Educational Methods Commons^™

Analyzing Commercial Video Game Instruction Through The Lens Of Instructional Design, Susan E. Copp, Rebecca L. Fischer, Tian Luo, David R. Moore, Seann Dikkers

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This paper will examine how Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction (1992) may appear, perhaps inadvertently, within commercial games that guide the user from novice to expert player. By employing a qualitative artifact analysis methodology, we examine a popular action adventure video game to determine if game designers encourage players to build game expertise by employing similar events to Gagne’s instructional design model. We demonstrate that our artifact of analysis does consistently employ Gagne’s events, though often in a manner unique to a digitally mediated space. We conclude that an experiential game setting has the potential to be a platform for …

Exploiting Fluencies: Educational Expropriation Of Social Networking Site Consumer Training, Lucinda Rush, Dylan E. Wittkower

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

The idea of the digital native was based on abstraction; when we look in detail at the digital activities of high-school and college students, we see deskilling and consumer training rather than information literacy or technical fluency. Yet that training is still training, and may be adaptable in such a way that it can become a literacy—in, for example, the way militaries have mobilised skill-sets produced through gaming. We too can and should mine the narrow and profit-driven consumer training that emerging adults have undergone for kinds of inquiry and critical engagement for which they may have inadvertently been given …

Research Windows: Iste Standards In The Research, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

[First paragraph]

When ISTE began developing educational technology standards for PK-12 students in the early 1990s, it was ahead of its time. The organization saw the need to prepare students for the future, and it invested in standards as a way to give schools a clear path to staying relevant. The future that ISTE foresaw has definitely arrived, but it's not standing still. To ensure that the standards remain useful for students and educators around the world, ISTE has submitted them to a rigorous updating and revision process.

Educators’ Self-Identified Mobile Learning Training Needs: A Qualitative Study Involving Educators From 12 Diverse North American States, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Mobile learning (mlearning) is changing the pedagogical landscape of traditional teaching. The myriad of constantly evolving mobile devices are providing new affordances which are attracting the attention of educators around the globe. Many educators may be excited at these new affordances to learning, others are more apprehensive of this technological intrusion on traditional practices. In this paper, the researchers share the results of a self-report survey that provides evidence of what educators reported they would like to receive training on for mlearning initiatives. These data suggest current trends in mlearning and the technological abilities of educators implementing mlearning in their …

Examining Student Participation In Three Learning Activities Supported By Social Annotation Tools, Tian Luo, Fei Gao, Kathryn S. Hoff

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Social annotation (SA) allows learners to highlight and comment on Web pages and share annotations with each other online. Despite its potential in promoting collaborative learning, examining how to integrate it into educational settings has not been fully studied. The purpose of the study is to examine student participation in three different SA-based online activities: (1) peer review, (2) annotated discussion, and (3) collaborative reading. Students participated in all three SA-based activities and took a survey at the end reporting the effectiveness of these activities. The analysis of students' annotations and their survey responses suggested that although participants perceived the …

Effects Of An Interprofessional Simulation Activity To Improve Students' Perceptions Of Other Healthcare Professions, Chase Raymond Poulsen

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Healthcare professionals have historically been educated and trained by members of their own profession within a curriculum that reinforces their individual discipline-specific strengths. This differentiation has contributed to students having little interaction with other professionals until after they have entered the workforce and consequently little formal education in collaboration or integration. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to evaluate the impact of an interprofessional (IP) collaborative activity on student's perceptions of the others discipline for the improvement in care of medical patients.

The sample population consisted of students from two programs, nursing (n=40) and respiratory therapy (n=33). Students were …

Design, Development And Evaluation Of An Interactive Virtual Haptics-Augmented Training System For Undergraduate Engineering, Robert L. Williams Ii, Ernur Karadogan, David R. Moore, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Using Wikis To Support Peer Assessment Activities In Higher Education, Yanyan Sun, Teresa Franklin, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This study explored the effectiveness of using wikis as an environment to support peer-assessment in higher education settings. The participants of this study were nineteen per-serviced teachers who enrolled in an undergraduate course on the application of instructional technologies in classroom. In the study, the participants created their personal wiki pages within a course wiki and formed groups of three or four. Five peer-assessment activities were assigned, in which the participants uploaded their class projects to their wiki pages and went to their group member’s pages to provide feedback. The participants were expected to evaluate other’s projects in terms of …

Brigance Transition Skills Inventory, Jonna L. Bobzien

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

[Introduction] The BRIGANCE Transition Skills Inventory (TSI) is one of the assessment tools within the BRIGANCE family of assessment instruments. The TSI is a compilation of two previously published assessments, the Employability Skills Inventory and the Life Skills Inventory, and involves significant content additions and updates. The TSI consists of a series of more than 100 criterion-referenced assessments targeting skills necessary for students with special needs as they begin post-secondary transition preparations (Curriculum Associates, 2010). The TSI measures skills and transition service needs in four key areas: Academic Skills (e.g., speaking, writing, math), Post-Secondary Opportunities (e.g., interests, communication, technology), Independent …

An Examination Of The Predictive Relationship Between Mode Of Instruction And Student Success In Introductory Biology, Lynette Kathleen Hauser

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges continue to increase online course offerings as these institutions strive to offer open access, cost effective education to a growing student population. With an increased student demand for online learning, community colleges should explore the possibility of offering all courses in the online environment, including science courses. The purpose of this quantitative research was to investigate the success of non-science major students in biology 102 on campus comparing students who completed biology 101 online to students who completed biology 101 on campus within Virginia community colleges. This was the first multi institutional, multi semester study of community college …

In Search For Instructional Techniques To Maximize The Use Of Germane Cognitive Resources: A Case Of Teaching Complex Tasks In Physics, Yekaterina Sliva

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to introduce an instructional technique for teaching complex tasks in physics, test its effectiveness and efficiency, and understand cognitive processes taking place in learners' minds while they are exposed to this technique. The study was based primarily on cognitive load theory (CLT). CLT determines the amount of total cognitive load imposed on a learner by a learning task as combined intrinsic (invested in comprehending task complexity) and extraneous (wasteful) cognitive load. Working memory resources associated with intrinsic cognitive load are defined as germane resources caused by element interactivity that lead to learning, in contrast …

The Effects Of Group Size On Student Learning, Student Contributions, \Mental Effort, And Group Outcomes For Middle-Aged Adults Working In An Ill-Structured Problem-Solving Environment, Gary Lee Roemmich

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Group work has become increasingly important within adult education as educators strive to present students with problems and processes that they encounter in their professional lives. In many work environments, individuals are expected to function as a part of a team to solve complex problems. Consequently, there has been a shift towards teaching students how to solve problems as part of a group rather than individually. An important question becomes "What size group maximizes students learning?" This study compared student learning, student participation levels, and mental effort for middle-aged, professional students in large (six students) and small groups (three students) …

Using Social Annotation Tools To Foster Collaborative Learning, Tian Luo, Fei Gao, Yanyan Sun

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Social annotation (SA) allows learners to highlight and comment on web pages and share annotations with each other online. Despite its potential in promoting collaborative learning, how to integrate it into educational settings has not been fully studied. This study aims at introducing and exploring three different ways of incorporating SA-based activities into an online course: (a) peer review; (b) annotated discussion; and (c) collaborative reading. Students participated all three SA- based activities and took a survey at the end reporting the effectiveness of these activities. In this proposal we reported the initial findings of student participation in the three …

Batman Meets Gagne: Analyzing Commercial Video Game Instruction Through The Lens Of Instructional Design, Susan E. Copp, Rebecca L. Fisher, Tian Luo, Seann Dikkers

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This paper will examine how Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction (1992) may appear, perhaps inadvertently, within commercial games that guide the user from novice to expert player. By employing a qualitative artifact analysis methodology, we examine a popular action adventure video game to determine if game designers encourage players to build game expertise by employing similar events to Gagne’s instructional design model. We demonstrate that our artifact of analysis does consistently employ Gagne’s events, though often in a manner unique to a digitally mediated space. We conclude that an experiential game setting has the potential to be a platform for …

Web 2.0 For Language Learning: Benefits And Challenges For Educators, Tian Luo

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This literature review study explores 44 empirical research studies that report on the integration of Web 2.0 tools into language learning and evaluate the actual impact of using those Web 2.0 tools in language learning. In particular, this review aims to identify the specific Web 2.0 tools integrated in the educational settings, theoretical underpinnings that are commonly used to frame the research, methodologies and data analysis techniques that scholars employ to analyze their research data, the benefits and challenges scholars spotted in their research findings, the pedagogical implications in using Web 2.0 for language learning and future research directions that …

Examining Student Participation In Three Learning Activities Supported By Social Annotation Tools, Tian Luo, Fei Gao, Kathryn S. Hoff

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Social annotation (SA) allows learners to highlight and comment on Web pages and share annotations with each other online. Despite its potential in promoting collaborative learning, examining how to integrate it into educational settings has not been fully studied. The purpose of the study is to examine student participation in three different SA-based online activities: (1) peer review, (2) annotated discussion, and (3) collaborative reading. Students participated in all three SA-based activities and took a survey at the end reporting the effectiveness of these activities. The analysis of students’ annotations and their survey responses suggested that although participants perceived the …

Integrating Disciplinary Literacy Into Middle-School And Pre-Service Teacher Education, Jaime Colwell, David Reinking

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This case describes a summary of a formative experiment, a framework specific to educational design research, simultaneously conducted in a middle-school history classroom and a university social studies methods course. The purpose of the study was to refine an intervention to promote disciplinary literacy in history. The intervention provided middle-school students and pre-service teachers with explicit strategies to promote disciplinary literacy, while participating in a collaborative blog project engaging them in disciplinary literacy. Conclusions suggest practical consideration for implementation of disciplinary literacy into history. The case outlines the five phases of the formative experiment and briefly overviews modifications made during …

Turning Counseling Students Into Researchers: Enhancing Quantitative Research Courses With An Experiential Learning Activity, Mark C. Rehfuss, Dixie D. Meyer

Counseling & Human Services Faculty Publications

Research methods and application are crucial aspects of most counseling practitioners and scholars’ lives, yet practical experience with development and implementation of research projects is usually limited to doctoral level dissertations. This article describes an experiential research project that has been integrated into counseling research methods courses at both the master’s level and the doctoral level. In this mentored research activity, students move through the entire research process in one semester. They begin with a notion and finish with a submission for publication. Based on student responses, implementing this process in a research methodology course is recommended.

Adult Learner Graduation Rates At Four U.S. Community Colleges By Prior Learning Assessment Status And Method, Milan S. Hayward

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The college completion agenda demands improved graduation rates among adult learners and prior learning assessment (PLA) is a promising solution. PLA permits students to earn college credit for knowledge acquired outside of higher education and is associated with improved student outcomes. The current study expanded the literature regarding adult PLA learners in the community college by examining the graduation rates of adult learners in four U.S. community colleges by PLA status and method. Results confirmed significant difference in graduation rates between adult PLA learners and adult non-PLA learners, uncovered significant difference in the graduation rates of adult PLA learners by …

Adding Glamour To Theory: Experiencing Theory In The Basic Course In Interpersonal Communication, Thomas Joseph Socha

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

Focusing on the use of popular magazines in interpersonal communication instruction, this paper argues that such magazines can provide a rich source for application and criticism of interpersonal communication processes in everyday life. The first section of the paper reviews research and criticism dealing with the content of magazine articles that offer advice on interpersonal relationships and related topics, noting that such research and criticism are rare in the field. The second section provides a framework for integrating popular literature into the interpersonal course by discussing three methods of integration: critique application, discussion application, and role-play application. The third section …

Qr Codes 101, Helen Crompton, Jason Lafrance, Mark Van't Hooft

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

QR codes are a fast, easy, free, and fun way to spice up your lesson plans and school communication by linking the brick-and-mortar world to the digital domain. If you’re not using them in your classroom yet, here’s a primer and some inspiring ideas to get you started.

How Web 2.0 Is Changing The Way Students Learn: The Darwikinism And Folksonomy Revolution, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

In the 21st century, some argue that we have a new breed of students (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005; Prensky, 2001). Technologies such as Web 2.0 have been held responsible for these changes as students are now becoming active, critical consumers of information (Klamma, Cao, & Spaniol, 2007). Two components of this Web 2.0 revolution are the ideas behind Darwikinism and folksonomy. Darwikinism is a portmanteau of Darwinism and Wikis, which describes how a system similar to Darwin’s theory of evolution is ordering and processing wiki information. Folksonomy, again a portmanteau of folk and taxonomy, refers to the way in which …

"You Got To Be Follow-Worthy Or I Will Unfollow You!” Students’ Voices On Twitter Integration Into Classroom Settings, Tian Luo, Teresa Franklin

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This research centers on a case study where Twitter was integrated in an undergraduate level course. Under the instructor’s specific guidance and ongoing feedback, students actively participate in the course both in and outside of classroom. They perceived the incorporation of Twitter into classroom to be highly engaging and contributive to their learning. During the 10 week course, students’ initiatives in developing self-defined codes of conduct for tweeting, creating user groups, and assisting one another to become proficient in using Twitter, demonstrated a high degree of autonomous social learning in both formal and informal learning environments. Not only were they …

Designing Microblogging-Based Class Activities, Tian Luo, Fei Gao

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Microblogging tools such as Twitter have been frequently adopted in educational settings to facilitate learning. This study examined how a microblogging tool, Twiducate, was incorporated into a graduate-level class of ten students. During the 1.5 hour lesson, students participated in a series of Twiducate-supported collaborative and reflective activities. The analysis of in-class discussion transcripts, text-based posts on Twiducate and a pre- and post-test survey results revealed that students were highly engaged in classroom collaborative learning and there is a high level of interaction. Students reported the challenges of using microblogging tools, such as the possibility of creating distraction and disorder …

Effective Reading Remediation Instructional Strategies For Struggling Early Readers, Guang-Lea Lee, Robert Gable, Verla Kroeker Klassen

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This paper presents a microgenetic study of the emergence of literacy in an eight-year-old student who is in third grade in a public primary school in Midwest, USA and is identified as learning disabled. It describes seven practical teaching strategies that were successfully used with this child for two years. At the end of this two year remediation, the child was able to read fluently at her grade level and exceeded all expectations and predictions of her parents and teachers. These strategies will be beneficial for classroom teachers, reading specialists, and special education teachers who are working with struggling young …

Implementation Of A One-To-One Ipod Touch Program In A Middle School, Helen Crompton, Julie Keane

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to investigate the implementation of a whole school one-to-one iPod Touch project in a middle school in the southeastern United States. While some focused studies have been undertaken in this new field of learning, there has been little research to date that documents activity within a whole school implementation (Chen, Kao, & Sheu, 2003; Conti-Ramsden, Durkin, & Simkin, 2010). Using Rogers' (1963, 2003) theory of diffusion of innovation as a lens for this research, we gathered data from observations, focus groups, and interviews. Our findings indicated that teachers focused on internet-based research activities, formative …

Using Blogs To Promote Literary Response During Professional Development, Jaime Colwell, Amy Hutchison, David Reinking

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) The blogging has, I don’t want to say forced, but kind of made me read books that I haven’t necessarily read before, and I don’t think I would have. I’ve read lots of children’s books just through student teaching and everything, but it makes me look outside the box and maybe at other genres that I wouldn’t look at necessarily. (Sam, a pre-service teacher, blogging in a children’s literature course)

Dynamics Of No Child Left Behind Policy Impacting Reading Education Practices In Kindergarten In The United States Of America, Guang-Lea Lee, Joanne K. Sullivan, Abha Gupta

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The Commonwealth of Virginia is used as a representative case to illustrate the implication of federal policy on reading education practices in kindergarten in the United States of America. While Virginia follows the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy, it allows local school districts to create innovative instructional and assessment practices that can match the needs of each child. Teachers in Virginia experience a wide range of emergent reading skills in kindergarten inclusive classrooms filled with children of diverse backgrounds and abilities. However, highly qualified teachers try to meet the state Standards of Learning through working side-by-side with children. …

An Investigation Of Higher-Order Thinking Skills In Smaller Learning Community Social Studies Classrooms, Christopher Fischer, Linda Bol, Shana Pribesh

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

This study investigated the extent to which higher-order thinking skills are promoted in social studies classes in high schools that are implementing smaller learning communities (SLCs). Data collection in this mixed-methods study included classroom observations and in-depth interviews. Findings indicated that higher-order thinking was rarely promoted in SLC classes. Interview data suggests several factors affecting teaching for higher-order thinking in SLC social studies classrooms. These include: high stakes testing, pacing pressures, teachers' dispositions and training, and teacher autonomy.

Student Knowledge, Attitudes, And Use Of Evidence-Based Concepts Following An Educational Intervention, Sarah A. Manspeaker, Bonnie Van Lunen, Paula S. Turocy, Shana Pribesh, Dorice Hankemeier

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Context: While evidence-based practice (EBP) concepts are being taught in health profession education programs, models of instruction and effectiveness of these models are not evident in athletic training.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Evidence-Based Teaching Model (EBTM) in increasing student knowledge, attitudes, and use of evidence-based concepts.

Design: Within subjects design with pre- and post-test evaluations of students' knowledge, attitudes, and intended use using the researcher-developed Evidence-Based Concepts: Knowledge, Attitudes and Use (EBCKAU) survey. Setting: CAATE-accredited undergraduate programs.

Participants: Eighty-two students from a stratified purposeful sample of 9 institutions were enrolled in the study, 78 students (95%) completed …