Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p.143-152) and index.

This study examined implementing the online website Khan Academy as a primary resource for mathematics instruction. Participants were high school students aged 15-18 years enrolled in the traditional mathematics courses of Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. A pre-test/post-test research design was implemented over the course of a six-week period of instruction. I wanted to examine whether Khan Academy was associated with positive learning outcomes over the six-week period as compared to measures of normalized growth. Additionally, I asked whether a beta program to personalize instruction on Khan Academy was associated with statistically significantly better outcomes compared to the regular Khan Academy course sequences alone. To address my questions, I randomly assigned students into treatment and comparison groups. As a measure of learning growth, I used the Northwest Education Assessment’s Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) to establish a pre-treatment baseline and again at the end of the program to measure learning growth. I compared before and after means. Overall, I found that students in both groups showed overall positive growth, statistically significantly different from normal expected growth. However, I did not find a statistically significant difference between the two groups. In terms of practical implementation, the results of this study suggest that use of Khan Academy as a primary instructional resource is associated with positive learning outcomes in this data set. Further study with larger sample sizes to confirm these preliminary results is recommended.

Magister Commercii (Information Management) - MCom(IM) / Web technologies have necessitated a transformation culture in higher education institutions. Many of these institutions are employing web technologies whose development, for varying reasons, is not supported by research in their field and domain of use. One such field is instructional design for the web learning. Although there is a lot of research on the most effective instructional design strategies, the use of research for web-based learning applications has been limited. This thesis reports on a study aimed at transforming the research on instructional design into practice by designing an instructional design system and providing an argument for its implementation. The argument is intended to facilitate the design and development of an instructional design subsystem of the web, that would in turn offer effective and efficient ways for creating web-based learning materials to instructors. The study started by examining the various paradigms, theories and practices of instructional design with the intent of using them to enrich and improve the practice of instructional design in web learning. It undertook a thorough and systematic review of the literature on instructional design in order to come up with an instructional design system. The design approach used successful design patterns that have been used elsewhere, e.g. in software design, to create common responses or solutions to recurrent problems and circumstances. Instructional design patterns were identified in this study as the recurrent problems or processes instructional designers go through while creating instructional materials, whose solutions can be reused over and over again. This study used an iterative developmental research process of finding and modelling an instructional design process as the research methodology. This process follows and builds on existing research on instructional models, theories and strategies, and ensures that the same methodology can be used to test the theories in the design, thus improving both the research and the design. / South Africa

In twenty-first (21st) century tertiary education, undergraduate study is intended to not only to teach the subject knowledge through direct instruction or lecturing, but also to cultivate and foster students' skills and literacies to suit societal needs. For this reason, it is increasingly important to introduce new teaching and learning (T&L) strategies and web applications (apps) into students' undergraduate study. The introduction of collaborative inquiry learning (CIL) is intended to enhance students' communication and collaboration skills throughout their learning. In addition, by introducing social annotation (SoAn) tools, students are able to bookmark, highlight, annotate, share, discuss, and collaborate on information sources collected by students for their collaborative inquiry learning assignments (CILA). In this study, a self-developed SoAn tool known as the Web Annotation and Sharing Platform (WASP) was introduced to investigate how the SoAn tool can facilitate students' CIL. The study included 377 students (freshmen or sophomores) from three different courses at a Hong Kong University, Hong Kong Christian University. A mixed-method research approach was employed using four data collection methods. Quantitative data were collected from all participating students through a questionnaire survey, WASP log file (students' actions on WASP), and CILA marks. Furthermore, qualitative data were gathered from selected students in individual face-to-face interviews. The study aimed to ascertain how students integrate and use the SoAn tool in their CIL. This study also investigated whether students think a SoAn tool is useful and effective for their CIL. Moreover, this study examined the correlations between students' perceptions of CIL and WASP, usage of WASP, and their CILA mark. Finally, this study examined the challenges students encountered when they integrate and use WASP in their CIL. The results reveal that the integration and usage of a SoAn tool were concentrated in the early stages of students' CIL. Furthermore, the results illustrated how the 'able other (s)' arise in the CIL group to provide information sources that initiate the discussion and collaboration among group members. Based upon the student perceptions collected in this study, the results suggested that students agreed that the WASP functions were useful and effective for CIL in courses that teach elementary Information and Communications Technology knowledge content (ICT-related courses). Moreover, student perceptions on the WASP functions highly correlated with their perceptions of CL before this study and any respective group process experiences. The results also indicated that students' perceptions, SoAn tool usage and learning outcomes (CILA mark) are not correlated, there is a higher chance of reaching correlation between the perceived usefulness of the WASP functions and their CILA mark in ICT-related courses. Lastly, the results suggested that low motivation for learning and using a SoAn tool, the functionality and recognition of a SoAn tool, and methods of processing, discussing, and collaborating on collected information sources were the challenges encountered when students integrate and use a SoAn tool in their CIL. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed in Chapter 8. Directions for future research and suggestions are provided, which includes introducing SoAn tools in ICT-related courses and enhancing the functions of SoAn tools both for better user experiences and research purposes.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for degree Master of Technology: Graphic Design In the Faculty of Informatics and Design At the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2012 / The current studio based approach in design education is not enough to keep the “new age” design students’ attention and a blended learning environment is needed to facilitate student engagement. Multiple learning preferences exist within the design classroom and design educators must consider this when designing a curriculum. The research asked what the considerations were when designing the online component of a blended learning environment to enhance the learning experience of and engage design students? The areas of investigation included: • The learning preferences in a specific group of graphic design students to see if there are any predominant preferences, • Whether the web-based learning environment enriched the learning experience and whether students gained understanding of the dynamics of the intervention • Whether there were links between learning preferences, online performance and in-class performance and how we could use these links to design blended learning materials that: o Incorporate collaborative problem solving (Vygotsky, 1978) o Encourage the building of design knowledge (Schon and Wiggins 1992) o Help students move from the periphery of the community of practice to the core (Wenger 1998) o Simulate the world of work (Jonassen et. Al 1998) o Consider the individual learning preferences of students and engages them on multiple levels (Cazden et al 1996) This research concluded that a blended learning environment is necessary in order for design education to move forward and be inclusive. The new generation design curriculum needs to stimulate at many different levels using multiple ways and media. This multimodal stance in design education will afford students the opportunity to become reflective knowledge builders who are able to solve problems collaboratively and transfer existing knowledge to new contexts.

Thesis (DTech (Informatics))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / This study is about teachers’ e-Learning practices at school level. The research aims were to explore the patterns that emerge when teachers use and integrate technologies for e-Teaching and e-Learning, and to explain why teachers adopted and used technologies. My original contribution to knowledge is that the adoption and use of technologies is influenced by value propositions. Schools in the Western Cape are acquiring more technology and gaining increasing access to digital products, services and systems at an exponential rate. In spite of the prevalence of technology in the Western Cape, there appears to be an under-utilisation or non-adoption of the available tools and technologies for educational benefits. However the e-Learning practices of teachers are not fully understood by e-Learning policy makers and implementers. This study sought to address the research problem through an exploration of the technologies that teachers used and what they used these technologies for; the patterns in their use and integration of technologies; and the reasons they offered for their decisions to adopt and use technologies. The research was not strictly confined to one particular method, approach or strategy, as the nature of the phenomena under investigation and the dynamics of the situation required adaptations. A sensible selective blend of qualitative and quantitative approaches, explanatory and exploratory enquiry, and inductive and deductive techniques was employed. Existing research does not sufficiently describe or indicate patterns of use, practice and adoption of technologies by teachers. While a range of taxonomies, levels and stages exists, they deal in most instances with singularities. Existing technology adoption theories do not explicitly progress beyond the point of ‘actual use’. Use of technologies could result in some benefits. The findings of this study revealed that teachers used a purposeful selection of technologies for personal, administrative, teaching and learning purposes. Teachers’ practices were found to be incremental and progressive, and aligned to their comfort zones. Teachers adopted and used technologies on account of the value propositions afforded to them. The aggregated patterns of use, practice and adoption could be located on continuums.

Magister Scientiae - MSc / Since there was a need for an Educational Management Information System (EMIS) in the Ministry of Education in Afghanistan, we designed and implemented a prototype for use in the ministry and investigated the appropriateness of using Agile methods for producing the EMIS. The prototype consisted of a database containing data about schools and a Dari interface which was used by educational planners, managers and policy makers of the ministry for decision making and planning. Agile methods are relatively new in software engineering and have an approach and development guidelines which strive for user satisfaction and early incremental delivery of software. We adapt them to local conditions due to their collaborative client-developer approach. The interface, a key component, is easy to use and efficient. The key research result is an evaluation concerning the appropriateness of using Agile Methods for developing the EMIS. Focus groups and surveys were used to develop the prototype and accomplish the study. / South Africa

This study examined how technology-mediated distance education is used in special education courses in teacher preparation programs. The data are based on a 30-item survey administered to members of the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children, who identified themselves as serving in an instructional capacity within institutions of higher education. Technology-mediated instruction was characterized in terms course delivery methods and program attributes. An analysis of instructional design processes revealed that most instructors are largely autonomous and do not rely on a team-based approach. Most make use of course-design and management software. Training is linked to course strategy and evaluation, while experience is associated with implementation. Respondents emphasized communication and student feedback. While both users and non-users of distance education technology foresaw the increased use for course delivery in the future, a notable percentage (13%) of current users indicated a desire to discontinue use.

The purpose of this research was to manipulate the component of confidence found in Keller's ARCS model to enhance the confidence and performance of undergraduate students enrolled in an online course at a Texas university using SAM 2003 software delivery. This study also tested whether the aforementioned confidence tactics had any unintentional effect on the remaining attention, relevance, and satisfaction subscales of the ARCS model as well as on learners' overall motivation for the class and the instructional materials. This study was conducted over a 5.5-week period with an initial sample of 81 total students. Two quantitative surveys were used to measure confidence and motivation: (a) the Course Interest Survey (CIS), and (b) the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (IMMS). The results indicated that the treatment group showed statistically greater gains than the control group in terms of learner confidence on the CIS but not the IMMS. In terms of performance, the treatment group outperformed the control group on all of the individual posttest measures and on the overall aggregate mean performance score. The results showed no statistically significant difference on the attention subsection of the ARCS model. However, statistically significant differences were noted for the relevance and satisfaction subscales of the model. There was also a statistically significant difference in overall learner motivation as measured on both surveys. This research study suggests the feasibility of improving overall learner motivation and performance through external conditions such as systematically applied confidence tactics. The research further supports claims about the effectiveness of the ARCS model as a viable tool for enhancing online learner motivation and performance. What was unclear in this study was whether individual subsections of the ARCS model, such as confidence, can be independently manipulated.

Instructional communication research clearly indicates that instructor immediacy contributes significantly to effective instruction. However, the majority of immediacy studies have been conducted in traditional (face-to-face) classroom environments. More recently, instructional communication research has focused on assessing the impact of immediacy in online classroom environments. Again, immediacy appears to significantly contribute to effective instruction. The challenge is that most recent immediacy studies use immediacy measurements developed to test immediacy behaviors in face-to-face settings. Considering the lack of nonverbal communication and limited or absent synchronous or verbal communication in online instructional settings, the behaviors contributing most significantly to perceived immediacy, researchers need to reassess the immediacy construct in online environments. The present research explores and identifies behaviors reported by instructors to establish psychological closeness (i.e., immediacy) in online learning environments and assesses to what extent these behaviors are similar to or different from face-to-face immediacy-producing behaviors.