Education and academic related services have become as important as manufacturing and, in some cases, even more important. Considering the importance of these services as it relates to manufacturing, a problem exists. Products such as education and academic services are far less specific in value when comparing with manufactured goods, even though their quality depends on resources which can be measured, such as funding. At the same time, we must be able to quantify them and compare their values with predetermined expected levels for each area of expertise, as well as with each other. The quality of the services provided, specifically academic services, is an intangible concept that can be assessed through various methods. This research study applies the Academic Services Experience Survey, a modified version of SERVQUAL, to solve a complex and multifaceted problem of assessing and improving the quality of academic services in higher education institutions.

This phenomenological study explored and described the lived experiences of high school biology teachers from a school district in one of the states in the USA concerning the use of online platforms in online biology teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study interviewed teachers to evaluate the teacher experiences, challenges, and opportunities that online platforms presented in biology instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also analyzed students' perspectives based on the teachers' responses and district data obtained from the student engagement survey administered to all high school students at the school district every year. The findings of the study indicate that students experienced issues such as lack of engagement, unsuitable home environment to support learning, and poor attendance due to minimal monitoring when learning shifted to fully online. Teacher-related factors included inadequate preparedness to use technology to enhance teaching, limited content delivery, and increased teacher collaboration. In conclusion, the study recommends that school districts sufficiently prepare teachers to improve adaptability to different teaching and learning models, emphasizing the use of diverse educational technologies. Future studies should conduct quantitative or mixed studies to establish the extent and degree to which such factors as poor learner engagement contributed to less than satisfactory outcomes in summative and formative assessments.

In today's schools, the ability to integrate technology into the teaching and learning environment is a necessary and crucial skill. Many K-12 classroom environments are technology-rich, with 1:1 devices, blended learning, and even distance instruction taking place. However, new teachers often enter the classroom unprepared to successfully utilize educational technology and navigate the technology-rich classroom environment. This research study examined the preparation of preservice teachers to teach with technology in today's classrooms, and explored the gap between the preparation teachers received in their teacher education program and what they needed to be able to be successful as classroom teachers. The primary goal was to explain how teachers are currently being prepared to teach with educational technology and compare that preparation to the skills they found they needed when they began teaching. This study was an exploratory qualitative study that employed survey and interview research approaches to establish a baseline of how technology skills are being addressed in educator preparation programs and how new teachers are utilizing technology in their classrooms. The survey questions consisted of structured and open-ended questions, and the interviews were semi-structured interviews. Results of this research study provide information for future research in the area of teacher education related to technology, can help teacher education programs improve how they prepare preservice teachers, and can help schools better meet the needs of their new teachers.

Collaborative writing technologies such as Google Docs is believed to be a helpful tool in supporting the development of constructivist learning environments. However, not much research has been done among special populations outside the United States. This dissertation examines how using google docs can enhance collaborative learning among non-native English-speaking students at a university in Oman. A total of 52 students participated in this study, where they completed a collaborative writing activity using Google Docs. This exploratory study yielded quantitative as well as qualitative data. Interviewees shared their experience of using Google Docs for the collaborative writing activity. The research shows that Google Docs promoted collaborative interactions among students, such as learning from each other and communicating with the teacher. Interestingly, the data indicate that students used alternate social media such as WhatsApp to communicate with their group mates regarding the collaborative writing activity. Overall, the results obtained here confirm that the Google Docs can be used to enhance collaborative learning among non-native English-speaking students.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Rosemary S. Talab / The goal of this exploratory case study was to answer two questions: 1. How does an exemplary on-campus undergraduate large Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course encompass the PBL learning model characteristics, specifically focusing on the following: 1.1) Driving question, 1.2) Student construction of an artifact, 1.3) Teachers’ role, and 1.4) Assessment? 2. How is technology used by the professor, teacher assistants, and students to support project-based learning? To answer these questions, the researcher studied a large Introduction to Cultural Anthropology class, which consisted of the professor, ten teaching assistants (TAs), and 400 students. The students were divided into 20 recitation sections, with 20 students in each section. Each TA was assigned two recitation sections. Observations were conducted on twice-weekly Professor’s lectures and three once-weekly recitation sessions. Additionally, interviews and follow-up interviews were conducted of the professor, three teaching assistants (TA), and nine students. Finally, documents analyzed included the professor’s course materials and course management documents. With respect to Research Question 1, “How does an exemplary on-campus undergraduate large Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course encompass the PBL learning model characteristics, specifically focusing on the following: 1.1) Driving question, 1.2) Student construction of an artifact, 1.3) Teachers’ role, and 1.4) Assessment?”, research findings indicated that all four elements of the PBL model were present in this class and were executed well. Research Question 2, “How is technology used to support PBL,” findings indicated that advanced technologies were used by the professor for course purposes. These technologies included Wetpaint (the wiki course management system) and Facebook. More conventional technologies, such as e-mail, were also used for this purpose. Though students were hesitant to use course technology in the beginning. However, with the help of the professor and TA’s, the students learned to use the course technology and grew to enjoy it. Two additional themes emerged through open coding: Emotional Involvement and Non-Participation. First, the TA’s and students developed emotional ties to the cultures that they created in their recitation sections. Second, some students did not participate in either the lecture or the recitation sessions. The TAs took non-participation seriously, both in terms of class participation, individually, and in terms of student responsibilities to the group recitation session in culture construction.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Melinda S. Markham and Karen S. Myers-Bowman / The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the phenomenon of social networking sites (SNSs) and its impact on practicing human service professionals. In this exploratory study, 33 interviews, comprised of family life educators and social workers, were conducted in order to gain the perspective of how SNSs were being used in practice. A phenomenological approach was used to get at the lived experiences of these professionals. In addition, a Johari Window lens provided a way to understand the level of transparency professionals had when interacting with the digital culture. Themes found described how SNSs were being utilized in practice. These centered on benefits to the agency, clientele, and to the professional. The changing technological climate was shown to be impacting the delivery of services, yet professionals were underutilizing SNSs in practice. Regardless if the professional was on or offline, being recognized as a professional was extremely important. As a result, professionals were cognizant of potential consequences of using SNSs for professional and personal use. This awareness not only led professionals to want to safeguard their privacy, but also provided an opportunity for these professionals to develop guidelines for ethical digital behavior. Implications for research include exploring how a person’s digital status should be defined, if at all, how do privacy and ‘connecting’ influence each other, and what is the impact of viewing others’ posts on the ego strength of the person. The biggest implication for practice was the need for specific policies designed around professional digital behavior. In the absence of specific guidelines, professionals established their own set of rules to guide their practice. However, as more agencies and professions begin to see the need for and develop policies for SNS use, professionals will need to assimilate these new guidelines into their practice.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Marjorie R. Hancock / The purpose of this study was to explore participants' (teachers, students, administrators, and parents) experiences and perceptions regarding the perceived impact a rural high school's one-to-one laptop initiative had on content area literacy, new literacy's, and critical literacy. Through a case study, data were collected through multiple sources and viewpoints to obtain an in-depth perspective of how this rural high school's one-to-one laptop initiative had perceivably impacted teacher's instruction to enhance student learning. Data were collected and analyzed through a blending of direct interpretation and categorical analysis, presenting the following findings. The one-to-one laptop initiative's technology was utilized: (a) by student participants for academic purposes, personal efficiency, and recreational purposes, (b) by teacher participants for educational purposes, and (c) within content area instruction. Resulting from the access to laptop technology, this study documented the purposes of finding information for assignments, facilitating "just in time" learning, and stimulating schema about curricular content. Content area literacy instruction was perceivably effected because of the multiple textual formats the technology provided, and instructional occurrences were documented as developing vocabulary and fostering either content comprehension or reading comprehension. The new literacy's and how they were implemented within the mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies classrooms were discussed. The role of critical literacy was presented in relation to students' sense of agency, and the power dynamic within various content area classes. The majority of participants were documented having a positive perception regarding the one-to-one laptop initiative. Although integration of technology was occurring, there were opportunities lacking that could further develop teachers' instruction to enhance student learning. When considering professional development within schools implementing a one-to-one technology initiative, administrative teams should: (a) consider what will be requisite versus elective technology integration tasks, and (b) ensure professional support is provided to teachers regarding integrating technology within their pedagogical practices. Additionally, teachers should instructionally integrate the technology tools and literacy's that students currently employ. Pedagogically, this study implies that teachers must expand their comfort zones regarding content area literacy, new literacy's, and critical literacy.

Master of Arts / Department of Modern Languages / Douglas K. Benson / This thesis answers the questions: How should the terms interaction, individualization, and personalization be applied to Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL) software? What progress has been made in their implementation? How can CALL software developers better incorporate them in the future? For each of the three terms, I explain how it is applicable to the CALL software environment by defining it, describing the pedagogical research supporting it, and then giving general guidelines for incorporating it into a CALL software program. I measure the progress of the implementation of the three terms in CALL software through compiling and analyzing data from reviews of 44 software titles. The publication dates of the software titles are from 1981 to 2008. I propose through description and a proof-of-concept software program ways to improve the incorporation of the terms in question into CALL software. As a result of answering the three questions, this thesis shows that the current accepted definitions and ways of implementing interaction, individualization, and personalization need to be improved in order to comply with pedagogical research and make full use of current technology. The general guidelines given in the explanation of each term relative to CALL and the attributes under each term in the analysis of the compilation data provide examples of areas on which to focus development. Additionally, I specifically comment on pedagogically supported attributes within each term that have a weak representation in the software compilation and therefore need more development. In addition, this thesis is accompanied by “Mis vacaciones”, a proof-of-concept software program, which demonstrates ways to improve the incorporation of interaction, individualization, and personalization into CALL software. In “Mis vacaciones”, the learner takes a virtual trip to Nuevo Leon, Nicaragua. The multimedia sent to the learner by a previous traveler shows Nicaraguan city people and the La Gigatona festival. After visiting, the learner is asked to describe the Nicaraguans that they saw. If the learner needs help, Structured Input activities lead the learner to develop the third person singular imperfect form. Buttons in the software environment provide access to internet sources. The learner is able to draw and take photos to create a visual prop to aid in the description task.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Lawrence C. Scharmann / Bradley A. Shaw / Spanish instructors are not neo-phobic of instructional technology (IT), and they will affirm they are not afraid of IT just to avoid being labeled as ‘living dinosaurs.’ Most of them just do not have the know-how to explore and use IT in-depth. Regardless, they are more familiar with the diverse IT world available. In this study the main factors influencing Spanish language educators to use IT (or not) in their Second Language Acquisition (SLA) teaching methodology were discussed. Data from Spanish instructors in eight Kansas universities was analyzed to understand their perceptions and attitudes regarding the use of IT in their classrooms. Mixed methodologies were used: A quantitative survey targeting 80 instructors from the Modern Language Departments was developed. The survey had one section on demographic information and a second with 43 items dealing with perceptions related to IT. Afterwards, a case study with four in-depth interviews was conducted to elucidate richer descriptions and potentially corroborate patterns identified from the survey data. Data analysis revealed that most Spanish instructors have positive perceptions and attitudes towards IT. From the survey, nine themes emerged. Six of them formed a super-ordinate category showing that instructors consider IT useful for teaching culture in the target language, and in facilitating general knowledge. In this super-ordinate category, the six emergent themes are considered subordinate themes. The other three emergent themes formed another super-ordinate category with three subordinate themes: faculty require more time, training and technical resources to be able to integrate IT in their teaching. The four interviews explored what perceptions (or characteristics) stand out among faculty along a continuum of non-users to users with respect to the integration of IT; this allowed the researcher to confirm the instructors’ perceptions and attitudes on the nine emerging themes. Spanish instructors would integrate more modern tools in their teaching if they had more opportunities and support to be better informed; received appropriate training in their specific field; and were advised of available technology. As the findings showed, educators are no longer afraid of technology. Finally, conclusions of the findings were offered as well as recommendations for future research.

Le but du présent projet de thèse est d’étudier le lien entre les habitudes à l’endroit des technologies de l’information et de la communication (TIC) et la motivation à apprendre. Bien que l’utilisation de l’ordinateur en contexte scolaire ait été étudiée en profondeur au cours des dernières années, la majorité des études présentent la même perspective : elles examinent l’effet de l’utilisation des technologies à l’école sur le rendement et la motivation scolaire des élèves. Cependant, on connaît mal l’effet de l’utilisation des technologies à des fins personnelles sur le vécu scolaire. Il apparait que les élèves n’ont pas tous les mêmes opportunités en ce qui a trait à l’utilisation des TIC et n’acquièrent donc pas tous les mêmes compétences dans ce domaine. Quelques recherches se sont intéressées aux effets de l’ordinateur (sa présence et son utilisation à la maison) sur le rendement à l’école. Bien qu’en majorité, les auteurs s’entendent sur les bénéfices que pourrait générer l’ordinateur, ils restent prudents sur les rapports de cause à effet (Beltran, Das et Fairlie, 2008; OCDE, 2006). Nous avons voulu aborder la question différemment : déterminer les possibles liens entre les habitudes d’utilisation de l’ordinateur à des fins personnelles et la motivation à apprendre à l’école. À cet égard, la motivation pour les sciences a été retenue puisque cette matière scolaire fait souvent appel à des compétences associées à l’utilisation des TIC. Pour répondre à nos objectifs, 331 élèves du cours ordinaire de sciences et technologie au premier cycle du secondaire ont remplis un questionnaire autorapporté, composé de sept échelles motivationnelles et d’un questionnaire lié à l’utilisation des TIC. Nous avons d’abord dégagé des profils d’utilisateurs à partir des différentes utilisations de l’ordinateur. Ensuite, nous avons examiné ces profils en lien avec leurs caractéristiques motivationnelles (le sentiment de compétence, l’anxiété, l’intérêt et les buts d’accomplissement) et l’engagement pour le cours de sciences. Finalement, nous avons déterminé la valeur prédictive de l’utilisation de l’ordinateur sur les variables motivationnelles retenues. Nos résultats montrent que l’utilisation personnelle des TIC ne se fait pas nécessairement au détriment de l’école. Nous avons trouvé que les élèves qui utilisent davantage les TIC dans leurs temps libres, et ce, avec des utilisations diversifiées, ont des caractéristiques motivationnelles plus positives. Toutefois, nous constatons que le type d’usage est lié à un effet médiateur positif ou négatif sur la motivation à apprendre. Les élèves qui limitent leurs utilisations de l’ordinateur à la communication et aux jeux ont des caractéristiques motivationnelles plus négatives que ceux avec des utilisations variées. Les usages centrés sur la communication semblent être ceux qui sont le plus susceptibles d’être liés négativement à la motivation à apprendre alors que ceux orientés vers les usages à caractère intellectuel s’avèrent plus positifs. Les résultats suggèrent que la clé ne réside pas dans le temps d'utilisation mais plutôt dans l'utilisation judicieuse de ce temps. En favorisant des usages à caractère intellectuel, tout en laissant des temps libres aux jeunes, nous augmentons leurs chances de développer de bonnes habitudes technologiques qui seront essentielles dans la société de demain. / This thesis’ subject was to study the relationship between the personal uses of computers and motivational attitudes in science. Even though computer uses in educational context have been extensively studied in recent years, the bulk of the research was focused on describing the impact of computer activities and utilizations at school on achievement and motivation in different subject matter. However, little is known about the impact of personal uses of computer on school experience. Moreover, despite an increase of households with computers, not every child has the same opportunity to use them. These children do not develop their computer literacy outside school, and this phenomenon could have an effect on academic related tasks. Some studies have focused on the effect of computers (their presence and use) on academic performance. Although they are unanimous about the positive impact of computers, researchers remain cautious in their conclusions (Beltran et al., 2008; OCDE, 2006). They stress that a direct cause to effect relation is not easy to establish. Moreover, those studies mainly examined school achievement. We wanted to address the issue differently: to determine the relation between personal computer uses and motivation at school. For this purpose, motivation in sciences was chosen. This subject matter often requires skills associated with ICT and computers. To do so, 331 students from public high schools in the Montreal area, in the regular sciences classes in 7th and 8th grade were selected. They completed a questionnaire composed of 7 motivational scales and several ICT usages questions. To meet our objectives, we established ICT profiles, based on personal uses of computer. With those profiles, we examined differences within motivational characteristics (competence beliefs, anxiety, interest and achievement goals) and commitment for the sciences courses. Our results show that time spent on personal computer use does not necessarily have a negative impact on school. We found that students who frequently use computers in their spare time, with a variety of usage, have more positive motivational characteristics. However, by delving deeper in our results, we found that the type of uses could be linked to positive or negative inducing effects on the motivation to learn. Indeed, students who use computers mostly for communication and playing games have less motivation that student with more various usages. Moreover, communication uses seem to be the most problematic type of usage while uses with intellectual nature have a more positive effect. Our study found that having a computer at home is not a synonym of frequent usage by young people. Our results suggest that the key to motivational success is the use made of the time spent in front of the computer not only the time spent. By encouraging uses of intellectual nature, we increase chances of developing positive technological habits that will be essential in tomorrow’s society.