Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Internet access and the increased use of course management systems to supplement classroom instruction in higher education in the last decade (Green, 1996; 2006) present instructors with opportunities to combine online and classroom instruction to enhance student learning. Computer-mediated communication tools like e-mail, discussion forums, and chat rooms available in course Web sites make it possible to continue course discussions beyond the time and space of the classroom. The interactions resulting from instructor use of the discussion board - an asynchronous communication tool available in most course management systems - in two web-enhanced courses that used Blackboard TM are investigated in this study. The most important finding of this study was the interaction and synergy between online and classroom discussions that resulted in several benefits for the professors and students. Semi-structured interviews with the professors and 26 students as well as classroom observations indicated that online and classroom discussions influence each other in web-enhanced courses, and that combining online discussions with classroom discussions can benefit both instructors and students. High student participation in classroom as well as online discussions, additional opportunities for engagement with course content, high instructor-student and student-student interaction, reflection on course readings, and exposure to multiple student perspectives were some benefits cited by both students and professors in the study. The professors reported additional benefits such as insight into students' understanding of readings and time saved planning, structuring, and grading course discussions. Based on the findings, two models for the integration of online discussions in the classroom are presented and the role played by instructional design, instructor participation, instructor feedback, and instructor use of online discussions in crafting a comprehensive learning experience are highlighted in this research. The findings of this study reinforce the importance of choices that instructors make when using technology to achieve their goals and learning objectives. The report concludes with recommendations for instructors wishing to integrate online discussions into the classroom in higher education and directions for future research. / 2031-01-01

No description available.

Previous research suggests that the optimal time of day (TOD) for cognitive function for young adults occurs in the afternoon and evening times (Allen, et al. 2008; May, et al. 1993). The implication is college students may be more successful if they schedule classes and tests in the afternoon and evening times, but in asynchronous learning environments, “class” and tests take place at any TOD (or night) a student might choose. The problem is that there may be a disadvantage for students choosing to take tests at certain TOD. As educators, we need to be aware of potential barriers to student success and be prepared to offer guidance to students. This research study found a significant negative correlation between TOD and assessment scores on tests taken between 16:01 and 22:00 hours as measured in military time. While this study shows that academic performance on asynchronous assessments was high at 16:00 hours, student performance diminished significantly by 22:00 hours. When efforts were taken to mitigate the extraneous variables related to test complexity and individual academic achievement, the effect TOD had on assessment achievement during this time period was comparable to the effect of test complexity on that achievement. However, when analyzed using a small sub-set of the data neither GPA nor TOD could be used to predict student scores on tests taken between 16:01 and 22:00 hours. Finally, individual circadian arousal types (evening, morning and neutral) (Horne & Ostberg, 1976) and actual TOD students took tests were analyzed to determine if synchrony, the match between circadian arousal type and peak cognitive performance, existed. The synchrony effect could not be confirmed among morning type students taking this asynchronous online course, but evidence suggests that synchrony could have contributed to student success for evening types taking this asynchronous online courses. The implication of this study is that online instructors, instructional designers and students should consider TOD as a factor affecting achievement in asynchronous online courses. Results of this research are intended to propose further research into TOD effects in asynchronous online settings, and to offer guidance to online students as well as online instructors and instructional designers faced with setting deadlines and advising students on how to be successful when learning online.

Titel: Varför YouTube? Title: Why YouTube? Författare: Björn Lindgren I den här studien har syftet med undersökningen varit att synliggöra varför några elever använder sig av YouTube i sitt lärande av sång och instrumentspel. Undersökningen började med en enkät med elever från ett musikestetiskt gymnasium i årskurs 3. Utifrån enkäten valdes fem frivilliga elever ut till att delta i intervjuer. Genom enkäten kom det fram att alla elever som använder YouTube i syfte att lära sig något på sitt instrument eller i sin sång främst bara lär sig specifika låtar, vilket också bekräftas i intervjuerna. Databearbetningen av intervjuerna visade på resultat som kunde delas in i fem olika kategorier/orsaker till varför elever vänder sig till YouTube, nämligen smidighet, självklarhet, mångfald, låtarna och skola. I resultatet förklaras hur YouTube upplevs som en plats där eleverna med självklarhet och enkelhet kan klicka sig fram till en instruktionsvideo som passar dem. Här lär de sig i sitt eget tempo, när de vill och när de har tid.

[pt] O presente estudo parte da premissa de que o processo de ensino aprendizagem precisa se ajustar (1) às novas possibilidades educacionais decorrentes da viabilidade legal de oferecer vinte por cento do conteúdo na modalidade semi-presencial; (2) às ferramentas tecnológicas hoje disponíveis e (3) às características de aprendizagem que estudantes desenvolvem pela intensa exposição tecnológica e pelo envolvimento em atividades próprias da área do Design. Esta investigação visa apresentar Diretrizes para um ambiente de aprendizagem baseada em ferramentas de comunicação assíncrona disponibilizadas nas comunidades virtuais de aprendizagem da Instituição A. As abordagens que fundamentam as diretrizes estão ancoradas nas áreas da educação e da ergonomia. O trabalho foi estruturado em quatro momentos. O primeiro constitui-se na fundamentação teórica. O segundo momento circunscreve o estudo de caso realizado no curso de Design da Instituição A. O terceiro momento constitui-se na análise de conteúdo das informações coletadas por meio da técnica Delphi. Por fim, a quarta etapa envolve a estruturação das diretrizes para a aprendizagem Assíncrona no Curso de Design da Instituição A. / [en] This study assumes that the teaching-learning process needs to be adjusted: (1) to the new educational possibilities arising from the legal possibility to offer twenty percent of the content in distance learning, (2) the technological tools available today, and (3 ) the learning characteristics that students develop by the intensive technological exposure and the involvement in Design typical activities. This research aims at presenting a guidelines for learning based on asynchronous communication tools of the virtual learning environment available by the Institution A. The guidelines are anchored in the education and ergonomic areas. The work was structured in four stages. The first constitutes the theoretical approach. The second stage addresses a case study in the design course of the Institution A. The third stage constitutes a content analysis of the information collected through the Delphi technique. Finally, the fourth step involves the structure of the guidelines for asynchronous learning in the Design Course of the Institution A.

SOUSA, Maria Iracema Pinho de. Transdisciplinaridade e inter-relações entre avaliação e desenvolvimento da aprendizagem assíncrona através de narrativas de cursistas universitários em fóruns de discussão. 2015. 322f. – Tese (Doutorado) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação Brasileira, Fortaleza (CE), 2015. / Submitted by Márcia Araújo (marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-03-22T17:50:19Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_mipsousa.pdf: 6778133 bytes, checksum: 13d6999a73c4b56a66d9addf50c05f17 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Márcia Araújo(marcia_m_bezerra@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-03-23T11:39:28Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_mipsousa.pdf: 6778133 bytes, checksum: 13d6999a73c4b56a66d9addf50c05f17 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-23T11:39:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2015_tese_mipsousa.pdf: 6778133 bytes, checksum: 13d6999a73c4b56a66d9addf50c05f17 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Entre as mudanças globais enfrentadas nas pouco mais de três últimas décadas, destacam-se as maneiras como a informação, no espaço digital e na Web, é acessada, inter-relacionada e ressignificada, no aspecto da construção de novos conhecimentos e saberes. Estas mudanças estão significativamente vinculadas à quebra de paradigmas e crises entre as áreas de conhecimento. Neste cenário, a sociedade enfrenta uma inesperada corrida de rápidas transformações, fusões e nascimento de novas áreas de conhecimento interdisciplinares, carreando o processo educacional para uma contínua e desafiante crise. Progressivamente, o uso pedagógico das TIC ocupa os espaços da outrora educação conservadora presencial e instrucionista, outorgando cenários favorecedores à integração pedagógica entre: as mídias, o construtivismo, a autonomia, a criatividade e o aprender juntos. Nas próximas décadas, decorrerão mudanças significativas nas propostas de avaliação, notadamente voltadas para o desenvolvimento da aprendizagem colaborativa, em espaços assíncronos, o que suscita profundas reflexões, concernentes às transposições teórico-metodológicas e práticas, que incidirão sobre a ressignificação e relações entre o desenvolvimento da aprendizagem e sua avaliação. A presente investigação, de caráter qualitativo e de pesquisa-ação, se insere no cenário do desenvolvimento de atividades pedagógicas colaborativas, expressas por narrativas, postadas em Fóruns de discussão, durante o transcurso de uma disciplina de Informática na Educação, ofertada presencialmente pelo Departamento de Fundamentos da Educação da FACED/UFC, em que majoritariamente participaram estudantes de graduação. A proposta didática da disciplina se baseia nos pressupostos da teoria da aprendizagem significativa ausubeliana, no mapeamento cognitivo, na visão de Okada, e no estar junto virtual, segundo Valente e Almeida. Foram escolhidos dois de seus Fóruns temáticos disciplinares, que abordavam as temáticas de estudo: o uso pedagógico de mapas conceituais e pressupostos da avaliação formativa da aprendizagem, numa visão construtivista (AUSUBEL, FERNANDES, MASETTO, PERRONOUD, ZABALA). Parte do referencial teórico da Tese permeia a avaliação na forma clássica e contribuições não clássicas, que apontam para a necessidade de se repensar a avaliação, numa ótica do construtivismo e da aprendizagem assíncrona. Os conjuntos de narrativas, postados pelos estudantes, são constituídos por dados multidimensionais fortemente entrelaçados, que foram mapeados e analisados, sob a forma de categorias, à luz do referencial teórico e objetivos adotados na Tese, sob o foco da análise textual discursiva (MORAES, GALIAZZI) e da análise qualitativa de dados multidimensionais, fazendo-se o uso do software CHIC (ALMOULOUD, PRADO, VALENTE). Em seguida, partindo-se de uma árvore de similaridade, gerada pelo CHIC, foram estabelecidas inter-relações hierárquicas e relacionais, entre as categorias, organizadas em três eixos temáticos, e as narrativas dos cursistas, de modo a analisar, numa ótica do referencial teórico da Tese, como se desenvolve a aprendizagem e como a avaliação, qualitativa e formativa, pode estar associada ao desenvolvimento da aprendizagem. Da análise multidimensional das narrativas dos cursistas, numa ótica transdisciplinar, emergiram indícios preliminares de inter-relações hierárquicas e relacionais, entre os três campos de conhecimentos desenvolvimento da aprendizagem, avaliação e saberes pedagógicos e tecnológicos, e as ações pedagógicas vivenciadas nos Fóruns TelEduc, que questionam se repensar os pressupostos da avaliação da aprendizagem e a convergência dos futuros caminhos das práticas pedagógicas e avaliativas.

This study sought to identify factors that influence the adoption of Web-based courses by State University of New York faculty members engaged in professional development and preparation of teachers. The central question of this research study was: What factors and concerns affect State University of New York teacher education faculty members' decisions regarding development and implementation of Web-based courses? The study addressed issues raised during earlier research efforts on the objections, problems, or barriers to the use of distance learning during the academic preparation of teachers. Earlier studies revealed technical barriers surrounding the perceived reliability or unreliability of hardware components or software available to instructors. Non-technical problems centered on professional objections to online courses. Job security, intellectual property rights, course control, and the constant requirement to learn or maintain new skills were listed as concerns by faculty. Implementation of Web-based courses also required a training period for faculty. Teacher education programs found within the State University of New York were selected as the focus of this study due to the availability of a structured resource for faculty seeking to develop and present online courses to their students. State University of New York faculty respondents in these programs were experienced educators who viewed Web-based teaching within the context of pre-service teacher preparation as important or very important but were concerned about "quality" issues such as student discussion or interaction, the suitability of course content, and concerns that more time is needed to prepare online courses without any corresponding support or policy guidance from institutional administration. Few courses were offered to pre-service teachers in the setting that was studied. Many respondents viewed the use of Web-mediated instruction as inconsistent with the requirements of pre-service classroom observation or other efforts to develop teaching skills. Several respondents reported that they had no online teaching experience but indicated some exposure to online teaching resources. This would suggest that hybrid courses (a mix of classroom contact supported by Web-based classes) should be explored. / Ed. D.

This paper investigates students’ attitudes towards using gestures and speech-to- text (GaST) to take notes while watching recorded lectures. A literature review regarding video based learning, an expert interview, and a background survey regarding students’ note taking habits led to the creation of the prototype AnnotEasy, a tool that allows students to use GaST to take notes. AnnotEasy was tested in three iterations against 18 students, and was updated after each iteration.  The students watched a five minute long lecture and took notes by using AnnotEasy. The participants’ perceived ease of use (PEU) and perceived usefulness (PU) was evaluated based on the TAM. Their general attitudes were evaluated in semi structured interviews.  The result showed that the students had a high PEU and PU of AnnotEasy. They were mainly positive towards taking notes by using GaST. Further, the result suggests that AnnotEasy could facilitate the process of structuring a lecture’s content. Lastly, even though students had positive attitudes towards using speech to create notes, observations showed that this was problematic when the users attempted to create longer notes. This indicates that speech could be more beneficial for taking shorter notes.

The purpose of this study was to assess radiography faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of asynchronous online courses. Learning effectiveness in a web-based virtual learning environment (VLE) was the conceptual framework for this project (Piccoli, Ahmad, & Ives, 2001). For the purposes of this study, learning effectiveness was defined as the quality of learning being comparable between online and traditional courses (Moore, 2011). Ten research questions were used to guide this study, and statistical tests were conducted to evaluate 17 null hypotheses. The statistical tests included use of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson correlations, and single-sample t-tests. Ten of the 17 null hypotheses were rejected. Research findings indicate that the effectiveness of online courses is not significantly affected by faculty position, type of institution, faculty age, or years of teaching experience. Faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of online courses increase with years teaching online courses, number of online courses taught in the past 5 years, and perceived competence with use of technology.

This study aimed to explore the effects of instructional methods in the asynchronous web-based &ldquo / Science and Math Teaching Methods Course&rdquo / on pre-service teachers&rsquo / achievement, metacognition, and attitudes towards computer, WWW, and the web-based course. It was conducted with two groups, total of 63 third grade pre-service teachers, and one instructor (the researcher), in the Elementary Education Department at Bosphorus University in the academic year of 2003-2004. The Instructor used `Direct Instruction` method based on behaviorist approach for one group, and `Indirect Instruction` method based on constructivist approach for the other one. The general metacognition questionnaire and, attitude scales for the computer and WWW were given as pretests, and after a fourteen-week treatment period they were given as posttests to both groups. Additionally, in the middle of the semester a midterm exam, and at the end of the semester a final exam, and attitudes towards web-based course scale were administered. Thus, the effectiveness of the two different instructional methods was compared. The data obtained were analyzed by statistical techniques of multivariate analyses of covariance. Results of the statistical analyses indicated that the group exposed to the web-based indirect instruction had significantly higher achievement on the final exam than the one exposed to the web based direct instruction. On the other hand, the group exposed to the web based direct instruction had significantly higher attitudes towards web-based course than the one exposed to the web-based indirect instruction. However, the statistical analyses failed to show any significant differences between the groups on the midterm exam, metacognition, and, attitudes towards computer and WWW.