Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Dana Fox, committee chair; Steven Whatley, Joyce Many, Amy Flint, committee members. Electronic text (145 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed August 8, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-140).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Colleen Fairbanks. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Education, December 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-334). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1990. / Title from title page screen, viewed November 8, 2005. Dissertation Committee: G. Thomas Baer (chair), Ronald Halinski, Jeanne Morris, David Tucker. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-70) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-108).

The purpose of this year long strategic ethnography is to discover how introducing digital storytelling into an urban second grade classroom impacts the study of language arts and repositions students as literacy learners. Research questions include: (1) In a classroom where most of the students have never used computers before as learning tools, what happens as they learn to create books using digital means? (2) How do the students position themselves as authors, and how do they use imagery in representing their alphabetic (or regular print) texts? For this study, the students write stories in cooperative writing groups and choose their own topics. The students illustrate their stories and the illustrations are scanned for digitalization. The students learn how to word process their stories, and the students also learn how to incorporate both image and text onto a page using a computer application. The researcher is a participant/observer, spending one language arts period per week in this classroom. The methods of data collection include: fieldnotes, digital photographs, audio tapes, video tapes, student surveys, teacher interviews, news stories and demographic information collected from Winterdale school system, student generated texts and other student artifacts. The frameworks of this study include: The New London Group’s theory of multiliteracies, Kress and van Leeuwen’s theory of semiotics, and Spradley’s analysis techniques based on ethnographic participant observation. Analysis of these student generated texts using the frameworks mentioned, critical discourse analysis and domain analysis help to reveal emerging themes and how the students position themselves as writers. Video footage, fieldnotes, participant observation and dialogical data show that the students in this study were excited and energized by their involvement with the Digital Storytelling Project (DSP) and that the use of computer and digital media technology was very well received. As the students shared in the decision making involved in designing a story, they positioned themselves and one another as authorities, and as successful and creative writers and illustrators. Creating the images for their stories opened up yet another mode of communication and became a source of competence for the students. They used their imaginations and elaborated on their story lines as they added visual details that were not found in the written texts. The DSP also raised the classroom teacher’s awareness of computer technology and gave her the courage to be an active participant in the realm of technology alongside her students. Three of the student participants exhibited positive behavior changes as a result of participating in this project. This study implies that pairing social semiotics with computer technology can enable students, including at-risk students, to find modes of communication that they can employ, and this has the potential to increase active engagement with literacy learning.

No description available.

Not available / text

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to describe the implementation of a major curriculum change at the fifth grade level in two different school district settings; an urban district and a suburban district. The major curriculum change was a shift from traditional reading and language arts instructional approaches to an Integrated Whole Language instructional approach. The implementation of this change was examined on the basis of self-reports by administrators, teachers, and students and was analyzed in the context of organizational factors in schools that have typically influenced change. These included school district demographics, the decision making process, administrative support, inservice training, the principal's leadership role, and resources available. Additionally, the study investigated the relationship between teacher self-reported implementation behaviors and student self-reported attitudes and behaviors related to reading and writing. A blend of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies was employed to describe the implementation as a change process. Extensive descriptive data was collected from school districts, individual schools, administrators and teachers. Teacher administrator interviews were conducted to develop description of organizational factors, and teachers reported their implementation behaviors on a questionnaire. Teacher implementation scores were used to describe difference between teachers, schools, and districts. A major conclusion was that change is an individual and developmental process. Differences existed in teacher implementation scores and perceptions of the change. It was also concluded that significant differences between administrator and teacher interview responses were related to different knowledge and involvement levels, and a reported lack of principal support. Within school differences and between district differences were found and were related to contextual factors.