<p> Many math students, both EL and non-EL, struggle to reach the level of proficiency on California state tests which is required since the passage of NCLB in 2002 (California Department of Education, 2012). In California only 34% of students scored at the level of proficiency or above in 2011 (National Assessment for Educational Progress, 2012). The purpose of this quasi-experimental quantitative study was to determine the degree of achievement, similarities, and differences in learning fourth-grade math for ELs and non-ELs when sentence frames are used as the method of instruction and when sentence frames are not used as the method of instruction in a southern California school district. The instructional method of using sentence frames with all students, non-ELs and ELs, may assist all students to become successful and reach the level of proficiency in fourth-grade mathematics. A group of approximately 23 teachers with approximately 30 students each for a total of 700 fourth-grade math students, will teach two lessons, one lesson that primarily uses sentence frames as the method of instruction and one lesson that does not use sentence frames in the method of instruction. Pre and post tests for each lesson was taken and data was analyzed to identify patterns, similarities, differences, and diverging themes associated when the use of sentence frames are used as the method of instruction and when sentence frames are not used as the method of instruction with ELs and non-ELs.</p><p>

<p> 21^st Century skills such as critical-thinking and problem-solving skills are very important when it comes to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics or STEM. But those same skills should be integrated in social studies. The impact of students&rsquo; learning in social studies as a result of implementing inquiry-based instructional strategies was the problem investigated in the study. Participants in the study included 22 third-grade African-American students in a self-contained classroom in a large urban school system. Instrumental apparatus used in the study were a pre- and post- survey, a frequency behavior checklist, and a 4-point rubric. Students were given a pre- and post- survey to assess their perception of their inquiry skills before and after the study. Observable behaviors were recorded over the next eight weeks. The research design chosen for the study was action research using a mixed-methods approach because action research was commonly used by teachers because of its practicality. The impact of students&rsquo; learning in social studies as a result of implementing inquiry-based instructional strategies was that there was no impact between the inquiry-based instructional strategies and student achievement in social studies among 3^rd grade students based on the data from the Inquiry-Based Instructional Strategies 4-point rubric and the Inquiry-based Instructional Strategies Frequency Behavior Checklist. As a result, implications of the study include improving teacher pedagogy in inquiry-based learning and instructional strategies and more professional development in project-based learning and integration in social studies, and using current events to make social studies relevant.</p><p>

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The adoption of information technology as an aid to organisational efficiency and effectiveness has a long history in business and public administration, but its application to the processes of teaching and learning in education has been relatively limited. At the dawn of the new millennium this began to change, as educational institutions around the world began to experiment with new ideas for the use of information technology. This happened at the same time that commercial organisations began to realise that they themselves could - because of the availability of IT based systems - invest in educational services focused on their own needs. It was against this background that this research project set out to study how South African higher education has incorporated new learning technologies in the delivery of programmes. The study began by exploring the emerging patterns of the use of e-learning in South African higher education. This was to establish a broad understanding of how e-learning was incorporated into the core business of universities. As the study progressed interviews with both teaching and support staff provided course descriptions which were used to expose the kind of considerations that were made in designing, developing and delivering those courses. The main purpose of the study was to answer the question: what pedagogical considerations are necessary for successful course design when using e-learning? By placing the course descriptions on a continuum developed as a part of the conceptual framework in the study it was possible to analyse the course design features that emerged. The framework and its differentiated learning designs (LD1/2/3) can be used for both design and evaluation of courses and can facilitate the use of technology in enhancing teaching and learning. / South Africa

The objective of this study was to test the efficiency of an educacional program (PECC) in order to improve moral reasoning and cognitive complexity. The sample was 18 tenth-grade students of both genders, aged 15-16 years. Even though there were no structural advances in the moral reasoning leve!, there was an increase of reasoning complexity and in the number of elements that the subjects were able to identify in social dilemma. / El objetivo de esta investigación fue probar la eficiencia de un programa educativo (PECC) para elevar el nivel de razonamiento moral y de complejidad cognitiva. La muestra estuvo constituida por 18 estudiantes de 4to de secundaria, de ambos sexos, de 15 y 16 años de edad. Los resultados indican que, aunque no se dieron avances estructurales en el nivel de razonamiento moral, hubo un incremento de la complejidad del razonamiento y en el número de elementos que los sujetos fueron capaces de identificar en los dilemas sociales.

The wide variety of strata, structural features, and landscapes of Capitol Reef National Park result from its complex, yet discoverable history. Our task was to write and design an informative book on this complexity while making it engaging for the public. We approached the design of this book using Stufflebeam's (2007) CIPP model. The CIPP model uses both summative and formative evaluations in the categories of context, input, process, and product. It provides the framework to methodically investigate the value of a product and identify and correct less effective pedagogical and design elements during its development. We demonstrated the use of the CIPP model as we wrote and illustrated pages of our book. Beginning with context, we identified our target audience, decided how we would provide a book that would serve this cohort, and made a plan for what we would accomplish with Exploring the Diverse Geology of Capitol Reef National Park. The input step involved understanding how to make our goals reality, especially concerning the design of the final book. We researched how the brain learns most effectively and incorporated those ideas into our book. We used principles developed by Clark and Mayer (2011) to reduce extraneous cognitive load. Research by James Hartley (1994) guided the instructional design and typography techniques. The process step helped us stay organized and follow our original plans. Finally, the product step enabled us and others to evaluate our product both formatively and summatively to make necessary alterations and plans for possibly future editions.

The purpose of this study was to conduct an evaluation on a workplace training program using the Community of Inquiry (COI) model as a guide for course construction. Given that online and blended learning programs have gained popularity in the past two decades, companies have struggled with how to prepare trainers in the areas of online teaching methods and instructional technology usage to create an effective and engaging learning environment. In this study, I utilized the COI model, created for use in higher ed settings, in a workplace setting as a curriculum framework to revamp an unsuccessful online learning program. The new curriculum and course logistics framed three presences contained in the COI model—cognitive, social, and teaching. The researcher conducted evaluations by surveying the learners, the training team, and by direct observations of the instructional designers. Results suggested that the COI model was a good foundation for building an online learning course in a workplace setting with slight variations. A recommendation for future use in this new setting was to divide the teaching presence into two presences and create a new design presence, which makes a clear delineation between instructional design and content delivery functions.

For many years,scholars haveinvestigated instructional design expertise anddescribed the difficulty definingit. A lack of a clear definition, inclusive of primary components,poses a measurement problemfor those seeking to evaluate the development of expertise. An overarching aim of this study is to gather evidence to support a definition of instructional designexpertise(IDE)which includes knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Instructional design dispositions have not received muchattention, but dispositions (e.g., adaptability,flexibility)are often described as distinguishing traits of expertdesigners. ExistingID competency instrumentsevaluatethe perceived importance of knowledge and skills butare limited in trackingdevelopment past competency. They also do not adequately considerdispositions.The purpose of this research was to describe the development of the Instructional Design Dispositions and Expertise Index. Instrument development procedures includeditem generation,expert review, think-aloud sessions, and a small-scale item tryout. Over 200 designers agreedknowledge, skills, and dispositions are important components of expertise. Qualitative data corroboratedquantitativefindingsfurther illuminatinga relationship between these componentsand quality instructional design. Initial evidence of content and construct validity for the instrument isestablished. A validated expertise instrument wouldallow us to more fully understand and evaluate expertiseand its development, whichcould inspire innovation ininstructional design research, theory, and practice.<br>

Much of the recent instructional design (ID) practice research can be parsed into three key categories: ID professionals, ID preparation, and the isolated differences between novice and expert designers (Sugar, 2014). However, not one of these three categories examines the transition experience of ID practitioners from their preparation to practice in the world of business. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain further understanding of the practical lived experiences of five instructional designers in their first years in the business world as they negotiated different sets of expectations placed upon them. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyze interview and artifact data, collected over two years. Woven together, these data tell the collective narrative of the participants' transition story. The findings of this study resulted in eight themes and several subthemes. The most salient finding was the discovery of the ID practitioner transformation framework, which comprises the first seven findings. This framework revealed that these participants' transition was not finite. In fact, they experienced a pattern of continuous personal and organizational growth long after their initial transition into the workplace. In addition to these findings, this study offers transition-related recommendations to multiple stakeholders, including prospective IDs, ID graduate programs, and businesses that hire IDs. Future research could expound on these findings by expanding participant criteria, examining the phenomenon of ID transition from the perspectives of others, and validating the newly discovered ID practitioner transformation framework using a larger sample size.

<p>This dissertation is comprised of research articles examining the strategies instructional designers’ employ to transform both conflict with faculty in higher education and learners’ attitudes through instruction. In the first study, we investigated instructional designers’ perspectives on how conflict impacts their collaborative work with faculty. Through our qualitative analysis of fourteen instructional designers’ perceptions and experiences of conflict with faculty, we found that participants held nuanced perceptions of conflict and experienced conflicts falling within three thematic types of conflict. The second study expanded upon the first study by examining instructional designers approaches to navigate conflict with faculty. Findings revealed instructional designers utilized several strategic interconnected approaches focused on cultivating and strengthening collaborations along with using reflection post collaboration to try and improve future collaborations with faculty. Importantly, these strategies were able to be mapped to the typical collaborative project timeline emphasizing that conflict permeates instructional designers and faculty collaborations. In the third article, we synthesized the literature on designing attitudinal change instruction and organized the literature using Merrill’s first principles of instruction framework. We identified specific strategies that instructional designers can use to effectively design attitudinal change instruction.</p>

The present study used a case study approach to gather information about learning object usage from multiple instructional design contexts.  The study examined three case contexts: A non-profit organization, a corporate organization, and a military organization.  The research obtained information from two sources within each context -- interviews conducted with current instructional design practitioners and documentation used within the process of developing learning objects  -- to find out if, when, and how, instructional design processes are modified to accommodate learning objects as defined in publications reviewed in this study.   The interview of the practitioners identified issues of instructional design process structure, context, and methods that were used in the context of their professional practice, as well as solicited their opinions on learning object uses for their particular context. A document analysis approach was then used to identify issues and themes within learning object development.   Document analysis was also used to further explain and clarify the findings of the interview of the research participants. / Ph. D.