Educational Technology Commons^™

Online Inclusivity: Mission And Best Practice, Colin P. Marks, Zoe Niesel

Faculty Works

This essay examines the role of inclusivity as a foundational principle in online legal education, arguing that it is essential to fulfilling institutional missions, aligning with established pedagogical best practices, and enhancing the overall learning experience. Drawing on the development of a fully online J.D. program, the piece outlines how inclusivity can be embedded at both the institutional and classroom levels. It highlights strategies for fostering a sense of community among geographically dispersed students, including integrating online learners into broader academic and co-curricular activities, designing courses that balance synchronous and asynchronous instruction, and implementing consistent instructional standards. The essay further …

Smart Learning In An Ai-Driven World, Joseph R. Corbeil, Maria Elena Corbeil

TxDLA Journal of Digital Learning

SMART learning is an approach that combines sustainability, motivation, adaptability, results-oriented practices, and technology enablement. AI-driven SMART learning prioritizes flexibility, cost-efficiency, and knowledge retention, equipping teachers and students with the tools to adapt to an ever-evolving world. By envisioning AI's role in fostering SMART learning attributes, we pave the way for a future where technology and education intertwine to empower learners and redefine teaching practices.

Gai Research - A Case Study On The Implications Of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gai) On Teaching Within An Irish Technological University., Moya Cronin

Theses

The rapid emergence of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) has introduced a transformative age of technology, gaining prominent attention in higher education. This mixed-methods case study examined how GAI was understood, applied, and managed within an Irish Technological University at a time of turbulence when no official GAI policies were available as a point of reference. Lecturing and research staff were invited to participate in an online survey (𝑛 = 145) and semi-structured interviews (𝑛 = 8) to share their experiences with GAI technology within the case study university. Lack of guidance was seen to affect staff’s confidence and adoption, but …

The Use Of Extended Reality (Xr) In Higher Education: A Systematic Review, Diane Burke, Helen Crompton, Christine Nickel

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The use of XR, which encompasses Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) has evolved rapidly in higher education (HE), driven by advancements in technology and the increasing recognition of its potential to enhance learning experiences. This systematic review provides unique findings with an up-to-date examination of the use of XR in HE from 2020–2024. Using PRISMA principles and protocol, 295 articles were identified for full examination. Using a priori, and grounded coding, the data from the 295 articles were extracted, analyzed, and coded to determine the trends in HE research regarding the use of XR. A …

Exploring The Impact Of Generative Ai Chatgpt On Critical Thinking In Higher Education: Passive Ai-Directed Use Or Human-Ai Supported Collaboration?, Nesma Ragab Nasr, Chih-Hsiung Tu, Jennifer Werner, Tonia Bauer, Cherng-Jyh Yen, Laura Sujo-Montes

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Generative AI is weaving into the fabric of many human aspects through its transformative power to mimic human-generated content. It is not a mere technology; it functions as a generative virtual assistant, raising concerns about its impact on cognition and critical thinking. This mixed-methods study investigates how GenAI ChatGPT affects critical thinking across cognitive presence (CP) phases. Forty students from a four-year university in the southwestern United States completed a survey; six provided their ChatGPT scripts, and two engaged in semi-structured interviews. Students’ self-reported survey responses suggested that GenAI ChatGPT improved triggering events (M = 3.60), exploration (M = 3.70), …

Transforming Engineering Education: Project-Based Learning And Technology Integration In A Senior-Level Mechanisms Course, Krishnanand Kaipa, Anurag Purwar, Orlando M. Ayala, Sebastian Bawab

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

Engineering education faces the challenge of preparing students for a rapidly evolving, interdisciplinary field that demands a strong foundation in theoretical principles, practical skills, and the ability to solve real-world problems. This study describes a project-based learning (PBL) intervention implemented in a senior-level mechanical engineering course focused on mechanisms analysis and design. The intervention combined foundational coursework with bio-inspired design projects, where students developed walking end-effector robotic mechanisms for medical applications. Students utilized tools such as MotionGen software and SnappyXO kits to synthesize, simulate, prototype, and test their designs. Qualitative analysis of student evaluations and project reports revealed that the …

Towards Dynamic Learner State: Orchestrating Ai Agents And Workplace Performance Via The Model Context Protocol, Mohan Yang, Nolan Lovett, Belle Li, Zhen Hou

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Current learning and development approaches often struggle to capture dynamic individual capabilities, particularly the skills they acquire informally every day on the job. This dynamic creates a significant gap between what traditional models think people know and their actual performance, leading to an incomplete and often outdated understanding of how ready the workforce truly is, which can hinder organizational adaptability in rapidly evolving environments. This paper proposes a novel dynamic learner-state ecosystem—an AI-driven solution designed to bridge this gap. Our approach leverages specialized AI agents, orchestrated via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), to continuously track and evolve an individual’s multi-dimensional …

Examining Teaching Competencies And Challenges While Integrating Artificial Intelligence In Higher Education, Xinyue Ren, Min Lun Wu

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has demonstrated their affordances and limitations in revolutionizing pedagogical strategies in higher education. Given the lack of guidelines, policies, and resources to assist instructors in efficiently and ethically integrating AI into teaching and learning practices, this systematic review aimed to investigate AI integration competencies and challenges in higher education from the intelligent Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) perspective. We first applied the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) to identify 23 studies published between 2019 and 2023 that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. After conducting open coding and …

Advancing Pedagogical And Instructional Design Through Artificial Intelligence (Ai) In Education And Training Contexts, Mohan Yang, Jewoong Moon, Tian Luo, Jinhee Kim

STEMPS Faculty Publications

[Introduction] "The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible." - Arthur C. Clarke

It is our pleasure and honor as guest editors for this special issue of the Journal of Applied Instructional Design (JAID) to present "Advancing Pedagogical and Instructional Design through Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education and Training Contexts." This issue arrives at a truly timely moment, as the rapid and continuous development of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is fundamentally reshaping the traditional paradigms of teaching, learning, and training.

Analysing Nontraditional Students' Chatgpt Interaction, Engagement, Self-Efficacy And Performance: A Mixed-Methods Approach, Mohan Yang, Shiyan Jiang, Belle Li, Kristin Herman, Tian Luo, Shanan Chappell Moots, Nolan Lovett

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Generative artificial intelligence brings opportunities and unique challenges to nontraditional higher education students, stemming, in part, from the experience of the digital divide. Providing access and practice is critical to bridge this divide and equip students with needed digital competencies. This mixed-methods study investigated how nontraditional higher education students interact with ChatGPT in multiple courses and examined relationships between ChatGPT interactions, engagement, self-efficacy and performance. Data were collected from 73 undergraduate and graduate students through chat logs, course reflections and artefacts, surveys and interviews. ChatGPT interactions were analysed using four metrics: prompt number, depth of knowledge (DoK), prompt relevance and …

Overcoming Resistance To Ai In Higher Education: A Case Study, C. Tomovic, M. Tomovic

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

While the deployment of AI in business and industry is widely acknowledged for its potential to improve efficiencies, decision-making, and automation, its implementation often encounters several challenges. These include integrating AI with existing systems, ensuring data quality and availability, bridging the employee skills gap, overcoming resistance to change, addressing ethical concerns, managing costs, complying with regulations, and handling ongoing maintenance and updates. In the context of higher education, however, the challenges take a different shape. Faculty members may express concerns about how AI could disrupt traditional teaching methods, necessitate changes in course delivery, and raise issues related to job security …

Virtual Learning In Emergency Medicine Residency Programs, Ashley Rider, Laura Oh, Rahul Bhat, Michael Gottlieb, Bruce Lo, Ulemu Luhanga, Shayne Gue, Jason Laenngfeld, Sarah Greenberger, Jeffery Hill, Jonathan Heidt

Department of Emergency Medicine Faculty Publications

During the COVID-19 pandemic, educational systems worldwide faced significant disruptions as in-person learning became unfeasible. In response, many institutions, including graduate medical education programs, swiftly transitioned to virtual learning platforms to adapt to these challenges. The rapid and unplanned pivot in learning format resulted in temporary negative impacts on residency training. Conversely, the experience of the rapid shift may have resulted in some long-term benefits while also preparing programs for future disruptions. This review aimed to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of virtual learning, potential mitigation strategies for the realized disadvantages, and potential areas of future research.

Investigating The Effect Of Ai Use Disclosure And Identity On Faculty Evaluation, Nchimunya Mwiinga

Honors Program Theses

This study examines how professors' disclosure of artificial intelligence (AI) use affects student evaluations and whether these effects vary by professor ethnicity and gender. Participants reviewed identical course materials attributed to professors varying in gender and ethnicity (Asian, Black, Hispanic), with half explicitly disclosing AI use in material preparation. Results revealed that professors who disclosed AI use received significantly lower ratings across all evaluation dimensions. Furthermore, ethnicity interacted significantly with disclosure—Asian professors experienced the most substantial negative impact, Hispanic professors showed moderate negative effects, and Black professors demonstrated minimal differences between disclosure conditions. No significant gender effects were observed. These …

Leveraging Custom Gpts For Formative Assessment And Feedback, Nari Kim, Jason Vickers, Shaimaa Alyehaibi, Chikezie Ozuzu, Xinyue Ren, Suhasini Kotcherlakota

STEMPS Faculty Publications

As artificial intelligence (AI) advances, the use of custom generative pre-trained transformers (Custom GPTs) in formative assessments opens new opportunities for improving student learning and engagement. Custom GPTs increase cognitive and emotional engagement by providing timely, context-sensitive, and tailored responses based on unique learner profiles. This paper aims to investigate how custom GPT-driven formative feedback can enhance individualized learning experiences and improve student performance. This paper will discuss the promise of this AI tool, the challenges associated with its application, and recommendations for educators and academics looking to use these technologies for formative assessments.

College Students' Identity Differences In Offline And Online Learning Environment And Their Effects On Achievement Motivation, Sang-Soog Lee, Jinhee Kim, Seung Won Yu, Na Li

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The unprecedented evolution of educational technologies has transformed the learning landscape, creating distinct experiences in offline and online learning environments (OLE). However, little attention has been given to exploring students’ identities in the online learning context and how they can influence academic trajectories, limiting the development of a holistic understanding of the nature, effects, and areas of improvement in students’ identity formation in OLE. This study aims to investigate how students’ identity subcomponents differ among offline and OLE students via propensity score matching (PSM) in China, which allows us to find a doppelganger to estimate the counterfactual situation for making …

Developing Systemic Thinking Skills: Design-Based Research Of One-Page Tools For Public Managers, Tracey A. Regenold, Sheila E. Murphy, Philip A. Reed

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

A design-based research study on the development of one-page tools to support systemic thinking in public managers is presented. Study participants included public managers of social and human service agencies within government or nonprofit organizations, as learners for whom the tools were designed; and instructional design professionals, offering expert opinions regarding the design of tools for adult learners. The design process consisted of generating ideas, visualizing ideas and developing prototypes of the tools. Formative assessments of tool prototypes were conducted in several small online focus groups, sharing specific tools to be used within the context of specific management practices, such …

The Relationships Between Learner Socio-Demographic Factors, Self-Efficacy, Culture, And Student Engagement In The Online Learning Environment, Nikki L. Lagrone

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The continuing need to understand and evaluate student engagement, specifically in the online learning environment, is critical for researchers and instructional designers. To design online learning for optimal learning outcomes, researchers must account for the individual cultural and cognitive characteristics of the learner. By examining cultural attributes of the learner, instructional designers will be able to design online instruction as a more inclusive learning environment. This quantitative, explanatory correlational research study aimed to investigate the relationship between learner cultural attributes and online student engagement. Additionally, how learner socio-demographic factors and online learning self-efficacy are related to online student engagement were …

Experiencing The Shift: How Experiential Blended Learning Professional Development Enhances Teacher Self-Efficacy, Shannon N. Tabaldo, Ashley L. Ireland

Journal of Catholic Education

This qualitative study examines how participation in a multi-year, experiential professional development program—the Academy of Blended Learning (ABL)—shaped teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in implementing blended learning. Grounded in Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, Bruner’s constructivism, and Knowles’ adult learning principles, the study drew on semi-structured interviews and instructional artifacts from eight teachers in Catholic schools serving historically marginalized communities in California. Findings suggest that ABL participation was associated with increased instructional confidence, a stronger sense of professional purpose, and greater enthusiasm for student-centered, technology-enhanced learning. Teachers attributed these shifts to ABL’s design, which emphasized active participation, collaborative inquiry, differentiated instruction, and development of …

Personalized Physics Learning Through Ai: Insights From Problem Generation, Chatbot Dialogues, And Intelligent Tutoring Systems, Atharva Dange

Physics Dissertations - Archive

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform science education, yet questions remain on how best to integrate these technologies into teaching and learning. This dissertation investigates the use of AI-driven tools in university physics courses through three complementary studies. In the first study, a generative language model (ChatGPT) was used to create novel physics homework problems aligned with course objectives. Analysis showed that, after expert vetting, AI-generated questions can foster higher-order problem-solving and reduce student reliance on solution memorization, though careful instructor oversight is required to ensure accuracy. The second study embedded an AI chatbot as a learning aid in …

Observation Report On Learners’ Use Of Digital Tools And Computational Thinking, Michelle C. Fraboni

Open Educational Resources

This classroom field observation assignment asks student teachers to observe learners' use of digital tools and computational thinking to support learning. The assignment aims to engage student teachers in focusing on classroom practice around computational thinking and using digital tools for learning. In particular, it requires student teachers to think critically about how technology is currently used in classrooms and draws on Fantozzi's (2022) ideas about creating, communicating, and collaborating with digital tools.