This study aimed at investigating the differences in expectations between students with respect to their chosen programs between two English degree programs (Arts and Education). Eight research questions were formulated to pursue the purpose of this study. 351 students of English from the College of Education and the Faculty of Arts constituted the sample. The data was collected randomly through the use of survey questionnaire and was analyzed with the use of SPSS v11.0. Frequencies and percentage distributions as well as two independent-samples t-test statistical procedures were used to analyze the collected data. In general, the results showed that students' expectations played an important role in students' choice of the preferred program of study with respect to English language programs. Based on a given context, students were found to hold what could be termed 'global' expectations where students show similar expectation, and 'program-related' expectations. One main conclusion drawn from this study was that students' expectations were vital in students' decision to invest in continued participating in education. Students were significantly statistically differentiated as a function of different expectations, particularly economic expectations. However, expectations were not just confined to pecuniary benefits; students tended to value the non-pecuniary benefits as well. Hence, students, along with their expectations should be included in evaluating or revising the academic programs instead of relying thoroughly on signals coming from the labor market and employers. Implications for educational policies and recommendations for future research were included as well. / Ph. D.

Using Roberts’ seven science curriculum emphases as a framework, an investigation into Alberta’s physics program-of-study revealed pre-service, novice, and experienced teachers tended to focus on the emphasis Structure of Science. Other aspects of the program-of-study that was a high priority for teachers were the ideas of the holistic views of physics and student engagement which both fell beyond Roberts’ framework. Comparing the focus of the teacher participants to the curriculum leader, interpreted by the researcher to be a representative of the Curriculum Branch of Alberta Education, it was noted that the areas of weak overlap between the teacher participants and the curriculum leader were the ideas of Structure of Science and student engagement. However, the curriculum leader tended to focus more on Self as Explainer and Science, Technology, and Decision.

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This qualitative naturalistic research study investigated peer interaction and its relationship to the learning of Logo geometry concepts within an elementary school computer lab classroom environment. The work of four focal children (10-11 years old) and their partners was analyzed. The study looked at (1) the kind of working relationships which existed between the partners, (2) the verbal strategies used by the partners during their mathematics disagreement, and (3) the ways in which the talk between the partners and the strategies they used both contributed to their learning, and reflected their learning, of the geometry concepts (with an emphasis upon the aspect of angular rotation). / The findings revealed that all but one of the dyadic (and triadic) partnerships were collaborative and symmetrical: the children took turns giving information and explanation. At times the information was incorrect. The number of explanations given was very small. A range of peer teaching skills was in evidence. There was no correspondence found between the rate of use of higher level strategies (which included talk supported by reasons), and the child's general Logo achievement. However, the verbal strategies used during disagreements did reveal the children's modes of working and thinking. Seven of the ten children worked in an algorithmic way; the other three seemed to understand what they were doing when they worked with angular rotations. The study was able to report on aspects concerning the children's understanding of angular rotation in the early stages of Logo learning, as well as on the sociocognitive aspect concerning the effects that children working together can have upon their learning of Logo geometry concepts.

D.Ed. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

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Do federal policies influence program offerings for career and technical education(CTE)? Often the implication of compliance and the expectation of connecting compliance to funding is considered a tactic to leverage expectations on a large scale. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if the CTE programs located in a singular region of Texas were compliant with federal expectations by way of evaluating the alignment of programs offered and local labor markets prior to the implementation of Perkins V. The evaluation of a variety of archival data and subsequent findings of the correlation of alignment of programs within the region along with the amount of federal Perkins's dollars spent on CTE was a confirmed as an effective policy reform measure. Additional evaluations included the combination of federal and state spending in correlation to the number of programs offered in career and technical education along with the actual CTE student enrollment of a given district. Major findings showed that through a moderation analysis for some districts the number of programs offered could be influenced by program funding and size. In addition, this study confirmed that many programs are indeed compliant, however compliance does not guarantee program opportunities when resources and enrollment are abundant. Recommendations for future studies concerning administrative decisions for programming and compliance are discussed.

Low student success rates in introductory computer programming classes result in low student retention rates in computer science programs. For some sections of the course a traditional approach began using C# in the .Net development environment immediately. An experimental course redesign for one section was prepared that began with a study of HTML and JavaScript and focused on having students build web pages for several weeks; after that the experimental course used C# and the .Net development environment, covering all the material that was covered in the traditional sections. Students were more successful in the experimental section, with a higher percentage of the students passing the course and a higher percentage of the students continuing on to take at least one additional computer science course. / Department of Computer Science

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