<p> The purpose of this study was to develop an effective instrument to measure student readiness in online learning with reliable predictors of online learning success factors such as learning outcomes and learner satisfaction. The validity and reliability of the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) instrument were tested using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and reliability analysis. Twenty items from three competencies, i.e. social competencies, communication competencies, and technical competencies, were designated for the initial instrument based on the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) Model as a new conceptual model. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed that four factor-structures of the instrument of student readiness in online learning explained 66.69% of the variance in the pattern of relationships among the items. All four factors had high reliabilities (all at or above Cronbach's alpha> .823). Twenty items remained in the final questionnaire after deleting one item which cross-loaded on multiple factors (social competencies with classmates: five items, social competencies with instructor: five items, communication competencies: four items, and technical competencies: six items). The four-factor structure of the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) has been confirmed through this study. Educators can use the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) instrument in order to discover a better understanding of the level of freshmen college students' online learning readiness by measuring their social, communication, and technical competencies. In addition, this study was looking at two factors of social integration in Tinto's SIM and has introduced the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) conceptual model with the purpose to extend Tinto's social integration to online learning environment. </p>

<p>The Personalized Integrated Educational System (PIES) design theory is a design recommendation regarding the function and features of Learning Managements Systems (LMS) that can support the information-age learner-centered paradigm of education. The purpose of this study was to improve the proposed functions and features of the PIES design theory such that it is compatible with the technological needs of the information-age, learner-centered paradigm of education. Four schools or educational systems that embodied all or some of the characteristics of the learner-centered, information-age paradigm were selected through a purposeful, theoretical sampling process. They were selected based on how useful they would be in extending and improving the design recommendations for PIES and the extent to which the naturalistic cases had transitioned into the learner-centered, information-age paradigm of education. Research participants within these schools were chosen through a non-probability sampling method. Twenty teachers agreed to participate and were interviewed and observed. Data collected in the form of interview transcripts and observation notes were analyzed to reveal functions and features that could be added and removed from the PIES design theory. Data were analyzed to also reveal factors that encouraged/discouraged technology use, implementation, and policy. </p>

<p> In this dissertation, I describe a study examining institutional policy documents for statements related to the implementation of openness. The purposes of this study were to explore the current state of policies related to the implementation of openness in higher education, and to provide guiding recommendations to higher education institutions looking to address the issue of implementation of openness in their own policies. Policy plays a critical role in the implementation of innovations such as openness. The policy environment is complex and potentially confusing. Technology enables the proliferation of openness, and higher education institutions are now facing a number of challenges associated with the implementation of openness. Not much is known about the stance of higher education or the state of its response to openness. As a result, there was not much guidance available for institutions looking to address the implementation of openness in their institutions. </p><p> This dissertation involved a descriptive study that follows summative content analysis methodology. The research design was a qualitative dominant sequential mixed methods model, meaning that I focused primarily on the qualitative elements of the study and provided limited descriptive quantitative analysis derived from the qualitative data. </p><p> Five major areas of openness affecting higher education institutions were drawn from the literature. These are Open Access Research, Open Content, Open Teaching and Learning, Open Source Software, and Other, less pronounced, areas of openness. I searched the Faculty Handbooks, Strategic Plans, and Technology Plans of a stratified random sample of research-intensive higher education institutions for keywords related to the major areas of openness. I then evaluated the resulting statements based on the directness with which they address openness and on their policy role as enabler, barrier, or neutral toward the implementation of openness. </p><p> I provided 45 idealized policy statements as well as the best-found policy statements from the study. These statements were intended to be used as recommendations for guiding institutions in crafting their own policy statements to address openness through policy. The idealized statements were intended to fit in the three policy documents (Faculty Handbook, Strategic Plan, Technology Plan), serve each policy role (enabler, barrier, and neutral), and address area of openness (Open Access, Open Content, Open Source Software, Open Teaching and Learning, and Other Areas of Openness). Five major findings emerged from the study. These include the realization that openness is really a human-centered approach, and the discovery that openness is not commonly addressed in higher education policies. Additionally, I found that there was wide variance in how institutions actually address openness, that Open Access is addressed more than other areas in policy, and that content analysis is an effective method for obtaining information related to higher education policies. I provided my reflections and conclusions on the study in Chapter Five.</p>

<p> U.S. students with learning disabilities&rsquo; math skills acquisition has been on the decline in recent years. Studies show that teachers using traditional methods of teaching math lack knowledge of task analysis, chunking, sequencing, mass practice, modeling, and repetition of instruction. These components of direct instruction or pedagogical activities are hallmarks of special education teaching and are collectively described as cognitive support pedagogy. The study evaluated direct instruction teaching strategies to teach Common Core math to middle school students with learning disabilities, to determine if the current downward trend in math skills acquisition amongst them can be reversed. The theoretical framework of this study was based on Watson&rsquo;s theory of behavioral psychology as it applied to learning and teaching. The participants consisted of a convenience sample of students with learning disabilities. The study used a Solomon 4-group experimental design, in a series of two One-way ANOVAs to measure differences in math score by intervention for pretested and for non-pretested students, with one Factorial 2 X 2 ANOVA which measured for differences by interaction between pre-testing and intervention. Results of ANOVAs were significant at the &alpha;-levels of .05 (<i>F</i> (1,78) = 233.66 <i>p</i> &lt; .001), indicating that significant differences existed in math scores of pre-tested students who received intervention and those who did not. The study is significant to teachers, curriculum developers, and instructional leaders because it is the first study of its kind to measure the outcomes of Common Core math using direct instruction and it points a way forward to creating positive social change by increasing students&rsquo; graduation rates and promoting students&rsquo; engagement in school and beyond.</p>

<p> In the last 20 years online virtual high school has become a viable alternative to traditional high school. The dropout rate for online programs rivals that of brick and mortar high schools. Among the reasons students drop out of online virtual high school programs is the experience of isolation from teachers and peers. Moore (1972, 2013) described this sense of isolation as transactional distance and created a theory of how this phenomenon can be countered to promote academic success. Transactional Distance Theory stated that the sense of isolation could be reduced by carefully balancing interaction between student and teacher, student and student, student and course content, course structure and student autonomy. The research question was whether or not a group of experts would reach consensus on which instructional design strategies could reduce transactional distance and increase student engagement for virtual high school students. An exhaustive literature review found that very little is written about this topic. However, the literature does provide information about transactional distance theory, instructional design strategies, the characteristics of high school students, and the role administrators and policy makers can play in supporting these instructional design strategies. A three round Delphi study was conducted with a nationwide panel of instructional design experts with online virtual high school experience via an Internet based research software. The results of the research study indicated that there are a number of instructional design strategies that could be used to for this purpose. This research study led to the creation guidelines that could be used with a variety of instructional design models. Ultimately these guidelines could become an instructional design model.</p>

abstract: Social media platforms have emerged as leading communication channels for social interaction and information sharing in the early part of the 21st century. In an ideal world, social media users should feel that they can interpret the social interactions they witness and the information that is shared on social media platforms as inherently honest and truthful; however, reality is very different. Social media platforms have become vehicles capable of spreading misinformation quickly and broadly. Information literacy offers a pathway for mitigating the negative consequences of misinformation found within various forms of content provided that instruction is contextually defined and applicable to the current information environment. A cognitive framework was used to help facilitate greater efficiency of learning information literacy practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between cognitive engagement and learning performance on an instructional module about misinformation on social media. A total of 133 undergraduate students participated in the study. They were surveyed for demographic characteristics, social media activity, and self-efficacy before being randomly assigned to one of four instructional conditions (passive, active, constructive, control). Additional measures included a pre-test, post-test and an instrument measuring users’ satisfaction with their instructional experience. The study produced several statistically significant differences: (a) in the ability of demographic factors encompassing age, gender and years in college to predict the prior knowledge of misinformation on social media; (b) between the means of the three treatment and one control groups and their scores on the post-test assessment controlling for prior knowledge; and (c) between the means of the three treatment and one control groups and time necessary to complete instruction. Using a regression analysis, no significant differences were found with respect to information-focused self-efficacy factors being able to predict prior knowledge of misinformation on social media. The findings from this study can contribute to the basis of support for the use of the Interactive, Constructive, Active, Passive (ICAP) framework in assessing the use of cognitive engagement in designing instruction. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Technology 2019

<p>The thesis sets out to answer two fundamental questions about the information given to customers by The Astonishing Tribe; how is this information perceived, and what improvements can be done. The information was gathered by interviewing customers and employees at The Astonishing Tribe, and analyzing this data using grounded theory methodology. The emerging patterns were then taken and examined from an instructional design viewpoint, presenting possibilities of improvement in areas of examples, tutorial material and documentation, drawing on earlier instructional design research.</p>

The thesis sets out to answer two fundamental questions about the information given to customers by The Astonishing Tribe; how is this information perceived, and what improvements can be done. The information was gathered by interviewing customers and employees at The Astonishing Tribe, and analyzing this data using grounded theory methodology. The emerging patterns were then taken and examined from an instructional design viewpoint, presenting possibilities of improvement in areas of examples, tutorial material and documentation, drawing on earlier instructional design research.

Two instructional design features hypothesized to affect problem solving performance, problem format and contextual interference, were investigated. Problem format was manipulated by altering the format of worked examples to demonstrate a molar or modular solution. Contextual interference was manipulated by randomizing the order in which problem categories were studied. Participants studied worked examples from 5 complex probability categories and solved 11 novel problems. The modular problem format reduced study time and the workload during study and increased performance on the subsequent test. Greater contextual interference increased study time but had no effect on workload or test performance. Additionally, a regression analysis demonstrated that mental workload partially mediated the effect of problem format on test performance. A separate regression analysis did not demonstrate that working memory capacity moderated the effect of problem format on mental workload.

<p> High school students in the United States for the past century have typically taken science courses in a sequence of biology followed by chemistry and concluding with physics. An alternative sequence, typically referred to as &ldquo;physics first&rdquo; inverts the traditional sequence by having students begin with physics and end with biology. Proponents of physics first cite advances in biological sciences that have dramatically changed the nature of high school biology and the potential benefit to student learning in math that would accompany taking an algebra-based physics course in the early years of high school to support changing the sequence. Using a quasi-experimental, quantitative research design, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of science course sequencing on student achievement in math and science at a school district that offered both course sequences. The Texas state end-of-course exams in biology, chemistry, physics, algebra I and geometry were used as the instruments measuring student achievement in math and science at the end of each academic year. Various statistical models were used to analyze these achievement data. The conclusion was, for students in this study, the sequence in which students took biology, chemistry, and physics had little or no impact on performance on the end-of-course assessments in each of these courses. Additionally there was only a minimal effect found with respect to math performance, leading to the conclusion that neither the traditional or &ldquo;physics first&rdquo; science course sequence presented an advantage for student achievement in math or science.</p>