A significant achievement gap between students with disabilities and their peers without disabilities has led to increased inclusion of students with disabilities in the general education classroom. Assistive technology (AT) has the potential to improve access to the curriculum for students with high-incidence disabilities. Teachers are challenged with learning about, recommending, and implementing AT; yet little is known about how teachers in New Hampshire use AT or the needs for professional development (PD) in AT utilization. The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to understand how teachers in small rural New Hampshire schools utilized AT with students with high-incidence disabilities and teachers' needs for PD in AT use. Data were collected via semistructured interviews of 5 general and 5 special education teachers from 6 small rural middle and high schools. Using levels of AT literacy as a conceptual framework, data were coded and analyzed to identify common themes. Findings showed that teacher awareness and working knowledge of AT varied. Independent use of AT in reading and writing provided access to the general curriculum, allowing students to be included with their peers. Teachers reported wanting to learn more about the AT available and how to universally integrate AT into the general classroom. Findings informed the design of PD workshops and a learning network created to improve teacher knowledge and skills in AT integration. This study has the potential to decrease the achievement gap by improving access to the general curriculum for students with disabilities through improved teacher use of AT.

Multimedia learning may be more effective than text-only methods. Researchers have not examined the effects of metacognitive strategies on self-regulated learning (SR) within multimedia learning environments (MLE). The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine potential differences in learning and SR skills between students who use a script as a self-assessment tool and students who do not, while creating a conceptual map. The cognitive-affective theory of learning with media was used to frame the study. The sample included 87 secondary school students from a public school in Puerto Rico, enrolled in 11th and 12th grade English courses. Control and treatment groups completed a questionnaire to measure group difference in goal orientations at the beginning of the study. A t-test results indicated differences between the groups in disposition, and motivation variables. SR was measured before and after the implementation process through questionnaires. A 1-way ANOVA showed no differences in SR skills used by both groups. Results showed no differences in learning in both groups. A multiple regression was run to predict learning from group, disposition, and motivation variables. Results indicated the variable group as the most significant predicting the learning process. These results may encourage more research on SR strategies including a focus on different academic content, self-assessment instruments, and variables related to SR in MLE. These findings can contribute to positive social change in guiding teachers, students, and multimedia designers to develop MLE and SR processes to enhance student performance and obtain better academic results.

Autism spectrum disorder rates are climbing in the United States. Because this population is growing, research is needed to understand how to assist these individuals in pursuit of postsecondary educational and employment opportunities. The purpose of this qualitative study, as reflected in the central research question, was to investigate how a career and technical education program impacted the preparedness of students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder for educational and employment opportunities beyond high school. The conceptual framework was based on Bronfenbrenner's ecological perspective of human development, Zhao and Frank's ecological perspective of technology, and Song's research about distributed cognition. This study used a single case study design, and the case was a career and technical education program at a high school located in Southwestern state. Participants included one program administrator, three career and technical education teachers, and two special education teachers. Data were collected from multiple sources, including individual interviews with participants and program documents. Data analysis included line-by-line coding and category construction to determine themes and discrepancies. Key findings indicated that the CTE program prepared ASD students for postsecondary educational and employment opportunities, differentiated instruction to meet the individual needs of ASD students, technologies such as computers helped ASD students prepare for postsecondary educational and employment opportunities, helped ASD students learn technical skills, life skills, and job skills. As a society we need to recognize ASD students are impacting the paradigm associated with special needs students as they attend universities, work study programs, technical schools, and other opportunities which have evaded this population.

Research indicates that secondary students who are successful in online classes share common traits. However, many secondary career technical education (CTE) students taking online courses do not demonstrate the traits identified for success. CTE students may not benefit from online classes unless they are designed with their needs in mind. The purpose of this study was to investigate current CTE student experiences with online classes at a single career center. The research questions investigated CTE experiences with online classes, positive and negative online design features, and the hybrid classroom. The theoretical framework was constructivism. The purposive sample included 12 student participants (3 participants from each of 4 CTE career clusters) and 1 paraprofessional in charge of the classroom. Data included individual and small group interviews and observations. Participants reported that the current online course design, primarily text followed by a traditional assessment, was problematic. Instructional design features that assisted CTE students included individual pacing, instant feedback on assessments, and class organization. Features that did not assist students included content issues, technology issues, and limited testing options. Hybrid environment features that assisted CTE students included having a set time and place, access to technology, and the support of a paraprofessional. Career technical education in general may benefit from this research. Effective online education may provide greater opportunities for a larger audience of learners; their improved preparation helps students contribute more to the work force and gain more in terms of career success.

Women faculty members have been reported rating their level of knowledge and experience in using technologies lower than male faculty members. A closer examination revealed that women faculty members were likely to use technologies that fit into their pedagogy, met students' learning styles and needs, and facilitated their interactions with colleagues and students. So women faculty's choices of particular technologies can be assumed to reflect their particular instructional beliefs and perspectives, represented as a connected approach to learning and teaching. Gender alone is inadequate to explain women faculty's use of technology. The purpose of this study was to explore women faculty's understanding of teacher-student, student-student, and student learning-life connections and how technology affects these connections. A theoretical framework called positionality is used, which approaches women not solely from their biological or psychological attributes but also from the contexts in which they are situated. The results of the study suggested that women faculty members exhibited a positional understanding of the teacher-student, student-student, and student learning-life connections. A positional consciousness was reflected in their use of strategies to promote these connections. Technology played a positional role in women faculty's effort to create connections. Women faculty's views and practices of "connection" and "technology" are better understood by the contexts in which they are situated rather than by their gender. Women faculty often assume multiple identities expressed from different positions within different contexts, which is reflected by the variations in their relationships with students, their different perceptions of their student relationship with each other, their different ways of promoting connections, and their different views and use of technology. Limitations of the current study, recommendations for future research, and practical implications are discussed.

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Socioeconomically disadvantaged and African American students consistently perform lower on literacy assessments that measure reading and writing achievement than their dominant culture peers. The changing nature of literacy itself is making this literacy problem even more challenging. Competencies for interacting in digital contexts, identified as new literacies, are necessary to effectively read, write, and communicate using the Internet and other information and communication technologies [ICTs]. According to extant literature, African Americans and socioeconomically disadvantaged students are more likely than their dominant culture peers to use digital technologies to build traditional literacy (Au, 2006; Harwood & Asal, 2007).;Teachers have an important role in providing all students with the technological experiences that will allow them to be literate in the 21st century (IRA, 2009). The changing nature of literacy underscores the importance of professional development for literacy and technology integration (Karchmer, 2001; Watts-Taffe & Gwinn, 2007). The purpose of this study was to understand how and why teachers may engage students from a socioeconomically disadvantaged school with a predominately African American student population in different digital technological literacy experiences than students from a more socioeconomically advantaged school with a large percentage of African American students. The study focused especially on the roles professional development may play in creating students' inequitable experiences with new literacies.;Examined through the lens of Kincheloe and McLaren's (2005) reconceptualized critical theory: hegemony and ideology, this research study discovered educational practices, including professional development about literacy and technology integration, that have possible roles in reproducing inequalities in education.

This study compared and contrasted current goals and practices of institutional advising programs with those utilized specifically by distance education programs. as part of the conceptual framework, the study analyzed seven practices of advising programs identified through previous research on academic advising: delivery systems, organizational models, evaluation, support or reference materials, required occasions for academic advising, group advising, and advisor-student communication. The eight advising goals of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) were also used to build the conceptual framework.;Data were collected through a survey which resulted in descriptive statistics on advising goals and practices in distance education. Data analysis involved comparisons of results of the Academic Advising in Distance Education Survey developed for this study with data from American College Testing's Fourth National Survey of Academic Advising. Participants were identified from Peterson's 1996 publication, Guide to Distance Learning. Institutions selected for the sample had at least one baccalaureate degree program available at a distance, using primarily electronic means of instruction. One institutional representative completed the survey. Eight-nine surveys were mailed to institutions that met the study's definition of distance education. Seventy-three of these surveys were returned for a response rate of 82%.;Results showed that NACADA's advising goals were relevant for distance education; mean achievement was higher for each goal in distance education when compared with institutional advising programs. Advising practices were similar for distance education and institutions as a whole in that faculty advisors were the most frequent deliverers of advising services. There were differences between institutional and distance education advising programs in other practices, with less utilization of group advising, institutional reference materials, and advising evaluation in distance education.

Current research and theory primarily focuses on identifying holistic challenges of the veteran student demographic and does not focus on challenges specific to female veterans when transitioning into and through college. Additionally, current research and theory does not focus on positive and negative experiences of female veterans within four key areas of academia: courseware, faculty, staff/administration, and student services. As a result, current research and theory do not adequately explain why female veterans may or may not successfully transition into and through college, resulting in a lack of resources available for female veterans, and Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). This phenomenological study investigated lived experiences of female veterans transitioning into and through college by identifying shared experiences within the Adult Transition Theory's Moving In, Moving Through, and Moving Out phases specific to participants' interactions with courseware, faculty, staff/administration, and student services. Nine female veterans participated. Data was collected via pre-interview questionnaires and audio-recorded one-on-one interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi's 7-Step method, yielding 6 emergent themes and 30 cluster themes. Results indicated female veterans utilize strategies such as time management, connecting with their instructors, and support of family to succeed in college. Additional factors important to female veterans when transitioning include options in delivery methods and how well a college understands veteran benefits.

Almost from birth, children are immersed in a technologically rich world yet they often enter preschools that offer little to no use of technology. Preschool learning is tied to more traditional forms of reading and writing; this may be inconsistent with the ways children are learning at home and will learn in elementary school. Despite growing interest in creating learning environments that better mirror the technological experiences of the home, there is a significant gap in current research about how learning is affected in preschool environments designed with multiple forms of technology. This qualitative single case study was designed to explore children's preferred uses of technology for learning in a Montessori preschool. The study was supported by the New London Group's theory of multiliteracies and the model of the Montessori method. Data were collected using pre and post teacher interviews, observations, and student generated video and audio recordings of learning activities. Data were coded to form preliminary categories, and open coding was used to generate themes. The findings revealed that children preferred to use technology to express ideas, to write stories, and to visually document and share their learning experiences with others. When technology was made readily available for learning, children became confident, independent, and responsible users. The inclusion of technology also increased learning and encouraged children to socially interact through new media. Implications for social change include the implementation of learning tools that are more closely aligned with those used in future schooling which may result in higher achievement.