There is a growing population of English language learners (ELLs) in elementary schools across the United States, and a current academic achievement gap between ELLs and non-ELLs. Researchers have found that integration of Web 2.0 tools has benefitted ELLs in language learning settings, outside of the general classroom. The research problem addressed in this study, based on TPACK, explored general education teachers' experiences with integrating Web 2.0 technology to support academic language acquisition by ELLs and revealed the successes and challenges the teachers encountered. The 6 female participants in this qualitative interview study were required to have experience (a) as a general education classroom teacher for at least 1 year (b) using Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom to support ELLs, and (c) teaching ELLs within the elementary classroom environment. Qualitative analysis of transcripts from 1-on-1 interviews involved a coding and recoding process, revealed that the teachers saw Web 2.0 technologies as effective in supporting student learning, building class community, and differentiating instruction. Challenges and needs they experienced included lack of access to technology, needs for professional development, and administrative support. Further research could explore integration of specific Web 2.0 technologies. Results of the study may lead to better informed decisions by policy makers and leaders about professional development, support needs, and language services. Addressing the technology needs of educators may potentially lead to equity for ELL students in general education settings that would empower ELLs to experience successful academic transitions through schooling, while decreasing the academic achievement gap.

The fusion of the Internet with instructional design, and curricula delivery methods eliminated transactional distance in online learning. However, distance education (DE) in Nigeria has not aligned its pedagogy to the new reality in technology. The purposes of this non-experimental, predictive, validity study were to determine faculty and administrators' perceived barriers and concerns to online adoption and to validate the behavior engineering model (BEM) instrument. Ninety-six respondents from four public universities in Nigeria completed the questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used respectively, to assess barriers and concerns militating against faculty and administrators' online adoption, as well as validate the survey instruments. For faculty and administrators, incentive, motive, knowledge and skills influenced DE adoption. Except for age, all demographic factors influenced faculty's concerns. Gender was observed to influence administrators' concern. "Level of online use" influenced neither faculty nor administrators' concerns. Technographic characteristics influenced faculty, but not administrators.' Though the BEM instrument was reliable in measuring faculty and administrator's stages of concern, however, the 6-factor BEM, tested at the 95% significant level, did not give a good fit. The study contributes to positive social change by identifying gaps to effective DE implementation, and recommended the appropriate interventions to transform the DE experience for students and their universities. The study also proposed the framework to fast track Nigeria's vision and mission for DE.

School districts are increasingly adopting 1-to-1 technology initiatives to support 21st century teaching and learning; yet, there are still many challenges with the effective integration of technology into teacher instructional practices. Teacher's technological, pedagogical, content knowledge (TPACK) is an integral part in planning the instructional process for effective integration. In this quantitative study, teachers' knowledge of technology, content, and pedagogy was examined through the lens of TPACK and its relationship to their lesson design practices. Two validated TPACK instruments were used to collect data on 117 in-service teachers in a large, urban school district with a 1-to-1 technology initiative. A MANOVA and correlational analysis were performed, and results of this study indicated there were no statistically significant differences between teachers' constructs of TPACK and their years of experience in a 1-to-1 technology initiative. However, statistical significance was found between teachers' constructs of TPACK and their content area. Additionally, a correlation was found between teachers' TPACK, their lesson design practices, and design disposition. The results of this study may positively impact social change by informing school administrators and other educational change leaders in the planning of teacher instructional support to further develop teachers in the implementation of technology integration to support the 21st century learning needs of today's students.

Overall, 11% of high school students leave school without a diploma, and the percentage is higher for at-risk populations. High school graduates earn higher salaries and are healthier and more law abiding than dropouts. Research is limited on the motivation of at-risk students to graduate from high school related to their technological identity to include technology and social media in their learning schema. This qualitative case study explored at-risk students' perceptions of social media, personal learning networks, and informal learning in facilitating their graduation. Pink's concept of motivation, Siemens's connectivism theory, and Bingham and Conner's theory of engagement and social learning provided the conceptual framework. Interviews were conducted with 11 at-risk students identified by one Charter school: 4 students at-risk of dropping out, 3 dropouts planning to return, and 4 dropouts who had returned to high school. Open coding was used to identify rich themes and patterns that may help at-risk students succeed in school. Of the 5 themes identified 4 related to technology identity: transference to learning, relationships with personal learning communities and social networks, bridging technologies, and connected knowledge. Relationships with instructors and the school community also emerged as a theme. Connecting familiar and accessible technologies with formal learning could provide additional means of supporting academic success. Permitting the use of smart phones and social media to provide technological access to learning materials and instructors may create a motivating learning environment where students are willing to remain in high school to obtain a degree. Potential social and work benefits beyond high school may accrue for students.

Despite recommendations by the Association of American Medical Colleges regarding the adoption of technology in medical universities, faculty are still reluctant to adopt new learning technologies. The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to determine the factors existing in the adoption of learning management technology among late adopters within the faculty of colleges labeled as comprehensive academic medical centers. Using the Everett Rogers diffusion of innovations theory as its framework, this study sought to ascertain the factors late adopters identify as preventing them from adopting technology and to determine what measures they suggest to increase technology adoption among their peers. This qualitative study used interviews of participants identified as "late adopters" and subsequent document analysis to provide evidence for the factors identified. Using in vivo coding, data were organized into 5 themes: factors, learning management systems, demographics, general technology, and solutions. Results showed that late adopters avoided adopting learning management technology for several reasons including training, time, ease of use, system changes, lack of technical support, disinterest, and the sense that the technology does not meet their needs. Recommended solutions offered by faculty included varied times for trainings, peer mentoring, and modeling learning management system use among faculty. Understanding these factors may contribute to social change by leading to more rapid adoption and thus introducing efficiencies such that faculty can dedicate more time to medical instruction. It also may aid other universities when considering the adoption of a learning management system.

Many investigators have documented that lack of emotional intelligence (EI) in professional nursing correlates with patient dissatisfaction, negative patient outcomes, and litigation. However, much less information is available to nurse educators for an effective instructional strategy to increase EI skills, specifically emotion understanding and management (the most influential branches of EI) in nursing students. Grounded in the theory of EI and the theory of simulation, the purpose of this quantitative quasi experimental study was to introduce educational technology as a useful strategy for influencing EI in a convenience sample of 88 second semester students in a baccalaureate program. Research questions for the study examined the treatment (human patient simulators, stressful situational scenarios, and role playing) for changing EI skill levels. Repeated measures, within factors analysis of variance was used to test for a relationship between the variables at three time periods during a semester. Key results for emotion understanding were significant with small effect, F(1.973, 171.686) = 7.526, p = .001, partial ω2 = .047. Key findings for emotion management were significant with medium effect, F(1.827, 158.965) = 9.981, p < .0005, ω2 = .063. However, conclusions were mixed for influence, as the instructional strategy resulted in negative EI learning (consistent decreased gain) for most participants. By weeding out irrelevancies, this study contributes to current nursing research and informs nursing educators of the need to continue the search for an effective strategy for teaching emotion understanding and management skills in nursing curricula.

This dissertation presents the development of novel nano-composite membranes as introduction systems for mass spectrometers. These nano-composite membranes incorporate anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes as templates that can be used by themselves or modified by a variety of chemical deposition processes. Two types of nano-composite membranes are presented. The first nano-composite membrane has carbon deposited within the pores of an AAO membrane. The second nano-composite membrane is made by coating an AAO membrane with a thin polymer film. The following chapters describe the transmission properties these nano-composite membranes and compare them to conventional mass spectrometry introduction systems. The nano- composite membranes were finally coupled to the inlet system of an underwater mass spectrometer revealing their utility in field deployments.

With the new technological advances on the eve of the end of the 19th century, a multitude of intrinsic and extrinsic instructional media became available to both teachers and pupils. For effective use of the available instructional media it became increasingly necessary to become both audio and visually literate in order to interpret and understand messages from audio-visual materials/instructional media. This, however, confronted teachers with the urge to become more acquainted with the ways of how to address media selection and integration in a proper way. History as a subject taught at school lends itself to the application of instructional media in a variety of forms. Since the selection of the appropriate or the available media for the teach• ing situation is no easy task, a literature study was undertaken with the purpose of identifying factors that become apparent from media selection models and that need to be considered when instructional media are selected for the teaching of history. Apart from the prob• lem of the lack of an instructional media selection model designed specifically for history teaching, it was possible to propose suitable guidelines based on research findings for the selection of instructional media for history teaching. As far as the empirical research contained in chapter three is concerned, a questionnaire has been developed to determine to what extent history teachers in the present school situation use instructional media, and whether the media available is used effectively. A random sample of fifty (50) schools in the northern region of the Free State was used. Teachers with three years or more experience were asked to complete the questionnaire. An evaluation of the situation was created from the results. One of the most important findings was that a limited number of teachers received training in the effective use of instructional media, or in instructional media science. It appears that the choice of instructional media is considered no easy task by them. Chapter four is devoted to the practical application of instructional media in the teaching of history at the junior secondary level. There lessons have been prepared according to the model that has been developed in this project, which contain aspects of the new outcomes based on education. During the process a selection of media has also been made, ranging from what would be applicable in a school that is fairly adequately equipped with media, to schools that are only partially equipped with media. The study is concluded with a synthesis of all the findings as set out in chapters one through four, where the applicable guidelines for the teaching of history are confirmed. / Thesis (MEd (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1997

With the new technological advances on the eve of the end of the 19th century, a multitude of intrinsic and extrinsic instructional media became available to both teachers and pupils. For effective use of the available instructional media it became increasingly necessary to become both audio and visually literate in order to interpret and understand messages from audio-visual materials/instructional media. This, however, confronted teachers with the urge to become more acquainted with the ways of how to address media selection and integration in a proper way. History as a subject taught at school lends itself to the application of instructional media in a variety of forms. Since the selection of the appropriate or the available media for the teach• ing situation is no easy task, a literature study was undertaken with the purpose of identifying factors that become apparent from media selection models and that need to be considered when instructional media are selected for the teaching of history. Apart from the prob• lem of the lack of an instructional media selection model designed specifically for history teaching, it was possible to propose suitable guidelines based on research findings for the selection of instructional media for history teaching. As far as the empirical research contained in chapter three is concerned, a questionnaire has been developed to determine to what extent history teachers in the present school situation use instructional media, and whether the media available is used effectively. A random sample of fifty (50) schools in the northern region of the Free State was used. Teachers with three years or more experience were asked to complete the questionnaire. An evaluation of the situation was created from the results. One of the most important findings was that a limited number of teachers received training in the effective use of instructional media, or in instructional media science. It appears that the choice of instructional media is considered no easy task by them. Chapter four is devoted to the practical application of instructional media in the teaching of history at the junior secondary level. There lessons have been prepared according to the model that has been developed in this project, which contain aspects of the new outcomes based on education. During the process a selection of media has also been made, ranging from what would be applicable in a school that is fairly adequately equipped with media, to schools that are only partially equipped with media. The study is concluded with a synthesis of all the findings as set out in chapters one through four, where the applicable guidelines for the teaching of history are confirmed. / Thesis (MEd (Vakdidaktiek))--PU vir CHO, 1997

In this exploratory case study, I take a constant comparative methods type approach to exploring a shift in second language acquisition (SLA) away from approaches built on the assumption that language participants in the U.S. are monolingual English speakers (Block, 2003; Ortega, 2009, 2013; Thompson, 2013; Valdés, 2005), with little initial investment in the language or its culture (Rivera-Mills, 2012; Valdés, Fishman, Chavéz, & Pérez, 2006). This bias has entrenched a monolingual speaker baseline for statistical analysis within many experimental designs (Block, 2003; Ortega, 2009, 2013; Thompson, 2013; Valdés, 2005). Further, I redress this methodological bias by applying sociocultural theoretical (SCT) (Vygotsky, 1986) approaches to investigating Spanish heritage language learners (SHLLs). Heritage Language Acquisition (HLA) has an established tradition of situating its research within socio-cultural context when considering language-learning phenomena, laying groundwork for relating these contextual factors to the issues in delivering pedagogically sound HL instruction. Ducar (2008) identifies a specific gap in HLA literature, where HLL voices are underrepresented and Valdés et al. (2006) further highlights the need for the development of resources and strategies for accommodating HLLs specifically. I attempt to fill these gaps under SCT by using qualitative methods that incorporate HLL voices into the broader HLA discussion (Ducar, 2008). I take a bottom up approach to resource and task design targeted to serve Spanish heritage language learners (SHLLs) in the U.S. by first surveying the population’s backgrounds and motivations at universities that serve an over 20% student body of Hispanic/latin@ students. Next, I propose a supplemental resource whose agile design is able to adapt to the unique needs of these SHLLs. Further, I investigate in what ways one technological resource, the virtual world Second Life (SL), may be adopted to meet Spanish HLL (SHLL) needs. In this second part, I analyze how one SHLL, who I will refer to as David, used this SL resource. I was guided in this analysis by asking: “In what ways does differentiating HL instruction with SL afford identity mediation through symbolic artifacts within SL?” and “In what ways can task design and extension activities be adapted to meet specific SHLLs’ needs without overly constraining their creative language use or the open format of SL?”. I do this by first taking a snap shot via anonymous survey of 47 SHLLs across the U.S., attending 133 universities with a high level of undergraduate latin@/Hispanic students (20% or higher) that offer concentrations in Spanish (see http://www.collegedata.com). The respondents needed to be currently enrolled in a course advancing them beyond the Novice High level of proficiency as defined by ACFTL (2012). My analysis and discussion of these responses is organized around trends illuminated with descriptive statistics in their backgrounds and then motivations. Finally, I draw on open ended responses to create a qualitative analysis and present vignettes that highlight SHLL voices, while exemplifying trends found through word count analysis and axial coding of the data. Next, I explore the case of a single SHLL, reporting a familial connection to the language and studying intermediate Spanish at a university in the U.S, and his experience with SL. My analysis of David’s case draws on data from a pre-survey that was designed to elicit data on his background, align discussion with established criteria for matching HLL backgrounds to learning needs, and elicit his emic perspective about using SL to study his HL. Additionally, the community of inquiry framework (COI) (Arbaugh, Cleveland-Innes, Diaz, Garrison, Ice, Richardson, & Swan, 2008) guided me in meticulously designing SL tasks that elicited data about David’s engagement with the SL environment, its affordances, and the HL. These also provided insights into what ways that he chose to expand or deepen his command of the HL. I coded these data with Dedoose, a qualitative research tool, using a three-stage coding process similar to axial coding, building code trees and constantly relating themes to one another until saturated thematic categories emerge. I build a critical discussion of what this coding process reveals in relation to the case-study’s research focuses above, the guiding research questions, and relate the resulting findings to possible implications for teaching Spanish to SHLLs in the U.S., instructional design for this population within specific intuitional constraints, and for task design that leverages specific affordances that SL may offer SHLLs. In Part I, I present a rationale for introducing two new research questions to help guide my investigation of the survey of 47 SHLLs: “In what ways do SHLL motivations for studying their HL differ and how might these motivations be best accommodated through instructional design?” and “In what ways do SHLL backgrounds differ and influence their objectives for studying their HL?”. I then used these research questions to analyze these data and weave a discussion. At the beginning of each stage of this analysis I explain the methodology behind the analysis and the generation of any figures or tables that helped me in interpreting the data and answering the research questions. Ultimately, I create vignettes to highlight SHLL voices (Ducar, 2008) and weave a narrative grounded in the major trends and themes sown together throughout the chapter. In Part II, I present rationale for modifying my original three research questions, removing the second one completely due to lack of data: “In what ways do SHLL backgrounds differ and influence their objectives for studying their HL?” and “In what ways do SHLL motivations for studying their HL differ and how might these motivations be best accommodated through instructional design?”. I interweave my exploratory analysis and discussion about David’s background and motivations with that of the previous chapter to related David’s case to the larger data set. Further, I use the COI framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2000, 2001) and Dörnyei’s (1994, 2005, 2009, 2014) work on motivation to analyze my instructional design in relation to David’s experience within the SL Lab. I analyze David’s motivational attractor states from a qualitative perspective as he progressed through to completion of the lab and compare motivational factors between David and pilot study participants. Based on these findings I offer some recommendations for both revising the proposed resource’s design and for the design of other resources that might capitalize on what I have learned during the course of this investigation. During the course of these investigative efforts I also encountered some challenges and surprising rewards. I reserve a section of this study to discuss some of these challenges, such as institutional barriers, demands on student time, strains on student motivation, and instructional design adaptations that frequently failed to address these challenges despite being research supported approaches. I correspondingly recount how these challenges coupled with moments of collegial collaboration to help both myself as a researcher and the project to grow, persevere, and adapt during the long course of the investigation. It is my sincere hope that sharing this personal perspective provides greater context to the study and insight for other researchers that would take on similar research endeavors.