School administrators at the research site, which is a public school district, had been under pressure to improve low reading state scores of Grade 11 students as measured by Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests. A web-based reading software called Study Island was integrated into the literacy curriculum for students to increase their reading proficiency and pass PSSA state tests. The research problem was that the integration of Study Island had not been evaluated and students were not meeting adequate yearly progress (AYP). The purpose of this study was to provide research-based evidence on whether Study Island helped students to improve their reading proficiency. This nonequivalent, quasi-experimental study was based on Tomlinson's differentiated instruction theory and Marzano's intelligence theory. Archived PSSA scores were collected for 2 cohorts of Grade 11 students (N = 800), before and after the curricular integration of Study Island between the academic years 2009--2011 and 2011--2013. An independent samples t test showed that students' reading proficiency scores were significantly higher after receiving the Stony Island software than they were before the software. These findings can be used by school and district administrators regarding the integration of Study Island into other academic subjects. Implications for positive social change may include professional development (PD) for high school teachers to use Study Island in the academic subjects they teach. PD on Study Island for high school teachers may help students pass PSSA testing, meet AYP, and graduate from high school.

Despite the availability of technological resources, the number of teachers integrating and using technology innovatively in the classroom is unknown. This qualitative investigation explored teachers' perceptions of proficiency in the use of computer technology in the classroom. Self-determination theory assisted the examination of motivation as decisions are made to integrate technology into the classroom curriculum. The research questions addressed the self-determination of teachers, decision making processes to integrate technology, and perceived technology competence. A qualitative, multiple case study design was used to explore the views of 10 technology-using elementary teachers in the use of technology in the classroom. These participants were interviewed, participated in a focus group, and submitted an integrated technology lesson plan. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. The results showed that teachers were found to be efficacious when incorporating technology into the curriculum and believed their actions could produce the desired results despite their technological skill level. Teachers were found to be self-determined and motivated to integrate technology; however, innovative practice was not evident while existing practice conformed to the instructional norms of the school. Implications for positive social change include allowing teachers to study current beliefs and practice, reflecting on best practices when integrating technology, and identifying technological innovation to enhance the learning of their own students. Recommendations include providing opportunities through professional development initiatives in which teachers and administrators alike study practice in collaborative ways, take ownership of instructional decisions, and take risks while integrating technology.

Distance learning has experienced a noteworthy increase in both the number of institutions offering alternatives to traditional classroom instruction, and the number of students participating in the various distant modalities. Accompanying the increase of students utilizing distance learning is the subsequent increase in students leaving their studies before completion. These two opposing increases have elevated the need to address retention in distance learning and specifically, online distance learning. This study utilizes the results of a Transfer Student Survey administered to criminal justice and nursing online students between 2006 and 2008. Survey results were used to determine if specific traits of persisters and non-persisters could be identified, in an effort to shine light on potential services that could be utilized to reverse attrition.;This quasi-qualitative study of online distance learners revealed some characteristic differences between persisters and non-persisters as well as between the majors of study. Outcomes of the survey were subdivided by nursing persisters and non-persisters, criminal justice persisters and non-persisters, and aggregate persisters and non-persisters. This data was further scrutinized by frequency of response as well as by mean and median scores. From that point, differences that might not have been evident through quantitative review were able to be brought to the forefront. Consequential conclusions were then utilized to provide recommendations to the institution regarding services that could be beneficial to overcome areas of deficiency with the ultimate goal of improving retention among distance learners. Additionally, suggestions were made pertaining to the challenges experienced by the limitations of the Transfer Student Survey.;Further study of distance learners, particularly in varying majors, is needed to ascertain whether there is a connection between field of study and attrition. Furthermore, results of this study alluded to time constraints and lack of priority being placed on studies as potential causes of departure. Additional research of distance learners should be done that supports or disputes these findings.

Many traditional Internet forums have not adapted to the development of the web and their usability standard is low. In order to satisfy this unexplored market segment Zoorum AB is working on a project with the goal to develop a new kind of Internet application for topic oriented discussions. The goal of this master thesis is to design a usable Internet forum, in association with Zoorum AB and Teknikhuset AB. Our challenge was to manage the designprocess, contribute with competence in interaction and usability and functionas a connection between the technology and the users. The result is presented as guidelines for design and visualized in the shape of mock-ups.

In this thesis, I define 'Playculture' as a primary portal through which 'everyday life' is experienced in the US and the UK. I then argue that online 'cultural structures' have begun, more and more frequently and for a variety of reasons, to take the form of games - games that are destabilised by female participants. 'Feminist' methods of various kinds, 'intervention disruption', and iterative game design are all modes and methodologies I have chosen to apply to the creation of the practical parts of the research. Examples discussed at length in these pages illustrate the tensions between everyday popular culture and interventionist working practices, highlighting a process informed by feminist scholarship of marginalised groups. I argue that specific and identifiable historical play patterns and larger technological developments have been linked to gaming practices. If play has become an integral part of everyday life, then the history of 'banal' play - especially domestic play -- takes on new importance. Paper playhouses of the 19th Century reinforced the notion that the house was implicitly known as a gendered space, and I interrogate gender and play and girls' subversive resistance in this space. I argue that it is both possible and useful to identify three main types of subversion in operation by women players: reskinning, un-playing, and re-writing. I use these types of subversion to design artist's computer games as practical work in [rootings] and [domestic], and in the design of a larger collaborative work RAPUNSEL. I conclude the thesis by utilising my selected methodologies for a final feminist intervention and subversion, through a case study of the design and creation of the practical work [six. circles], which demonstrates how one might rework game goals and creating artists' games as a form of social activism. I end with a summary of the significance of this body of research as well as a summary arguement outlining the potential contributions of this study to future researchers, scholars and practitioners.

Game-based learning environments (GBLEs) can offer students with engaging interactive instructional materials while also providing a research platform to investigate the dynamics and intricacies of effective self-regulated learning (SRL). Past research has indicated learners are often unable to monitor and regulate their cognitive and metacognitive processes within GBLEs accurately and effectively on their own due mostly to the open-ended nature of these environments. The future design and development of GBLEs and embedded scaffolds, therefore, require a better understanding of the discrepancies between the affordances of GBLEs and the required use of SRL. Specifically, how to incorporate interdisciplinary theories and concepts outside of traditional educational, learning, and psychological sciences literature, how to utilize process data to measure SRL processes during interactions with instructional materials accounting for the dynamics of leaners' SRL, and how to improve SRL-driven scaffolds to be individualized and adaptive based on the level of agency GBLEs provide. Across four studies, this dissertation investigates learners' SRL while they learn about microbiology using CRYSTAL ISLAND, a GBLE, building upon each other by enhancing the type of data collected, analytical methodologies used, and applied theoretical models and theories. Specifically, this dissertation utilizes a combination of traditional statistical approaches (i.e., linear regression models), non-linear statistical approaches (i.e., growth modeling), and non-linear dynamical theory (NDST) approaches (aRQA) with process trace data to contribute to the field's current understanding of the dynamics and complexities of SRL. Furthermore, this dissertation examines how limited agency can act as an implicit scaffold during game-based learning to promote the use of SRL processes and increase learning outcomes.

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As institutions of higher education seek to meet the demands of a changing technological environment, they are compelled to push for increased faculty use of technology in their instructional and scholarly pursuits. as more faculties adopt these innovations, universities find themselves unable to provide the necessary technological support required. Filling this support gap are the techno-profs, faculty members who are technologically proficient, have a network of technological resources, reside at the department level, and are willing to assist most everyone who asks for help.;The purpose of this study was to determine if the techno-profs within various university administrative units have common social and personal characteristics, provide similar technological contributions to their units, exhibit characteristic organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), and experience positive or negative effects on their careers as a result of these discretionary behaviors.;Social network analysis of the results of a World Wide Web based survey of two academic departments at two universities in the southeastern United States revealed three techno-profs to whom other faculty went for assistance. Semi-directed interviews of the three techno-profs, their deans, and the information technology administrators at both institutions were conducted using a conceptual framework of the university as a social organization based upon the works of Goran Ahrne (1994) and Shirley, Peters, & El-Ansary (1976).;It was concluded that by relying so heavily on techno-profs to provide technological expertise and by providing them the most advanced technological resources, organizations, in essence maintain these faculty in a position that benefits the institution, but is often detrimental to the individual. Techno-profs can easily attribute an exaggerated worth to their technological abilities and importance to the organization as the university pays little heed to their contributions at promotion and tenure time.;Further research is needed to evaluate the effects of OCB on faculty in disciplines other than Humanities, and at different points along the faculty career path. A study of the financial impact of OCB is also needed.

Current and aspiring medical school students are inundated by curriculum resources. To optimize the curriculum resources that are offered in medical education, the present work examines both institutionally and commercially developed resources from the lens of various stakeholders through three separate, yet related, studies. The first study, a scoping review, synthesizes and recognizes gaps in scholarship regarding obstacles that underrepresented, pre-medical students encounter in applying to medical school, specifically focusing on the impact of access to commercial test preparation resources. A review of existing literature regarding this population's medical school admission difficulties yielded a majority of non-empirical, deficit-focused articles that repeated previous findings. The second study describes a pedagogical analysis of medical education commercial resources, to identify their alignment with evidence-based design and facilitate future improvement. The analysis found that nearly half of the investigated resources failed to mention guidance by a specific theory or theoretical movement; yet all resources mentioned similar functions, instructional strategies, and features. Lastly, this dissertation reports a mixed-methods study that examines undergraduate medical students' perceptions and use of formal and informal resources, to optimize the design of formal resources and integrate informal resources. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses revealed that students have more positive perceptions and frequent use of informal curriculum resources, which is largely explained by greater confidence in conducting their related educational activities.

Despite some ongoing debates over the positive or negative impact of digital games, educational games are powerful tools to increase engagement and improve learning outcomes. Scientific concepts about the weather are complicated for younger learners and deep learning often requires long-term cultivation. This thesis presents a novel interactive educational simulation called the Science of Meteorology with Interactive Learning Experience (SMILE). In it, students interact with a touchscreen monitor to change weather conditions and learn about clouds and weather science. The relationship between engagement and learning outcomes and the effectiveness of the experience is evaluated using a formal user study. Online data collection was completed after IRB approval during the summer of 2020 with 23 students between the ages of 8 and 12. Student knowledge of clouds and weather science was tested via 12 related questions before playing with SMILE. Furthermore, the impacts of the designed simulation on engagement level were evaluated by the Game Engagement Questionnaire (GEQ), including 19 questions developed by Brockmyer et al. (2009). This study showed a significant improvement in student knowledge where the average of test scores increased 57% for the post-test. The findings show that GEQ needs some modification to measure engagement in different game genres and for different age ranges.