Educational Technology Commons^™

Alayne Thorpe, Alayne Thorpe

Spring 2019

“Education is a sacred profession where a good and caring teacher can change a student’s life,” reflects Alayne Thorpe, PhD, dean of the School of Distance Education & International Partnerships and graduate dean. Dean Thorpe is one of the individuals on campus who makes the love of education infectious. Her passion, her creativity and her energy consistently invite students and colleagues to think in new ways and discover with excitement what knowledge in a faith environment can mean. So I want to share with you Alayne’s story, what inspires her passion for Adventist higher education and why she is part …

Blended Learning: Internal Factors Affecting Implementation, Zachary Hamilton

Masters Theses/Capstone Projects

Blended learning is defined as an education program in which a student learns, at least in part, through online delivery of content and instruction and, at least in part, at a supervised brick-andmortar location away from home (Staker & Hom, 2012). It is regarded as an effective learning model in terms of student outcomes; however, there are barriers to the implementation of blended learning. These barriers can be categorized as external or internal. The aim of this study was to determine and understand the barriers or factors that affect the implementation of blended learning. To accomplish this, it was important …

Working As A Digital Liberal Arts Fellow, Tiffini Eckenrod, Shelby Carmichael, Rahsaan Sailes

Library Presentations

No abstract provided.

Failing To Support Our Struggling Readers, Hannah Reilly

Scholarly and Creative Works Conference (2015 - 2021)

There is an increasing number of students scoring below grade level proficiency in reading/language arts. There are many benefits to using educational technology to support students struggling with reading, although the teachers at this school aren’t integrating technology into the reading curriculum. While there are many prior studies that address the benefits that educational technology has with students struggling with reading and perceptions of teachers, there is not substantial research on why teachers fail to integrate educational technology into the reading curriculum. The research focuses on the problem of teachers failing to integrate educational technology into reading curriculum in order …

Elementary Teacher Professional Development For Computer Science And Digital Game-Based Learning, Christopher Levy

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study research is to understand the professional development needed for elementary school (Grades K–6) educators to effectively teach computer science as part of the Computer Science for All initiative. Two research statements guided this study: Professional development training is needed for Florida elementary school educators to effectively teach the topics in the Computer Science for All initiative; Florida elementary school educators use digital game-based learning to effectively teach the topics in the Computer Science for All initiative. The sample was a purposeful sample consisting of 15 elementary school teachers at an elementary school in …

Chinese International Learners’ Acculturation At An American University, Zhuofeng Shen

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

In order to investigate the current status and challenges of Chinese international students studying and living in higher education institutions in the United States, and to explore strategies for integrating into the campus life in the United States, this study investigates the current status and challenges of Chinese students studying at a small, private, internationally focused university in the United States, in relation to cultural, linguistic, and academic adaptation. Data was collected through one-on-one interviews with students, faculty, and administrators, as well as observations both in daily courses and university-held social activities.

This study seeks to uncover the current perspectives …

Constructivists Online: Reimagining Progressive Practice

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of 1:1 Technology Initiatives On New Literacy In The Secondary Elar Classroom: A Metasynthesis, Abbey Matatall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Guided by socio-cultural learning theories of Vygotsky’s (1979) social-constructivism and cultural-historical activity theory (Engeström, 2014), the researcher of this study formed three research questions regarding the emergent research trends on 1:1 technology initiatives in the secondary ELAR classroom and new literacy. In response, a meta-synthesis of relevant studies was conducted. To provide an initial framework for the synthesis, the researcher provided conceptual definitions and backgrounds of 1:1 technology initiatives, socio-cultural learning theories, and new literacy, supported by the history of literacy movements that led to this new model of literacy. Utilizing narrowed inclusion and exclusion criteria, the research yielded …

A Utility Framework For Selecting Immersive Interactive Capability And Technology For Virtual Laboratories, Shuo Ren

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

There has been an increase in the use of virtual reality (VR) technology in the education community since VR is emerging as a potent educational tool that offers students with a rich source of educational material and makes learning exciting and interactive. With a rise of popularity and market expansion in VR technology in the past few years, a variety of consumer VR electronics have boosted educators and researchers’ interest in using these devices for practicing engineering and science laboratory experiments. However, little is known about how such devices may be well-suited for active learning in a laboratory environment. This …

The Efficacy Actions Of Priority School Leaders During The Dynamic Change Of School Reform, Micole D. Dyson

Dissertations

There are increasing demands and challenges from the state and federal government for continual academic improvement for all schools. Each year, the Michigan Department of Education creates a “Top to Bottom” list of schools, with the lowest-performing schools designated as priority schools. This priority designation invariably creates the need for principals to examine their own self-efficacy beliefs as they work with teachers to improve these schools.

The purpose of this basic qualitative study is to identify and describe principals’ beliefs in their abilities to organize and execute complex actions to achieve changes within priority schools. Identifying and naming a leader’s …

Understanding Sub-Saharan African Learners Informal Learning Using Mobile Devices: A Case Of Tanzania, Laban Bagui, Samwel Dick Mwapwele

The African Journal of Information Systems

In this era of pervasive computing and the Internet, learners everywhere connect and reconnect to knowledge away from classrooms, via mobile devices and their Mobile Instant Messaging platforms (MIMs). Still, many sub-Saharan African educators continue to confine these platforms to recreational activities. There is lack therefore of knowledge about how learners from sub-Saharan Africa perform such informal and experiential learning. This paper presents a case study of Tanzanian learners learning in informal settings using their mobile devices and MIMs. It deploys the rhizomatic learning theory with the aim of understanding how such learning occurs. Findings suggest that learners use mobile …

How Ideology And Pedagogy Impact Technology Adoption In The Classroom, A Causal-Comparative Study, Christopher J. Bernard

All Theses And Dissertations

As the world changes from an industrial driven society to one more focused on services and knowledge, the drive for change within higher education is mounting from both students and employers. With the availability of the vast majority of the world’s knowledge available to an ever-increasing populace via the Internet, students and employers alike are no longer satisfied with the three r’s – reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instead, employers are expecting graduates to be knowledgeable of the three C’s – collaboration, communication, and creative problem solving to negotiate a progressively complex global market.

Through advances in cognitive science, we now …

2019 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Design Parameters For Planning Cluster Randomized Trials Of Cognitive Skill Interventions: An Empirical Analysis Using The Collegiate Learning Assessment, Yu Du

Dissertations

Recently, higher education has started to place a premium on rigorous research that uses randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to test the impact of educational interventions. This may be due in part to concerns about a deficiency of high-quality evidence of the effectiveness of programs, policies, and practices to improve undergraduate students’ outcomes. Given the naturally nested structure in higher education, e.g., students nested in colleges/universities, researchers in higher education start considering a specific type of RCT called a cluster randomized trial (CRT), which have been frequently used in K-12 impact research. In a CRT, whole clusters, such as colleges/universities, are …

Exploring Fit For Nonlinear Structural Equation Models, Phillip Isaac Pfleger

Theses and Dissertations

Fit indices and fit measures commonly used to determine the accuracy and desirability of structural equation models are expected to be insensitive to nonlinearity in the data. This includes measures as ubiquitous as the CFI, TLI, RMSEA, SRMR, AIC, and BIC. Despite this, some software will report these measures when certain models are used. Consequently, some researchers may be led to use these fit measures without realizing the impropriety of the act. Alternative fit measures have been proposed, but these measures require further testing. As part of this thesis, a large simulation study was carried out to investigate alternative fit …

Teaching Online Foundation Course--Track A, Spring 2019, Center For Instruction & Research Technology (Cirt)

Teaching Online (TOL) Cohorts

A seminar on designing and delivering courses for distance learning in Spring 2019

Collaboration And Community In Undergraduate Writing Synchronous Video Courses (Svcs), Kimberly Fahle

English Theses & Dissertations

From the 2013 Position Statement of Principles and Example Effective Practices for Online Writing Instruction (OWI), OWI Principle 11 suggests, “Online writing teachers and their institutions should develop personalized and interpersonal online communities to foster student success.” Previous discussions of synchronous modalities have suggested interpersonal benefits of this mode could aid in creating these communities and could minimize the isolation and transactional distance students can experience in asynchronous instruction, which in turn can impact their persistence and learning. However, with little research on this modality, it is difficult to corroborate this assumption or design synchronous courses to best exploit these …

A Comparison Of Academic Outcomes In Courses Taught With Open Educational Resources And Publisher Content, Diane N. Ryan

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The academic outcomes of retention, completion, persistence and final exam scores between courses taught with open educational resources (OER) and courses taught with publisher content (non-OER) were investigated in this mixed method sequential study. The perceptions and experiences of the instructors who taught the courses were also explored. The participants were 215 community college students enrolled in an online section of Introduction to Communication (CST 110), Western Civilization (HIS 111), Applied Calculus (MTH 270) or Introduction to Psychology (PSY 201). Four instructors volunteered to teach an OER section and a non-OER section within each discipline. Students were randomly divided into …

An Analysis Of The Pedagogical Affordance Of A Learning Environment In A Catholic School, Carol E. Templeton

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Carol E. Templeton on March 24, 2019.

Auditing Canadian Curricula For The Prevalence Of Personal-Finance Related Terms Using Text-Frequency And Distant-Reading Software Tools, Wes Armstrong Mr.

Western Research Forum

This quantitative research study explores each set of provincial curriculum documents (save for Quebec) for the frequency of user-selected personal-finance based terms. The data from each province is compared and examined to answer: which provincial curriculum mentions user-selected personal-finance terms most frequently; how many words/pages are between each term mention, and how many personal-finance terms appear in the top 500 words in each curriculum. The research found that Prince Edward Island’s curriculum documents contained the most searched-for terms (at least one mention). Further, money (British Columbia and Newfoundland) and entrepreneur (Nova Scotia) are the only two searched-for personal-finance terms among …

Expanding The Learning Network: How Teachers Use Pinterest, Stephanie E. Schroeder, Rachelle E. Curcio, Lisa Lundgren

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This exploratory qualitative study of 117 teachers explores how educators engage with Pinterest, an online social networking site, specifically asking: (1) What similarities and differences exist in how elementary-level preservice and elementary-level in-service teachers engage with Pinterest? (2) What similarities and differences exist in how secondary-level in-service teachers and elementary-level in-service teachers engage with Pinterest? Findings indicate teachers at all levels tend to use Pinterest to search for educational resources and adapt resources to suit their classroom needs. Preservice teachers identify a more complex interaction with Pinterest than in-service teachers when determining quality resources. Findings indicate a need for future …

Innovative Remote Smart Home For Immersive Engagement, Kevin B. Martin, Abul Azad, Mohammed Adnan Shareef, Mrinal Roy

ASEE IL-IN Section Conference

An openly accessible, remotely operated smart home will be demonstrated as a tool for students to learn about residential energy usage and environmental impacts. Specifically, the demonstration unit provides classrooms an engaging experience that teaches students about energy efficiency technologies and how their behavior will have an impact on energy usage and the environment. It is expected that as students become aware of and understand how various energy efficiency technologies work barriers to their adoption will be lowered. The use of a web accessible, remote laboratory dramatically reduces lab setup time and equipment cost/space requirements for educators. Special attention is …

Review Of Educational Technology: Closing The Gap Between Modern Technology And The College Engineering Classroom, David Pinkerton, Krishna Pakala

Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper aggregates information from past and current studies regarding the implementation of technology in engineering classrooms and identifies the most promising ideas, technologies, and techniques. This paper provides insight into best practices for implementing technologies to improve the education of engineering students. This paper provides recommendations to adopt non-traditional teaching methods. Educational tools and techniques are evaluated on the basis of: Adoption and Assimilation, Access, Community, Intellectual Presence, Student Perception, and Development of Social and Professional Skills. Best practices are highlighted with descriptions of the technologies and techniques that were found most promising.

Academic Achievement And Participation In Out-Of-School Educational Robotics Competitions For High School Latino/A Students In Southern California, Jesus Ulloa-Higuera

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine the difference in academic performance in mathematics as measured by class grades between high school Latino/a students in Southern California who participated two consecutive years in robotics competitions and high school Latino/a students who did not participate. A secondary purpose was to examine the difference in mathematics academic performance between Latino and Latina students who participated in robotics competitions. A third and final purpose was to describe the experiences of Latino/a college students who participated in robotics competitions and how those experiences influenced their interest in pursuing a STEM college …

Equitable Technology Integration: Kentucky Technology Integration Certification, Stacie Barnett-Slusher

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Stacie Barnett-Slusher on March 12, 2019.

Increasing Stem Literacy Through Directed Outreach, Liesl Krause, Nicole Vike, Yukai Zou, Jana Vincent

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

5th Annual Engagement and Service-Learning Summit: Connecting Through Listening and Scholarship, Thursday February 28th, 2019, Hosted by the Office of Engagement and Purdue Honors College

Adoption Of Multimedia Technology For Learning And Gender Difference, Chongwoo Park, Dong-Gook Kim, Sunyoung Cho, Hyo-Joo Han

Information Systems Faculty Publications

While more educators are increasingly using multimedia technology for online and blended learning, there has not been much research on whether and how multimedia technology is accepted and used by learners. In this study, we examine the adoption of multimedia technology for online and blended learning. In order to better understand its adoption mechanism, we propose an integrated model, which extends the technology acceptance model with task technology fit theories. Furthermore, this study investigates gender difference as a moderator in the integrated model. The proposed research model has been assessed with the data collected from three online and blended …

Collecting Virtual And Augmented Reality In The Twenty-First Century Library, Matthew Hannah, Sarah Huber, Sorin Adam Matei

Matei Interdisciplinary Research Collaboratory

In this paper, we discuss possible pedagogical applications for virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), within a humanities/social sciences curriculum, articulating a critical need for academic libraries to collect and curate 3D objects. We contend that building infrastructure is critical to keep pace with innovative pedagogies and scholarship. We offer theoretical avenues for libraries to build a repository 3D object files to be used in VR and AR tools and sketch some anticipated challenges. To build an infrastructure to support VR/AR collections, we have collaborated with College of Liberal Arts to pilot a program in which Libraries and CLA …

Cirt News - March 2019, Center For Instruction & Research Technology (Cirt)

CIRT News

This issue contains the following articles:

Faculty Spotlight: Adopting High-Quality, Peer-Reviewed, and Openly Licensed Textbooks

Digital Learning and Innovation: UNF Online

Upcoming Events

CIRT Open House

Digital Thinking: Live Streaming

Best Practices Online: Tips for Implementing Open Educational Resources

Canvas News

New in CIRT

Enhancing Suborbital Science Through Better Understanding Of Wind Effects, Pedro Llanos, Diane Howard

Space Traffic Management Conference

This paper highlights the importance of understanding some key factors, such as winds effects, trajectory and vehicle parameters variations in order to streamline the space vehicle operations and enhance science in the upper mesosphere at about 85 km. Understanding these effects is crucial to refine current space operations and establish more robust procedures. These procedures will involve training new space operators to conduct and coordinate space operations in class E above FL600 airspace within the Air Traffic Organization (ATO).

Space vehicles such as Space Ship Two can spend up to 6 minutes in class E airspace above FL600 after launch. …