ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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- All Subjects: Educational technology
- Creators: Kurz, Terri
Description
Honors programs in the United States offer high-quality educational experiences for exceptional students at the undergraduate level. These experiences generally take place in a face-to-face format. In recent years, higher education embraced online learning as a strategy to increase flexibility and access for students with diverse needs. Research has clearly established online learning as an effective model for high-quality education, yet, honors programs have been resistant to this shift in learning modalities. The community of inquiry theoretical framework provided a method for the assessment of online discussions and courses using a validated survey and coding instrument. Using a critical digital pedagogical lens to guide this mixed-methods participatory action research (PAR) study, an online honors seminar course was implemented in the fall of 2021. Honors students worked alongside the researcher as they developed an assessment tool based on the community of inquiry survey, selected different online discussion tools, and provided ongoing feedback throughout the course. Two research questions guided the study. First, what were student perceptions of different online discussion tools and their utility in facilitating social and cognitive presence in an online honors seminar course? And, second, how did engaging in a critical PAR research study impact an honors student’s experience in an online honors seminar course? Data were collected from students’ open-ended reflections, transcripts of online discussions, and responses to the revised community of inquiry survey.
The results from this PAR study showed that students spoke favorably about all online discussion tools implemented in the online honors seminar course and each discussion tool was found to be effective in nurturing social and cognitive presence. Students also spoke favorably about their experiences engaging in the PAR study. The most important finding was that by authentically engaging students in the design, implementation, and assessment of an online honors seminar course high-quality learning outcomes could be achieved in an online environment. Within the honors community, future research and practice regarding the intersection of honors curriculum and online learning are essential to maintain the relevancy of honors programs.
ContributorsHacker, Jayci (Author) / Kurz, Terri (Thesis advisor) / Graves Wolf, Leigh (Committee member) / Rodari Meisner, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Online videos are becoming more common with university synchronous and asynchronous learning approaches. As universities begin to extend their use of online instructional videos, greater emphasis needs to be placed on establishing relevance between the video’s instructional content and its application/transfer to workplace settings. In response to this need, a relevance intervention was designed, whereby a series of career-focused (C-F) videos featuring practitioner faculty were created and added to an undergraduate Health Administration course. The research questions guiding this study were: (a) How do online adult learners perceive the usefulness of career-focused videos and what video features contribute to those perceptions? and (b) What is the relationship between online adult learners’ perceptions of usefulness in career-focused videos, satisfaction with the career-focused video approach, and overall course satisfaction? Data were triangulated using end-of-video surveys (n = 125), an end-of-course survey (n = 99), and student interviews (n = 4). Data revealed that after being exposed to bi-weekly C-F videos, students reported strong positive perception of usefulness in the C-F videos and identified authenticity, contextualized examples, relevance, and knowledge checks as useful videos elements to support their learning. Correlation results between perceptions of usefulness, perceptions of satisfaction in the C-F video approach, and overall course satisfaction suggested a strong positive association between the three variables, thus indicating that C-F videos could prove to be a useful method for supporting the education to career connection among online adult learners.
ContributorsCovert, Jason Allen (Author) / Kurz, Terri (Thesis advisor) / Salik, Steve (Committee member) / Leahy, Sean (Committee member) / Krahe Billings, Eve (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023