Curriculum and Instruction Commons^™

Ms110 Syllabus: Introduction To Computers, Information Systems, And Artificial Intelligence, Wei Zhang

Management Science and Information Systems Faculty Publication Series

This is a syllabus for Professor Wei Zhang's MS110: Introduction to Computers, Information Systems and Artificial Intelligence Course within UMass Boston's College of Management. This is an Open Educational Resource and can be remixed, copied, redistributed, altered and reused as long as permission is given to the original creator.

Teaching Learning Newsletter Vol 6 Issue 1, Sastra Deemed To Be University

TLC Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Enhancing The Metacognitive Thinking Of Middle-Grade Multilingual Learners: A Design-Based Research Study Leveraging Dialogic Teaching, Renee R. Burns

Dissertations

This study explores how dialogic teaching can enhance metacognition and self-efficacy among middle school multilingual learners (MLs) who face challenges with the academic language demands of literacy tasks. Using a design-based research (DBR) methodology, specifically formative experiment, the Metacognitive Dialogic Teaching Protocol (MDTP) was implemented over seven iterative cycles. The research questions were as follows: How do dialogic interactions impact metacognition in middle-grade MLs? How does Metacognitive Dialogic Teaching affect comprehension development in these students? And how does it influence their self-efficacy? The participants included six middle-grade MLs engaged in a Tier 2 literacy intervention who initially exhibited fake reading …

Black Language Matters: Capitalizing On Black English For Educational Success Through Linguistic And Cultural Competence Training, Fritz Lauriston

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

This dissertation explores the impact of culturally responsive professional development on K–12 educators’ perceptions and understanding of Black English, also known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE). The study responds to the longstanding marginalization of Black English in educational environments and its implications for academic equity, cultural identity, and student performance—particularly among African American learners. The central intervention, titled “Do You Understand Me? Linguistic and Cultural Competence Black English Professional Development,” was designed to increase teachers’ linguistic awareness, dismantle deficit perspectives, and promote inclusive instructional practices that validate students’ home language.

Using a mixed-method design, 59 certified educators participated in …

Developing Sight-Reading Proficiency In Music Education: A Synthesis Of Instructional Strategies And Pedagogical Approaches, Charles Clements Ii

Theses

Sight-reading is a foundational skill in music education that enables students to perform unfamiliar musical material independently. Despite its importance, instruction is often inconsistent and driven by performance priorities rather than systematic skill development. This thesis synthesizes existing research on sight-reading pedagogy to identify effective instructional strategies and organize them into a cohesive framework for educators.

By connecting research to classroom application, this project provides a practical, research-informed model for sight-reading instruction. The findings suggest that effective instruction requires a structured and integrated approach that supports both cognitive processing and musical performance, ultimately promoting greater student independence and musical literacy.

Evaluating Equity In 9th And 10th Grade Ela Instruction, Alana Brown

Dissertations

Persistent racial disparities in English Language Arts (ELA) achievement remain a critical challenge in secondary education, particularly for Black students. This mixed-methods study examined the reading proficiency gap between Black and White students in Grades 9 and 10 on the state under study’s reading assessment. The purpose was to identify effective instructional strategies, necessary resources, and implementation processes to reduce the gap and ensure sustainability. Findings indicated that culturally responsive instruction, targeted intervention, and data-informed instructional coaching improved student engagement and reading performance. However, inconsistent implementation and limited early literacy foundations remained significant barriers. Recommendations include strengthening professional learning communities, …

The Impact Of Wicor Strategies On Academic Achievement In Secondary Classrooms, Neketa G. Watson

Dissertations

This mixed-methods study examined the impact of Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading (WICOR) instructional strategies on academic achievement and student learning in secondary schools. Conducted within a large, diverse school district, the study explored teacher and administrator perceptions of WICOR implementation and examined student achievement data across three secondary schools. Data were collected through Likert-scale surveys from 29 teachers and five administrators, semi-structured interviews with five administrators, and three years of extant state assessment data. Findings revealed strong positive perceptions of WICOR’s effectiveness in promoting student engagement, critical thinking, instructional consistency, and academic success. Participants also identified implementation challenges …

Unfreezing Language: A Decolonial Reframing Of Translanguaging Pedagogies In English As A New Language & Dual Language Bilingual Education Settings, Cristian R. Solorza

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This qualitative multi-case study examines how elementary teachers in English as a New Language (ENL) and Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) settings conceptualize, implement, and reflect upon translanguaging pedagogies, with particular attention to translanguaging rings as tools for language differentiation. Grounded in a rearticulation of language as a dynamic, socially, politically, and historically constructed subject and object, this study challenges monoglossic ideologies that position named languages as bounded systems at the center of language education. Instead, it centers students’ lived, embodied, and agentive language practices as foundational to language learning and to their participation as knowledge producers in ENL and …

From Campus To Community: The Role Of Higher Education In Strengthening Regional Entrepreneurial Ecosystems In Appalachia, Anne M. Montgomery

Dissertations

This study addresses a gap in understanding how small, rural liberal arts higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Appalachian College Association Entrepreneurial Alliance (ACAEA) support regional entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs), and how, if at all, those strategies vary across Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) county economic classifications. Using a qualitative multi-case design, the study examined 10 ACAEA institutions and drew on semi-structured interviews, site observations, institutional documents (including strategic plans), and ARC county-level economic data. The analysis produced five cross-case themes describing how these institutions support entrepreneurship: (a) strategic leadership and institutional culture, (b) experiential and embedded entrepreneurial education, (c) community-driven partnerships …

The School To Prison Pipeline From The Inside Out: Survivor Narraitves, Nina M. Koufalias

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the lived experiences of two Latino men who traversed the school-to-prison pipeline in the 1980s. The purpose of this study is to investigate how intersecting systems of racism, ableism, poverty, and exclusionary school practices shaped their educational trajectories and contributed to their incarceration. Three overarching research questions guide this inquiry: (1) What can be learned from the stories of two formerly incarcerated relatives that sheds light on how the school-to-prison pipeline is lived? (2) How do their narratives illustrate the impacts of exclusionary discipline policies, such as zero-tolerance, on educational opportunities and life outcomes? (3) How does …

Less Prep, More Presence: Implementing Pattern Teaching In Library Instruction Lesson Planning To Reduce Stress, Liana Bayne-Lin

Faculty Scholarship

As a liaison librarian at an R2 university, I support three STEM departments in their teaching and learning needs. Like many liaison librarians, one of the main activities I do to provide that support is guest lecturing in classes on information literacy topics like finding, using, evaluating, and citing scientific information sources. Like many  liaison librarians, I didn't get a lot of pedagogy instruction in library school, and had to learn by doing during my first year. And, like many teaching librarians, my desire to connect with my students in a genuine, authentic way is deep.

Going into the second …

Bringing The Focus Of Curriculum Back To The Students And What Does This Look Like For Teachers, Gabriella Anaya

University Honors Theses

As a future ELA teacher, I was curious about how the books students read influence their learning. Specifically, I wondered: How does letting students choose their own books impact reading comprehension outcomes? Studies suggest that the reading materials were not necessarily what we should be focusing on, rather the teaching methodology and how it implements reading materials. The key methodology that contributed to reading comprehension improvement was instilling motivation in students by fostering student autonomy over their own learning in the classroom. This is the main idea in which my research concentrates on connecting research on reading comprehension with practical …

Challenges And Opportunities Of Mastery-Based Learning: A Student-Centered Analysis In An Upper Division Programming Languages Course, Parshana Sekhon

Master's Theses

Traditional grading structures in computer science courses reward performance on a few high-stakes assessments that may not accurately reflect a student’s mastery of concepts. Mastery-Based Learning (MBL) offers students multiple opportunities to demonstrate understanding through iterative feedback and reassessment, promoting their persistence and self-regulation. However, MBL can promote student behaviors like procrastination, “minimal effort” attempts, or de-prioritizing the course in favor of other courses with inflexible deadlines, which may undermine its effectiveness. This case study investigates how students navigated MBL in an upper-division computer science course at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. The course explores the fundamentals of programming …

Intellectual Play And Its Relationship To Teacher Self-Efficacy, Gregory William Kile

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study set out to explore what can be done to improve outcomes for students in Indiana public schools and beyond by exploring ways in which educational leaders might be able to increase levels of teacher self-efficacy in their existing staff. It looked specifically at intellectual play, defined as the behaviors associated with metacognition, play, and innovation, and analyzed its relationship with teacher self-efficacy. Student achievement and overall success in school is critically important to them as individuals and to our society as a whole. If there are innovative ways to improve those outcomes for students, they should be explored. …

Dissertatin' While Black, T. Gertrude Jenkins

Black Educology Mixtape "Journal"

Dissertatin’ While Black (DWB) is a racial affinity space that employs a community-engaged approach to completing dissertation elements. More than a writing retreat, DWB centers holistic care, creating a site for mentorship, celebration, and the exchange of ideas. Rooted in BlackCrit (Dumas & ross, 2016) and Black Liberatory Educational Subversion (Jenkins, 2024), DWB emphasizes that participation in Black institutional third spaces can counter the isolation often experienced by Black doctoral students, especially at predominantly white institutions. Ultimately, DWB operates as a “homeplace” where Black doctoral students can feel seen, valued, and supported in their research (hooks, 1994). We believe that …

Designing Visible Thinking: A Developmental Approach To Metacognitive Teaching Practices, Peggy-Sue Westphal

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This synthesis paper examines how metacognitive thinking develops through intentional, sequenced teaching practices that deepen students’ cognitive engagement. Drawing on research, personal inquiry, and instructional design, it demonstrates how early and sustained metacognitive instruction strengthens learners’ reasoning, self-regulation, and awareness of their own cognitive process. The analysis centers on Opportunities to Respond (OTR), a metacognitive strategy highlighted in the institute of Educational Sciences’ Teacher-Delivered Behavioral Interventions, and compares this model the Know, Want to Know, Learned (KWL) framework and the Habits of Mind behaviors. Together, these approaches illustrate a developmental progression in which learners first notice their thinking, then organize …

Maximum Agency: Educator Engagement In The Ai Era, W Alex Foxworthy

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

The dominant narrative about AI in education emphasizes anxiety: jobs lost, skills devalued, futures foreclosed. But survey data reveals a more complex picture. Students and faculty who engage with AI tools see greater possibility and feel less threatened than those who avoid them. Engagement correlates with optimism. This essay argues that community college educators are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap and can play a key role in moving students from anxiety to agency by modeling engaged adaptation themselves. Yet faculty consistently report that lack of institutional support, not resistance, is the primary barrier to integration. Drawing on recent surveys …

Talk To Me: Exploring The Sociocultural Ecology Of Home Language And Literacy Practices Of Families In India, Surbhi Puri

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Existing research highlights the role of home language and literacy environments (HLLE) in shaping early language and literacy development, yet few studies have examined the practices of multilingual families in India. While home environments offer rich learning opportunities, broader sociocultural and policy contexts influence how families support literacy and language development. Families’ insights into home language use, literacy routines, and cultural practices remain underexplored in early childhood education research.

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the HLLE of preschool-aged children in India and examine how families support early language and literacy development within multilingual home …

Transformative Teaching And Learning - Practicing Emancipation Through Co-Construction And Dialogue In Workplace Learning, Lisa Roe

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

TRANSFORMATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING: PRACTICING EMANCIPATIONTHROUGH CO-CONSTRUCTION, AND DIALOGUE IN WORKPLACE TEACHING ANDLEARNING

June 2026

Lisa A. Roe, B.A., University of Maine

M.Ed., Suffolk University

Ph.D. University of Massachusetts Boston

Directed by Professor Patricia Krueger-Henney

This dissertation investigates how emancipatory and creative practices can transform vocational high school classrooms into spaces of shared power, dialogue, and mastery-based learning. Using an autoethnographic methodology, I examined my practice as a vocational educator in information technology over the course of an academic year.

Grounded in Wheatley’s fractal organization theory, Kincheloe’s critical constructivism, Lave and Wenger’s situated learning, and dialogic pedagogy, …

Whose Knowledge Is Sustained?: Dominican Students’ Cultural And Linguistic Experiences Navigating White, Female, And Monolingual Pedagogical Spaces, Carminia Lissette Castillo

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study examined how Dominican newcomer youth experience schooling in U.S. secondary schools, with emphasis on language, curriculum, identity, belonging, and students’ visions for more humanizing educational environments. Grounded in student testimonios, the study explored how school structures, pedagogical practices, and teacher–student relationships shape students’ academic engagement, emotional well-being, and sense of recognition as they navigate migration, language transition, and racialized identity formation. Informed by raciolinguistic, culturally sustaining, and critical interpretive frameworks, this study centered Dominican students’ voices as sources of knowledge about schooling, exclusion, and possibility. The findings comprise three central themes. First, students described raciolinguistic schooling …