University personnel offering online doctoral degrees struggle to address high attrition of students in the dissertation phase; these students can feel isolated, disconnected, and unmotivated. The purpose of this study was to explore ways online doctoral students in the dissertation phase used social networking sites (SNS) to overcome isolation and to increase persistence. The conceptual framework was situated in communities of practice (CoP) and the theory on self-determination. Research questions explored participants' experiences with using SNS to remain connected and persistent. Data were collected from in-depth interviews with 7 online doctoral students, who met the criteria of being in the dissertation phase for a minimum of 2 quarters and using at least 1 social networking site; the participants were from 4 online institutions in the United States. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to examine themes and interpret the lived experiences of participants. Findings revealed that online doctoral students in the dissertation phase valued working with peers and with doctoral graduates from other institutions as a strategy to remain persistent in completing their dissertations. They focused on learning and on sharing with others for social and emotional support in a safe environment. Other elements included being held accountable and being challenged to keep moving. The results could influence instructional design for online doctoral candidates emphasizing the use of SNS for support from a CoP. Implications for positive social change include higher education personnel supporting unmonitored SNS interactions and increasing trust within school-created SNS spaces for students in the dissertation phase.

Although school districts provide collaborative cloud computing tools such as OneDrive and Google Drive for students and teachers, the use of these tools for grading and feedback purposes remains largely unexplored. Therefore, it is difficult for school districts to make informed decisions on the use of cloud applications for collaboration. This quantitative, nonexperimental study utilized Venkatesh et al.'s unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to determine teachers' intent to use collaborative cloud computing tools. Online surveys with questions pertaining to UTAUT's predictor variables of performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI), facilitating conditions (FC) and UTAUT's criterion variable of behavioral intent (BI) were administered to a convenience sample of 129 teachers who responded to an email solicitation. Pearson correlation results of r = 0.781, r = 0.646, r = 0.569, and r = 0.570 indicated strong, positive correlations between BI and PE, EE, SI, and FC respectively. Spearman rho correlations results of rs = 0.746, rs = 0.587, rs = 0.569, and rs = 0.613 indicated strong, positive correlations between BI and PE, EE, SI, and FC respectively. Simple linear regression results indicated that PE and EE are strong predictors of BI when moderated by age, gender, experience, and voluntariness of use (VU). SI is a strong predictor of BI when moderated by gender, but not by age, experience, and VU. This study's application of the UTAUT model to determine teachers' BI to use collaborative cloud computing tools could transform how administrators and educational technologists introduce these tools for grading and feedback purposes. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on technology integration among K-12 teachers.

Studies have shown that digital media and digital games can enhance students' learning experience. However, few teachers appear to use digital game-based learning (DGBL) regularly. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how middle school teachers use DGBL in the classroom and the factors that positively and negatively influenced their choices to use DGBL. Rogers's diffusion of innovations theory framed the study. Research questions examined how middle school teachers use DGBL in the classroom, what they view as positively and negatively influencing decisions to integrate DGBL, and differences based upon the point in their teaching career when they began using DGBL. Eight purposively selected middle school teachers who have integrated DGBL were interviewed. In vivo and pattern coding were used in analysis. Findings indicated that teachers use DGBL to engage students in content, support skill building, promote teamwork, individualize learning, and for feedback and classroom management. Factors that positively influenced adoption included teachers' own gaming experiences and perceptions of positive influence on lesson planning, classroom management, and students. Negative influences included technical difficulties, lack of self-efficacy, perceptions of students being distracted, time constraints, and the need for back up plans. There were some differences between number of years participants had been using DGBL. By better understanding how and why teachers use DGBL, policy makers, administrators, and preservice and professional development providers can develop strategies to better support DGBL use, which will benefit students' learning.

U.S. military members and their families relocate from one duty station to another on average once every 3 years. Children in military families change schools often, introducing potential problems such as struggling to make new friends, having trouble adjusting to new teaching styles, and losing academic credits due to the transition from one school to the next. Homeschooling that incorporates online resources can provide instructional continuity, social interaction opportunities, and submission of required periodic assessments. The primary purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of military parents involved in homeschooling their children using online resources. The research questions were designed to explore these experiences and to create recommendations for other military families. A conceptual framework based on a constructivist learning approach and change theory informed this study. Data were collected from 9 parents with many years of experience homeschooling. The parents were interviewed via phone, e-mail, and Skype. Data were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and hierarchical coding. Parent participants chose homeschooling due to dissatisfaction with available schools, family location, and flexibility. Online resources were described as making it easier and more engaging for students to learn and as simplifying the parents' instructional and management tasks. These alternative methods replaced or augmented traditional educational methods. Parent participants encouraged other parents to reach out and seek help early in the process. This study promotes positive social change by providing resources for alternative ways children can be educated while one or more military parent is serving and defending the United States of America.

The concept of literacy has expanded to include understanding and effective utilization of information, media, and technology. The Children's Internet Protection Act requires school districts to teach proper online use and behavior. The lack of a technology requirement in a rural, public school district in Northeastern Pennsylvania that meets the needs of 21st century learners and the conditions of the Children's Internet Protection Act was the rationale for the development of this project study. The study's conceptual framework stemmed from theories related to new literacies, multimodality, computer education practices, and millennial learners. The research questions examined educators' perceptions of topics and skills to include in a curricular framework that addressed the lack of a comprehensive technology requirement to improve 21st century digital literacy skills for all students. A qualitative case study design was selected and data from 40 open ended questionnaires, one 5-member focus group discussion, and two 6-member focus group discussions were open coded and thematically analyzed. Emergent themes relating to a digital literacy course framework included information access skills and the application of technology. Findings were validated through member checking and triangulated with 62 existing curricular documents. The project for this study consisted of a curricular framework for a 90 day 21st century digital literacy high school course that can be used by any school district to enhance the preparation of students for life after high school. Such use of the findings and culminating project may positively affect social change through a modern definition of literacy thus contributing towards the development of a positive and prepared 21st century citizenry.

The substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition (SAMR) model is designed to help teachers integrate technology in the classroom. In a district with 1:1 mobile technology, teachers expressed frustration and inconsistency about the use the SAMR model for effective teaching and learning. In this project study, the SAMR model conceptually framed the exploration of teachers' integration of mobile learning and their perceptions about using technology in the classroom. Guiding research questions addressed teacher's integration of the SAMR model and elements that contributed to their instruction with mobile technology. A qualitative case study of a school district included purposeful sampling of 12 new or novice special education, mathematics, physical education and science teachers who had integrated technology in their instruction. Data sources included semistructured interviews, review of artifacts such as lesson plans or curriculum guides, and subsequent observations of their classroom instruction. Interviews were transcribed and coded to identify themes. Observations were documented by using a checklist and data were analyzed using the SAMR model to determine levels of technology integration. The content of artifacts was analyzed to explore congruence in the data. Teachers demonstrated low enhancement levels of the SAMR model for technology integration and described elements of productivity use or student engagement as contributions to their curricular modification. The findings were used to formulate a professional development plan for teachers to design effective technology-integrated curricula. This study may impact positive social change by providing a model to assist other districts with similar inconsistencies in the modification of instruction for mobile learning environments to enhance teaching and learning.

The increasing use of blended models of instruction within the U.S. public school system is transforming the K-12 education. However, few studies have been conducted of the innovation-adoption process involving blended instruction within the K-12 public school sector. In this nonexperimental, quantitative study, Rogers's five perceived attributes of innovations was used as a theoretical lens to explore how teachers' affective job satisfaction might affect the innovation-adoption process at the individual level. Research questions pertained to the relationship, if any, between affective job satisfaction among teachers and their perceptions of the complexity, compatibility, and relative advantage of blended instruction. Surveys were administered to middle school teachers (n = 40) in the core curriculum within southeastern U.S. schools. Data were analyzed for relationships using Spearman's correlation; relationships found to have statistical significance were further explored using ordinal logistic regression. Affective job satisfaction had a moderately positive and statistically significant relationship with how participants perceived the compatibility and relative advantage of blended instruction (rs = .487). However, the relationship was inconsistent among subgroups, varying from rs = .181 (n = 13) to rs = .693 (n = 10). Findings could be used to promote positive social change by providing insight into the role of affective job satisfaction within the innovation-adoption process within the K-12 sector.

With the increase in pressures related to teaching online, counselor educators are experiencing greater amounts of burnout. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative survey study was to assess for significant differences and correlations between synchronous and asynchronous communication modes on online counselor educators' job satisfaction levels as measured by the Online Instructor Satisfaction Measure, and levels of burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory Educators Survey. The researcher used Moore's theory of transactional distance as the theoretical framework to answer 2 research questions: (a) Is there a significant difference in faculty satisfaction and burnout levels based on communication modes?; and (b) Is there a relationship between satisfaction and burnout for faculty members depending on their use of synchronous and asynchronous communication modes? The researcher solicited participants for the study through the CESNET listserv and the CACREP graduate program database. A total of 125 participants completed surveys and 2 data analysis techniques were used. Results of the t test indicated that counselor educators had significantly higher levels of satisfaction, higher levels of personal accomplishment and significantly lower levels of emotional exhaustion when using synchronous communications. The Pearson correlation analysis results indicated significant correlations between satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment depending on the type of communications. The study will potentially contribute to social change by providing information useful for the implementation of teaching methods that improve overall faculty satisfaction and decrease burnout.

According to the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (2012-2013), access to higher education is limited in most of the developing countries due to inadequate budgets and lack of schools and teaching staff. The use of educational technology could help bridge the gap, but research has only explored the use of available technologies to enhance learning where higher education is already accessible. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the use of one-to-many videoconferencing as an education access tool for high school seniors seeking higher education in the most devastated areas of Haiti. The theoretical framework for this study is based on Bandura's social learning theory, activity theory, and constructivist epistemology. This study attempts to explore the feasibility of using one-to-many videoconferencing learning to enhance access to education in Haiti. The study also analyzes the experiences of various sets of participants. The data were drawn from 13 interviews involving the school principal, the school's technology expert, 10 students, and one instructor corroborated by hours spent observing the same participants engaged in classroom activities via videoconferencing. The participants were interviewed on their experiences with the new delivery method proposed and utilized in the study. The data from this study suggest that by preserving the features of the familiar classroom model, videoconferencing could be successfully utilized to compensate for the lack of other facilities for higher education. The data was coded and analyzed using the NVivo data analysis software. The study will allow Haitian professionals living outside of the country to affect change in access to higher learning in Haiti.

Parents are important to the success of the one-to-one computing programs that are becoming more commonplace in secondary classrooms. Parents' opinions can influence the success of these programs or doom them to failure; however, little is known regarding parents' attitudes about these programs. To understand parental attitudes toward a one-to-one laptop program, this qualitative exploratory case study used Rogers's diffusions of innovations theory on how new ideas and technologies spread. Participants included 11 parents of students attending 2 urban secondary schools with similar demographics in the southwestern United States. Data were collected through focus group sessions, follow-up interviews, and relevant documents. Data were analyzed through qualitative content analysis and coding. Findings revealed that parents loved the one-to-one laptop program, saw technology to be a right of all students, thought that the district-managed laptops were used more for academic rather than educational purposes due to content filters and other restrictions, and believed that a central school-wide technology support system available to all stakeholders, including parents, was critical to the success of the one-to-one laptop program and approval by parents. This study may create positive social change by providing new insights and beneficial tips to educational organizations looking to use one-to-one laptop programs most effectively.