Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2005. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-04, Section: A, page: 1328. Adviser: Theodore W. Frick. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Nov. 13, 2006)."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 5, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-08, Section: A, page: 2947. Adviser: Thomas A. Brush.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2006. / "Title from dissertation home page (viewed July 10, 2007)." Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-08, Section: A, page: 2946. Adviser: Barbara A. Bichelmeyer.

Many wake-up calls have been received for emergency response, due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, fires or man-made incidents, for example: oil and chemical spills, city bombings, and the terrorist attacks of 9-11. The emergency responders need to work in a coordinated, well-planned manner to best mitigate the impact of an emergency incident. Simulation systems as valuable tools provide a wider range of training at a much lower expense for emergency preparedness and response, and can be used for vulnerability assessment, organizing, educating and decision support. This is identified as the only feasible approach when it is difficult to emulate real-life experiences. This thesis presents an emergency evacuation training simulation, taking the demonstrative example of the SITE building of the University of Ottawa. The objective of the research is to design a multi-user distributed simulator to conduct the safety training in the scenarios of emergent evacuation. The real-time interaction and collaboration, in the simulation, among the users are achieved over HLA/RTI, the IEEE standard for distributed simulation and modeling.

In chapter 1, we consider the biases that may arise when an unmeasured confounder is omitted from a structural equation model (SEM) and sensitivity analysis techniques to correct for such biases. We give an analysis of which effects in an SEM are and are not biased by an unmeasured confounder. It is shown that a single unmeasured confounder will bias not just one but numerous effects in an SEM. We present sensitivity analysis techniques to correct for biases in total, direct, and indirect effects when using SEM analyses, and illustrate these techniques with a study of aging and cognitive function. In chapter 2, we consider longitudinal mediation with latent growth curves. We define the direct and indirect effects using counterfactuals and consider the assumptions needed for identifiability of those effects. We develop models with a binary treatment/exposure followed by a model where treatment/exposure changes with time allowing for treatment/exposure-mediator interaction. We thus formalize mediation analysis with latent growth curve models using counterfactuals, makes clear the assumptions and extends these methods to allow for exposure mediator interactions. We present and illustrate the techniques with a study on Multiple Sclerosis(MS) and depression. In chapter 3, we report on a pilot study in blended learning that took place during the Fall 2013 and Summer 2014 semesters here at Harvard. We blended the traditional BIO 200: Principles of Biostatistics and created ID 200: Principles of Biostatistics and epidemiology. We used materials from the edX course PH207x: Health in Numbers: Quantitative Methods in Clinical \& Public Health Research and used. These materials were used as a video textbook in which students would watch a given number of these videos prior to class. Using surveys as well as exam data we informally assess these blended classes from the student's perspective as well as a comparison of these students with students in another course, BIO 201: Introduction to Statistical Methods in Fall 2013 as well as students from BIO 200 in Fall semesters of 1992 and 1993. We then suggest improvements upon our original course designs and follow up with an informal look at how these implemented changes affected the second offering of the newly blended ID 200 in Summer 2014. / Biostatistics

In this study, by exploring patterns in the degree of physical salience of the data the students collected, I investigated the relationship between the level of students’ tendency to frame explanations in terms of complex patterns and evidence of how they attend to and select data in support of their developing understandings of causal relationships. I accomplished this by analyzing longitudinal data collected as part of a larger study of 143 7th grade students (clustered within 36 teams, 5 teachers, and 2 schools in the same Northeastern school district) as they navigated and collected data in an ecosystems-based multi-user virtual environment curriculum known as the EcoMUVE Pond module (Metcalf, Kamarainen, Tutwiler, Grotzer, Dede, 2011) . Using individual growth modeling (Singer & Willett, 2003) I found no direct link between student pre-intervention tendency to offer explanations containing complex causal components and patterns of physical salience-driven data collection (average physical salience level, number of low physical salience data points collected, and proportion of low physical salience data points collected), though prior science content knowledge did affect the initial status and rate of change of outcomes in the average physical salience level and proportion of low physical salience data collected over time. The findings of this study suggest two issues for consideration about the use of MUVEs to study student data collection behaviors in complex spaces. Firstly, the structure of the curriculum in which the MUVE is embedded might have a direct effect on what types of data students choose to collect. This undercuts our ability to make inferences about student-driven decisions to collect specific types of data, and suggests that a more open-ended curricular model might be better suited to this type of inquiry. Secondly, differences between teachers’ choices in how to facilitate the units likely contribute to the variance in student data collection behaviors between students with different teachers. This foreshadows external validity issues in studies that use behaviors of students within a single class to develop “detectors” of student latent traits (e.g., Baker, Corbett, Roll, Koedinger, 2008).

Between 2011 and 2014, investment funding for education technology companies increased by an average of 40% per year (Catalano, 2015). With an expanding footprint and funding stream, education technology companies have access to more students, teachers, and resources than ever before. As a result, they have an unprecedented opportunity to impact education in the United States. In my Ed.L.D. residency, I served as Educator Engagement Director at Panorama Education, a mission-driven for-profit startup. Panorama helps schools collect and analyze feedback from students, staff, and family members and currently serves over 6,000 schools and reaches over 1.5 million students annually. As a vendor serving school systems, the vast majority of Panorama’s users are teachers. In most cases, purchasing lies in the hands of administrators; teachers do not have agency in the buying process within their school systems. Thus, Panorama cannot necessarily rely on market success to validate the value created for teachers. As Educator Engagement Director, I led a strategic effort to use product development as a channel to create value for teachers while increasing appeal to system administrators. The crux of my work was the development of a new professional development product for teachers, called Playbook. The product, which I first proposed early in my residency, is now in pilot testing with several districts, including a large urban district in the Southwest. In this capstone, I present how I led and worked with a team of software developers, designers, and marketers to combine startup, lean, and non-profit business methodologies to develop a product that created value for teachers. The project’s initial success, as demonstrated through teacher feedback and a successful pilot test, suggests the value of distinguishing between purchasers and users and pursuing user-defined value in education technology companies with a dual bottom line of generating profits and improving American education.

Abstract not available.

La technologie évolue sans cesse et de nouveaux moyens technologiques maintenant accessibles en classe soulèvent du même coup de nouveaux enjeux pédagogiques. Cette recherche qualitative visait à étudier comment l'utilisation d'un environnement informatisé permettant l'analyse de vidéos numériques affecte l'apprentissage chez des élèves de 10e année dans un contexte d'apprentissage mathématique lié aux fonctions quadratiques. En dyade, les élèves ont eu à résoudre divers problèmes, faisant appel ou non à la vidéo numérique, en lien avec des situations décrivant un mouvement. Parmi les tendances qui semblent se dégager en ce qui concerne l'analyse de telles situations à partir de vidéos numériques, on remarque la mise en place d'une résolution de problèmes dynamique à l'intérieur de laquelle se présente naturellement plusieurs possibilités de clarification de concepts rattachés aux mathématiques ainsi qu'au domaine de la cinématique en physique.

Au sein des institutions d'enseignement, l'avènement des dispositifs techniques mobiles a donné naissance à un tout nouveau phénomène connu sous le néologisme mobile-learning. Bien que cette toute dernière itération du e-learning demeure une pratique encore peu répandue, elle se doit d'être examinée vu l'important potentiel qu'elle représente dans le contexte numérique actuel qui justifie un examen approfondi des tenants et aboutissants qui la sous-tendent. Considérant l'importance des transformations susceptibles d'affecter la pratique pédagogique dans les années à venir, cette thèse a pour objectif d'évaluer le potentiel réel de la mobilité en éducation par rapport aux dispositifs technologiques actuellement en présence dans les institutions scolaires canadiennes. L'analyse critique des recherches effectuées auprès des argumentaires présents dans la littérature et sur le terrain de 2002 à aujourd'hui, démontre que la réussite de cette promesse d'apprentissage connecte 24/7, bien que hautement probable, demeure néanmoins embryonnaire en raison de la fragilité de nombreux facteurs associés aux dimensions techniques, sociales et économiques.