This dissertation investigates the challenges that Deaf adults encounter at the task of learning computer literacy skills. Deaf adults who communicate using South African Sign Language (SASL) come from poor socio-economic backgrounds are not familiar with the written form of English. They rely on interpreters and Deaf teachers to translate written text into SASL for them to learn computer literacy skill. We present our theme of support, in which Deaf people learn via an intermediary, a teacher or facilitator, in intermediated supported learning. We propose a shift from intermediated supported learning to multimedia supported learning which is most appropriate for the context. Using Community-based co-design we implement two systems: an authoring tool to support lesson content creation by the teacher and a mobile prototype that uses sign language videos to provide computer literacy instruction. We evaluate the two systems to evaluate if they support multimedia-supported learning. The authoring tool allowed the facilitator to create tailored lessons for the Deaf learners using pre-recorded SASL videos and images. The Deaf learners demonstrated ability to do self-paced learning while using the mobile system, better suited to Deaf learners with basic exposure to computer literacy skills.

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The ubiquity of mobile phones provides an opportunity to use them for learning programming beyond the classroom. This would be particularly useful for novice learners of programming in resource-constrained environments. However, limitations of mobile phones, such as small screens and small keypads, impede their use as typical programming environments. This study proposed that mobile programming environments could include scaffolding techniques specifically designed for mobile phones, and designed based on learners’ needs. A six-level theoretic framework was used to design scaffolding techniques to support construction of Java programs on a mobile phone. The scaffolding techniques were implemented on an Android platform. Using the prototype, three experiments were conducted with 182 learners of programming from four universities in South Africa and Kenya. Evaluation was conducted to investigate: (i) which scaffolding techniques could support the construction of Java programs on a mobile phone; and (ii) the effect on learners of using these scaffolding techniques to construct Java programs on a mobile phone. Data was collected using computer logs, questionnaires, and image and video recordings. It was found that static scaffolding, such as a program overview and constructing a program one part at a time, supported the construction of programs on a mobile phone. It was also found that automatic scaffolding, such as error prompts and statement dialogs, and user-initiated scaffolding, such as viewing of the full program while creating parts of a program, supported learners to construct programs on the mobile phone. The study also found that the scaffolding techniques enabled learners to attempt and complete more tasks than a non-scaffolded environment. Further, the scaffolding techniques enabled learners to complete programs efficiently, and captured syntactical errors early during program creation. The results also indicated that after the initial familiarization with the scaffolded environment, the scaffolding techniques could enable faster completion of programs. Learners’ feedback indicated that they found the scaffolding techniques useful in supporting programming on a mobile phone and in meeting learners’ needs. This study provides empirical evidence that scaffolding techniques specifically designed for mobile phones and designed based on learners’ needs could support the construction of programs on a mobile phone.

Information Communication Technology (ICT) can provide innovative learning experiences, but in all cases a great deal depends upon the teacher to provide the context to make this possible. This study focuses on the role of teachers and their needs in embedding Information Communication Technologies into the curriculum in a Tasmanian Government Senior Secondary College.The purpose of the study was to explore what support and encouragement teachers need to successfully incorporate ICTs into the curriculum. In particular, it looks at what motivates teachers to change their practice, in what ways their practice changes and what support is essential for that change to be lasting and worthwhile.Three learning areas were selected for the study, LOTE, English, and Mathematics. There were a total of eleven teachers plus the researcher and eight classes of students. The majority of data collected was qualitative in the form of documents, interview and observations. Quantitative data was collected mainly through surveys.The study focused on the following key elements required for teachers to embed ICTs into the curriculum:1) The role of management;2) The role of teachers (pedagogical, technical);3) Requirements for technical assistance;4) Time allocation; and5) Professional development.Resulting from the study are a series of recommendations for education departments, Principals, ICT managers and teachers to assist them in implement the embedding of ICTs into the curriculum.

The object of this study was to answer four major research questions dealing with the intention of teachers to use information technologies: what are the teacher characteristics and dispositions that impact upon teacher intentions to use computers in teaching and learning; how do these characteristics and dThis study aimed to answer four research questions dealing with the intentions of teachers to use ispositions impact upon teacher intentions to use computers in teaching and learning; how do these characteristics and dispositions relate to each other; can the pattern of relationship between these characteristics and dispositions explain conceptually the processes by which teachers' uptake computers into teaching and learning situations. Teachers were sampled from seven secondary schools located in Western Sydney. Subjects were provided with a questionnaire pertaining to educational, professional and computing backgrounds, and attitudes toward computers. Results show teachers' use of computers to be influenced by attitudes toward computers as well as factors such as teachers' computer skill, their involvement in formal training, and their access to computers outside of school. Gender issues were examined and while some effect was found, the effect was not consistent across all variables. The results of the inferential analysis were used to formulate a causal model, the purpose of which was to explain further the relationship between teachers' attitudes toward computers and computer use / Master of Education (Hons)

Mathematics is much more than the manipulation of numbers. At its best, it involves simple, clear examples of thought so apt to the world we live in that those examples provide guidance for our thinking about problems we meet subsequently. We call such examples, capable of heuristic use, POWERFUL IDEAS, after Papert (1980). This article documents a child's introduction to a specific powerful idea in a computer environment. We trace his extensions of that idea to other problem areas, the first similar to his initial experience and the second more remote from it.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on June 9, 2009) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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. / This study examined the influence of teachers' thoughts and beliefs on their use of computers in the classroom at an American international school during the 1995-1996 school year. Data was collected in the form of interviews with nine teachers, observations of teachers' classroom use of computers, and examination of written school records. Findings were presented through profiles of the nine teachers' thoughts and beliefs about computers and their computer use. Further analysis identified external factors that influenced their computer use. The study identified criteria teachers used to evaluate any use of the computer in their classrooms: - They would use computers if it was an improvement over what they were currently doing. - The software had to be relevant to their grade level or subject. - The use of the computer had to fit in with their teaching styles. - Use of the computer had to enrich the existing information and extend the skills of the students. - The curriculum had to mesh with the computer. The study also identified linkages between teachers' thoughts and beliefs and their computer use: - Teachers' thoughts and beliefs were formed through experiences using the computer as a teacher or as a student. - Teachers need to be intrinsically motivated to use computers. - Teachers used the computer in ways that supported their teaching styles and classroom practices. The study also found that teachers had thoughts and beliefs about contexts or people who may have influenced their decisions or actions about using computers. These are factors that can affect or cause teachers to develop thoughts and beliefs about using computers. These factors were long-range planning, access, support, external pressures, professional development, and time. Another group of findings provide the suggested guidelines for the forms of professional development that might be beneficial in improving the use of the computer. / 2999-01-01

One way to determine if all students can learn through the use of computers is to introduce a lesson taught completely via computers and compare the results with those gained when the same lesson is taught in a traditional manner. This study attempted to determine if a virtual fetal pig dissection can be used as a viable alternative for an actual dissection for females enrolled in high school biology classes by comparing the knowledge acquisition and attitudinal change between the experimental (virtual dissection) and control (actual dissection) groups. Two hundred and twenty four students enrolled in biology classes in a suburban all-girl parochial high school participated in this study. Female students in an all-girl high school were chosen because research shows differences in science competency and computer usage between the genders that may mask the performance of females on computer-based tasks in a science laboratory exercise. Students who completed the virtual dissection scored significantly higher on practical test and objective tests that were used to measure knowledge acquisition. Attitudinal change was measured by examining the students' attitudes toward dissections, computer usage in the classroom, and toward biology both before and after the dissections using pre and post surveys. Significant results in positive gain scores were found in the virtual dissection group's attitude toward dissections, and their negative gain score toward virtual dissections. Attitudinal changes toward computers and biology were not significant. A purposefully selected sample of the students were interviewed, in addition to gathering a sample of the students' daily dissection journals, as data highlighting their thoughts and feelings about their dissection experience. Further research is suggested to determine if a virtual laboratory experience can be a substitute for actual dissections, or may serve as an enhancement to an actual dissection.

This project explores the interactions of young children with computers in their homes. It focuses on: resources available and what affordances these enable; socio-cultural contexts, discourses and family practices; nature of the use and affordances children perceive; and how school experiences differ from those at home and the impact of teachers' discourses about computing. Findings were: common activities comprised game playing, editing and decorating texts and using information texts; gender and socio-economic differences interacted with varying rules, resources, discourses, affordances, and family use and expertise; parental discourses and resources combined to generate key affordances of the computer as toy and tool; parental discourses revealed different conceptions of childhood and computers; children’s patterns of learning and use are relatively consistent across age, gender and family background – they learn by exploring and the dominant affordance is the computer as playable; teachers’ discourses and conceptions lead to the marginalisation of computer use within the curriculum; at school, children have less access, control and time to use computers in ways that allow them to draw on the expertise and approaches they have developed at home. Theories are developed to show how children come to perceive the computer as playable, and how parents’ and teachers’ discourses position computing as marginal to the curriculum. The other issues relate to conceptions of learning, types of learning that computers afford, and the possibility that children’s approaches to learning are changing as a result of their interactions with computers / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)