Browsing by Subject "Online"
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Item Classrooms without borders: the characteristics of international secondary schools that offer online courses.(2009-07) Fischer, David AllenThe purpose of this study is to examine the characteristics of international schools that offer online courses. Secondary school principals of international schools were surveyed using a newly constructed survey instrument. Eighty three secondary school principals responded to the survey for a response rate of 61%. The principals that responded were from a random sample of international schools as well as a purposeful sample of international schools that offer online courses through the Virtual High School. The results showed that 16 of the schools, from the random sample of 60 international schools, were offering online courses. These courses were largely being offered by external course providers that are accredited and based in the United States. The main reason these schools gave for offering online courses were to offer course not otherwise available at their school and the most common type of courses they offered were elective courses. Finding from this study also showed that there was a relationship between institutional factors of international school and whether they offered online course. The strongest associations were the size of the school, interest coming from the school community, knowledge of the online course options available, and the ease of recruiting highly qualified teachers. One conclusion that could be drawn from this research is that the number of international schools that offer online courses is quite low when compared to schools in the United States. There could be many reasons for this, one of which is that many of the administrators at these international schools are not fully aware of the online course options that are available to them. It is hoped that this dissertation might better inform the leadership of these schools about the advantages of offering online courses and how these courses might benefit their students.Item Content area reading instruction for secondary teacher candidates: a case study of a state-required online content area reading course(2014-01) Biggs, Brad AlanThis dissertation examined in a state-required, online preservice teacher course in content area reading instruction (CARI) at a large land-grant university in Minnesota. Few studies have been published to date on revitalized literacy teacher preparation efforts in CARI (See Vagle, Dillon, Davison-Jenkins, & LaDuca, 2005; Dillon, O'Brien, Sato, & Kelly, 2011). Analysis of implementation of the revised online course Reading in the Content Areas for Initial Licensure Candidates afforded an opportunity to study 1) an online CARI course for PTS, and 2) a revised CARI course occasioned by new state teacher CARI standards (Minnesota Board of Teaching, 2012; Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes, 2010). Results of this study fill a gap in the reading education literature at a time when improved teacher preparation for instruction in reading comprehension in all subject areas is vital for our students, and CARI teacher preparation that offers flexible implementation formats is a goal for postsecondary educators. This research used Yin's approach to case study (Yin, 2008) to construct a qualitative description of the revised online course design and of PT experiences of the course. Analysis of the description provides data that can inform course design of online CARI PT courses as well as new directions for CARI research. Course design and components as well as PT-produced artifacts were investigated in order to understand 1) dispositions and knowledges of PTs regarding CARI before participation in the online course, 2) how course components were they designed to effectively prepare secondary school PTs in CARI, and 3) How course components and online learning environment impact PTs' disposition and knowledge of CARI. Analysis of course components and analysis of artifacts constructed by PTs from eight different content area PT preparation programs indicated that 1) dispositions and knowledges of PTs regarding CARI before participation in the online course, 2) how course components were they designed to effectively prepare secondary school PTs in CARI, and 3) How course components and online learning environment impact PTs' disposition and knowledge of CARI.Item Digital Struggles: Fostering Student Interaction in Online Writing Courses(2013-07) Virtue, Andrew DavidOnline pedagogical environments present a new set of challenges to instructors who teach them. One of those challenges, often present in online writing courses, is the lack of interaction between students with each other, the instructor, and the course itself. Instead, there is often a certain sense of isolation in online writing courses to the point in which they can feel like modern day correspondence courses. This dissertation provides an overview of a computer mediated discourse analysis conducted during the fall of 2012 of a writing class that employed a combination of independent small groups and a rotating group moderator role. More specifically, each group of students (consisting of 4 members) was invisible to the rest of the class. The groups were used to increase the students&rsquo perceptions of visibility within their groups/course and to increase student agency through the group moderator role. My dissertation focuses on the results from a pre/post survey, three focus groups, and the textual analysis of class forums, peer reviews, and a group project. Using Vygotsky's concept of &ldquozone of proximal development&rdquo as theoretical foundation, I will attempt to answer two research questions: 1) How do small groups and group moderators affect student interaction in online writing courses and 2) What course design choices lead to positive student interaction in online writing courses? Although I cannot provide any general claims based on the small sample size of the participants in this situation, I can illustrate how an online writing course changes when it is configured using small groups and assigning group roles. Additionally, I hope to provide insight into how online writing courses can better facilitate course goals by configuring the online environment in certain ways including ideas on course scheduling, repurposing Web 2.0 technologies, and revising class assignments/activities.Item Interactive Ideation: Online Team-Based Idea Generation versus Traditional Brainstorming(2019-06) Russell, TheodoreSocial media and social collaborative platforms are becoming ever more integrated into our lives at all levels. Past research has shown electronic brainstorming and idea generation can be viable options when compared to traditional methods. Building on existing research into the benefits and challenges of ideating through online environments, this study asks if an established collaborative planning platform can be more conducive to generating a high quantity of ideas and high-quality ideas than traditional methods. In this context, the number of ideas generated, the quality of ideas as rated by participants and experts, and group success building upon ideas are evaluated as metrics. The two conditions are compared on performance in an idea generation session. The analysis demonstrated that idea generation through the digital platform Slack, compared to traditional brainstorming, produced more ideas, approximately twice as many high-quality ideas as rated by experts, and nearly twice as much building upon ideas. The results of the study suggest existing online social platforms are viable options for conducting idea generation in small groups and provide an option for collaboration without meeting in person.Item Mentoring in the Moment: Influences of online cultural mentoring on in-country learning and intercultural competencies(2013-12) Smith, Ann LynnThe assumption that sending students abroad for extended periods of time will lead to increased understanding of others, one's place in the world, and increased skills required to navigate cross cultural interactions does not hold up in the literature. Recent research in the field of international and intercultural education calls practitioners and policy makers to integrate a formal intercultural education component into the study abroad experience. There is still much to be learned about the effectiveness and impacts of these "interventions". Through an investigation of one of the largest and most established online cultural mentoring courses offered, Global Identity (University of Minnesota), this study aims to show student perceptions and impacts of online cultural mentoring at various stages of the experience. The research questions are: 1) In what ways and to what degree does an online cultural mentoring intervention influence the in-country learning experience? 2) In what ways and to what degree does on-line cultural mentoring influence broader intercultural competencies (intercultural development and/or global-mindedness)? 3) In what ways and to what degree does an on-line cultural intervention influence the way in which participants value, see relevance in, identify and articulate intercultural skills and perspectives in their lives today? A mixed methods approach is utilized, using both quantitative and qualitative methods for purposes of triangulation of data as well as achieving deeper understanding and further explanation of quantitative findings. The population consists of students who studied abroad between Fall 2008 and Fall 2011. Using a matched pair design, students who also participated in an online cultural mentoring (OCM) course were matched statistically to students not exposed to the course. Results suggest significant positive effects of OCM on in-country learning and broader intercultural competencies and skills. These findings, in combination with its relatively low operating and administration cost, suggest that OCM shows promise as a feasible and scalable cultural mentoring option. Qualitative analysis largely supports the quantitative findings and sheds additional light on subtle but important differences in how OCM participants articulate and value intercultural skills and perspectives, compared to non-OCM participants. Policy implications and research recommendations are offered.Item "Not Just Junk on the Web": How On-line Writing Assignments May Benefit Student Writing(Voices from the Gaps, 2004)Item Online pedagogy: designing writing courses for students with autism spectrum disorders.(2010-05) Wyatt, Christopher ScottAs more universities offer academic composition and technical writing courses via virtual classrooms, our institutions are also being asked to accommodate an increasingly diverse student population. The success of disability accommodations in elementary and secondary schools is expanding the number of students with special needs academically qualified for postsecondary admissions. Among these students are individuals with autism spectrum disorders--a population with unique gifts and needs. This project sought to determine how writing courses in virtual spaces might be improved for university students with ASDs. The original research propositions included the possibility that Web-based course management software could be optimized by examining virtual spaces favored by individuals with ASDs. Ninety-eight Web sites were analyzed and 48 adults with clinical diagnoses of autism disorders were surveyed. The results directly challenged the research propositions and require a rethinking of the delivery of online course content. Overwhelmingly, the communities analyzed and the individuals surveyed point to a need to deliver course content via e-mail, Really Simple Syndication (RSS), and other purely textual methods. Every online community studied relays content to members via both e-mail and RSS feeds, allowing participation without accessing a Web-based interface. Seventy-five percent of the individuals surveyed indicated Web sites present challenges that cannot be addressed via traditional accessibility practices. The data suggest online courses should offer e-mail and RSS interactions, as an option to the Web-based interfaces of most courseware platforms. While instructors of academic composition and technical writing courses might be tempted to recreate the traditional classroom in virtual simulations, this approach not only hinders participation by students with autism disorders, but also might exclude them from courses that form an important foundation for university success. Additionally, gender differences were found within the survey population, relating specifically to writing and communication practices. This study concludes with a recommendation for studies exploring these differences and any implications they might have for writing instruction, especially within virtual classroom settings.Item A Preliminary Qualitative Analysis of Home Schooling on Stormfront(2021-05) Maxwell, JosephIn recent years, attention to radicalization has focused in on how extremist ideology may be replicated within the family, and passed on intergenerationally (Avdeenko & Siedler, 2017; Riany et al, 2018) Little research explores radicalization within the family unit itself (Spalek, 2016). To gain insight into extremist family units, qualitative methodology was used to explore online posts pertaining to family on Stormfront, a prominent white supremacist website. This project followed case study methodology. A webcrawler was used to collect posts from the board. Thematic analysis was used to organize and analyze data. Homeschooling was found to be a prominent topic within education; all posts within the homeschooling domain were brought under further analysis to derive their intended purpose for further understanding their context. Three themes were identified within the data: Replicating White Nationalist Framing, A Call for Urgency, and Academic White Flight. The analysis of the posts’ purpose revealed that majority of posts, 73%, were intended to find or share resources for homeschooling.