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ABSTRACT This study describes student interactions in the academic social network site Edmodo versus student interactions in Facebook. This qualitative case study relies upon four high school juniors enrolled in Advanced Placement Language and Composition who use Edmodo to complete assignments for their English class. Their experiences were gathered in an attempt to describe specific experiences in a complex system. Students were selected using an Internet Connectedness Index survey. Using a Virtual Community of Practice framework, students were asked about their experiences in Edmodo. This study concludes that Edmodo and Facebook can be compared in three categories: accessibility, functionality, and environment. Unlike Facebook, which students access regularly, students access Edmodo only to fulfill the teacher's participation expectations for the specific grade they wish to receive. Additionally, students appreciated the convenience of using Edmodo to complete assignments. The functionality of Edmodo is quite similar in layout and appearance to Facebook, yet students were unaware of the media sharing capability, wished for private messaging options, and desired the ability to tag peers for direct comment using the @ sign, all options that are available in Facebook. Students felt the environment in Edmodo could best be characterized as intellectual and academic, which some mentioned might best be used with honors or AP students. A surprising benefit of Edmodo is the lack of social cues enable students to feel free of judgment when composing writing. Some felt this allowed students to know their classmates better and share their true personae free from judgment of classmates. As a result of the case studies of four students, this study seeks to illustrate how students interact in Edmodo versus Facebook to provide a robust image of the academic social network site for teachers seeking to implement educational technology in their classes.
ContributorsCurran-Sejkora, Elizabeth (Author) / Blasingame, James (Thesis advisor) / Nilsen, Alleen (Committee member) / Rodrigo, Rochelle (Committee member) / Turchi, Laura (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The purpose of this research study provided observational techniques and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) prompts and fading procedures to analyze music therapist-child interaction for child with autism spectrum disorder. Impaired social interaction is the primary symptom of a child with autism spectrum disorder. However, social interaction exists everywhere and throughout human life. Therefore, to improve interaction is the primary and significant goal in music therapy treatment for a child with autism spectrum disorder. The music therapist designs a series of music therapy activity interventions in order to create a therapeutic environment, based on a child's interests and favorite activities. Additionally, the music therapist utilizes the music to build the quality of relationship and interaction with child and support child practicing interaction with the therapist. Then music therapist utilizes the process of interaction to improve child's social interaction. Once the child achieves at desired behavior, he/she has ability to apply the music therapy techniques independently in the real world situations, such as family and schools that the child has learned throughout the process of interaction with therapist. The participants were three children with autism spectrum disorder and two certified music therapists (MT-BC). The researcher calculated the number of prompts and cues which the therapists provided, and the number of appropriate responses by each child in each activity intervention. Then the researcher utilized Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), prompt and fading procedure in order to analyze the progress of therapist-child interactions during the sessions. The result showed that the children had improvement in the interactions with their therapist.
ContributorsLiao, Yin-chun (Author) / Crowe, Barbara J. (Thesis advisor) / Rio, Robin (Committee member) / Dishion, Thomas J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This project sheds light on trombonist Andy Martin's improvisation and provides tools for further learning. A biographical sketch gives background on Martin, establishing him as a newer jazz master. Through the transcription and analysis of nine improvised solos, Martin's improvisational voice and vocabulary is deciphered and presented as a series of seven thematic hooks. These patterns, rhythms, and gestures are described, analyzed, and presented as examples of how each is used in the solos. The hooks are also set as application exercises for learning jazz style and improvisation. These exercises demonstrate how to use Martin's hooks as a means for furthering one's own improvisation. A full method for successful transcription is also presented, along with the printed transcriptions and their accompanying information sheets.
ContributorsWilkinson, Michael Scott (Author) / Ericson, John (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
There is a documented gap between research-based recommendations produced by university-based scholars in the field of education in the United States and the evidence that U.S. politicians' use when deciding which educational policies to implement or amend. This is a problem because university-based education scholars produce vast quantities of research each year, some of which could, and more importantly should, be useful to politicians in their decision-making processes and yet, politicians continue to make policy decisions about education without the benefit of much of the knowledge that has been gained through scholarly research. I refer to the small fraction of university-based education scholars who are demonstrably successful at getting scholarly research into the hands of politicians to be used for decision-making purposes as "university-based bipartisan scholarship brokers". They are distinct from other university-based education scholars in that they engage with politicians from both political parties around research and, as such, are able to use scholarly research to influence the education policymaking process. The problem that this dissertation addresses is the lack of use, by U.S. politicians, of scholarly research produced by United States university-based education scholars as input in education policy decisions. The way in which this problem is explored is through studying university-based bipartisan scholarship brokers. I focused on three areas for exploration: the methods university-based bipartisan scholarship brokers use to successfully get U.S. politicians to consider scholarly research as an input in their decision-making processes around education policy, how these scholars are different than the majority of university-based education policy scholars, and how they conceive of the education policy-setting agenda. What I uncovered in this dissertation is that university-based bipartisan scholarship brokers are a complete sub-group of university-based education scholars. They work above the rigorous promotion and tenure requirements of their home universities in order to use scholarly research to help serve the research needs of politicians. Their engagement is distinct among university-based education scholars and through this dissertation their perspective is presented in participants' own authentic language.
ContributorsAckman, Emily Rydel (Author) / Garcia, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Fischman, Gustavo E (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Bright Summer, a one-movement piece for orchestra, was composed in Arizona, and completed in February 2013. The piece is approximately twelve minutes long. The motivation for writing this piece was the death of my mother the year before, in 2012. The prevailing mood of this work is bright and pleasant, expressing my mother's cheerful personality when she was alive. It also portrays bright summer days which resemble my mother's spirit. Thus, soundscape plays an important role in this work. It depicts summer breeze, rustling sounds of leaves, and, to translate a Korean saying, "high blue skies." This soundscape opens the piece as well as closes it. In the middle section, the fast upbeat themes represent my mother's witty and optimistic personality. The piece also contains the presence of a hymn tune, The Love of God is Greater Far, which informs the motivic content and also functions as the climax of the piece. It was my mother's favorite hymn and we used to sing it together following her conversion to Christianity. The piece contains three main sections, which are held together by transitional material based on the soundscape and metric modulations. Unlike my earlier works, Bright Summer is tonal, with upper tertian harmonies prevailing throughout the piece. However, the opening and closing soundscapes do not have functional harmonies. For example, tertian chords appear and vanish silently, leaving behind some resonant sounds without any harmonic progression. Overall, the whole piece is reminiscent of my mother who lived a beautiful life.
ContributorsKim, JeeYeon (Composer) / DeMars, James (Thesis advisor) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
ABSTRACT Two qualitative studies described the effects of parent's participation in the music therapy session on parent-child interaction during home-based musical experiences learned in music therapy session. Home-based musical play was based on two current programs: Sing & Grow (Abad & Williams, 2007; Nicolson, 2008 Abad, 2011; Williams, et al; 2012) and Musical Connection Programme(Warren & Nugent, 2010). The researcher utilized the core elements of these programs, such as session structures and parenting strategies for improving parent-child interaction during music therapy interventions. Several questions emerged as a result of these case studies as follows 1) does parent's participation affect parent-child interaction during music therapy interventions 2) does musical parenting strategies promote parent-child interaction while practicing musical play at home 3) does parent's interaction increase when they practice parental strategies listed on parent's self-check list. Music therapy session was provided once per week during an eight week period. The participants were referred by Arizona State University (ASU) music therapy clinic. Sessions took place either in the ASU music therapy treatment room or the participant's home. There were four participants- one diagnosed with Down syndrome and the other with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and two parents or caregivers (each subject was counted as one participant). The parent/caregiver filled out the parental self-checklist 3-4 times per week and the survey after the end of the program. The case study materials were gathered through with parent/caregiver. The case studies revealed that all of the parents responded that the parent's participation in music therapy helped to improve their interactions with their child. Furthermore, all parents became more responsive in interacting with their child through musical play, such as sing-a-long and movements. Second, musical parenting strategies encouraged parent-child interaction when practicing musical play at home. Third, the parent's self-checklist was shown to be effective material for increasing positive parent-child interaction. The self-checklist reminded the parents to practice using strategies in order to promote interaction with their child. Overall, it was found that the parent's participation in home-based musical play increased parent-child interaction and the musical parenting strategies enhanced parent-child interaction.
ContributorsChoi, Yoon Kyoung (Author) / Crowe, Barbara J. (Thesis advisor) / Rio, Robin (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This study sought to analyze the messages being conveyed through the discourse utilized in presenting the public face of The Arizona Early Childhood Development and Health Board, popularly known as First Things First (FTF) and to reveal how the different discourses and ideologies within FTF have been in the past and currently are "contending and struggling for dominance (Wodak, 2007)." FTF is located within the policy realm of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The people and the system have been very influential in guiding the course and policies set forth in Arizona since the citizen initiative, Proposition 203, passed in 2006, which allowed for the creation of the Early Childhood Development and Health Board. Lakoff's techniques for analyzing frames of discourse were utilized in conjunction with critical discourse analysis in order to tease out frames of reference, shifts in both discourse and frames, specific modes of messaging, and consistencies and inconsistencies within the public face presented by FTF.
ContributorsMiller, Lisa (Author) / Swadener, Elizabeth B (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathy (Committee member) / Romero, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
As digital media practices become readily available in today's classrooms, literacy and literacy instruction are changing in profound ways (Alvermann, 2010). Professional organizations emphasize the importance of integrating new literacies (New London Group, 1996) practices into language-arts instruction (IRA, 2009; NCTE, 2005). As a result, teachers search for effective ways to incorporate the new literacies in an effort to engage students. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the potential of digital storytelling as participatory media for writing instruction. This case study was conducted during the fall semester of 2012 in one first-grade classroom and one second-grade classroom in the Southwestern United States. The study addressed ten interrelated research questions relating to how primary-grade students performed in relation to the Common Core writing standards, how they were motivated, how they formed a meta- language to talk about their writing, how they developed identities as writers, and how they were influenced by their teachers' philosophies and instructional approaches. Twenty-two first-grade students and 24 second-grade students used the MovieMaker software to create digital stories of personal narratives. Data included field notes, interviews with teachers and students, teacher journals, my own journal, artifacts of teachers' lesson plans, photographs, students' writing samples, and their digital stories. Qualitative data were analyzed by thematic analysis (Patton, 1990) and discourse analysis (Gee, 2011). Writing samples were scored by rubrics based on the Common Core State Standards. The study demonstrated how digital storytelling can be used to; (a) guide teachers in implementing new literacies in primary grades; (b) illustrate digital storytelling as writing; (c) develop students' meta-language to talk about writing; (d) impact students' perceptions as writers; (e) meet Common Core State Standards for writing; (f) improve students' skills as writers; (g) build students' identities as writers; (h) impact academic writing; (i) engage students in the writing process; and (j) illustrate the differences in writing competencies between first- and second-grade students. The study provides suggestions for teachers interested in incorporating digital storytelling in primary-grade classrooms.
ContributorsFoley, Leslie M (Author) / Guzzetti, Barbara J. (Thesis advisor) / Hayes, Elisabeth R. (Committee member) / Gee, James P (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The purpose of this study was to investigate critical literacy practices in two prehistoric exhibits in a natural history museum. Bourdieu's habitus and Bakhtin's dialogism served as theoretical frames to collect and analyze data. Data were collected and triangulated using field notes, interview transcriptions, archives, and other data sources to critically scrutinize textual meaning and participant responses. Spradley's (1979) domain analysis was used to sort and categorize data in the early stage. Glaser and Strauss's (1967) constant comparative method was used to code data. My major findings were that museum texts within this context represent embedded beliefs and values that were interwoven with curators` habitus, tastes and capital, as well as institutional policies. The texts in the two Hohokam exhibits endorse a certain viewpoint of learning. Teachers and the public were not aware of the communicative role that the museum played in the society. In addition, museum literacy/ies were still practiced in a fundamental way as current practices in the classroom, which may not support the development of critical literacy. In conclusion, the very goal for critical museum literacy is to help students and teachers develop intellectual strategies to read the word and the world in informal learning environments.
ContributorsLiang, Sheau-yann (Author) / Mccarty, Teresa (Thesis advisor) / Marsh, Josephine (Committee member) / Blumenfeld-Jones, Donald (Committee member) / Welsh, Peter (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Doppler radar can be used to measure respiration and heart rate without contact and through obstacles. In this work, a Doppler radar architecture at 2.4 GHz and a new signal processing algorithm to estimate the respiration and heart rate are presented. The received signal is dominated by the transceiver noise, LO phase noise and clutter which reduces the signal-to-noise ratio of the desired signal. The proposed architecture and algorithm are used to mitigate these issues and obtain an accurate estimate of the heart and respiration rate. Quadrature low-IF transceiver architecture is adopted to resolve null point problem as well as avoid 1/f noise and DC offset due to mixer-LO coupling. Adaptive clutter cancellation algorithm is used to enhance receiver sensitivity coupled with a novel Pattern Search in Noise Subspace (PSNS) algorithm is used to estimate respiration and heart rate. PSNS is a modified MUSIC algorithm which uses the phase noise to enhance Doppler shift detection. A prototype system was implemented using off-the-shelf TI and RFMD transceiver and tests were conduct with eight individuals. The measured results shows accurate estimate of the cardio pulmonary signals in low-SNR conditions and have been tested up to a distance of 6 meters.
ContributorsKhunti, Hitesh Devshi (Author) / Kiaei, Sayfe (Thesis advisor) / Bakkaloglu, Bertan (Committee member) / Bliss, Daniel (Committee member) / Kitchen, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013