DTheses (Athabasca University)
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Improving Learner Motivation Through Enchanced Intructional Design
No full textThe purpose of this thesis was to examine the relationship between the instructional design methodology used to design and develop a distance learning product and learner motivation. Evidence from readings consulted in preparing this thesis suggested that motivation is not often a prominent consideration in the design of distance learning products. In the early 1970s, John Keller wrote about the relationship between motivation and instructional design resulting in the creation of four elements -- Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction (ARCS) -- that has become a predominant model of learner motivation. A quasi-experimental research design, a One-Group Pretest and Posttest, was used to investigate the influence of instructional design methodology on learner motivation. The sample for this study consisted of 204 learners enrolled in the Defense Management Course at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Two questionnaires, administered before and after an instructional design intervention based on Keller’s ARCS model, were used to gather data on learner motivation. A significant difference between the means for the total scores between the two questionnaires was demonstrated using a Paired Sample T-Test. The analysis of the ARCS elements was conducted using a Non-Parametric, Two Related Samples, Wilcoxon statistical test. Statistical analysis revealed that, with the exception of Relevance, all of the ARCS elements were significantly positively influenced as a result of changes made to the instructional design of the revised lessons. Finally, an analysis of the dependent motivational components of locus of control, self-efficacy, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are provided and discussed in terms of their relationship with the ARCS elements.200
The effect of a pre-course orientation handbook on student persistence in undergraduate online courses
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not orientation for new online students presented in a pre-course handbook would impact student persistence. In this sequential mixed-methods quasi-experimental study involving 15 new online students at a small community college, the treatment group received an orientation handbook emphasizing both the importance of online interaction for building community and the need to identify supports for and barriers to online study. Both treatment and control groups completed web-based questionnaires about their perceived barriers to and supports for online learning, and Rovai’s (2002b) 40-item Sense of Classroom Community scale. Qualitative data were also gathered from the questionnaire and a telephone interview. Data were insufficient to establish a relationship between the handbook and persistence, or between answers on the two questionnaire scales and persistence. The study revealed that student dropout is a complex phenomenon; that students’ preferred form of support was through interaction with peers and the instructor; and that the definition of “online course” is not consistent among institutions. Answers to the questionnaire items revealed that both the treatment and control groups encountered time-related barriers, perceptions that their courses were not what they expected, and difficulty with course content. For both groups, the lowest scores on the questionnaire occurred in the Sense of Classroom Community subscale. These data are explained by the follow-up interviews and College records which revealed that very few courses required online interaction, either as part of the grade or for a group project. Since online interaction was not required, students did not participate. The study concludes with a review of the limitations of the study and implications for professional practice. Recommendations include a call for more distance education research, accompanied by suggestions for improving its quality. Finally, it is recommended that institutions establish benchmarks for provision of student orientation, online interaction, and faculty development.200
Online Student Ratings: Increasing Response Rates
No full textMost institutions offering distance education can identify with the problem of low response rates of online evaluation, but few have systematically investigated the issue. The purpose of this two-phase, sequential mixed method study was to first explore and generate themes about student online evaluation response motivation and practice using interviews conducted via email. Based on these themes, Phase 2 used a Web-based cross-sectional survey of undergraduate and graduate online nursing students to identify preferred strategies to maximize response rates. Perceived value represented the key theme that emerged from the qualitative narrative. Faculty members tend to value online student completed course evaluations and use student feedback for their ongoing course revisions. Students want evidence that the faculty and institution value their feedback. They expect to receive feedback from their institution regarding course changes and improvements. Survey results confirm and extend literature findings. Respondents identified rewards, risk and trust as general means to increase response rates. In particular, participants rated the relative effectiveness of administrative factors (i.e., reminders, motivators, best time for completing, and best location for posting results) and the face validity of course evaluations to measure important aspects of instruction. Online nursing student respondents rated the following reminders to complete the online course evaluation form: email message, faculty facilitator, course schedule, WebCT course calendar, Campus Pipeline homepage, and welcome letter. With a mean response level of 1.29, the Email Message reflected the most effective reminder with nearly three fourths of students ranking it as very effective. Faculty Facilitator and Course Schedule reminders also reflected very strong positive responses. The students also responded positively to factors motivating them to complete the course evaluation form. Briefly, the motivators included bonus mark for evaluation, draw for a prize, improvement/change from feedback, faculty facilitator encouragement, requirement to receive grade and comparison with other student ratings. The Bonus Mark for each course evaluated with a mean response level of 1.48 reflected an extremely effective motivator with approximately 70% of students ranking it as very effective. Further, Draw for a Prize and Notice of Course Improvement or Change resulting from Feedback also reflected very strong positive responses. Respondents clearly indicated the best time to complete course evaluations, the location for posting the results, and whether or not course evaluation addresses the important aspects of instruction. The best time to complete the online course evaluation forms seemed to be the end of the course with a mean response level of 1.29 with 78% of students ranking it as very effective. Most respondents (88.8%) indicated that results should be posted on Campus Pipeline (Intranet) rather than the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST) Web site (Internet). In their open-ended responses, students asserted the need for SIAST to post course evaluation to show value for student feedback and institutional accountability and quality assurance. Finally, students confirmed that the course evaluation addresses the most important aspects of instruction (83.6% of respondents). This study has implications for educational institutions striving to maximize student response rates. First, it is fundamental that institutions show value for the student feedback by reporting evaluation results including course changes/improvements. Second, institutions should take advantage of incorporating motivators and reminders, appropriate for their organizational culture, to maximize response rates to online course evaluation. Finally, the researcher achieved a 70% response rate to the Web-based survey by employing strategies identified in the literature to maximize response rates.200
Deep Learning and Cognitive Presence in Collaborative Web-Based Learning Environments: Student and Instructor Perspectives
No full textThis study examines the ability of online distance education courses using CMC and constructivist assessment tools to support cognitive presence and deep learning. Four online focus groups were conducted, three among graduate students and one among instructors who have respectively taken and delivered online courses in the Master of Distance Education program at Athabasca University. Transcripts of the focus groups were analyzed with the objective of developing a grounded conceptual model. The learning experiences, as described by the participants themselves, have shown that deep learning and cognitive presence are facilitated when learners have the opportunity to engage in learning activities with a high degree of relevance to their life worlds. Cognitive presence and deeper learning are also encouraged through the application of learning to the work or personal lives of the learners.200
Affect as a Presence in the Community of Inquiry Model
No full textThis interpretive approach to a mixed-method study examines the likelihood that an awareness of the role of emotion as presented by Damasio and LeDoux enhances individual student participation in computer-mediated conferencing. Consideration is given to emotion as an element of social presence as defined in the community of inquiry conceptual model, proposed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer. Respondents participated in an online workshop, during which they were asked how the role of emotion in cognition might be applicable to distance education. Surveys and interviews were conducted to determine the level of their knowledge of emotion and cognition at the outset. Transcripts of conference postings were examined for evidence that learning had or had not transferred. Exit interviews and surveys determined if the workshops had enhanced or not enhanced the experience of the participants in the computer-mediated conference. Three of twelve participants acknowledged that participation in the workshop did engender a positive change in their normal conference participation behaviour. Three of the remaining nine stated unequivocally that the workshop had no influence. The others were unable to contribute useful data due to technical difficulties or limited participation. Although data were insufficient to support the research question there was evidence that emotion should be a fourth presence – called emotional presence - defined as the extent to which participants in a community of inquiry are aware of and attend to overt feelings and covert emotions with the intention of facilitating learning. The community of inquiry model and the distinction between emotion and feeling need further study. The latter concepts require study in an online context.200
Building Basic Skills for E-Learning: Adults With Developmental Disabilities Go Online
No full textAdults with developmental disabilities are often excluded from participating in a variety of online activities, including e-learning, which are part of everyday life in our digital, knowledge-based society. Numerous barriers are associated with their non-participation, including a lack of basic computer and Internet skills. In recognition of these limitations, a multiple-case study was conducted; 11 adults with developmental disabilities were provided with access to individualized training and appropriate regular and assistive technologies so they could go online, using e-mail to increase social networks and accessing web-based informational resources. The study contributes to the scarce literature on online inclusion by offering protocols for setting up and conducting e-mail and Internet training. The outcomes show that the subjects gained basic information and communication technology skills while engaging in recreational online activities, and that appropriate assistive technologies (voice e-mail and text-to-speech software) compensated for low literacy skills. This study makes recommendations for future research and advocates for the further inclusion of adults with developmental disabilities into the ”global community” where ICT can be a life-enhancing and even a life-altering tool.200
A Symbiosis between Agile Methods and Knowledge Management for Dealing with Complexity in Software Engineering
No full textThis thesis proceeds from the notion that complexity in the field of software engineering is a result of the internal and external forces that must be brought together to engage in it, resulting in a chaotic state that breeds failure and that this state can be ameliorated through the use of the Agile Methods and knowledge management. After enumerating and discussing the sources of complexity, and surveying the results of their interactions, it proceeds to look at the theory of knowledge management. In elaborating the ideas of Nonaka and Takeuchi we are introduced to the concepts of both the knowledge spiral and a model of knowledge creation, including its enabling conditions and barriers, as well as the concept of Ba. These theories seek to harness the interplay of explicit and tacit knowledge to manage complexity. These theories form a framework that is then applied to the Agile methods, specifically Extreme Programming and the Crystal Clear methodologies, in order to evaluate their values, principles, practices and strategies of software engineering from a knowledge management perspective. This evaluation finds that there is a congruency between the practices of the Agile methods and the theory of knowledge management. In particular the manner in which the Agile methods engage in an iterative pattern of development, its support for direct communication, the incorporation of non-technical team members in defining the product and planning and its reflection on process and product, create a knowledge creating process. As a result, many of the issues of complexity are either removed or minimized through the application of this process.2006-0
Informal learning: A study of advocacy groups and their use of technologies
No full textABSTRACT Informal learning, now greatly supported by information and communication technology, is an area of interest for research. Researchers examine learning outside of formal structures; examples include workplace learning, communities of practice, and social communities. However, there is little research on social justice learning. Having been swept from formal institutions by the “neo-liberal broom,” social justice learning takes shape among groups of adults coming together in the community. This study explored the informal, participatory learning of such groups. A qualitative approach using interview, document, and observational data was chosen to explore how five informal advocacy groups used information and communication technology to come together, build knowledge on their issues, and make their voices heard. Grounded theory was used to interpret study results and generate theory describing informal learning in loose, lateral, changing networks. Advocacy groups and their use of technologies in informal learning are described. Study findings underline the importance of access to information and communication technology and recommend strategies for learning informally and for sustaining informal learning groups. The heart of the theory, “Water Flowing around Rock” provides a metaphor for the advocates’ task of making their voices heard despite barriers. Study findings constitute a hopeful demonstration of widespread, informal participation in democracy through the use of information and communication technology.200
Environmental Literacy and Distance Learning: A Window to the Future of Education in Ontario
No full textIncreasingly, scholars claim that formal education fails to provide for either the current or future needs of our society and, because of this, the field of education finds itself is at a crossroads. During the last two centuries, it has evolved into a knot of specialized and compartmentalized pedagogies that maintain a respectful distance from one another, often competing for significance in a world of economic globalization. The gap emerging between curriculum delivery and social need is of significance in this thesis. It has been argued that education reinforces unsustainability and that the missing components in today’s curricula can be addressed through a focus on and inclusion of environmental and sustainability education principles. Providing opportunities for learners to engage in critical thinking, self-reflection, open discourse and real world problem solving reinforces the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach in today’s society. It is necessary to problematize the compartmentalization created by years of specialization. This thesis reports on the environmental knowledge, attitudes and behaviour findings of the first Ontario Environmental Literacy Audit. The Audit affirms the importance that Ontarians place on their environment, and it simultaneously identifies the need for changes within our system of education if we are to produce environmentally literate citizens. The Audit reinforces the need for educational paradigm change and, emerging from this reality, distance education is identified as a viable method for the field of education to progress and retain its relevance – both as a necessary social institution and as a means by which to do so more sustainably. This thesis recommends the use of a model that incorporates the values of sustainable learning with the practices of distance education in content research, course development and instructional design. A series of recommendations for stakeholder action is also presented.200
Securing Transcation Image Files Using Digital Watermarking
No full textThis research paper examines the problem of guaranteeing electronic document integrity. Digital watermarking will be presented as a potential means of accomplishing this goal. The paper proposes an electronic exam exchange program as a frame of reference for the research conducted. In the case of an exam document exchange system, one must accommodate the transfer of both text and handwritten information within these documents. Exams are typically in ASCII text format and printed onto paper so that students can handwrite answers in the appropriate location. The system must be constructed in a way so that security measures are not defeated when the document is transformed from paper to electronic format. The research paper will present a potential method for dealing with this issue. During a document’s existence in paper form, its quality can be degraded significantly. Paper can be folded, soiled or marked. During the rescanning of this document, the document can be degraded to the point where its security markings can become unusable. After scanning, common operations on an image file such as cropping, rotation and compression can also negatively impact its security marks. This paper proposes a watermarking technique that uses optical character recognition to verify the integrity of security artifacts embedded in a digital file. The experiment outlined in the paper was conducted using a prototype modelling the technique described. The results of this experiment are used to evaluate the technique’s utility.200