Educational Technology Commons^™

A Shift In Reality: Virtual And Augmented Systems In Higher And Medical Education, Brian Meyer

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

Virtual and augmented technologies provide a seamless solution for merging traditional, theoretical learning with practical application in context. Unlike traditional teaching pedagogies, in which lessons are restricted in terms of the use of additional apparatus, pedagogies that involve the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies enable educators to build upon taught concepts to demonstrate the application of those concepts in practice, and allow educators to generate multiple atypical scenarios in order to build competence in practical fields of endeavour. In medical education, virtual and augmented reality tools provide an especially important opportunity for preparation before treating patients in actual …

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 …

Re-Positioning The 21st Century University Libraries In Nigeria: The Role Of Librarians And The Need For Innovative Services For Sustainable Development, Lawrence Arumuru

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study looked at repositioning the 21^st century university libraries in Nigeria: the role of librarians and the need for innovative services. The 21^st Century as brought about different technological innovations which has invariable turned the world into a global village or knowledge society where information can be accessed with ease from any location irrespective of the distance. These have brought about huge challenges to libraries, librarians and the library profession generally to look for more proactive ways of generating information and making the generated information available to library users. This paper has successfully discussed issues that has …

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 …

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 …

Creating Dynamic Spaces: Exploring Student-Empowered Self-Expression Through Art, Meghan E. Charest

Honors Theses

Research suggests that students living in rural areas may be more likely to face adversity and stress due to intersecting challenges present in their communities including poverty, substance abuse, addiction, poor health, reduced economic opportunity, and geographic isolation. I conducted an engaged scholarship project in partnership with students and staff at JES to explore ways that open-ended art activities that provide students with self-directed creative spaces can cultivate a student-centered environment built around strong relationships. This type of environment can mitigate the negative impacts of adverse childhood experiences potentially affecting rural Maine students and improve a culture of emotional wellness …

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, …

Current And Future Trends And Issues Facing Technology And Engineering Education In The United States, Johnny J. Moye, Phillip A. Reed, Ray Wu-Rorrer, Douglas Lecorchick

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Determining trends and issues is important for the health of any profession. The purpose of this research was to determine the current and future trends and issues facing technology and engineering education (TEE) in the United States (U.S.). The researchers used a three-round Modified-Delphi method to solicit information from technology and engineering education stakeholders across the U.S. In the first round, participants listed what they felt were current trends, future trends, current issues, and future issues facing TEE. The second round was designed to prioritize trends and issues. In the third round, participants were presented with one table for each …

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 …

Exploring Secondary Students’ Abilities In Judging The Credibility Of Digital Content On The Internet, Katie Dailey

Masters Theses

The shift from print to digital environments has created an opportunity and responsibility for educators to focus on instructional planning and practices that reflects the growing complexity of online texts students helping to ensure that their students are information literate. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the how 83 eleventh grade high school English students judge the credibility of information on the internet. The researcher used methodological triangulation to qualitatively analyze by comparing and aligning data from the survey results, observations of students during class discussions, responses to class assignments, and the quality ratings of students’ think-aloud …

Voices On Data Literacy And Initial Teacher Education: Pre-Service Teachers’ Reflections And Recommendations, Shannon Kennedy-Clark, Vilma Galstaun, Peter Reimann, Taylor Martyn, Kiatin Williamson, Jessica Weight

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of study was gain insight into pre-service teachers’ experiences in using classroom data to make learning and teaching decisions. The qualitative study is based on the reflections and recommendations of three pre-service teachers’ that participated in a data-driven decision-making intervention whilst on an immersive 10-week professional learning experience. This study is underpinned by an action research framework. There are many understandings of action research, here the approach is understood to be a systematic investigation into one’s own practice with the aim of improving teaching and learning. From the thematic analysis of the reflections, several recommendations were put forward …

Educator Professional Conversations Via Twitter Chat: Speech Acts And Intentions In #Pdbookclub, Suzanne L. Porath

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

#PDBookChat was an affinity space of educators who read a professional book together and reflected on their learning through blogs, Twitter, and Google+. The book study culminated with an hour-long synchronous Twitter chat. Using Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis (Herring, 2001) and speech act theory (Searle, 1976) this paper focused on the Twitter chat to examine the discussion among the participants, the specific ways in which they connected their responses to each other and the content of the professional book they read, and provided an analysis of the key themes of the chat. This research provides evidence of how educators use Twitter …

“Does Increased Online Interaction Between Instructors And Students Positively Affect A Student’S Perception Of Quality For An Online Course?”, Jennifer Hunter Dr, Brayden Ross

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Online education is increasing as a solution to manage increasing enrollment numbers at higher education institutions. Intentionally and thoughtfully constructed courses allow students to improve performance through practice and self-assessment and instructors benefit from improving consistency in providing content and assessing process, performance, and progress.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of student to instructor interaction on the student’s perception of quality for an online course. “Does increased online interaction between instructors and students positively affect a student’s perception of quality for an online course?”

The study included over 1200 courses over a three year time …

A Case Study On The Differences In Scores Of Undergraduate Students In Traditional, Online, And Hybrid Classes, Patricia Ruth Kuhn

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this research was to ascertain whether there are variances in academic performance between students taking an educational technology course in traditional, online, and hybrid learning environments. As a secondary goal, the study assessed the differences in academic performance of male and female students in these classes.

All students in this study held an undergraduate status of junior or above. They had earned a minimum of 45 hours and had a minimum 2.75 overall GPA. These students also passed the certification test for state educators and had been accepted as teacher candidates of the College of Education …

Impacts Of Growing Technology On Students' Reading And Writing Skills, Jacquelyn Ogborn Corpuz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Technology has radically changed the ways in which students and teachers function within the classroom. The use of mobile technologies, specifically laptop computers and internet use, has transformed teacher instruction along with student expectations. Given that students have a high exposure to technology in the classroom, especially at the middle school level, this senior capstone examines the impact of growing technology on their reading and writing skills through the use of literature review, teacher interviews and survey, interviews with principals and superintendents, and online teacher survey. The result findings reveal that there are several positive impacts of technology integration on …

Perceptions And Experiences Of Online Learning And Synchronous Communication, Michelle Fry

Dissertations

Abstract

High-quality and effective online education is essential to the continuous growth of higher education. As online higher education grows in professional programs, it is especially pertinent to investigate learning designs for their effectiveness in supporting the acquisition of professional skills. Drawing upon the Community of Inquiry (CoI) and the Practice-Based Teaching (PBT) frameworks, this research investigated the effectiveness of one online graduate program designed for practicing teachers to learn new skills (i.e., diagnostic assessment and differentiated instruction) in teaching reading to elementary students. The learning design introduced a new component of virtual presence (i.e., synchronous communication) at strategic points …

Monological Practices, Authoritative Discourses And The Missing "C" In Digital Communities, Vicki A. Hosek, Lara J. Handsfield

Faculty Publications - College of Education

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher decisions surrounding opportunities for student voice, experiences and beliefs in digital classroom communities. The teachers’ decisions reflect monologic rather than dialogic teacher pedagogies which prompted the authors to ask the following question: What led to these teacher-centered practices in digital environments? Authoritative discourses in school policies and a missing connection between critical pedagogies and teachers’ technology practices are examined in light of teachers’ decisions to engage in monologic and/or dialogic teaching practices. The authors propose professional development and research that emphasize pedagogy that supports student voice as foundational to practices involving …

Tipping The Balance Towards 21st Century Skills Through Peer-To-Peer Learning: A Cross-Disciplinary Pilot Of Peer Review Software, John Mccormick, Lisa Spitz, Liv Cummins

Staff Scholarship

There is growing recognition that many college students enter the workplace lacking “21st Century Skills” such as critical thinking, collaboration and communication. Peer-to-peer feedback provides a large number of benefits, including these “lifelong learning” skills valued by industry. Peer review, however, poses many challenges: for instructors; these include management of the process and poor quality of peer feedback; and for students, socioemotional barriers. Key socioemotional challenges are learners’ lack of trust in the process, in their peers, and in themselves as reviewers. This paper describes a pilot of a web-based peer review software called “Peergrade”, which was found highly effective …