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Classrooms, libraries, student unions, and university campuses shape students’ learning experiences. These physical learning spaces set the stage for college student engagement and academic performance. Most of the research about the role of physical spaces in learning lacks the student perspective. The goal of this study was to offer a student-centered vision of ideal learning spaces. Students are the learners for whom learning spaces are designed, and this thesis examines the way students of one summer class at Oklahoma Baptist University conceptualized and interacted with their learning spaces. Data collection included surveys of the students, a focus group with members of the class, participant observation in the classroom, and interviews with students and the professor. Students viewed physical spaces as the backdrop for human action and chose spaces that supported their learning styles and goals. Students described supportive spaces as warm, purposefully crafted spaces, and full of other people who were seriously pursuing the same goals. This thesis explores the ways students conceptualized and interacted with learning spaces as a network of support for their learning and provides recommendations for the design of learning spaces that facilitate this support.

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This study examines the implementation of the flipped classroom model in a local secondary school in Hong Kong. The flipped classroom is a relatively new educational model requiring teachers to invert the time students spend on lectures and the time students spend on homework. Although several studies conducted on this approach show improvements to student achievement as well as positive views from participating educators, parents and most students, there has been little research done based in Asian schools. For this design study, four geography classes of secondary one students in a local Hong Kong school were “flipped” for one full school term (4 months). Throughout the term, learning resources were posted to online educational platforms for students to access at home, and the teacher developed interactive activities for class time. This paper analyzes data from various summative assessments, statistics from the online platforms, student posts, video footage from the class, responses to a student survey and a teacher interview to examine four elements of the flipped classroom: the nature of the learning environment created to flip the classroom in a local Hong Kong secondary school; whether students could achieve or potentially improve outcomes of the course through flipped learning; whether flipped learning stimulated engagement from students with a particular focus on social constructivist behaviors; and, the sustainability of flipped teaching in a local Hong Kong school. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The research reported in this dissertation investigates the impact that accountability systems have on the design and development of student centered learning environments. The nature of student-centered learning environments (SCLEs) in this study is framed theoretically by cultural historical activity theory (CHAT). The investigation itself occurred within a specific practice context: an urban charter school serving elementary-aged children. The efforts to design and develop SCLEs in the school focused on the use of improvement inquiry by groups of stakeholders organized into a developing human ecology in educational contexts called networked improvement communities. The research sought to determine (1) how accountability systems influenced instructional practices within the school and (2) how practicing teachers perceived the assessments embedded within the accountability systems. Data were collected via surveys, interviews, and a focus group. The data from the surveys and interviews informed the work for the focus group. The work from the focus group generated a stakeholder-generated “theory of practice improvement” in the form of an illustrative driver diagram. The driver diagram contributed an empirically generated proposal for how improved instructional practices might be pursued at the school. The investigation concluded with recommendations for implementing the plan within the school and recommendations to the broader field of education to engage more deeply in improvement inquiry. / School of Education; / Professional Doctorate in Educational Leadership (ProDEL) / EdD; / Dissertation;

The growing complexities and dramatic changes in the contemporary health care system require nurses to practice successfully with essential professional knowledge and skills required for safe and competent practice. The implication is that nurse educators are confronted with the challenge to redefine effective teaching strategies appropriate to prepare nurses for the complexities of the current practice demands. To this end, student-centered teaching (SCT) has emerged in many undergraduate nursing curricula as a tool to develop essential practice skills in nursing students. A lack of understanding of how nurse educators experience SCT may hinder its success and sustainability. This qualitative study explored the lived experience of clinical nurse educators (CNEs) using SCT in the practice settings. Ten CNEs who self-identified as using SCT volunteered to participate. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview guide and audio recorder. Additional data source included a demographic survey and a reflective journal. Analysis of the CNEs’ perspectives revealed an overarching theme entitled “SCT in a non-student-centered world” with a variety of meanings of SCT from a humanistic point of view. Participants identified individual, staff, and contextual factors including policy issues that hinder successful implementation of SCT in the practice settings. The study also unveiled that a successful paradigm shift to SCT may not be the sole responsibility of the CNEs but a joint endeavor by all stake-holders within the health care delivery system. Findings of this study may be used by nursing and health sciences faculty and administrators to guide policy and program planning that incorporates student-centered clinical education. / October 2016

In response to the many demands and pressures faced by both students and teachers in public schools, the art teacher in this action research study searched for ways to change her teaching practices to facilitate active inquiry. She utilized Thinking Maps®, a specialized form of graphic organizers, and Inspiration®, a hypertext linking program to promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning. The goals of the study were to increase student engagement, improve learning, and promote higher order thinking in elementary school art classes. The target group was comprised of the third grade students at Saunders Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia. Each third grade students researched the natural world through the lens of a chosen creature. The students then created personalized Inspiration® documents that described their creatures. Faced with limited time and a wide range of student abilities, the teacher used an interactive approach during the following class sessions to facilitate continued inquiry. As a result of this transition, the teaching methodology described underwent a transition from teacher-as-disseminator to teacher-as facilitator. The resulting classroom atmosphere became a student-centered community of learning. The students and the teacher collaborated to ask questions, find answers to those questions, and create relevant links within Inspiration® documents (webs). The teacher found that she could not control the design of the connections within the documents to the degree that she had previously hoped, but new revelations regarding hypertext design were assimilated. The documents produced during this study were forms of authentic assessment that held the potential for use in future teaching.

As one-to-one laptop environments are becoming more commonplace in the educational system, teachers are often expected to provide a student-centered environment that incorporates 21st century skills in effort to better prepare students for the future. Teaching in this type of environment is a difficult pedagogical shift for classroom educators. The assumption is often made that teachers can make this pedagogical shift just because laptops are provided for all students. The goal was to capture the essence of the lived experiences of fifth grade teachers who will be immersed in the phenomenon of teaching in a student-centered, twenty-first century, one-to-one laptop environment. The overarching research question was: What is the essence of the lived experiences of teachers who are implementing a student-centered, 21st century, one-to-one laptop pilot? Guided by phenomenology using a transcendental approach, data were collected through multiple, in-depth teacher interviews. The research process included identification of the phenomenon; epoché; data collection through 18 interviews with nine fifth-grade teachers; and transcendental phenomenological analysis through reduction, imaginative variation, and syntheses. Reduction involved horizonalization of the data and the development of textural and structural descriptions of the teachers' experiences. In addition, thirty-four codes were identified and reduced to six overarching themes including: looking back, engaged and excited, building a solid foundation, roles have shifted, consider this, and learning the 21st century way. The results will help in the development of effective academic and technology support structures that strengthen a student-centered, 21st century, one-to-one laptop program. The investigation exposed themes of difficulties, strategies, and best practices that teachers experience during the implementation.

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Although research supports the blended learning methodology as a way to personalize and engage students, research also documents the widespread hesitation among educators when it comes to embracing technology. District leaders believe that such is the case in an upper Midwest school district where all high school students are provided devices, yet these leaders note that few teachers are fully exploiting the tools. Framed by the connectivism and social constructivism theories, this qualitative case study focused on teachers' views of blended learning, its influence on their teaching practices, and how they see it helping students to learn. The guiding research questions addressed the successes and challenges of blended learning, including how Moodle was used for formative e-assessment. Data were collected from 12 purposefully selected high school teachers by a questionnaire, 3 different observations in each of their classrooms, computer screenshots provided by participants, and 3 semi-structured interviews per teacher. Open coding produced common themes during the data analysis. Findings show that these teachers believe that blended learning promotes individualization, collaboration, organization, engagement, real-world relevance, and student-centered learning. While they agreed that blended learning supported their practice, challenges were cited such as students disengaging in the learning process, device and infrastructure concerns, and the time to integrate technology effectively. Based upon these findings, professional learning communities were designed to improve teacher pedagogy for using blended learning. This study may serve as a model for staff from other schools who are integrating higher levels of technologies as they try to level the playing field and prepare students to be global citizens with the necessary 21st century skills.