Increasing technology intervention in rural schools is still a herculean task, especially with the lack of adequate infrastructures and limited resources. The purpose of this quantitative, causal comparative study was to determine the impact of technology interventions on student achievement in rural Nigerian schools. The study explored the differences in student achievement in mathematics and English between technology and nontechnology schools and established a relationship between teachers' level of technology implementation and student achievement. The convenience sample comprised 2,369 examination scores in mathematics and English of Senior Secondary Level 2 (SS2) students and purposive sampling of 34 teachers who participated in an online survey. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), the level of technology implementation (LoTi) framework, and Pearson's correlation coefficient test. The results showed significant differences in student achievement between technology and nontechnology schools. However, the LoTi framework results indicated a low level of technology implementation in classroom instruction and no significant relationship between teachers' technology integration and student performance. Thus, the mere presence of technology seems to have more impact on student grades than the ways in which teachers use it. This study is resource material for stakeholders in education to ascertain the technology that worked best, teachers' professional development, and other infrastructures, prior to the deployment of technology interventions. The results could be useful for increasing teachers' technology integration and improving student performance, thereby leading to positive social change.

It was the purpose of this study to determine what effect intrinsic motivation in software programs using graphics and non-graphics has on the achievement, attitudes, attendance and depth-of-involvement of 65 underachieving students. The study was conducted in the natural school setting over the period of a semester. Data was collected on three groups, the control group (n = 33), the alternate treatment group in which students were exposed to CAI without the use of graphics as a part of the instruction, and the experimental group in which students were exposed to CAI with graphics for at least 20 minutes three times per week. An ANCOVA was done on the pre and posttest Math Computation scores of the SAT and the pre and posttest weighted raw scores of the Motivation for Schooling subtest of the SAM. An ANOVA was done on attendance data and a measure of depth-of-involvement defined as time-on-task.;Results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in the academic achievement, attitudes or attendance among the three groups. However, gains in academic achievement did approach statistical significance. Results for the measure of time-on-task did achieve statistical significance indicating greater involvement with graphic programming.;It was concluded that the use of CAI with or without graphics does not substantially improve the achievement, attitudes or attendance of underachieving students significantly more than other intensive remedial instructional techniques.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether teaching critical thinking skills with the microcomputer produces a greater increase in the thinking skills of middle school students than teaching critical thinking skills with conventional methods.;The sample consisted of ten intact classes (N = 204) of seventh grade students who had registered for a class called, "Problem Solving with the Microcomputer." Five of the classes were assigned at random to two treatment groups and five classes served as the control group. Trained teachers instructed the treatment groups in a nine week course in critical thinking and problem solving consisting of four learning modules: analogous reasoning, logical reasoning, inductive/deductive reasoning, and problem analysis. Both treatment groups were alternately taught two of the learning modules with the aid of the microcomputer and two of the modules taught with conventional methods. The control group received no special instruction in critical thinking skills. The conventional instruction consisted of lecture, discussion, and paper-and-pencil worksheets covering the same instructional objectives presented by the microcomputer software. All classes met daily for 50 minute periods. Selected subtests from the Ross Test of Higher Cognitive Processes and from the Test of Cognitive Skills were administered to all students as pretest-posttest measures of critical thinking skills. The Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test was administered as a pretest-posttest measure of scholastic aptitude.;The major findings of the study were: (1) Students in both treatment groups, microcomputer and control, who received instruction in verbal analogies achieved significantly higher gains (p < .01) than the control group who received no instruction. A close match between the instruction and the assessment instrument seemed to be a contributing factor to this result. (2) No significant differences (p < .05) were found between the control, microcomputer, and conventional groups on logical reasoning, inductive/deductive reasoning, or problem analysis skills. (3) No significant differences (p < .05) in scholastic aptitude were found between the three groups as a result of instruction in critical thinking skills.

American Sign Language (ASL) has grown to be the 3rd largest enrolled secondary language course in the United States, and colleges and universities seek to identify effective assessment methods for this visual-based language. Although much research exists on sign language e-learning programs, asynchronous video feedback, and sign recognition software, very few studies have been conducted on using technology to as a method of assessment for sign language courses. The purpose of this hermeneutical, phenomenological, qualitative study was to document the lived experiences of students using the electronic assessment tool, GoReact, in courses. The conceptual framework was guided by engagement theory to address the student creation of sign language videos and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning to address the effectiveness of instructor-created assessment videos. Study participants were 6 students enrolled at a state college in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through interviews with ASL students in the semester before completing their associate degrees and analyzed using inductive coding analysis. Participants highlighted intuitiveness and customizability as positive perceptions of assignment completion, and video-based feedback from instructors as a positive feature of GoReact. Participants' negative perceptions included technical issues and low-quality stimuli, and inconsistencies in instructors' use of the tools. The findings of this study can influence positive social change by exploring the use of GoReact to improve the assessment and education of ASL interpreter students to better serve the deaf and people with hearing disabilities.

MyFoundationsLab (MFL) was implemented to complement math instruction and increase student performance in developmental/transitional algebra courses. However, student learning outcomes at the college under study demonstrated that some students were still unsuccessful in passing their math course (i.e., Summer 2015:30%, Fall 2015: 27.2%, Spring 2016: 41.6%). The problem addressed in this study explored the learning experiences of students, via a faculty lens, who were unsuccessful in their math course instructionally supported by MFL. Bandura's theory of reciprocal determinism, the technology acceptance model, and the ARCS model of motivational design were used in this qualitative case study to examine the perceptions of 4 faculty regarding student experiences with MFL; faculty were selected through purposeful sampling. The research question explored faculty perceptions of students who failed math while using MFL in addition to the overall learning experiences of students in using the learning system. The major themes that resulted from data analysis through semistructured interviews were student challenges with technology, learning barriers that students experienced, and faculty teaching influences. The emerging project was a faculty professional development seminar emphasizing teaching strategies that supported MFL instruction and faculty in-class teaching. The findings of the study can positively impact social change through affording students positive learning experiences that encourage them to persist in college and ultimately contribute to the economic growth of their communities.

This study employed a survey research design to identify factors that facilitate university faculty to integrate computer-based technologies into their teaching practice. The purpose of the study was to measure the practices and perceptions of higher education faculty toward instructional technology. The designed survey instrument established a series of five personal profile categories. The five categories were used as variables manipulated to enable a series of statistical analyses to examine factors that enable faculty to use technology in their teaching. The survey was electronically administered to faculty in 36 universities in the Appalachian Region; a target population of approximately 4000 potential survey respondents. A total of 427 faculty from 22 of these institutions responded to the survey, which was approximately 10% of the total population. The findings, showed statistically significant correlations between the teaching with technology subscale and personal technology use subscale. This may suggest that personal use and personal knowledge are indicators of whether or not university faculty will use technology in their teaching. Additionally, a statistically significant difference was found between the extent to which female faculty reported using technology compared to male faculty members. The generational factor (age), was not shown to have any significant relationship with the frequency of faculty members’ use of technology, but results indicated generational differences on the personal requirements profile. Lastly, one finding related to the personal requirements profile indicated that the most common requirement for using technology reported by the faculty was the knowledge that doing so would enhance students’ learning.

This research arises from my practice as a professional artist and my concern with issues of language and communication, particularly, the investigation of ways that arouse emotion and rational thought at once through language. Visual Poetry is a form of expression, which provokes both, and I saw the potential to expand its underlining principles further with the emergence of new technologies. With the digital medium, the main elements of visual and sound poetry: image, sound and text, can now be incorporated into the same piece of work. The aim of this study is to explore new digital communicative systems that interweave visual, oral and semantic elements of language, to produce new media languages where the pre-linguistic and linguistic maintain their symbiotic identities. This study examines theoretical and artistic concerns emerging from the area in-between, which is created by interlacing image, sound and text in the same artwork. It addresses the following series of questions: How to transfer the main concepts from Visual Poetry to Digital Art? How does computer technology transform image, sound and text to create new media languages? What is the role of the author, reader, writer, producer in these new interactive textualities of image, sound and text? How has this affected the new conventions of reading, looking, producing, using and thinking? What does the digital add to the interactivelexts of Visual Poetry? What new meanings and processes of thinking, understanding and interpretation are appearing? In which way do new technologies enhance the collaborative nature of practice? This investigation brings knowledge from other disciplines into the art field and it explores different serniotic models such as the linguistic the visual and the aural. It blurs the barriers between the visual and the linguistic: between different art forms such as fine art, visual poetry and sound art/poetry in a new digital and technological arena. It questions the conventions applied to these critical areas with the aid of the new tools and critical concepts available through digital technology. This study challenges the viewer/listener/user with an interface of signs from different languages and serniotic systems: the visual (still and moving images), the audible and the linguistic, to participate and explore the multiple possibilities within a work. This investigation seeks to contribute to a new body of knowledge in the development of the areas of Visual Poetry, Digital Art and the new genre of Electronic Poetry, by creating new, innovative, digital artworks for which, as a new form of expression, critical and analytical conventions are still in the process of development.

The advance of technology has offered people new channels to learn. Online learning and mobile technology have become popular, as they provide convenience and alternative educational options. However, there is limited literature focusing on the influence of students’ perceptions on their intention to adopt mobile technology in the online learning context. There also are inconsistent research results regarding how self-efficacy and other associated beliefs relate to behavior intention. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between 6 variables, including students’ age, years of experience, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, self-efficacy, attitude toward mobile technology, and intention to use mobile technology for learning purposes. The research question was to what extent, these 6 constructs predict use intention. The theoretical framework for this study included Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Davis’s technology acceptance model. This study employed a quantitative survey design, with the use of a well validated instrument. The data were from a sample of 97 participants from SurveyMonkey Audience. Multiple regression was the main data analysis method. Results showed that the 6 variables were able to predict use intention. Approximately 67.3% of the variance was explained by the 6 variables. Perceived usefulness, self-efficacy, and attitude had a strong correlation with use intention, and their combination presented the best prediction model. Findings of this study helped to generalize Davis’ model to mobile learning environments, thus informing educators, practitioners, and students in the online education field. The study informs practice by directing meaningful integration of mobile technology into online learning environments.

Many educators struggle to meet the academic needs of students, especially in the subject area of mathematics. Computer-assisted instruction is an instructional strategy used to enhance instruction. However, there is limited research on the effectiveness of these software programs for all students. The purpose of this qualitative, embedded, multiple case study was to explore the perceptions of teachers and students using computer-assisted instructional software to differentiate instruction within a general education and special education 4th-grade mathematics classroom. The constructivism theory provided a framework for the topic of differentiated instruction. This study included a single elementary school within a district in the Southeastern United States. The participants of this study included 1 general education and 1 special education 4th-grade mathematics teacher. In addition, participants included 6 general education and 4 special education 4th-grade mathematics students. Introductory and follow-up teacher interviews, introductory and follow-up student focus group interviews, 6 classroom observations, and teacher lesson plans were used as data collection methods. Gerund coding, categorizing, and content analysis was employed to interrogate the data. The constant comparative method was used to determine within-case and across-case themes and discrepancies. The findings revealed that teachers used computer-assisted instructional software, MobyMax, to meet individual student needs, monitor student progress, implement small group instruction, increase student engagement, and supplement primary teacher-led instruction. Educators can use the findings of this study to understand how teachers can use computer-assisted instruction to meet the needs of students.

Many students today lack preparedness for college-level math. Colleges and universities offer developmental math courses; however, students are failing these developmental courses and they often have low math self-efficacy. Educational technology and alternative classroom models are used to try to alleviate low success rates in developmental math courses. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between math self-efficacy and math achievement in students in developmental math courses that used the software platform Connect Math. Research questions focused on self-efficacy and math achievement differences between students in computer mediated and traditional lecture-based developmental math courses, as well as differences in their opinion of Connect Math. Guided by self-efficacy theory, a quasi-experimental study was conducted and data from students in traditional lecture-based (n = 81) and computer-mediated (n = 76) developmental math courses was analyzed. ANCOVA analysis revealed a significant relationship between age and math self-efficacy, p = .042 and a significant relationship between class type and student's perceived helpfulness of Connect Math, p = .005. Analysis also found a difference in GPA with computer-mediated students having a slightly higher GPA than traditional lecture-based students . Furthermore, results indicated instructor significantly predicted student opinion of Connect Math, p = .023. Results suggest that greater access to technology did not significantly predict greater success in the developmental math course. With higher completion rates of developmental math courses, colleges and universities could see greater graduation rates for all students.