Educational Technology Commons^™

Early Numeracy Development And Instruction, Karise Mace, Michele White

Education Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Teacher Perception Of Synchronous Hybrid Learning In A Rural Elementary School, Lisa Lamonica Moore

Doctor of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research was to gain understanding from teachers regarding their experiences with providing instruction in a synchronous hybrid learning environment in a rural elementary school during the 2020-2021 school year. This study reveals the role of teacher perception in education, the evolution of technology as an instructional tool, defines synchronous hybrid learning, and describes how it is evolving at the elementary school level. Through the investigation of this study, five teachers assigned to the same rural elementary school participated in a semi-structured interview to discuss their experiences teaching in a synchronous hybrid learning environment. The participants …

Intermediate Elementary Teachers’ Perception And Use Of A Learning Management System In Supporting Effective Teaching And Learning: A Mixed Methods Study, Jennifer Southmayd

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Teachers in K-12 public schools have found themselves immersed in educational technology amidst a global pandemic that has shifted the landscape of instructional delivery. This study targeted intermediate elementary (3-5) teachers’ acceptance of an LMS as a central hub for student learning. While there is a volume of research to support the efficacy of an LMS at the secondary level and in higher education, there is minimal research to show its value-added in supporting intermediate learners at the elementary level. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study inquired to capture teachers’ perceptions and use of an LMS to support student learning. …

Middle School Literacy Educators' Views About Student Texting And Its Impact On Student Writing, Rehana Lynda Mohamed Hussain

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation investigated middle school literacy educators’ views about the impact of text messaging on students’ spelling and writing abilities. Specifically, the researcher determined educators’ views about the impact of text messages from Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Short Message Service (SMS) on middle school student writing and spelling. The researcher interviewed middle school teachers about their experiences with student writing and whether text speak is present in students’ writing and spelling.

Four research questions are posed: (a) To what extent do middle school teachers notice textspeak within student writing? (b) What do middle school literacy teachers report as the …

Using Internet Reciprocal Teaching To Develop Second Graders' Online Text Evaluation Skills, Annika Buell

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study was designed to explore the relationship between Internet Reciprocal Teaching (IRT) and young students’ online text evaluation skills. It built upon previous research that identified four main online reading comprehension skills: locating, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating information that are similar yet more complex than offline reading comprehension skills. In the majority of previous research, participants were in fifth grade or above. This study aimed to observe the processes younger students go through while reading online text. Participants were second grade students in a Midwestern suburban elementary school.

Qualitative methods were used to collect data while students participated in …

The Effects Of Blended Learning On Student Achievement Within Various Environments: A Program Evaluation, Christine Nicole Harris

Dissertations

Educational K-12 learning environments have had limited to no change over many decades. Due to recent initiatives to social-emotional programs, school safety measures, and the need to increase academic achievement, there has been a push for school choice options that go beyond the traditional ways of learning. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of blended learning on student achievement within various environments in Grades 3-8. I used a mixed methodology to compare quantitative extant data from Achieve3000®, State Standardized Assessments, as well as qualitative data through teacher, parent, and student surveys. I collected 229 student extant …

A Study Investigating The Experience Of Teachers’ Innovative Adaptation Of Teaching And Learning, Andrea Lowery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify and examine the technology-based instructional strategies and digital tools being used by teachers in grades 3-5 that engage children in problem-solving learning opportunities. The study included 11 purposely sampled participants from a school district in East Tennessee who responded to questions during a Zoom interview. Seven of the participants submitted artifacts to provide examples of how they have incorporated technology and problem solving in their classrooms. Participants provided information about the digital tools and technology-based instructional strategies they have used to enrich problem solving in their classrooms. Participants in the …

The Impact Of A K-8 Stem Program On Grades And Student Choice Of Stem And Advanced Mathematics And Science Coursework In High School, Astrid Rodrigues

Dissertations

The demands of today’s workforce call for schools to prepare their students to have problem-solving skills and be critical thinkers and collaborative colleagues. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning has been known to cultivate, excite, and promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills in students from an early age.

This study explored the high school course selection of students who had participated in a compulsory Kindergarten to 8^th grade (K-8) STEM program, called Project Lead the Way (PLTW), while in middle school. Specifically, the study compared the number of STEM and advanced mathematics and science courses that students who …

The Privatization Movement Is Not Dead! A Book Review Of A Wolf At The Schoolhouse Door: The Dismantling Of Public Education And The Future Of School, Jeffrey Frenkiewich

Democracy & Education

In January of 2020, Diane Ravitch published Slaying Goliath, in which she claimed the movement to privatize America’s public school system was dying. While this might be true, the movement is not dead, and this review looks at Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire’s A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, which examines the history of school privatization and calls for renewed vigilance by those who oppose it. Schneider and Berkshire argued that defenders of public education need three conceptual frames to fight privatization efforts: (a) a clear presentation of the aims and objectives of the privatization movement; (b) knowledge of the …

Pandemic Schooling: Lessons In Equity, Advocacy, And Racial Justice, Donna Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It was my fourth year of teaching at a Brooklyn elementary school when the COVID-19 pandemic forced school buildings, and the entire city, to enter a world of lockdown and quarantine. New York City was an early epicenter of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and the virus quickly revealed severe racial and socioeconomic disparities across the city. A disproportionate number of cases, serious illnesses, and death has been experienced by low-income Black and Latinx communities. At the same time, 2020 also ushered in a national racial reckoning following the May murder of George Floyd.

In this thesis, I will provide a …

Proceedings Of The Global Conference On Education And Research: Volume 4, Waynne B. James, Cihan Cobanoglu, Muhittin Cavusoglu

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

This is the fourth volume of the Global Conference on Education and Research Proceedings Series.

ISSN: 2572-6374

DOI

10.5038/2572-6374-v4

The Effects Of Technology On Reading Fluency In A First Grade Summer School Classroom, Bailey A. Kennedy

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research project was to determine if the technology app EPIC! is more effective in helping first-grade students increase their oral reading fluency skills compared to a teacher-assisted, non-technological intervention. Before the interventions began, the students completed three oral timed reading passages at the first-grade level by FASTbridge. This score was used as a baseline for the data. The intervention lasted for two weeks. The experimental group completed stories on the application EPIC! for 15 minutes each session, while the control group completed research based educational games with the researcher. Both were done in addition to …

Examining Trajectories Of Elementary Students’ Computational Thinking Development Through Collaborative Problem-Solving Process In A Stem-Integrated Robotics Program, Yi-Chun Hong, Yingxiao Qian, Yu-Fen Yang

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

Developing K-12 students’ computational thinking (CT) skills is essential. Building on the existing literature that has emphasized programming skill development, this study expands the focus to examine students’ use of underlying CT cognitive skills during collaborative problem-solving processes. A case study approach was employed to examine video data of 5^th graders engaging in an integrated-STEM robotics curriculum. The findings reveal that students applied algorithmic thinking most frequently and prediction the least. They recorded most debugging behaviors initially in the problem-solving process, but after accumulating more experiences their uses of other CT skills, including algorithmic thinking, pattern recognition, and prediction, …

Using Avatars To Address Teacher Self-Efficacy, Chancey Bosch, Trevor Ellis

Journal of Global Education and Research

Technology-enhanced learning continues to provide opportunities for increased interventions in educational programing. For teacher education programs, novelty pales in comparison to providing meaningful instruction and enduring outcomes. The use of avatars has provided integration of research evidence that increases intended behaviors; however, research is lacking on teacher self-efficacy change via an avatar experience. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and avatar use in a teacher education program. A relational study using both parametric and non-parametric designs for four different samples indicated a significant relationship between avatar intervention and teacher self-efficacy in classroom management, …

The Role Of Aesthetics In Classroom Design: Implications For Engagement And Equity, Giuliana Barraza

Master's Theses

The desire for achieving greater equity in education has been a prevalent topic of research, with many studies indicating that the current education system in this country is designed in a way that exacerbates initial inequities and has a negative impact on student motivation and engagement (EOCD, 2012). While existing scholarship mostly discusses equity and engagement through the lens of curriculum and instruction, the power of physical classroom environments and aesthetic elements present in those environments is less explored. With student populations becoming more diverse, there is a greater need for new tools for teachers to utilize in pursuit of …

Flipped Classroom Effects On Upper Elementary And Middle School Student Motivation Inside And Outside The Classroom, Katarina Kuhlmann

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This action research study focuses on the effects the Flipped Classroom Model has on student motivation in the classroom, as well as at home. Two research questions are utilized in this study and the two research questions are the following: How does the Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) enhance student motivation at home, as well as in the classroom? What obstacles can educators and students face pertaining towards motivation with the Flipped Classroom Model (FCM) and how can they overcome those challenges? The study on the Flipped Classroom and student motivation took place in a 5^th grade classroom consisting of …

Examining The Development Of Tpack And The Use Of Sqd Strategies In Teacher Education Programs, Triantafyllia Sarri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the impact of technology training offered by teacher education programs on preservice teachers’ ΤPACK development. Specifically, the study aims to investigate how the SQD strategies of: 1) teacher educators acting as role models, 2) learning technology by design, 3) collaborating with peers, 4) scaffolding authentic experiences, 5) reflecting about the role of technology in education and, 6) moving from traditional to continuous feedback, contribute to the development of each domain of the TPACK framework. The study employs a quantitative methodology for analyzing the data collected. The measurement instruments for data collection …

An Investigation Of The Effects Of Self-Efficacy On Stem Implementation, Caroline Buechel

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

In order to equip students with the 21^st Century skills necessary for today’s society, STEM education must be properly implemented in school curricula (Lamb, Akmal, & Petrie, 2015). To do so, it is important for teachers to possess both proficient knowledge of the subject matter and confidence towards the implementation of STEM. A person’s beliefs about their ability is known as their self-efficacy (Bandura 1997). Related to education, Bandura notes that this self-efficacy affects a teacher’s views on their ability to handle tasks, obligations, and challenges related to a challenge (1997). Additionally, numerous studies indicate that this self-efficacy in …

¿Cómo Le Va A Mi Estudiante En Clase?: Increasing Parent Involvement For Latinx Elementary Students, Lisset Ochoa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Parental involvement in the education of Latinx elementary students is truly essential. If a student does not receive the guidance or commitment from their parents while they are young, they may struggle in their education. Early parental involvement, it is claimed, will increase children's motivation to learn while also encouraging cognitive and emotional competencies. It is necessary to incorporate resources that increase parental involvement so that Latinx parents are aware of the help their students need. Two teachers, the vice principal, and two parents were interviewed in order to learn more about the resources that would be useful to both …

Remote Learning And Third-Grade Reading Performance In A 1:1 District, Amanda Milhorn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore a possible relationship between remote learning with 1:1 devices and reading performance for third graders in a school district in Tennessee by comparing differences between universal screener reading data from fall 2020 and universal screener reading data from both fall 2018 and fall 2019. Star Reading universal screener Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) data from fall 2018, fall 2019, and fall 2020 from three elementary schools were used for the study.

Results indicated that the third-grade students’ fall 2020 Star Reading universal screener NCEs were significantly lower than their fall 2018 first …

From Barriers To Success: How Elementary School Principals Strategically Lead Schools To Become 21st Century Learning Exemplar Schools, Heather Gold

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the barriers and support systems elementary principals describe, through the lens of Activity Theory, they experienced while leading their schools to achieve 21st century learning exemplar status.

Methodology: This phenomenological study examined the perceptions of 15 elementary and K-8 principals and their respective assistant principals regarding the barriers and support systems they experienced while leading their schools to achieve 21st century learning exemplar status. Participants were selected based on the criteria that they had been identified as exemplary by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21); were public, non-private, …

Exploring Elementary Pre - Service Teachers Technological Knowledge For Teaching Literacy: A Phenomenological Study, Christy Nicole Grigsby

Theses and Dissertations

As a result of the fundamental changes to education due to COVID-19, this study focuses on the readiness of pre-service teachers to meet the literacy needs necessary in this technology mediated world by utilizing a theoretical framework that consists of a learning framework: Transformative Learning, a literacy framework: Multi literacies, and a technological framework: Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) to include the 2019 addition of another knowledge base: ConteXtual Knowledge (XK). It is this context component of TPACK that is so frequently overlooked that may encompass the cultural aspects of teaching and learning including the primary and secondary Discourses, the …

A Virtual Ell Community: Manual For Creating An Ell District Website, Brooke Norvish

MA TESOL Collection

Abstract

Every public school district has the responsibility to provide their English language learners (ELLs) with reliable and accessible resources. Many communities do this through various avenues, including in-person and online materials. Since the COVID-19 Pandemic, there is an even greater need to provide information online. Many schools are bouncing between hybrid and fully remote programs. Some families are opting to homeschool regardless if their district offers in-person classes or not. Supporting these families and keeping them up to date on how to navigate these challenging times is essential. This materials development project will seek to fill this need by …

Educators’ Perceptions Of Benefits And Barriers Of The Inclusion Of Coding In K-8 Curriculum: A Qualitative Study, Jennifer Lynn Dralle-Moreano,

Theses and Dissertations

The 21st century has seen a rapid growth in technological use in schools. Many schools now use computers and other digital devices in order to meet the academic needs of their students. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the benefits and barriers that K-8 educators experienced when integrating or teaching coding curriculum in their classrooms. This qualitative phenomenological study, informed by the Zais model of curriculum design (1976), Johnson (1977), and Beauchamp’s curriculum theory (1968), involved data collection through semi-structured interviews with six K-8 teachers, one instructional leader, one middle school principal, one assistant superintendent, and one …

The Use Of Technology In Bilingual Elementary Settings To Involve Hispanic Families, José Antonio Moya Roda

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Research has shown that parental involvement serves as a protective factor for students whose families lack financial and educational resources. Hispanic parents often find barriers at school that prevent them from participating in school-based activities such as communication problems, lack of time to go to the school at prescribed times, and cultural norms about classroom visits. With social networking services (SNS) like SeeSaw, which are similar to traditional social media like Facebook, now available to schools, Hispanic parents have the opportunity of observing the students in their educational context through videos and photos posted on these SNSs. These opportunities are …

Examining Teachers' Use Of Adaptive Diagnostic Assessment To Improve Mathematics Teaching And Learning, Dalal H. Alfageh

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined teachers’ perceptions and use of adaptive diagnostic assessment for improving teaching and learning of elementary level mathematics. Specifically, this case study was conducted at some of the leading primary schools in a Midwestern school district. TPACK theory was used as the theoretical framework for this case study to provide an understanding of how the teaching and learning of mathematics occurs in the classroom and the changes that occur due to the implementation of adaptive diagnostic assessments. A survey, individual interviews, a focus group, and journal reflections were used for data collection. The findings of this …

Developing Instructional Technology Standards For Educators: A Design-Based Research Study, Helen Crompton, Carolyn Sykora

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Digital technologies are key tools that can be used to extend and enhance teaching and learning. However, empirical evidence show educators are unclear how to integrate technology and it is often used to support past teaching practices. Designbased research (DBR) involving a grounded theory design was used to construct a set of seven detailed education technology standards to provide guidance on how technology should be integrated and a set of 24 examples as indicators of these standards. This DBR mixed methods approach involved 2429 participants and gathered data from focus groups, surveys, and interviews. The DBR involved two macro cycles …

Our Stories, Our Voices: The Lived Experiences Of Black Families With Young Children During Covid-19, Devalin Jackson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of Black families raising young children during shelter in place orders and distance learning due to Covid-19. The study was conducted virtually through Zoom and Google form due to county shelter in place orders. Participants were recruited from the school in which the researcher worked. Through the use of virtual interviews, the five participants highlighted themes of reconnections, isolations, empowerment, family values and conversations. The families shared experiences of resilience and hope and brought thoughts of how these experiences could be highlighted in instructional and curriculum designs; especially during …

Career And Technical Education Teachers’ Attitudes Toward And Their Participation In Technology-Based Professional Development Training In Mississippi’S High School Districts, Natalie N. Hill

Dissertations

The use of technology has become an essential part of daily interaction in Career and Technical education learning environments. There is very little research regarding career and technical teachers’ attitudes and participation in professional development, although previous studies have been conducted referencing K-12 teachers’ attitudes. A qualitative research methodology was employed to investigated the insight of CTE teachers’ attitudes toward the professional developments that they had attended. This study also investigated whether training was appropriate to teachers’ learning needs in high school districts in MS. The population for this study included seven high school career and technical teachers in five …

How Can Social Emotional Learning Be Improved During Distance Learning?, Morgan Horn

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Social emotional learning (SEL) is an important aspect of school that does not get enough attention. Many teachers are currently focused on academics instead of how their students are handling the stress of COVID-19 and distance learning. The focus issue addressed in this capstone project is SEL in the online classroom during COVID-19. An argument is made that distance learning causes a higher rate of mental health problems in students in all grade levels. Considerations of the issue should include the perspectives of teachers, parents, and students. The three action options that emerged from an analysis of the data included: …