Educational Technology Commons^™

Teacher Perceptions Of Digital Gaming And 21st-Century Skills In The Middle School Classroom, Elizabeth Omegna

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Teacher Perceptions of digital gaming and 21st-century skills in Middle School classrooms

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to capture teacher perceptions on the use of digital gaming in the learning environment of middle school classrooms. Additionally, to speak to perceptions on learning of 21st-century skills such as communication, collaboration and critical thinking.

This study of two middle schools in the same district in suburban New Jersey was utilized for capturing the ideas of teachers who employed a variety of digital games in the classroom as part of their learning objectives.

An interview protocol was utilized to direct questions …

Behavioral, Cognitive, And Health Benefits Of Walking While Listening To Educational Podcasts, Debra D. Ives

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This session will highlight the behavioral, health and cognitive benefits of walking while listening to educational podcasts. Improvement is learning, mood and healthy habits result. Attendees will get to experience these benefits first hand when they go for a walk listening to a Walking Classroom podcast. Attendees will Walk. Listen. And Learn.

Differentiated Instruction That Works For “At Risk” Students: Reaching And Meeting The Need, Henry Tellis

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Are you looking for differentiated instructional strategies that reach every student? Come hear how I have learned to meet the learning styles of students in my classroom. This session will provide research-based strategies on how to effectively implement center-based instruction and practical strategies to use in a risk school classroom. Learn how to reach and meet the needs of learners.

Creating And Using Open Educational Resources (Oer) In Reading And Writing Classes, Christine E. Hutchins

Publications and Research

Creating her own assignments using openly licensed course materials allows this professor and her students to be more creative and to take greater advantage of digital resources.

Meaningful Engagement Via Robotic Telepresence: An Exploratory Case Study, Tommy Lister

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Recent advances in robotic telepresence have created new opportunities for students that are unable to engage in traditional classroom environments physically. Although these technologies are still being tested in application, early indicators support the idea that robotic telepresence enhances the learning experience by allowing greater autonomy and depth of engagement with peers. This exploratory case study examines the experiences of a fifth-grade student who was limited in her ability to attend school due to illness. It utilizes a qualitative investigation into the experiences of robotic-telepresence from the perspectives of the remote student, peer students in the classroom context, and the …

A Case Study On The Implementation Of Common Core State Standards In An Urban Charter School Of New Jersey And Its Influence On College Readiness Of High School Students, Mursel Gunes

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

For this research, four college readiness metrics were examined with the aim of analyzing the effects that implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in an urban charter school in New Jersey will have on the college readiness of the school’s high school students. These metrics used were (a) participation rates in PSAT/PLAN, SAT, and AP/IB tests; (b) percentage of students who took SAT and scored 1,550 or above; (c) percentage of students who took AP/IB tests and scored three or more; and (d) schoolwide post-secondary program enrollment rates. Using a sequential mixed methods design, the researcher first analyzed these …

Improving Information Literacy Through Embedding, Kelly M. Wilson, Rachel Hooper, Jay Brandes

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

How do you reach and assist students who are halfway around the world? How can we ensure they are receiving library training that increases their information literacy skills? Join us for this presentation and conversation about how one university used embedding to reach the “unreachable,” and then expanded to reach online domestic students, and eventually those on the home campus. What began as a project between two librarians on five online courses has now grown to include additional librarians and tripled the number of classes over a few months. We will discuss the reasoning behind embedding in the Canvas Learning …

Using Technology-Supported Enrichment Activities To Extend Student Learning In A Chinese As A Foreign Language Classroom, Lih-Ching Chen Wang, Xiongyi Liu, I-Hsin Lee

Chinese Language Teaching Methodology and Technology

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether exposing middle school students to content above their ability level produced significant differences in students’ confidence in their Chinese as a foreign language competence in each of the following four areas: reading, listening, speaking, and learning vocabulary. Participants (N = 30) were sixth and seventh graders. Results of paired t-test analyses indicated that there was no significant difference in student confidence in Chinese reading competence, t(30) = 0.78, p = 0.22; in Chinese speaking competence, t(30) = -0.50, p = 0.31; or to learn Chinese vocabulary, t(30) = …

How Can Open Educational Resources Be Used In Teaching Business Courses In Community Colleges? – A Case Of Bronx Community College, Harini Mittal, Neil Hwang, Emakoji Ayikoye

Publications and Research

There are a growing number of Open Educational Resources (OER) available worldwide to teach a wide range of courses at various learning levels. Hyler (2006) has listed motives for OER initiatives for institutions such as right to education for all, sharing of knowledge as basis of academics, leveraging tax payer’s money for the common good, better use of resources by reducing costs, good public relations tool, diversity in business models. As for individuals, the motives are access to the best possible resources and to have more flexible materials. Individuals are not motivated by altruistic ambitions, such as assisting developing countries, …

Heritage Language Maintenance: Research Review And Reflection Of One Family Case, Josiah Chan

ECTESOL Review

Heritage Language maintenance provides learner tangible benefits in academic achievement, language acquisition, and career opportunity. Intangibly, it enhances the learner’s self-esteem and cultural identity. The case here reflects the Mandarin Chinese learning experience of three children who were born in the United States of a migrant family from Hong Kong where the Cantonese Chinese dialect language is more predominant. The learning effort was complicated by the parents’ native Cantonese Chinese dialect. The parents and children strived to balance the learning dynamics between Mandarin and Cantonese. The results of the study indicate that successful heritage language maintenance can be achieved with …

Syntactic Accidents In The Spontaneous Speech Of English And Armenian Speakers, Karen Velyan

ECTESOL Review

Fragmented syntax or a break of the flow of surface syntax is well known to be an indispensable part of spontaneous spoken language. Interruptions in the flow of speech may be triggered by pragmatic reasons, changes in syntactic planning and performance errors, which results in syntactic fragments. Syntactic accidents may take different forms in the actual flow of speech. This study presents a cross-linguistic comparative analysis of the cases of syntax in the speech of low socioeconomic status speakers of English and Armenian. Based on data from informal interviews with native speakers, the analysis presents a variety of syntactic accidents, …

The Reflective Approach To Teaching Culture Within The Efl Classroom, Lucia Schiopu

ECTESOL Review

This article examines the reflective approach in the teaching of culture in the EFL classroom, which is not just a mere gathering of information, but is the creation and construction of discourses that break or maintain cultural stereotypes. This is also an approach where meaning is constructed that is shaped by the quality and depth of cultural sensitivity and awareness. Teaching and learning a culture reflectively does not necessarily mean that the learner is taught to behave in accordance with specific social norms but to introduce an acceptable and appropriate conduct for the use of language in terms of intelligibility, …

From The Editor, Laureen Fregeau

ECTESOL Review

No abstract provided.

Prism Intro Student's Book With Online Workbook Listening And Speaking, And Reading And Writing, Robert Leier, Laureen Fregeau

ECTESOL Review

Prism Intro books use American English along with international and American topics to teach reading, writing, listening and speaking in English. Videos and American college life sections keep student interest.

Student-Directed Esol Family Literacy Program Design, Laureen Fregeau, Robert D. Leier

ECTESOL Review

ESOL Family Literacy programs for Hispanic immigrants have proliferated over past decades to serve the increasing population of ELs needing services. Several factors can disrupt or prevent participation in ESOL Family Literacy programs designed to enhance the academic success of Latin American adult and child immigrants. This qualitative case study set in the Deep South examined a student-directed design process to gain understanding of what would constitute an ideal program for the participating ELs, their families and their community. Emergent categories identified areas of design importance including site locations, time and frequency of class scheduling, curricular design, instructional materials, instructor …

The Benefits Of Implementing Cognitively-Demanding And Context-Embedded Language Translation In The El Classroom, Timothy Rodriquez

ECTESOL Review

The role of the first language in English Learner (EL) programs has been a historically controversial one. In addition, how the first language should be used is not without controversy. This article examines the role of translation in the EL classroom and how teachers should employ it. One approach, concurrent translation, may be considered to be cognitively-undemanding and context-reduced. The author argues that purposeful translation should be cognitively-demanding and context-embedded.

Promoting Preservice Stem Education Teachers' Metacognitive Awareness: Professional Development Designed To Improve Teacher Metacognitive Awareness, Andrew John Hughes, Eddie Partida

Educational Leadership & Technology Faculty Publications

This quantitative portion of a convergent complementarity, mixed-methods, exploratory study describes the design and implementation of a 5-week preservice teacher professional development (PD) experience and the associated Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) measures before and after the experience. The PD experience was designed to explicitly address participants’ domain-general and domain-specific knowledge and regulation of cognition through a highly integrated academic and clinical preparation regimen centered on a cognitive coaching model. The study participants comprised preservice STEM education teachers (N = 11) enrolled in a dual teaching certification and Master’s in Education program. The findings showed an increase in participants’ regulation …

Concrete Beam Design: Pouring The Foundation To Engineering In T&E Classrooms, Andrew J. Hughes, Chris Merrill

Educational Leadership & Technology Faculty Publications

Ask a middle or high school student if they could design a concrete beam that weighs only 20 pounds and is 36” long but must hold 600 pounds without failing. What is the student likely to say? What if the student was told that, with some optimized decision making based on relatively straightforward mathematics, their beam could hold 2400 pounds or more? The focus of this article is not on concrete beam design, it is rather an introduction to engineering principles in beam design using a lab activity. The concepts and skills learned in this article will lead students into …

Analyzing Concrete Beam Design: Verifying Predictions In T&Ee Classrooms, Andrew J. Hughes, Chris Merrill

Educational Leadership & Technology Faculty Publications

Design is often accepted as a fundamental aspect of engineering (Dym, et al., 2005). The design process is frequently portrayed as a set of steps. However, the design process is more complex than just a set of steps in a relatively fixed process. The complex nature of design, design thinking, questioning, and decision-making is exactly what technology and engineering classrooms are well suited to address. When addressing the question—“Why is technology and engineering education (T&EE) so important?”—the authors believe T&EE’s importance relates to our discipline’s ability to solve complex problems by balancing theory and practice in engaging hands-on learning scenarios …

Phase Ii Spacescape Mobile Game For Learning Space Science 2020 Report, Sa Liu, Mina Gabriel, Brian Grey

Harrisburg University Presidential Research Grants

This project is the phase II of the awarded 2019 Presidential Research Grant Project SpacEscape (PRG 2020-07; https://www.harrisburgu.edu/spacescape/). By working with teachers and students from Mechanicsburg School District, Susquehanna Township Middle school, Crossroads Middle School, and Pequea Valley High school, the research team published the mobile science learning game SpacEscape to Google Play Store, introduced the game to more than 1,000 middle school students even during the pandemic, collected more data to understand how learner conduct problem-solving using mobile games, and presented the research at the Games for Change 2020 Virtual Conference to more than 500 attendees. In this report, …

The Impact Of An Intensive Blended Learning Reading Intervention On Standardized Assessment Scores, Ashley M. Snyder

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The current study documents the effects of the Language! Live intensive, blended learning reading intervention on the Georgia Milestones Assessment Lexile Scores. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of an intensive blended learning reading intervention on the standardized assessment scores of middle school students who were at least two grade levels behind in reading at a Title I school in Georgia and aimed to establish if students who were significantly below grade level could make growth with the assistance of an intensive blended learning reading intervention. The study included the data of 133 students in two …

Lessons In Persistence: Investigating The Challenges Faced By Preservice Teachers In Teaching Coding And Computational Thinking In An Unfamiliar Context, Vinesh Chandra, Margaret Lloyd

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

An ongoing problem for teacher education institutions is bridging the gap between theory and practice and offering authentic experiences to challenge preservice teachers’ pedagogical decision-making. Preservice practicums simulate teaching and can, at best, offer controlled experiences in familiar settings. This restricts the opportunities for preservice teachers to develop confidence in their own pedagogical decision-making and to adapt curriculum to meet unknown or unforeseen conditions. This paper describes, through a small-scale qualitative case study, a teaching experience in an unfamiliar setting, the persistent actions taken to respond to a specific context and the impact this had on preservice teacher knowledge and …

Technology-Based Culturally Relevant Chemistry Education (Crce), Mercy Adoma Fosu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relevance of chemistry concepts and principles remains a challenge for most students enrolled in college chemistry courses. Part of this problem is the disconnect with what students experience in their every-day lives, and how the material, specifically chemistry content is presented via textbooks, lectures, and laboratory teaching. Moreover, the teaching of general chemistry has traditionally focused on traditional, instructor-centric expository delivery of course materials, that treats students as empty vessels devoid of prior knowledge. Students prior knowledge and experiences are crucial in shaping their understanding of scientific concepts and principles. Even students with relatively low expectations for success in …

How The Change To Online Learning Affected Chinese Language Teaching In California Schools Due To The 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, Jing Ren

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research study investigates how Chinese language teachers in California made the change from in-person learning to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, how they set up and taught virtual classes and what their reactions were to the online transitions. Teachers utilized various interactive tools and strategies to teach students in their virtual classrooms. Parental involvement with the child’s education at home increased. Some public school district polices caused greater reductions in student participation than others. Teachers applied various communication strategies to engage students in creative ways while teaching online. This together with curriculum development and assessment design required that …

Personalized Learning: An Engagement Strategy For At-Risk Student Populations, Abbigail Morris

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Personalized learning in the United States experienced a resurgence in the educational landscape as a result of increased technology access and computing power. The availability of affordable technology, software solutions, and access to the Internet led to the infiltration of technology into personalized learning approaches and provided a new platform for personalized learning advocates. Engagement and student agency were components of personalized learning attracting many educators to reinvest in personalized learning opportunities. This study focused on a rural, western Kentucky school district that piloted personalized learning through a blended learning environment. The study sought to measure engagement levels of both …

Creating Project-Based Math Curricula: A Narrative Inquiry, Marcie Hull

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This study is a narrative inquiry about the participant’s experiences, in three individual case studies, involving teachers of high school mathematics engaged in the creation of a project-based learning curriculum, in a one-to-one laptop school. The researcher analyzed data from field notes, digital artifacts, and teacher interviews to document how math teachers are creating curriculum in an inquiry-driven, project-based, technology-infused instructional model. Findings from restorying and the analysis of three-dimensional space —regarding teacher lore —reveal themes about math teacher curriculum conflicts in skill-building, application of iterative design thinking, and structures inherent to project-based learning. Rich, thick description of the cases, …

Assessing Learning Efficiency In Narrative Simulation Delivered Through Interactive Multimedia, Christopher Shannon Daniel

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

This study evaluated the effects of Narrative Simulation (NS) on learning and cognitive load. Specifically, it measured the potential differences in observed instructional efficiency when comparing a self-paced expository multimedia lesson to a NS lesson which involves a character-focused story with multiple decision inputs at key points.

This ex post facto design observed 119 participants consisting of preservice teachers from a large public university in the southeastern United States. They were divided into two sequence groups: (a) Expository Lesson Group; and (b) Narrative Simulation group. The Expository group received Expository Lesson One first, then Expository Lesson Two, and then Narrative …

A Study On Teacher Candidates’ Questioning Strategies For English Learners Through An Interactive Classroom Simulation, Alex P. Davies Ph.D., Donita Grissom Ph.D., Michele Regalla Ph.D.

Northwest Journal of Teacher Education

This study examines a classroom simulation workshop designed for teacher candidates (TCs) to practice questioning strategies with English learners (ELs) at various English proficiency levels, through the lens of sociocultural theory. Data was collected from an assignment in an ESOL methods course consisting of questions that TCs prepared before the simulation, revised after the simulation, and responses to an open-ended questionnaire. Findings show that TCs made their questions comprehensible for beginner level ELs, however, overextended their question modification to both the intermediate and advanced levels. Implications highlight the importance of practicing questioning strategies that are appropriate for all proficiency levels.

To Close The Skills Gap, Technology And Higher-Order Thinking Skills Must Go Hand In Hand, Manying Qiu, Yaquan Xu, Emmanuel O. Omojokun

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Technology is rapidly changing the business landscape. Workforce skills gap is widening in the digital business environment. Universities and employers call for developing students’ higher-order thinking skills along with integrating technology into academic curricula. We conducted a survey to assess learning outcomes from two groups of undergraduate students: business majors and information technology (IT) majors. SAP ERP hands-on case studies were used for this comparative experiment. The student survey results showed that the students of both majors believed that learning SAP software can lead to more rewarding jobs and they felt confident about their competitiveness in the job market. Although …

Development Of Collaborative Tpack Module For Continuing Professional Development In A Higher Education Institution, Vasodavan Vinothini

Student Works (2020-2029)

Teaching and learning in higher education should be more than just a transmission of knowledge. The focus should be on acquiring skills for interacting, applying, evaluating and creating new knowledge as well as problem solving. This can be achieved through social interactions and cognitive process during collaborative learning (CL) using collaborative learning (CL) tools. Therefore, instructors should be able to integrate CL tools effectively into instruction by having a good understanding of incorporating them into appropriate pedagogy and content. Hence, in this study a Collaborative TPACK module was developed for continuing professional development (CPD) to build instructor’s skills and knowledge …