Instructional Media Design Commons^™

Instructional Architect Teacher Professional Development Handouts, Mimi Recker, Andrew Walker, M. Brooke Robertshaw, Linda Sellers, Heather M. Leary

Linda Sellers

Three handouts for the teacher professional development workshops on the Instructional Architect (IA). Starting spring 2009 the face-to-face workshop was changed to be three different days of learning about how to use the IA, inquiry based and problem based learning, evaluation of IA projects with a rubric, and creating IA projects.

Experiences In The Field: The Evolution Of A Teacher Technology Professional Development Model, M. Robertshaw, Andrew Walker, Mimi Recker, Heather Leary, Linda Sellers

Linda Sellers

The New Science of Learning: Cognition, Computers and Collaboration in Education deftly explores the multiple relationships found among these critical elements in students’ increasingly complex and multi-paced educational experience. Starting with instructors’ insights into the cognitive effects of digital media—a diverse range of viewpoints with little consensus—this cutting-edge resource acknowledges the double-edged potential inherent in computer-based education and its role in shaping students’ thinking capabilities.

Tool Use And The Effect Of Action On The Imagination, D. Schwartz, Doug Holton

Douglas L Holton

Three studies examined the claim that hand movements can facilitate imagery for object rotations but that this facilitation depends on people's model of the situation. In Experiment 1, physically turning a block without vision reduced mental rotation times compared with imagining the same rotation without bodily movement. In Experiment 2, pulling a string from a spool facilitated participants' mental rotation of an object sitting on the spool. In Experiment 3, depending on participants' model of the spool, the exact same pulling movement facilitated or interfered with the exact same imagery transformation. Results of Experiments 2 and 3 indicate that the …

Using Moodle To Teach Constructivist Learning Design Skills To Adult Learners, Doug Holton

Douglas L Holton

As instructors move further into the incorporation of 21st century technologies in adult education, a new paradigm of digitally-enriched mediated learning has emerged. 'Adult Learning in the Digital Age: Perspectives on Online Technologies and Outcomes' provides a comprehensive framework of trends and issues related to adult learning for the facilitation of authentic learning in the age of digital technology. This significant reference source offers researchers, academicians, and practitioners a valuable compendium of expert ideas, practical experiences, field challenges, and potential opportunities concerning the advancement of new technological and pedagogical techniques used in adult schooling.

Designing To Learn About Complex Systems, Cindy Hmelo, Doug Holton, Janet Kolodner

Douglas L Holton

Complex systems are commonly found in natural and physical science. Understanding such systems is often difficult because they may be viewed from multiple perspectives and their analysis may conflict with or extend beyond the range of everyday experience. There are many complex structural, behavioral, and functional relations to understand as well. Design activities, which allow explorations of how systems work, can be an excellent way to help children acquire a deeper, more systemic understanding of such complex domains. We report on a design experiment in which 6th grade children learned about the human respiratory system by designing artificial lungs and …

Developmental And Educational Perspectives On Theory Change: To Have And To Hold, Or To Have And Hone?, Richard Duschl, Gedeon Deaak, Kirsten Ellenbogen, Doug Holton

Douglas L Holton

Eric Schwitzgebel presents an attractive argument for the use of affective indicators to both assess and extend the ''theory theory'' research agenda. A key component of his argument is an account of explanation that can be applied to both children and adults, few of whom possess the attributes and behaviors that warrant being called scientists. The core features of his account include 1) regarding a set of propositions as a theory and 2) subscribing to a theory by accepting and employing this set of propositions to explain events within the theory''s domain. We will argue that this account, while potentially …

Towards A Nation Of Educoders: A Roadmap For Sustainably Broadening And Improving Open Source Educational Software, Doug Holton

Douglas L Holton

The goal of this chapter is to review the history of educational software development and propose specific strategies for expanding the development of educational software that is free, open source, and more effective for learning. These strategies would make it easier for teachers, students, and other non-programmers to modify or design their own educational applications and better educate software programmers about how people learn.

How People Learn With Computer Simulations, Doug Holton

Douglas L Holton

Not only have educators and trainers alike begun to harness the power of instructional technology and human performance techniques, but now businesses and industries have incorporated these technologies for training development and performance improvement. The 'Handbook of Research on Human Performance and Instructional Technology' provides theoretical understanding of the essential link between education, training development, organization development, performance improvement, and instructional technology. An innovative publication useful to worldwide businesses, industry, schools, and higher academic institutions, this Handbook of Research is instrumental in providing the latest knowledge related to instructional technology and human performance in order to meet the needs and …

Designing Animated Simulations And Web-Based Assessments To Improve Engineering Education, Doug Holton, A. Verma

Douglas L Holton

Rapid advances in computer technology and the internet have created new opportunities for delivering instruction and revolutionizing the learning environment. This development has been accelerated by the significant reduction in cost of the Internet infrastructure and the easy accessibility of the World-Wide-Web. 'Web-Based Engineering Education: Critical Design and Effective Tools' evaluates the usefulness of advanced learning systems in delivering instructions in a virtual academic environment for different engineering sectors. This reference source aims at providing a deep probe into the most relevant issues in engineering education and digital learning and will offer a survey of how digital engineering education has …

Integrating Physical Activity Data Technologies Into Elementary School Classrooms, Victor R. Lee, Jonathan M. Thomas

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper describes an iteration of a design-based research project that involved integrating commercial physical activity data (PAD) sensors, such as heart rate monitors and pedometers, as technologies that could be used in two fifth-grade classrooms. Design-based research involves the development, implementation and study of new learning interventions in real-world contexts with the goal of elaborating principles or guidelines relevant to the design of new technologies and learning experiences. The current project involved the implementation of PAD technology-supported learning activities in two fifth-grade classrooms where students pursued investigations related to the distances that they walk, the relationship between heights and …

The Influence Of Peer Tutors And Technology-Actuated Reading Instruction Process On Third-Grade Students' Self-Perceptions As Readers: A Multiple Case Study, Brenda Shill Daw

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Driven by Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory (1986), my study investigated the self-perceptions and interactions of seven underperforming, third-grade readers while using Technology-Actuated Reading Instruction (TARI). Partnered with same-age peer tutors, readers used digital tools to listen to, read/record, and playback oral reading passages. They practiced, peer- or self-edited, and selected their best reading products as part of the iterative process. As reading is a complex cognitive skill (Reinking, 2005), TARI incorporated higher cognitive learning activities via a synthesis of Gagné's (1985) nine conditions of learning and the Four-Component Instructional Design Model (van Merriënboer & Kester, 2005).

Much of the current …

Case Studies Of At-Risk Middle Grades Students And Literacy Applications Including Technology, Francine Falk-Rose, Principal Investigator

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

No abstract provided.

School Librarians And Technology: Integrating Online Resources For Teaching, Linda Sellers, Heather Leary

Heather Leary, Ph.D.

No abstract provided.

The Human Computer Interaction Issues Associated With The Creation Of Personalized Role Playing Simulations, Eileen O'Donnell, Catherine Mulwa, Mary Sharp, Vincent Wade

Eileen O'Donnell

The human computer interaction issues associated with the creation of personalized role playing simulations are discussed in this paper. This paper is aimed at those who are interested in building authoring applications which enable educators to build role playing simulated e-learning resources to use with their students. One of the main issues which have come to our attention is that many learning designers and educators do not understand what exactly it is we are trying to achieve by creating personalized role playing simulations. Also, how to gauge the pedagogic merits which can be achieved by using these e-learning resources. Potential …

Enhancing The Cultural Competence Of Women’S Health Nurses Via Online Continuing Education, Ella T. Heitzler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

By 2050, current minority groups will comprise almost half of the US population further challenging healthcare providers and nurses to deliver culturally competent care. Numerous organizations have published documents supporting cultural competence and its incorporation into nursing curricula has been encouraged since 1986. However, practicing nurses, specifically those providing care to childbearing women and families, continue to acknowledge their lack of cultural competence. This is concerning as large health disparities exist between culturally diverse women and cultural competence can lead to greater health equality and better client care. Studies have shown face-to-face education increases the cultural competence of healthcare providers; …

Rfid Classroom Management System, Andrew W. Wright

Master's Theses

Professors who manage large classes are unrealistically expected to grade each student fairly and accurately. Even with all of the technological advancements that have occurred in the past thirty years, very little progress has been made in classroom management, and as a result, professors are not equipped with enough tools to successfully manage large class sizes. Because radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is making its way into student issued identification cards, there is an opportunity to use it as a tool to aid professors in the classroom. The focus of this paper is to discover the most effective system that …

Case Studies Of At-Risk Middle Grades Students And Literacy Applications Including Technology, Francine Falk-Ross, Principal Investigator

Cornerstone 1 Reports : Expansion and Enhancements of the Thinkfinity Platform

No abstract provided.

Using Mixed-Reality Technology To Teach Techniques For Administering Local Anesthesia, Kami M. Hanson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The ability to perform local anesthesia on dental patients is an important clinical skill for a dental hygienist. When learning this procedure in an academic situation, students often practice on their peers to build their skills. There are multiple reasons why the peer practice is not ideal; consequently, educators have sought the means to simulate the practice of local anesthetic procedures without endangering others. Mixed-reality technologies offer a potential solution to the simulated procedure problem. The purpose of this research was to determine if students could learn the techniques for providing local anesthesia using a mixed-reality system that allows them …

Learning Middle School Mathematics Through Student Designed And Constructed Video Games, Camille M. Mccue

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Mathematics achievement is an area in which American precollege students are faltering. Emerging research suggests that making mathematics instruction relevant and applicable in the lives of youth may impact math achievement, especially when it capitalizes on high-interest technologies such as video games.

Employing a quasi-experimental and descriptive approach, this study examined the mathematics (i.e., numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, measurement, and probability) that middle school students employed during their design and construction of video games. First, it examined the mathematics content learned by 19 sixth and seventh graders during their analysis, synthesis, and programming of three video game projects over …

The Role Of Student Gender For Determining The Impact Of A Pedagogical Agent, Yanghee Kim, J. Lim

Yanghee Kim

This study was to understand how male and female teenage students reacted differently to the presence of a pedagogical agent (an animated human-like character) in a computer-based algebra-learning environment. The study first examined, in classroom experiments, if learner gender would be a determining factor for the effectiveness of a pedagogical agent on learner attitudes and learning. Next, in-depth interviews inquired into the two groups of students’ perspectives of their agent’s role for their learning and affect.

Collaborative Strategic Board Games As A Site For Distributed Computational Thinking, Matthew Berland, Victor R. Lee

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper examines the idea that contemporary strategic board games represent an informal, interactional context in which complex computational thinking takes place. When games are collaborative – that is, a game requires that players work in joint pursuit of a shared goal – the computational thinking is easily observed as distributed across several participants. This raises the possibility that a focus on such board games are profitable for those who wish to understand computational thinking and learning in situ. This paper introduces a coding scheme, applies it to the recorded discourse of three groups of game players, and provides qualitative …

Modeling Teacher Ratings Of Online Resources: A Human-Machine Approach To Quality, Mimi Recker, Heather Leary, Andrew Walker, Anne R. Diekama, Philipp Wetzler, Tamara Sumner, James Martin

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

In education, the scalable deployment of media-rich online resources supports peer production in ways that promise to radically transform teaching and learning (CRA, 2005; Pea et al., 2008). Online educational repositories such as the Digital Library for Earth Systems Education (DLESE.org) and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL.org) collect and curate online learning resources created for a wide range of educational audiences and subject areas (McArthur & Zia, 2008). Through a simple, web-based authoring tool, called the Instructional Architect (IA.usu.edu) teachers locate and share educational resources and activities in an IA project. These IA projects can then be viewed, copied, …

Teaching Use Of Digital Primary Sources For K-12 Settings, Anne R. Diekema, Heather Leary, Sheri Haderlie, Cheryl D. Walters

Heather Leary, Ph.D.

This paper describes learning outcomes of a three-day workshop on integrating primary sources into K-12 teaching. The short curriculum — intended for teams of teachers and school librarians — combined visits to a museum and a library's special collections with an introduction to significant national and local digital collections of primary sources. The paper draws on focus group data, reflection papers, and a conference presentation by the workshop participants as well as curricular artifacts presented to the workshop instructors. Using their workshop experience, teachers integrated digitized primary sources into their curricula thereby creating quality instructional content that engaged students' interest. …

Unlv Faculty Institute On Research-Based Learning For High Impact Classes, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

UNLV Libraries-Greater Western Library Alliance Conference

IF YOU ARE A FACULTY MEMBER . . .

- Teaching a large-enrollment, lower-division course in Fall 2010

- Coordinating a multi-section, high-impact, lower-division course in Fall 2010

- Seeking ways to enrich your course and engage your students

- Committed to including substantive research and critical thinking components that utilize the Libraries’ collections in your course

- Interested in exchanging teaching ideas with colleagues from across the UNLV campus

- Eager to explore creative and effective ways to work with University partners to bring research into the classroom

- Interested in utilizing technology to create active learning environments in …

Teaching Use Of Digital Primary Sources For K-12 Settings, Anne R. Diekama, Heather Leary, Sheri Haderlie, Connie Woxland

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

This paper describes learning outcomes of a three-day workshop on integrating primary sources into K-12 teaching. The short curriculum — intended for teams of teachers and school librarians — combined visits to a museum and a library's special collections with an introduction to significant national and local digital collections of primary sources. The paper draws on focus group data, reflection papers, and a conference presentation by the workshop participants as well as curricular artifacts presented to the workshop instructors. Using their workshop experience, teachers integrated digitized primary sources into their curricula thereby creating quality instructional content that engaged students' interest. …

Modeling Teacher Ratings Of Online Resources: A Human-Machine Approach To Quality, Mimi Recker, Heather Leary, Andrew Walker, Anne Diekema, Philipp Wetzler, Tamara Sumner, James Martin

Heather Leary, Ph.D.

In education, the scalable deployment of media-rich online resources supports peer production in ways that promise to radically transform teaching and learning (CRA, 2005; Pea et al., 2008). Online educational repositories such as the Digital Library for Earth Systems Education (DLESE.org) and the National Science Digital Library (NSDL.org) collect and curate online learning resources created for a wide range of educational audiences and subject areas (McArthur & Zia, 2008). Through a simple, web-based authoring tool, called the Instructional Architect (IA.usu.edu) teachers locate and share educational resources and activities in an IA project. These IA projects can then be viewed, copied, …

The Impact Of Mini-Computers And E-Books On The Success Of At-Risk College Students, Aaron W. Hughey, Charlene Manco

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

Academically underprepared college students; i.e., those identified as needing developmental (remedial) English, mathematics and reading courses in order to maximize their potential for academic success at college-level studies, were provided with the opportunity to rent, for a minimal, subsidized fee, mini-computers bundled with digital course materials (e-books). The academic aptitude of the students who participated in the study was assessed when they entered the program, and their academic performance was assessed at the conclusion of the semester in which they were provided with these resources. The aptitude, performance and retention of program participants were then compared to those of similarly …

Becoming Mobile: Reference In The Ubiquitous Library, Frederick D. Barnhart, Jeannette E. Pierce

University Libraries: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Library patrons are adopting mobile devices for personal and other uses. The ubiquity of mobile devices will lead to changes in how and where learning and education happens. Libraries have wanted to become ubiquitous by making resources and services available anywhere, anytime. Reference librarians can use mobile devices and applications to include services in mobile learning environments. Challenges to libraries include uncertainty about which technologies to adopt in a rapidly changing technology landscape, the cost of technology adoption, staffing for 24–7 facilities, diversity of needs and preferences among library patrons, and the need to offer stable, consistent services. The combination …

Online Formative Assessments As Predictors Of Student Academic Success, Jacqueline L. Croteau

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Increasingly, educational reform efforts are turning towards data-driven decision making strategies to help teachers improve instruction through skills-based instruction/content that is both measurable and aligned to common rigorous standards, such as the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Examining the impact of a formative online assessment system on a summative measurement of student achievement may provide evidence that data-driven instructional platforms can impact student achievement and learning outcomes. Guided by the theoretical frameworks of Vygotsky and Dewey, along with the concepts of multiple intelligence, constructivism, and mastery learning, this study examined the relationship between student scores from an online formative assessment …

Teachers' Perception Of Handheld Response Systems As A Tool For Formative Assessment In High School Classrooms, Jon Chevalier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While research supports that formative assessment can improve student learning, it is rarely used and difficult to implement. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the use of student handheld response systems (SRS) as a tool for formative assessment in high school classes as well as teachers' attitudes towards this emerging technology. Self-efficacy and motivation theories provide the theoretical framework for this study. To explore this phenomenon, data were collected via an online interview from high school teachers (n=11) and were analyzed using inductive coding. Three themes emerged from this analysis and served as a basis for …