Education Commons^™

Best Practices In Online Pedagogy: A Pearson Correlation Analysis Between Teaching Evaluation Scores And Transactional Distance Scores In Online Graduate Courses, William Angrove

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to discover how four universally recognized best practices in online pedagogy affected teaching evaluation scores in online graduate courses. The four best practices in online pedagogy are: Course Organization and Presentation, Learning Objectives and Assessments, Instructor-Student Interpersonal Interaction, and the Appropriate Use of Video or Multimedia. The researcher modified these best practices from the Jaggars and Xu (2016) Online Course Quality Rubric. The study utilized Dr. Michael G. Moore’s (1973) theory of transactional distance to understand the relationship between teaching evaluation scores and transactional distance. University instructional designers assessed and …

Teacher Preferences On Technology Use Using The Iteach Implementation Model: A Case Study In A Tanzanian Private School, Julia Keegan

All Theses And Dissertations

To advance both transformative school leadership skills and the use of ICT integration in this school, while aiming to enhance positive school change, this study used the iTEaCH (ICT-Technogogy-and-Collegiality) Implementation Model proposed by Choy (2013) to investigate, quantitatively, teacher perceptions of ICT use in a case study school in Tanzania. The iTEaCH Implementation Model provides focus on teachers’ choice of technology use, desire for technology use, pedagogy perceptions, and collegiality to identify gaps that might be used to inform teachers and school leaders of technology provision, professional development, and collegial support needs in the school.

Using a slightly modified version …

Technology-Based Family Education In Asl/English Bilingual Schools For The Deaf, Myriah L. Dixon

All Theses And Dissertations

More research on how ASL/English bilingual schools for the deaf educate hearing families to apply bilingual education methodology at home is warranted. Given the rising use of technology in schools, its role within these family education programs was the primary focus. Thirty-two participants from 22 different schools completed an online, researcher-developed survey. Follow-up, online interviews were conducted with 7 participants, and artifacts were collected from 10 schools. Qualitative and quantitative descriptions express the study’s results based on technology used as an informational and influential tool, counseling and coping tool, diversity tool, and program evaluation tool. Schools are using multiple forms …

Interpreting Differences Of Self-Efficacy Of Gifted Or Talented Students With Grouping Practices In Middle School Mathematics, Amanda G. Waits

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference in total scores on the Mathematical Self-Efficacy Scale, the mathematics task self-efficacy portion of the scale, and the math-related school subjects self-efficacy portion of the scale for middle school students between students assigned to a homogeneously grouped accelerated math class and students assigned to a heterogeneously grouped math class.

The instrument used to gather information for thus study on student self-efficacy was the Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale (MSES). The MSES measures 2 domains of mathematics-related behaviors and capabilities. The Mathematics Task Self-Efficacy scale is designed to …

Mathematics Learning Support Models And Student Success At A Tennessee Community College, Bobby Allen Dixon Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Every year thousands of students make preparations to pursue a college degree. Many are high school seniors, but a large percentage of the population are nontraditional age students who are years removed from a formal classroom setting. Included in the list of preparations is an examination whose results will be used to determine each individual’s readiness to be academically successful at the collegiate level. These examinations assess student’s abilities in the areas of reading, English composition, and mathematics. The results of these examinations show that at the community college level more than half of these students will need remediation in …

Ireach Blended Learning Model And Reading Lexile Growth Of Freshmen In Maryville City Schools, Whitney Ann Schmidt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Maryville City School system has implemented the first year of the iReach blended learning model for which all students in the school district have access to either a laptop or an iPad to support their learning every day. The availability of research on the impact of iReach is limited because the blended learning instructional model is relatively new and has not yet been subjected to numerous research studies. The purpose of this ex post facto quasi-experimental quantitative study was to compare student reading Lexile growth data collected through the use of the Reading Comprehension Assessment before and after iReach …

Administrators', Counselors', And Teachers' Opinions Regarding The Impact Of Freshman Academies, Schools-Within-Schools, And Ninth Grade Schools As It Relates To Effective Transitioning, Robyn Suzanne Killebrew

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine whether administrators, counselors, and teachers believe that implementing freshman academies, schools-within-schools, and ninth grade schools is an effective way to transition ninth graders into high school. This study included an introduction and a review of literature that discussed the following: adolescent years, transition from 8^th to 9^th grade, drop-out prevention, school reform in secondary education, professional learning communities, the freshman academy, and a conclusion. This study was also comprised with a methodology section, research results, conclusions, recommendations for policy makers and practitioners, and recommendations for future research.

The questionnaire for …

The Effects Of Teachers’ Self-Efficacy & A Positive Learning Environment On Marginal Students In Mainstream High School Settings, Renée E. Thompson

All Theses And Dissertations

Research from data and anecdotal research from high school students informs us that many traditional high schools are not able to meet the academic, as well as the social and emotional needs of all students, particularly marginal students. The purpose of this research study was to determine how high schools may support marginal students in achieving success by the implementation of teacher self-efficacy and a positive classroom environment. In addition, the research will articulate the critical role of teachers and how their impact shapes the future of their students. The research questions posed will identify what interventions and strategies teachers …

Cross-Cultural Confidence: A Program Design For Accessible Intercultural Competence On Campus, Erika Clement

Capstone Collection

Internationalization is currently one of the greatest issues facing higher education today. Colleges and universities have sought to produce graduates who are globally ready and capable of effectively navigating intercultural situations due to increasing diversity in the workplace and globalization; however, it has become apparent that efforts towards this end have not paid off as well as it was assumed they would. Now that US universities are admitting greater numbers of international students, intercultural competence and programs which build connections across cultural groups have become increasingly important on campus.

This capstone seeks to fashion an accessible, effective, on-campus program for …

Exploring Gesturing As A Natural Approach To Impact Stages Of Second Language Development: A Multiple Baseline, Single Case Study Of A Head Start Child, Guillermo I. Mendoza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is an increase in Hispanic English Language Learners (ELL). Poverty levels and lack of teacher training can also be stacked against the ELL population. Gesturing is a teaching technique that is used in successful methods such as The Natural Approach (NA) and Total Physical Response (TPR) in helping ELL students in English comprehension and output. This study examined the effects that increased teacher gestures have on the number of words spoken by the child in multiple settings. Data were collected in the context of a multiple baseline design across three settings. The results indicate that there was an effect …

High School Teachers’ Perceived Self-Efficacy In Teaching Literacy Across The Curriculum In Tennessee First Core Region 1 High Schools, Ashley N. Keys

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At the high school level teachers are often departmentalized by their content area and do not teach subjects outside of their specialties. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) introduced literacy standards across the curriculum requiring reading and writing instruction in all courses. The adoption not only affected traditional literacy teachers but also science, math, social studies, and career and technical education teachers who may have had little or no training or experience in teaching literacy to adolescents. These teachers, because of little training or experience in teaching literacy, may feel unprepared for the CCSS literacy shifts or inadequate in delivering literacy …

Learning From Science Lectures : Students Remember More And Make Better Inferences When They Complete Skeletal Outlines Compared To Other Guided Notes., David Bradley Bellinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is common for students to take notes during lectures, but the accuracy and completeness of these notes is highly questionable. Therefore, instructors must make an important decision – should they provide their students with lecture notes? If so, how complete should the notes be and in what format? The present experiments examined how note format and degree of support impacted the encoding benefit of note-taking. In Experiment 1, undergraduate students listened to brief audio-recorded science lectures (Human blood, N = 42; Human ear, N = 36) and completed skeletal outlines (requiring students to conceptually organize the information using the …

Online Education: The Relationship Between The Perceptions Of Online High School Teachers Compared To Traditional Classroom Teachers Regarding The Visual Arts, Karen A. Fine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The incorporation of the arts as an academic subject in the high school distance education delivery method is being reinvented as something new. Most of the current research is focused on college courses. Online high school curricula are most often placed in research studies as an afterthought. Perceptions of faculty members from high schools with traditional instructional delivery models as well as public online schools concerning online education as it relates to the arts in 5 different areas was the focus of this research; mentor, delivery method, satisfaction, student learning, and curriculum. Examining the perceptions of teachers gives a blueprint …

Paper Conferences As Meaningful Feedback To Student Writing, Jessica N. Betz

All NMU Master's Theses

This case study is designed to examine a potentially effective way to evaluate and provide feedback on student writing, and through meaningful evaluation, the writing process for secondary students could be more holistic, could better prepare students for college writing. This case study took place in a small eighth grade Language Arts/social studies classroom, located in a town of approximately thirty thousand residents, and the case is the classroom of 22 students, six of which were purposefully chosen for observation during their Paper Conference session and fourteen of which chose to participate in a survey. Paper Conferences are regular practice …

Teacher Beliefs Regarding Positive Behavior Support Programs In Mississippi Middle Schools, Chad Joseph Davis

Dissertations

In today’s educational environment of continued and high-stakes accountability, school administrators are constantly looking for effective techniques to improve the academic performance and behavior of their students. In an effort to attain improvement by their pupils, many educational leaders are choosing to implement positive behavior support (PBS) programs in their schools. This study examined the differences between teachers’ beliefs about PBS programs and their impact on reported student attendance, standardized test scores, engagement, and behavior. It also examined the differences in reported changes in these variables between teachers at schools with PBS programs and teachers at schools without the behavior …

Math Emporium Model: Preparing Developmental Students For College Algebra, Stephanie Patton Williams

Dissertations

This study examined the effectiveness of the Emporium Model in reducing math anxiety and in preparing developmental math students at a community college to be successful in College Algebra. The study involved 59 students enrolled in Intermediate Algebra at a community college and compared those in the Emporium class format to those in the Traditional class format. Participants completed a pre-post math anxiety rating scale questionnaire and a pre-post algebra readiness test to address the research questions of the study. Two mixed model ANOVAs were done and the findings showed that there was a significant difference in math anxiety level …

The Effect Of Speech-To-Text Software On Learning A New Writing Strategy, Katrina N. Haug

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Handwriting and spelling present elementary students with significant sources of load on working memory as the various writing processes compete for cognitive resources (Kellogg, Whiteford, Turner, Cahill & Mertens, 2013). Several studies have shown that speech-to-text (STT) software can improve students' writing on a specific text (Higgins & Raskind, 1997; MacArthur & Cavalier, 2004; Quinlan, 2004); however, the question of whether STT can be used to teach writing strategies has been neglected. This pretest-post-test between groups study experimentally tested the effects of composition modality on learning a persuasive writing strategy. First, all students (N=45) completed a pretest of persuasive writing. …

Transformative Technology: Staff Perceptions, Attitudes, And Behaviors Related To The Use Of Learning Management Transformative Technologies, Misty Mcbrierty

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined how the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of staff relate to the effective use of transformative learning management technologies to support personalized/customized learning. Additionally, this study sought to understand the stories of individuals using the learning management system Empower as staff transformed to a personalized/customized culture. The conceptual framework focused on the disruptive technology necessary for personalized/customized learning.

Fifteen participants engaged in open-ended interviews, observations, sharing of artifacts, and the data was analyzed through coding transcripts into themes and summary concepts. The goal of the research was to analyze teacher experiences and perceptions using Empower to …

The Mathematical Disposition Of Middle School Students: An Examination Of Students’ Self-Concept Of Ability In Mathematics, Katrina Leigh Hall

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods case study was to answer the following research questions via the lens of social-constructivism: How do middle school students describe their self-concept of ability in math? What teacher/classroom interventions are recognized by students as having an impact on their self-concept of ability? This study specifically addressed the utilization of student voice and the need to recognize self-concept of ability as a separate academic domain in research. The purposeful sampling for this case study consisted of 10 eighth-grade middle school students who participated in both an online survey and a semi-structured interview. The major themes …

The Perceived Impact Of Professional Learning Communities On Collective Teacher Efficacy In Two Rural Western North Carolina School Districts, Katie Thompson Bailey

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived impact of professional learning communities (PLCs) on collective teacher efficacy in two rural western North Carolina school districts. The theoretical framework for this study began with the assumption that there was a direct linkage between PLCs and collective teacher efficacy.

The Professional Learning Communities Assessment-Revised (PLCA-R) survey instrument was utilized to collect data in two rural western North Carolina school districts. An elementary, middle, and high school from each district were involved in the study. Through the use of the PLCA-R, 95 total responses were obtained. In an attempt to …

Emotional Regulation And Technology In Various Educational Environments, Aimee Boyle

EDL Sixth Year Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of technology in various educational environments. Specifically, it looked at the ways in which technology is integrated into special education classrooms, and how it impacts learning. Two self-contained special education high school classrooms were studied, using qualitative methods of data. These included field notes based on observations and a semi-structured interview. In addition, a review of the literature on this topic was conducted to better place the study within the context of wider work done in this area. The data from the two classrooms were analyzed using the constant comparative …

Teacher Awareness Of Social Emotional Learning Standards And Strategies, Mary Reynolds

All Capstone Projects

This study investigated teacher knowledge and attitudes of both special education and general education teachers towards social emotional learning. A total of twenty-five certified special education teachers and twenty-five certified general education teachers were surveyed regarding their familiarity with the State of Illinois Social Emotional Learning Standards. Teachers’ perceptions of the competency of their higher education preparation and professional development to meet their students’ social emotional needs were solicited. The data gathered from this study suggests that universities should prepare teachers more adequately in the areas of social emotional learning. The data also supports that there is a need for …

Mapping New Routes To Composition: Allowing Access Through Universal Design For Learning, M. Lynn Dill

All Student Theses and Dissertations

Looking at multimodal composition through the perspective of disability studies, this thesis explores the links between multiple intelligences and multimodality to discover the rhetorical skills students report learning as a result of this method of teaching. The exploration of this topic includes a study involving students enrolled at a small Midwestern university. A qualitative approach was used, with the author directly interviewing students about their experiences with multimodal composition to determine the skills developed as a result of this approach. Prior to the interview, the student volunteers took a test based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. This test …

Impacts Of Open Educational Resources On Enrollment Rates, Withdrawal Rates, And Academic Performance In The Virginia Community College System, Marcella Milhous Gale

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The problem of this study was to evaluate the enrollment rates and academic performance of students in courses at Central Virginia Community College (CVCC) that utilize Open Educational Resources (OER) to help determine if the use of such materials should be encouraged and expanded in the Virginia Community College System. The population for this study consisted of students enrolled in at least one course at CVCC during the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semester, where there were courses that used OER as the course textbook. At the end of each semester, CVCC records enrollment, drop, and academic performance information for …

All The World's A Stage...The Effect Of Reader's Theater On The Reading Fluency Rates, Comprehension Levels And Attitudes Of Second Graders, Cheryl Lynn Parker

Education Dissertations and Projects

Second-grade students of the targeted school were performing below a level of proficiency in reading fluency and comprehension. Many students were reluctant to read. This dissertation is designed to study the effects of Reader’s Theater on the reading fluency rates, comprehension scores, and attitudes of second-grade readers. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent using Reader’s Theater affects the reading fluency rates, comprehension levels, and attitudes of second-grade readers, thus answering the question, “To what extent does the use of Reader’s Theater affect the fluency rates, comprehension levels, and attitudes towards reading of second-grade readers?”

The …

A Correlational Study Of Teacher Efficacy And Culturally Responsive Teaching Techniques In A Southeastern Urban School District, Roberta F. Callaway

Education Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the level of personal and general teacher efficacy of teachers from three high schools within a southeastern urban school district. Additional research questions focused on correlational relationships between teacher efficacy and culturally responsive teaching, instructional strategies, student engagement, and classroom management as measured by the Teacher Efficacy Scale (TES), Culturally Responsive Teaching Techniques (CRTT) Scale, and Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES).

This study was conducted in a large urban school district located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States; three of the five high schools in the district participated. The CRTT Scale and TSES were …

Using Visually Disfluent Fonts For Cueing And Increased Reading, Nena Barley

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Research has shown that using hard-to-read fonts in a reading assignment is an external way to manipulate text to slow down the learner’s task completion time, giving more time on task and improving the learner’s ability to comprehend and retain the content (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2009b). This novelty effect interferes with the legibility of the reading material, but not the readability. This study is focused on using hard-to-read fonts, also referred to as disfluent fonts, to cue the learner to important information that may lead to more cognitive engagement and processing. Facing the visual challenge of a disfluent font, the …

Straight Outta K-1: An Authoethnographic Analysis Of A Black Male Teacher's Experience Employing Hip Hop In A Kindergarten-First Grade Classroom, Anthony Broughton

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzed the learning outcomes of a Black male kindergarten-first grade teacher’s usage of Hip Hop as an instructional approach using autoethnography as a method. The primary research question that guided this work was, “What can I learn from an examination of the experiences of Black male kindergarten/first grade teacher and students from a retroactive examination of the use of Hip Hop Pedagogy in a kindergarten/first grade classroom of African American children? Data sources for this study included of artifacts (electronic classroom portfolios, videos of classroom instruction, archived teaching evaluations, parents’ e-mails, student assessments, correspondence from administrators, lesson plans …

In The Service Of What? A Phenomenological Exploration Of African American High School Students' Self-Efficacy In Service Learning, Charemi A. Jones

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored how African American high school students from a large Midwestern city make meaning of their service learning experiences within the framework of mandated service learning participation required for high school graduation, and how their lived experiences inform their self-efficacy development. Scholars have previously posited, “student voice in service learning projects positively correlated with improved self-concept, political engagement, and tolerance” (Morgan and Streb, 2001). Within this context, voice is synonymous with students’ self- reflection.

One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted utilizing a pre-printed protocol consisting of open- ended questions designed to elicit authentic responses, allowing the voice of …

Gifted And Unserved: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of The Promise Scholar Program On Reducing The Racial Segregation Of Gifted Education, Reby Helland

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

There is a crisis in gifted education across our nation. Gifted programs are disproportionally identifying and servicing middle-class White students while systematically ignoring minority students. The Promise Scholar Program was developed by the Kent School District as a method to tackle the underrepresentation of minority students in their gifted education program. This elementary talent development model places promising minority students into gifted classrooms, exposing the participants to advanced and accelerated curriculum. This study sought to determine the effectiveness of this program as way to increase the identification of minority students for gifted education. Through the analysis and comparison of student …