This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting faculty intention to use course management systems (CMS). The study was conducted in a private university with a mixed-method approach. First, 260 responses to a questionnaire was analysed by using structural equation modeling technique in order to examine the provided model. Second, interviews with selected 14 faculty members were conducted to understand the interrelationships. The findings indicated that, faculty intention to use CMS is mostly related with seeing value in using CMS including both personal and task/course related issues. In addition, the use of CMS should be perceived as easy which is directly influenced by the computer self-efficacy of the instructors. Discrimination of perceived personal benefits and task/course related usefulness is found to be important. Course/task related perceived usefulness is found to be weak without perceiving them personally beneficial. Availability of training and support is found to be weakly related to initial intention, however it appeared as an important variable for continuing to use CMS. &lsquo / Communicating the vision through leadership&rsquo / , &lsquo / promoting CMS&rsquo / , and &lsquo / sharing experiences and real life examples&rsquo / emerged as powerful approaches to facilitate use of CMS. Institutional policies regarding issues like &lsquo / academic freedom&rsquo / should be considered carefully while supporting the use of CMS. Moreover, to support institutional change it is important to be aware of the existence of different faculty profiles, which should be considered separately in relevant decisions.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of socioeconomic status, school factors (classroom climate, classroom activities) and affective variables (motivation, self-efficacy, mathematics anxiety, beliefs about the nature of mathematics and teaching of mathematics, students&rsquo / perceptions of their teachers and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward them) on mathematics achievement with 9th grade students in Ankara. For this purpose, structural equation modeling techniques were used. In the study, there were two research problems: &ldquo / What was the general model explaining the effects of socioeconomic status, affective and school factors on students&rsquo / mathematics achievement?&rdquo / and &ldquo / how the proposed model explained mathematics achievement in three school types (Anatolian, general and vocational high schools)?&rdquo / Some of the results of the analyses conducted in the study are the followings: In the main study, socioeconomic status had strong effect on mathematics achievement. In addition, while student-centered activities generally affected students&rsquo / mathematics achievement in a positive way but indirectly, teacher-centered activities had negative effects on affective variables. But for Anatolian and vocational high schools, this negative effect turned positive on mathematics achievement. In the main study, classroom climate had positive direct effects on self-efficacy and motivation toward mathematics as well as on mathematics achievement. Generally, affective variables had positive effects on mathematics achievement. But mathematics anxiety had no significant effect on it except general high school. The results of present study indicated that students&rsquo / perceptions of their parents and teachers&rsquo / attitudes and expectations toward them had positive indirect effects on mathematics achievement.

This study is aimed to explore the relationships among elementary students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs of science, perceptions of learning environments, learning approaches and science achievement. For this purpose, a model of the associations among these variables was proposed and tested by structural equation modeling. In this model, it was hypothesized that a) students&rsquo / perceptions of their learning environments would directly influence their epistemological beliefs of science and learning approaches, b) students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs of science would directly influence their learning approaches and science achievement, c) students&rsquo / learning approaches would directly influence their science achievement. A total of 2702 students from 139 public elementary schools from istanbul, Ankara, izmir, Diyarbakir, Van, Antalya, Afyon, EskiSehir, and Samsun were administered three instruments to assess their epistemological beliefs of science, perceptions of learning environments, and learning approaches. Students&rsquo / previous year final report card grades were used as the indicator of their science achievement. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine the structure of students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs of science, perceptions of learning environments, and learning approaches. Although multidimensionality of epistemological beliefs of science was supported, a different factor structure was obtained for Turkish elementary school students compared to the theoretically proposed structure for the instrument. The results of the structural equation modeling generally supported the proposed hypotheses. The final model obtained in the study revealed that students&rsquo / perceptions of the classroom environments directly predicted students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs and learning approaches. Students&rsquo / epistemological beliefs predicted their learning approaches and science achievement, and students&rsquo / learning approaches influenced their science achievement.

Through the rapid expansion of information technologies, Learning Management Systems have become one of the most important innovations for delivery of education. Successful implementation and management of these systems are primarily based on the instructors&#039 / adoption. However, too few researches have been conducted to evaluate instructors&rsquo / adoption towards e-learning system as taking higher education as base. This study aims to understand behavioral intentions of higher education instructors towards Learning Management Systems and further to identify the influencing factors. A research model has been proposed based on the belief variables of the Technology Acceptance Model. Additionally, Application Characteristics, Individual, Social and Technological dimensions were considered to identify the effects of key variables on behavioral intention of users. A survey instrument has been developed and conducted with 224 academicians after a pilot study through its reliability and validity has been assured. Although the items of the survey instrument were based on the literature, an explanatory factor analysis was performed to strictly determine which items belong to which factors. Then, in order to assess the measurement model Convergent validity and Discriminant validity were conducted via confirmatory factor analyses. After the required prior analyses, Component based Structural Equation Modeling (Partial Least Square - PLS) was used to validate the predictive power of the proposed research model. Consequently, relationships between the influencing factors were detected and the results showed that the factors related with Belief dimension directly influenced behavioral intention of instructors. Also, the factors under the Individual, Social and Technological dimensions indirectly affected behavioral intention of users towards learning management system use. Additionally, structured and informal interviews were performed with ten instructors and the findings of the research model were explained with the opinions of system users. The indications of this research will be valuable for implementation, management and continuous improvement of learning management systems.

There are four major aims of this study: Firstly, factors regarding university students&rsquo / approaches to studying, self-efficacy in mathematics, problem solving strategies, demographic profile, mathematical thinking and reasoning competencies were identified through the adopted survey and the competency test which was designed by the researcher. These scales were administered to 431 undergraduate students of mathematics, elementary and secondary mathematics education in Ankara and in Northern Cyprus and to prospective teachers of classroom teacher and early childhood education of teacher training academy in Northern Cyprus. Secondly, three structural models were proposed to explore the interrelationships among idenitified factors. Thirdly, among three models, the model yielding best fit to data was selected to evaluate the equality of the factor structure across Ankara and Northern Cyprus regions. Lastly, differences regarding pre-identified factors with respect to gender, region and grade level separately and dual, triple interaction effects were investigated through two two-way MANOVA and a three-way ANOVA analyses. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were employed to determine the factors / meaning orientation, mathematics self-efficacy, motivation, disorganized study methods and surface approach for the survey and &lsquo / expressing, extracting and computing mathematically&rsquo / (fundamental skills) and &lsquo / logical inferencing and evaluating conditional statements in real life situations&rsquo / (elaborate skills) for the test. The three models commonly revealed that while mathematics self-efficacy has a significant positive effect on both fundamental and elaborate skills, motivation which is a combination of intrinsic, extrinsic and achievement motivational items was found to have a negative direct impact on fundamental skills and has a negative indirect contribution upon elaborate skills. The results generally support the invariance of the tested factor structure across two regions with some evidence of differences. Ankara region sample yielded similar factor structure to that of the entire sample&rsquo / s results whereas / no significant relationships were observed for Northern Cyprus region sample. Results of gender, grade level and region related differences in the factors of the survey and the test and on the total test indicated that, females are more meaning oriented than males. &lsquo / Fourth and fifth (senior)&rsquo / and third year university students use disorganized study methods more often than second year undergraduate students. In addition, senior students are more competent than second and third year undergraduate students in terms of both skills. Freshmen students outscored sophomore students in the elaborate skills. Students from Ankara region are more competent in terms of both skills than students from Northern Cyprus region. This last inference is also valid on the total test score for both regions. Males performed better on the total test than females. Moreover, there exist region and grade level interaction effect upon both skills. Additionally, significant interaction effects of &lsquo / region and gender&rsquo / , &lsquo / region and grade level&rsquo / , &lsquo / gender and grade level&rsquo / and &lsquo / region and gender and grade level&rsquo / were detected upon the total test score.

The purpose of the study is threefold: (1) to examine students&rsquo / attitudes toward mathematics in terms of cognitive, affective and behavioral components, (2) to examine the relationships among students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s teaching profession, their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward and expectations from them as learners of mathematics, some affective variables students have and the time they spent on mathematics at home and (3) to examine the relationships between students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s teaching profession, their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward and expectations from them as learners of mathematics and three components of attitude toward mathematics, namely, cognitive, affective and behavioral components. The subjects of the study consists of 1960 7th grade students enrolled in 19 different public elementary schools in Istanbul. The study was carried out during the fall semester of 2009-2010 academic year. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test the hypothesized relationships. The significant level was set to 0.05. Major findings revealed that (1) Attitude toward mathematics is identified with the three factors namely, cognitive, affective and behavioral, (2) Students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s teaching profession, their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward and expectations from them as learners of mathematics statistically and significantly explain their confidence in learning mathematics, beliefs about the usefulness and importance of mathematics, liking for mathematics, mathematics anxiety, behaviors toward mathematics and the time they spent on mathematics at home, and (3) Students&rsquo / perceptions of their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s teaching profession, their mathematics teacher&rsquo / s and parents&rsquo / attitudes toward and expectations from them as learners of mathematics statistically and significantly explain three components of attitude toward mathematics.

The purpose of the study was threefold: (1) to determine the factor structure of mathematical thinking at the within-classroom and at the between-classroom level / (2) to investigate the extent of variation in the relationships among different mathematical thinking constructs at the within- and between-classroom levels / and (3) to examine the cross-level interactions among different types of mathematical thinking. Previous research was extended by investigating the factor structure of mathematical thinking in derivative at the within- and between-classroom levels, and further examining the direct, indirect, and cross-level relations among different types of mathematical thinking. Multilevel analyses of a cross-sectional dataset containing two independent samples of undergraduate students nested within classrooms showed that the within-structure of mathematical thinking includes enactive, iconic, algorithmic, algebraic, formal, and axiomatic thinking, whereas the between-structure contains formal-axiomatic, proceptual-symbolic, and conceptual-embodied thinking. Major findings from the two-level mathematical thinking model revealed that: (1) enactive, iconic, algebraic, and axiomatic thinking varied primarily as a function of formal and algorithmic thinking / (2) the strongest direct effect of formal-axiomatic thinking was on proceptual-symbolic thinking / (3) the nature of the relationships was cyclic at the between-classroom level / (4) the within-classroom mathematical thinking constructs significantly moderate the relationships among conceptual-embodied, proceptual-symbolic, and formal-axiomatic thinking / and (5) the between-classroom mathematical thinking constructs moderate the relationships among enactive, iconic, algorithmic, algebraic, formal, and axiomatic thinking. The challenges when using multilevel exploratory factor analysis, multilevel confirmatory factor analysis, and multilevel structural equation modeling with categorical variables are emphasized. Methodological and educational implications of findings are discussed.

Title: Maternal Mood and Anxiety Disorders and Child School Readiness: A Manitoba Population-Based Study Objective: This study examined the relationship between several features of maternal Mood/Anxiety – timing, recurrence/persistence and severity – and child development on five key areas of school readiness at kindergarten, controlling for health, demographic and socio-economic factors. Methods: Using administrative data to further understand these relationships at a population level and over time, 18,331mother-child pairs were linked using a unique identifier. Maternal Mood/Anxiety was defined using the number of physician visits for mood and anxiety disorders and the number of prescriptions filled for antidepressants or sedatives/hypnotics. The outcome measures were child scores on five domains of the Early Development Instrument, a population-level tool for determining readiness for school at an aggregate level. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between maternal Mood/Anxiety and child outcomes for individual time periods, Mood/Anxiety recurrence/persistence and Mood/Anxiety severity. Infant health at birth, the family/socio-economic environment, child age and child gender were also entered into the models. Stratified analysis was undertaken to determine whether SES moderates the relationship between Mood/Anxiety and child outcomes. Results: Maternal Mood/Anxiety had a modest significant negative association with EDI scores, particularly for social, emotional and physical development. Prenatal and recurrent Mood/Anxiety were associated with lower scores on all five outcome domains. The influence of maternal Mood/Anxiety was mediated by the family environment, which had a strong, significant association with the outcomes, particularly for language and cognitive development. Infant health at birth was significantly associated with child outcomes, particularly for physical health. Socio-economic status (SES) was a moderator of the relationship between Mood/Anxiety and child outcomes. Conclusion: Using administrative data to define maternal mood and anxiety disorders is a sensitive measure to detect differences in five key areas of child development, particularly for social, emotional and physical outcomes. Family-related variables had a much stronger relationship with child outcomes than mood and anxiety disorders. Findings from this study can be used to design, implement and evaluate high quality clinical, program and policy interventions to support mothers and families and the healthy development of their children.

Scores from value-added models (VAMs), as used for educational accountability, represent the educational effect teachers have on their students. The use of these scores in teacher evaluations for high-stakes decision making is new for the State of Florida. Validity evidence that supports or questions the use of these scores is critically needed. This research, using data from 2385 teachers from 104 schools in one school district in Florida, examined the validity of the value-added scores by correlating these scores with scores from an observational rubric used in the teacher evaluation process. The VAM scores also were examined in relation to several variables that the literature had identified as correlates of quality teaching as well as variables that were theoretically independent of teacher performance. The observational rubric used in the validation process was based on Marzano's and Danielson's framework and consisted of 34 items and five factors (Ability to Assess Instructional Needs, Plans and Delivers Instruction, Maintains a Student-Centered Learning Environment, Performs Professional Responsibilities, Engages in Continuous Improvement for Self and School). Analyses of the psychometric properties of the observational rubric using confirmatory factor analysis supported the fit of the five-factor structure underlying the rubric. Internal consistency reliabilities for the five observational scales and total score ranged from .81 to .96. The relationships between the observational rubric scores and VAM scores (with and without the standard error of measurement (SE) applied to the VAM score) were generally weak for the overall sample (range of correlations = .05 to .09 for the five observational scales and VAM with SE; .14 to .18 for the five observational scales and VAM without SE). Inspection of the relationship between the VAM and total observational scores within each of the 104 schools revealed that while some schools had a strong relationship, the majority of the schools revealed little to no relationship between the two measures that represent a quality/effective teacher. The last part of this research investigated the relationship of the VAM scores and scores from the observational rubric with variables that had been identified in the literature as correlates of quality teaching. In addition, relationships between variables that the literature had shown to be independent of quality teaching were also examined. Results indicated that VAM scores were not significantly related to any of the predictor variables (e.g., National Board Certification, years of experience, gender, etc.). The observational rubric, on the other hand, had significant relations with National Board Certification, years of experience, and gender. The validity evidence provided in this research calls for caution when using VAM scores in teacher evaluations for high-stakes decision making. The weak relations between the observational scores of teachers' performance and teachers' value-added scores suggest that these measures are representing different dimensions of the multidimensional construct of teaching quality. Ongoing research is needed to better understand the strengths and limitations of both the observational and VAM measures and the reasons why these measures do not often converge. In addition, teacher factors (e.g., grade level) that can account for variation in both the VAM and observational scores need to be identified.

It is important to understand the development of depression, and how a family component to treatment affects early adolescent girls’ depression given the association between depression and negative future outcomes. A potential vulnerability to depression is the cognitive triad, which encompasses beliefs about the self, world, and future and is shaped by early learning experiences. Research indicates that the vulnerability originates from parent-child relationships and family messages, which are important in the development of youth cognitive styles. Previous research also indicates that family variables are important factors to consider in the treatment of depression. The purpose of the current study was to expand previous research by examining the roles of perceived family messages and the cognitive triad in the development of depression for early adolescent girls. The study also explored whether parent gender differentiated how family messages affect girls’ cognitions and depressive symptoms. The study evaluated how the addition of a parent training component to a school-based, group-administered CBT intervention affected change in the model’s variables in comparison to group-administered CBT intervention alone and a monitoring control condition. Participants included early adolescent girls diagnosed with depression and caregivers in the parental treatment component. Girls were randomly assigned to a CBT, CBT+PT, or minimal contact control condition. Ratings of girls’ perceptions of family messages, cognitions, and depressive symptoms were obtained at pre-treatment and post-treatment. Results from structural equation modeling indicated significant effects from perceived family messages to girls’ cognitions. Further, girls’ cognitions mediated the relation between perceived family messages and girls’ depressive symptoms at post-treatment for participants within the CBT and monitoring conditions. No significant differences were evident between parent gender and perceived messages. Results indicated that the addition of a parent component to the CBT intervention did not significantly differ from the CBT intervention alone in its effects on the variable relations within the model at post-treatment. Supplemental analyses highlighted parent attendance as a significant factor, with larger effects from the family messages on girls’ cognitions appearing when parents attended majority (six or more) of the eight parent training sessions. Implications, limitations, and areas for further research are discussed. / text