U.S. military members and their families relocate from one duty station to another on average once every 3 years. Children in military families change schools often, introducing potential problems such as struggling to make new friends, having trouble adjusting to new teaching styles, and losing academic credits due to the transition from one school to the next. Homeschooling that incorporates online resources can provide instructional continuity, social interaction opportunities, and submission of required periodic assessments. The primary purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of military parents involved in homeschooling their children using online resources. The research questions were designed to explore these experiences and to create recommendations for other military families. A conceptual framework based on a constructivist learning approach and change theory informed this study. Data were collected from 9 parents with many years of experience homeschooling. The parents were interviewed via phone, e-mail, and Skype. Data were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and hierarchical coding. Parent participants chose homeschooling due to dissatisfaction with available schools, family location, and flexibility. Online resources were described as making it easier and more engaging for students to learn and as simplifying the parents' instructional and management tasks. These alternative methods replaced or augmented traditional educational methods. Parent participants encouraged other parents to reach out and seek help early in the process. This study promotes positive social change by providing resources for alternative ways children can be educated while one or more military parent is serving and defending the United States of America.

The concept of literacy has expanded to include understanding and effective utilization of information, media, and technology. The Children's Internet Protection Act requires school districts to teach proper online use and behavior. The lack of a technology requirement in a rural, public school district in Northeastern Pennsylvania that meets the needs of 21st century learners and the conditions of the Children's Internet Protection Act was the rationale for the development of this project study. The study's conceptual framework stemmed from theories related to new literacies, multimodality, computer education practices, and millennial learners. The research questions examined educators' perceptions of topics and skills to include in a curricular framework that addressed the lack of a comprehensive technology requirement to improve 21st century digital literacy skills for all students. A qualitative case study design was selected and data from 40 open ended questionnaires, one 5-member focus group discussion, and two 6-member focus group discussions were open coded and thematically analyzed. Emergent themes relating to a digital literacy course framework included information access skills and the application of technology. Findings were validated through member checking and triangulated with 62 existing curricular documents. The project for this study consisted of a curricular framework for a 90 day 21st century digital literacy high school course that can be used by any school district to enhance the preparation of students for life after high school. Such use of the findings and culminating project may positively affect social change through a modern definition of literacy thus contributing towards the development of a positive and prepared 21st century citizenry.

The substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition (SAMR) model is designed to help teachers integrate technology in the classroom. In a district with 1:1 mobile technology, teachers expressed frustration and inconsistency about the use the SAMR model for effective teaching and learning. In this project study, the SAMR model conceptually framed the exploration of teachers' integration of mobile learning and their perceptions about using technology in the classroom. Guiding research questions addressed teacher's integration of the SAMR model and elements that contributed to their instruction with mobile technology. A qualitative case study of a school district included purposeful sampling of 12 new or novice special education, mathematics, physical education and science teachers who had integrated technology in their instruction. Data sources included semistructured interviews, review of artifacts such as lesson plans or curriculum guides, and subsequent observations of their classroom instruction. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify themes. Observations were documented by using a checklist and data were analyzed using the SAMR model to determine levels of technology integration. The content of artifacts was analyzed to explore congruence in the data. Teachers demonstrated low enhancement levels of the SAMR model for technology integration and described elements of productivity use or student engagement as contributions to their curricular modification. The findings were used to formulate a professional development plan for teachers to design effective technology-integrated curricula. This study may impact positive social change by providing a model to assist other districts with similar inconsistencies in the modification of instruction for mobile learning environments to enhance teaching and learning.

The increasing use of blended models of instruction within the U.S. public school system is transforming the K-12 education. However, few studies have been conducted of the innovation-adoption process involving blended instruction within the K-12 public school sector. In this nonexperimental, quantitative study, Rogers's five perceived attributes of innovations was used as a theoretical lens to explore how teachers' affective job satisfaction might affect the innovation-adoption process at the individual level. Research questions pertained to the relationship, if any, between affective job satisfaction among teachers and their perceptions of the complexity, compatibility, and relative advantage of blended instruction. Surveys were administered to middle school teachers (n = 40) in the core curriculum within southeastern U.S. schools. Data were analyzed for relationships using Spearman's correlation; relationships found to have statistical significance were further explored using ordinal logistic regression. Affective job satisfaction had a moderately positive and statistically significant relationship with how participants perceived the compatibility and relative advantage of blended instruction (rs = .487). However, the relationship was inconsistent among subgroups, varying from rs = .181 (n = 13) to rs = .693 (n = 10). Findings could be used to promote positive social change by providing insight into the role of affective job satisfaction within the innovation-adoption process within the K-12 sector.

With the increase in pressures related to teaching online, counselor educators are experiencing greater amounts of burnout. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative survey study was to assess for significant differences and correlations between synchronous and asynchronous communication modes on online counselor educators' job satisfaction levels as measured by the Online Instructor Satisfaction Measure, and levels of burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey. The researcher used Moore's theory of transactional distance as the theoretical framework to answer 2 research questions: (a) Is there a significant difference in faculty satisfaction and burnout levels based on communication modes?; and (b) Is there a relationship between satisfaction and burnout for faculty members depending on their use of synchronous and asynchronous communication modes? The researcher solicited participants for the study through the CESNET listserv and the CACREP graduate program database. A total of 125 participants completed surveys and 2 data analysis techniques were used. Results of the t test indicated that counselor educators had significantly higher levels of satisfaction, higher levels of personal accomplishment and significantly lower levels of emotional exhaustion when using synchronous communications. The Pearson correlation analysis results indicated significant correlations between satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment depending on the type of communications. The study will potentially contribute to social change by providing information useful for the implementation of teaching methods that improve overall faculty satisfaction and decrease burnout.

According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (2012-2013), access to higher education is limited in most of the developing countries due to inadequate budgets and lack of schools and teaching staff. The use of educational technology could help bridge the gap, but research has only explored the use of available technologies to enhance learning where higher education is already accessible. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the use of one-to-many videoconferencing as an education access tool for high school seniors seeking higher education in the most devastated areas of Haiti. The theoretical framework for this study is based on Bandura's social learning theory, activity theory, and constructivist epistemology. This study attempts to explore the feasibility of using one-to-many videoconferencing learning to enhance access to education in Haiti. The study also analyzes the experiences of various sets of participants. The data were drawn from 13 interviews involving the school principal, the school's technology expert, 10 students, and one instructor corroborated by hours spent observing the same participants engaged in classroom activities via videoconferencing. The participants were interviewed on their experiences with the new delivery method proposed and utilized in the study. The data from this study suggest that by preserving the features of the familiar classroom model, videoconferencing could be successfully utilized to compensate for the lack of other facilities for higher education. The data was coded and analyzed using the NVivo data analysis software. The study will allow Haitian professionals living outside of the country to affect change in access to higher learning in Haiti.

Parents are important to the success of the one-to-one computing programs that are becoming more commonplace in secondary classrooms. Parents' opinions can influence the success of these programs or doom them to failure; however, little is known regarding parents' attitudes about these programs. To understand parental attitudes toward a one-to-one laptop program, this qualitative exploratory case study used Rogers's diffusions of innovations theory on how new ideas and technologies spread. Participants included 11 parents of students attending 2 urban secondary schools with similar demographics in the southwestern United States. Data were collected through focus group sessions, follow-up interviews, and relevant documents. Data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis and coding. Findings revealed that parents loved the one-to-one laptop program, saw technology to be a right of all students, thought that the district-managed laptops were used more for academic rather than educational purposes due to content filters and other restrictions, and believed that a central school-wide technology support system available to all stakeholders, including parents, was critical to the success of the one-to-one laptop program and approval by parents. This study may create positive social change by providing new insights and beneficial tips to educational organizations looking to use one-to-one laptop programs most effectively.

Community college faculty need to learn and understand the technology that is available in their classrooms so that they can teach students how to use these tools. Professional development workshops are one way that faculty members acquire knowledge of classroom technology. However, little is known about the usefulness of technology professional development workshops using active learning in a community college setting as a development option. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify faculty members' perceptions and beliefs regarding technology professional development that incorporated active learning as a learning method. The conceptual framework included the concepts of transformative and active learning. Participants for this study included 5 faculty drawn from full-time, part-time, and adjunct faculty who registered for a technology professional development workshop featuring active learning at a community college in the U.S. Midwest. Data sources included interviews conducted before and after the workshop. Data were analyzed using NVivo software and inductive coding to identify patterns and themes. The findings of this study indicated that faculty prefer active learning to self-study or problem-based learning when learning technology because of the collaboration available within the workshop setting. This study contributes to social change because it provides insights on how teachers believe they best learn technology. Educational leaders can use this knowledge to maximize quality in future technology trainings.

Millions have been spent in the Southern Gulf Coast states on equipping classrooms with Smart Board/interactive whiteboard (IWB) technology without an implementation plan for effective usage in lesson design and without teachers knowing how to best use these boards. The purpose of this project study was to explore the challenges and barriers that teachers face while using their IWB. Framed by the theories of adoption of technology within the K-12 classroom and self-efficacy of teachers regarding technology, the guiding research questions identified the challenges related to integrating IWB technology into lessons, as well the needs of teachers who are trying to implement this technology. This mixed-methods case study design included a convenient sample of 8 teachers and the data sets were collected by interviews and surveys. Interview analysis included coding and member checking and 3 themes emerged during analysis: (a) technical difficulties, (b) lack of sufficient professional development, and (c) finding resources for the Smart Board. The survey analysis entailed descriptive statistics and those survey results combined with the interview analysis found that teachers have problems incorporating Smart Board technology and require professional development in regards to integrating IWB technology into effective and efficient teaching and learning. The resulting outcome of this research was a comprehensive plan for an ongoing professional learning community designed to assist the teachers in gaining knowledge and skills needed to integrate IWB technology. This knowledge will improve professional practice at the local setting and provide a model for such training at the district level and beyond.

The probe method (PM) is a learning model that equips students with essential learning strategies and skills so they can be successful and competitive in a highly diverse technological global workforce. Although research indicates this learning model was successful at the elementary school level with improving students' motivation to learn, their critical thinking skills, and their ability to solve complex problems, little research has examined the impact of this method at the high school level for students who participated in a career and technical education (CTE) program. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to fill a gap in knowledge about the role and function of the PM on high school students' motivation to learn and their critical thinking skills in a CTE program. Guided by the conceptual framework of constructivism, data were collected through surveys, reflective journals, interviews with 17 students, and a teacher interview. Data were analyzed through descriptive and content analysis using open coding to determine what active learning was taking place, whether authentic project-based and problem-based learning strategies were implemented, and what 21st century workforce skills were being taught. Findings indicated that the PM had a positive impact on high school students' motivation to learn and their ability to think critically in a CTE program. This study supports positive social change by providing high school CTE teachers with a valuable learning model that infuses reflective thought, collaboration, communication, problem solving, and critical thinking into the learning process while at the same time motivating students to learn.