The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of educational software contributed to increasing the academic performance of 6th-grade students in mathematics. The specific programs used were the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Explorer and Promethean ActivBoard. This summative quantitative study was guided by 3 research questions: 1. What was the effect of technology, specifically the Promethean ActivBoard and the FCAT Explorer, on the achievement in mathematics of 6th-grade students, as measured by district benchmark assessments? 2. What was the difference in mathematics achievement, if any, between male and female 6th-grade students following the use of technology, specifically the Promethean ActivBoard and the FCAT Explorer, as measured by district benchmark assessments? 3. What was the effect of technology, specifically the Promethean ActivBoard and the FCAT Explorer, on the achievement in mathematics of African American 6th-grade students, as measured by district benchmark assessments? Participants were 6th-grade teachers and students in the experimental and control groups. Participants were 59 students in the experimental group and 61 in the control group. Students who used FCAT Explorer and the Promethean ActivBoard showed better scores on a posttest and larger percentage increase in scores than the control group. Male students in the experimental group showed the greatest increase in scores. African American students who also used FCAT Explorer and the Promethean ActivBoard scored higher than those African American students who did not use any form of technology as a supplement to learning.

This applied dissertation is an instrumental case study based on diffusion of innovations theory designed to gather student opinions regarding videoconference (VC) technology use in facilitating courses to undergraduate degree-seeking nursing students. The author of diffusion of innovations theory, Rogers (2003), recommended that more qualitative studies be conducted in education. Rogers and Jain (1968) recommended these studies should be conducted from the aspect of “receivers of innovation diffusion” (p.1) to provide feedback instrumental to implementation of technological innovations in academe. Further, Rogers stated that multiple data points should be used during the process of trialing an innovation. Therefore, a current VC course was selected from the nursing curriculum of a public state college hosting one of the largest nursing programs in the southeastern United States in which to conduct the study. A total of 32 students participated divided equally between two sites: Main campus and Regional campus. Further divided, 22 personal interviews were conducted and two focus groups; one for each campus consisting 5 students each. Additionally, included in the data corpus were 40 hours of classroom observation plus, college provided end of course (EOC) summary statements. These data were triangulated to determine whether students would accept VC technology unchanged, accept with modifications, or reject VC technology based on first time exposure to the innovation during the 16-week semester. Student innovation decisions were: 6 students accepted unchanged, 14 students accepted with modifications, and 12 students rejected the innovation. Students who rejected the innovation were exclusively from the regional campus, which was the receiving site the majority of the semester. First and second-cycle analyses yielded 67 codes resulting in 5 categories, which further developed into 3 emerging themes: (a) Interaction with instructors, materials, and distant students are key elements affecting adoption decisions of students regarding VC technology; (b) Student adoption decisions are influenced by faculty members in their use of VC technology; and (c) Student opinions indicate that reinvention is necessary for VC technology to be fully adopted into the present nursing program. The five categories: Interaction, equipment, teaching methodology, instructor technology training, and student orientation provided ample detail from which to inform practice regarding recommendations for reinvention (modification) of VC technology during the implementation stage of Rogers’ five stages of the innovation-decision model. These modifications could assist the college in gaining parity between the two nursing sites, which reported an 18.53 percentage point difference in first time pass rates on the NCLEX-RN exam reported by the Florida Department of Health (Florida Health, 2015).

TEACHING CHARACTER FORMATION RATIONALES WITH A COMPUTER-ASSISTED COURSEWARE FEBRURARY 2010 BO FENG, B.A., GUANGZHOU INSTITUTE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES M.A., EASTERN ILLILOIS UNIVERSITY M.F.A, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Zhongwei Shen This research conducts a literature survey in the areas of Chinese character error analysis; SLA theories in interlanguage and transfer; systemic characteristics of the Chinese writing system; as well as psycholinguist researches in Chinese character acquisition. CFL learners face critical issues in character acquisition, such as confusions caused by the lack of phonetic awareness, semantic awareness, and contextual interferences. In order to assist CFL learners cope with these issues effectively, it is necessary to develop a computer-assisted courseware utilizing multimedia and web technologies to turn character formation rationales into advance organizers which can be used by CFL learners to restructure newly acquired knowledge and skills. The courseware emphasizes enhancing phonetic awareness, while giving sufficient coverage for semantic awareness and preliminary concepts of spatial configuration of character components.

Adjunct faculty comprise a large percentage of part-time faculty for many colleges and universities today. Adjunct faculty are hired because they are experts in their content areas; however, this does not guarantee that they are skilled in effective classroom management. These instructors can become bewildered and frustrated because they lack the knowledge and skills that are needed to run an effective classroom. While educational organizations have adopted blended learning environments as an effective delivery method for their students, this method has not gained much traction as a way to deliver instruction to their own employees. Thus, there are opportunities to use blended learning as a strategy for professional development in the workplace. What is more common in the workplace is the application of knowledge management (KM). KM is used in organizations to identify, share, and validate knowledge in order to improve individual and organizational performance. Blended learning combined with KM strategies, can leverage face-to-face and online instruction delivery methods to give adjunct faculty real-time support as they learn to implement specific instructional methods and classroom management techniques into their face-to-face classrooms. The goal was to construct and validate a blended learning professional development course for adjunct faculty. Design and development research methods were used to conduct the study in four phases. In phase one, a course design framework that integrated the four modes of the SECI KM model (i.e., socialization, externalization, internalization, and combination) was developed. Included with the framework was a mapping of the learning outcomes, knowledge type, and activities associated with each SECI mode. In phase two, an expert panel reviewed the framework and mapping. The Delphi technique was used to capture panel members’ feedback. Revisions to the framework and mapping were made based on the results of the expert review. In phase three, the framework was used to develop the course within the Desire2Learn learning management system. In phase four, a formative evaluation of the course was conducted using focus groups with key stakeholders including faculty, staff, and administrators. The sequential nature of the phases in which the professional development course was designed and developed resulted in a refined instantiation of the course, which was received positively by key stakeholders; however, summative and confirmative evaluations would be needed to determine the effectiveness of the course delivery and content, as well as, whether the course is viable over time. The incorporation of the SECI principles for faculty professional development was also determined to be worthy of continued consideration. Future research focusing on the implementation of SECI principles to guide instructional design in various online and blended learning contexts is recommended.

In the aviation industry, digitally produced and presented flight, navigation, and aircraft information is commonly referred to as glass flight decks. Glass flight decks are driven by computer-based subsystems and have long been a part of military and commercial aviation sectors. Over the past 15 years, the General Aviation (GA) sector of the aviation industry has become a recent beneficiary of the rapid advancement of computer-based glass flight deck (GFD) systems. While providing the GA pilot considerable enhancements in the quality of information about the status and operations of the aircraft, training pilots on the use of glass flight decks is often delivered with traditional methods (e.g. textbooks, PowerPoint presentations, user manuals, and limited computer-based training modules). These training methods have been reported as less than desirable in learning to use the glass flight deck interface. Difficulties in achieving a complete understanding of functional and operational characteristics of the GFD systems, acquiring a full understanding of the interrelationships of the varied subsystems, and handling the wealth of flight information provided have been reported. Documented pilot concerns of poor user experience and satisfaction, and problems with the learning the complex and sophisticated interface of the GFD are additional issues with current pilot training approaches. A case study was executed to explore ways to improve training using GFD systems at a Midwestern aviation university. The researcher investigated if variations in instructional systems design and training methods for learning glass flight deck technology would affect the perceptions and attitudes of pilots of the learnability (an attribute of usability) of the glass flight deck interface. Specifically, this study investigated the effectiveness of scenario-based training (SBT) methods to potentially improve pilot knowledge and understanding of a GFD system, and overall pilot user experience and satisfaction. Participants overwhelmingly reported positive learning experiences from scenario-based GFD systems flight training, noting that learning and knowledge construction were improved over other training received in the past. In contrast, participants rated the usability and learnability of the GFD training systems low, reporting various problems with the systems’ interface, and the learnability (first-time use) of the complex GFD system. However, issues with usability of the GFD training systems did not reduce or change participant attitudes towards learning and mastering GFD systems; to the contrary, all participants requested additional coursework opportunities to train on GFD systems with the scenario-based flight training format.

The Maryville City School system has implemented the first year of the iReach blended learning model for which all students in the school district have access to either a laptop or an iPad to support their learning every day. The availability of research on the impact of iReach is limited because the blended learning instructional model is relatively new and has not yet been subjected to numerous research studies. The purpose of this ex post facto quasi-experimental quantitative study was to compare student reading Lexile growth data collected through the use of the Reading Comprehension Assessment before and after iReach implementation to determine if there was a correlation between the implementation of iReach and reading Lexile growth of students in Maryville City Schools. Paired-samples t test results based on data collected from the 2015-2016 freshman cohort as well as subgroups (males, females, economically disadvantaged, and noneconomically disadvantaged) depict significantly more reading Lexile score growth during the eighth grade year before the school system implemented the iReach blended learning initiative than during the ninth grade, the first full year of iReach implementation. Paired-samples t test results based on data collected from the 2015-2016 sophomore cohort to use for comparison to the freshman cohort demonstrated the same significant pattern of growth. These findings suggest that the implementation of iReach is not a sole factor affecting the reading Lexile growth of students. Results from a 2-way contingency table analysis reflect that the freshmen cohort had significantly more students than expected who increased their reading Lexile scores from eighth grade pretest to ninth grade posttest than the expected frequency of students in the sophomore cohort who increased their scores. These significant findings indicate that either the implementation of iReach, another variable, or a combination of variables worked better for the freshman cohort and attributed to the higher than expected frequency of students whose scores increased.

The purpose of the project was to develop a rubric to assess whether a selected group of college websites, chosen to represent most of what is available to students, meet the requirements necessary for students to make an informed college choice. The project was undertaken as a way to determine if these sites, individually or as a whole, present enough information for students to make a choice that correctly aligns with their college aspirations.

The objective of the project was to develop an online educational technology tool based on research from multiple disciplines to improve effective communication between students, counselors, teachers, parents, and school staff. The website developed for the project aims to increase the involvement of parents in their child's academic progress. The project also includes discussions concerning the website's field testing at a middle school in Rosemead, California, its evaluation through participant surveys, and final revision. The field test participant instructions, survey questions, and a computer disc of the website accompanies the project.

This project explores research-based methods for creating an e-learning resource to teach an intellectual skill. Intellectual skills are one of the five domains of learning defined by Robert M. Gagné. The intellectual skill taught via the e-learning resource is the rules of Turkish vowel harmony, a fundamental phonological feature of the Turkish language. The purpose of the e-learning resource is to provide novice learners with a set of tools and strategies with which to approach the future study of Turkish. A literature review was conducted in three areas: Gagné’s instructional design theories, Turkish language learning, and best practices for the design of multimedia e-learning. Two rapid prototypes in the form of Moodle course sites were developed. Guidance for improving the prototypes was sought from experts in instructional design, usability, and computer software. The resulting finished e-learning product is a nine-topic Moodle course based on Gagné’s nine events of instruction. The main Moodle course content teaches the rules of Turkish vowel harmony as an intellectual skill which has been broken down into discriminations (the Turkish vowels), concepts (the Turkish vowel groups) and rules (Turkish vowel harmony). Higher order rules are taught in the form of exceptions to the rules of Turkish vowel harmony found in foreign loan-words in Turkish. Practice is provided in applying the rules of Turkish vowel harmony as a set of word attack skills for approaching Turkish language artifacts found online and in the environment. A comprehensive list of resources relating to learning Turkish, learning about the Turkish language, and learning about learning Turkish, is provided to facilitate future extension and application of what was learned in this course. Each lesson is presented in the form of a Moodle book. Each lesson is followed by an ungraded assessment in the form of an Adobe® PDF quiz. The quizzes and accompanying answer keys are designed to provide guided practice, feedback, and self-assessment to help students extend and apply the lesson material. All lessons were beta-tested to ensure usability and reduction of extraneous cognitive load. The project resulted in the development of a Best Practices Checklist for designing e-learning resources to teach intellectual skills. The Best Practices Checklist, which can be found in Appendix B, was used to develop the outline for e-learning resources to teach intellectual skills in other subject areas and was found to be an effective rapid prototyping and instructional design tool. Insight was gained into the significance of prior knowledge for teaching intellectual skills, and on how to calibrate cognitive load in e-learning design relative to the learner’s prior knowledge of the subject matter being taught.

The rise of digital technology has transformed nearly every part of our daily lives, including the way we learn and memorize. Such transformations raise interesting questions for one of the most long-standing and demanding memorization tasks in the world: the memorization of the Islamic holy book, The Qur’an. For Muslims, The Qur’an is a timeless, sacred text, cradling within its covers many profound images, stories, and parables. Despite rigorous research in the fields of game design and memorization techniques, very little work has been done in combining these two areas of research to create a game-based memorization experience of The Quran. This thesis synthesizes game design elements with existing memorization techniques to foster a more engaging, enriching, and inspiring Qur’an memorization experience.