Matching Items (13)
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- All Subjects: Education
- Language: English
- Creators: Nelson, Brian
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Resource Type: Text
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
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 goal of this research was to understand the different kinds of learning that take place in Mod The Sims (MTS), an online Sims gaming community. The study aimed to explore users' experiences and to understand learning practices that are not commonly observed in formal educational settings. To achieve this goal, the researcher conducted a four-year virtual ethnographic study that followed guidelines set forth in Hine (2000). After Hine, the study focused on understanding the complexity of the relationships between technology and social interactions among people, with a particular emphasis on investigating how participants shaped both the culture and structure of the affinity space. The format for the dissertation consists of an introduction, three core chapters that present different sets of findings, and a concluding chapter. Each of the core chapters, which can stand alone as separate studies, applies different theoretical lenses and analytic methods and uses a separate data set. The data corpus includes hundreds of thread posts, member profiles, online interview data obtained through email and personal messaging (PM), numerous screenshots, field notes, and additional artifacts, such as college coursework shared by a participant. Chapter 2 examines thread posts to understand the social support system in MTS and the language learning practices of one member who was a non-English speaker. Chapter 3 analyzes thread posts from administrative staff and users in MTS to identify patterns of interactions, with the goal of ascertaining how users contribute to the ongoing design and redesign of the site. Chapter 4 investigates user-generated tutorials to understand the nature of these instructional texts and how they are adapted to an online context. The final chapter (Chapter 5) presents conclusions about how the analyses overall represent examples of participatory learning practices that expand our understanding of 21st century learning. Finally, the chapter offers theoretical and practical implications, reflections on lessons learned, and suggestions for future research.
ContributorsLee, Yoonhee Naseef (Author) / Hayes, Elisabeth (Thesis advisor) / Gee, James (Committee member) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This thesis investigates students' learning behaviors through their interaction with an educational technology, Web Programming Grading Assistant. The technology was developed to facilitate the grading of paper-based examinations in large lecture-based classrooms and to provide richer and more meaningful feedback to students. A classroom study was designed and data was gathered from an undergraduate computer-programming course in the fall of 2016. Analysis of the data revealed that there was a negative correlation between time lag of first review attempt and performance. A survey was developed and disseminated that gave insight into how students felt about the technology and what they normally do to study for programming exams. In conclusion, the knowledge gained in this study aids in the quest to better educate students in computer programming in large in-person classrooms.
ContributorsMurphy, Hannah (Author) / Hsiao, Ihan (Thesis director) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Programming is quickly becoming as ubiquitous a tool as general mathematics. The technology field is progressing at an exponential rate and driving this constantly evolving field forward requires competent software developers. Elementary and high school educational facilities do not currently express the importance of the computer science field. Computer science is not a required course in high school and nearly impossible to find at a middle school level. This lack of exposure to the field at a young age handicaps aspiring developers by not providing them with a foundation to build on when seeking a degree. This paper revolves around the development of a virtual world that encompasses principles of programming in a video game structure. The use of a virtual world-based game was chosen under the hypothesis that embedding programming instruction into a game through problem-based learning is more likely to engage young students than more traditional forms of instruction. Unlike the traditional method of instruction, a virtual world allows us to "deceive" the player into learning concepts by implicitly educating them through fun gameplay mechanics. In order to make our video game robust and self-sufficient, we have developed a predictive recursive descent parser that will validate any user-generated solutions to pre-defined logical platforming puzzles. Programming topics taught with these problems range from binary numbers to while and for loops.
ContributorsWest, Grant (Co-author) / Kury, Nizar (Co-author) / Nelson, Brian (Thesis director) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Learning to program is no easy task, and many students experience their first programming during their university education. Unfortunately, programming classes have a large number of students enrolled, so it is nearly impossible for professors to associate with the students at an individual level and provide the personal attention each student needs. This project aims to provide professors with a tool to quickly respond to the current understanding of the students. This web-based application gives professors the control to quickly ask Java programming questions, and the ability to see the aggregate data on how many of the students have successfully completed the assigned questions. With this system, the students are provided with extra programming practice in a controlled environment, and if there is an error in their program, the system will provide feedback describing what the error means and what steps the student can take to fix it.
ContributorsVillela, Daniel Linus (Author) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Thesis director) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Hsiao, Sharon (Committee member) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Can a skill taught in a virtual environment be utilized in the physical world? This idea is explored by creating a Virtual Reality game for the HTC Vive to teach users how to play the drums. The game focuses on developing the user's muscle memory, improving the user's ability to play music as they hear it in their head, and refining the user's sense of rhythm. Several different features were included to achieve this such as a score, different levels, a demo feature, and a metronome. The game was tested for its ability to teach and for its overall enjoyability by using a small sample group. Most participants of the sample group noted that they felt as if their sense of rhythm and drumming skill level would improve by playing the game. Through the findings of this project, it can be concluded that while it should not be considered as a complete replacement for traditional instruction, a virtual environment can be successfully used as a learning aid and practicing tool.
ContributorsDinapoli, Allison (Co-author) / Tuznik, Richard (Co-author) / Kobayashi, Yoshihiro (Thesis director) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Computing and Informatics Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Research suggests there is no significant difference in outcomes for online learners and on-campus learners. Several decades of online learning have also consistently demonstrated online students are less likely to persist than those students attending on campus. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework describes social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence as components of a quality online learning experience, and research links these three constructs to student retention. Using the lens of the CoI framework, this mixed methods action research study sought to increase social presence and teaching presence in asynchronous online courses at Davenport University using embedded video feedback mechanisms, in support of student persistence and retention. The Community of Inquiry survey instrument was used to quantitatively measure the changes in social presence and teaching presence between courses with and without the video feedback mechanisms. Qualitative research interviews were conducted to probe for meaning and a greater understanding of both student and instructor experiences in the courses. Results of the study indicated small but significant gains in teaching presence, but other quantitative measures showed no changes with the introduction of the videos. Qualitative analysis suggests that students who watched the instructor videos reported higher levels of teaching presence for several subconstructs of teaching presence and social presence. However, the qualitative analysis also suggested that many students did not watch the instructor videos, and thus did not benefit from any increased presence. Student discussion response videos yielded similar results qualitatively, with benefits demonstrated by those students who watched the videos but none by those who abstained.
ContributorsMiller, Brian John-Suydam (Author) / Salik, Steve (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Nyambane, Gerald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Integrating agent-based models (ABMs) has been a popular approach for teaching emergent science concepts. However, students continue to find it difficult to explain the emergent process of natural selection. This study adopted an ontological framework–the Pattern, Agents, Interactions, Relations, and Causality (PAIR-C)–to guide the design of learning modules. This pre-posttest experimental study examines the effects of the PAIR-C module versus the Regular module on fostering students’ deep understanding of natural selection. Results show that students in the PAIR-C intervention group performed better in answering deep questions assessing the understanding of inter-level causal relationships than those in the Regular control group. Although students in both groups did not show significantly improved abilities in explaining the natural selection process for other contexts or significant differences in their abilities to explain other emergent phenomena, students in the intervention group demonstrated system-thinking perspectives and fewer misconceptions in their expressions compared to the control group. A close analysis of student misconceptions consolidates that the intervention group demonstrated drastically fewer categories and numbers of misconceptions while those in the control group did not show such drastic changes before and after the study. To precisely address misconceptions and further improve students’ learning outcomes, Epistemic Network Analysis was adopted to capture students’ misconception characteristics by examining the co-occurrences of different misconception categories as well as the relationship between misconceptions and PAIR-C features. The results of student learning outcomes and misconception characteristics collectively provide directions for improving the instructional design of the PAIR-C module. Furthermore, findings on student engagement levels during learning can also inform future design efforts. Overall, this project sheds light on applying an innovative framework to designing effective learning modules to teach emergent science concepts.
ContributorsSu, Man (Author) / Chi, Michelene (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Zheng, Yi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Mentoring programs are not uncommon. In fact, they are more common than we think. Most mentoring programs and/or mentorship opportunities are informal and happen daily. While mentorship programs are common, some programs, specifically Pre-Pharmacy related, are overlooked. The lack of formalized opportunities impacts prospective students’ understanding of the profession and connection-building and limits accessibility to resources. This study explored the role of participation in the Mentoring Aspiring Pre-Pharmacy Mentorship Programs (MAPPS) on the mentees' self-efficacy, belonging, and decision to pursue pharmacy. I conducted this four-week study at UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (SSPPS) in collaboration with the undergraduate campus. To support self-efficacy, belonging, and the decision to pursue pharmacy, MAPPS incorporated didactic and non-didactic activities, group conversations, reflections, and much more. To foster belonging, mentees were provided opportunities to participate in Pharmacy and Faculty meet and greet events, choose their mentor groups, and engage with one another. To develop self-efficacy, mentees were encouraged weekly to step outside their comfort zone by completing reflection activities that challenged them to learn more about the profession and engage with their mentors. The theoretical perspectives that guided this research project were the identity theory, self-efficacy theory, and sense of belonging. Furthermore, I used the parallel mixed design approach, which allowed me to use a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods simultaneously or with some time-lapse. The data collected in this study showed that participation in the MAPPS mentorship program heightened the mentees' sense of belonging, developed a deeper understanding of the profession, and resulted in the mentee feeling empowered to pursue the profession.
ContributorsAdibi, Sahar (Author) / Nelson, Brian (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Stephanie (Committee member) / Patel, Nimish (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023