Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Supporting Or Enabling: Developing A Sustainable Support Model For Eportfolio Initiatives, Debra D. Runshe

Teaching and Learning Technologies Presentations

As the eportfolio community has grown, as this conference celebrates, so has the use of eportfolios at Indiana University. ePortfolio use began primarily on the campus at Indianapolis, IUPUI, and has been used there for almost a decade. As eportfolio use scaled up at the university beyond the IUPUI campus, so has the need for support of these sometimes complex projects. Engage in a conversation with the presenter as strategies for successful scaling up are discussed.

Secondary Education Teacher Preparation Programs Should Differentiate Curriculum And Instruction For Traditional And Nontraditional Preservice Teachers, Cynthia Jane Schairer-Kessler

Theses and Dissertations

Much demand remains for teacher education programs to produce highly qualified teachers. Current trends show that almost half of today's preservice teachers are considered nontraditional in terms of age and life experience. The purpose of this study was to determine whether secondary education teacher preparation programs should differentiate curriculum and instruction for traditional and nontraditional preservice teachers. Research questions incorporated four variables of professional demeanor, teaching and learning, interpersonal skills, and time management. Data was collected through a presurvey at the beginning of the student teaching semester and a postsurvey at the end of the semester, as well as an …

Special Education Teacher Candidates And Mentors: Case Studies Of Collaboration In Pre-Service Field Experiences, Rebecca Lynn Schulte

Dissertations and Theses

Collaboration between general and special education teachers is essential for students with disabilities to have access to general education curriculum and instruction, and improved outcomes in school. The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), and No Child Left Behind Legislation, include mandates that increase demands for collaboration. However, many general and special education teachers report not feeling prepared to step outside traditional roles to collaborate to meet the needs of this population. Collaboration is also a strong element of teaching and special education standards for teacher preparation. Yet, research shows many teacher education programs lack coursework and field experiences that focus …

Riding The Wave: Open Access, Digital Publishing, And The Undergraduate Thesis, Char Miller

Pomona Faculty Publications and Research

Char Miller, W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis at Pomona College, Claremont, CA., gave the Opening Keynote for the USETDA 2013 Conference, July 24-26, held on the Claremont McKenna College and Scripps College campuses.

In this keynote address, Dr. Miller discusses the importance of building the educational foundation to support students and then incorporate opportunities for undergraduates to share their research.

Dr. Miller draws from his experience collaborating with librarians to integrate information literacy into the curriculum and requiring that all senior theses in the program be posted on the Claremont Colleges' Open Access institutional repository, Scholarship@Claremont.

Organization Strategies To Enhance Math Performance Of High School Students With Attention Deficit Disorders, Martina Wilkerson

Theses and Dissertations

Will the use of organizational strategies and tools improve overall academic performance for students with attention deficit disorders in a high school resource room math setting? The student participants in this study were taught to use organizational strategies and tools including an assignment completion strategy, a task analysis, and notebook checks to improve their classroom participation, assignment completion, and assessment scores. The overall results indicate that the students slightly improved their academic performance upon the implementation of organizational strategies and tools. Of the data reported, 37% of the students with ADHD and 40% of students without ADHD showed improvement because …

L1 Influence On L2 Intonation In Russian Speakers Of English, Christiane Fleur Crosby

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis investigates the development of intonation in questions and L1 influence. It is a longitudinal study using data from classroom interaction over six ten-week terms. The data was from video recordings at the National Labsite for Adult ESOL at Portland State University.Yes-no/and wh-/questions from one Russian speaking learner of English were analyzed over time and by language support level. Both acoustic and perceptual analysis was done. The yes-no/questions showed a clear pattern of target-like boundary tones more often without language support than with language support. A much smaller percentage of wh-/questions were target-like. The influence of L1 on L2 …

Examining Middle School Students' Statistical Thinking While Working In A Technological Environment, Melissa Arnold Scranton

Theses and Dissertations

Examining Middle School Students' Statistical Thinking

While Working in a Technological Environment

Melissa Arnold Scranton

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how students think in a technological environment. This was accomplished by exploring the differences in the thinking of students while they worked in a technological environment and comparing this to their work in a paper and pencil environment. The software program TinkerPlots: Dynamic Data Exploration (Konold & Miller, 2005), a construction tool that middle school students use for data analysis was the technological environment. In both environments, types of critical, creative, and statistical …

An Investigation Into Teacher Support Of Science Explanation In High School Science Inquiry Units, Rebecca Sue Hoffenberg

Dissertations and Theses

The Framework for K-12 Science Education, the foundation for the Next Generation Science Standards, identifies scientific explanation as one of the eight practices "essential for learning science." In order to design professional development to help teachers implement these new standards, we need to assess students' current skill level in explanation construction, characterize current teacher practice surrounding it, and identify best practices for supporting students in explanation construction. This multiple-case study investigated teacher practice in eight high school science inquiry units in the Portland metro area and the scientific explanations the students produced in their work samples.

Teacher Instructional Portfolios (TIPs) …

Deoxyribonucleic Acid And Other Words Students Avoid Speaking Aloud: Evaluating The Role Of Pronunciation On Participation In Secondary School Science Classroom Conversations, Stacie Elizabeth Beck

Dissertations and Theses

Student's verbal participation in science classrooms is an essential element in building the skills necessary for proficiency in scientific literacy and discourse. The myriad of new, multisyllabic vocabulary terms introduced in one year of secondary school biology instruction can overwhelm students and further impede the self-efficacy needed for concise constructions of scientific explanations and arguments. Factors inhibiting students' inclination to answer questions, share ideas and respond to peers in biology classrooms include confidence and self-perceived competence in appropriately speaking the language of science. Providing students with explicit, engaging instruction in methods to develop vocabulary for use in expressing conclusions is …

An Investigation Of The Use Of The Ipad And Textbooks On The Achievement Of Students With Special Needs In Algebra, Ahmet Kilic

Theses and Dissertations

Educational leaders and policy-makers assume that replacing the technological tools currently used in schools with new, portable ones will result in widespread usage of the device for educational purposes by students and teacher, and an increase in student achievement. This study examines these assumptions with twenty students taking an Algebra-2 course in a northern New Jersey charter school. The mixed methodology used in this study included classroom observations and assessments, surveys for both students and teachers, and interviews with parents through home visits. Findings show that iPad integration in an Algebra-2 class led to a slight increase in student achievement, …

The United States Growth Over 16 Years Of Student Correct Responses On The Timss: Are We Really That Far Behind?, Jacob Michael Zonts

Theses and Dissertations

National rank on international assessments, as measured in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), gives a limited view of the data presented. This study used average scale score data from the TIMSS (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011) that were then disaggregated based on content domains (i.e., number, algebra, measurement, geometry, data, earth science, life science, physical science, biology, physics, and chemistry). These data were graphed to show the growth of the U.S. national average scale scores in comparison to three top scoring countries (i.e., Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore), and three other post-industrial countries similar to the U.S. …

Moving The Masses: Modifying Training To Meet Faculty Needs, Brett Creech

Teaching and Learning Technologies Presentations

Purdue University’s faculty members have been using the same course management system, Blackboard Vista™, for more than 5 years. With the operational lifespan of Blackboard Vista coming to an end, Purdue implemented Blackboard Learn™ as its new course management system. Purdue’s Teaching and Learning Technologies team was faced with helping faculty not only move their existing content from Blackboard Vista to Blackboard Learn, but also to train them on the new system. In this session, learn how Purdue’s Educational Technologists assisted faculty with the transition by developing a variety of classroom-based training modules from demonstration style to hands-on and self-paced. …

Alignment Between Secondary Biology Textbooks And Standards For Teaching English Learners: A Content Analysis, Joseph H. Hanks

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of the most recent science education reform movement in the U.S. is science literacy for all Americans. Science literacy among U.S. students remains low, however, as compared with students in other industrialized countries, and is lowest among English Language Learner (ELL) students. Although there are barriers to developing science literacy for all adolescent students, ELL students often experience additional barriers that make developing science literacy even more challenging without support. Because textbooks are often heavily relied upon by secondary science teachers, the opportunity for many ELLs to develop science literacy may depend upon the support for these students …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Integrating Science And Engineering Content And Pedagogy In An Elementary School Classroom, Katie Nicole Barth

Theses and Dissertations

Fewer students in the United States are choosing to study and enter careers in the STEM disciplines-Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. This problem is being addressed through current educational reforms focusing on Integrated STEM curriculum and instructional design. This mixed-method quasi-experimental study researched the effects of science-engineering integration on student learning, student attitudes, and student interests in science within an elementary setting through the creation and implementation of an integrated science and engineering unit of instruction focused on the water cycle. Comparisons of student performance on end-of-unit science assessments revealed no significant differences in student learning between students who experienced …

Why Do Indiana Pre-Service Technology Education Majors Choose The Profession, Traves L. Freeland

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to look at the factors that influence pre-service technology education majors to choose to become teachers. The pre-service teachers of three Indiana technology education teacher preparatory programs were given an internet survey to collect demographic data and determine what factors influence current pre-service teachers. The results of this study were compared to the results from a study done by Harris (2007). The findings resulted in similar factors that were the most common identified as being influential. Those factors included personal interest or hobbies, high school or middle school teacher, and past experiences in …

Ict In Education In Africa - Myth Or Reality: A Case Study Of Mozambican Higher Education Institutions, Xavier Muianga, Henrik Hansson, Anders Nilsson, Avelino Mondlane, Inocente Mutimucuio, Alsone Guambe

The African Journal of Information Systems

In the last decade, there has been a growth in Information Communication and Technology for Education (ICT4E) in sub-Saharan Africa. Through support from local and international development agencies, several Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have engaged in introducing, implementing and supporting ICT4E. This study aims at providing a description and analysis of the current state of ICT4E implementation in HEIs in Mozambique. An exploratory study of 19 HEIs was conducted using open ended questionnaires and interviews. The results show that the country has advanced greatly in terms of design and implementation of ICT policies, as well as telecommunication. Additionally, MoReNet the …

Towards A Shared Understanding Of Emerging Technologies: Experiences In A Collaborative Research Project In South Africa, Daniela Gachago, Eunice Ivala, Judy Backhouse, Jan Petrus Bosman, Vivienne Bozalek, Dick Ng’Ambi

The African Journal of Information Systems

While the practice of using educational technologies in Higher Education is increasingly common among educators, there is a paucity of research on innovative uses of emerging technologies to transform teaching and learning. This paper draws on data collected as part of a larger study aimed at investigating emerging technologies and their use in South African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to improve teaching and learning. The research employed a mixed method research design, using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods—quantitative data from a survey of 262 respondents from 22 public HEIs in South Africa and qualitative data gathered from 16 …

E/Merging Across Africa: Five Papers On The Use Of Educational Technology In African Higher Education, Tony Carr

The African Journal of Information Systems

This guest editorial comments on the rapidly changing environment for the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in African Higher Education Institutions (HEI), introduces the e/merge online conferences and gives a brief introduction to the papers in the special issue.

2012-2013 Annual Report, Cetl

CETL Reports

This document highlights the programs and events, such as workshops and weekly meetings conducted by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Details and attendance are provided.

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley, University College, Western Kentucky University

UC Publications

No abstract provided.