This study is a historical analysis of teacher development for using instructional technology in Thailand beginning with the early origins of educational reform efforts through the National Education Reform Act of B.E. 2542 (1999) and for one decade of its implementation (1999-2009). Data sources for this study included both primary and secondary sources. These sources were historical records, government documents, newspaper and magazine articles, and scholarly books and articles. They were analyzed to determine which policies, proposals, and plans related to teacher development in using instructional technology and which of them promoted a constructivist or student-centered teaching environment. The findings indicated that many of the proposed reforms led to new instructional techniques that challenged the previous Thai education system, which had relied on a teacher-centered, top-down approach. Despite many government-sponsored teacher trainings, teachers were still uncomfortable with teaching in a student-centered environment. This study also focused on Thai methods of teacher training and identified problems with the quality of training courses, with the methods of training, with the effectiveness of the courses teachers were taught, and with the assessment of the follow-up and evaluation provided after a given course or workshop. The evidence showed that teachers resisted many aspects of the new approach. This dissertation proposes ways to help teachers out of their reluctance and resistance to reforms using instructional technology. This dissertation provides a number of recommendations to help Thai educators begin to use modern instructional technology. Among these are included a call for greater improvement of teacher education and the adoption of new concepts of teaching and learning to elevate the skill level of Thai teachers. Chief among these was treating Thai teachers as adult learners so that they would take responsibility for their development according to their specific learning needs and teaching situation. Thus, this dissertation provides a historical, methodological, and pedagogical approach to the issue of Thai teacher development in using instructional technology in a constructivist learning environment.

abstract: This study investigated the effects of concurrent audio and equivalent onscreen text on the ability of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to form associations between textual and aural forms of target vocabulary words. The study also looked at the effects of learner control over an audio sequence on the association of textual and aural forms of target words. Attitudes towards experimental treatments and reported level of cognitive load were also examined in the context of a computer-based multimedia instructional program. A total of 200 college students took part in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental conditions in a 2 x 3 factorial design with level of learner control (learner-controlled vs. not-learner-controlled) and format of presentation of information (audio + no text vs. audio + full text vs. audio + keyword text) as factors. The subjects completed a pretest, a posttest, cognitive load questions, and an attitude questionnaire. The results revealed the following findings: (a) groups in the audio + keyword text conditions outperformed those in the audio + no text and audio + full text conditions on text-sound association, (b) within the audio + keyword text conditions, the learner-controlled group outperformed the not-learner-controlled group on text-sound association, (c) within the learner-controlled conditions, the audio + keyword group outperformed the audio + no text and audio + full text groups on text-sound association, (d) a redundancy effect was not found for any treatment condition, and (e) overall, participants had positive attitudes towards the treatments. Implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed within the frameworks of cognitive load theory and cognitive theory of multimedia learning. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Technology 2014

The high stakes on standardized testing in the United States of America’s education system pressures teachers to ensure every child meets minimum standards. Teachers report this pressure motivates them to focus the majority of their time on struggling students. Combined with lack of training and resources, intellectually gifted students may remain under-challenged in a regular elementary classroom. To address the problem, the researcher continued the development of an online instructional environment, which teachers may use to extend and enrich the regular language arts curriculum for intellectually gifted students. The researcher conducted a formative design experiment “to create a viable theory-driven intervention for achieving a pedagogical goal” (Reinking & Bradley, 2008, p. 12). The pedagogical goal is to develop an appropriately differentiated instructional tool for intellectually gifted third graders, which classroom teachers can easily incorporate into their literacy instruction. The purposes of this iterative design experiment are (1) to develop an instructional intervention aligned with current theory and practice; (2) to test, modify, and retest the intervention in a regular classroom while simultaneously measuring its effectiveness in achieving the literacy objectives and pedagogical goals to determine whether the intervention works; and (3) to describe the reactions of teachers and their third grade gifted students to answer why and in what context the intervention works. In iteration one, experts reviewed the intervention. Three areas of moderate concern guiding modifications at this stage were level of difficulty, engagement/enjoyability, and support in achieving objectives. Evaluations of the pre-/post-test indicated the questions were a good fit to the objectives. Matched halves were well-matched, readable, and only one minor concern of bias. There was not a statistically significant (p=0.1438) difference between the pre-test (m=19.5, s=5.44) and post-test scores (m=21.1, s=6.082) in iteration 2 with only 10 completers. These results, along with student and teacher questionnaires, guided modifications. In iteration 3 with 16 completers, there was a statistically significant difference (p=0.0026) between the pre- and post-test. The qualitative and quantitative data analyses revealed a positive affective response by both students and teachers. Particular features need further development to improve the effectiveness on achieving mastery of the skills. In conducting the study, the researcher faced a number of obstacles. This document also reports those challenges in an effort to advise researchers who wish to conduct formative design experiments within public school classrooms.

The essence of an effective knowledge transfer process for a technical organization cannot be overemphasized. It does not only translate to its advancement but also improves the learning capacity of the staff in the organization. The purpose of this work is to analyze and diagnose the current process of technical knowledge transfer It goes further to proffer a suitable model of design process for the technical instructions (which is one form of knowledge that is present in the organization) so as to improve not only the instructional manual but also the processes involved. The instructional model is a model gotten from the field of instructional technology (a sub-sect of educational technology) which is used to achieve this feat.

This research examined how four different animated pedagogical agent implementations, which focus on perceptual and inquiry arousal conditions of attention as defined in Keller’s ARCS model of motivational design (Keller, 2009), impact English language learners' situational interest, cognitive load, and reading comprehension in online readings tasks. Animated pedagogical agents (APA) are computer characters embodied with speech, gestures, or movement (Sweller, Ayres, & Kalyuga, 2011), which according to cognitive-affective theory of learning with media (CATLM; Moreno, 2005; Moreno & Mayer, 2007), can provide a mechanism for triggering situational interest in reading materials through different arousal conditions. In this study, perceptual arousal and inquiry arousal were implemented in two different levels within four APA conditions: high perceptual arousal and high inquiry arousal condition, high perceptual and low inquiry condition, low perceptual and high inquiry condition, and low perceptual and low inquiry condition. Study outcome variables included situational interest, cognitive load, and reading comprehension. Situational interest is a psychological construct defined as a specific person-to-topic relationship, which is triggered by the instructional environment during the first stage of a 4-phase model of interest development (Hidi & Renninger, 2006; Krapp, 2002). In this study, situational interest was operationally defined as a self-reported degree of attention and an affective reaction to environmental stimuli; situational interest was measured using a 6-item, 5-point Likert-scale instrument adopted from Rotgans and Schmidt’s (2011b) experiment. Cognitive load is defined in cognitive load theory as a mental effort in working memory, part of which may contribute to formation of mental schemas in long-vi term memory structures (Sweller et al., 1998, p. 259). In this study, three types of cognitive load were examined, including extraneous cognitive load, intrinsic cognitive load, and germane cognitive load. The three types of cognitive load were operationally defined as self-reported complexity, clarity and effectiveness of the presentation, and increase in knowledge and understanding of a topic. The three types of cognitive load were measured using a 10-item, 11-point Likert-scale questionnaire, which was validated in prior studies (Leppink et al., 2013). The last outcome variable, reading comprehension, was measured using multiple-choice recall and understanding questions included with each original text passage. This study did not find any evidence of perceptual or inquiry arousal effects on situational interest, however, disordinal interaction between perceptual and inquiry arousal levels on germane cognitive load was found. Also, a main effect of inquiry arousal levels on reading comprehension was discovered.

Basigin and Embigin are members of the immunoglobulin superfamily that function as cell adhesion molecules. Studies of Basigin null mice revealed reproductive sterility, increased pain sensitivity, and blindness. It is thought that the mechanism causing blindness involves misexpression of monocarboxylate transporter 1 (MCT1) in the absence of Basigin. It is known that the transmembrane domain of Basigin interacts with MCT1. In the absence of Basigin, MCT1 does not localize to the plasma membrane of expressing cells and photoreceptor function is disrupted. Studies of the Basigin null mouse brain suggest that MCT1 is properly expressed, which suggests a separate mechanism causes the increased pain sensitivity in these animals, and also that a different protein directs MCT1 to the plasma membrane of expressing cells in mouse brain. Embigin is known to interact with MCT2 in neurons and with MCT1 in erythrocytes. It is not known, however, if Embigin normally interacts with MCT1 in the mouse brain or if Embigin acts to compensate for the lack of Basigin in the Basigin null animals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if Embigin normally interacts with MCT1, 2, or 4 in the mouse brain and if so, whether the interaction is similar to that between Basigin and MCT1. Expression of Basigin, Embigin, MCT1, MCT2, and MCT4 in mouse brain was assessed via immunoblotting and immunohistochemical analyses. In addition, recombinant protein probes corresponding to the Embigin transmembrane domain were generated for ELISA binding assays using endogenous mouse brain MCTs. It was determined that the proteins in question are rather ubiquitously expressed throughout the mouse brain, and that the cell adhesion molecules Basigin and Embigin may be co-expressed in the same cells as the MCT2 and MCT4 transporter proteins. In addition, it was determined that the Embigin transmembrane domain does not interact with the MCTs. The data therefore suggest that MCTs do not require Basigin or Embigin for plasma membrane expression in mouse brain.

DEd (Curriculum Studies) / Department of Curriculum Studies / See the attached abstract below

<div>Previous studies indicated that calculus courses are considered `weed-out' courses as a lot of students in STEM majors struggle to pass. Instructors and researchers explored various instructional methods to facilitate calculus learning, however, more tailored instructional strategies are still needed. Inventing Contrasting Case is a strategy that has been proven effective in transfer, yet, its effect when combined with the motivational factor and across various content areas should be investigated further. Therefore, this study investigated the relationship between participants' motivation, instruction condition, and the performance on the direct application and transfer problems using Calculus 1 content. The data was collected from undergraduate students in STEM majors at a Midwestern university who were required to complete a Calculus 1 course to attain their degree. Eighty-one students participated for the study. Participants were assigned to either the iCalCulus (iCC) group or the Tell and Practice (TP) group. The study consisted of two separate sessions. In Session 1, participants were provided with a motivation survey, calculus course experience survey, pre-requisite knowledge check test, ICC task or TP task, and post-test. Seven days later, participants took a delayed post-test (Sesson 2). Google Forms was used to create study materials. The results from Bayesian independent sample t-test analyses indicated that the iCC group did not outperform the TP group in direct application problems. In addition, the iCC group did not outperform the TP group in PFL problems in either test. However, the ICC group outperformed the TP group in the further PFL problems from the delayed post-test (BF01 = .096, p = .003). The results from Bayesian one-way ANCOVA analyses indicated that there was the moderate idence that supports the effect of group condition on direct application, Preparation for Future Learning (PFL) performance from the post-test, while controlling for the average pre-requisite knowledge check test score and motivational level. The results also indicated that there was from moderate to strong evidence to support that group condition had an eect on PFL performance from the delayed post-test (Session 2), and the further PFL performance from both post-test and delayed post-test while controlling for the average pre-requisite knowledge check test score. In addition, motivational level was shown to not be an effective moderator between instructional condition and performance in PFL problems. The results from GLM repeated measure analyses showed the ICC strategy had a more significant effect on the participants regarding PFL performance and further PFL performance over time as there was a significant cross-over interaction effect between the time and the instruction condition (p = .012, <b>η_p²= .</b>08 for PFL performance and p = .003, <b>η_p²</b> = .11 for further PFL performance). The direction for potential future studies is addressed in the conclusion section including the importance of developing curriculum to train students' transfer ability; and a new type of assessment to measure transfer is offered for consideration.</div>

The 21st century is now in the second decade and the need for 21st century skills is discussed at all levels of education as necessary for student success in the future. Federal, state, and districts are addressing this need and have written technology plans to address 21st century skills needed. the purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to the knowledge of 21st century educational technology. the data includes seven recorded interviews from two separate research projects covering two models of education as teachers discuss teaching, learning, and technology. the data studied determines how educational technology perceived in the school environments has been integrated into the classrooms. the initial scripting of video interviews from two research projects began the analysis of data. Particular themes emerged in response to questions established by the two separate research projects focused on classroom, school, and district environmental arrangements that examined; teaching responsibilities and practices; student learning opportunities; and how technology is woven throughout instruction. Further exploration of themes stemmed from analysis conducted with the qualitative software program, NVivo 9. the themes discussed in this paper relate to instructor perceptions of teaching, learning, classroom procedures, and the role technology plays in each. Also noted are the factors beyond the teacher’s responsibility and set rules that include the school environment, district expectations, and supported teaching strategies for the schools. the teachers expressed their view that technology is an important support for learning and that they used technology to accomplish many of the tasks related to supporting teaching and learning. As perceived by the teachers, a major component that surfaced as a result of the analysis was children’s technology use was most drastically influenced by the expectations of the instructional leader to develop and the need to foster 21st century learning strategies such as critical thinking skills, self-assessment, and problem solving. Therefore, the school environment and expectations of the administrative level of management in the school systems, made the most impact on the learning opportunities the students were afforded where technology was an appropriate tool for learning.

Despite school leaders' attempts to implement technology designed to provide resources for parent and student use at home, many parents of at-risk children are reluctant to use the learning platforms. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the meaning of human experiences as they related to parents' reluctance to using learning management systems (LMSs). Elements from Rogers's innovation diffusion theory, Davis's technology acceptance model, and Epstein's parent involvement model were combined for the study's conceptual framework. The research questions addressed the challenges parents encounter with learning platforms; parents' experiences with teachers and schools with regard to training, orientation, and using learning platforms; and parents' feelings about establishing a learning institute to support their LMS use. Six parent participants from a small suburban school district in Southeastern United States who self-disclosed that they used LMS less than 3 times per week and had a child that scored at the beginning level of the mandatory state test were purposefully selected for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed via Moustakas's modified van Kaam method, which uncovered 4 major themes. The findings indicated that parents avoided using LMSs for several reasons, which included parents' lack of knowledge regarding accessing and using LMSs, ineffective orientation practices, lack of technical support, and lack of support for training. This research contributes to the existing body of literature and advances social change by illuminating parents' challenges with implemented technology. School leaders may use the findings to devise strategic plans to facilitate training programs for parents.