Education Commons^™

The Impact Of Gender Differences And Geographic Locations On Social Media Literacy Among Public Universities Students, Heba Tallah Moustafa Helmy

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of both gender difference and geographic location on social media literacy levels among undergraduate students in public universities in Egypt. Four aspects related to social media literacy were considered in the Likert-scale survey, including basic technical skills, digital interactions, information evaluation, and privacy and security practices. A total of 520 students participated in this exploratory research, of which 265 males and 255 females enrolled at four public universities in different geographic locations. Cairo University and Ain Shams University represent the urban areas. The other two universities are located in center-periphery …

Course Goals And Feedback Workflows: Examining Instructors' Pedagogy In Professional Communication Service Courses, Sara C. Doan

Theses and Dissertations

In Professional and Technical Communication (PTC), feedback has not been studied in proportion to its importance, particularly in service, or introductory, courses. Feedback is a form of assessment; therefore, an empirical study of instructor feedback requires attention to PTC instructors’ pedagogical goals and learning outcomes. This research asked and answered three questions about

1. Instructors’ pedagogical goals and learning outcomes for their PTC service courses,

2. Instructors’ approaches to giving feedback on students’ resumes and cover letters, and

3. The extent to which instructors’ pedagogical goals and feedback aligned.

This research contributes data-driven findings on instructor feedback within PTC service …

Adult Nursing Students’ Perceptions Of Social Presence In Facilitator-Created Subject- Specific Videos In An Online Nursing Course, Jamie Anne Marcus

Theses and Dissertations

The literature established that online instruction consists of cognitive, teaching, and social presence. Studies on the element of social presence linked text-based delivery of instruction with learners’ feelings of isolation and disengagement. This research findings prompted this facilitator creation of five-to-seven-minute companion videos that aligned and complemented weekly text-based learning modules to ascertain students’ perceptions of these videos as a medium for channeling social presence.

Post-video viewing surveys yielded responses to pragmatic and emotional questions. Pragmatic questions were aimed at the visual impact of professor’s delivery of information. Emotional questions gauged the students’ feelings of connectivity with the facilitator. Triangulated …

An Exploratory Study Of Learning Transfer From The Online Technical Communication Course To The Workplace, Richard Scott Schnoll

Theses and Dissertations

For technical communication educators, a fundamental consideration is to what extent the skills and information students learn in the classroom are applied in a workplace environment. While this issue has been studied, it has not been examined from the perspectives of students taking an online writing course or of instructors teaching that kind of course. To investigate this issue, I conducted a two-part, qualitative study consisting of surveys and follow-up interviews that explored instructor and student (former and current) perceptions regarding learning transfer from online business and technical writing courses to postgraduate jobs or careers.

Learning transfer theory was used …

Examining The Relationship Between Virtual School Size And Student Achievement, Sherrill Waddell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between virtual school size and student achievement in virtual schools in a southwestern state. Enrollment size and the following areas were studied in an attempt to determine student achievement: STAAR English Language Arts/Reading, STAAR Math, STAAR Science, and STAAR Social Studies testing scores in regards to race. This quantitative study used nonexperimental research utilizing a distribution approach. The effect of virtual school size on student achievement in a southwestern state was examined. Specifically, student achievement was defined by student passing rates on individual tests of the STAAR examination. This research …

Meaning In Motion, Kara Hendrickson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis essay and accompanying exhibition examine the capacity of interactive art to stage situations for participants to explore embodiment. In presenting the four-part interactive suite "Body Language" by Nathaniel Stern, the exhibition invites viewers to engage with digital projections that track and respond to movement by producing animated text and spoken utterances. Through the juxtaposition of motion performed by the viewer’s physical body with computer-generated words and speech, "Body Language" explores the complex ways in which the body and language depend upon each other to create and communicate meaning. This essay also proposes that the gallery uses its power …

Characteristics Of Adult General Education Learners And Courses: A Correlational Study On The Elements Of Success, Daniel Jennings Stackhouse

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a correlation exists among characteristics common to successful adult career and technical students in the traditional classroom setting, the online mode of instruction, and a hybrid of the traditional and distance mode of instructional delivery. A gap in the literature exists, resulting in a lack of knowledge specific to the reasons for success or failure of these adult career and technical students, specifically in relation to mode of instructional delivery: traditional classroom, online, or a hybrid of both.

This study is a quantitative correlation study of explanatory and predictive design using …

Materiality, Craft, Identity, And Embodiment: Reworking Digital Writing Pedagogy, Kristin Prins

Theses and Dissertations

Too often in Rhetoric and Composition, multimodal writing (an expansive practice of opening up the media and modes with which writers might work) is reduced to digital writing. “Reworking Digital Writing” argues that the opportunities and insights of digital writing should encourage us to turn our attention to all kinds of nondigital materials that have not traditionally been considered part of composing—including the materials that are already familiar to crafters and do-it-yourselfers (DIYers). Further, I argue that the material, technical, rhetorical, economic, and social dimensions of DIY craft provide a coherent framework for teaching multimodal writing in ways that encourage …

Waking Dormant Researchers: Student Co-Research As Writing Research Methodology And Pedagogy, Angela Renee Sheets

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways that students took up writing researcher skills, knowledges, and identities through a teacher-student co-research investigation of writing in an online writing research course. The following questions guided this study:

* How did literate activity occur in an online Composition as Critical Inquiry Course?

* What writing research skills, knowledges, and identities did the students take up and demonstrate as they participated in a co-research project?

The study also examined the efficacy of co-research as a methodology and pedagogy.

Chapter 1 reviews literature from the relevant English studies fields. Central topics include the rationale for writing …

Examination Of Asynchronous Volumetric And Frequency Communication Patterns In Online Courses And Their Impact On Adult Learner Satisfaction, Robert W. Treat

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of online discussion board interactions of adult learners and their satisfaction with their experience. Specifically, this study's objectives were to examine the asynchronous volumetric and frequency textual communication patterns through online discussion boards and the association to adult learner satisfaction for 102 electronically surveyed adult learners at a mid-western university during the 2005-2006 academic year. Highly reliable (Cronbach alpha = 0.97) and valid data were collected from a learner satisfaction form developed specifically for the outcome variable o f this study. Exploratory factor analysis provided evidence that the data collected …