New electronic technologies like computers and the Internet continue to spread to all parts of the world. Developing nations like Malawi have experienced this thrust in the area of electronic technologies. Mzuzu University, a relatively new university in the Malawian education system has made tremendous efforts in providing computers and the internet to faculty members of the University. It was however not clear if such efforts had resulted in corresponding application and integration of the technologies in teaching and learning. This study ventured to investigate prevailing levels of utilization of the computer technology and the Internet in teaching and learning at the university and uncover factors that facilitate or hinder use and integration of the technologies in teaching and learning. Results of the study revealed that while most faculty members actively engaged with electronic technologies, such engagements often excluded instructional use. Where electronic technologies have been used for instructional purposes, it has been mainly for accessing information for teaching. Factors that affect utilization and integration of electronic technologies comprise limited availability of the technologies; unreliability of the available technologies due to related issues like power outages and poor reception; lack of training; lack of technical, pedagogical and administrative support; and lack of faculty involvement in decision making relating to electronic technologies. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this descriptive case study was to identify the strategies used by post-secondary military institutions to adopt, implement and train faculty for the use of new instructional technologies in the learning environment. Termed the Innovation Migration Process, it includes: 1) the adoption decision (selection of the innovation), 2) strategies for implementation and, 3) how faculty are trained on its use. The study was a two phased, explanatory, mixed-methods design beginning with a quantitative survey, followed by twelve qualitative interviews conducted at two exemplary institutions. The study identified two strategies are used to adopt new technology: 1) authoritative decisions from the "top-down" and 2) a bottom-up strategy where new technology is first used by innovators who work with a central organization to adopt the change. Five strategies were identified to implement the innovation: 1) centralized training; 2) leadership commitment; 3) tapping expertise; 4) well defined support for pedagogy and technical issues; and 5) a robust infrastructure. Four strategies were found for training faculty: 1) tapping expertise (indicating training and implementation are interwoven); 2) formal training; and 4) dedicated training time. The fourth strategy, incentives and rewards, was used successfully by one of the two exemplary institutions, but few of the other institutions offered either of these for training. Suggested guidelines for post-secondary, military institutions include: create a culture of innovativeness; demonstrated commitment by the leadership; follow Ely's Eight Conditions for Implementation; develop a centralized training organization; develop a robust technical support organization; invest in the infrastructure; seek out and support innovators; use a formal faculty development program. / Ph. D.

This case study examined how contextual factors influenced the adaptation of on-line courses created in the United States as they were re-purposed for use in Malawi. The investigation starts and ends within Year Two of a five year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The grant brings together an instructional technology program at a large research university in the southeastern United States and a newly established national university in Malawi, Africa. A total of 24 people participated in the study. Of these, nine were directly involved in the adaptation process, five of whom were students from Malawi. Six other Malawian students took part in a formative review of the instructional products. Three professors of instructional technology were also directly involved in the adaptation process. The participants involved in the adaptation process did their work over the course of one semester. They took pre-existing web-based courses created for an on-line master's degree program in instructional technology and adapted them for use in Malawi by accounting for various contextual elements. Data included project documents, student-created materials including personal journal reflections, interviews with students and faculty at both institutions, field notes, and personal observations by the researcher. Data analysis procedures followed protocols established for descriptive, qualitative methodologies. The findings emphasize the importance of a needs assessment and context analysis as developed by people who are native to a particular culture. Instructional designers who are made aware of contextual factors through such documents become more sensitive to cultural issues related to teaching and learning. Negotiation among team members to come to a workable consensus is also important, as project goals inevitably evolve. Another interesting outcome of this study was the fact that not one context, but two, affect adaptation. Whereas the Malawian context impacted content and delivery mechanisms of the courses, the U.S. context influenced the process and procedure for design. / Ph. D.

Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) professionals practice their skills in a broad range of career environments and job roles. Each career environment has lists of competencies and unique knowledge and skill requirements that may or may not be communicated to students, since IDT programs do not typically distinguish themselves as preparing students for specific career environments. Not much has been written concerning how, and how well, IDT programs are preparing students for professional practice in different career or work environments. This study utilized a mixed method approach to carry out a two phase study. In Phase I, current IDT practitioners were surveyed concerning the match between their preparation program and their IDT work experience, and their opinions of exemplary programs for preparing students for their career environment. Respondents to the survey indicated that they felt somewhat to fully prepared for general instructional design practices, but over 25% felt that their program was not adequate for preparing them for the cultural aspects of their career environment. Survey respondents identified Indiana University (Bloomington) and Florida State University (Tallahassee) as top exemplary programs for preparing graduates for practicing instructional design for a variety of career environments. Phase I results informed Phase II of the research, which consisted of a case study of the Instructional Systems program at Florida State University. The case study identified the philosophies of educators at an exemplary program, the experiences those philosophies were based on, and specific ways the program instantiated those philosophies. Educators at Florida State use a pragmatic combination of situated methods and strategies that enable students to develop expertise through participation in communities of practice relevant to their career goals. The study concluded that, with respect to career environment preparation, the best approach to IDT preparation is a generalist approach that provides flexibility in coursework selection so that students can obtain coursework and authentic experiences to prepare them for the career environment of their choice. / Ph. D.

This study examined the effect of a visual arts, family-focused school readiness intervention on the parental efficacy and level of family involvement of low-income families. A second, primary focus of the study was to test the potential of academically focused experiences in the visual arts to increase the basic concept development of young children. To increase accessibility, the intervention was conducted in a neighborhood library. The research design for this descriptive study included qualitative and quantitative components. Data collection consisted of a non-randomized one group pre-test/posttest design from students on a standardized instrument and from primary caregivers using self-report questionnaires. Other data collection sources included field notes documenting observations made during implementation collected by the investigator, parent home engagement data in the form of a weekly survey filled out by adult participants and weekly phone calls monitoring any issues or questions regarding the completion of take-home activities. The results of this relatively small sample using the visual arts to build basic concept knowledge indicate that, given a larger sample, this approach may prove to be a promising strategy to use with young children and their families. The average raw score gain on the student basic concept scale was 8 points at the end of the seven-week intervention. The parent surveys indicated that almost all books sent home were read each week and an average of three home learning activities per book were completed between sessions. The majority of parents commented at least once on the At-Home Surveys about increases in positive interaction with their children while engaged in the home learning activities. Enhancing the parent-child relationship begins with the sharing of positive experiences. Comments made by adult participants indicated that parents felt empowered to better support their child's learning by participating in this experience.

Role clarity for any individual leads to more successful implementation of his or her job expectations. In a school, there are many individuals with various roles to fill. The Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT) has multiple roles within a school including: training teachers, designing integrated curriculum, managing learning resources, modeling instructional strategies, acting as a technology resource, assisting content specialists, and preview and recommending software. This study found that stakeholders in schools consistently recognize the ITRT as both a trainer and designer of integrated lessons. Other instructional support roles are recognized only by some stakeholders in schools. When a greater emphasis is placed on 21st Century skills throughout the school, there is greater consistency in the perceptions of the roles of the ITRT by stakeholders.

<p>This dissertation consists of three journal articles about using open digital badges to improve learning performance and facilitate students’ goal setting processes. In the first study, we investigated the impact of instructional ODBs on pre-service teachers’ perceived technology capabilities and their actual learning performance in a large undergraduate technology integration course. A positive relation between using ODBs and academic learning performance was found in the study. The second study conceptually argued that the use of ODBs can positively impact learning because it helps optimize the effects of goal-setting on learning which then indirectly impacts learning performance. In the third study, we explored college students’ experiences of using ODBs as an innovative approach to facilitate their goal-setting processes in a large undergraduate technology integration course. We found that ODBs could support college students’ goal-setting processes by helping students connect different types of goals, improving goal commitment, controlling task complexity and providing prompt personalized feedback. </p>

Recent advancements in instructional technology and interactive learning space designs have transformed how undergraduate classrooms are envisioned and conducted today. Large number of research studies have documented the impact of instructional technology and interactive learning spaces on elevated student learning gains, positive attitudes, and increased student engagement in undergraduate classrooms across nation. These research findings combined with the movement towards student-centered instructional strategies have motivated college professors to explore the unfamiliar territories of instructional technology and interactive learning spaces. Only a limited number of research studies that explored college professors’ perspective on instructional technology and interactive learning space use in undergraduate classrooms exist in the education research literature. Since college professors are an essential factor in undergraduate students’ academic success, investigating how college professors perceive and utilize instructional technology and interactive learning environments can provide insights into designing effective professional development programs for college professors across undergraduate institutions. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate college professors’ pedagogical reasoning behind incorporating different types of instructional technologies and teaching strategies to foster student learning in technology-infused interactive learning environments. Furthermore, this study explored the extent to which college professors’ instructional decisions and practices are affected by teaching in an interactive learning space along with their overall perception of instructional technology and interactive learning spaces. Four college professors from a large public Midwestern university who taught undergraduate science courses in a classroom based on the ‘SCALE-UP model’ participated in this study. Major data sources included classroom observations, interviews and questionnaires. An enumerative approach and the constant comparative method were utilized to analyze the data. According to the results obtained, all the participating college professors of this study employed a variety of instructional technologies and learning space features to actively engage their students in classroom activities. Participants were largely influenced by the instructional technology and the learning space features at lesson planning and execution stages whereas this influence was less notable at the student assessment stage. Overall, college professors perceive technology-infused interactive learning environments to be advantageous in terms of enabling flexibility and creativity along with easy facilitation of classroom activities. However, they felt challenged when designing effective classroom activities and preferred continuous professional development support. Overall, college professors’ pedagogical decision making process, their perceived benefits and challenges seemed to be interrelated and centered on the learners and the learning process. Primary implication of this study is to implement effective professional development programs for college professors which enable them to familiarize themselves with student-centered pedagogy and effective classroom activity design along with the novel trends in learning space design and instructional technologies. Furthermore, higher education institutions need to devise incentives and recognition measures to appreciate college professors’ contributions to advance scholarship of teaching and learning.

This study used content analysis to examine the coverage of cultural issues in the five phases of instructional design within ID/ISD textbooks published between 1993 and 2003. The results indicated that not all the ID/ISD textbooks examined in this study covered cultural issues. Among the textbooks that did cover cultural issues, none of them reached more than 10% coverage of the total pages of any one book. The phase of Analysis and the Other category received the highest amount of coverage in both the 53 books sample and 36 books sample; whereas the phase of Implementation received the least amount of coverage overall. The findings from this study have implications for both students and faculty members. With respect to students, the coverage of cultural issues in the textbooks examined in this study might influence students' beliefs regarding cultural issues. It may indirectly influence future instructional designers' work effectiveness as well. With respect to faculty members, the amount of cultural issues coverage may reinforce faculty members to underrate the importance of cultural issues in the instructional design process. The study also provides several recommendations to textbook authors, faculty members and instructional designers regarding the amount of coverage of cultural issues within the ID/ISD textbooks.

Virtual Worlds (VWs) in foreign language education are slowly becoming more popular. Many studies have looked at the affordances of these worlds and how they affect some aspects of language acquisition. However, it is still unknown to what extent, if any, these virtual worlds can play a role in affecting motivation and anxiety. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between motivation, anxiety and virtual worlds to see how participation in activities within these environments interacted in two individual language learners, Jessica and Melissa. Using a case study approach, I observed and interviewed the two participants in order to determine how these variables may have interacted in their experiences online. For these participants, avatar presence affected their anxiety, but the amount of that affect was determined by their pre-existing motivations for learning Spanish and the vividness and plausibility of their Ideal L2 Self. Both participants saw benefits for having an avatar as a face-saving device, but this was more evident in Jessica because she engaged in only conversations with speakers other than her classmates. While this investigation yielded results that support previous research on virtual worlds and anxiety, more research is necessary to see if and to what extent these worlds can affect motivation.