Education Commons^™

The Effects Of Group-Based Context Personalization On Learning Outcomes And Motivation, Jessica J. Resig

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The rise of online course enrollments in higher education has highlighted the need to establish and validate effective online instructional strategies focused on improving learning outcomes and affective responses towards instruction. One such strategy, group-based context personalization, frames instructional materials within contexts relevant to shared interests among groups of students. This study sought to investigate the effects of group-based context personalization on learning outcomes and motivation towards the instruction when materials were contextualized based on a learner’s academic major.

This study employed a true experimental design to explore the effects of group-based context personalization on learning outcomes and motivation for …

The Influence Of Cognitive Load On Infotec Students Participating In Online Learning, Joe Price

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

The theory of cognitive load has been developed to help educators, instructional designers, and developers of e-learning curriculum and materials, anticipate learning outcomes by fully understanding the cognitive capabilities and limitations of the learner. The theory is broad enough to be used in many educational environments because the focus is on making learning as effective and efficient as possible in regards to the human brain’s ability to process information. By reducing the complexity of the information to be learned and the manipulatives used to produce understanding, the curriculum developer can focus their energies on producing lessons that are streamlined and …

Developing A Career Development Assessment For Predicting Young Stem Graduates’ Employability And Career Barriers, Yi-Ching Lin

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The increased concern of declining STEM candidates could negatively impact the U.S. economy (Kelic & Zagnoel, 2009; Maltese & Tai, 2010). Previous studies suggest that the gap between the supply of STEM students in higher education and workface demand is not reflected merely in the number of STEM graduates but instead in the number of qualified STEM graduates who could satisfy STEM workforce demands (Kelic & Zagnoel, 2009; Lowell & Salzman, 2007). The current study used Rae’s employability theory (Rae, 2007) to develop an assessment for evaluating student’s career development in STEM during their higher education. Unlike other instruments focusing …

When It Is Troublesome To Do Right: A Narrative Analysis Of The Continual Censorship And “Sivilizing” Of Huckleberry Finn, Angela P. Branyon

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation is a part of a broader program of research that investigates intellectual freedom. The study focuses on developing understanding in three distinct, but related, research areas – the American historical and cultural narrative of race, the historical discourse of intellectual freedom, and the role The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn can play in adding to and perhaps changing these historic stories. By using historical narrative inquiry, data was examined from each story to find correlations among the discourses Where previous research centers on and develops the reasons why Huck Finn has been challenged, this research focuses on how …

Learning While Using An Instructional Simulation, Tayyaba Batool

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Learner control is thought to be valuable by some scholars who believe that it allows learners to adapt instructions to their needs while reducing cognitive load (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). Although learner control offers some advantages to the learner, the importance of an instructor cannot be denied. In instructor-controlled settings the instructor provides guidance to the learners. Direct instructional guidance provides information to the learner that explains the concepts and procedures that are to be learned along with the instructional strategy support that is compatible with human cognitive architecture (Kirschner, Sweller, & Clark, 2006). This study compared the effects of …

Multimodal Literacy: Journey Through The Collaborative Transmediation Of Wordless Picturebooks, Catherine Todd Thomson

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

With a shift towards 21st century literacy practices and a greater variety of literature, the mere definitions of literacy and text are shifting. The focus on traditional text that heavily relies on words and supporting pictures to convey meaning has changed to text of multiple modes. Teachers are now charged with fostering new skills in students in order to help them engage with these texts effectively and to allow them to make meaning of the multimodal texts that surround them (Siegel, 2006).

In this qualitative case study, the primary investigator assumed a dual role as the classroom teacher and researcher …

Using Pre-Calculus And Calculus Student Work To Examine Student Problem Solving Abilities In Online And Face-To-Face Mathematics Courses, Sarah Catherine Ferguson

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

This study compares the outcomes of student learning between two pairs of courses. Each pair of courses consists of an online section and a face-to-face section. One pair of courses focuses on pre-calculus content while the second pair focuses on calculus content. Both pairs of courses are taught by the same instructor using the same course appropriate materials. Participants for this study include 9 online and 14 face-to-face pre-calculus students and 14 online and 23 face-to-face calculus students from an urban community college in the southeastern portion of the U.S. Written responses from the subjects to a collection of problems …

A Delphi Study Of Aviation Maintenance Experts' Recommendations For A Model School Curriculum, Fred D. Dyen

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The program described in this paper is the essential first step in reviving and reinitiating the delivery of aviation maintenance technology instruction. The demand for aviation maintenance technicians (AMTs) is rapidly increasing and there is a need to provide as many as 679,000 AMTs over the next 20 years (Boeing, 2016). Given the high cost of certification, new aviation maintenance schools are unlikely to be certificated in the near future, and ramping up the existing schools to meet the anticipated demand is unlikely without incorporating attractive cost-effective measures such as competency-based and distance education.

The purpose of this study is …