthy brain. The following paper examines the shift from movement based learning to a more restrictive rote format, which often has adverse effects on learning. This work discusses the ways in which teachers are under pressure to “teach to the test” instead of creating student-centered classrooms. Some of the side effects of a test-centered approach are low self-esteem (from not meeting strict academic requirements) and behavioral problems in students.

Adding more movement to lessons can provide variation and relief from the rote-only system. …

Leaving In The Past: The Role History Plays In Video Games, Joseph Fordham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

How can something considered by many within academia as childish or a waste of time be potentially useful in presenting or even studying history? Not only has the video game industry grown into one of the largest forms of media in the world, but these games are also finding use as a training aid for the military and major companies, as an advertising medium, and, most importantly, as a tool for teaching. As developmental capabilities improve with new generations of graphics hardware, video games are turning towards the recreation of real-world and historical events. This drive towards realism and accuracy …

Not You/Like You, With You: Toward A Praxis Of Love, Learning, And Liberation In Teaching Efl Writing — On Zombies, De-Colonial Feminisms, And Freire In Efl Contact Zones, Jessmaya Morales

MA TESOL Collection

This paper explores EFL writing as a critical contact zone in which identity and subjectivity are found, denied, contested, de/constructed and occupied. The author opens with an account of a dream, utilized as a metaphor to examine EFL learning through the analytical lens of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The paper’s first section is a self-reflexive discussion of Freire’s pedagogy and why his unambiguous analyses of power, subjectivity, and the “banking system of education” are vital to the field of ELT. In the second section, the author discusses subjectivity, identity, and intersectionality as rooted in the work of …

Blogging About Summer Reading, Janice Becker Place

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

The purpose of this study was to investigate what happened when grade 11 high school honors students blogged about their summer reading under the monitoring of a teacher during vacation. I proposed that an educational blog might serve as an effective tool during summer vacation to help students retain skills or learning while at a physical distance from their school and teacher. In addition to the blog’s transcripts, a pre-project survey, post-project survey,and post-project interviews provided complementary data to inform my analysis. Qualitative analysis was applied to the blog discussion entries for evidence of peer learning, scaffolding, critical thinking, and …

Exploring Second Language Learning: Communicative Competence, Pragmatics, And Second Language Literacy, Timothy M. Mecham

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio is a compilation of the author’s teaching philosophy and three artifacts that explore elements of second language teaching. The teaching philosophy contains the author’s strategies of second language teaching including instructional practice, communicative language teaching theory, and application. This portfolio also contains artifacts of second language teaching that explore communicative competence, formal address pragmatics, and second language literacy. An annotated bibliography of books and articles that have impacted the author’s teaching beliefs and practices is also included.

An Investigation Into The Practicality And Applicability Of The Pendandragogic Framework: A Case Study Of Faculty Attitude Toward A Learner-Centered Model Of Teaching And Learning At A University In The Southern United States, Selwyn Samaroo

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study defines and explores pedandragogy as a teaching and learning model using a southern university in the United States of America as a case study. It examines its applicability to a multiplicity of academic disciplines, testing the attitudes of faculty towards the implementation of the learner-centered approach in higher education. Pedandragogy focuses on the concept of self-engagement and the independence of learners through the creation of a learning environment conducive to a learner-centered approach. This study seeks to answer the question: Can the pedandragogic framework be practically applied to a multiplicity of academic disciples in higher education? And, among …

Enhancing The Calibration Accuracy Of Adult Learners: A Multifaceted Intervention, Antonio P. Gutierrez

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The present study employs the Nelson and Narens Model of Metacognition (NNMM) to examine the influence of metacognitive strategy training and extrinsic incentives on performance, level of confidence, and the calibration accuracy of undergraduate students' metacognitive judgments within a pretest/posttest experimental design. Calibration of performance is crucial because it allows learners to engage in appropriate comprehension monitoring during a learning episode. As metacognition implies, those individuals who are better calibrators can more adequately adapt to the demands of the situation (monitoring), and thereby better prepare for learning episodes that are similar in format or content (control). Consequently, this aids in …

Interactive Effects Of Working Memory Self-Regulatory Ability And Relevance Instructions On Text Processing, Nancy Jo Hamilton

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Reading is a process that requires the enactment of many cognitive processes. Each of these processes uses a certain amount of working memory resources, which are severely constrained by biology. More efficiency in the function of working memory may mediate the biological limits of same. Reading relevancy instructions may be one such method to assist readers in utilizing working memory resources more efficiently.

This study examines the relationship between perspective relevance instructions and participants' ability to regulate their working memory resources. In a 3 x 2 x 2 design the study extended the literature by utilizing a measure of fluid …

Self-Directed Learning In Problem-Based Learning Versus Traditional Lecture-Based Learning: A Meta-Analysis, Heather M. Leary

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Problem-based learning is an approach to education and learning that focuses on students investigating problems, rather than being directly instructed by teachers. Reviews, also called meta-analyses, comparing traditional lecture-based learning to problem-based learning report modest positive learning gains in student cognitive outcomes. Many meta-analyses have been conducted to analyze the effectiveness of problem-based learning, but none examine the extent of self-directed learning in problem-based learning. The purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis across all disciplines (medicine, education, business, history, etc.) while examining self-directed learning in problem-based learning.

This study used a random effects model meta-analysis using 75 …

Describing Comprehension, Susan Vander Does

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Teachers' observations of student performance in reading are abundant and insightful but often remain internal and unarticulated. As a result, such observations are an underutilized and undervalued source of data. Given the gaps in knowledge about students’ reading comprehension that exist in formal assessments, the frequent calls for teachers’ observational data to fill these gaps, and the paucity of research on teachers as assessment instruments, this study sought to learn more about the knowledge teachers gain about students’ comprehension through embedded observation.

This research was framed by a transactional conception of reading and informed by cognitive and sociocultural studies of …

The Power Of Music: Song Serves As An Effective Recall Cue In Children, Tanisha Dews

McCabe Thesis Collection

Song, in some cases, can facilitate learning and recall. The experiments in this thesis demonstrate that information is better recalled when it is heard as a song rather than as speech or through lecture. This study further proves that when a combination of song and speech are taught to children, the retrieval of information is even greater. When the group of the second condition was tested, they were more successful in recalling the information learned. This study also recognizes that song can infuse difficulty due to music's rich structure and makeup of rhythm, tempo, and stress patterns. The overall paper …

Feedback Intervention Theory: An Examination Of The Differential Effects Of Expertise On Performance, Blakely Lauren Smith

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the current research was to test the differential effects of feedback type (i.e., self-relevant vs. task-relevant) on individuals with different levels of expertise type (expert vs. novice). The current study examined level of expertise as a moderator of the effects of feedback intervention cue on performance on a sample of 193 female undergraduate psychology students at California State University, San Bernardino.

Technology Use In Higher Education Instruction, Sammy Elzarka

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The significance of integrating technology use in higher education instruction is undeniable. The benefits include those related to access to instruction by underserved populations, adequately preparing students for future careers, capitalizing on best instructional practices, developing higher order thinking activities, and engaging students whose relationships with technology are increasingly native, among others. The significance of the current study is based on the fact that few prior studies focused on the factors that support, or inhibit, the use of educational technology by faculty in schools of education. The data collection instrument was a survey designed by the principal investigator based on …

Metacognition And Learning Styles As Antecedents Of Training Outcomes, Cho Yan Yam

Theses Digitization Project

The goal of this study was to evaluate how metacognition (knowledge or cognitive process that monitors or controls cognition) helps to predict training outcomes through learning adaptation. Participants were 117 students from California University San Bernardino (CSUSB). A sample of 117 CSUSB undergraduate students participated in the study to assess the impact of metacognition on their training performance and adaptation to the learning environment. As this study focused on visual learning style and auditory learning style, the reliability of the visual learning style and auditory learning style tested using the data collected from 108 participants in this study (with 9 …

The Effects Of Brain Compatible Instruction, Social Emotional Development And Classroom Community Structures On Students, Elizabeth Anne Glick

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was designed to gather data on the impact of several classroom structures/strategies on adolescent students. The objective of the study was to identify if an impact from these structures is positive or negative and the extent to which it exists, positively or negatively. The research aimed to answer the following question: to what extent do the practices of compatible teaching, social emotional education, and classroom community building have an impact on student behavior, achievement, and attendance?

Learning Experiences Of International Students In Online Course : Mixed Methods Study, Gulnara Sadykova

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explored the learning experiences of international students in fully online courses offered through a US university. Employing a sociocultural framework, particularly ideas put forward by Russian psychologists L. Vygotsky and American scholars R. Scollon and S. W. Scollon, the study examined the interplay of host and native cultures in an online learning environment and studied its effect on international students' learning experiences, specifically on the learning experiences of one focal student from China.