Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Threshold Concepts In Web Development: The Impact Of Education And Experience On The Perceptions Of Practitioners, Michael Lee Mick

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

The Threshold Concepts (TCs) framework posits characteristics of critical concepts that enable a learner to see things in a new and unforgettable way that allows the incorporation of cognitive approaches and skills needed by professionals in the discipline. All previous research has been qualitatively oriented toward discovery of candidate TCs, without, so far, quantitative studies of the candidate TCs recognition within the professional ranks. An underrepresented group in previous research is that of Web development professionals.

This proposal describes initial quantitative research utilizing the TCs framework in the Web development area to measure the perception of candidate TCs by professionals …

Identifying Optimal Course Structures Using Topic Models, Tehut Tesfaye Biru

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

This research project investigates whether there exists an optimal way to structure topics in educational course content that results in higher levels of engagement among students. It is implemented by fitting topic models to transcripts of educational videos contained in the Khan Academy platform. The fitted models were used to extract topic trajectories across time for each video and subsequently clustered based on whether they have similar “shapes”. The differences in mean engagement metrics per cluster suggest that some course shapes are more palatable to students regardless of subject matter. Additionally, the topic trajectories suggest a constant progression of topics …

Natural User Interface Based American Sign Language Tutoring Program, Bryce J. Allen

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a substantial shortcoming in the modern American educational system: there is a sufficient need for our educators to be trained in the practices required to provide an educational experience for their students that is as effective as in-person instruction. There exist already systems of online instruction for various academic subjects, such as math and the sciences. In the subject of linguistic studies, educational programs have been developed to evaluate student proficiency in both the written and spoken forms of the language in which they are studying. However, there exist few programs that can effectively provide …