Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
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- All Subjects: Educational technology
- All Subjects: Career Preparation
- Creators: Buss, Ray R.
Description
ABSTRACT The integration of technology into content area teaching while taking into account state standards is a continuing challenge for secondary teachers. To address this challenge, six high school teachers participated in one-on-one tutoring sessions conducted by the researcher. The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), which posits that teachers add technology into their practice by blending it with content and pedagogy, served as the theoretical framework and guided implementation of the project. During the one-on-one tutoring sessions, which occurred weekly in hour-long sessions for a five- to eight-week period, teachers selected the focus of the training sessions. To assess teacher perceptions of efficacy quantitative data were gathered prior to and following the intervention using an on-line survey tool. Although pre- to post-intervention scores on the survey increased, the difference was not significant. With respect to the qualitative data four themes emerged. First, there were specific processes and patterns that emerged within the sessions related to the TPACK framework. Teachers selected either technology or content to initiate sessions. Teachers did not begin sessions with high yield pedagogical strategies as a focus. Second, one-on-one tutoring fostered an initial sense of community, and as the project progressed, a community of practice emerged. Third, challenges emerged related to technology and high yield pedagogical strategies. At times technology did not work or teachers expressed there was too much to grasp and apply to their practice. Additionally, the appropriate applications of high yield instructional strategies also presented challenges to participants. Fourth, based on their participation in the project, teachers expressed an increased sense of efficacy with respect to conducting their work. The discussion was focused on how teachers created a community of practice to support their professional growth, which influenced efficacy for teaching as they became increasingly effective in blending technology, pedagogy and content.
ContributorsWilson, Michele (Michelle Jo) (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Zambo, Ronald (Committee member) / Thomason, Mickael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of the iE3 Project was to explore the effect of using a collaborative apprenticeship model on the integration of student-owned mobile devices into classroom instruction. The iE3 Project was designed to overcome perceived barriers that prevented teachers from using student-owned mobile devices in the classroom. Based on earlier work, teachers suggested those barriers were support, time, resources, and professional development. Thus, the iE3 Project was conducted to empower teachers initiating the use of student-owned mobile devices as instructional tools. The study is grounded in situated cognition theory, situated learning theory, social cultural theory, and extends Evan Glazer's study of collaborative apprenticeship in a "bring your own technology" (BYOT) school environment. The literature review includes relevant studies from such areas as providing teacher support, employing collaborative planning time, using mobile technology resources, and offering authentic professional development within situated contexts. Participants included K-8th grade teachers. The 11 "non-user" participants established roles as peer-teachers (PT) and worked collaboratively with 11 "mobile device user" teacher leaders (TL) for twelve weeks during the iEngage, iEducate, and iEmpower phases of the iE3 Project. Participants completed pre- and post-intervention Stages of Concern Questionnaires and Innovation Configuration Maps, engaged in collaborative planning time, posted collaborative weekly reflections and descriptions of digital images online, completed a Perceived User Level retrospective survey, and participated in semi-structured interviews. The results of the project indicated a collaborative apprenticeship model as implemented in the current project was successful in addressing perceived barriers and empowered teachers to use student-owned mobile devices as instructional tools. Generally, results showed PT made substantial gains in using student-owned devices during instruction; reduced instructional, management, and other concerns about using mobile devices; and transformed them in terms of their thinking about using mobile devices for classroom instruction. Moreover, the perceived barriers were mitigated by using the collaborative apprenticeship model. In the discussion, complementarity of the quantitative and qualitative data were discussed and connections were made to the extant literature. Additionally, lessons learned, limitations, implications for practice, and implications for additional action research were discussed.
ContributorsOtstot, Michelle Lynn (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Zucker, Stanley (Committee member) / Thomas, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Providing adequate resources for undergraduate students’ career development has been of utmost importance to meet demands from national agencies and industry leaders. At Arizona State University, the size of the undergraduate populations in the School of Life Sciences (SOLS) grew from 1,591 to 3,661, an increase of over 130% from 2003-2017. As of December 19, 2019, SOLS hosted a record 5,318 undergraduate majors on campus and 1,646 students in its online biological sciences program. This steady increase in life science undergraduate student enrollment at ASU attested to the need for appropriate career development education to be woven into the curriculum. Under the framework of higher education’s purpose to provide adequate resources for career success, a career development intervention was designed and implemented as a career planning course for life science students. The purpose of this project was to provide a continuum of job and career information to SOLS’ students to ensure they had appropriate, comprehensive information as they learned about and considered various career opportunities in the life sciences. Three theoretical perspectives guided the research project: Holland’s (1985, 1997) theory of vocational personalities and their connections to work environments, Sampson, Peterson, Reardon and Lenz’s (2003) cognitive information processing career decision theory (CIP), and Bandura’s (1986) self-efficacy theory. Survey results showed increases in all seven constructs—knowledge of career exploration and development tasks, perception of possible professional and career goals and opportunities, goal selection, occupational information, problem solving, planning, self-appraisal—over time among the students. Interview data indicated students noted (a) enrollment in the course for reasons such as determining a career choice that met their needs and preferences while managing expectations and pressures from external sources; (b) broadening perceptions of career options, and (c) developing career exploration and planning skills. The success from this discipline-specific career development course was timely because university leaders were seeking solutions to increase students’ career readiness. The discussion focused on complementarity of the data, connections to the extant research, implications for practice and research, personal lessons learned, and a conclusion.
ContributorsChristianson, Serena L. (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Fong, Raquel (Committee member) / Reardon, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021