From its inception in 2012, the Dissertation and Thesis Bootcamp at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has included a library component. Unfortunately, librarians were used more as computer technicians, assisting students with technological access issues and occasional citation help, than as information specialists. In Spring 2015, the new Graduate Librarian and the Distance Education Librarian proposed significantly expanding the librarian's role in the program by adding targeted workshops to address physical and virtual workspace organization and research strategies. In the exit surveys for Boot camp, students have expressed high ratings and appreciation for these formal library instruction opportunities. Familiarity with the embedded librarians greatly increased the interaction between students and librarians, allowing for timely, point of need interventions during boot camp, as well as continued personal consulatations afterwards. This infographic-based poster will use graphed data, linear progression and photographs to showcase the different function performed by the librarians embedded in bootcamp. It will clearly and systematically demonstrate visually how what began as a teaching research and data management skills improved student ability and confidence and progressed to one-on-one and group sessions. This case study will provide inspiration and guidelines to help others reproduce our success. Links to the content of our workshops will also be available.

Attendees will learn free, specific multimedia resources to entice children to read as well as to improve fluency in vocabulary and comprehension. The majority of young readers are captivated by mobile devices and the Internet. Why not use this to our advantage in reading instruction. Join us to discover games, websites, and apps that engage children and improve phonemic awareness, spelling, vocabulary development, and comprehension.

The purpose of this study was to develop an instructional tool, which would enable students and their parents to access the student's progress electronically at anytime and to determine if students whose parents utilized the teacher-created website and used email to communicate showed significant improvement in student's academics, behavior and attendance.

English as a Second Language (ESL) learners at the upper elementary level have struggled to demonstrate the vocabulary required to read in English at grade-level. Although multimedia technologies have demonstrated positive effects as language acquisition educational tools at the university level, it remains unclear how useful they are for language acquisition at the elementary level. This quasi-experimental study used dual coding theory as a framework to examine the relationship between the level of reading comprehension upper elementary students developed and their construction of word meanings through use of multimedia technologies. The study utilized convenience sampling of 85 students divided into treatment and control groups in a Puerto Rican Montessori school. The treatment consisted of use of multimedia technologies that included video, audio, images, and words in a digital environment for vocabulary acquisition instruction. Data sources included pretest and posttest results for the Maze Close test that measures reading comprehension. These results were analyzed using a paired t test. Results indicated that students in treatment groups developed greater reading comprehension than did those in control groups. However, the difference in scores between the groups was not significant, so the null hypothesis was not rejected. Further research is required in order to determine whether a positive relationship can exist between multimedia technology usage and development of upper elementary student vocabulary and reading comprehension. This study indicates the importance of examining whether multimedia technology use in elementary student English reading comprehension can create reading gains for upper elementary ESL students.

Due to students not meeting minimum proficiency levels in reading, a central Florida middle school that was rated an A school for 4 years consecutively dropped to a B rating during the 2012-2013 school year and was 10 points away from dropping to a C rating in the 2013-2014 school year. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe classroom implementation of Internet technology in a middle school classroom in an attempt to address the steady decline in reading scores. Guided by Piaget, Dewey, and Vygotsky's social constructivist view of education, this study explored if and how teachers used Internet technology to complement their curricular content. Research questions addressed how teachers described their experiences with Internet technology versus traditional methods to teach those reading skills necessary for students to derive meaning from the material taught. A criterion sample of 30 middle school teachers who were certified in their content areas and who had incorporated literacy into instruction participated in semistructured interviews. Data were coded and organized by themes, which included comfort with the Internet, level of usage, and the need for professional development. Findings revealed that teachers often used Internet technology to address reading skills; however, they were not aware they needed to teach students how to evaluate sources of online information. Participants requested ongoing professional development in reading and on methods to critically evaluate information in a digital world. The findings from this study can be utilized by educators to provide professional development and to design lessons that will focus on these learning gaps, thereby deepening students' literacy and critical thinking skills and thus enacting positive social change for students.

The project developed a web site for a high school physics projected called "Electric Motorboat Drag Racing." The web site was produced following the ADDIE instructional design model (analyze, design, develop, implement, evaluate) and was designed using key usability concepts identified through research: speed, content, appearance, and navigation (SCAN). The web site was developed and tested by asking experts for their feedback and by having participants use the web site. The web site was implemented in physics classrooms and data from 43 participants were evaluated. The data showed 97 percent of the participants' boats successfully completed the five-meter drag race. It also showed that the two targeted California physics standards were selected most often by participants as the standards they most needed to apply, learn, or review to complete the project. Through testing and evaluation, the web site was made more usable and the project helped physics students learn and apply specific physics concepts while gaining hands-on experience.

The general purpose of this project was to enhance the retention of social studies curriculum via internet technology. Specifically, this project involved a webquest about the three branches of government.

Trainers have long relied on visual content to make their training more effective. As the use of computer-based delivery has become an accepted method of distributing training and instructional materials, a system of standardizing the development and delivery of training workshops was worthy of considerable attention. The study concludes that while many of the older studies do not directly address the use of computer-based presentation applications, a development process can be achieved to streamline the creation of instructional content while maintaining consistency and quality in the content created.

At public high schools in Cayman, teachers need to improve their productivity and efficiency by using technologies that are simple and portable like their personal devices. Studies about bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives have revealed conflicting outcomes, and are lacking in the Caribbean and especially in Cayman. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the main factors related to teachers' willingness to adopt BYOD in public high schools in Cayman. The theoretical framework was the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). This study employed a cross-sectional survey design using a modified UTAUT instrument, which captured quantitative data from 82 participants. The use of hierarchical multiple regression to analyze the data revealed that teachers' BYOD adoption could expand by increasing facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and decreasing perceived risk. This study reduces the gap in the literature about the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and BYOD in the Caribbean and the Cayman Islands. It also provides evidence that perceived risk can increase its explanatory power of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. The study also contributes to a positive social change by revealing critical issues that administrators should address when devising BYOD policies and planning educational technology integration.

Attrition among students in online courses worldwide is well-documented at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels. However, little is yet known about the reason for attrition among in-service teachers in online training. Online education aims to provide access to education for the masses, but with higher attrition rates, it may be viewed as less effective than traditional education. This study explored factors that influenced attrition and persistence among teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in an online teacher training environment. Tinto's Community of Inquiry framework and Short, Williams, and Christie's Social Presence Model provided the conceptual framework for this qualitative case study to address the research question. Six participants in Latin America from 4 online courses, selected through criterion and convenience sampling, participated in the study. Data sources included online questionnaires, personal narratives, and a focus group interview. Each data set was analyzed using open coding to identify emerging themes, selective coding for purposes of analysis, and finally axial coding to confirm overarching themes. Findings indicate that social, teacher, and cognitive presence are key to engagement in online learning and persistence, while lack of such presences can demotivate and lead to attrition. Thus, it is important to design online training that fosters all 3 types of presence. Results also included recommendations for designing more engaging online teacher training curricula. This study contributes to positive social change by providing online course designers with a deeper understanding of factors which influence attrition and persistence.