Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Educational Psychology Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Brigham Young University

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 271 - 300 of 374

Full-Text Articles in Educational Psychology

Factors Contributing To Improved Teaching Performance, Whitney Ransom Mcgowan, Charles R. Graham Jan 2009

Factors Contributing To Improved Teaching Performance, Whitney Ransom Mcgowan, Charles R. Graham

Faculty Publications

This article focuses upon the quality and scholarship of teaching as it pertains to educational and faculty development. We outline what more than 200 faculty members at one institution have done over a 3-year period to make significant and sustained improvements in their teaching, surprisingly with minimal effort. The top three factors leading to improvement were active/practical learning, teacher/student interactions, and clear expectations/learning outcomes. We provide practical applications for change and suggestions for future research.


Imaginative Instruction: What Master Storytellers Can Teach Instructional Designers, Jason K. Mcdonald Jan 2009

Imaginative Instruction: What Master Storytellers Can Teach Instructional Designers, Jason K. Mcdonald

Faculty Publications

Good instructional storytelling engages students’ attention and cognitive abilities to the end of more effective learning, and instructional researchers have discussed whether the principles of storytelling could lead to the same or similar results if applied to educational situations beyond only telling traditional stories. But despite this potential, the principles of storytelling are seemingly underutilized by today’s instructional designers. This study investigates what instructional designers might learn from another design field that is more experienced in the art of storytelling, specifically that of film production. Eight filmmakers who have successfully produced films that motivate, inspire, and educate were interviewed to …


Views And Use Of Theory By Practicing Instructional Designers, Joseph B. South Dec 2008

Views And Use Of Theory By Practicing Instructional Designers, Joseph B. South

Theses and Dissertations

Formal instructional design (ID) theories, intended to guide instructional designers' decision-making and design practices, have grown in abundance in recent years. These ID theories are based on learning theories that form the foundation for applied work in the field. However, researchers are concerned that these theories may not be applicable to the day-to-day practice of instructional designers. While some studies investigate the application of ID process models, studies of learning theory and ID theory in practice are rare. Consequently, there is little information about the nature and extent of the gap between our field's theory and its practice. This qualitative …


An Investigation Of The Technological, Pedagogical And Content Knowledge Framework In Successful Chinese Language Classrooms, Su-Ling Hsueh Nov 2008

An Investigation Of The Technological, Pedagogical And Content Knowledge Framework In Successful Chinese Language Classrooms, Su-Ling Hsueh

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study investigates whether technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPCK) is balanced and integrated in Chinese language classrooms. Three expert Chinese teachers in technology-enhanced classrooms, as well as their students, were observed and studied. Four and a half months of data were collected in the form of classroom observations, interviews, reflective journals, and document analysis. Four basic findings were derived from the study. First, the TPCK framework reflected an observable instructional process for communication between teachers and students. However, teachers did not knowingly integrate technology, pedagogy and content in technology-enhanced classrooms. Second, content was the focal point during …


Comprehension And Retention: The Effect Of Concrete Details And Causal Structure In Scientific Narrative, Wendi Michelle Wilcken Nov 2008

Comprehension And Retention: The Effect Of Concrete Details And Causal Structure In Scientific Narrative, Wendi Michelle Wilcken

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine two of the salient elements of instructional narratives as a guide to instructional practice. The literature summarized in this report discusses the theoretical basis for narrative impact on comprehension and retention, enumerates and defines possible salient narrative elements from the literature, and examines the instructional impact of two of these elements: concrete details and causal structure. This is intended to help provide guidance to instructional designers and teachers who desire to use narrative in science instruction. Participants included 94 high school physics students. An experimental research design of 2 (Gender) x 2 …


Technology And A House Of Learning, Charles R. Graham, Dawn Graham Oct 2008

Technology And A House Of Learning, Charles R. Graham, Dawn Graham

Faculty Publications

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God. Technological innovations over the past decade have had a huge influence on our lives, from the way we communicate and recreate to the way we educate students in the U.S. Technology has even had an impact on our religious lives and on ways we share our beliefs with others.


An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Instructional Methods Used With A Student Response System At A Large University, Charles R. Graham, Larry Seawright, Coral Marie Hanson Oct 2008

An Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Instructional Methods Used With A Student Response System At A Large University, Charles R. Graham, Larry Seawright, Coral Marie Hanson

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the adoption of student response systems (SRS) across a large university campus. The study sought to understand how faculty members were using the SRS and what instructional strategies student and faculty found to be most valuable to their learning. The term "helpful" and the concept of "helpfulness" is used in place of "valuable" as it more clearly communicates to students and faculty the concept of how an SRS is of worth to them. Students were generally positive about the helpfulness of the instructional methods professors were using. Students found the ability to receive immediate feedback on their …


The Effects Of Manageable Corrective Feedback On Esl Writing Accuracy, K James Hartshorn Jul 2008

The Effects Of Manageable Corrective Feedback On Esl Writing Accuracy, K James Hartshorn

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test the effect of one approach to writing pedagogy on second-language (L2) writing accuracy. This study used two groups of L2 writers who were learning English as a second language: a control group (n = 19) who were taught with traditional process writing methods and a treatment group (n = 28) who were taught with an innovative approach to L2 writing pedagogy. The methodology for the treatment group was designed to improve L2 writing accuracy by raising the linguistic awareness of the learners through error correction. Central to the instructional methodology were four …


Deriving Operational Principles For The Design Of Engaging Learning Experiences, Richard Heywood Swan Jul 2008

Deriving Operational Principles For The Design Of Engaging Learning Experiences, Richard Heywood Swan

Theses and Dissertations

The issue of learner engagement is an important question for education and for instructional design. It is acknowledged that computer games in general are engaging. Thus, one possible solution to learner engagement is to integrate computer games into education; however, the literature indicates that pedagogical, logistical and political barriers remain. Another possible solution is to derive principles for the design of engaging experiences from a critical examination of computer game design. One possible application of the derived design principles is that instruction may be designed to be inherently more engaging. The purpose of this dissertation was to look for operational …


A Conceptual Analysis Of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Susan Marie Cox Jul 2008

A Conceptual Analysis Of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Susan Marie Cox

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports the results of a conceptual analysis of the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework, particularly its component constructs of technological content knowledge (TCK), technological pedagogical knowledge (TPK), and TPACK (the central component of the framework listed earlier). First, a technical use analysis reveals how existing research has defined and exemplified the constructs. Next, interviews with leading TPACK researchers further refine the constructs. The dissertation then reports cases that illustrate each of the constructs and the boundaries between them. The conceptual analysis results in an elaborated model of the TPACK framework, focusing on the essential features of each …


The Impact Of Web-Based Tutorials In One Corporation's Transition To A Blended Learning Environment, Michelle Anne Boyd Jun 2008

The Impact Of Web-Based Tutorials In One Corporation's Transition To A Blended Learning Environment, Michelle Anne Boyd

Theses and Dissertations

ELM Resources, a not-for-profit, mutual-benefit corporation, provides web-based transmission and data translation services for student loan data between loan providers and schools/universities. This corporation has a relatively new training staff of five to seven employees and over 1,800 client organizations. Because of the heavy demands placed on the training staff, ELM training administrators sought alternatives to their current training program of onsite training and web conferencing. Blended learning was identified as one possible solution. In this project, blended learning is defined as using a combination of face-to-face training and technology-delivered training. By adding web-based, on-demand tutorials, along with other training …


The Architecture Of Instructional Theory, Andrew S. Gibbons, Clint P. Rogers Jun 2008

The Architecture Of Instructional Theory, Andrew S. Gibbons, Clint P. Rogers

Faculty Publications

This chapter joins a discussion of instructional theory that has been ongoing for nearly a century. It departs in some ways from prior discussions: (1) it considers instructional theory as a species of technological theory rather than as a type of scientific theory, a view expressed more fully elsewhere (Gibbons, 2003a), (2) it adopts the viewpoint articulated in earlier chapters of this book that there are multiple distinct bodies of technological theory that pertain to the work of instructional designers, (3) it attempts to articulate a particular view of the nature of two of those bodies of theory by describing …


Investigating The Domain Of Geometric Inductive Reasoning Problems: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis, Kairong Wang Apr 2008

Investigating The Domain Of Geometric Inductive Reasoning Problems: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis, Kairong Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Matrix inductive reasoning has been a popular research topic due to its claimed relationship with the general factor of intelligence. In this research, four subabilities were identified: working memory, rule induction, rule application, and figure detection. This quantitative study examined the relationship between these four subabilites and students' general ability to solve Matrix Reasoning problems. Using tests developed for this research to measure the identified subabilities, the data were collected from 334 Chinese students aged from 12 to 15. Structural equation modeling method was used to analyze the collected data and to evaluate the hypothesized models. Results from the analysis …


How Does Video Analysis Impact Teacher Reflection-For-Action?, Geoffrey Albert Wright Mar 2008

How Does Video Analysis Impact Teacher Reflection-For-Action?, Geoffrey Albert Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Reflective practice is an integral component of a teacher's classroom success (Zeichner, 1996; Valli, 1997). Reflective practice requires a teacher to step back and consider the implications and effects of teaching practices. Research has shown that formal reflection on teaching can lead to improved understanding and practice of pedagogy, classroom management, and professionalism (Grossman, 2003). Several methods have been used over the years to stimulate reflective practice; many of these methods required teachers to use awkward and time-consuming tools with a minimal impact on teaching performance (Rodgers, 2002). This current study analyzes an innovative video-enhanced reflection process focused on improving …


Improving Course Assessments Through A Product Assessment Template, Catharine C. Verhaaren Mar 2008

Improving Course Assessments Through A Product Assessment Template, Catharine C. Verhaaren

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to develop an instructional packet designed to help instructors create effective product assessment projects for use in assessing students' understanding of course material. The specific audience for this packet was instructors of courses offered at Brigham Young University who rely on product assessment to evaluate students' understanding and skills in any content area. The packet I prepared explains the principles of effective product assessment as they are currently understood by assessment specialists and models how to implement these principles during the creation of a product assessment project. I assembled this packet based on the …


The Scholarship Of Teaching: Contributing Factors To Improved Teaching Performance Among University Faculty Members, Whitney Ransom Mar 2008

The Scholarship Of Teaching: Contributing Factors To Improved Teaching Performance Among University Faculty Members, Whitney Ransom

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis brings a much-needed focus on the quality and scholarship of teaching as it pertains to educational and faculty development. The main purpose of this paper is to outline what more than 200 faculty members across a wide variety of disciplines have focused on over a three-year period to make significant (a 1.5 standard deviation increase or higher in online student ratings) and sustained improvements in their teaching. The top three factors of improvement include active/practical learning, teacher/student interactions, and clear expectations/learning outcomes. The researcher also discusses how institutions and faculty communities of practice, research, and faculty personality contribute …


Analysis Of The Psychometric Properties Of Two Different Concept-Map Assessment Tasks, Kenneth James Plummer Mar 2008

Analysis Of The Psychometric Properties Of Two Different Concept-Map Assessment Tasks, Kenneth James Plummer

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to make sense of a wide array of stimuli presupposes the human tendency to organize information in a meaningful way. Efforts to assess the degree to which students organize information meaningfully have been hampered by several factors including the idiosyncratic way in which individuals represent their knowledge either with words or visually. Concept maps have been used as tools by researchers and educators alike to assist students in understanding the conceptual interrelationships within a subject domain. One concept-map assessment in particular known as the construct-a-map task has shown great promise in facilitating reliable and valid inferences from student …


Open Educational Resources: Enabling Universal Education, David Wiley, Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen Feb 2008

Open Educational Resources: Enabling Universal Education, David Wiley, Tom Caswell, Shelley Henson, Marion Jensen

Faculty Publications

The role of distance education is shifting. Traditionally distance education was limited in the number of people served because of production, reproduction, and distribution costs. Today, while it still costs the university time and money to produce a course, technology has made it such that reproduction costs are almost non-existent. This shift has significant implications, and allows distance educators to play an important role in the fulfillment of the promise of the right to universal education. At little or no cost, universities can make their content available to millions. This content has the potential to substantially improve the quality of …


Using Interactive Diagrams To Teach Graduate Students About Statistical Power, Eric D. Hunter Jan 2008

Using Interactive Diagrams To Teach Graduate Students About Statistical Power, Eric D. Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

This report describes the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a web-based tutorial designed to teach graduate students about the statistical concept of power. It contains a literature review of techniques used to teach statistics, similar computer-based programs for representing the concept of power, and instructional theories that pertain to web-based tutorials. It describes the process of designing and developing this tutorial in detail. The results section contains a description of the product implementation with three different groups and discusses the qualitative and quantitative findings from each of these implementations. Finally, there is a discussion of the tutorial's strengths and …


Critical Thinking As Disciplinary Practice, Stephen C. Yanchar, Brent D. Slife, Russell Warne Jan 2008

Critical Thinking As Disciplinary Practice, Stephen C. Yanchar, Brent D. Slife, Russell Warne

Faculty Publications

Critical thinking in psychology has traditionally focused on method-centered tasks such as the assessment of method use, data analysis, and research evidence. Although helpful in some ways, this form of critical thinking fails to provide resources for critically examining the scientific-analytic foundation on which it rests and, when used exclusively, prohibits sufficiently critical analysis of theory and research. An alternative view of critical thinking—that emphasizes the identification and evaluation of implicit theoretical assumptions—is advocated. It is suggested that this alternative approach improves upon method-centered approaches by addressing not only implicit assumptions but also rule-following concerns. This approach is intended to …


Model-Centered Instruction, The Design, And The Designer, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii Jan 2008

Model-Centered Instruction, The Design, And The Designer, Andrew S. Gibbons Iii

Faculty Publications

A model of instruction described by Wenger (1987) identifies three elements that are active during instruction: the mental model the instructor wishes to share with the learner, the external experience used to communicate the mental model, and the evolving mental model of the learner. Gibbons (2003a), writing in response to Seel (2003), noted this three-part description as a bridge concept relating learning and instruction. This view has important practical implications for designers of instruction. For example, Gibbons and Rogers (in press) propose that there exists a natural layered architecture within instructional designs that corresponds with instructional functions. Among these layers …


Development Of Teaching And Technology Integration: Focus On Pedagogy, Nancy Wentworth, Charles R. Graham, Tonya Tripp Jan 2008

Development Of Teaching And Technology Integration: Focus On Pedagogy, Nancy Wentworth, Charles R. Graham, Tonya Tripp

Faculty Publications

The development, implementation, review, and subsequent revision of a capstone assignment during teacher education candidates’ field experience and the assignments-related rubric was based on research that points teacher education programs to give candidates experiences in rethinking their views of pedagogy as they integrate technology into the curriculum. The initial development of the rubric came as a result of requirements of national accrediting organizations for licensure programs to have performance assessments of their candidates. The review of the assignment by technology experts as well as education faculty showed a disconnect between the goals of the technology faculty and the mentors helping …


A Corpus-Based Approach To Determining Standard American English, Delys Ann Waite Snyder Dec 2007

A Corpus-Based Approach To Determining Standard American English, Delys Ann Waite Snyder

Theses and Dissertations

Many teachers, test designers, textbook writers, and instructional designers turn to books written by usage experts to determine what is correct standard written American English. Unfortunately, though, experts often disagree about what is correct and what is incorrect, and this disagreement can create problems with validity when people create and assess instruction about usage. One way to discover the rules of standard English usage is to describe what writers actually do in printed, edited English. Researchers can access large collections of standard English through digital text archives, which can be searched electronically. The text archives for this study were taken …


An Evaluation Of Compatibility, Effectiveness, Utility, And Implementation Of Plagiarism-Detection Software Operating In The Honor Code Environment At Brigham Young University, George Louis Joeckel Dec 2007

An Evaluation Of Compatibility, Effectiveness, Utility, And Implementation Of Plagiarism-Detection Software Operating In The Honor Code Environment At Brigham Young University, George Louis Joeckel

Theses and Dissertations

Turnitin plagiarism-detection software was operating as a pilot program conducted by the Center for Teaching and Learning in Winter 2007 on the Brigham Young University (BYU) campus. A sample of 6 instructors and 79 student users participated in this evaluation. The evaluation findings show that Turnitin is compatible with the academic honesty environment created by BYU's Honor Code. Turnitin has been effective at detecting intentional and inadvertent plagiarism at BYU. It has also addressed the problem of multiple submissions of the same material. Recommendations are made for promoting Turnitin at the campus and department level. Training tools are proposed for …


Collecting, Organizing, And Managing Resources For Teaching Educational Games The Wiki Way, David Wiley, Shelley Henson, Brett Shelton Dec 2007

Collecting, Organizing, And Managing Resources For Teaching Educational Games The Wiki Way, David Wiley, Shelley Henson, Brett Shelton

Faculty Publications

As a reaction to the growing number of teachers using games in their curricula and the corresponding increase in university courses aimed at teaching the design of effective instructional games, we introduced a panel at the recent Games, Learning and Society presentation in Madison, Wisconsin, in June 2006. This panel brought together a community of interested parties involved with teaching educational game design. We collaborated with attendees before the panel convened so that we could introduce resources such as syllabi, collections of readings, and discussions of theory in a wiki environment to which participants could contribute during the session. After …


An Evaluation Of A Student Response System Used At Brigham Young University, Coral Marie Hanson Nov 2007

An Evaluation Of A Student Response System Used At Brigham Young University, Coral Marie Hanson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is two fold: (a) to evaluate the technology (hardware and software) of the student response system (SRS) used at Brigham Young University (BYU) and (b) to evaluate which instructional methods being used with the SRS students' feel are most helpful. In the past, the student response systems supported by BYU have not fully met the needs of professors and problems with the systems have limited professors' uses of the SRS. Ten professors were randomly selected to participate in the evaluation using a stratified random sampling technique. The data collection methods consisted of classroom observations, interviews …


Faculty Perceptions Of Technology Projects, Whitney Ransom Mcgowan, Charles R. Graham, Jon Mott Nov 2007

Faculty Perceptions Of Technology Projects, Whitney Ransom Mcgowan, Charles R. Graham, Jon Mott

Faculty Publications

Significant investments in time, money, and effort go into developing and applying technology to improve teaching and learning. As universities pursue such projects, they must determine the impact and value of technology for student learning. During the past decade, funds spent on technology for educational purposes have tripled throughout the United States. Determining a hard return on investment (ROI) for the time and money spent to improve education is difficult, however. Institutions should also measure the value on investment (VOI) that their funds and efforts yield. In the study of faculty and their technology projects at Brigham Young University (BYU) …


Development Of The Characteristics Of Science Questionnaire (Csq): Assessing Student Knowledge Of The Utah State Secondary Science Core Intended Learning Outcome 6 On The Nature Of Science, Bradford N. Talbert Sep 2007

Development Of The Characteristics Of Science Questionnaire (Csq): Assessing Student Knowledge Of The Utah State Secondary Science Core Intended Learning Outcome 6 On The Nature Of Science, Bradford N. Talbert

Theses and Dissertations

Teaching students about the nature of science is an important and necessary part of secondary science curricula. The Utah State Office of Education has provided specific guidelines called intended learning outcomes (ILOs) to teachers in the state. The ILOs are based on the national standards presented in the Project 2061 publications of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1990 and 1993. The ILOs are not tied to any one scientific discipline such as biology or chemistry, but are intended as global statements describing what scientists do and how scientific knowledge is gained. ILO 6 prescribes that students …


Differential Item Functioning Analysis Of The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, Jared Andrew Lees Sep 2007

Differential Item Functioning Analysis Of The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument, Jared Andrew Lees

Theses and Dissertations

Differential item functioning (DIF) is present when examinees who have the same level of a trait have a different probability of correctly answering a test item intended to measure that trait (Shepard & Averill, 1981). The following study is a DIF analysis of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), a preference profiling instrument developed by Herrmann International to help individuals identify their dominant preferences and then classify their level of dominance into four preference quadrants. Examinees who completed the American English version of the instrument were classified as the reference group and examinees of the International English version were classified …


Testing The Assumption Of Sample Invariance Of Item Difficulty Parameters In The Rasch Rating Scale Model, Joseph A. Curtin Aug 2007

Testing The Assumption Of Sample Invariance Of Item Difficulty Parameters In The Rasch Rating Scale Model, Joseph A. Curtin

Theses and Dissertations

Rasch is a mathematical model that allows researchers to compare data that measure a unidimensional trait or ability (Bond & Fox, 2007). When data fit the Rasch model, it is mathematically proven that the item difficulty estimates are independent of the sample of respondents. The purpose of this study was to test the robustness of the Rasch model with regards to its ability to maintain invariant item difficulty estimates when real (data that does not perfectly fit the Rasch model), polytomous scored data is used. The data used in this study comes from a university alumni questionnaire that was collected …