<p> Hlinak and Delic and Becirovic, among others, addressed the connection between the use of the Socratic method and critical thinking development. Hlinak noted while there is an abundance of research on the Socratic method and distance learning, there are relatively few publications that address the intersection. With the continued growth of online education, there is a lack of research primarily on the perspectives of online faculty members. The purpose of the study was to gain the perspectives of online faculty members for effectively using the Socratic method in an online higher education environment to improve critical thinking skills and their application to decision making. An additional goal was the possible development of a research model to explain the use of the Socratic method in the online environment. Garrison's online community of inquiry was a primary supportive theory. Additional theories supporting this study included the Socratic method, James's pragmatism, Dewey's critical thinking, and Paul's formalized critical thinking. Globalization and Christensen's disruptive innovation also supported this research. Online faculty perspectives are essential; faculty are responsible for establishing pedagogy (e.g., teaching strategies, course design, and instructional intervention) for classrooms. The research questions addressed: (a) what teaching strategies, course design, instructional interventions, and delivery options are needed to implement the use of the Socratic method in the online classroom; (b) what influence does the use of the Socratic method have on cognitive presence; and (c) what effect does the increase of cognitive presence have on critical thinking and decision-making skills in nonclassroom activities and the workplace. Using qualitative exploratory research methodology, data were collected from faculty in an online educator forum using an online questionnaire and personal telephone interviews were conducted with faculty from an online doctoral program. Based on participant experiences, the Socratic method supports critical thinking development and fosters cognitive presence with students. According to the participants, the connection between the Socratic method and critical thinking extends these skills to nonacademic settings and the workplace. The participants made a number of recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the Socratic method in the online environment including integrating the Socratic method in course designs.</p><p>

During recent decades the educational community around the world has witnessed an increasing interest in programmes aiming at providing teachers as well as learners of all ages with direct access to personal computing devices and the vast amount of information such provision enables. These types of programmes are known as “one-to- one computing”, a term that indicates a very widespread distribution of computers in educational settings. Research into such patterns of provision has accordingly become a priority. Understandably, the realities of one-to-one programme implementation vary considerably across the nations, since cultural setting, educational system, customs of technology use and teachers’ experiences are all significant aspects that influence the process. However, there can be certain commonalities across all these aspects in countries whose educational systems have a largely shared history, as is the case in the former Soviet Union states. Azerbaijan’s experience in the field, as one of the countries with a post-soviet educational system going through curriculum reforms, was very attractive for a comprehensive study with the primary focus on identifying the factors influencing the infusion of one-to-one computing into learning and teaching. The research question developed for this study was: “What factors influence the integration of one-to-one computing into teaching and learning?” Qualitative research methods were used to gather data at three purposively selected schools, two in the capital city of Baku and one in a provincial town. The research data were collected by conducting classroom observations, interviews and focus group discussions with main stakeholders of the programme allowing for investigation of students’, teachers’ and parents’ experiences throughout the implementation process. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach the gathered data were analyzed in two major stages: the first one employed the ‘helicopter view’ approach to attain a preliminary picture, followed by the process of coding, memo-writing and analysis. The second stage of the analysis resulted in a thematic summary into teacher, student and classroom-dynamics-related categories. The findings revealed that the students were the most enthusiastic about the changes brought to the learning process with the introduction of the lightweight, small and inexpensive devices, commonly known as netbooks. The students improved their technological skills and knowledge and applied these skills in acquiring domain knowledge. By providing students with netbooks, the one-to-one programme introduced anytime, anywhere, and individualized learning opportunities. The study also revealed that the introduction of netbooks was leading to students developing collaborative learning skills. In addition, the study found that most of the teachers were developing new teaching methods to continue the programme implementation. They invested extra time and worked hard, notwithstanding the lack of guidelines both on the integration of technology with pedagogy and on meeting newly-set National Curriculum standards. Some teachers overcame the technological challenges that arose along the way eagerly, while others used them as an excuse to discontinue the programme implementation. The parents’ opinions varied considerably, some of them supported the innovation, while others considered the frequent usage of technology excessive, unnecessary and potentially damaging to their children’s health. The latter group of parents expected their children to be taught similarly to them, with a primary focus on the development of handwriting and speaking skills as well as the habits of reading printed books. The research has identified eight major factors influencing the integration of one-to-one computing into teaching and learning: embedding ICT in the curriculum, fostering of exploratory learning, student satisfaction, new learning practices, professional development, school leadership support, teacher beliefs and parental support. Most importantly, the findings have revealed the importance of addressing teacher professional development in terms of integrating technology with pedagogy and meeting curriculum standards through technology-infused teaching methods. These factors indicate the improvements needed for successful programme implementation. It is hoped that the results can be adopted by educational leaders to inform their decisions on one-to-one programmes, thereby contributing to successful integration.

O rápido desenvolvimento das Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação está transformando relações e comportamentos, propiciando interações entre ambientes digitais e humanos, e mesmo entre humanos por meio dos ambientes digitais, impossíveis anteriormente. Esta complexidade adentra o ambiente escolar, tornando-o um ecossistema digital de aprendizagem. Por outro lado, considerando ambientes convencionais sem o apoio de ferramentas digitais, uma das tarefas mais árduas de um professor em sala de aula é acompanhar, identificar e intervir em dificuldades individuais de cada aluno. Neste sentido, este trabalho propõe o SeeAll, um sistema interativo de gestão, para apoiar o planejamento, o ensino e o acompanhamento da aprendizagem, voltado à avaliação por competências. Foi concebido de forma a ser um complemento ao ecossistema digital de aprendizagem escola e, que de maneira simples e fácil possa atingir às expectativas dos educadores. O protótipo parcial SeeAll foi desenvolvido por meio da modelagem orientada a objetos e implementado pelo método de Programação Extrema, a fim de possibilitar prototipação rápida e facilidade de modificações ao longo dos testes junto ao público alvo. De acordo com os testes preliminares realizados com professores e gestores, foi considerado uma ferramenta facilitadora ao acompanhamento individual da aprendizagem dos alunos e ao planejamento dos professores. / The rapid development of Communication and Information Technologies transformed behaviors and relationships, supporting humandigital environments interactions, and previously impossible digital environment supported human interactions. This complexity entered schools environments, transforming them into digital learning ecosystems. Nevertheless, considering conventional classrooms without digital tools, one of teachers hardest tasks is to follow, identify and intervene in each students individual difficulties. This work presents SeeAll, an interactive management system, developed to support planning, teaching and learning focused on competencies assessment. The system was designed to serve as a complement of the schools digital learning ecosystem and to be so simple and easy to reach educators expectations. The SeeAll partial prototype was developed using object oriented modeling and implemented according to the Extreme Programming method. This allowed creating rapid prototypes, which could be easily modified during tests with users. According to preliminary tests conducted with teachers and administrators, SeeAll was considered a facilitating tool for monitoring individual student learning and teacher planning.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-210).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 137-144). Also available in print.

Through the widespread use of the Internet, WebQuest has become one of the popular techniques in a variety of fields of science and arts for teaching different age groups and levels. This study is conducted to research the effectiveness of this approach in English language learning and to determine possible problems in its implementation. Thus, the purpose of this study is to design, develop, and implement this new approach and to evaluate the learners&rsquo / experiences with it. The participants of this study were the students of a preparatory school at a state university. Twenty-five learners participated in this study. In line with the scope of the research, a WebQuest site was designed which require learners to complete a task related to the curriculum and learning objectives of their English courses. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were employed to assess the learner perceptions about the WebQuest site design, the steps of the process, group work, and the contribution of the application to language learning. According to the findings of this study, participants appreciated the WebQuest approach and they provided important suggestions for future applications.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-117). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-107). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2001. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-107). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 114-117). Also available on the Internet.