Instructional Media Design Commons^™

From Silent Film To Youtube™ : Tracing The Historical Roots Of Motion Picture Technologies In Education, Chareen Snelson, Ross A. Perkins

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article traces the historical roots of YouTube™ and online video to examine it within the context of educational motion picture history. The current state of online video is discussed first followed by a thematic analysis of the history of educational motion pictures from silent film to YouTube. The historical literature reveals recurring themes and issues, which include: (1) the intrinsic advantages of motion picture technologies, (2) differing opinions about the benefits of film and video, and (3) access and equipment issues. Previous historical accounts fall short of addressing how these themes connect to online video. The potential future of …

Revealing Online Learning Behaviors And Activity Patterns And Making Predictions With Data Mining Techniques In Online Teaching, Jui-Long Hung, Ke Zhang

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study was conducted with data mining (DM) techniques to analyze various patterns of online learning behaviors, and to make predictions on learning outcomes. Statistical models and machine learning DM techniques were conducted to analyze 17,934 server logs to investigate 98 undergraduate students’ learning behaviors in an online business course in Taiwan. The study scientifically identified students’ behavioral patterns and preferences in the online learning processes, differentiated active and passive learners, and found important parameters for performance prediction. The results also demonstrated how data mining techniques might be utilized to help improve online teaching and learning with suggestions for online …

Challenges And Questions Concerning “Culturally-Sensitive Design”, Ross Perkins

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since the inception of the field of anthropology, scholars have debated the definition for the word "culture." Lonner and Adamapoulos (1997) note that "there are 200 or more definitions of 'culture' in the literature of the social sciences, not one of which has been embraced by a substantial number of social scientists" (p. 76). Strauss and Quinn (1997) provide an overview of four schools of thought regarding the interpretations of "culture":

"Geertzian interpretivists have stressed the publicness of meaning, cognition, and culture. Foucauldian postmodernists have argued for the constructedness of culture and of the self. Some contemporary historical materialists highlight …

Real-World Industry Collaboration Within A Mechatronics Class, Vidya Nandikolla, Susan Shadle, Patricia Pyke, John Gardner, Robert Grover, Suhas Pharkute

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper describes the implementation and assessment of an innovative senior/graduate level mechatronics (robotics) module that integrated structured and unstructured learning experiences, in collaboration with an industry partner. With real-world constraints and expectations, students designed and delivered a product as the final project. In fall 2007, the corporate partner provided state-of-the-art, programmable robotic kits with a user-friendly programming environment. The assigned project was to design a biomedical robot to work in a hospital intensive care unit (ICU) to perform tasks such as transporting supplies or delivering paperwork. Students with diverse skills and majors were grouped in ten teams, two to …

Enhancing Precalculus Curricula With E-Learning: Implementation And Assessment, Janet Callahan, Seung Youn Chyung, Joanna Guild, William Clement, Joe Guarino, Doug Bullock, Cheryl Schrader

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

During Fall semester of 2007, a semester-long, quasi-experimental study was conducted at Boise State University to investigate the effectiveness of a systematically sequenced and managed, self-paced e-learning activity on improving students’ academic performance and motivation. A total of 125 students enrolled in 3 different sections of a Precalculus class participated in the study. The e-learning activity was implemented in 2 of the 3 sections as a required homework assignment. Students enrolled in one of the 2 selected sections were all engineering majors. The 3^rd section was a control group that did not use the e-learning activity. A pre-test, measuring …

Factors That Influence Informal Learning In The Workplace, Shelley A. Berg, Seung Youn Chyung

Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence informal learning in the workplace and the types of informal learning activities people engage in at work. More specifically, the research examined (1) the relationship between informal learning engagement and the presence of learning organization characteristics, and (2) perceived factors that affect informal learning engagement.

Methodology – Workplace learning and performance improvement professionals were invited to respond to an anonymous online survey, and 125 professionals volunteered to participate in the study.

Findings – This study did not find a significant correlation between informal learning engagement and the …

Computer-Based Instruction And Cognitive Load, Jui-Long Hung, Brandon Randolph-Seng, Kittikunanant Monsicha, Steven M. Crooks

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Following cognitive load theory, we used a computer-based software training paradigm to determining the optimal number of steps or information chunks to present before practice opportunities. Results demonstrating that the size of information chunks presented and the type of practice used individually influenced participants' ability to effectively learn via computer-based instruction. These findings contribute to the literature by showing the importance of practice and optimal segment sizes for learning via a computer.

Micro-Level Design For Multimedia-Enhanced Online Courses, Chareen Snelson, Patt Elison-Bowers

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Micro-level instructional design refers to the practice of designing and producing small units of instruction. At the microlevel processes such as shifting focus to small-scale design, applying learning theory, managing the technology, and evaluating the micro-design are implemented. The shift in focus to small-scale design centers attention on design of the multimedia products implemented in the online classroom. Theories of multimedia learning are selected and applied to the micro-level design to maximize the potential for effective instructional communication and learning. Managing the technology involves accounting for issues of compression, file size, and appropriate format for Web-based delivery. Evaluation, supported by …

Invisible Motivation Of Online Adult Learners During Contract Learning, Seung Youn Chyung

Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations

In a face-to-face classroom, the instructor can easily diagnose students' motivational status by observing their facial expressions and postures, but such cues are absent in an online classroom. Therefore, online instructors often estimate students’ motivational level based on their online behavior such as the number of messages they post, and look for effective strategies to help them actively participate in online dialogues. One such strategy is contract learning which facilitates self-directed behaviors through structuring an agreed learning process. This study reports a contract learning strategy in a graduate-level online class, examining whether a sample of 28 students' motivation could indeed …

Virtual Design Based Research, Chareen Snelson

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Instructional materials for the online course may be designed with rich multimedia content and innovative approaches. Student engagement with these materials is unseen and left to be inferred. Design based research is an approach used to study intervention in the context of an authentic classroom. It can be applied to the online course to study the impact of instructional design decisions and the effectiveness of multimedia integration. The technology used to support the online course can be used to collect usage data and participant evaluations.

Designing Dynamic Online Lessons With Multimedia Representations, Chareen Snelson

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The focus of this paper is on the use of multimedia representations in the online lesson. The information presented here may be of interest to online instructors with varied levels of experience, yet it is geared more toward those who are new to online teaching. A central feature of this paper is the importance of the lesson plan, which can include identification of how multimedia will be used to create instructional messages for the lesson. The potential exists to increase the quality of instruction through the careful use of static and dynamic multimedia representations. Support for the use of multiple …

Personal Reflections On Psi In Engineering Mechanics, David Haws

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

There seems to be little argument that our students need to be encouraged toward educational selfdirectedness. Yet self-direction must be based on past learning success and present learning readiness. There is at least a potential conflict here: students needs to assume responsibility for their own education, directing it to topics of their own choosing, but their learning must also at least occasionally be directed along a hierarchical path of sequentially dependent learning objectives (which path may not be so obvious to the uninitiated). The Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) seems to enable both of these not-always-compatible goals. PSI allows the …