<p> Behavioral aspects of learning and emergent cognitive state are known to influence team effectiveness. In practice, agile project management is employed to address certain behavioral aspects of teaming with an emphasis on communication and social interaction. Software development teams have widely adopted the scrum framework for agile over the past decade, yet research on agile software development has produced a limited amount of work covering scrum. In addition, quantitative empirical support for links between socially situated learning, learning conditions, and organizational learning in agile software development teams have not been established. This dissertation study used a quantitative survey research design to examine effects of social interaction and learning conditions on transactive memory and the influence of social interaction on transactive memory among agile teams practicing scrum. A one-time quantitative survey was conducted, collecting data from 114 agile software developers on research panels. All participants were currently or recently working in the US on agile teams practicing scrum. This dissertation study proposed learning conditions as a socio-cognitive mediator in the relationship between social interaction and transactive memory. Support was found for three hypotheses (a) social interaction positively influences learning conditions among agile team members; (b) learning conditions positively influence transactive memory among agile team members; (c) social interaction influences transactive memory among agile team members. Evidence of mediation was also found using the Sobel test and a joint test of significance with percentile bootstrapping. This dissertation study found that agile software teams demonstrate enhanced group memory under certain learning conditions. The results indicate that positive learning conditions can strengthen the relationship between social interactions and transactive memory in an organizational setting.</p>

<p> The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the relationship between student access to a computer at home and academic achievement. The 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) dataset was probed using the National Data Explorer (NDE) to investigate correlations in the subsets of SES, Parental Education, Race, and Gender as it relates to access of a home computer and improved performance scores for U.S. public school grade 12 science students. A causal-comparative approach was employed seeking clarity on the relationship between home access and performance scores. The influence of home access cannot overcome the challenges students of lower SES face. The achievement gap, or a second digital divide, for underprivileged classes of students, including minorities does not appear to contract via student access to a home computer. Nonetheless, in tests for significance, statistically significant improvement in science performance scores was reported for those having access to a computer at home compared to those not having access. Additionally, regression models reported evidence of correlations between and among subsets of controls for the demographic factors gender, race, and socioeconomic status. Variability in these correlations was high; suggesting influence from unobserved factors may have more impact upon the dependent variable. Having access to a computer at home increases performance scores for grade 12 general science students of all races, genders and socioeconomic levels. However, the performance gap is roughly equivalent to the existing performance gap of the national average for science scores, suggesting little influence from access to a computer on academic achievement. The variability of scores reported in the regression analysis models reflects a moderate to low effect, suggesting an absence of causation. These statistical results are accurate and confirm the literature review, whereby having access to a computer at home and the predictor variables were found to have a significant impact on performance scores, although the data presented suggest computer access at home is less influential upon performance scores than poverty and its correlates.</p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore student engagement in higher education by evaluating training provided by experienced faculty members for those faculty desiring to implement a flipped classroom. A case study was utilized; data were collected in the form of online observation, in-class observation, student focus group interviews, faculty individual interviews, and artifacts. The researcher used the utilization-focused evaluation (Patton, 2008) as an implementation evaluation framework for the study. Data were analyzed using deductive analysis that depended on five implementation evaluation elements as general components (effort, monitoring, process, component, and treatment specification). The participants in this study included three trained faculty members from three different disciplines (anthropology, sociology, and business) and 14 students from these three faculty participants&rsquo; classes. The findings indicated faculty experiences of successful implementation of a flipped classroom were related to whether these faculty members fully provided the main flipped classroom elements for the lesson or only tested a partial implementation. Faculty and student perceptions of student engagement were positive and supportive of the idea that the flipped classroom enhanced student engagement. Students who experienced all the elements of the flipped classroom in the lesson extended their engagement from just inclass activities to embedded online activities. The findings also provided valuable recommendations from faculty and student participants related to improving student engagement in the flipped classroom. The study presented limitations of the study and recommendations for future research. Generally, this qualitative study with all the resources used to collect the data reflected successful practices and components of flipped classroom examples that could benefit educators in terms of enhanced student engagement.</p>

<p> Mixed Reality is a technology quickly advancing and becoming more readily available to the average consumer. The continually improving availability of Mixed Reality technology is due to advancements with software platforms and integration of miniaturized hardware for mobile devices. Mixed Reality is becoming more available for use within higher education but limited data is available supporting the relevance and effectiveness of this technology for helping students to learn. </p><p> The intent of this study was purposed to explore how Mixed Reality influences learning within a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) higher education program when learning within a Mixed Reality Learning Environment (MRLE). Mixed Reality Self-efficacy, student engagement, and student motivation were used as part of the Mixed Reality Self-efficacy, Engagement, and Motivation (MRSEM) survey. The MRSEM survey captured demographic information but primarily focused on the variables of self-efficacy, engagement, and motivation of post-secondary STEM students within a MRLE. </p><p> The results from this study provided data indicating how gender influences student acceptance of Mixed Reality, significant relationships among student engagement and student motivation when using Mixed Reality along with observed mobile device usage. These findings can provide administrators with useful information needed to target specific population groups to effectively integrate this new technology. Incorporating Mixed Reality as a learning resource is an approach if done correctly can reap benefits for all stakeholders involved. </p><p> The final outcome originating from the findings and observations resulted in the development of a best practices guide and recommendations for administrators and practitioners considering Mixed Reality. The guide and recommendations are intended for stakeholders within STEM areas of concentration considering this technology as a resource to improve instructional methods by engaging, motivating, retaining and ultimately improving a student&rsquo;s Mixed Reality Self-efficacy (MRSe).</p><p>

<p> Internet-based technologies have been the downfall of incumbents across numerous industries. This has not been the case in higher education, though unaccredited organizations that offer free- and low-cost online courses have the potential to disrupt low- and mid-tier colleges and universities that lack strong branding or regional advantages. This qualitative content analysis examined 410 articles from the academic trade press to describe the qualities of three companies that offer free and inexpensive online courses, StraighterLine, Udacity, and Coursera, to better understand their potential to disrupt for-profit colleges and universities. The four descriptive themes that emerged were: (a) credentialing issues, (b) the unbundling of higher education, (c) the development of online learning, and (d) single-course providers. Although distinct, the themes are interrelated and the growth of single-course providers, the unbundling of higher education, and the continued development of online learning will be affected by how credentialing issues are addressed by the regional accreditors. Employers are increasingly accepting micro-credentials from unaccredited, single-course providers that have significantly lower costs and a focused mission. The slow process of accrediting alternative providers, which some have argued is to protect incumbents, may actually speed up disruption. </p><p>

<p> The traditional face-to-face classroom is slowly losing its place in education as online learning becomes increasingly popular. With the growth of online learning, it falls to educators, administrators, and researchers to ensure students enrolled in online courses are being given an education equal to students enrolled in face-to-face courses. Beyond ensuring the students in online courses perform the same as their peers in traditional courses, students across all delivery systems need to be engaged. In this study, the effectiveness and perceived engagement of students between online and face-to-face courses were examined comparing outcomes, attendance, and withdrawal rates; and perceptions of engagement from the view of students and faculty. From the results, there was no significant difference in outcomes between online and face-to-face courses. There was a difference in withdrawal and attendance rates between online and face-to-face courses, and students indicated adequate engagement in online courses, but still showed a preference for face-to-face courses when available. Faculty members felt better able to engage with students in face-to-face courses, and some tools (discussion boards and social media) did not aid in meaningful engagement. Online learning cannot be considered a trend, and students in online course perform at least as well as students in face-to-face courses. As students become increasingly more comfortable with online learning, it is incumbent upon educators to find a path to meaningful online student engagement.</p><p>

The object of this study was to answer four major research questions dealing with the intention of teachers to use information technologies: what are the teacher characteristics and dispositions that impact upon teacher intentions to use computers in teaching and learning; how do these characteristics and dThis study aimed to answer four research questions dealing with the intentions of teachers to use ispositions impact upon teacher intentions to use computers in teaching and learning; how do these characteristics and dispositions relate to each other; can the pattern of relationship between these characteristics and dispositions explain conceptually the processes by which teachers' uptake computers into teaching and learning situations. Teachers were sampled from seven secondary schools located in Western Sydney. Subjects were provided with a questionnaire pertaining to educational, professional and computing backgrounds, and attitudes toward computers. Results show teachers' use of computers to be influenced by attitudes toward computers as well as factors such as teachers' computer skill, their involvement in formal training, and their access to computers outside of school. Gender issues were examined and while some effect was found, the effect was not consistent across all variables. The results of the inferential analysis were used to formulate a causal model, the purpose of which was to explain further the relationship between teachers' attitudes toward computers and computer use / Master of Education (Hons)

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2006. / Title from title page screen, viewed on April 22, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Cheri A. Toledo (chair), Adel T. Al-Bataineh, Charles D. Dziuban, Vicky L. Morgan, Wendy G. Troxel. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-244) and abstract. Also available in print.

Marshaling Resources| A Classic Grounded Theory Study of Online Learners

<p> The number of online courses in higher education is on the rise; however, empirical evidence elucidating best practices for synchronous online instruction is needed to implement these courses. The purpose of this dissertation was to perform a mixed-method investigation into the relationships between instructor prompt and student engagement in 5 areas based on the 7 Principles of Good Practices in Undergraduate Education using recorded chat, video, and audio transcripts of two recent fully online nutrition courses. A total of 25 previously recorded synchronous sessions including oral and textual chat interactions were transcribed. Every line of student interaction was determined to be either superficial or containing evidence of at least one instance of engagement. Every line of instructor interaction was concurrently coded for at least one of the following forms of prompt: social, organizational, intellectual. Inter-tester reliability of coded interactions was determined to be excellent (Cohen's kappa = 0.91) on a 5% sample of the entire dataset before comprehensive analysis continued. In total, 172,380 words were exchanged through 13,394 oral and text interactions across all class sessions. With 54% of student interactions deemed superficial the remainder produced a total of 8,906 student engagements. There were 4,125 instructor prompts composed of 48% intellectual, 30% organizational, and 22% social cues. Pearson correlations were performed to investigate relationships between prompt and engagement across class sessions. Intellectual prompts were the best predictor of faculty interactions, active and collaborative learning, and academic challenge (<i>r</i> = 0.77, <i>r</i> = 0.78, <i>r</i> = 0.54 respectively); organizational prompts were the best predictor of enriching academic experiences (<i>r</i> = 0.72); and social prompts were the best predictor of supportive campus environments (<i>r</i> = 0.79) with all of these being significant (<i> p</i> &lt; 0.01). No category of engagement was significantly correlated to class performance. Online synchronous class sessions can promote high levels of student engagement. A variety of instructor prompts must be used in order to promote student engagement across a number of different categories. Finally, care should be taken in order to craft and facilitate learning activities in synchronous online class sessions in order to achieve desired learning outcomes.</p>