Matching Items (27)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Education
- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
- Creators: Savenye, Wilhelmina
- Creators: Buss, Ray
- Creators: Buss, Ray R
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Status: Published
Description
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of the design characteristics component of the Jeffries/National League for Nursing Framework for Designing, Implementing, and Evaluating Simulations when developing a simulation-based approach to teaching structured communication to new graduate nurses. The setting for the study was a medium sized tertiary care hospital located in the southwestern United States. Participants in the study were an instructional designer (who also served as the researcher), two graduate nursing education specialists, one unit based educator, and 27 new graduate nurses and registered nurses who had been in practice for less than six months. Design and development research was employed to examine the processes used to design the simulation, implementation of the simulation by faculty, and course evaluation data from both students and faculty. Data collected from the designer, faculty and student participants were analyzed for evidence on how the design characteristics informed the design and implementation of the course, student achievement of course goals, as well as student and faculty evaluation of the course. These data were used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the model in this context as well as suggestions for strengthening the model. Findings revealed that the model generally functioned well in this context. Particular strengths of the model were its emphasis on problem-solving and recommendations for attending to fidelity of clinical scenarios. Weaknesses of the model were inadequate guidance for designing student preparation, student support, and debriefing. Additionally, the model does not address the role of observers or others who are not assigned the role of primary nurse during simulations. Recommendations for strengthening the model include addressing these weaknesses by incorporating existing evidence in the instructional design of experiential learning and by scaffolding students during problem-solving. The results of the study also suggested interrelationships among the design characteristics that were not previously described; further exploration of this finding may strengthen the model. Faculty and instructional designers creating clinical simulations in this context would benefit from using the Jeffries/National League for Nursing Model, adding external resources to supplement in areas where the model does not currently provide adequate guidance.
ContributorsWilson, Rebecca D (Author) / Klein, James D. (Thesis advisor) / Hagler, Debra (Committee member) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this survey study was to collect data from pre-K-12 educators in the U.S. regarding their perceptions of the purpose, conceptions, use, impact, and results of educational research. The survey tool was based on existing questionnaires and case studies in the literature, as well as newly developed items. 3,908 educators in a database developed over 10+ years at the world's largest education company were sent a recruiting email; 400 elementary and secondary teachers in the final sample completed the online survey containing 48 questions over a three-week deployment period in the spring of 2013. Results indicated that overall teachers believe educational research is important, that the most important purpose of research is to increase effectiveness of classroom practice, yet research is not frequently sought out during the course of practice. Teachers perceive results in research journals as the most trustworthy yet also perceive research journals the most difficult to access (relying second-most often for research via in-service trainings). These findings have implications for teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and researchers. Educational researchers should seek to address both the theoretical and the applied aspects of learning. Professional development must make explicit links between research findings and classroom strategies and tactics, and research must be made more readily available to those who are not currently seeking additional credentialing, and therefore do not individually have access to scholarly literature. Further research is needed to expand the survey sample and refine the survey instrument. Similar research with administrators in pre-K-20 settings as well as in-depth interviews would serve to investigate the "why" of many findings.
ContributorsMahoney, Shawn (Author) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
High school students' perceptions of teaching and their intention to choose teaching as a profession
Description
This study was conducted to (a) explore high achieving high school students' perceptions of the teaching profession, (b) examine the influence of these perceptions on intentions to teach, and (c) test a recruitment suite of tools to determine the effectiveness of recruitment messaging and strategies. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) served as the theoretical framework for this study. Using the TPB allowed examination of students' behavioral, normative, and control beliefs as well as their attitudes, subjective norms, and efficacy and how those components affected intentions to teach. Participants included high school seniors in the top 20% of their class. A mixed methods approach was employed to identify how the characteristics that students value when considering a profession were aligned with those they believed to be true about the teaching profession. Additionally mixing methods allowed for a more thorough exploration of the matter and an in-depth depiction of perceptions and intentions to teach. Results from a confirmatory path analysis showed students' perceived behavioral control, a measure of efficacy, and attitudes toward teaching were predictive of intention to teach and accounted for 25% of the variation in intention to teach scores. A series of exploratory structural equation models was developed to examine additional paths that might be useful in understanding students' intention to teach. Three additional, important paths were found among TPB variables that accounted for an additional 14% of the variation in intention scores. Additionally, these paths had implications for recruitment practice. Five themes emerged from the qualitative data--status, societal importance, influences of important others, teaching as a backup option, and barriers. The discussion focused on implications for recruitment practice and research, limitations, and conclusions. The following conclusions were drawn: (a) students must be provided with knowledge about the teaching profession to overcome stereotypical beliefs, (b) recruitment must begin much earlier, (c) parents must be better informed about teaching, (d) use of a longer recruitment process with multiple touch points must be used to inform and inspire students, and (e) students must be provided with practice teaching opportunities and systematic observational opportunities, which can foster increased efficacy for teaching.
ContributorsCruz, Crystal (Author) / Buss, Ray R (Thesis advisor) / Barnett, Joshua (Committee member) / Bentz, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The gameplay experience can be understood as an interaction between player and game design characteristics. A greater understanding of these characteristics can be gained through empirical means. Subsequently, an enhanced knowledge of these characteristics should enable the creation of games that effectively generate desirable experiences for players. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between gameplay enjoyment and the individual characteristics of gaming goal orientations, game usage, and gender. A total of 301 participants were surveyed and the data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This led to an expanded Gameplay Enjoyment Model (GEM) with 41 game features, an overarching Enjoyment factor, and 9 specific components, including Challenge, Companionship, Discovery, Fantasy, Fidelity, Identity, Multiplayer, Recognition, and Strategy. Furthermore, the 3x2 educational goal orientation framework was successfully applied to a gaming context. The resulting 3x2 Gaming Goal Orientations (GGO) model consists of 18 statements that describe players' motivations for gaming, which are distributed across the six dimensions of Task-Approach, Task-Avoidance, Self-Approach, Self-Avoidance, Other-Approach, and Other-Avoidance. Lastly, players' individual characteristics were used to predict gameplay enjoyment, which resulted in the formation of the GEM-Individual Characteristics (GEM-IC) model. In GEM-IC, the six GGO dimensions were the strongest predictors. Meanwhile, game usage variables like multiplayer, genre, and platform preference, were minimal to moderate predictors. Although commonly appearing in games research, gender and game time commitment variables failed to predict enjoyment. The results of this study enable important work to be conducted involving game experiences and player characteristics. After several empirical iterations, GEM is considered suitable to employ as a research and design tool. In addition, GGO should be useful to researchers interested in how player motivations relate to gameplay experiences. Moreover, GEM-IC points to several variables that may prove useful in future research. Accordingly, it is posited that researchers will derive more meaningful insights on games and players by investigating detailed, context-specific characteristics as compared to general, demographic ones. Ultimately, it is believed that GEM, GGO, and GEM-IC will be useful tools for researchers and designers who seek to create effective gameplay experiences that meet the needs of players.
ContributorsQuick, John (Author) / Atkinson, Robert (Thesis advisor) / McNamara, Danielle (Committee member) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The National Association of Community College Teacher Education Programs (NACCTEP) was established to promote the community college role in the recruitment, preparation, retention, and renewal of teachers. NACCTEP is led by a 13-member executive board consisting of community college teacher education administrators and faculty members from across the United States. Board members expressed concern that their first year consisted of them trying to learn their role as a board member including how to participate in board activities. By the time they became fully knowledgeable about their role and became more active participants, their two-year term was completed. They also indicated that initially they felt disconnected from veteran board members. To address this issue, an orientation/leadership suite was developed for new board members to assist them in transitioning from peripheral roles to full active roles. The suite included activities such as an association orientation web page, participation in monthly board conference calls, a face-to-face leadership session, and mentoring by veteran board members. The communities of practice (CoP) framework shaped this action research study and the activities of the suite were designed to foster a CoP. This action research study utilized a mixed-method research approach in which both qualitative and quantitative instruments were used to gather data. The descriptive statistics indicated that on average, new board members perceived mentoring was effective, understood their role on the board, experienced a sense of a community of practice, considered themselves as active on the board, and believed the leadership orientation suite was effective. An analysis of the qualitative data resulted in four themes: community, communication, participation, and efficacy. Overall, the findings indicated that the new board member orientation/leadership suite assisted new board members transition from peripheral roles to active leadership roles through developing a sense of community; facilitating and sustaining communication; defining, supporting, and encouraging participation; and increasing efficacy in their roles. Through the learning of their roles, the new board members became knowledgeable, comfortable, and confident in serving as board members, which facilitated their participating in the NACCTEP board's CoP.
ContributorsOstos, Ray A (Author) / Buss, Ray (Thesis advisor) / Barnett, Joshua (Committee member) / De Los Santos, Gerardo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In any instructional situation, the instructor's goal is to maximize the learning attained by students. Drawing on the adage, 'we learn best what we have taught,' this action research project was conducted to examine whether students, in fact, learned college algebra material better if they taught it to their peers. The teaching-to-learn process was conducted in the following way. The instructor-researcher met with individual students and taught a college algebra topic to a student who served as the leader of a group of four students. At the next step, the student who originally learned the material from the instructor met with three other students in a small group session and taught the material to them to prepare an in-class presentation. Students in these small group sessions discussed how best to present the material, anticipated questions, and prepared a presentation to be shared with their classmates. The small group then taught the material to classmates during an in-class review session prior to unit examinations. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. Quantitative data consisted of pre- and post-test scores on four college algebra unit examinations. In addition, scores from Likert-scale items on an end-of-semester questionnaire that assessed the effectiveness of the teaching-to-learn process and attitudes toward the process were obtained. Qualitative data consisted of field notes from observations of selected small group sessions and in-class presentations. Additional qualitative data included responses to open-ended questions on the end-of-semester questionnaire and responses to interview items posed to groups of students. Results showed the quantitative data did not support the hypothesis that material, which was taught, was better learned than other material. Nevertheless, qualitative data indicated students were engaged in the material, had a deeper understanding of the material, and were more confident about it as a result of their participation in the teaching-to-learn process. Students also viewed the teaching-to-learn process as being effective and they had positive attitudes toward the teaching-to-learn process. Discussion focused on how engagement, deeper understanding and confidence interacted with one another to increase student learning. Lessons learned, implications for practice, and implications for further action research were also discussed.
ContributorsNicoloff, Stephen J (Author) / Buss, Ray R (Thesis advisor) / Zambo, Ronald (Committee member) / Shaw, Phyllis J (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
It is common for graduate programs to be plagued by delays in on-time student completion or to experience student attrition. Students have experienced such delays in a local program at the University where I am employed as a lecturer. Therefore, this dissertation was undertaken with the aim of supporting university students at the graduate level toward successful on-time completion of their programs. This action research study was multi-phased in its approach; with data collection, and reflection driving the process for intervention delivery and subsequent evaluation. A dynamic approach which included some components of greater structure than was previously seen in the program, was designed for implementation. It was envisaged that this approach would serve as a model of support for students. The following chapters written in article format details the cycles of action research undertaken as part of this dissertation. The first article tells a story written for a wider audience. While the second article presents a more direct look at the implementation of the dynamic structured approach, and lessons learned through the experiential stories of the students. The dynamic structured approach is a framework which was created from a synergetic review of studies on the issues of attrition and delayed completion in graduate programs. The approach was therefore discussed in hopes that it can be used as a model in other graduate programs to ensure that students are supported in a holistic manner. Further, recommendations were made to bolster the approach based on the lessons learned from its initial implementation as well as through the reflections of the researcher-practitioner. The approach has built-in flexibility and is open to refinement and modification to suit the needs of varying institutions for future use.
ContributorsLord, Kara Tamara (Author) / Basile, Carole (Thesis advisor) / Buss, Ray (Committee member) / Smith, Stephanie (Committee member) / Bissessar, Charmaine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Implementation of a Multi-tiered System of Support (MTSS) has proven to be a ‘big hairy audacious goal’ within the literature and applied settings. Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) has utilized a similar framework and was represented under the MTSS umbrella. If implemented with fidelity, both MTSS and PBIS have been shown to have positive outcomes for learners, staff members, and school systems. To implement one component of PBIS, a coaching procedure which consisted of instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback was provided for three middle school teachers. Two Tier 1 PBIS classroom management practices were the focus of the coaching intervention—opportunities to respond and encouragement of appropriate behavior through positive points of contact. This study utilized a mixed methods approach which incorporated a single-subject design, specifically a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants, to assess the effects of the coaching intervention on the implementation of the two classroom management practices, student on-task behavior, and the social validity of the intervention. Findings indicated an increase in both practices as well as an increase in student on-task behavior, from baseline to intervention phases of the study. Additionally, all participants reported high levels of social validity of the coaching intervention. The discussion was focused on triangulation of the quantitative and qualitative data, which indicated these findings were complementary. Connections of the findings to the research literature, implications for future practice and research, limitations, and conclusions have been provided.
ContributorsTurner, Katie M (Author) / Buss, Ray R (Thesis advisor) / Mathur, Sarup (Committee member) / Wood, Chandalee (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
There has been a growing emphasis on the education of future generations of engineers who will have to tackle complex, global issues that are sociotechnical in nature. The National Science Foundation invests millions of dollars in interdisciplinary engineering education research (EER) to create an innovative and inclusive culture aimed at radical change in the engineering education system. This exploratory research sought to better understand ways of thinking to address complex educational challenges, specifically, in the context of engineering-social sciences collaborations. The mixed methods inquiry drew on the ways of thinking perspectives from sustainability education to adapt futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking to the context of EER. Using the adapted framework, nine engineer-social scientist dyads were interviewed to empirically understand conceptualizations and applications of futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking. The qualitative results informed an original survey instrument, which was distributed to a sample of 310 researchers nationwide. Valid responses (n = 111) were analyzed to uncover the number and nature of factors underlying the scales of futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking. Findings illustrate the correlated, multidimensional nature of ways of thinking. Results from the qualitative and quantitative phases were also analyzed together to make recommendations for policy, teaching, research, and future collaborations. The current research suggested that ways of thinking, while perceived as a concept in theory, can and should be used in practice. Futures, values, systems, and strategic thinking, when used in conjunction could be an important tool for researchers to frame decisions regarding engineering education problem/solution constellations.
ContributorsDalal, Medha (Author) / Archambault, Leanna M (Thesis advisor) / Carberry, Adam (Committee member) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
A core reform area of President Obama’s Race to the Top (RTT) framework, the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) program, offered funding to states for the development of their own data systems. As a result, Arizona received funding to build a longitudinal student data system. However the targeted audience—teachers—needed training to move from a state of ‘data rich but information poor’ to one of developing actionable knowledge.
In this mixed methods action research study, six teachers from three schools participated in job-embedded data-informed decision making (DIDM) and root cause analysis (RCA) professional development to improve their abilities to employ DIDM and RCA strategies to determine root causes for student achievement gaps. This study was based on the theories of situated learning, specifically the concept of communities of practice (CoP), change theory, and the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). Because teachers comprise most of the workforce in a district, it is important to encourage them to shift from working in isolation to effectively implement and sustain changes in practice. To address this concern, an online wiki provided an avenue for participants to interact, reflect, and share experiences across schools as they engaged in the application of new learning.
The results from this ten-week study indicated an increase in participant readiness levels to: (a) use and manage data sources, (b) apply strategies, and (c) collaborate with others to solve problems of practice. Results also showed that participants engaged in collaborative conversation using the online wiki when they wanted to share concerns or gain further information to make decisions. The online collaboration results indicated higher levels of online discussion occurred when participants were attempting to solve a problem of practice during the learning process.
Overall, participants (a) used collaborative strategies to seek, create, and/or utilize multiple sources of data, not just student learning data, (b) worked through implementation challenges when making changes in practice, and (c) sought further types of data collection to inform their decisions about root causes. Implications from this study warrant further investigation into the use of an online CoP as an avenue for increasing teacher collaboration across schools.
In this mixed methods action research study, six teachers from three schools participated in job-embedded data-informed decision making (DIDM) and root cause analysis (RCA) professional development to improve their abilities to employ DIDM and RCA strategies to determine root causes for student achievement gaps. This study was based on the theories of situated learning, specifically the concept of communities of practice (CoP), change theory, and the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). Because teachers comprise most of the workforce in a district, it is important to encourage them to shift from working in isolation to effectively implement and sustain changes in practice. To address this concern, an online wiki provided an avenue for participants to interact, reflect, and share experiences across schools as they engaged in the application of new learning.
The results from this ten-week study indicated an increase in participant readiness levels to: (a) use and manage data sources, (b) apply strategies, and (c) collaborate with others to solve problems of practice. Results also showed that participants engaged in collaborative conversation using the online wiki when they wanted to share concerns or gain further information to make decisions. The online collaboration results indicated higher levels of online discussion occurred when participants were attempting to solve a problem of practice during the learning process.
Overall, participants (a) used collaborative strategies to seek, create, and/or utilize multiple sources of data, not just student learning data, (b) worked through implementation challenges when making changes in practice, and (c) sought further types of data collection to inform their decisions about root causes. Implications from this study warrant further investigation into the use of an online CoP as an avenue for increasing teacher collaboration across schools.
ContributorsWann, Patti Ann (Author) / Marley, Scott C. (Thesis advisor) / Buss, Ray R (Committee member) / Ewbank, Ann D (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016