The problem in this study is to find what the graduates of Sandcreek Township High School, in Decatur County, Indiana, did vocationally after they graduated; whether they followed their vocational choices in high school; how well they felt the school curriculum met their needs; and which particular qualities they felt were most important in their teachers.

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This study investigated the relationship between the proportion of coursework students complete in an online format absent traditional classroom interaction and their expected score on a standardized, content-driven achievement test, holding constant other factors expected to influence test scores, including demographic variables, major, and prior academic performance. The study's sample involved 817 undergraduate business majors at a small, specialized, private, not-for-profit U.S. institution of higher education and their performance on Educational Testing Service's Major Field Test in Business (MFT-B). Students in the sample chose course-by-course to take either a hybrid format that involved regular classroom meetings supplemented by online learning or an entirely asynchronous online course involving no face-to-face interaction. Learning outcomes, syllabi, assessments, duration and the pool of instructors were the same in both formats. This investigation was motivated by the changing role of distance education in higher education and the increasing fungibility of credits earned at a distance and those earned in a traditional, classroom-based context. The use of the MFT-B was motivated by the growing emphasis on student learning outcomes assessment and mounting demands for "accountability" in higher education. An ordinary least squares regression modeling MFT-B score as a function of proportion of credits completed at a distance, GPA, major, transfer credits, completion time, age, gender and ethnicity found proportion of study at a distance to have a strongly significant (p<.001), positive impact on expected MFT-B score. A logistic regression of likelihood of graduation as a function of those same variables found a strongly significant (p<.001) negative impact of study at a distance on retention to graduation. / Educational Administration

There has been an increasing growth in the use of technology resources in traditional classroom styled higher education courses. This growth has received with both optimism and criticism. One of the issues critics have posed is that the use of technology resources does little, if anything, to improve student learning. As a result, this research examined if the use of technology contributes to student learning outcomes and student engagement activities, above and beyond student demographic variables. Specifically, this study investigated if the use of computer mediated conferencing (CMC) tools (i.e., email and electronic discussion boards) and computer aided instructional (CAI) resources (i.e., use of the computer and the Internet) contribute to student learning. Included in the sample were 2000 college students, which were randomly drawn from the 2003 College Student Experience Questionnaire database. The survey included 53 Likert scale items with reliability ranges from .78 to .88 on each of the composite scales. For the data analysis, eight multiple regressions were conducted on student learning outcomes and student learning engagement. Student learning outcomes included four composite scales, measuring students' personal and social development, general education gains, intellectual development, science and technology gains, and vocational preparation. The student engagement scale was comprised of three composite scales, which included faculty interactions, social, political and scientific discussions, and diversity and social interactions. The findings revealed that the use of technology resources does contribute to student learning, above and beyond student's background variables. The model inclusive of technology variables explained 4% to 7% of the gains in student learning, while student background variables contributed .03% to 2% of the gains. The findings suggest incorporating the use of technology can aid students in the learning process, though the effect size was fairly modest in most cases. The use of computer mediated conferencing and computer assisted learning tools should be used in combination with traditional classroom instructions to have the best effects. / Ph. D.

Transportation engineering is a wide area that covers different topics including traffic planning, highway design, pavement design, traffic safety, and traffic control. Certain concepts in those topics are challenging and are hard to understand based on textbooks and lectures. In this work, we developed five web games targeting the five topics in transportation engineering education to improve students’ understanding of those hard concepts. The games are hosted in a website server. Students can play these games online after register and login. The server stores the users’ information and their gameplay data. We conducted a Before-and-After study to test the effectiveness of the games in terms of improving the learning outcomes of the students. The results showed that the games could increase the students’ understanding of hard concepts significantly. The developed games can be used in transportation education. This game framework can serve as a reference for other education game developers. We envision that more educational games will be developed by transportation and education communities in the recent future. There will be more than one game for the same topic. We need an approach to select games for different students group. We proposed a gravity model for evaluating the engagement of the students for the educational games. We found that different games have different properties in terms of attracting students’ engagement. The proposed model can be used in the future for selecting educational games for specific students group. / Master of Science / This thesis presents the effort of making computer games for education purpose. I developed five games corresponding to the five areas in transportation engineering courses. The objective of this work is to let the students understand the hard concepts in transportation engineering by playing the developed games. The students can play the games online, and their gameplay data will be recorded as they play. The effectiveness of this work was tested using before-and-after quizzes. We designed a set of quizzes that are within transportation engineering and can be solved using the knowledge learned in the games. We asked the students to do the quizzes and, without any feedback, do the same quizzes again after playing the games. The result showed that their scores improved in general, which means their understanding of transportation engineering was improved. Using the data collected from the gameplay, quizzes, and the students’ course scores, I proposed a gravity model that describes how students were engaged in the games. I found that different games could attract different students.

No / This study investigates an inclusive curriculum design based on student-centred approach. This proposed design approach has been applied to Open Channel Hydraulics module (CSE6008-A) at School of Engineering, University of Bradford, United Kingdom. This paper will introduce in step-by-step manner the full curriculum design and how the student-centred approach is being adapted in each step of the design. The required criteria will be designed based on learning outcomes design, curriculum organization, assessment strategies and student achievement evaluation. Besides, a key discussion will also be allocated for the inclusive practice that allows the vastly diverse student group to benefit from this approach, and a separate section will also be utilized to fully discuss this inclusive approach in the proposed curriculum design. This paper proposes a useful student-centred curriculum design concept, which is adaptable for different engineering modules.

Professional preparation is important for individuals in any profession, as well as the profession itself. It is one of the hallmarks of any profession. Many sets of standards for the curriculum of student affairs preparation programs have been promoted throughout the years. Most recently the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) published a set of standards that outline areas of competency for student affairs professionals. The purpose of this study was to measure the degree to which recent graduates of student affairs preparation programs reported learning about the important foundational elements of the profession. I examined learning based on standards for student affairs preparation programs defined by CAS and compared amounts of reported learning from alumni based on the programs' adherence to the CAS standards (compliant v. non-compliant). To that end, I administered a 67 item questionnaire to recent graduates from student affairs preparation programs. The findings of the present study reveal that a majority of alumni from student affairs preparation programs report having a clear understanding of 57 of 60 identified foundational learning outcomes. Additionally, there was no statistically significant difference between reported learning of alumni from CAS compliant and non-compliant programs based on these foundational learning outcomes on 58 of the 60 items. Data suggest that alumni from CAS compliant programs are more likely to feel confidence in their preparation in 48 of the 60 outcomes presented in the survey. Additionally, the results indicated that alumni from non-compliant programs were more likely to report higher levels of learning based on involvement theory and understanding the level of data a variable in quantitative analysis. / Master of Arts