Matching Items (15)
Description
Community college students are attracted to courses with alternative delivery formats such as hybrid courses because the more flexible delivery associated with such courses provides convenience for busy students. In a hybrid course, face-to-face, structured seat time is exchanged for online components. In such courses, students take more responsibility for their learning because they assume additional responsibility for learning more of the course material on their own. Thus, self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors have the potential to be useful for students to successfully navigate hybrid courses because the online components require exercise of more personal control over the autonomous learning situations inherent in hybrid courses. Self-regulated learning theory includes three components: metacognition, motivation, and behavioral actions. In the current study, this theoretical framework is used to examine how inducing self-regulated learning activities among students taking a hybrid course influence performance in a community college science course. The intervention for this action research study consisted of a suite of activities that engage students in self-regulated learning behaviors to foster student performance. The specific SRL activities included predicting grades, reflections on coursework and study efforts in course preparation logs, explanation of SRL procedures in response to a vignette, photo ethnography work on their personal use of SRL approaches, and a personalized study plan. A mixed method approach was employed to gather evidence for the study. Results indicate that community college students use a variety of self-regulated learning strategies to support their learning of course material. Further, engaging community college students in learning reflection activities appears to afford some students with opportunities to refine their SRL skills and influence their learning. The discussion focuses on integrating the quantitative and qualitative data and explanation of the findings using the SRL framework. Additionally, lessons learned, limitations, and implications for practice and research are discussed. Specifically, it is suggested that instructors can foster student learning in hybrid courses by teaching students to engage in SRL processes and behaviors rather than merely focusing on delivery of course content. Such SRL behaviors allow students to exercise greater control over the autonomous learning situations inherent in hybrid courses.
ContributorsManuelito, Shannon Joy (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Rachel (Committee member) / Barnett, Joshua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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
Creating meaningful, supportive, and inclusive climates and situations that recognize and honor minoritized students’ backgrounds and experiences while fostering a safe and welcoming learning environment and promoting minoritized student retention have become critical emphases of universities’ efforts. Notably, minoritized student leaders have served important roles in these efforts by universities as these individuals represented their peers from various student organizations to university staff members and administrators advocating on behalf of their peers to enhance minoritized students’ experiences at the university. Moreover, development and enhancement of important skills to facilitate these efforts was likely to aid them in being effective as they represented their peers. To support the development and enhancement of student leaders’ ability to effectively represent their organizations, I devised a brief innovation to build student leaders’ skills in four areas including (a) relationship building to foster peer students’ belonging, (b) advocacy and activism, (c) data gathering, and (d) presentation and effective communication skills. In the dissertation, I considered the experiences of minoritized student leaders. Quantitative, survey results showed student leaders increased their skills and attitudes toward serving in their roles. Qualitative findings demonstrated five themes emerged from the interview data about the experiences of minoritized student leaders. Those themes included personal reflection on their leadership efforts, creating space to build community, leveraging their voice, working together with staff members, and recognizing the influence of identity dynamics and the importance of inclusive environments. In the discussion, I described the complementarity of the quantitative and qualitative results, connected the findings to theoretical perspectives, offered limitations of the study, suggested implications for practice, and presented conclusions.
ContributorsRivera, Bibiana (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Rodríguez, Cristóbal (Committee member) / Fonseca-Chavez, Vanessa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
ABSTRACTIn this action research study, I explored and developed a means to address the challenge of developing, supporting, and retaining effective elementary school principals skilled in instructional leadership and serving in historically marginalized communities. Evidence from the research literature and earlier action research cycles indicated principals often worked in isolation and needed more support to retain these elementary school leaders. Notably, retention has been shown to be influenced by building collaborative teams to accomplish shared goals. In the current study, an intervention was developed to support school principals by improving their knowledge and skills with respect to using data-informed decision-making in a collaborative environment. The intervention titled, “Got Juice? Jam Sessions!” was composed of a three-pronged approach, including (a) professional development using the Collaborative Learning Cycle, (b) a hybrid Community of Practice consisting of online and in-person elements, and (c) one-on-one coaching with school leaders on the implementation of data-informed decision-making. The overarching goal was to examine how the three support processes influenced leadership practice, self-efficacy, and school principals' perceptions of remaining in the profession. In the study, leaders' perceptions of their knowledge, skills, attitudes, self-efficacy, level of support, intent to stay in the profession, and intent to apply a team-based approach to data-informed decision-making were assessed. A mixed-methods study included the collection of quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data. Results showed the intervention provided a system of support for school leaders that increased leaders' perceptions of their knowledge, skills, attitudes, self-efficacy, intent to stay in the profession, and intent to implement the team-based approach to implementing data-informed decision-making at their school sites. In the discussion, I described the complementarity of the quantitative and qualitative data, explained the results based on the theoretical frameworks and the extant literature, presented limitations and their mitigation, and offered implications for practice and research.
ContributorsPombo, Lorisa Marie (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Hermanns, Carl (Committee member) / Lewis, Donna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
College instructors are critical to increasing completion rates and creating more equitable educational opportunities that position all learners for upward mobility. Yet, few have received formal, comprehensive training in inclusive teaching practices that positively affect student learning, improve retention and completion rates, and close equity gaps. The Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) has helped to fill this gap through its Inclusive Teaching for Equitable Learning (ITEL) microcredential course, a cohort-based professional development opportunity with an international reach. However, no prior studies had investigated whether the ITEL program resulted in transformative learning (Mezirow, 1991) for participants. In this mixed-methods, action research study, I examined whether eight ITEL participants from four higher education institutions experienced perspective changes when enrolled in a cohort that offered synchronous discussions; if so, what experiences contributed to their perspective changes; and how the changes informed their teaching and nonteaching contexts, including professional and personal interactions. Data sources included participants’ module reflections, transcripts from synchronous discussions, and responses to an adapted version of King’s (2009) Learning Activities Survey (LAS). Descriptive analysis, content analysis, and grounded interpretation approaches were used to analyze the data. Research findings showed that most participants experienced changes in their perspectives about teaching and outside of teaching that they attributed to their participation in ITEL. Participants identified learning activities that were both unique to this offering and core to ACUE’s standard learning design as contributing to their transformations. The majority of participants also attributed their perspective changes, in part, to learning that occurred in multiple course modules. Participants’ qualitative responses were grouped into three major themes––reimagining students’ experiences, reimagining one’s professional identity as a learner, and reimagining one’s life experiences––which were reflected in an emerging framework. The study’s results have critical implications for researchers and practitioners, including how they design professional development experiences and the extent to which they incorporate community-building activities, reflection and application opportunities, and facilitation. Additionally, research findings demonstrate the power of inclusive teaching programs to develop educators’ personal and professional identities and make them more equity-minded instructors, family members, friends, and community members.
ContributorsCandio Sekel, Julianne (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Ross, Lydia (Committee member) / Lawner, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of how collaborative language learning activities affected student perceptions of their engagement and language self-efficacy in a communicative, flipped language learning classroom in higher education. The new online platforms accompanying many textbooks now allow students to prepare for classes ahead of time, allowing instructors to use more class time for student engagement in actual language practices. However, there has been little investigation of the effects of this communicative, flipped classroom model on students’ learning processes and outcomes. This mixed methods action research study revealed that the introduction of varied collaborative language learning activities had a positive impact on students’ self-efficacy and engagement as well as provides implications that will be of value to language educators interested in enhancing their use of the communicative, flipped classroom model.
ContributorsRama, Rashmi (Author) / Gee, Elisabeth (Thesis advisor) / Buss, Ray R. (Committee member) / Mayes, Eric (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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
Implementing an assimilative agenda within the traditional U.S. education system has prevented the authentic inclusion, validation, and development of American Indian students. The enduring ramifications, including the loss of cultural identity, underscored the critical need to decolonize, or challenge, the historic assimilative agenda of the school space. The purpose of this action research study was to examine the connection between the cultural exploration activities of Culture Club, cultural identity, and the creation of a Third Space to serve as a decolonizing framework for this Indigenous program conducted within a school space.
The epistemological perspective guiding this study was that of constructionism. The theoretical frameworks were post-colonial theory, Indigenous methodology, and, most prominently, Third Space theory. A thorough review of Third Space theory resulted in deduction of four criteria deemed to be necessary for creating a Third Space. These four theoretically-deduced criteria were (a) creating new knowledge, (b) reclaiming and reinscribing hegemonic notions of identity and school, (c) creating new or hybrid identities, and (d) developing more inclusive perspectives. The criteria were employed to create the Culture Club innovation and to determine whether a Third Space was effectively created within Culture Club.
This qualitative action research study focused on the Culture Club innovation, an after-school, cultural exploration, extracurricular program for sixth-grade American Indian students, at a Title I school in a large southwest metropolitan area. The participants were five, sixth-grade American Indian students. The role of the researcher was to facilitate a Third Space within Culture Club, as well as collect and analyze data.
Data were collected using semi-structured interviews; recorded Culture Club sessions; phase 3, and research journal entries. Once the data were transcribed, eclectic coding methodology, consisting of open, descriptive, and in vivo coding was employed and interpretive analysis procedures followed.
Findings showed modest changes in participants’ cultural identities but confirmed the creation of a Third Space within Culture Club. Findings have important implications for both practice and future research. Recommendations for improving and sustaining the decolonizing framework of Culture Club to create safe spaces for American Indian students and their explorations of their Indigeneity are also proposed.
The epistemological perspective guiding this study was that of constructionism. The theoretical frameworks were post-colonial theory, Indigenous methodology, and, most prominently, Third Space theory. A thorough review of Third Space theory resulted in deduction of four criteria deemed to be necessary for creating a Third Space. These four theoretically-deduced criteria were (a) creating new knowledge, (b) reclaiming and reinscribing hegemonic notions of identity and school, (c) creating new or hybrid identities, and (d) developing more inclusive perspectives. The criteria were employed to create the Culture Club innovation and to determine whether a Third Space was effectively created within Culture Club.
This qualitative action research study focused on the Culture Club innovation, an after-school, cultural exploration, extracurricular program for sixth-grade American Indian students, at a Title I school in a large southwest metropolitan area. The participants were five, sixth-grade American Indian students. The role of the researcher was to facilitate a Third Space within Culture Club, as well as collect and analyze data.
Data were collected using semi-structured interviews; recorded Culture Club sessions; phase 3, and research journal entries. Once the data were transcribed, eclectic coding methodology, consisting of open, descriptive, and in vivo coding was employed and interpretive analysis procedures followed.
Findings showed modest changes in participants’ cultural identities but confirmed the creation of a Third Space within Culture Club. Findings have important implications for both practice and future research. Recommendations for improving and sustaining the decolonizing framework of Culture Club to create safe spaces for American Indian students and their explorations of their Indigeneity are also proposed.
ContributorsRoy, Brittani Kalyani (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Carlson, David (Committee member) / Mccarty, Teresa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
As evidenced in the growing achievement gap between English language learners (ELLs) and their non-ELL counterparts, it is clear future teachers need to be better prepared to work with ELLs. This study examined the influence of infusing ELL strategies into methods courses through instructional coaching. This study was inspired by the larger iTeachELLs project at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University.
This action research project drew upon Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory and Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive theory. Specifically, the study was built on Vygotsky’s socially shared activities and Bandura’s concepts of modeling and providing opportunities to individuals to practice and attain mastery experiences. Knight et al.’s (2015) impact cycle of coaching served as the framework for the intervention in this study. This perspective was grounded in socially shared activities that included a clear model of the new learning and opportunities for instructors to practice implementing the new learning.
University instructors and teacher candidates participated in the study. A mixed method approach was used to gather data from instructors and teacher candidates. Quantitative data came from a survey that assessed three constructs: (a) knowledge, (b) use, and (c) self-efficacy of Stanford’s (2013) six principles for ELL instruction. Qualitative data were gathered in several ways. Instructor interviews focused on the coaching experiences, whereas teacher candidate interviews focused on knowledge and use of ELL principles. Additional qualitative data included reflective conversations with instructors and course assignments from teacher candidates.
Results suggested instructors gained in their knowledge, use, and self-efficacy of the six principles for ELL instruction, which they taught to their teacher candidate charges. As a result, teacher candidates increased their knowledge, use, and self-efficacy of the ELL principles. The interview data for teacher candidates was consistent with the survey data.
Results from this study highlighted the potential of coaching in higher education as a powerful approach to deliver professional development. Further, results suggested that infusing ELL instructional practices into content methods courses appeared to be a viable method to better prepare teacher candidates to work with ELL students.
This action research project drew upon Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory and Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive theory. Specifically, the study was built on Vygotsky’s socially shared activities and Bandura’s concepts of modeling and providing opportunities to individuals to practice and attain mastery experiences. Knight et al.’s (2015) impact cycle of coaching served as the framework for the intervention in this study. This perspective was grounded in socially shared activities that included a clear model of the new learning and opportunities for instructors to practice implementing the new learning.
University instructors and teacher candidates participated in the study. A mixed method approach was used to gather data from instructors and teacher candidates. Quantitative data came from a survey that assessed three constructs: (a) knowledge, (b) use, and (c) self-efficacy of Stanford’s (2013) six principles for ELL instruction. Qualitative data were gathered in several ways. Instructor interviews focused on the coaching experiences, whereas teacher candidate interviews focused on knowledge and use of ELL principles. Additional qualitative data included reflective conversations with instructors and course assignments from teacher candidates.
Results suggested instructors gained in their knowledge, use, and self-efficacy of the six principles for ELL instruction, which they taught to their teacher candidate charges. As a result, teacher candidates increased their knowledge, use, and self-efficacy of the ELL principles. The interview data for teacher candidates was consistent with the survey data.
Results from this study highlighted the potential of coaching in higher education as a powerful approach to deliver professional development. Further, results suggested that infusing ELL instructional practices into content methods courses appeared to be a viable method to better prepare teacher candidates to work with ELL students.
ContributorsThibault, Malissa (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Jimenez-Silva, Margarita (Committee member) / Hansen, Taryl (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Incoming freshman at East Los Angeles College were struggling with successfully completing their first semester, leading to low rates of course success and retention. Students reported struggles with adapting to the culture of college, particularly with behaving like a college student and managing time. The purpose of this action research study was to determine if embedding a College Success Curriculum (CSC) into a required class would help students more successfully navigate the first semester. The CSC was embedded into the action-researcher's freshman composition class and covered the following concepts: appropriate classroom behavior, communication, time management, and organization. Quantitative data included retrospective pre-intervention and post-intervention survey data. Qualitative data included the researcher's journal and student-written journal entries. Findings from this study indicated that students learned to communicate via email and to prioritize their time, however, the CSC did not have a measurable effect on students’ behavior, time management, or organization. Course success and retention after receiving the CSC remained at previous years’ rates. There continues to be a need to assist freshmen students in these critical college skills, and perhaps adapt some of the strategies used in this project for future iterations.
ContributorsRyan Romo, Amanda J (Author) / Rotheram-Fuller, Erin (Thesis advisor) / Buss, Ray R. (Committee member) / Jaramillo, Veronica (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019