This dissertation proposal begins with a discussion about how the education of game programmers was not meeting the needs of the game industry. With this problem identified, this study proceeded to verify the existence of disparities of current game programming curricula. The findings from the literature review were able to: (a) justify the need to develop a career-oriented instructional design model for education of game programming; (b) identify the disparities that caused the mismatch of instructional content between academia and the game industry; (c) review research that contributed to the identification of three disparities: curriculum objectives and structure, instructional content, and curriculum orientation; (d) discuss theories and models of instructional design, student engagement, and related pedagogies; and (e) explore how these theories and models might be instrumental in improving education of game programming. The results obtained from the literature review were also used to formulate guidelines for investigating the status of currently available curricula in game programming. The research design and the research methods utilized by this study to examine the research questions are also described in detail. Four research questions were used to guide the study with the goal of identifying or forming a guiding principle for developing an instructional design model for a career-oriented education of game programming professionals. The results of this study indicated that all of the investigated game programming curricula had not yet produced graduates whom the game companies are interested in hiring as game programmers and that educational institutions had missed an opportunity to equip students with the proper programming skills for the game industry. Furthermore, this study identified that an accreditation standard as well as an industry-accepted instructional design model was not yet available to reflect the personnel hiring requirements of the game industry. The curriculum and coursework must be career-oriented and instructional content must center on game programming. Game programming pedagogy must lead to development of core competencies. In reviewing these findings, the guiding principles for developing an instructional design model became clear. The contribution of this study was to present an immediately applicable instructional design model that could be used as a basis by schools to create or fine tune their game programming curricula. The completed model is provided as an attachment to this dissertation. This proposed instructional design model is intended to provide an initial basis towards a solution to minimize the disparities between academia and the game industry in educational areas of curriculum orientation, curriculum objectives and structure, and instructional content. As with any problem solution, future study and analysis should be done in order to optimize and standardize a game programming curriculum that will be accepted by the game industry as well as accredited by a mutually accepted accreditation body.

Com o significativo crescimento da Educação a Distância (EaD), surge a preocupação e a necessidade de um olhar qualitativo diferenciado para todas as atividades que estão, direta ou indiretamente, relacionadas à área. Esse olhar qualitativo deve ser embasado em pressupostos científicos e não em empirismo, como se vê no encaminhamento dado por diversas instituições. Considerando que a qualidade do todo é conseguida pela qualidade das partes que o compõem, a da educação a distância é conseguida por meio da somatória da qualidade da execução de diversas atividades - como tutoria, gestão e coordenação de processo, dentre outras - e dos instrumentos utilizados - como material instrucional (MI) e sistemas gestores de aprendizagem -, que devem estar integrados não apenas ao contexto educacional ao qual pertencem, mas também a uma realidade flexível e dinâmica, imposta pela própria modalidade. O foco desse trabalho está na qualidade do processo de planejamento de um MI, considerado como o instrumento que integra agentes, atividades, tecnologias e estratégias de ensino e aprendizagem. A partir de uma profunda atividade de pesquisa bibliográfica relacionada à EaD, aos estilos de ensino e aprendizagem, à taxonomia de objetivos cognitivos e às mídias, de caráter exploratório e prático, propõe-se a utilização de uma diretriz para planejar materiais instrucionais, tendo como objetivo o efetivo desenvolvimento cognitivo, realizado por meio da estimulação e motivação para aquisição de novos conhecimentos, de competências, de habilidades, e direcionando para uma mudança de atitude em relação ao saber adquirido. / With the significant increase in Distance Education (DE) there is a significant and different concern about the quality related to all activities that are directly or indirectly related to it. Whereas the quality of the whole is achieved by the quality of its parts; at distance education this is achieved through the summation of the quality of different activities such as mentoring, tutoring, educational management, among others, as well as the instruments used as instructional subject matter (ISM), learning manager systems (LMS), which should be integrated not only to the educational context to which they belong, but also to a flexible and dynamic reality imposed by the modality. The focus of this work is at the quality of the process of planning ISM as it has been considered the instrument that integrates staffs, technology and learning/teaching strategies. Based on the bibliographical revision about distance education, learning and teaching styles, medias and taxonomy of educational objectives a framework for planning ISB was designed and it was submitted to specialists\' critiques, suggestions and considerations to verify its consistency and applicability toward the effectiveness cognitive development achieved by means of stimulation and motivation for new knowledge, skills, ability the acquisition and consequently to a change of attitude towards the of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned.

Com o significativo crescimento da Educação a Distância (EaD), surge a preocupação e a necessidade de um olhar qualitativo diferenciado para todas as atividades que estão, direta ou indiretamente, relacionadas à área. Esse olhar qualitativo deve ser embasado em pressupostos científicos e não em empirismo, como se vê no encaminhamento dado por diversas instituições. Considerando que a qualidade do todo é conseguida pela qualidade das partes que o compõem, a da educação a distância é conseguida por meio da somatória da qualidade da execução de diversas atividades - como tutoria, gestão e coordenação de processo, dentre outras - e dos instrumentos utilizados - como material instrucional (MI) e sistemas gestores de aprendizagem -, que devem estar integrados não apenas ao contexto educacional ao qual pertencem, mas também a uma realidade flexível e dinâmica, imposta pela própria modalidade. O foco desse trabalho está na qualidade do processo de planejamento de um MI, considerado como o instrumento que integra agentes, atividades, tecnologias e estratégias de ensino e aprendizagem. A partir de uma profunda atividade de pesquisa bibliográfica relacionada à EaD, aos estilos de ensino e aprendizagem, à taxonomia de objetivos cognitivos e às mídias, de caráter exploratório e prático, propõe-se a utilização de uma diretriz para planejar materiais instrucionais, tendo como objetivo o efetivo desenvolvimento cognitivo, realizado por meio da estimulação e motivação para aquisição de novos conhecimentos, de competências, de habilidades, e direcionando para uma mudança de atitude em relação ao saber adquirido. / With the significant increase in Distance Education (DE) there is a significant and different concern about the quality related to all activities that are directly or indirectly related to it. Whereas the quality of the whole is achieved by the quality of its parts; at distance education this is achieved through the summation of the quality of different activities such as mentoring, tutoring, educational management, among others, as well as the instruments used as instructional subject matter (ISM), learning manager systems (LMS), which should be integrated not only to the educational context to which they belong, but also to a flexible and dynamic reality imposed by the modality. The focus of this work is at the quality of the process of planning ISM as it has been considered the instrument that integrates staffs, technology and learning/teaching strategies. Based on the bibliographical revision about distance education, learning and teaching styles, medias and taxonomy of educational objectives a framework for planning ISB was designed and it was submitted to specialists\' critiques, suggestions and considerations to verify its consistency and applicability toward the effectiveness cognitive development achieved by means of stimulation and motivation for new knowledge, skills, ability the acquisition and consequently to a change of attitude towards the of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned.

A CPD model for the University of Technology lecturers is designed in this study. The focus of the CPD model is on teaching as a predominant feature of the Lecturers‟ functions. Literature review on the nature, historic developments and the mandate of former Technikons in South Africa is conducted. A comparative analysis of University of Technology education systems in five other countries is conducted. Research was then conducted to establish the status of Lecturers‟ CPD in former Technikons. Data obtained from literature and the research project was used to design a CPD model for University of Technology Lecturers. Interviews were subsequently conducted with CPD practitioners in Universities of Technology to obtain opinions on the model. A survey was conducted to obtain Lecturers‟ opinions on the aspects of the model. Data obtained was then used to modify the model. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

A CPD model for the University of Technology lecturers is designed in this study. The focus of the CPD model is on teaching as a predominant feature of the Lecturers‟ functions. Literature review on the nature, historic developments and the mandate of former Technikons in South Africa is conducted. A comparative analysis of University of Technology education systems in five other countries is conducted. Research was then conducted to establish the status of Lecturers‟ CPD in former Technikons. Data obtained from literature and the research project was used to design a CPD model for University of Technology Lecturers. Interviews were subsequently conducted with CPD practitioners in Universities of Technology to obtain opinions on the model. A survey was conducted to obtain Lecturers‟ opinions on the aspects of the model. Data obtained was then used to modify the model. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Educational Management)

This study was designed to provide information on the reading instructional practices of 36 first grade teachers in nine schools that serve predominantly Spanish-speaking and ELL students in a southeastern U.S. school district. The purpose of this investigation was to describe teaching practices employed during English language arts instruction and to examine their use in relation to instructional grouping strategies, teacher language use, and student engagement. Participating classrooms were observed three times throughout the 2006-07 school year. Data were collected via the Timed Observations of Student Engagement/Language (TO/SEL) classroom observation instrument (Foorman & Schatchneider, 2003). Paired sample t-tests, multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA), and multiple regression analyses were employed to investigate the relationship among the following observed variables: allocation of reading instructional time, grouping strategies, teacher language use and student engagement. Several key findings emerged. Participating teachers spent a greater amount of time on meaning-focused reading instruction (i.e., writing, reading texts, reading comprehension) than on code-focused reading instruction (i.e., word work, spelling, reading fluency, phonemic awareness), both during all four observed grouping strategies and after controlling for individual student seat work. In addition, of five key collapsed instructional variables (word work/spelling, oral language, writing, reading texts, and reading comprehension), teachers spent most time on word work/spelling (19%) and writing (18%). Reading texts and reading comprehension instruction together comprised 26% of total instructional time. Whole class instruction was the grouping strategy of choice among teachers (65% of total observed time); in sharp contrast, teachers spent 11% of observed time engaged in small group instruction, despite research findings supporting the effectiveness of sound grouping instruction. In addition, as little as 1% of teachers' total instructional time was spent in oral language/discussion, and 6% of total instructional time was spent in vocabulary instruction. The results also demonstrated little variation in teacher language use. Thus, evidence of "codeswitching" was not significant. Student engagement was high- 91% of total time students were observed; and was highest during writing and word work/spelling instruction. More longitudinal research is warranted that further explores precisely documented teacher reading instructional practices in relation to student outcomes with culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. Implications for practice include teacher training and professional development on managing small group instruction, and incorporating additional oral language/discussion, vocabulary and meaningful tasks into daily classroom activities.