<p> The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed methods study was threefold. First, this study compared the effects of two different simulation-based instructional strategies on athletic trainers&rsquo; clinical competence in performing cardiovascular screening with cardiac auscultations. Second, this study identified the athletic trainers&rsquo; perceptions of learning through simulation-based instructional strategies. Third, this study attempted to identify and offer instructional recommendations based on the outcomes. </p><p> The quantitative phase analyzed cognitive and diagnostic reasoning knowledge and history-taking and clinical skills specific to cardiovascular screenings with cardiac auscultations as it was taught to athletic trainers (ATs) at a continuing professional education (CPE) course. The quantitative results found that high-fidelity and low-fidelity simulation-based instructional strategies significantly increased cognitive and diagnostic reasoning knowledge and history-taking and clinical skill from pre-test to post-test assessment on all dependent variables. When comparing the two fidelity types to each other, the analysis found that the participants in the high-fidelity simulation group gained significantly more skill when compared to the low-fidelity group. </p><p> In the qualitative analysis of this study, three themes emerged specific to the perceptions of the athletic trainers&rsquo; experiences as they learn through simulation-based instructional strategies. The first theme that emerged was a clear indication that participants&rsquo; exhibited positive perceptions of learning through simulation-based instructional strategies. The second theme that emerged was that the high-fidelity simulation experience during the pre-assessment and post-assessment raised an awareness of the deficit of knowledge and skills in performing a comprehensive cardiovascular screening with cardiac auscultations. Lastly, the third theme that emerged was specific to the perceived limitations in the effectiveness of low-fidelity simulation and the perceived strengths in the effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation. </p><p> A few instructional recommendations emerged from this dissertation study. Simulation-based instructional strategies are an ideal teaching method to utilize during continuing professional education courses with athletic trainers. Specifically, this study identified that both, high-fidelity and low-fidelity simulation, are effective in teaching cardiovascular screening with cardiac auscultations. Additionally, the participants perceived influences of a pre-test on the identification of their knowledge and skills deficit suggests that there are benefits of utilizing an authentic simulation pre-test as part of CPE courses.</p>

This research was a triangulated study of student attitudes towards instructors' rapport-building traits and their preferences amongst instructors' rapport-building practices in online learning environments. Participants were undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in courses within an educational technology program at a central Texas university. The study employed a mixed-methods approach involving the Likert-item assessment of learners' attitudes, the identification and prioritization of learner preferences through pairwise comparisons, and semi-structured interviews that provided richer, more detailed information. Findings indicated a strong preference for instructor-based traits and practices over pedagogically-based ones. These traits and practices loaded into the components of social presence, enjoyable interaction, and personal connection.

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. / Field dependent and field independent cognitive styles are contrasting ways of perceiving and processing information. This study investigated how the cognitive styles of field dependence (FD) and field independence (FI) affect the achievement levels of distance learners. Cognitive style refers to the manner in which an individual perceives and processes information. As described by Allport style is the "particular manner of execution which permeates any highly integrated volitional activity" (Allport, 1937, p. 494). In distance education, spontaneous learner-instructor interaction is frequently neither as flexible nor as timely as it would be in conventional instruction. This research examined the effects of matching or mismatching the design of asynchronous distance education to the field dependent and the field independent learner. Horn's construction of Information Mapping© (Horn, R.E., 1989) was employed to add structure compatible with the Field Dependent learner. Subjects were administered the GEFT, a measure of field dependence-independence. Only those in the first and fourth quartiles of the resulting distribution participated the study. The first quartile was comprised of Field Dependent (FD) subjects and the fourth quartile was comprised of Field Independent (FI) subjects. Half of each group was randomly selected to receive asynchronous online instruction designed to match their cognitive style, and half received asynchronous online instruction designed to mismatch their cognitive style. Analysis of the results showed that matching the cognitive style of the FD asynchronous distance learner resulted in significant differences between the pre and post test scores. However, an analysis of the test results for the FI learners whose instruction was designed to match their cognitive style showed no significant differences from pre to post test. The FI learners whose instruction was designed to mismatch their cognitive style did show a significant difference from pre to post test. A two-by-two factor analysis showed a significant effect for the design of the modules, but no effect for cognitive style or the interaction of cognitive style and module design. Matching the FD cognitive style, in asynchronous distance education had a positive impact on achievement for both Field Dependent and Field Independent learners as measured from pre to post test. / 2031-01-02

<p> The purpose of this study was to design a grammar curriculum that could help college age students in basic writing classes to identify and correct grammatical errors in their own writing. After reviewing literature in best practices in grammar instruction as well as other kinds of instructional best practices, the grammar curriculum, <i>Effective MUGs</i> (MUGs stands for mechanics, usage, and grammar), takes advantage of these best practices including sentence combining, sentence revision, sentence creation, grammar in context, strategies instruction, and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). The study was designed to measure how effective the grammar curriculum was (by examining student writing in essays as well as grammar exercises), how students used tools in the curriculum (by examining results from cognition labs), and how students and instructors perceived the curriculum (through interviews). The data on student grammatical error from this study must be viewed with reservations because of the lack of statistical significance. The most significant findings were qualitative and offered insight into the strengths of the Effective MUGs curriculum as well as which aspects that need revision. Both students and instructors thought that the gradual release of strategies instruction was one of the most effective tools and they both enjoyed using BYOD in conjunction with Google Docs. Students were most challenged by subject-verb identification and feeling confident about use of unfamiliar sentence elements; instructor interviews confirmed these student challenges. The data from the study will prompt revision to the curriculum as well as enhanced professional development.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this case study was to document stakeholders&rsquo; perceptions of adopting and integrating OER materials in higher education. Specifically, this study sought to understand the perceptions of institutional faculty, librarians, instructional designers, and students with the adoption and use of OER at a state college in east Florida. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with institutional faculty, librarians, and instructional designers. A survey was distributed to students enrolled in OER integrated courses during the Spring semester. Theoretical perspectives on the adoption and diffusion of OER as an innovation were grounded in Roger&rsquo;s Diffusion of Innovation theory. </p><p> An analysis of the data revealed that stakeholder perceptions are a key factor in the rate of adoption and diffusion within the institution. Faculty perceptions of resource quality and time involved to curate the resources proved challenging for OER adoption and integration. Instructional designers perceived the resources as time consuming yet highly accessible. Librarians perceived the resources as beneficial, but a lack of awareness and understanding of licensing rules made adoption and integration challenging. Students perceived the resources as advantageous, above average in quality, and just as effective as traditional textbooks. Despite the challenges presented, stakeholders agreed that access to the resources and the cost savings for students were significant enough to outweigh the time involved to locate, adapt, implement, and utilize the resources.</p><p>

Agile development is a software development methodology that originated in 2001 (Beck, et al.). It has since gained wide recognition and use in the software industry, and is characterized by iterative development cycles. Organizations outside of the software industry are also finding ways to adapt Agile development to their contexts. BYU Independent Study (BYUIS) is an online education program at Brigham Young University that provides online courses at the high school and university levels. In April 2016, BYUIS implemented the Agile development process to the design and development of online courses. This thesis is a case study that looks specifically at the adoption of Agile at BYUIS, from its implementation in April 2016 to the time of this study in summer of 2017. The question this qualitative study seeks to answer is as follows: how and why did the adoption of the Agile development methodology to instructional design practices at BYUIS reflect or differ from the 12 principles of Agile development? To answer this research question, the researcher used multiple data sources: semi-structured interviews with three administrators, two production team managers, and three instructional designers; surveys for BYUIS student employees (i.e., scrum team members) after each week of observation; and field note observations of three Agile scrum teams for two weeks each. The data from each of these sources was analyzed through a descriptive coding process and then organized into a thematic network analysis. The Results section analyzes evidence from the interviews, surveys, and observations that reflect or differ from each of the 12 principles of Agile. The Discussion addresses three main issues of implementing Agile at BYUIS: how to accommodate for part-time schedules, the complexity of working on different projects, and how to facilitate communication in scrum teams if co-location is not possible. It also looks at how these three issues could be manifest in other organizations and introduces potential solutions. The researcher then presents suggestions for future research on Agile in instructional design or other contexts.

Growing concern for an improvement in the formal learning situations experienced by adults is reflected in much of the literature currently available. Evidence from studies of adult learning suggests that (i) adults are generally well able to accept a significant degree of responsibility for the management of their own learning, and (ii) that an adult's learning is enhanced if the learning situations are matched to the preferences and strengths of the learner. In this study a design for adult instruction, which takes these factors into account, is developed. The Educational Cognitive Styles of 47 adult learners are mapped using a self-report inventory. The profiles thus obtained are used in the development of instructional techniques for the learners who are enrolled in a first-year, TAFE, para-professional course. Comparison of this experimental group with a control group indicates that the attrition rate is reduced, learners have more positive feelings toward their course of study, and performance on a content achievement test is, arguably, improved.

This study investigated how playing different types of video games was associated with different values of metacognitive awareness. The target population was first and second-year college students. The study used a survey methodology that employed two self-reporting instruments: the first to estimate a metacognitive-awareness index (MAI), and the second (developed in this study) to: (a) assess a respondent's video- and non-electronic-game experience (including both video and non-electronic games), (b) estimate the time spent playing video games (time played) over the prior two years, and (c) characterize the different types of video games that were played (to determine gamer type). / Out of 759 surveys distributed in 29 classes (for first and second-year courses), there were 175 respondents. For the main analysis, 80 respondents were eligible because they were video gamers, aged 18 to 21 years, and undergraduates. Juniors and seniors were included to mitigate the risk of too few respondents. The analysis was based on a 2 (time played) x 3 (gamer type) ANOVA for MAI. Gamer type was based on the predominant type of video games played among action games, strategy games, and coherent world games (CWGs). A CWG was defined as a role-playing game (RPG) in which a player explored a consistent and complex world to solve challenges or an entity-development game (EDG) in which the player developed, managed, and operated a complex entity in a consistent world or context. The three gamer types were action, strategy, and CWG. / The initial analysis revealed that action gamers and strategy gamers could not be objectively distinguished. Thus, three new gamer types that were consistent with the study's objectives were specified. The first type played predominantly EDGs; the second, RPGs; and the third, neither EDGs nor RPGs as often. The third type was assumed to play predominantly non-coherent world games (NCWGs). Thus, the three gamer types were EDG, RPG, and NCWG. / The results showed that EDG gamers were associated with a significantly higher MAI than NCWG gamers. F(2, 77) = 4.55; p &lt; .05; partial eta2 = .11; and power = .76. There was not a significant association for time played or the interaction of time played and gamer type. In a secondary analysis, comprising 64 gamers, aged 18 to 21 years, and first and second-year students only, the results showed that CWG and EDG gamers were associated with a significantly higher MAI than NCWG gamers. F(3, 60) = 4.29; p &lt; .01; partial eta2 = .18; and power = .84. / Two possible hypotheses for the results were that playing CWGs foster metacognitive awareness or that those with a higher metacognitive awareness preferred CWGs. Because the methodology used a one-time survey, neither hypothesis could be confirmed or denied. Due to coverage and nonresponse errors, the sample results were not generalizable. Nevertheless, the results provided evidence of an association between CWG gamers and a higher metacognitive awareness than for NCWG gamers. The implication was that the study could inform methodology design for future research to develop an empirically-based taxonomy on game characteristics, organized according to their association with metacognitive awareness.

The aim of this thesis has been to describe and analyse the students'views on the effects of constructivistic indicators in a learning environment of vocational training. The indicators concerned here were activity, authenticity, holism, context and multiple perspectives. The thesis focuses futher on the differences between traditional and constructivistic vocational training in its practice-of-skills aspect. The work consists of two sections, of which the first is a theoretical survey of cognitive constructivistic learning in which the views of various researchers are presented, analysed and compared. By designing a learning method with the highest possible number of constructivistic indicators, it has been possible to record students opinions of these in three different ways, by using questionnaires, interviews and video recordings. The pupils' experiences of various learning situations have then been described and analysed. Data have also been gathered using a fourth method, by recording spontaneous comments from the teachers concerned. The information has then been collated, and the results compared with the views of those researchers already presented. The results indicate that the effects of cognitive constructivistic indicators are felt as favourable by the pupils, who make it clear that it is of great value to be able to "think for oneself' as they put it, in the course of acquiring professional skills. Among other things, what the pupils consider specially valuable for the learning process is the personal activity and authenticity involved in creating usable products. No noticeably unfavourable pupil experiences of the constructivistic learning have emerged, while the spontaneous comments of the teachers express both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include increased motivation on the part of pupils as a consequence of learning through creating usable products; pupils feel that what they do is more meaningful than would be the case in traditional vocational training. They also become independent learners more quickly: the teachers feel that the pupils learn more efficiently, and that the training period for some of them could be reduced by one-third. The major disadvantage is that the teacher has to learn to play a partly new role, since the teaching material does not consist of rigidly specific written instructions. Initially a greater amount of work is demanded of the teacher until pupils have become accustomed to the mainly constructivistic learning method. The learning environment that is presented in conclusion includes among other things features of business economics, product design and innovation, as well as certain conditions for the establishment of small-scale industry. Judging from the results, these components may be considered as further reinforcing the learning effect from a cognitive-constructivistic point of view. Vocational training thus acquires a new qualitative dimension when constructivistic indicators integrate instruction with the subsequent situation of working and earning a living, instead of concentrating simply on the content of the syllabus with no relation to the situation of pupils after completion of their training. / digitalisering@umu

The purpose of this research is to identify complex cultural dynamics in theinstructional design process of a cross-sector, cross-border training environment by applying Young’s (2009) Culture-Based Model (CBM) as a theoretical framework and taxonomy for description of the instructional design process under the conditions of one case. The guiding question of this study is: How does culture, as defined by Young’s (2009) CBM framework, interact with the instructional design process in this case of a cross-sector, cross-border training program? This research uses the qualitative approach of case study and applies a cultural design framework to examine the process of instructional design by a team of designers-by-assignment in a NASA/university consortium program to train applied research and development teams for an education software company headquartered in India. Fifteen representative participants were chosen to reflect each role involved in the training program and instructional design process, including management, instructors and students. In over two years of engagement with participants, data was gathered at a NASA space center and in Mumbai, India through interviews, observation and artifact analysis. Data was analyzed to identify where components of the design process, decisions of the design team, and perceptions of the stakeholders overlap with culture as defined by Young’s CBM framework. The findings indicate that at least twenty-three distinguishable elements of culture interact across the design process in the: 1) goals and funding decisions of the client; 2) goals and design decisions of the design team; 3) perceptions of the training program of all stakeholders; and 4) the observable outcomes of the training program. The findings also offer insight into what stakeholders do or do not consciously attribute to culture. By empirically illuminating the pervasive presence of cultural interactions across the instructional design process, this study advocates for culture to be recognized as a construct of importance in our field and demonstrates the powerful capabilities of using a comprehensive descriptive model as a lens for exploring cultural dynamics in the instructional design process.