- I was, am, and always will be curious about what happens when mind meets technology. Passion guided my path as a scho... moreI was, am, and always will be curious about what happens when mind meets technology. Passion guided my path as a scholar, software developer, teacher, advisor, and life-long learner. Trained as an engineer, I gained deep knowledge into the business field and achieved a better understanding of how people learn. I explore research design and methods and build web applications. The exploration of ideas brings me joy and I will never cease to pursue it.edit
Research Interests:
The advent of the global information society and a myriad of other rapidly changing variables are presenting many new and unique challenges for the twenty‐first century workforce, and perhaps the most pressing of these challenges is... more
The advent of the global information society and a myriad of other rapidly changing variables are presenting many new and unique challenges for the twenty‐first century workforce, and perhaps the most pressing of these challenges is actually meeting the needs for qualified workers ...
Research Interests: Engineering, Technology, Radiation, Information Society, Radiation Protection, and 15 moreOnline Learning, Curriculum Development, Curriculum, Models, Education Systems, Knowledge Acquisition, Curriculum change, Theoretical Framework, Design and Development, Online Learning Environment, Next Generation, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Support System, Apprenticeships, and Higher order
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Abstract Problem solving not only plays a central role in education [19] but is also the most important cognitive process in our everyday life. The authors of this paper argue that problem solving must be embedded in authentic learning... more
Abstract Problem solving not only plays a central role in education [19] but is also the most important cognitive process in our everyday life. The authors of this paper argue that problem solving must be embedded in authentic learning contexts and supported by ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $2.3 million grant to the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) in 2006 in response to the need for well-trained Radiation Protection Technicians (RPTs). The RPT curriculum initiative resulted from... more
The U.S. Department of Labor awarded a $2.3 million grant to the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) in 2006 in response to the need for well-trained Radiation Protection Technicians (RPTs). The RPT curriculum initiative resulted from significant collaborations facilitated by MU with community colleges, nuclear power plants, professional organizations, and other nuclear industry stakeholders. The objective of the DOL project is to help increase the pool of well-qualified RPTs to enter the nuclear workforce. Our work is designed to address the nuclear industry’s well-documented, increasingly significant need for RPTs. In response to this need, MU and AmerenUE’s Callaway Nuclear Power Plant first partnered with Linn State Technical College’s Advanced Technology Center (LSTC/ATC) to initiate a two-year RPT degree program. The success of this program (enrollments have been increasing over the past four years to a Fall 2007 enrollment of 23) enabled the successful proposal to the DOL to expand this program nationwide. DOL participants include the following partners: Linn State Technical College with AmerenUE – Callaway; Central Virginia Community College with AREVA; Estrella Mountain Community College with Arizona Public Service – Palo Verde; MiraCosta Community College with Southern California Edison – San Onofre; and Hill College with Texas Utilities – Comanche Peak. The new DOL grant has allowed redevelopment of the LSTC/ATC curriculum using a web-based, scenario driven format, benchmarked against industry training standards. This curriculum will be disseminated to all partners. Integral in this curriculum is a paid, three to four month internship at a nuclear facility. Two of the six new RPT courses have been developed as of the end of 2007. Four of five partner schools are accepting students into this new program starting in the winter 2008 term. We expect that these institutions will graduate 100 new RPTs per year to help alleviate the personnel shortage in this critical area of need.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A portion of the previous chapter briefly described how constmctivism has influenced the instructional design field. In this chapter, David Jonassen, Dan Cernusca, and Gelu Ionas discuss this issue in more detail, focusing on how... more
A portion of the previous chapter briefly described how constmctivism has influenced the instructional design field. In this chapter, David Jonassen, Dan Cernusca, and Gelu Ionas discuss this issue in more detail, focusing on how constnictivism has affected the nature of ...
In the design case presented, an online component was designed for an existing introductory energy course targeted at providing pathways to employment in the utility industry. The online component included testing modules, scenario based... more
In the design case presented, an online component was designed for an existing introductory energy course targeted at providing pathways to employment in the utility industry. The online component included testing modules, scenario based assessments, and reading materials. The existing pencil and paper course was now to be an instructor-led, blended-learning course. While technologies have advanced in recent years, the question of how to blend computer technology with sound instructional design practices is very much alive and may be even more important when targeting content portability. This paper explores the challenges faced when attempting to use open-source applications in the design, development, and deployment of the online component of this course when primary objectives are outreach, access, portability of content, and ease of future updates.
Research Interests:
This exploratory study presents the outcomes of using self-explanation to improve learners’ performance in solving basic chemistry problems. The results of the randomized experiment show the existence of a moderation effect between prior... more
This exploratory study presents the outcomes of using self-explanation to improve learners’ performance in solving basic chemistry problems. The results of the randomized experiment show the existence of a moderation effect between prior knowledge and the level of support self-explanation provides to learners, suggestive of a synergistic effect for learning. The results also suggest the existence of a threshold level of prior knowledge necessary for self-explanation-based cognitive strategies to become effective. As validation, this study also confirms prior findings that show that, given the right settings, learners can benefit significantly from using self-explanation while solving problems. Although you may not have experienced it yourself, it is likely that you have heard colleagues voicing their concerns about difficulties they have teaching key theoretical concepts to students in a way that makes these concepts “stick. ” This lack of understanding significantly impairs student...
New students in engineering and science typically face difficulties in adapting their learning strategies to the requirements and challenges of college education. One of the major factors that challenges students engaged in this... more
New students in engineering and science typically face difficulties in adapting their learning strategies to the requirements and challenges of college education. One of the major factors that challenges students engaged in this transition is their ability to build and successfully use deepreasoning skills. To address this challenges instructors need to employ instructional strategies that shift students’ focus from memorization of procedures and equations toward the integrative use of prior and new knowledge introduced in the classroom. In this paper, self-explanation was proposed as the core element of such instructional strategies because it relies on the explanation a learner generates on his or her own as opposed to the explanations provided by an external source such as an instructor or a book. The primary goal of this study was to explore to what degree the use of self-explanation strategies improve students’ performance on basic chemistry problems. Because self-explanation i...
Research Interests:
Problem solving not only plays a central role in education [19] but is also the most important cognitive process in our everyday life. The authors of this paper argue that problem solving must be embedded in authentic learning contexts... more
Problem solving not only plays a central role in education [19] but is also the most important cognitive process in our everyday life. The authors of this paper argue that problem solving must be embedded in authentic learning contexts and supported by activities that seek to enable problem solvers to externalize their mental model in the most meaningful and engaging manner that will eventually lead them to the construction of a more sophisticated conceptual framework. One such way is through system dynamics modeling activities. To provide a sound argument for the use of system dynamics models in learning, we present three models that support thinking in problem solving.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The ongoing worldwide pandemic has forced educational establishments to accelerate full-scale adoption of online learning at an accelerated pace, while the development of tools appropriate for remote instruction assessment is yet to catch... more
The ongoing worldwide pandemic has forced educational establishments to accelerate full-scale adoption of online learning at an accelerated pace, while the development of tools appropriate for remote instruction assessment is yet to catch up. Most of the time traditional assessment methods are still employed, but they are not always optimal for use in online environments; better tools are needed to help gain deeper insights into how students think and learn. graphed is a web application developed to support the assessment of learners’ understanding and knowledge acquisition and, simultaneously, provide researchers with data that can help in the development of dedicated processes for the automatic evaluation and comparison of concept maps. Our goal is to take a more practical approach by studying the capabilities offered by existing software, libraries, and computational avenues to advance the use of concept maps as assessment tools. Preliminary findings suggest that the concept mapp...
This exploratory study presents the outcomes of using self-explanation to improve learners’ performance in solving basic chemistry problems. The results of the randomized experiment show the existence of a moderation effect between prior... more
This exploratory study presents the outcomes of using self-explanation to improve learners’ performance in solving basic chemistry problems. The results of the randomized experiment show the existence of a moderation effect between prior knowledge and the level of support selfexplanation provides to learners, suggestive of a synergistic effect for learning. The results also suggest the existence of a threshold level of prior knowledge necessary for self-explanation-based cognitive strategies to become effective. As validation, this study also confirms prior findings that show that, given the right settings, learners can benefit significantly from using self-explanation while solving problems.
Research Interests:
Problem solving not only plays a central role in education [19] but is also the most important cognitive process in our everyday life. The authors of this paper argue that problem solving must be embedded in authentic learning contexts... more
Problem solving not only plays a central role in education [19] but is also the most important cognitive process in our everyday life. The authors of this paper argue that problem solving must be embedded in authentic learning contexts and supported by activities that seek to enable problem solvers to externalize their mental model in the most meaningful and engaging manner that will eventually lead them to the construction of a more sophisticated conceptual framework. One such way is through system dynamics modeling activities. To provide a sound argument for the use of system dynamics models in learning, we present three models that support thinking in problem solving.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Technology, Radiation, Information Society, Radiation Protection, Online Learning, and 15 moreCurriculum Development, Models, Vocational, United States, Education Systems, Knowledge Acquisition, Curriculum change, Theoretical Framework, Design and Development, Online Learning Environment, Next Generation, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Support System, Apprenticeships, and Higher order
Research Interests: Technology, Radiation, Information Society, Radiation Protection, Online Learning, and 15 moreCurriculum Development, Models, Vocational, United States, Education Systems, Knowledge Acquisition, Curriculum change, Theoretical Framework, Design and Development, Online Learning Environment, Next Generation, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Support System, Apprenticeships, and Higher order
The University of MissouriColumbia has been developing an Associates of Applied Science Degreee in Nuclear Technology curriculum in order to meet the growing need for qualified radiation protection technicians (RPTs). Based on the... more
The University of MissouriColumbia has been developing an Associates of Applied Science Degreee in Nuclear Technology curriculum in order to meet the growing need for qualified radiation protection technicians (RPTs). Based on the findings of extensive ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
In the design case presented, an online component was designed for an existing introductory energy course targeted at providing pathways to employment in the utility industry. The online component included testing modules, scenario based... more
In the design case presented, an online component was designed for an existing introductory energy course targeted at providing pathways to employment in the utility industry. The online component included testing modules, scenario based assessments, and reading materials. The existing pencil and paper course was now to be an instructor-led, blended-learning course. While technologies have advanced in recent years, the question of how to blend computer technology with sound instructional design practices is very much alive and may be even more important when targeting content portability. This paper explores the challenges faced when attempting to use open-source applications in the design, development, and deployment of the online component of this course when primary objectives are outreach, access, portability of content, and ease of future updates.
Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Educational Technology, Attribution Theory, Causal reasoning, Prediction, and 13 moreSystem Dynamics, Simulation, Higher Order Thinking, Problem Solving, Instructional Strategies, Teaching Methods, expert System, Cognitive Process, Causal Learning, Cognitive processes, Conceptual Understanding, Causal Models, and Educational Technology Development
Time Warner Inc., a media conglomerate with an immense empire, is today's largest media company in the nation. Coming from a very complex and tumultuous background, the company was successful in maintaining and improving its... more
Time Warner Inc., a media conglomerate with an immense empire, is today's largest media company in the nation. Coming from a very complex and tumultuous background, the company was successful in maintaining and improving its status in the industry while ...
The main characteristics that make the distinction between a software developer and a software programmer are problem solving capabilities (Watts, 2002) and a systemic view (Marks & Harvey, 2000) of the task at hand. I chose... more
The main characteristics that make the distinction between a software developer and a software programmer are problem solving capabilities (Watts, 2002) and a systemic view (Marks & Harvey, 2000) of the task at hand. I chose this particular topic based on the fact ...
People have always tried to find explanations for how and why things happen to and around them. While understanding causality is fundamental for both science and everyday life, researchers found that people have a multitude of problems... more
People have always tried to find explanations for how and why things happen to and around them. While understanding causality is fundamental for both science and everyday life, researchers found that people have a multitude of problems when dealing with causality. This research studies the effects of using a domain independent cognitive strategy, self- explanation (the explanation given to self as opposed to the explanation provided by others), on learners’ performance on causal reasoning tasks. The strategy is used to encourage learners to think about and explain the mechanism(s) behind the causal relation(s) they are observing. For this purpose, a completely randomized two-group between subjects experiment was designed and conducted online.
Using a nonintrusive intervention based on brief practice of self-explanation this study shows that learners reporting higher levels of prior knowledge benefit from the use of this strategy, while the learners reporting lower levels do not. This suggests the existence of a threshold value/range of prior knowledge in the relevant domain(s) that needs to be reached before similar cognitive strategies based on self-explanation could become effective. The strategy can be implemented in both face-to-face and in online contexts, with almost no time cost for the learner. In addition, online instruction and learning environments as well as of other software applications could be easily designed or redesigned to include causal mechanism elicitation components or tools with significant improvement in learner performance on causal reasoning tasks.
Using a nonintrusive intervention based on brief practice of self-explanation this study shows that learners reporting higher levels of prior knowledge benefit from the use of this strategy, while the learners reporting lower levels do not. This suggests the existence of a threshold value/range of prior knowledge in the relevant domain(s) that needs to be reached before similar cognitive strategies based on self-explanation could become effective. The strategy can be implemented in both face-to-face and in online contexts, with almost no time cost for the learner. In addition, online instruction and learning environments as well as of other software applications could be easily designed or redesigned to include causal mechanism elicitation components or tools with significant improvement in learner performance on causal reasoning tasks.
Abstract While traditionally a causal relation is represented as cause C produces effect E, implying and embedding mechanism explanation into the explanation of the effect, based on prior research findings, this paper suggests a... more
Abstract While traditionally a causal relation is represented as cause C produces effect E, implying and embedding mechanism explanation into the explanation of the effect, based on prior research findings, this paper suggests a methodology to help learners improve their ...
Abstract Problem solving not only plays a central role in education [19] but is also the most important cognitive process in our everyday life. The authors of this paper argue that problem solving must be embedded in authentic learning... more
Abstract Problem solving not only plays a central role in education [19] but is also the most important cognitive process in our everyday life. The authors of this paper argue that problem solving must be embedded in authentic learning contexts and supported by ...
This analysis is part of a larger research involving the students in a Religion Studies class. The particular topic approached here is related to the epistemological beliefs system of the students that joined this particular class. This... more
This analysis is part of a larger research involving the students in a Religion Studies class. The particular topic approached here is related to the epistemological beliefs system of the students that joined this particular class. This is a quasi-experimental study 1 aimed at ...
Research Interests: Information Systems, Instructional Design, Educational Technology, Research Methodology, Learning Sciences, and 10 moreStatistical Analysis, Causal reasoning, Quantitative Research, Hypertext theory, Knowledge Representation, System Design, Cognitive Flexibility, Computers in Education, Concept Formation, and Information System
As technology creates new opportunities for criminals, the need to protect personal identities has become just as important as protecting and preserving financial assets. And it became more important as a result of the investigations of... more
As technology creates new opportunities for criminals, the need to protect personal identities has become just as important as protecting and preserving financial assets. And it became more important as a result of the investigations of the September 11 events in New York, ...