Education Commons^™

Exploring Factors Of Media Characteristic Influencing Flow In Learning Through Virtual Worlds, Beomkyu Choi, Youngkyun Baek

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study aims to find out factors of media characteristic which are considered to influence flow in learning through virtual worlds. One hundred ninety eight elementary students who are eleven to twelve years old participated in this study. After the exploratory factor analysis, to extract media characteristics of virtual worlds, seventy-eight elementary students who are eleven years old were used in the analysis of exploring relationships between factors influencing flow.

The results of this study show that distinct media characteristics of virtual worlds affecting engagement were labeled 'interactivity', 'representational fidelity', 'immediacy of communication', 'consistency', and 'persistence' after the exploratory factor …

Microblogging For Strengthening A Virtual Learning Community In An Online Course, Yu-Chang Hsu, Yu-Hui Ching

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper examines how a microblogging tool (i.e., Twitter) can be effectively used to strengthen a virtual learning community (VLC) in the two sections of a fully online graduate course. Students in this course were consisted of K-12 teachers, school technology specialists, corporate trainers, and military personnel. The microblogging activities were designed to allow quick peer interaction to build the momentum of social learning in the VLC. In this study, we collected quantitative data on sense of community through a Likert scale survey, and rich qualitative data on students' perception about microblogging activities. It was found that students’ sense of …

Situational Qualities Exhibited By Exceptional Presenters, Joanna Dunlap, Patrick Lowenthal

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bad presentations are commonplace, but rather than focus on what is wrong with bad presentations, the authors looked at what makes an exceptional presentation. They referenced recent work on the aesthetic qualities of learning experiences by Patrick Parrish and others, which describe aesthetic learning experiences as those that involve learners in the right level of challenge and heightened engagement. Aesthetic learning experiences are memorable and often transformative, leaving learners with enhanced confidence and capabilities—the very definition of exceptional. By attending to the situational qualities of aesthetic learning experiences, presenters are more likely to create exceptional presentations that establish relevance and …

Ict International: Developing An “International Issues In Ict” Course, Ross A. Perkins

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Given that educational or instructional technology graduate programs are preparing students to work in a highly connected, global society, faculty should seriously consider adding a course to their curriculum that specifically examines ICT integration in educational or training contexts outside of the nation in which the course is offered. Adding a course that examines international perspectives about ICT for teaching and learning would benefit all students no matter their career trajectory, as the issues to be addressed can provide them with critical perspectives within a comparative framework. This article provides a brief overview of a course that I designed for …

Design-Grounded Assessment: A Framework And A Case Study Of Web 2.0 Practices In Higher Education, Yu-Hui Ching, Yu-Chang Hsu

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper synthesises three theoretical perspectives, including sociocultural theory, distributed cognition, and situated cognition, into a framework to guide the design and assessment of Web 2.0 practices in higher education. In addition, this paper presents a case study of Web 2.0 practices. Thirty-seven online graduate students participated in a small-group collaborative concept mapping activity using Web 2.0 applications (e.g. Webspiration) to construct sophisticated understanding of instructional design processes. The analysis of this case focuses on different assessment strategies adopted to ensure students' successful participation in such technology-rich collaborative context. This case study concludes that a shared goal needs to …

Using Research-Based Practices To Increase Response Rates Of Web-Based Surveys, Ross A. Perkins

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

An office of information technology at any institution of higher education must not only maintain and extend operations and services but also innovate. Under budgetary pressures current and future, goals for support and visioning face increased scrutiny and a demand for return on investment. Decisions, therefore, must be made based on a careful accounting of an organization’s needs — the gap between "what is" and "what is not." Because IT staff serve constituents with a wide range of needs, however, these needs are not always easily identified.

The 2008 IT budget of a midsize state university on the East Coast, …

Youtube Across The Disciplines: A Review Of The Literature, Chareen Snelson

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

YouTube has grown to become the largest and most highly visited online video-sharing service, and interest in the educational use of YouTube has become apparent. Paralleling the rise of academic interest in YouTube is the emergence of YouTube scholarship. This article presents the results of a review of 188 peer reviewed journal articles and conference papers with "YouTube" in the title that were published between 2006 and 2009. Four questions were answered through the review of YouTube literature: (1) What is the overall distribution of publication activity for refereed journal articles and conference papers with "YouTube" in the title? (2) …

The Development Of A Content Analysis Model For Assessing Students’ Cognitive Learning In Asynchronous Online Discussions, Dazhi Yang, Jennifer C. Richardson, Brian F. French, James D. Lehman

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a content analysis model for assessing students' cognitive learning in asynchronous online discussions. It adopted a fully mixed methods design, in which qualitative and quantitative methods were employed sequentially for data analysis and interpretation. Specifically, the design was a "sequential exploratory" (QUAL→ quan) design with priority given to qualitative data and methods. Qualitative data were 800 online postings collected in two online courses. Quantitative data were 803 online postings from the same two courses but from different discussion topics and different weeks. During the qualitative process, a grounded theory approach …