Although varying models of blended learning are being adopted in schools, research on the effect of blended learning on students in different subjects and grade levels has not been examined. This naturalistic, quasi-experimental study examined the effect of the rotation model of blended learning at the middle school level on students' language arts performance to determine how the rotation model of blended learning compares to the traditional model of learning. The study's theoretical framework consisted of Mayer's cognitive theory of multimedia learning and Bloom's theory of mastery learning. The population consisted of 979 non-Title 1, Georgia public middle school students within the same middle school in a metropolitan school district during the 2013-2014 school year. The sample size was 237 sixth graders, 255 seventh graders, and 272 eighth graders. The specific data collected were Criteria Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores for all sample students. Data analysis consisted of both stepwise multiple regression and two-way ANOVA. The study found no significant difference in academic achievement of special education or regular education students. However, gifted students who participated in the blended model of instruction performed at a lower level than those who participated in the traditional model of instruction. Educational stakeholders may use this study, and others like it, to make decisions on the adoption of educational models at the middle school level that are beneficial, as well as to avoid models for subgroups that might be harmful.

This dissertation is presented in a journal-ready format and aims to inform professional development designed to support blended teaching. The first is a qualitative study of the practices of secondary educators currently using blended teaching strategies. Thematic analysis of the interviews identified activities teachers use in the online space and how they are connected to in-person activities. Activities aligned with two prior frameworks. Moore's (1989) interaction framework supported classifications of student interactions with content, other learners, and instructors. Kimmons et al.'s (2020) technology use framework supported classifications of student use of online technology in passive, interactive, and creative ways. Participants connected online activities to in-person learning through (a) using data generated while students worked online to inform in-person activities, (b) building relationships in the online and in- person space, and (c) preparing for and reinforcing in-person learning in the online space. These findings lead to recommendations for preservice and inservice teacher professional development as well as future research. The second article is a phenomenological study of the lived experiences of two elementary and two secondary educators new to blended teaching that received coaching support while participating in a professional development program aimed at supporting their implementation of blended teaching practices. Studying these experiences can inform practicing coaches, administrators of coaching programs, and current research regarding what contributes to a successful coaching program to support blended teaching. Coaches supported participants' teaching practice during planning, implementation, and reflection phases. Coaches also built partnership relationships with teachers by conveying credibility, treating teachers as equals, communicating in a positive, non-judgmental way, being readily available, and cooperating with other teaching supports. Future research could address the changing support needs of teachers as they gain experience.

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Master of Science / Department of Human Nutrition / Kadri Koppel / Products must be tolerant to many conditions, particularly when those products are prepared by consumers. Consumers may not measure added ingredients, they may add or leave out ingredients specified in recipes, or change cooking and holding times for foods. Fortified blended food (FBFs) are used as a source of nutrition for disaster or famine relief in developing countries and sorghum is looked at as a potential alternative to wheat and corn based products that are currently being used as FBFs. Porridge products are the most common dishes prepared from FBFs with a wide range of solids content, cooking times and variations in added ingredients such as sugar and fruit. This study was intended to evaluate the tolerance to preparation variations for a porridge product made as a FBF intended for food aid. Whole Sorghum Soy Blend (WSSB), a fortified, extruded, ground cooked cereal was selected as the FBF for this study. Descriptive sensory analysis was performed to evaluate the tolerance of porridge products made from variations in ingredients and cooking procedures. In this study, most sensory properties were only marginally affected by variations in ingredients or procedures. However, as expected, large differences occurred in some properties such as thickness when solids content varied or sweetness and fruit flavor when fruit was added. Tolerance testing showed that the sensory properties of WSSB had high tolerance to variations in cooking procedures, a positive aspect for product use and development. This means that the product can be modified during preparation by consumers without having a major impact on most sensory properties.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Rosemary S. Talab / The purpose of this study was to obtain science faculty concerns and professional development needs to adopt blended learning in their teaching at Taibah University. To answer these two research questions the survey instrument was designed to collect quantitative and qualitative data from close-ended and open-ended questions. The participants’ general characteristics were first presented, then the quantitative measures were presented as the results of the null hypotheses. The data analysis for research question one revealed a statistically significant difference in the participants’ concerns in adopting BL by their gender sig = .0015. The significances were found in stages one (sig = .000) and stage five (sig = .006) for female faculty. Therefore, null hypothesis 1.1 was rejected (There are no statistically significant differences between science faculty’s gender and their concerns in adopting BL). The data analysis indicated also that there were no relationships between science faculty’s age, academic rank, nationality, country of graduation and years of teaching experience and their concerns in adopting BL in their teaching, so the null hypotheses 1.2-7 were accepted (There are no statistically significant differences between Science faculty’s age and their concerns in adopting BL, there are no statistically significant differences between Science faculty’s academic rank and their concerns in adopting BL, there are no statistically significant differences between Science faculty’s nationality and their concerns in adopting BL, there are no statistically significant differences between Science faculty’s content area and their concerns in adopting BL, there are no statistically significant differences between Science faculty’s country of graduation and their concerns in adopting BL and there are no statistically significant differences between Science faculty’s years of teaching experience and their concerns in adopting BL). The data analyses for research question two revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between science faculty’s use of technology in teaching by department and their attitudes towards technology integration in the Science curriculum. Lambda MANOVA test result was sig =.019 at the alpha = .05 level. Follow up ANOVA result indicated that Chemistry department was significant in the use of computer-based technology (sig =.049) and instructional technology use (sig =.041). Therefore, null hypothesis 2.1 was rejected (There are no statistically significant differences between science faculty’s attitudes towards technology integration in the Science curriculum and faculty’s use of technology in teaching by department). The data also revealed that there was no statistically significant difference (p<.05) between science faculty’s use of technology in teaching by department and their instructional technology use on pedagogy. Therefore, null hypothesis 2.2 was accepted (There are no statistically significant differences between science faculty’s perceptions of the effects of faculty IT use on pedagogy and faculty’s use of technology in teaching by department). The data also revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between science faculty’s use of technology in teaching by department and their professional development needs in adopting BL. Lambda MANOVA test result was .007 at the alpha = .05 level. The follow up ANOVA results showed that the value of significance of Science faculty’s professional development needs for adopting BL was smaller than .05 in the Chemistry department with sig =.001 in instructional technology use. Therefore, null hypothesis 2.3 was rejected (There are no statistically significant differences between Science faculty’s perceptions of technology professional development needs and faculty’s use of technology in teaching by department). Qualitative measures included analyzing data based on answers to three open-ended questions, numbers thirty-six, seventy-four, and seventy-five. These three questions were on blended learning concerns comments (question 36, which had 10 units), professional development activities, support, or incentive requested (question 74, which had 28 units), and the most important professional development activities, support, or incentive (question 75, which had 37 units). These questions yielded 75 units, 23 categories and 8 themes that triangulated with the quantitative data. These 8 themes were then combined to obtain overall themes for all qualitative questions in the study. The two most important themes were “Professional development” with three categories; Professional development through workshops (10 units), Workshops (10 units), Professional development (5 units) and the second overall theme was “Technical support” with two categories: Internet connectivity (4 units), and Technical support (4 units). Finally, based on quantitative and qualitative data, the summary, conclusions, and recommendations for Taibah University regarding faculty adoption of BL in teaching were presented. The recommendations for future studies focused on Science faculty Level of Use and technology use in Saudi universities.

Published Article / The purpose of this paper is to provide a discussion of the educational potential of a blended approach to teaching and learning in the context of the challenges related to mastering basic concepts in mathematics at higher education level. Based on the results of the application of blended learning and teaching for two consecutive semesters at a university of technology, their potential to support meaningful learning of undergraduate mathematics is discussed. The use of clickers, minute and muddiest point papers and board work as educational tools with incomplete sentences as evaluative tool, are discussed. The conclusion is that a blended approach to teaching and learning has many benefits when applied appropriately for a particular context. The lecturer's attitude remains vital for successful implementation of technology-enhanced strategies.

The concept of flipped learning has received significant attention in recent years. In a flipped learning methodology, students view instructional videos and complete related assignments before class, so that face-to-face time with the instructor can be spent applying the knowledge and skills they were introduced to in the pre-class assignments. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of a flipped learning method for teaching information literacy (IL) skills to undergraduate students compared to a traditional teaching method where the majority of face-to-face time is spent instructing. To evaluate this, a mixed methods research design was used, where results from qualitative interviews helped explain findings from test data, assignment completion data, and major paper rubric data. The IL tests resulted in a small but insignificant test score improvement for flipped participants. Interviewed flipped participants reported mainly positive feelings toward flipped learning, whereas all flipped ESL interviewees related strong positive feedback towards flipped learning. / Graduate / 0515 / 0727 / 0710 / rmccue@uvic.ca

Sammanfattning Detta arbete undersöker om det är möjligt att tillämpa blended learning i sångundervisningen när man undervisar sångelever i andning. Examensarbetet utfördes i mellersta Sverige. Blended learning har som grundpelare att man använder sig av klassrumsundervisning kombinerat med kunskapssökande på internet för att erhålla fler kunskapskällor. Detta får till följd att eleverna har en större möjlighet att äga sin egen läroprocess och utveckla ett kritiskt tänkande. Det förändrar också lärarens roll från auktoritär ledare till rådgivare. I detta arbete har jag intervjuat sånglärare efter att dom gett sina elever i uppgift att lära sig mer om andning genom att titta på instruktionsvideor på youtube som handlar om andning för sång. Resultatet blev positivt då lärarna uppskattade och såg fördelar med metoden. / Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility to utilize the concept of blended learning when teaching singing-students in basic breathing for singers. The study was performed in central Sweden. Blended learning is based on blending face to face learning experiences and online learning experiences. This method enhances the pupils’ possibility to master their own learning process and it encourages critical thinking. Blended learning also changes the role of the teacher from being sole     supplier of knowledge to being a resource and a reference for the pupil. In this study I interviewed singing teachers after their students had watched instructional Youtube videos focused on breathing for singers. The teachers appreciated the effects this had on the pupils and stated that they were positive to the usage of this method in the future.

Actualmente la incorporación de las tecnologías de la información y comunicación (TIC) en los programas educativos ha cobrado especial relevancia, bajo el supuesto de que estas herramientas pueden promover una mejor calidad educativa y facilitar el aprendizaje, además de contribuir a reducir la brecha digital. Con la presente tesis se logró demostrar cual es nivel de comunicación que tienen los niños antes y después de aplicar el sistema tutorial multimedia. Asimismo se presenta un marco teórico e investigaciones anteriores en los que se basó la innovación que propone esta investigación para sistemas de aprendizaje. A continuación se detalla la metodología de Brian Blum propuesta para el desarrollo del sistema tutorial multimedia abarcando el análisis, diseño educativo e interactivo, desarrollo, producción y pruebas del sistema. Esta metodología permitió el desarrollo de un sistema más interactivo y entretenido para los niños; así como una herramienta esencial para el docente al momento de impartir sus clases. Finalmente se concluye que el sistema tutorial multimedia basado en tecnología b-learning, es un sistema de aprendizaje que en relación a las estrategias de enseñanza tradicional contribuyó a mejorar el proceso de comunicación de los niños especiales del Colegio de Educación Especial Nº2 Niño Jesús de Praga. / Tesis

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Grain Science and Industry / Sajid Alavi / The feasibility of using a wheat flour mill to refine corn, sorghum and cowpea was studied. Milling of white sorghum grain resulted in decrease in fiber content from 1.89% to 0.38% and 0.45% in raw, finely milled and coarsely milled sorghum respectively. Similarly, there was a reduction in fat (3.17% to 1.75% and 0.51%) content from raw to fine and coarse milled fractions. Starch content increased from 61.85% in raw to 69.80% in fine and 72.30% in coarse fractions. Protein content was almost unchanged at about 7.40% in all the fractions. In de-hulling and milling of cowpeas, starch and protein content increased whereas fiber, fat and ash content decreased. There was a significant difference in expansion characteristics between whole and decorticated binary blends on account of different levels of inherent starch content. Sorghum cowpea (SC) blends had the highest specific mechanical energy (SME) range (285.74 – 361.52 kJ/kg), followed by corn soy (CS) (138.73 – 370.99 kJ/kg) and the least SME was found in sorghum soy (SS) blends (66.56 – 332.93 kJ/kg). SME was found to be positively correlated to starch content in the blends. SC blends had the most stable process followed by SSB and CSB in that order. The milling of expanded extrudates was found to be dependent on bulk density and low bulk density extrudates had bigger particle size and vice-versa. The water absorption index (WAI) for SC was 4.17 g/g to 5.97 g/g, SS ranged from 2.85 g/g to 5.91 g/g and CS ranged from 2.63 g/g to 5.40 g/g. Starch gelatinization ranged from 85.42 – 98.83% for SC, 90.70 – 96.27% for SS, and 72.57 – 95.49% for CS. The starch digestibility increased after extrusion and cooking but there was no significant change in protein digestibility. There was a significant reduction in anti-nutritional factors – phytic acid (26.06 – 44.03%), tannins (18.69 – 26.67%) and trypsin inhibitor (16.55 – 50.85%) after extrusion. Thus, the study showed that high protein blends with superior nutrition density needed for preparation of FBFs could be produced by using existing/traditional milling capabilities and extrusion process.