abstract: This dissertation study quantitatively measured the performance of 345 students who received public speaking instruction through an online platform presented in one of six experimental conditions in order to explore the ability of online lectures to replicate the characteristics of instructor presence and learner interaction traditionally associated with face-to-face public speaking courses. The study investigated the following research questions: RQ1: How does the visibility of an instructor in a public speaking video lesson affect students' perception of presence? RQ2: How does the visibility of an instructor in a public speaking video lesson affect student learning? RQ3: How do self-explanation (Constructive) and note-taking (Active) types of learning activities affect students' perception of presence compared to passive lessons when presented in a video lesson? RQ4: How do self-explanation (Constructive) and note-taking (Active) types of learning activities affect student learning compared to passive lessons when presented in a video lesson? Additionally, the study collected qualitative feedback from participants on their experience in order to improve understanding of how to effectively design lectures for public speaking courses. Results of the study were unable to statistically distinguish between students assigned to treatments that varied in both modality and level of activity. However, a significant finding of this study is that learning gains and students' perception of instructor presence were positive across all conditions. The lack of significant differences by treatment indicates that the design attributes at the center of the study may be unnecessary considerations for developing content for online learning. Consequently, the improved performance of participants regardless of their assigned treatment in this study identifies a limitation to the application of Media Equation Theory and the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) Framework for designing online learning content for public speaking students as well as identifies two key implications: 1) exposure to an online lesson can increase learning; and 2) exposure to an online lesson can serve as a cost-effective alternative for producing lessons in public speaking courses. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Technology 2014

<p>he use of student-centered instructional strategies is a common practice in engineering classes. However, understanding which instructional strategies have a more profound effect on students’ performance and motivation is fundamental in course design. Such comparisons would allow instructors to design and plan their courses with better learning activities, which could lead to better student engagement and learning. In this three-paper dissertation, I explored the relative effectiveness of two instructional strategies 1) reflective thinking, and 2) teamwork participation by primarily using quantitative methods. Self-regulated learning theory and the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) framework guided the selection of these two strategies.</p><p>The first study investigated the relationship of an instructional strategy and a motivational construct through the following research questions: 1) Do students with high academic self-efficacy generate high-quality reflections? 2) To what degree do students’ self-efficacy beliefs and reflection quality scores predict their learning outcomes? Bivariate Pearson product-moment correlation and multiple linear regression were used to analyze the relationships.</p><p>In the second study, I focused on studying the relative effectiveness of two instructional strategies on a motivational construct in a larger engineering class. More specifically, the second study focused on understanding change in students’ participation in two instructional strategies (i.e., reflective thinking and teamwork) and students’ achievement goals. Further, the study investigated the unique contribution of instructional strategies on students’ academic performance and changes in achievement goals. I used stepwise hierarchical regression, simultaneous regression, and repeated measures ANOVA to analyze the data.</p><p></p><p>The third study focused on investigating the role of the same two instructional strategies on students’ academic performance and multiple motivational constructs (i.e., self-efficacy, task value, and engagement). I used structural equation modeling, and repeated measures ANOVA to analyze the data.</p>