Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Creating An Engaging Environment For Adult Esl Learners In E-Learning Settings: Reducing Affective Filters And Cognitive Overload, Qian Liu

Master's Projects and Capstones

Countless online ESL programs targeting adult learners have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially since the unemployment crisis made people start thinking about self-improvement. This emergence of online education is a life-changing chance not only for the ESL education industry and teachers, but also for countless learners. This field project includes appropriate background, a review of relevant literature, and ultimately presents a free, online self-training session for novice online ESL teachers who teach adults.

Research that informed the creation of this project indicated that online second language education programs that use technological tools can lead to positive learning outcomes. Adult …

Hey Google: How Can We Build Critical Media Literacy?, Wilson Wang

Master's Theses

The year 2020 spotlighted problematic media coverage of the global coronavirus pandemic. Conflicting narratives of the origin of the “China virus” (Campbell & Park, 2020), the silenced journalistic freedoms (Davidson, 2020), and the impact on communities of color (Williams, 2021) created mass confusion during the global pandemic. To help address our understanding of media, teaching civic online reasoning (Wineburg & McGrew, 2017) and critical media literacy are two potential points of emphasis. Building critical media literacy helps resist the echo chamber effect of social media and cable news, which results in polarization and difficult mediation between parties (Bexley & Tchailoro, …

Building Partnerships In Remote Education During Covid-19

International Developments

Australian Strategic Partnerships in Remote Education (ASPIRE) connects Australian experience and expertise in remote education with partners in the Indo-Pacific region to provide learning continuity, access and equity, in particular for disadvantaged students. Managed by ACER on behalf of the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), ASPIRE aims to contribute to immediate and long-term educational and economic benefits for the Indo-Pacific region.

Guidelines For Effective Adaptive Learning: A Meta-Analysis, Jennifer C. Dahlmann

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Adaptive learning adjusts to the student’s needs to improve learning outcomes, but adaptive learning platforms approach this goal in vastly different ways. When tested, these platforms also show varying levels of success in improving learning. The goal of this meta-analysis is to develop guidelines for the creation and implementation of adaptive learning based on studies where adaptive learning was utilized.

Designing Effective Online Courses: Exploring The Relationships Amongst Teaching Self-Efficacy, Professional Development, Faculty Experience, And Implementation Of Effective Online Course Design Practices, Elizabeth Mcmahon

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

How best to prepare and support faculty to design and teach effective online courses is a topic of great significance to higher education institutional leaders and faculty developers. This research project was motivated by several research questions that were formulated to explore how specific demographic characteristics including online teaching experience, hours of professional development completed, gender, institution type, whether or not the participant has participated in a Quality Matters official course review, and whether or not the participant had experience as an online student were related to online teaching self-efficacy and the extent to which participants reported implementation of effective …

Strategies Utilized By Speech-Language Pathologists When Treating Speech-Language Disorders In Children Who Are Bilingual, Julianne L. Monceaux-Visser

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

In the state of Minnesota, more children who use a language other than English were reported to speak English less than “very well” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2020). There was neither a “gold standard” (Verdon, McLeod, & Wong, 2013), nor Preferred Practices (ASHA, 2020) for the treatment of speech-language disorders for children who were bilingual. The current study investigated the practices for treating speech-language disorders in this population by SLPs employed in schools in a region of west-central MN and eastern ND. Using an interpreter, and explicit instruction on targeted language skills were the most common clinical approaches utilized. The child’s …

Online Echocardiography Modules For Pediatric Cardiology Fellows, Sarah Studyvin, Doaa Aly, Tyler Johnson, Laura Kuzava, Alison Samrany, Nitin Madan, Sanket Shah

Research Days

Background: Adequate echocardiographic (echo) education is integral to successful cardiology training. Online education is proven to be effective in other specialties, but pediatric echo training data are lacking.

Objectives/Goal: Our aim was to design and assess the role of a novel online module-based curriculum to enhance pediatric cardiology fellows’ echo education.

Methods/Design: Four interactive modules, focused on principles and interpretation of a normal echo, were delivered to fellows. Content included high quality 2D and 3D echo clips as well as interactive quizzes and could be accessed from a phone, tablet, or computer. All fellows completed pre- and post-tests, validated by …

School Library Media Specialists: An Evolving Profession In A Pandemic, Heather Kapanka

School of Information Sciences Faculty Research Publications

In March 2020, Michigan’s school library media specialists, along with the entire educational community, found themselves facing unprecedented challenges brought by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. As learning shifted online, the roles of school library media specialists shifted as well. Three southeast Michigan school library media specialists were interviewed to obtain their perspectives regarding the adaptation to distance learning, as well as how they predicted educational practices will evolve going forward. The educational practices of learning commons, guided inquiry, co-teaching, and information literacy were found to be particularly valuable during the shift to distance learning. The increased dependence on …

Theatre During Covid-19: Perceptions Of High School Students And Teachers, Marissa Lizette Trujillo

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

COVID-19 changed the way theatre was done in a high school setting. Students were required to wear masks and physically distance, and some even did theatre remotely. Doing theatre with limitations was especially difficult because the face and body play a vital role in helping actors tell a story. In this study, the researcher sought to understand what the perceptions of high school theatre students and teachers were while doing theatre during COVID-19. A survey, two focus group interviews, a group interview, and an individual interview were used to collect data, as well as observations in three theatre classes and …

Rural Elementary Teacher Beliefs Regarding The Effectiveness Of Their Homework Practices During The Pandemic, Daniel Clara

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through the lenses of C.S. Peirce’s Belief and Genuine Doubt, Albert Bandura’s Self Efficacy and Collective Efficacy, Bernard Weiner’s Attribution Theory, and Critical Race Theory, this dissertation captured and codified rural elementary teacher beliefs regarding homework and its effectiveness related to learning, and in particular, the effects brought on by the 2020 COVID 19 school closure. Rural school systems are under-researched and present notable differences in homework challenges, including access to libraries, technology and distance from home to school. Using qualitative research, this study identified themes regarding teacher perceptions of homework. The author explained that many of the long-held tenants …

Faculty Job Satisfaction Related To Online Course Design, April Marie Hixson

School of Education Doctoral Projects - Higher Education

Online education has expanded and evolved slowly through the decades, but the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 put online education at the forefront of teaching and learning worldwide and sped up the design and delivery of online courses. This study sought to examine faculty attitudes and opinions (amid a global pandemic) toward online course design that may affect their job satisfaction levels. Specifically, it explored factors that could inhibit or contribute to faculty job satisfaction during their engagement in online instructional design. Further, the study was designed to gain an understanding of how pedagogical and technological changes influence the degree of …

Reimagining Student Engagement In The Remote Classroom Environment, Christopher B. Denning, Serra Acar, Carol Sharicz, Ellen Foust

Pedagogy and the Human Sciences

As higher education institutions struggled with switching to remote teaching due to the COVID19 pandemic, perhaps one of the most important lessons learned is that instructors need additional support to successfully engage students in remote classrooms. Moving courses from the classroom to online delivery radically alters all aspects of teaching and learning, making it easy for interactions to be lost in the transition. It is, therefore, imperative that instructors use elements of effective online teaching and synchronous classroom pedagogy to maintain student engagement. This paper uses the constructivist learning theory as a framework, especially as this theory is applied in …

Reimagining The Classroom Experience

Business Exchange

This article discusses innovative approaches to teaching business subjects, including using the principles of improvisational comedy to teach business leadership, using a game to help students learn to uncover financial fraud, and working in technology-enhanced classrooms.

Covid-19 Impact On Radiology Students’ Distance Learning (Spring 2021), Mary Lee, Jason Chan, Cherylann Jackson-Holmes, Renzo Marmolejo, Zoya Vinokur

Publications and Research

Radiologic Technology students are well into a full year of distance learning. The Juniors are utilizing a hybrid mode, where they continue to have laboratory classes on campus at half capacity and every other week. The Senior students are completely learning through distance learning and focusing their efforts on reviewing for their licensing exams. Both cohorts are in clinical rotation with COVID-19, a smaller threat to their schooling, but still a hazard that can impact their personal and educational lives. With the use of surveys that are distributed during online classes, we hope to evaluate how a full semester of …

Supporting The Student Service Member And Veteran Population As Learners: An Exploratory Study Of Academic Motivation And Best Practices In Student Services At A State Comprehensive University, Seth D. Kastle, Brendon Fox, Jeni Mcray

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

This article explores best practices in student services for Student Service Members and Veterans (SSM/V) learners at a Midwestern state comprehensive university (SCU.) The Military Learner Academic Success Perception Survey (MLASPS) was administered to a small but targeted cohort population of SSM/V’s enrolled in a customized Associate of Applied Science (AAS) program through the institution’s new centralized student support center for SSM/V’s. The research team collected data related to the enrolled students’ perceived academic preparedness, student service needs, and academic motivation. Results informed the center about how to best serve SSM/V’s in persisting through graduation. Results may also be valuable …

Disconnected, James H. Reeves Ii

Masters Theses

Even with complications, remote learning can be successful with the development of user friendly designed solutions. While there are educational tools and platforms available that electronically support remote learning, many students and teachers do not have deep technological knowledge and many lack internet access outside of school. Without access to the internet, many of them experience interruptions in their education. This underscores the needs of both the educator, and the students during sudden and unexpected periods of school closure. The research objectives of this project focus on current learning tools, their design, and their accessibility during remote learning. The level …

The Impact Of The Online Learner Advising Model On Retention And Grade Point Average, Julie Delich

Doctorate in Education

As more students experience online learning environments, the academic community must invest more energy into improving retention of these learners. The purpose of this research was to study the impact of an advising model designed to support online learners, the Online learner advising model (OLAM). This study examined new student retention in the first 3 terms and GPA outcomes to measure the impact of the advising approach. OLAM was designed to address the specific needs of online learners through bringing together elements of proactive advising, shame resilience theory, and appreciative advising.

The sample was selected from Concordia University, St. Paul …

The Four Transactional Distances Of The Apocalypse: A Critical Realist Case Study Of Higher Education During Covid-19, Lee Ann Dickerson

Doctorate in Education

The purpose of this comparative, longitudinal case study was to explore the distance operations system implemented in U.S. colleges and universities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Embedded in a larger two-year study of distance education in the U.S. before and after the health crisis, this study combined a grounded theory methodology with a critical realist approach to identify the components of the distance operations system and illuminate the generative mechanisms that promote or inhibit effective distance education. Primary data for this study consisted of interviews of faculty, staff, and administration of four higher education institutions at two collection points: first during …

Evaluation Of Course Modality And Student Performance In A College Anatomy And Physiology Course, Madeline M. Kjera

Honors Thesis

As technology evolves, so does the integration of online alternatives to face-to-face learning within institutions of higher education. The growth of the virtual education platform has led many researchers to wonder if it is equivalent to traditional teaching methods. While the idea of whether or not a performance gap exists between different modalities of the same course is well-researched, the results vary. As such, this study aimed to evaluate the relationship between delivery method (face-to-face or online) and final grade while controlling for the variables of instructor, gender, ethnicity, and ACT score. The data included final grade percentages and demographic …

Virtually Left Behind: The Struggles Of Adapted Physical Education Through Online Learning For Students With Special Needs, Madison Neff

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus issue addressed in this Capstone Project is on improving the challenges faced by students with special needs through online modalities of adapted physical education (APE). This is an important issue for students with special needs because they are regressing because of online learning. Students with special needs need a routine and a hands-on learning environment to thrive. It is argued that if teachers, parents, and students meet certain criteria, these challenges can be improved with collaboration. The primary stakeholders' perspectives included one APE teacher and three parents, due to their relevant experience and observations of online APE and …

School Of Law Grad Walk & Virtual Ceremony 05/21/2021, Roger Williams University School Of Law, Michael M. Bowden, Jill Rodrigues

School of Law Commencement (1996- )

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Grant Writing Seminar And Workshop Using Explicit Creativity Models, Processes, And Tools, Kim G. Zanti

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project is the development of a grant writing seminar and workshop. I reference arts and culture organizations throughout, as this is my area of expertise. Yet much of the learning, and the organization of resources and information, is useful and transferable to small and mid-size health and human services, science, and other organizations. I will offer these sessions to adult and advanced high school learners. I develop the seminar and workshop using the the 4P’s Model of Creativity (Press, People, Process, Environment), Torrance Incubation Model (TIM), and key aspects of the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) process, enhanced by Foursight …

Creativity Through Arts: Expanding Creativity For A New Fluency In Imaginative Thinking, Tanya M. Knudsen

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The Torrance Incubation Model beckons creativity into education. That was in 1961. Like the subconscious automatic and multidimensional act of breathing, and formulating language, creativity is within us, materializing on a Mobius Loop structure continually moving in and out of incubation, creation, and the shaping of outcome. Creativity is unique in that is both a verb and noun adding weight and value to its illusive form and potential. Creativity Through Arts expands the Torrance Incubation Model of Creative Teaching and Learning in an expressed combination of creativity and arts to immerse creativity into curricula, cracking a new code for finding …

The Ceibalitas In Uruguay: How Digital Educational Technology Affects Social Cohesion, William Bradford

Honors Theses

Digital Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become a focal point in improving worldwide education. There have been many studies on the effects of ICT in schools on grades and careers after graduation, but not many have studied the social impact. This study focuses on the Plan Ceibal in Uruguay to see the impact of ICT in schools on social cohesion. The Plan Ceibal was the first Nation-wide one-laptop-per-child (OLPC) program in the world. For this reason, Uruguay can provide a look into the future for other nations as they implement OLPC programs of their own. This study uses data …

A Visual Analytics Approach To Facilitate The Proctoring Of Online Exams, Haotian Li, Min Xu, Yong Wang, Huan Wei, Huamin Qu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Online exams have become widely used in recent years to evaluate students’ performance in mastering the knowledge, especially during the pandemic of COVID-19. However, it is challenging to conduct proctoring for online exams due to the lack of face-to-face interactions. Also, prior research has shown that online exams are more vulnerable to various cheating behaviors, which can damage the credibility of online exams. In this paper, we present a novel vi- sual analytics approach to facilitate the proctoring of online exams by analyzing the exam video records and mouse movement data of each student. Specifically, we detect and visualize suspected …

An In Depth Analysis: Following The Potential Long-Term Effects Of Loss Of Engagement On Students, Stephanie Zavala

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone paper examines the various factors influencing student engagement and academic performance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This report addresses the following research questions: (1) "What might be the long-term effects of loss of engagement on children after the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) What are the primary factors that affect student engagement? In a review of the literature, this paper examines the research on natural disasters, extreme weather conditions, truancy, and summer vacations to project the impact on interrupted education. In order to fully consider the impact of the year-long Shelter-in-Place order on a local middle school, this …

Sororities Surviving Covid-19: A Phenomenological Study Of Panhellenic Virtual Sorority Recruitment, Margaret Darden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study addressed perceptions of virtual sorority recruitment and was conducted at a large, public university in the Midwestern United States. Data was gathered through interviews using a criterion sampling method in place for this study. Study participants fell into one of the following categories: new members, general members, chapter recruitment chairs, chapter presidents, chapter advisors, chapter recruitment advisors, or the fraternity/sorority advisor. Emerging themes and categories were identified by coding and analyzing the interview data. The themes that were identified were: the convenience of online meetings, reduced emphasis on appearance reduced emotional, financial and time strain, increased accessibility …

Predicting Student Success In Coursework Within A Regional Online School: An Analysis Of Student-Level And School-Level Predictors, Cary J. Stamas

Dissertations

Online education options in the K-12 environment have steadily increased from the infancy of online education at the turn of the millennia. Educators have utilized this format to meet the many different needs that exist for all students. Early research into the academic success of students in these environments prior to 2000 indicated there was no significant difference in student achievement for distance learning as compared to face-to-face learning. Since 2000, there has been increased focus on student performance in higher education online environments, but research is limited for K-12 schools. For the research that does exist, school-level variables and …

Defining Higher Education Writing Centers From The Perspectives Of Writing Center Directors, Paul D. Ludwig Mr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to discover what defines a writing center by interviewing directors of writing centers in the Southern Appalachian area. This qualitative study was based on a single round of recorded telephone interviews with 13 writing center directors who meet the criteria for inclusion in the study. Many researchers have written about writing centers, their efficacy, and what defines them; yet, no clear consensus exists. Without a clear definition there is no means of determining the efficacy of writing centers.

As a result of the interviews with the writing center directors three critical components of writing …

Review Of: Estrellado, R. A., Freer, E. A., Motsipak, J., Rosenberg, J. M., & Velásquez, I. C. (2021). Data Science In Education Using R. London, England: Routledge, Esther Michela, Robert L. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Data use in education is continually expanding in scope (Romero and Ventura 2020), and though programming resources are plentiful, those that truly scaffold the learning process are scarce. Data Science in Education Using R by Estrellado, Freer, Motsipak, Rosenberg, and Velásquez is a combination primer and workbook. This format allows the volume to serve as both an introductory R resource aimed to help readers overcome the daunting initial roadblocks to proficiency and familiarize them with educational data uses. We reviewed this book from the perspective of a beginning R user with little other programming background for whom this book is …