<p> Adult online learners represent the largest demographic in higher education. Academic leaders increasingly use non-designer instructors (NDIs) to meet demands. NDIs have little control over course design, part of teaching presence valued by learners. This quantitative, predictive correlational study investigated 1) to what frequency online learners&rsquo; perceptions of their NDIs&rsquo; teaching presence predicted learners&rsquo; cognitive presence; and 2) to what frequency did learners&rsquo; use of instructional media resources moderate that predictive relationship, while enrolled in online courses in a private, non-profit university in the western United States. Using The Community of Inquiry (COI) survey, this study measured learners&rsquo; perceptions of presence as they related to online students&rsquo; learning and use of instructional media. Multiple regression analyses tested both hypotheses (<i>n</i> = 128). The first null hypothesis was rejected revealing NDIs&rsquo; teaching presence significantly predicted 52% of the variance of learners&rsquo; cognitive presence, <i>R</i>² = .524, <i>p</i> &lt; .001, <i>f</i>² = 1.08. These findings expand scientific knowledge to the instructional context of NDIs and confirm prior research that found a similar role for teaching presence on cognitive presence. The study failed to reject the null hypothesis for research question two. Frequencies of instructional media use showed a nonsignificant effect on the predictive role of teaching presence on cognitive presence. Further research could examine the unique contributions of the course design sub-factor of teaching presence in the context of courses taught by NDIs. </p><p>

<p> This study examined the use of virtual emergency management systems within operational and tactical environments and explored the experiences of officials using these virtual systems regarding communication of information, coordination of resources, and strategic thinking throughout a critical incident at 4-year public institutions of higher education. Emergency management organizations are increasingly using virtual emergency management systems within their operations, but their effects on communication and incident management in operational and tactical environments during a critical incident is unclear. A gap in the literature has emerged in the understanding of how organizations comprehend, train, and utilize virtual emergency management systems and the possible integration of these systems with the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Incident Command System (ICS) standards. There was a need for this study to explore virtual emergency management systems within the operational and tactical environments prior to, during, and after a critical incident; and to answer the research question, &ldquo;What are the experiences of university officials, who have utilized virtual emergency management systems, in terms of communication capability, resource coordination, and strategic thinking prior to, during, and after a critical incident involving 4-year public institutions of higher education?&rdquo; This study used a transcendental phenomenological design to elicit the lived experiences of university officials who have utilized virtual emergency management systems throughout a critical incident at a 4-year public institution of higher education. The population of 10 university officials included a sample of six university emergency managers and four senior university officials who were familiar with the use of virtual systems prior to, during, and after a critical incident. The resulting data were then analyzed using open coding to identify themes and a codebook was developed to define terms associated with the themes and ascribe meaning to the data. The software NVivo11 was utilized to assist with the organization of the resulting themes. Numerous reviews of participant interview transcripts were conducted to ensure that the essences of participants&rsquo; experiences were appropriately displayed. Member checking was also conducted to ensure accuracy of the data. The findings indicated that the use of virtual emergency management systems did aid in the communication of information, the coordination and allocation of resources, and strategic thinking prior to, during, and after a critical incident at 4-year public institutions of higher education. The study also found that these systems aid in the development of trust, leadership, and team building at these institutions. The study also indicated that these systems were not being fully utilized at many of these institutions, thereby limiting the effectiveness of these systems.</p><p>

<p> There are currently five sources on news and information in the United States. The Internet is slowly taking over as the number one source of news and information for students who are currently attending college. With the popularity of social media, the Millennial generation college student is turning away from the traditional news media. One of the primary challenges for educational leaders in journalism courses is to understand what types of news today&rsquo;s generation finds favorable, why are they so attracted to the non-traditional news sources, and what changes can be implemented into the classrooms. </p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of incorporating technology into a sophomore level baccalaureate nursing class and to explore students&rsquo; perceptions on the use of technology in the classroom in relation to their perceived learning and their perceived interaction with classmates. This study evaluated the use of technology in a baccalaureate nursing classroom and determined the effectiveness of the intervention. The participants in the study included three sections of students enrolled in sophomore level nursing courses, in a small Catholic university, located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. A within-subjects study utilizing a quantitative design was utilized to complete the research. Data were collected from post-tests given to classes after traditional lectures as well as from post-tests given in lectures with the intervention of technology. The purpose of the post-tests was to gauge retention of the presented material in each of the classes. The scores on these tests were compared to determine if there were statistically significant changes between the assessment quiz scores on the lectures with technological intervention as compared to lectures without technological interventions. A survey was distributed to all students at the end of the study to gather total study sample information on student perceptions of the use of technology. While the quantitative study results were inconclusive as to the effectiveness of incorporating technology in the classroom, it did show positive findings concerning students&rsquo; perception of using technology in the classroom and their sense of connectedness with classmates. The relevance of this study was to evaluate the need to adapt teaching methods that increase student engagement, and may result in positive assessment outcomes based on retention of information.</p><p>

<p> Teaching at an online school is so different from classroom teaching that traditional training includes few of the skills necessary to be a successful online teacher. New teachers to an online environment face a steep learning curve in how they&rsquo;ll use the instructional technology, prioritize their time, and establish relationships with their students. The literature has advice for these teachers about effective online practices, but there has been little research to establish which strategies are most effective in motivating students. This pre-experimental study, conducted at an online 6th-12th grade hybrid school, investigated the practices used more often by the most effective teachers. Teacher effectiveness was measured by the number of assignments their students had not completed on time. Recognizing that the effectiveness of different practices will vary from student to student, the research analysis included two covariates, measured by surveys: the academic identity and motivational resilience of the students, and the students&rsquo; self-reported preferences for motivational strategies. More effective teachers were found to make videos more frequently, both of the teacher for motivational purposes and recorded by the teacher to help students move through the curriculum. Quick grading turnaround and updating a blog were also more common with all effective teachers. Distinct differences between middle and high school students came out during data analysis, which then became a major point of study: according to the data, more effective middle school teachers emphasized individual contact with students, but the less effective high school teachers spent more time on individualized contact. The surveys used in this study could be modified and implemented at any online school to help teachers discover and then prioritize the most effective strategies for keeping students engaged.</p><p>

The purpose of this study is to investigate student interactions with simulations, and teacher support of those interactions, within naturalistic high school physics classroom settings. This study focuses on data from two lesson sequences that were conducted in several physics classrooms. The lesson sequences were conducted in a whole class discussion format in approximately half of the class sections and in a hands-on-computer small group format in matched class sections. Analysis used a mixed methods approach where: (1) quantitative methods were used to evaluate pre-post data; (2) open coding and selective coding were used for transcript analysis; and (3) comparative case studies were used to consider the quantitative and qualitative data in light of each other and to suggested possible explanations. Although teachers expressed the expectation that the small group students would learn more, no evidence was found in pre-post analysis for an advantage for the small group sections. Instead, a slight trend was observed in favor of the whole class discussion sections, especially for students in the less advanced sections. In seeking to explain these results, qualitative analyses of transcript and videotape data were conducted, revealing that many more episodes of support for interpreting visual elements of the simulations occurred in the whole class setting than in the matched small group discussions; not only teachers, but, at times, students used more visual support moves in the whole class discussion setting. In addition, concepts that had been identified as key were discussed for longer periods of time in the whole class setting than in the matched small group discussions in six of nine matched sets. For one of the lesson sequences, analysis of student work on in-class activity sheets identified no evidence that any of the Honors or College Preparatory students in the small groups had made use in their thinking of the key features of the sophisticated and popular physics simulation they had used, while such evidence was identified in the work of many of the whole class students. Analysis of the whole class discussions revealed a number of creative teaching strategies in use by the teachers that may have helped offset the advantage of hands-on experience with the simulations and animations enjoyed by the small group students. These results suggest that there may exist whole class teaching strategies for promoting at least some of the active thinking and exploration that has been considered to be the strength of small group work, and appear to offer encouragement to teachers who do not have the resources to allow their classes to engage regularly in small group work at the computer. Furthermore, these examples suggest the somewhat surprising possibility that there may be certain instructional situations where there is an advantage to spending at least part of the time with a simulation or animation in a whole class discussion mode.

<p> The purpose of this research project was to improve the practice of using online lectures at a small private university. Using action research methodology, the researcher worked with a group of five university instructors to refine the use of online lectures through design and pedagogical practice. Beginning with a template or guide based on the literature, the instructors developed online lectures connected with a student activity. Following the principles of the TPACK framework, instructors were urged to develop student activities that worked best for their specific content as well as their desired student outcomes. Two cycles of implementation, analysis, and modification were used to refine the template and the student activities.</p><p> Data were gathered from the students who viewed the online lectures and from the faculty through focus group meetings after each cycle. Analysis of both the students&rsquo; experience and the instructors&rsquo; experience led to minor changes in the template but more significant changes to the associated student activities.</p><p> Findings suggest that the effective use of online lectures depends largely on the student activity included with the lecture; in other words, pedagogy is at least as important as design. Other factors, such as practice and experience with developing online lectures are needed to develop the instructors&rsquo; expertise with both technical issues as well as pedagogical issues. Although the online lecture template and suggested activities list were honed to a degree of effectiveness, it will take an ongoing process of analysis and modification to keep this tool relevant in the coming years.</p>

<p> The purpose of this case study was to evaluate a multi-campus university program designed to support STEM faculty in redesigning bottleneck courses, with integration of technology as one strategy. Despite the positive student learning outcomes in course redesign programs with an aim to support faculty in technology integration, there remains a need to evaluate how technology integration professional development (PD) programs impact faculty instructional practice, and determine the effectiveness of these programs in that effort. </p><p> This study researched the California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor Course Redesign with Technology (CRT) Program, and employed the logic model of program evaluation to document the activities of the PD program to study the impact of the activities on what faculty learned about technology and their application of the program to develop instructional strategies that incorporate technology. Data were collected from the first two academic years of the CRT program (2013-2014 and 2014-2015) and frameworks related to andragogy as well as the theories of Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK), Diffusion of Innovation, and Communities of Practice frameworks were used to analyze archived professional development training content and faculty-produced electronic portfolios. </p><p> The findings reveal that while the training content focused on simple technology adoption, most course redesigns involved changes in technology and instructional strategies in which faculty sought to understand students&rsquo; challenges, support scientific thinking of course content, and enhance reflective teaching practices. This investigation showed strong, significant, and positive relationships among high levels of technology integration, awareness of innovation characteristics, and faculty collaboration in course redesigns. High occurrences of these variables were also significantly associated with grade point average increases in course redesigns. This study&rsquo;s findings and methodology have the potential to inform the development and evaluation of further efforts to redesign university courses using technology.</p>

<p> Changes in the field of education require teachers&rsquo; acquisition of specific knowledge of technology and the skills of its effective use in the classroom. With the expansion of the traditional classroom to include virtual learning environments, concern still exists regarding characteristics necessary for quality teaching and learning.</p><p> This research is an examination of pre-service teachers&rsquo; needs relevant to integrating technology in an online learning environment. It is a first step toward acknowledging the responsibility teacher preparation programs have in the formation of educators equipped to instruct in dual learning environments, thus providing pre-service teachers with opportunities and experiences to become fluent in the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) required for online learning environments as well as the traditional face-to-face instruction. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to determine if active engagement with content of an online instruction module would affect the attitudes, knowledge and skills, and instructional centeredness of pre-service teachers&rsquo; towards technology integration in an online learning environment. A mixed-methods concurrent triangulation design procedure was utilized to measure characteristics of pre-service teachers in a teacher preparation program. A two-way within-subjects analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the effect of engagement with the content of the online instruction module for all three domains. Participants began the intervention with limited knowledge and skills of technology integration and online learning environments; however, they made statistically significant gains upon completion of the intervention. The implementation of an intervention such as this online instruction module may support other teacher preparation programs in identifying strengths and weaknesses of their pre-service teachers and provide valuable information necessary to guide program goals.</p>

<p>In order to better inform and train industry professionals, as well as engineering students and new users, an electronic user's manual and comprehensive online training course for LaModel has been developed in an open online learning environment. The online user?s manual provides widespread access to detailed information on the installation, proper use, and troubleshooting procedures through a combination of: written documentation, voiced-over and captioned software simulations and slide presentations, and relevant academic articles. Some of the online LaModel material has also been organized into a set of progressive, self-paced training modules using a number of the slide presentations and software demonstrations, with the addition of pedagogically designed learning activities and proficiency quizzes. These training modules are designed such that a new user can complete the sequence of three learning tracks (novice, intermediate, and advanced) to become a proficient user of the LaModel program. This thesis reports on the development and implementation of the new LaModel user's manual and training course. Currently, the on-line material includes 84 pages of technical notes and 6 hours of slides and hands-on learning activities. In this thesis, the overall layout and format of the user's manual, training modules, and proficiency quizzes are presented along with samples from specific manual sections and classroom lessons. With an increase in operational difficulties, geologic intricacies, and regulatory review, this generation of mining engineers require complex analyzes to determine the integrity of underground mine works. Through access to the new online user's manual and training modules, novice LaModel users can be effectively trained on the correct operation and analysis techniques for using the LaModel program, while experienced users can quickly access detailed information on the newer and/or more complex LaModel functions. The development of both the user's manual and online training course will ultimately increase the effectiveness of mining engineers within the industry, leading to more productive and safer mine designs.