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Description
This study collected and examined information on K-12 teachers currently involved in online education in the United States. The purposes of this study included defining the demographics of these teachers, determining the extent to which they were formally educated and/or trained to teach online, and to compare these findings to

This study collected and examined information on K-12 teachers currently involved in online education in the United States. The purposes of this study included defining the demographics of these teachers, determining the extent to which they were formally educated and/or trained to teach online, and to compare these findings to those from a similar study conducted six years earlier. A web-based survey, including questions in both open and closed form, was used to gather data from 325 participants currently teaching at least one online class at publicly funded K-12 online schools nationwide. Survey questions covered the following six domains: a) personal demographics, b) educational background and experience, c) pre-service training, d) in-service training, and e) current online teaching assignments. The results of this study indicate that those currently teaching online to K-12 students have demographic characteristics that are similar to face-to-face teachers, particularly in terms of gender, age, and ethnicity/race; however, the online teachers generally had higher levels of educational attainment, more years of teaching experience, and were significantly more likely to teach on a part-time basis. It was found that teachers working with K-12 students online are self-motivated, place a high value on learning and education, and enjoy the challenge and process of using technology for this purpose. Based on findings, only a limited number of university-based teacher preparation programs address any aspect of the methods and techniques required for teaching online, and even fewer offer online field placement opportunities for pre-service teachers. For the most part, current online teachers were found to have received training after graduation, while working in the field. Further research is needed to specifically define and empirically validate the methods and techniques required for effective online teaching at the K-12 levels so that formal educational and training programs can be further developed to effectively prepare future K-12 online teachers.
ContributorsLarson, Jean Sutton (Author) / Archambault, Leanna (Thesis advisor) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Thesis advisor) / Bitter, Gary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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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.

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
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Description
This research study investigated the effects of high fidelity graphics on both learning and presence, or the "sense of being there," inside a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Four versions of a VLE on the subject of the element mercury were created, each with a different combination of high and

This research study investigated the effects of high fidelity graphics on both learning and presence, or the "sense of being there," inside a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). Four versions of a VLE on the subject of the element mercury were created, each with a different combination of high and low fidelity polygon models and high and low fidelity shaders. A total of 76 college age (18+ years of age) participants were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. The participants interacted with the VLE and then completed several posttest measures on learning, presence, and attitudes towards the VLE experience. Demographic information was also collected, including age, computer gameplay experience, number of virtual environments interacted with, gender and time spent in this virtual environment. The data was analyzed as a 2 x 2 between subjects ANOVA.

The main effects of shader fidelity and polygon fidelity were both non- significant for both learning and all presence subscales inside the VLE. In addition, there was no significant interaction between shader fidelity and model fidelity. However, there were two significant results on the supplementary variables. First, gender was found to have a significant main effect on all the presence subscales. Females reported higher average levels of presence than their male counterparts. Second, gameplay hours, or the number of hours a participant played computer games per week, also had a significant main effect on participant score on the learning measure. The participants who reported playing 15+ hours of computer games per week, the highest amount of time in the variable, had the highest score as a group on the mercury learning measure while those participants that played 1-5 hours per week had the lowest scores.
ContributorsHorton, Scott (Author) / Nelson, Brian (Thesis advisor) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
This experimental pretest-posttest design study extended the field of media literacy research to pre-professionals in the entertainment industry. Specifically, it investigated the effects of lecture, film screenings and focused discussions on media literacy general awareness, comprehension, critical thinking and attitudes about filmmakers' responsibility after a unit of instruction on

This experimental pretest-posttest design study extended the field of media literacy research to pre-professionals in the entertainment industry. Specifically, it investigated the effects of lecture, film screenings and focused discussions on media literacy general awareness, comprehension, critical thinking and attitudes about filmmakers' responsibility after a unit of instruction on media violence designed specifically for university film majors.

Inherent in this process was an attempt to create a valid instrument for measuring media literacy awareness, comprehension, critical thinking and attitudes about social responsibilities among future media makers. Items were presented from the perspective of a creator of entertainment products. A demographic survey was used to collect data on past media literacy education and media viewing habits of this niche group, while evaluation data provided insights into the thought processes of students as they considered issues of media literacy -- sometimes for the first time -- in their own lives, in the lives of others, and in their future careers. Factorial analysis was used to test the effectiveness of the instrument. Analyses of variance were employed to measure pretest-posttest differences in treatment groups and Paired Samples T-tests to measure differences across the entire sample. Responses to open-ended evaluation questions were analyzed and coded and presented by item.

Results showed positive changes in comprehension and filmmaker responsibility attitudes across treatment groups and significant positive differences in media awareness and critical thinking among students across treatment groups. Results did not align with treatment groups: the students who watched film clips and participated in focused discussions gained knowledge but did not achieve significantly greater mean scores than those who did not participate in these treatments.

Findings support those in the research literature that holistic media literacy instruction, which incorporates aspects of creating as well as consuming entertainment products, can open new pathways of criticality about media issues. Media should be presented in context and with direction from the instructor. In eight evaluation items, some 90% of the young media makers agreed that the media violence lesson influenced their thinking and that they would consider material taught in this lesson when creating future media products.
ContributorsTrotta, Laurie (Author) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Thesis advisor) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Bitter, Gary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Unschooling is a child-centered educational philosophy that eschews teachers,

schools, curricula, grades and tests. Unschool practitioners have complete freedom to choose what they want to learn, when, to what level, and for how long. Unschooling families use the World Wide Web to provide a bespoke academic experience at home. This

Unschooling is a child-centered educational philosophy that eschews teachers,

schools, curricula, grades and tests. Unschool practitioners have complete freedom to choose what they want to learn, when, to what level, and for how long. Unschooling families use the World Wide Web to provide a bespoke academic experience at home. This study compares qualitative data collected from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews conducted with 10 unschooling families with quantitative data collected from 5 children within these families using a tracking and monitoring software. The software captured the duration of use, keystrokes, mouseclicks, and screenshots for all programs and websites for 14 days. Children stated they used technology less than 6 hours a day, and parents stated children used them less than 8 hours a day. Quantitative data shows the children use technology at least 10 hours a day, suggesting usage self-reports may not be reliable. The study revealed hardware form factor was the number one determinate of application use. Almost exclusively social media was used on smartphones, internet browsing on tablets, and creative endeavors such as modding, hacking, fan fiction writing, and video game level building all took place exclusively on laptops and desktops. Concurrent use of differing hardware form factors was the norm observed. Participants stated YouTube, Wikipedia and Khan Academy were the websites most used for knowledge gathering. The tracking software verified YouTube and Wikipedia were the most used websites, however when accessed on the PC, those sites were used almost exclusively for video game related purposes. Over 90% of the total PC use was spent on video games. More traditional educational activities were done primarily on tablets and on parent smartphones with parental engagement. Khan Academy was not used by the

participants in the 14 day monitoring period. 90 day web browser logs indicated Khan Academy was used by individuals no more than 3 times in a 90 day period,

demonstrating the inherent risks in relying upon internet usage self-reports without

quantitative software for verification. Unschooling children spent between 30 and 60 hours a week using technology.
ContributorsCurtice, Brian (Author) / Gee, James (Thesis advisor) / Gee, Elisabeth (Committee member) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Writing instruction poses both cognitive and affective challenges, particularly for adolescents. American teens not only fall short of national writing standards, but also tend to lack motivation for school writing, claiming it is too challenging and that they have nothing interesting to write about. Yet, teens enthusiastically immerse themselves in

Writing instruction poses both cognitive and affective challenges, particularly for adolescents. American teens not only fall short of national writing standards, but also tend to lack motivation for school writing, claiming it is too challenging and that they have nothing interesting to write about. Yet, teens enthusiastically immerse themselves in informal writing via text messaging, email, and social media, regularly sharing their thoughts and experiences with a real audience. While these activities are, in fact, writing, research indicates that teens instead view them as simply "communication" or "being social." Accordingly, the aim of this work was to infuse formal classroom writing with naturally engaging elements of informal social media writing to positively impact writing quality and the motivation to write, resulting in the development and implementation of Sparkfolio, an online prewriting tool that: a) addresses affective challenges by allowing students to choose personally relevant topics using their own social media data; and b) provides cognitive support with a planner that helps develop and organize ideas in preparation for writing a first draft. This tool was evaluated in a study involving 46 eleventh-grade English students writing three personal narratives each, and including three experimental conditions: a) using self-authored social media post data while planning with Sparkfolio; b) using only data from posts authored by one's friends while planning with Sparkfolio; and c) a control group that did not use Sparkfolio. The dependent variables were the change in writing motivation and the change in writing quality that occurred before and after the intervention. A scaled pre/posttest measured writing motivation, and the first and third narratives were used as writing quality pre/posttests. A usability scale, logged Sparkfolio data, and qualitative measures were also analyzed. Results indicated that participants who used Sparkfolio had statistically significantly higher gains in writing quality than the control group, validating Sparkfolio as effective. Additionally, while nonsignificant, results suggested that planning with self-authored data provided more writing quality and motivational benefits than data authored by others. This work provides initial empirical evidence that leveraging students' own social media data (securely) holds potential in fostering meaningful personalized learning.
ContributorsSadauskas, John (Author) / Atkinson, Robert K (Thesis advisor) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Liu, Huan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
The problem under investigation was to determine if a specific outline-style learning guide, called a Learning Agenda (LA), can improve a college algebra learning environment and if learner control can reduce the cognitive effort associated with note-taking in this instance. The 192 participants were volunteers from 47 different college

The problem under investigation was to determine if a specific outline-style learning guide, called a Learning Agenda (LA), can improve a college algebra learning environment and if learner control can reduce the cognitive effort associated with note-taking in this instance. The 192 participants were volunteers from 47 different college algebra and pre-calculus classes at a community college in the southwestern United States. The approximate demographics of this college as of the academic year 2016 – 2017 are as follows: 53% women, 47% men; 61% ages 24 and under, 39% 25 and over; 43% Hispanic/Latino, 40% White, 7% other. Participants listened to an approximately 9-minute video lecture on solving a logarithmic equation. There were four dependent variables: encoding as measured by a posttest – pretest difference, perceived cognitive effort, attitude, and notes-quality/quantity. The perceived cognitive effort was measured by a self-reported questionnaire. The attitude was measured by an attitude survey. The note-quality/quantity measure included three sub-measures: expected mathematical expressions, expected phrases, and a total word count. There were two independent factors: note-taking method and learner control. The note-taking method had three levels: the Learning Agenda (LA), unguided note-taking (Usual), and no notes taken. The learner control factor had two levels: pausing allowed and pausing not allowed. The LA resulted in significantly improved notes on all three sub-measures (adjusted R2 = .298). There was a significant main effect of learner control on perceived cognitive effort with higher perceived cognitive effort occurring when pausing was not allowed and notes were taken. There was a significant interaction effect of the two factors on the attitude survey measure. The trend toward an improved attitude in both of the note-taking levels of the note-taking factor when pause was allowed was reversed in the no notes level when pausing was allowed. While significant encoding did occur as measured by the posttest – pretest difference (Cohen’s d = 1.81), this measure did not reliably vary across the levels of either the note-taking method factor or the learner control factor in this study. Interpretations were in terms of cognitive load management, split-attention, instructional design, and note-taking as a sense-making opportunity.
ContributorsTarr, Julie Charlotte (Author) / Nelson, Brian (Thesis advisor) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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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

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
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Description
Bioscience High School, a small magnet high school located in Downtown Phoenix and a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) focused school, has been pushing to establish a computer science curriculum for all of their students from freshman to senior year. The school's Mision (Mission and Vision) is to: "..provide

Bioscience High School, a small magnet high school located in Downtown Phoenix and a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) focused school, has been pushing to establish a computer science curriculum for all of their students from freshman to senior year. The school's Mision (Mission and Vision) is to: "..provide a rigorous, collaborative, and relevant academic program emphasizing an innovative, problem-based curriculum that develops literacy in the sciences, mathematics, and the arts, thus cultivating critical thinkers, creative problem-solvers, and compassionate citizens, who are able to thrive in our increasingly complex and technological communities." Computational thinking is an important part in developing a future problem solver Bioscience High School is looking to produce. Bioscience High School is unique in the fact that every student has a computer available for him or her to use. Therefore, it makes complete sense for the school to add computer science to their curriculum because one of the school's goals is to be able to utilize their resources to their full potential. However, the school's attempt at computer science integration falls short due to the lack of expertise amongst the math and science teachers. The lack of training and support has postponed the development of the program and they are desperately in need of someone with expertise in the field to help reboot the program. As a result, I've decided to create a course that is focused on teaching students the concepts of computational thinking and its application through Scratch and Arduino programming.
ContributorsLiu, Deming (Author) / Meuth, Ryan (Thesis director) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description
Electromyography (EMG) and Electroencephalography (EEG) are techniques used to detect electrical activity produced by the human body. EMG detects electrical activity in the skeletal muscles, while EEG detects electrical activity from the scalp. The purpose of this study is to capture different types of EMG and EEG signals and to

Electromyography (EMG) and Electroencephalography (EEG) are techniques used to detect electrical activity produced by the human body. EMG detects electrical activity in the skeletal muscles, while EEG detects electrical activity from the scalp. The purpose of this study is to capture different types of EMG and EEG signals and to determine if the signals can be distinguished between each other and processed into output signals to trigger events in prosthetics. Results from the study suggest that the PSD estimates can be used to compare signals that have significant differences such as the wrist, scalp, and fingers, but it cannot fully distinguish between signals that are closely related, such as two different fingers. The signals that were identified were able to be translated into the physical output simulated on the Arduino circuit.
ContributorsJanis, William Edward (Author) / LaBelle, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Santello, Marco (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-12