The proliferation of teams and team-based activities emphasizes the need to understand knowledge sharing behaviors in order to facilitate team performance. Knowledge sharing in teams is valuable and indispensable for both academic and corporate organizations in order to meet and manage team effectiveness. Knowledge is driven by people who behave in different ways based on their environment and its accompanying factors. Considering what factors facilitate knowledge sharing behaviors in teams within an academic environment is an important benchmark for knowledge management researchers and instructional designers. Instructors and professors plan various thorough and organized collaborative opportunities for teams in their classrooms to encourage knowledge sharing. Similarly, understanding the specific factors of a collaborative context before setting team procedures better facilitates knowledge sharing behaviors. Therefore, the research problem addressed in this study was to predict what contextual factors promote perceptions toward knowledge sharing behaviors in students enrolled in graduate courses from a business school, as measure by a self-reported questionnaire. Prior studies on student teams state that team climate and leadership contributes to student knowledge sharing behavioral patterns. These studies emphasize the importance of recognizing specific factors that function with climate and leadership to contribute towards knowledge sharing behaviors and attitudes toward knowledge sharing; this would allow instructional designers to more fully understand the process. Furthermore, other studies related to team knowledge sharing behaviors reported certain specific factors, like organizational context, interpersonal and team characteristics, and cultural characteristics as crucial in influencing knowledge sharing behaviors. Specifically, in regard to team context, existing studies mentioned five factors - climate, leadership, rewards and incentives, structure, and support - that encourage knowledge sharing behaviors and attitude towards knowledge sharing in teams. Thus, in this study, the researcher investigated team climate, leadership, rewards and incentives, task structure, and task support to determine in what manner these factors influence student knowledge sharing behaviors as well as attitudes toward knowledge sharing in graduate business courses. This study used the quantitative methodologies. Multiple regression and correlation analysis were used to measure students' self-reported perceptions of what contextual factors impacted their knowledge sharing behaviors and attitudes toward knowledge sharing during team project work. The findings of this study show that in the studied context, students reported that task structure affected their knowledge sharing behaviors more than the rest of the identified factors. Correspondingly, rewards and incentives impacted their attitudes toward knowledge sharing behaviors. The findings also indicate negative correlations of team climate and leadership with attitudes toward knowledge sharing. Correspondingly, this study delineates certain implications for instructional designers for assisting knowledge sharing behaviors in teams. The study results contribute to the body of literature that suggest the importance of motivating and supporting detailed task structure and procedures for promoting knowledge sharing behaviors in student teams. / Ph. D.

<p>All though laughter is traditionally thought of as divergent from the goals of science learning, this perspective seems to be a cursory assumption about which little empirical evidence is provided. Taking a situated and embodied approach to learning, this study details the affordances of laughter in an afterschool STEM program for resettled Burmese refugee high school youth. The informal learning setting in the afterschool program provides a space where laughter is often present, yet the meanings of laughter in these settings are not well understood. Through micro analysis of video data collected from the afterschool setting, three interactions between youth and facilitators in the setting were examined to investigate the work that youth’s laughter does in the moment to challenge insular concepts of science discourse. Interaction ritual analysis was used theorize the examined interactions’ connections to other moments in the learning setting. In doing so, the affordances of laughter were found to be its work in generating solidarity, democratizing power relations, and providing ways to deal with uncertainty in science. Overall, findings from this research indicate that the informal learning context and responsive pedagogy provided important localities for youth to draw on their resources and they do so even in seemingly insignificant moments along the margins of what is traditionally considered to be science discourse. </p>

Educators and educational researchers constantly strive to find effective instructional methods that meet the needs of struggling students. There is a well-established relationship between self-regulated learning and academic achievement. Therefore, a great deal of research has been conducted examining the effectiveness of interventions designed to develop self-regulated learning sub-processes including goal setting, help-seeking behavior, self-monitoring, and causal attributions. One particular sub-process that has gained significant attention is self-motivation beliefs, which includes goal orientation. Developing a growth mindset, or the belief that that intelligence is malleable, has been found to increase student learning. Intelligent tutoring systems have also been incorporated into K-12 education to help differentiate instruction and improve learning outcomes. There have been several empirical studies that have attempted to develop help-seeking behavior and growth mindset with interventions delivered by intelligent tutoring systems. Initially, the goal of this dissertation was to increase student learning by developing self-regulated learning through the use of an intelligent tutoring system. Preliminary attempts failed to modify student beliefs and behavior. As a result, a series of additional randomized controlled trials were conducted. This dissertation is a compilation of those studies, which attempted to leverage ASSISTments, an intelligent tutoring system, to improve student learning in mathematics. Each randomized controlled trial introduced an intervention, based on prior work, designed to address at least one aspect of self-regulated learning and measure the effect on learning. Most of the studies were unsuccessful in producing significant changes in either self-regulation or learning, failing to support the findings of prior research. Survey results suggest that students are reluctant to engage in certain self-regulated learning behaviors, like self-recording, because of the frustration caused when answering a question incorrectly. Based on the findings from these studies, recommendations for potential interventions and future research are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine belonging at classroom and academic domain levels, extending research that has primarily investigated general school and classroom-level belonging. This examination accounts for the context-specific, instructional, and domain experiences of students’ belonging. More specifically, the goals of the research were to investigate the relations between belonging in science class with engagement, and to contrast students’ perspectives of science classroom belonging in traditional compared to inquiry curricular contexts. Middle school students from traditional and inquiry science contexts completed self-reported measures of science classroom belonging and science engagement. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate students’ experiences of belonging in science class. Science classroom belonging was correlated with science engagement, with students from inquiry contexts reporting higher belonging and engagement quality. In both contexts, students reported common social, academic and contextual sources of belonging, with additional emphasis on content-based and interpersonal interactions. In comparing justifications between contexts on the role of competence for experienced belonging, students in traditional contexts reflected on self-focused, intrapersonal competence, while students in inquiry contexts reflected on interpersonal forms of competence. Students’ differentiated reports and conceptualization of belonging were related to contextual supports for involvement in authentic disciplinary practice and peer responsiveness.

This thesis explores the application of vision-based augmented reality in formal and informal educational environments. It focuses on the common practices, concerns, and priorities that developers and content creators in each environment frequently encounter, offering insights into how these experiences are changing with the incorporation of new digital media technologies and the hardware platforms that support them. The research outlined in this thesis uses qualitative methods, assembled around a series of twelve hour-long interviews with highly-experienced educators, developers, researchers, and designers, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. This thesis introduces original research about the role of computer vision-based augmented reality as an educational medium, a topical discussion in information studies, museum studies, learning sciences, and a number of other fields, and makes a theoretical commitment to addressing the ways that material and virtual objects come to interact meaningfully in a variety of learning environments.

There is a societal need for design education to prepare holistic engineers with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to innovate and compete globally. Design skills are paramount to the espoused values of higher education, as institutions of higher learning strive to develop in students the cognitive abilities of critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. To meet these interests from industry and academia, it is important to advance the teaching and learning of engineering design. This research aims to understand how engineering students learn and think about design, as a way for engineering educators to optimize instructional practice and curriculum development. Qualitative research methodology was used to investigate the meaning that engineering students’ ascribe to engineering design. The recruitment of participants and corresponding collection of data occurred in two phases using two different data collection techniques. The first phase involved the distribution of a one-time online questionnaire to all first year, third year, and fourth year undergraduate engineering students at three Canadian Universities. After the questionnaire, students were asked if they would be willing to participate in the second phase of data collection consisting of a personal interview. A total of ten students participated in interviews. Qualitative data analysis procedures were conducted on students’ responses from the questionnaire and interviews. The data analysis process consisted of two phases: a descriptive phase to code and categorize the data, followed by an interpretative phase to generate further meaning and relationships. The research findings present a conceptual understanding of students’ descriptions about engineering design, structured within two educational orientations: a learning studies orientation and a curriculum studies orientation. The learning studies orientation captured three themes of students’ understanding of engineering design: awareness, relevance, and transfer. With this framework of student learning, engineering educators can enhance learning experiences by engaging all three levels of students’ understanding. The curriculum studies orientation applied the three holistic elements of curriculum—subject matter, society, and the individual—to conceptualize design considerations for engineering curriculum and teaching practice. This research supports the characterization of students’ learning experiences to help educators and students optimize their teaching and learning of design education. / Thesis (Master, Mechanical and Materials Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-23 12:22:24.3

This thesis explores the application of vision-based augmented reality in formal and informal educational environments. It focuses on the common practices, concerns, and priorities that developers and content creators in each environment frequently encounter, offering insights into how these experiences are changing with the incorporation of new digital media technologies and the hardware platforms that support them. The research outlined in this thesis uses qualitative methods, assembled around a series of twelve hour-long interviews with highly-experienced educators, developers, researchers, and designers, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. This thesis introduces original research about the role of computer vision-based augmented reality as an educational medium, a topical discussion in information studies, museum studies, learning sciences, and a number of other fields, and makes a theoretical commitment to addressing the ways that material and virtual objects come to interact meaningfully in a variety of learning environments.

It seems like teaching about games should be easy. After all, students enjoy engaging with course content and have extensive experience with videogames. However, games education can be surprisingly complex. I explore the question of what it means to understand games by looking at the challenges and problems faced by students taking games-related classes. My findings include realizing that extensive prior videogame experience often interferes with students abilities to reason critically and analytically about games, and that students have difficulties articulating their experiences and observations about games. In response to these challenges, my research explores how we can use online learning environments to support learning about games by (1) helping students get more from their experiences with games, and (2) helping students use what they know to establish deeper understanding. I explore these strategies through the design and use of two online learning environments: GameLog and the Game Ontology Wiki. GameLog is an online blogging environment designed to help students reflect on their game playing experiences. The Game Ontology wiki provides a context for students to contribute and participate legitimately and authentically in the Game Ontology Project. The Game Ontology Project is a games studies research project that is creating a framework for describing, analyzing and studying games. GameLog and the Game Ontology Wiki were used in university level games-related classes. Results show that students found that participating in these online learning environments was a positive learning experience that helped them broaden and deepen their understanding of videogames. Students found that by reflecting on their experiences playing games they began to understand how game design elements helped shape that experience. Most importantly, they stepped back from their traditional role of gamers or fans and engaged in reasoning critically and analytically about the games they were studying. With GameLog, I show how blogging about experiences of gameplay can be a useful activity for supporting learning and understanding about games. For the Game Ontology Wiki, I show how it is possible to design learning environments that are approachable to learners and allow them to contribute legitimately to external communities of practice.

Thesis advisor: Michael Barnett / This dissertation documents the pilot year of an Art Science Program. This study asks: what is possible when we create learning environments modeled for the integration of theatre and other artistic media with science? What, in general, are the affordances of theatre and other art forms for fostering such meaning-making, what are good ways to make it happen, and what are the challenges? We analyze young learners’ participation and attitude changes in the context of the Art Science Program. Findings indicate that (1) access to identity resources impacts learners’ practice-linked identities (Nasir & Cooks, 2009); (2) face-saving behaviors impact practice-linked identities by inhibiting learners’ access to identity resources; (3) the development of practice-linked identities parallels the development of possible selves; (4) the extent to which a learner is able to engage in their learning as a “whole person” (Wenger, 2006) is correlated with a learner’s identity trajectory; (5) learners may fail to form new practice-linked identities despite robust access to identity resources; and (6) learners may succeed in forming new practice-linked identities despite lack of significant access to identity resources because the identity resources that they do access provide a strong hook into new, nascent practice-linked identities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

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