Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons^™

Comparison Of Motor-Enhanced And Visual-Enhanced Interventions For Grammar In Young Children With Developmental Language Disorder, Alisha P. Springle

Communication Disorders & Special Education Theses & Dissertations

Up to 7.6% of children demonstrate a developmental language disorder (DLD), which can persist through adulthood, causing difficulty with academic achievement, social relationships, and financial stability. Grammar development, as a hallmark of DLD, is an important area of need for these children. Existing grammar interventions do not clearly distinguish the sensory input techniques that meet these children’s neurobiological instructional needs. This adapted alternating treatment design study implemented intervention using systematic paired visual and verbal and systematic paired motor, i.e. standardized gestures, and verbal sensory input techniques. A moderate-strong functional relation between intervention techniques using motor supports on grammatical outcomes in …

Assessing Teacher Pedagogical Knowledge: The Video Assessment Of Teacher Knowledge (Vatk), Peter D. Wiens, Jori S. Beck, Christina J. Lunsmann

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This study examines the creation and implementation of a video-based assessment of teacher knowledge of effective teaching called the Video Assessment of Teacher Knowledge (VATK). The VATK was developed with the intention of creating an easily administered, standardised assessment that can potentially provide information on teacher candidate knowledge of teaching at important points during their training programmes and into the teaching field. The theoretical framework upon which the VATK was developed and the process for item creation are described. Classical test theory and item response theory analysis were conducted to determine the measure’s potential for use in future studies. Analyses …

The Power Of Open: Benefits, Barriers, And Strategies For Integration Of Open Educational Resources, Tian Luo, Kirsten Hostetler, Candice Freeman, Jill Stefaniak

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Open Educational Resources (OER) are becoming a significant, mission-driven trend within educational literature. To help address rising costs, instructors and designers are looking to OER to effectively replace traditional instructional content, which requires more than just identify and replace. Drawing from 51 OER studies conducted in countries across the five continents, this systematic literature review explored the empirical themes evident in the current research on a global scale. This review found (1) discoverability, sustainability, and remixing are significant barriers that stand in the way of OER disrupting traditional textbook models; (2) there is no significant difference in learning outcomes when …

Organizational Management Of Distance Learning: An Analysis Of Teacher Feedback Throughout Hampton Roads Public High Schools During The Covid-19 Pandemic Response, Cody P. Trudeau

OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers

Public schools throughout the United States experienced closures and transitions to online curriculum in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many of the policies and strategies implemented to manage teaching faculty were hastily designed and employed out of necessity. This study sought to examine organizational management policies and strategies throughout public high schools in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia through teaching faculty perspectives. This cross-sectional study examined descriptive and correlational statistics of survey responses to determine and evaluate how schools managed communication, responsibilities and delegation, and training for distance learning in order to provide policy …

Improving Classroom Management And Teacher Retention: A Needs Assessment, Jill Stefaniak, Jilian L. Reynolds, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This case explores how a needs assessment was conducted at a middle school experiencing high rates of teacher turnover. Pamela Frost, an experienced instructional designer, was assigned to assess the situation and identify opportunities to improve professional development opportunities for the teachers. As a part of a needs assessment, Pamela gathered data to address needs pertaining to classroom management challenges, teacher attrition rates, and establishing relations with the local community. This case explores how Pamela gathered data and triangulated her findings to determine what interventions were needed.

An Exploration Of Professional Preparedness Of Instructional Designers To Evaluate, Philena V. Devaughn

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Formative, summative, and confirmative evaluation of instructional products determine whether learner objectives have been attained and substantiate the value of the instruction. The ability to implement an evaluation plan is classified as an essential skill for instructional designers by the International Board of Standards for Training and Performance Improvement (IBSTPI). Previous research has ascertained that entry-level instructional designers have failed to master the skills required to create evaluation plans.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the professional preparation received by instructional designers, for instruction evaluation, through graduate level programs. The data collected for this study was the …

Building Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (Ese): How Undergraduate Students Make Meaning Of Their Entrepreneurial Experiences, Amy Kurfist

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative, interview-based research study explores how undergraduate students at a single research university make meaning of their experiences in curricular and co-curricular university entrepreneurship programming. The study focuses on the developmental relationship between entrepreneurship education and feelings of entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) and how feelings of ESE relate to future entrepreneurial intentions. I explore three of Bandura’s (1977) predictors of self-efficacy: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, and social persuasion interwoven with the six dimensions of ESE developed by De Noble, Jung, and Ehrlich (1999) to determine how undergraduate students make meaning of their entrepreneurial experiences.

Through the analysis of data collected …

Setting The Pace: Examining Cognitive Processing In Mooc Discussion Forums With Automatic Text Analysis, Robert L. Moore, Kevin M. Oliver, Chuang Wang

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Learning analytics focuses on extracting meaning from large amounts of data. One of the largest datasets in education comes from Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that typically feature enrollments in the tens of thousands. Analyzing MOOC discussion forums presents logistical issues, resulting chiefly from the size of the dataset, which can create challenges for understanding and adequately describing student behaviors. Utilizing automatic text analysis, this study built a hierarchical linear model that examines the influence of the pacing condition of a massive open online course (MOOC), whether it is self-paced or instructor-paced, on the demonstration of cognitive processing in a …

The Preparation And Certification Of School Librarians: Using Causal Educational Research About Teacher Characteristics To Probe Facets Of Effectiveness, Sue C. Kimmel, Marcia A. Mardis, Shana Pribesh, Laura A. Pasquini, Barbara Schultz-Jones, Faye R. Jones, Lois D. Wine, Lenese M. Colson

STEMPS Faculty Publications

How do we define a high-quality school librarian? Decades of educational researchers have attempted to link teacher characteristics—such as how teachers are prepared, which credentials they carry, and years of experience—to student outcomes. These researchers have contended that individual educator attributes may have a direct effect on what and how much their students learn. School librarians are also teachers who have direct student contact, and although numerous studies have indicated that school librarian preparation, licensure, and other background characteristics are promising areas for further direct exploration, researchers have yet to examine if, how, and why school librarians’ certification or preparation …

Mathematics Teacher Educators' Exploring Self-Based Methodologies, Elizabeth Elizabeth, Signe E. Kastberg, Dana Cox, Jennifer Ward, Olive Chapman, Melva R. Grant

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Historically underused methodologies in mathematics teacher education such as narrative inquiry, self-study, and autoethnography (i.e., self-based methodologies) are becoming a more frequent choice of mathematics teacher educators (MTEs). This has opened new challenges for MTEs as they try to disseminate their findings in mathematics education journals. Building from our working group at PME-NA 2018, we respond to the need for creating spaces (communities) where MTEs can feel supported in their study design, implementation, representation of findings, and publication using self-based methodologies. This year, we shift our focus from discussion to mentoring and scholarship on self-based methodologies. We invite MTEs with …

"Asking, Learning, Seeking Out": An Exploration Of Data Literacy For Teaching, Jori S. Beck, Joseph John Morgan, Nancy Brown, Heather Whitesides, Derek R. Riddle

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The current study explored preservice and inservice teachers’ perspectives on data literacy for teaching. Semi-structured interviews were employed with 12 teacher candidates in elementary and special education. The findings revealed participants’ misconceptions regarding formative and summative data; their understanding of the value of formative data; perceptions of challenges related to data literacy for teaching including time, making sense of data, and reliability and validity; and candidates’ preferences for authentic data literacy instruction.

Factors Contributing To Student Retention In Online Learning And Recommended Strategies For Improvement: A Systematic Literature Review, Pauline S. Muljana, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose

This systematic literature review investigates the underlying factors that influence the gap between the popularity of online learning and its completion rate. The review scope within this paper includes an observation of possible causal aspects within the non-ideal completion rates in online learning environments and an identification of recommended strategies to increase retention rates.

Background

While online learning is increasingly popular, and the number of online students is steadily growing, student retention rates are significantly lower than those in the traditional environment. Despite the multitude of studies, many institutions are still searching for solutions for this matter.

Methodology

A …

Implementing The U.S. School Library Standards: Data And Dialogue From The Field, Elizabeth Ann Burns

STEMPS Faculty Publications

In this exploratory study, a survey was conducted to learn about school librarian perceptions on the implementation and practice using the US National School Library Standards (NSLS) for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries published by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). Participants in the state of Virginia in the United States, reported on their experiences after attending training on the new NSLS and they began their personal plan of implementation. This report documents preliminary findings indicating participants found implementation training largely introductory. After one year many remain at the awareness …

Evidence, Standards, And School Librarianship: Prevailing Policies, Promising Methods, And Progress On A Research Agenda, Barbara Schultz-Jones, Sue C. Kimmel, Marcia A. Mardis, Faye R. Jones, Shana Pribesh, Laura Pasquini

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Guided by the question, "What are the implications of national educational evidence standards for school librarianship research?," prevailing U.S. evidence-driven educational policies are examined to identify implications for school librarianship research; promising methods to contribute to building this evidence base are explored; and finally, progress on a long-term research agenda designed to enable school librarianship researchers to contribute evidence to educational policy is reviewed. As promising methods are explored, an actionable agenda is proposed that school library researchers can undertake to participate in a causal research environment.

A Comparative Analysis Of Holographic, 3d-Printed, And Computer-Generated Models: Implications For Engineering Technology Students' Spatial Visualization Ability, Petros J. Katsioloudis, Mildred V. Jones

STEMPS Faculty Publications

A number of studies indicate that the use of holographic displays can influence spatial visualization ability; however, research provides inconsistent results. Considering this, a quasi-experimental study was conducted to identify the existence of statistically significant effects on sectional view drawing ability due to the impacts of holographic displays. In particular, the study compared the use of three different types of displays: 3D printed model, computer generated model, and holographic model to determine whether a significant difference exists towards sectional view drawing ability, among engineering technology students. According to the results of this study, it is suggested that the impact of …

Access With Progress: A Comparative Analysis On The Co-Requisite Model Of Developmental Acceleration, Christopher Sean Wikstrom

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Students who are required to progress through a developmental education program face substantial barriers in the way of annual retention and program completion. A multitude of models exist on college campuses to improve these outcomes, one of which implements an on-time remediation approach. This co-requisite method is designed to reduce the time in developmental sequencing and stop-out points and accelerate students who are placed into preparatory classes to their gateway courses. As a form of developmental acceleration, students can concurrently enroll in their on-level and remedial courses in the same semester. A comparative analysis was performed between three student subgroups …

The Relationship Between Course Delivery Mode And Location With Course Success For Dual Enrolled Students, Dean Morris Roughton

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

High school dual enrollment has increased dramatically in recent years, growing 75% nationally between academic years 2002-03 and 2010-11 (Borden, Taylor, Park, & Seiler, 2013). Proponents of dual enrollment programs cite long-term, positive student outcomes for dual enrollment students: higher GPAs in college as adults (Allen & Dadgar, 2012; Jones, 2014; Karp, Calcagno, Hughes, Jeong, & Bailey, 2007), higher first year persistence rates in college (Jones, 2014; Karp et al., 2007), faster time to degree completion (Allen & Dadgar, 2012; Ganzert, 2014; Hughes, 2016), and higher college graduation rates (Ganzert, 2014; Hughes, 2016). However, very little research has focused on …

Delving Into The Specificity Of Instructional Guidance In Social Media-Supported Learning Environments, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose: This study investigates the variations in student participation patterns across different types of instructional activities, learning modes, and with different instructional guidance approaches. In the current study, different variables, modes of learning (guided versus unguided), and types of guidance (social versus cognitive) were manipulated in a series of microblogging-supported collaborative learning tasks to examine to what extent and in which aspects instructional guidance affects the effectiveness and student perception of microblogging-supported learning.

Background: Despite the overwhelming agreement on the importance of instructional guidance in microblogging-supported learning environments, very few studies have been done to examine the specificity of guidance, …

A Platform For Voice And Identity: School Library Standards In Support Of Ya Urban Literature's Transformative Impacts On Youth, Sabrina Carnesi

STEMPS Faculty Publications

In this qualitative study of collaboration between an eighth grade English teacher and school librarian, 14 urban youth from a suburban city in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States were interviewed on the impact they experienced from a yearlong study with young adult literature reflective of their lived experiences. Steeped in the language of social justice and inclusive of the American Association of School Librarians’ Standards for the 21st Century Learner (2009) and International Federation of LibraryAssociations’ School Library Guidelines (2015), an analysis of findings bring attention to the impact highly effective partnerships have on implementing literature discussion circles …

District Strategic Teaming: Leadership For Systemic And Sustainable Reform, Thomas L. Alsbury, Margaret R. Blanchard, Kristie S. Gutierrez, Chris M. Allred, A. Dell Tolin

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Reform efforts in schools have become increasingly focused on the nature and direction of teamwork in efforts to achieve sustained and systemic districtwide capacity for innovation and needed change. The six-year study reported in this article involved development, implementation, and assessment of a unique collaborative process for districtwide reform in some of the most challenging and fluid educational settings in the United States of America. This reform process, called District Strategic Teaming, involved a representative vertical cross-section of members from the district office to school-based support staff. Participating schools are located in isolated, rural communities in the south-eastern region of …

Effectiveness Of Drafting Models For Engineering Technology Students And Impacts On Spatial Visualization Ability: An Analysis And Consideration Of Critical Variables, Petros J. Katsioloudis, Jill E. Stefaniak

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Results from a number of studies indicate that the use of drafting models can positively influence the spatial visualization ability for engineering technology students. However, additional variables such as light, temperature, motion and color can play an important role but research provides inconsistent results. Considering this, a set of 5 quasi-experimental studies, was conducted to identify additional critical variables. According to the results, a dynamic, 3Dprinted drafting model, presented with a blue background under lighting conditions between 500–750 lux had the highest impact on spatial visualization ability of engineering technology students.

Building Of Causality: A Future For School Librarianship Research And Practice, Marcia A. Mardis, Sue C. Kimmel, Laura A. Pasquini

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The article discusses the future trends in school librarianship and its impact on professional practice. Topics discussed include the research study conducted by Colorado Study and funded by the American Association of School Librarians, along with how to respond to the changes technology has brought in engaging learners.

Measuring Presence: A Review Of Research Using The Community Of Inquiry Instrument, Ana E. Redstone, Jill E. Stefaniak, Tian Luo

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

This systematic review provides a summary of studies on teaching, social, and cognitive presences in the community of inquiry (CoI) model using the CoI instrument in a higher education setting since its development in 2008 by Arbaugh et al. A total of 24 peer-reviewed studies on the CoI instrument from 2008–2017 were selected and analyzed explore the types of research on the instrument in higher education settings have been published, ways the instrument has been used for learning and teaching, and the implications the instrument poses for online instructors and instructional designers. It is organized into 4 themes: testing the …

A Study Of Late Registration At Four Community Colleges, Meredith Courtney Nourie-Manuele

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

At the community college level, a debated policy is whether to keep the option for late registration. Most colleges define late registration as registration that occurs any time after the first day of the semester (O’Banion, 2012). Some community colleges have opted to eliminate late registration, believing, based on previous studies, that late registration is a barrier to students and their success (Bolt, 2013; Hale & Bray, 2011; Jones, 2015; Smith, Street, & Olivarez, 2002; Weiss, 1999). Others assert late registration remain an option maintaining that the open access designation associated with the community college demands that students not be …

The Researchers' Perspective: For And By The Community: Processes And Practices From The Development Of National School Library Standards, Elizabeth A. Burns, Marcia A. Mardis

STEMPS Faculty Publications

In this study, we describe the innovative and rigorous phased process used to compose the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) National School Library Standards (AASL, 2018). We begin by recounting previous standards iterations and compared their development processes to the most recent process used during the development of the AASL Standards. After we detail the development timeline and process phases, we conclude with implications for best practices in standards development for school librarians, professional leaders, and practitioners.

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 …

The Correlation Between The National Survey Of Student Engagement Indicators And First Year Student Achievement, Satisfaction, And Retention, Larry Peck

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if the National Survey of Student Engagement indicators (NSSE), High-Impact Practices, demographic variables and non-involvement factors can significantly predict student achievement, satisfaction, and retention. The sample included data from 493 freshmen from a large public university in the Southeastern United States who participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement in 2015 and 2016. This study seeks to benefit instructional designers, educators, and educational institutions to maximize their resources and efforts to achieve maximum achievement, retention, and satisfaction.

The study concluded that achievement is highly correlated with higher-order learning, learning strategies, effective …

Educational Technology And Distance Supervision In Counselor Education, Robert Milton Carlisle, Danica G. Hays, Shana L. Pribesh, Chris T. Wood

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

The authors used a nonexperimental descriptive design to examine the prevalence of distance supervision in counselor education programs, educational technology used in supervision, training on technology in supervision, and participants' (N = 673) perceptions of legal and ethical compliance. Program policies are recommended to guide the training and use of technology in supervision.

Using Mobile Learning To Supports Students' Understanding In Geometry: A Design-Based Research Study, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The use of mobile learning offers new affordances to teaching and learning. In this study, students from two fourth grade classes used iPads in dyads and groups to learn about angle. Using a design-based research methodology, which included observations, video, researcher journals, and artefact collection, a local instruction theory was developed on how students can learn about angle concepts through mobile learning activities. The local instruction theory is comprised of two components: (a) a seven lesson curriculum for 4th grade students on developing an early understanding of angle utilizing a mobile learning approach, and (b) additions to the scholarly theories, …

Factors Influencing The Selection Of Academic Help Sources, Joan Giblin

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

This study extends the literature on academic help-seeking by identifying factors influencing undergraduate students’ selection of a source of help. Learners engage in intentional decisions to seek help from human and non-human sources to resolve gaps in knowledge. Decision making heuristics provide a theoretical lens to understand these intentional decisions. Previous research in academic help-seeking assumed learners sought only human sources of assistance, resulting in a narrow understanding of how learners resolve knowledge gaps. Methodological trends in help-seeking research consistently favor quantitative, survey based tools with pre-defined options. As a result, the factors that influence the selection of a source …