The demonstrated gap between skills needed and skills learned within a college education places b... more The demonstrated gap between skills needed and skills learned within a college education places both undergraduates seeking gainful employment and the employers seeking highly skilled workers at a disadvantage. Recent and up-and-coming college graduates should possess 21st century skills (i.e., communication, collaboration, problem solving), skills that employers deem necessary for the workplace. Research shows that the development of this skillset can help narrow the gap in producing highly skilled graduates for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. We propose the development of 21st century skills by utilizing the project-based learning (PjBL) framework and creating the inclusive biologist exploring active research with students (iBEARS) program, allowing undergraduate students to hone their 21st century skills and prepare for transition and success within the workplace.
In keeping with its land grant mission, a university campus library partnered with several OER ad... more In keeping with its land grant mission, a university campus library partnered with several OER advocacy efforts on both national and state levels to promote the creation and use of OER at the university. While the program had some initial success in inspiring faculty to create and use OER in their courses, the effort proved difficult to sustain. This paper presents the application of the Performance Improvement/HPT model to an Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative in a university library. This paper focuses specifically on three phases of the process: organizational analysis, environmental analysis, and gap analysis We share results of that application and discuss how the HPT model might effectively be applied to other similar programs.
Research suggests a negative relationship between frequent use of communication technologies, suc... more Research suggests a negative relationship between frequent use of communication technologies, such as text messaging and social network sites, and academic performance, but the nature of the relationship needs to be explored in greater detail. This study explored the relationship between use of communication technologies and self-reported study skills. A total of 74 first-year university students completed the online Learning and Study Strategies Inventory and reported on how frequently they used text messaging, instant messaging, and online social networks such as Facebook. Correlation analysis indicated a negative relationship between frequency of communications technology use and the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory measure of Concentration. While the study does not prove a causal relationship, it provides more detail on the specific study skills challenges students may be facing when they interrupt their studying with frequent online social communication. This increased u...
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework describes online learning as a collaborative process sup... more The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework describes online learning as a collaborative process supported by social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence, which work together to facilitate critical thinking and learning. The technology used in an online class can facilitate a CoI when its features support, rather than constrain, activities that promote these three elements. Affordance theory provides a starting place for matching technology features to teaching and learning goals. Based on affordances and constraints, we analyzed the use of technology in our online and hybrid courses to evaluate how well our chosen tools supported each CoI element, noting ways in which we might better capitalize on a tool’s affordances in future iterations of the course. By sharing our reflections, we provide instructors with an example of how they might apply a research-based framework to their own use of technology in the online environment for more effective course design that better supports student learning.
Use of flipped learning environments, where content is delivered online outside of class and clas... more Use of flipped learning environments, where content is delivered online outside of class and class time features student-centered activities, is an increasingly popular way to facilitate active learning. The success of classroom activities, however, depends on students’ willingness to complete the out-of-class work and come to class well prepared. Therefore, it is important for instructors to understand students’ attitudes towards required pre-class preparation. This study used an online questionnaire, featuring both Likert-type and open-ended questions, to explore students’ attitudes towards the online video used in a flipped undergraduate science class. Results showed moderately positive attitudes toward the pre-class video lecture, but also some strongly negative attitudes. Results of this study can help instructors understand both the benefits of flipped learning from the student perspective and the likely sources of resistance. This understanding can help instructors anticipate students’ concerns and provide effective orientation when introducing the flipped learning model in undergraduate courses.
Use of flipped learning environments, where content is delivered online outside of class and clas... more Use of flipped learning environments, where content is delivered online outside of class and class time features student-centered activities, is an increasingly popular way to facilitate active learning. The success of classroom activities, however, depends on students’ willingness to complete the out-of-class work and come to class well prepared. Therefore, it is important for instructors to understand students’ attitudes towards required pre-class preparation. This study used an online questionnaire, featuring both Likert-type and open-ended questions, to explore students’ attitudes towards the online video used in a flipped undergraduate science class. Results showed moderately positive attitudes toward the pre-class video lecture, but also some strongly negative attitudes. Results of this study can help instructors understand both the benefits of flipped learning from the student perspective and the likely sources of resistance. This understanding can help instructors anticipate students’ concerns and provide effective orientation when introducing the flipped learning model in undergraduate courses.
An online course was created for the purposes of engaging in-service teachers in pedagogies and t... more An online course was created for the purposes of engaging in-service teachers in pedagogies and technologies associated with creativity, innovation, and invention; using a variety of technologies in a safe, open, and playful atmosphere to help practicing teachers develop their own creativity; and providing tools for the development of creativity in their own students. Participants in the course engaged in the inventing process, from brainstorming, to idea generation, to rapid prototyping, to management of an innovation using appropriate educational technologies, including computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) tools. They also completed an online creativity self-assessment at the beginning and end of the semester. Data from this self-assessment were analyzed to measure whether the course activities increased participants’ scores for overall creativity and for eight components of creativity. The results indicated that participants did make a significant overall gain in creativity and in the component areas of Abstraction, Connection, Perspective, and Boldness. As a result of increasing their own creativity through this course, it is anticipated that participants will have the ability to successfully engage their own students in activities that promote creativity and innovation.
Eight university students from the ‘digital native’ generation were interviewed about the connect... more Eight university students from the ‘digital native’ generation were interviewed about the connections they saw between technology use and learning, and also their reactions to the popular press claims about their generation. Themes that emerged from the interviews were coded to show patterns in how digital natives describe themselves. Participants in this study agreed with some of the claims on a surface level but also described a deliberate and strategic approach to managing the distractions of technology in order to pursue their educational goals. This qualitative view of digital native students, as expressed in their own words, adds detail and additional nuance to the growing body of quantitative data that challenges the popular conception of the digital natives as a homogeneous generation with a common learning style.
This study investigated the claims made in the popular press about the “digital native” generatio... more This study investigated the claims made in the popular press about the “digital native” generation as learners. Because students’ lives today are saturated with digital media at a time when their brains are still developing, many popular press authors claim that this generation of students thinks and learns differently than any generation that has come before, but the evidence to support these claims is scarce. This study used a survey to gather data on the technology use of university freshmen, the degree to which they identified with the claims being made about their approaches to learning, and the productiveness (in terms of focused attention, deep processing, and persistence) of their approaches to learning. Valid surveys were received from 388 freshmen at a large Midwestern land grant university. A factor analysis was used to identify meaningful patterns of technology use, and descriptive statistics, analysis of correlations, and extreme group t-tests were used to explore the relationships between technology use patterns and learning characteristics. The findings indicate some positive correlations between use of digital technology and the characteristics ascribed in the popular press to the digital native learners, and negative correlations between some categories of technology use and the productiveness of student learning behaviors. Overall, however, the small to moderate relationships suggest a less deterministic relationship between technology and learning than what the popular press writers claim.
Although online video sharing sites are often viewed as contributors to a decline in students’ re... more Although online video sharing sites are often viewed as contributors to a decline in students’ reading, these sites may also have the potential to enhance learning. Content sharing sites that contain viewer comments along with thought provoking video lecture may provide a particularly rich source of instructional materials. To explore this potential, four discussion forums from the TED website were analyzed at two levels. The first level provided a description of the types of comments that were prevalent in the discussion and indicated that clarifications, interpretations, and question were the most common types of substantive posts. The second level used Cognitive Flexibility Theory as a framework, and found that these forums contained open, expansive comments that could counteract common categories of oversimplification. These results suggest that freely available websites such as TED contain materials that could facilitate learning while capitalising on the intrinsic appeal of videos and social media.
The demonstrated gap between skills needed and skills learned within a college education places b... more The demonstrated gap between skills needed and skills learned within a college education places both undergraduates seeking gainful employment and the employers seeking highly skilled workers at a disadvantage. Recent and up-and-coming college graduates should possess 21st century skills (i.e., communication, collaboration, problem solving), skills that employers deem necessary for the workplace. Research shows that the development of this skillset can help narrow the gap in producing highly skilled graduates for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. We propose the development of 21st century skills by utilizing the project-based learning (PjBL) framework and creating the inclusive biologist exploring active research with students (iBEARS) program, allowing undergraduate students to hone their 21st century skills and prepare for transition and success within the workplace.
In keeping with its land grant mission, a university campus library partnered with several OER ad... more In keeping with its land grant mission, a university campus library partnered with several OER advocacy efforts on both national and state levels to promote the creation and use of OER at the university. While the program had some initial success in inspiring faculty to create and use OER in their courses, the effort proved difficult to sustain. This paper presents the application of the Performance Improvement/HPT model to an Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative in a university library. This paper focuses specifically on three phases of the process: organizational analysis, environmental analysis, and gap analysis We share results of that application and discuss how the HPT model might effectively be applied to other similar programs.
Research suggests a negative relationship between frequent use of communication technologies, suc... more Research suggests a negative relationship between frequent use of communication technologies, such as text messaging and social network sites, and academic performance, but the nature of the relationship needs to be explored in greater detail. This study explored the relationship between use of communication technologies and self-reported study skills. A total of 74 first-year university students completed the online Learning and Study Strategies Inventory and reported on how frequently they used text messaging, instant messaging, and online social networks such as Facebook. Correlation analysis indicated a negative relationship between frequency of communications technology use and the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory measure of Concentration. While the study does not prove a causal relationship, it provides more detail on the specific study skills challenges students may be facing when they interrupt their studying with frequent online social communication. This increased u...
The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework describes online learning as a collaborative process sup... more The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework describes online learning as a collaborative process supported by social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence, which work together to facilitate critical thinking and learning. The technology used in an online class can facilitate a CoI when its features support, rather than constrain, activities that promote these three elements. Affordance theory provides a starting place for matching technology features to teaching and learning goals. Based on affordances and constraints, we analyzed the use of technology in our online and hybrid courses to evaluate how well our chosen tools supported each CoI element, noting ways in which we might better capitalize on a tool’s affordances in future iterations of the course. By sharing our reflections, we provide instructors with an example of how they might apply a research-based framework to their own use of technology in the online environment for more effective course design that better supports student learning.
Use of flipped learning environments, where content is delivered online outside of class and clas... more Use of flipped learning environments, where content is delivered online outside of class and class time features student-centered activities, is an increasingly popular way to facilitate active learning. The success of classroom activities, however, depends on students’ willingness to complete the out-of-class work and come to class well prepared. Therefore, it is important for instructors to understand students’ attitudes towards required pre-class preparation. This study used an online questionnaire, featuring both Likert-type and open-ended questions, to explore students’ attitudes towards the online video used in a flipped undergraduate science class. Results showed moderately positive attitudes toward the pre-class video lecture, but also some strongly negative attitudes. Results of this study can help instructors understand both the benefits of flipped learning from the student perspective and the likely sources of resistance. This understanding can help instructors anticipate students’ concerns and provide effective orientation when introducing the flipped learning model in undergraduate courses.
Use of flipped learning environments, where content is delivered online outside of class and clas... more Use of flipped learning environments, where content is delivered online outside of class and class time features student-centered activities, is an increasingly popular way to facilitate active learning. The success of classroom activities, however, depends on students’ willingness to complete the out-of-class work and come to class well prepared. Therefore, it is important for instructors to understand students’ attitudes towards required pre-class preparation. This study used an online questionnaire, featuring both Likert-type and open-ended questions, to explore students’ attitudes towards the online video used in a flipped undergraduate science class. Results showed moderately positive attitudes toward the pre-class video lecture, but also some strongly negative attitudes. Results of this study can help instructors understand both the benefits of flipped learning from the student perspective and the likely sources of resistance. This understanding can help instructors anticipate students’ concerns and provide effective orientation when introducing the flipped learning model in undergraduate courses.
An online course was created for the purposes of engaging in-service teachers in pedagogies and t... more An online course was created for the purposes of engaging in-service teachers in pedagogies and technologies associated with creativity, innovation, and invention; using a variety of technologies in a safe, open, and playful atmosphere to help practicing teachers develop their own creativity; and providing tools for the development of creativity in their own students. Participants in the course engaged in the inventing process, from brainstorming, to idea generation, to rapid prototyping, to management of an innovation using appropriate educational technologies, including computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) tools. They also completed an online creativity self-assessment at the beginning and end of the semester. Data from this self-assessment were analyzed to measure whether the course activities increased participants’ scores for overall creativity and for eight components of creativity. The results indicated that participants did make a significant overall gain in creativity and in the component areas of Abstraction, Connection, Perspective, and Boldness. As a result of increasing their own creativity through this course, it is anticipated that participants will have the ability to successfully engage their own students in activities that promote creativity and innovation.
Eight university students from the ‘digital native’ generation were interviewed about the connect... more Eight university students from the ‘digital native’ generation were interviewed about the connections they saw between technology use and learning, and also their reactions to the popular press claims about their generation. Themes that emerged from the interviews were coded to show patterns in how digital natives describe themselves. Participants in this study agreed with some of the claims on a surface level but also described a deliberate and strategic approach to managing the distractions of technology in order to pursue their educational goals. This qualitative view of digital native students, as expressed in their own words, adds detail and additional nuance to the growing body of quantitative data that challenges the popular conception of the digital natives as a homogeneous generation with a common learning style.
This study investigated the claims made in the popular press about the “digital native” generatio... more This study investigated the claims made in the popular press about the “digital native” generation as learners. Because students’ lives today are saturated with digital media at a time when their brains are still developing, many popular press authors claim that this generation of students thinks and learns differently than any generation that has come before, but the evidence to support these claims is scarce. This study used a survey to gather data on the technology use of university freshmen, the degree to which they identified with the claims being made about their approaches to learning, and the productiveness (in terms of focused attention, deep processing, and persistence) of their approaches to learning. Valid surveys were received from 388 freshmen at a large Midwestern land grant university. A factor analysis was used to identify meaningful patterns of technology use, and descriptive statistics, analysis of correlations, and extreme group t-tests were used to explore the relationships between technology use patterns and learning characteristics. The findings indicate some positive correlations between use of digital technology and the characteristics ascribed in the popular press to the digital native learners, and negative correlations between some categories of technology use and the productiveness of student learning behaviors. Overall, however, the small to moderate relationships suggest a less deterministic relationship between technology and learning than what the popular press writers claim.
Although online video sharing sites are often viewed as contributors to a decline in students’ re... more Although online video sharing sites are often viewed as contributors to a decline in students’ reading, these sites may also have the potential to enhance learning. Content sharing sites that contain viewer comments along with thought provoking video lecture may provide a particularly rich source of instructional materials. To explore this potential, four discussion forums from the TED website were analyzed at two levels. The first level provided a description of the types of comments that were prevalent in the discussion and indicated that clarifications, interpretations, and question were the most common types of substantive posts. The second level used Cognitive Flexibility Theory as a framework, and found that these forums contained open, expansive comments that could counteract common categories of oversimplification. These results suggest that freely available websites such as TED contain materials that could facilitate learning while capitalising on the intrinsic appeal of videos and social media.
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differently than any generation that has come before, but the evidence to support these claims is scarce. This study used a survey to gather data on the technology use of university freshmen, the degree to which they identified with the claims being made about their approaches to learning, and the productiveness (in terms of focused attention, deep processing, and persistence) of their approaches to learning. Valid surveys were received from 388 freshmen at a large Midwestern land grant university. A factor analysis was used to identify meaningful patterns of technology use, and descriptive statistics, analysis of correlations, and extreme group t-tests were used to explore the relationships between technology use
patterns and learning characteristics. The findings indicate some positive correlations between use of digital technology and the characteristics ascribed in the popular press to the digital native learners, and negative correlations between some categories of technology use and the productiveness of student
learning behaviors. Overall, however, the small to moderate relationships suggest a less deterministic relationship between technology and learning than what the popular press writers claim.
common types of substantive posts. The second level used Cognitive Flexibility Theory as a framework, and found that these forums contained open, expansive comments that could counteract common categories of oversimplification. These results suggest that freely available websites such as TED contain materials that could facilitate learning while capitalising on the intrinsic appeal of videos and social media.
differently than any generation that has come before, but the evidence to support these claims is scarce. This study used a survey to gather data on the technology use of university freshmen, the degree to which they identified with the claims being made about their approaches to learning, and the productiveness (in terms of focused attention, deep processing, and persistence) of their approaches to learning. Valid surveys were received from 388 freshmen at a large Midwestern land grant university. A factor analysis was used to identify meaningful patterns of technology use, and descriptive statistics, analysis of correlations, and extreme group t-tests were used to explore the relationships between technology use
patterns and learning characteristics. The findings indicate some positive correlations between use of digital technology and the characteristics ascribed in the popular press to the digital native learners, and negative correlations between some categories of technology use and the productiveness of student
learning behaviors. Overall, however, the small to moderate relationships suggest a less deterministic relationship between technology and learning than what the popular press writers claim.
common types of substantive posts. The second level used Cognitive Flexibility Theory as a framework, and found that these forums contained open, expansive comments that could counteract common categories of oversimplification. These results suggest that freely available websites such as TED contain materials that could facilitate learning while capitalising on the intrinsic appeal of videos and social media.