<p> The purpose of this research project was to improve the practice of using online lectures at a small private university. Using action research methodology, the researcher worked with a group of five university instructors to refine the use of online lectures through design and pedagogical practice. Beginning with a template or guide based on the literature, the instructors developed online lectures connected with a student activity. Following the principles of the TPACK framework, instructors were urged to develop student activities that worked best for their specific content as well as their desired student outcomes. Two cycles of implementation, analysis, and modification were used to refine the template and the student activities.</p><p> Data were gathered from the students who viewed the online lectures and from the faculty through focus group meetings after each cycle. Analysis of both the students&rsquo; experience and the instructors&rsquo; experience led to minor changes in the template but more significant changes to the associated student activities.</p><p> Findings suggest that the effective use of online lectures depends largely on the student activity included with the lecture; in other words, pedagogy is at least as important as design. Other factors, such as practice and experience with developing online lectures are needed to develop the instructors&rsquo; expertise with both technical issues as well as pedagogical issues. Although the online lecture template and suggested activities list were honed to a degree of effectiveness, it will take an ongoing process of analysis and modification to keep this tool relevant in the coming years.</p>

<p> The student affairs profession is at a crossroads (Torres &amp; Walbert, 2010) given digital technology&rsquo;s growth and the academy&rsquo;s administrative expansion (Bowen, 2013). Student affairs administrators must simultaneously respond to digital technology&rsquo;s implications in students&rsquo; lives (Kirschner &amp; Karpinski, 2010) and to new state and federal compliance mandates connected to their expanding campus roles (Dungy &amp; Gordon, 2010). Student affairs leaders acknowledge that these competing priorities demand more nimble responses (Manning, Kinzie, &amp; Schuh, 2013; McClennan &amp; Stringer, 2009). Significant research (Barr, McClennan, &amp; Sandeen, 2014; Elkins, 2015; Dungy &amp; Gordon, 2010; Junco, 2014; Kuk, 2012; Torres &amp; Walbert, 2010) highlights that student affairs administrator&lsquo;s digital technology use can augment traditional in-person co-curricular student experiences; yet, minimal research exists on how student affairs administrators utilize digital technology. </p><p> This qualitative, historical, interpretive study analyzed student affairs administrators&rsquo; digital technology use from 2005 to 2015. Three research questions and three sub-questions framed the research design, which utilized three data sources. The researcher conducted (N=16) interviews with student affairs professionals and educators. Elite interviews (N=5) were conducted with some of the earlier student affairs digital technology adopters, while (N=11) key informant interviews were conducted with administrators who started their professional careers in 2005. (N=206) documents, including conference presentations and publications, were collected through the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) and College Student Educators International (ACPA)&rsquo;s websites. Data were analyzed in-case and across cases to highlight overall themes and a progressive timeline of how student affairs professionals used digital technology throughout their work. Using the futurology lens, the researcher envisioned how student affairs should use technology over the next ten years. </p><p> Analysis revealed that since 2005, student affairs administrators utilized digital technology to build capacity in their campus work, augment existing engagement efforts with students, faculty, and staff, and inspire change within and outside of their institution. Additionally, a historic timeline described how NASPA and ACPA provided limited, yet progressive, digital technology professional development education. </p><p> Student affairs administrators, professional organizations, and academy leaders leading digital technology implementation efforts might utilize the researcher&rsquo;s recommendations as a starting point to catalyze the academy&rsquo;s ongoing evolution.</p>

The present study assessed the views of students on school-related determinants with respect to liking or disliking technology. In determining students' views, two self-report instruments, the Classroom Learning Environment Survey (CLES) and Attitudes Toward Science Scale (ATSS) were used. Also, an interview schedule was arranged with a selected group. Participants were 200 first years registered for Diplomas in Primary -, Secondary -, and Technology Education. Results indicated a positive relationship between attitudes towards technology and each of teacher characteristics, student characteristics and the classroom environment. Regression analysis showed that attitudes toward technology were predicted by the three study variables. On the other hand, no statistically significant gender differences were established. Recommendations and suggestions for further research are also advanced. / Mathematics, Science & Technology Education / M. Sc. (Technology Education)

<p> As technology-mediated learning continues to expand, gain critical favor, and show promise for solving a number of critical issues inherent in educating future generations, leaders of online learning (OL) units within higher education face complex challenges. It is critical that leaders of these units (1) have the right leadership skill sets to be successful and (2) are able to effectively navigate the trade-off between exploratory and exploitative innovation.</p><p> This qualitative interview study developed a holistic account of ambidexterity in OL units by reporting a variety of perspectives from different leaders. It chronicled how 10 successful OL leaders approached the task of leadership in their units and documented their approaches to the development of new products and services, as well as improvement of existing offerings and methods. The study illustrates the OL leader&rsquo;s struggle to maintain strong relationships with a variety of stakeholders across the university and shows how by their understanding of the next generation of teaching and learning, these leaders have an important voice in the future of education and of the university. </p><p> The study revealed that (1) OL leaders need to focus more on the strategic aspects of education and less on technology and (2) ambidextrous leadership shows promise as an excellent model for online learning. A plethora of leadership behaviors are in use in OL units that help cultivate ambidexterity; however, the use of these behaviors is more intuitive than premeditated. Successful OL leaders like the ones interviewed understand the importance of both exploring new ways to achieve outcomes while at the same time improving upon existing methods. What is missing from the equation, however, is the intentional planning of time or work (temporal flexibility) to switch between them.</p>

<p> At the turn of the 21st century, researchers quickly recognized the lack of online professional development (OPD) research in English language teaching (ELT) and started asking for more inquiry into the effectiveness of online professional learning. This study adds quantitative data analysis to the body of research regarding OPD and strengthens the claim that proper use of OPD in the ELT community mirrors traditional face-to-face professional development effectiveness in classroom instruction and teacher confidence. This study examines ELT educators' perceived effectiveness of professional development, identifies their preference between online and face-to-face professional development, and explores the possible differences that exist in perceived effectiveness and preferred professional development modality choice. A variety of statistical tests will be used to answer the research questions including exploratory factor analysis using a polychoric correlation matrix, logistic regression, independent-sample t-test, and two- and four-way analysis of variance. Although this study includes both online and face-to-face professional development data, the main focus was on the effectiveness and use of OPD.</p><p> The results of this study enhance Desimone's (2009) core competence framework and Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy theory by: (a) reaffirming past research that professional development does positively influence classroom instruction and teaching confidence; (b) claiming that geographic location is the best predictor of professional development modality preference while age still has its place as a viable predictor, but is just not as strong; and (c) upholding the findings that there are no statistically significant differences when perceived effectiveness is compared to OPD and face-to-face professional development models.</p><p> With the continuing reach of the World Wide Web and the growing number of people wanting to learn English, OPD has become a necessary training tool for the ELT professional. This study strengthens the literature addressing the similarities between online and face-to-face professional development, reinforces the belief that OPD improves classroom instruction and teacher confidence, and supports national and international policies that call for the use of OPD in English language teacher education.</p>

<p>This experiment tested the effectiveness of an equivalence-based instructional procedure on verb acquisition among five typically developing, low-performing first grade students. Additionally, the researcher compared the possibly differential effects of picture and video formats to teach actions as concepts. The researcher custom-designed a computerized, multiple exemplar plus fluency-based match-to-sample training procedure to directly train 96 total relations across 24 potential generalized equivalence classes (i.e., 24 verbs). After training, students completed post-tests for 408 potential untaught relations per verb. The independent variables in this study were the instructional procedure implemented and the two instructional visual depiction formats&mdash;photo and video. A multiple treatments, multi-probe experimental design was conducted. The researcher measured (1) accuracy, (2) rate of response, (3) the number of criterion-level performances, (4) the number of derived and generalized relations, and (5) the number of stimulus classes formed across three dependent variables: emergent relations tests, generalized emergence tests, and retention tests. The results showed that (1) the procedure implemented was overall effective in facilitating verb acquisition across some but not all measures tested; (2) video format was as, if not more, effective compared to picture format; and (3) which format promotes relatively better acquisition depends on the unique learning history of the individual student. This was a preliminary investigation and, therefore, provides initial information on verb acquisition, adds to the literature in generalized equivalence class formation, and serves as a basis for many areas of additional research. </p>

<p>In the aviation industry, digitally produced and presented flight, navigation, and aircraft information is commonly referred to as <i>glass flight decks. </i> Glass flight decks are driven by computer-based subsystems and have long been a part of military and commercial aviation sectors. Over the past 15 years, the General Aviation (GA) sector of the aviation industry has become a recent beneficiary of the rapid advancement of computer-based glass flight deck (GFD) systems. </p><p> While providing the GA pilot considerable enhancements in the quality of information about the status and operations of the aircraft, training pilots on the use of glass flight decks is often delivered with traditional methods (e.g. textbooks, PowerPoint presentations, user manuals, and limited computer-based training modules). These training methods have been reported as less than desirable in learning to use the glass flight deck interface. Difficulties in achieving a complete understanding of functional and operational characteristics of the GFD systems, acquiring a full understanding of the interrelationships of the varied subsystems, and handling the wealth of flight information provided have been reported. Documented pilot concerns of poor user experience and satisfaction, and problems with the learning the complex and sophisticated interface of the GFD are additional issues with current pilot training approaches. </p><p> A case study was executed to explore ways to improve training using GFD systems at a Midwestern aviation university. The researcher investigated if variations in instructional systems design and training methods for learning glass flight deck technology would affect the perceptions and attitudes of pilots of the learnability (an attribute of usability) of the glass flight deck interface. Specifically, this study investigated the effectiveness of scenario-based training (SBT) methods to potentially improve pilot knowledge and understanding of a GFD system, and overall pilot user experience and satisfaction. </p><p> Participants overwhelmingly reported positive learning experiences from scenario-based GFD systems flight training, noting that learning and knowledge construction were improved over other training received in the past. In contrast, participants rated the usability and learnability of the GFD training systems low, reporting various problems with the systems&rsquo; interface, and the learnability (first-time use) of the complex GFD system. However, issues with usability of the GFD training systems did not reduce or change participant attitudes towards learning and mastering GFD systems; to the contrary, all participants requested additional coursework opportunities to train on GFD systems with the scenario-based flight training format. </p>

<p> The purpose of this case study was to evaluate a multi-campus university program designed to support STEM faculty in redesigning bottleneck courses, with integration of technology as one strategy. Despite the positive student learning outcomes in course redesign programs with an aim to support faculty in technology integration, there remains a need to evaluate how technology integration professional development (PD) programs impact faculty instructional practice, and determine the effectiveness of these programs in that effort. </p><p> This study researched the California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor Course Redesign with Technology (CRT) Program, and employed the logic model of program evaluation to document the activities of the PD program to study the impact of the activities on what faculty learned about technology and their application of the program to develop instructional strategies that incorporate technology. Data were collected from the first two academic years of the CRT program (2013-2014 and 2014-2015) and frameworks related to andragogy as well as the theories of Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK), Diffusion of Innovation, and Communities of Practice frameworks were used to analyze archived professional development training content and faculty-produced electronic portfolios. </p><p> The findings reveal that while the training content focused on simple technology adoption, most course redesigns involved changes in technology and instructional strategies in which faculty sought to understand students&rsquo; challenges, support scientific thinking of course content, and enhance reflective teaching practices. This investigation showed strong, significant, and positive relationships among high levels of technology integration, awareness of innovation characteristics, and faculty collaboration in course redesigns. High occurrences of these variables were also significantly associated with grade point average increases in course redesigns. This study&rsquo;s findings and methodology have the potential to inform the development and evaluation of further efforts to redesign university courses using technology.</p>

<p> This study explores teacher perceptions of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) programs in the classroom, with a focus on teacher use, student equity of access, and student ability to use their devices as learning tools. While one-to-one laptop programs (students assigned identical school-owned laptop or tablet) has an extensive body of literature behind it, BYOD has relatively little peer-reviewed research. </p><p> A framework was developed to guide this research that related teacher technology use, equity of student access, and student ability to learn to use the devices they brought. Two instruments were created to collect data: (a) an anonymous online survey to collect information from 108 teachers already incorporating BYOD into their classes, (b) a semi-structured interview with eleven teachers who volunteered after completing the first instrument. </p><p> Findings suggested that teachers with constructivist compatible beliefs were likely to have more positive perceptions of BYOD, as were those who worked in schools with a more positive atmosphere. Very few teachers (12%) thought that BYOD programs were inherently inequitable, although 25% thought the programs in their own school was inequitable. Teachers were concerned that all students have access to an effective device when the student did not bring one and they primarily looked to school-owned technology to be available. Teachers also reported that students could learn to use their individual devices by working with other students and through working on assignments, while teachers had specific techniques they used to support this learning. Teachers overall did not view themselves as being responsible for providing technology support to students, and instead expected students to resolve their own technology problems. Many teachers (42%) liked that students had different types of devices. </p><p> A key advantage of BYOD is the knowledge the students bring when they bring their own device. These results provide tentative support for Bring Your Own Device programs as a viable, cost- effective way for students to use their own technology for learning.</p>

<p> A common goal among nurse educators is to adequately prepare graduates to be competent, caring professionals who deliver the highest standard of care. For the nursing school graduate, the first step to attaining this goal is success on the NCLEX-RN. Nurse educators are constantly seeking new strategies to help better prepare graduates for first time NCLEX-RN success. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student access to computer-adaptive quizzing software program during the final semester of a baccalaureate nursing program and first time NCLEX-RN success. </p><p> Employing the principles of retrieval practice theory, computer-adaptive quizzing is a strategy used in nursing education to allow students to study, evaluate, remediate, and reevaluate mastery of nursing concepts. Computer-adaptive quizzing was developed using the foundational principles of computer-adaptive testing and item response theory, which have been utilized in education, psychology, and computer science for many years. </p><p> A retrospective, descriptive correlational design was used to compare NCLEX-RN outcomes of one cohort of students who did not have access to the computer-adaptive quizzing software (<i>n</i>=99) and one cohort who did have access (<i>n</i>=96). The computer-adaptive quizzing software program that was used in this study was PassPoint^&reg;, a product of Wolters Kluwer Health. There were no statistically significant differences between the two cohorts related to age, gender, race, pre-nursing science GPA, nursing GPA, nursing course failures, and if other degrees were held. There were no major course changes or revisions over the four semesters of the study other than the implementation of the PassPoint adaptive quizzing software. Chi-square analysis suggested that there was an association between having access to and using the software and NCLEX-RN success (<i>p</i>&lt; .001; <i>df</i>=1) with 16.16% of those not having access being unsuccessful on the NCLEX-RN compared to 1.05% of those with access being unsuccessful. Logistic regression showed the predictive model significantly predicted that 18% of the variability of NCLEX-RN success could be linked with usage of the adaptive quizzing software.</p>