The ACT KeyTrain Program and the ACT WorkKeys Test Performance: An Action Research Study

The purpose of this quantitative action research study was to describe the effectiveness of the American College Testing (ACT) KeyTrain program in the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC), conducted with 50 inmate-student-participants who were enrolled in the Palmetto Unified School District’s Tyger River High School’s (TyRCI) adult education program. The identified problem of practice for this dissertation in practice (DiP) was an evaluation of the effectiveness of this program for one group of low socioeconomic status Black male inmate-student-participants. This evaluation was of vital importance to the Palmetto Unified School District (PUSD) and SCDC because ACT WorkKeys is one of the educational opportunities offered to inmate-students in an effort to improve the reintegration of inmates into society through reduced recidivism. Surveys, questionnaires, ACT KeyTrain curricula, and official ACT WorkKeys scores constituted the data for this research. Inmate-student-participant performance and patterns were described using a statistical t test. A correlation test was employed to describe the predictive ability of the ACT KeyTrain program. The primary research question “How effective is the ACT KeyTrain program at predicting and improving ACT WorkKeys performance for 50 low socioeconomic-status, Black, male inmate-students in South Carolina?” drove the data collected in this study that implies that the ACT KeyTrain program was not effective in improving ACT WorkKeys performance for 50 low-SES Black male inmate-student-participants at TyRCI. However, when accounting for inmate-student “work ethic” (defined and quantified through a quality study time statistic), the data collected in this study showed that the ACT KeyTrain program was somewhat effective in improving ACT WorkKeys performance for 50 low-SES Black male inmate-student-participants at TyRCI. The researcher-participant reflected on the data with the inmate-student-participants to design an action plan for the school. Based on feedback from inmate-student-participants, Tyger River High School will continue to use and expand the use of ACT KeyTrain to prepare inmate-students for ACT WorkKey

Designing an engaging learning universe for situated interactions in virtual environments

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)Studies related to the Virtual Learning approach are conducted almost exclusively in Distance Learning contexts, and focus on the development of frameworks or taxonomies that classify the different ways of teaching and learning. Researchers may be dealing with the topic of interactivity (avatars and immersion are key components), yet they do so they mainly focusing on the interactions that take place within the virtual world. It is the virtual world that consists the primary medium for communication and interplay. However, the lines are hard to be drawn when it comes to examining and taxonomising the impact of interactions on motivation and engagement as a synergy of learners’ concurrent presence. This study covers this gap and sheds light on this lack—or, at least, inadequacy—of literature and research on the interactions that take place both in the physical and the virtual environment at the same time. In addition, it explores the impact of the instructional design decisions on increasing the learners’ incentives for interplay when trying to make sense of the virtual world, thus leading them to attain higher levels of engagement. To evaluate the potential of interactions holistically and not just unilaterally, a series of experiments were conducted in the context of different Hybrid Virtual Learning units, with the participation of Computer Science & Technology students. One of the goals was to examine the learners’ thoughts and preconceptions regarding the use of virtual worlds as an educational tool. Then, during the practical sessions, the focus was placed on monitoring students’ actions and interactions in both the physical and the virtual environment. Consequently, students were asked as a feedback to report their overall opinion on these actions and interactions undertaken. The study draws a new research direction, beyond the idea of immersion and the development of subject-specific educational interventions. The conclusions provide suggestions and guidelines to educators and instructional designers who wish to offer interactive and engaging learning activities to their students, as well as a taxonomy of the different types of interactions that take place in Hybrid Virtual Learning contexts

Using Educational Applications on tablets to Support Science Learning Among First-Grade Saudi Primary School Children

Multi-touch tablets and educational apps provide young learners with opportunities to support science learning, rarely offered by traditional science teaching methods such as the chalk and talk method, which is heavily employed in Saudi schools. In many developed countries such as United States and Canada the use of tablets in classrooms has increased when compared with other mobile devices due to the educational advantages of tablets’ unique affordances (Fritschi & Wolf, 2012). To date, research conducted on using tablets as educational tools and the potential of educational apps, especially with reference to science learning among children, is insufficient. The aim of this research therefore, was to explore the role of educational apps on tablets’ potential to support science learning and engagement among first-grade Saudi children, as well as to investigate the challenges encountered in implementing mobile learning to support science education. To fulfil this aim, I designed and carried out an interpretative study in a first-grade class in a private school in Riyadh, the capital city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I employed a qualitative approach to obtain deep and extensive understanding of mobile learning. I adopted social-constructivist theory to underpin my study. To collect data, I utilized semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. The current study involved 17 female students between 6 and 7 years old. The data was examined by inductive thematic analysis. The findings indicated that these young learners’ experiences of learning using educational and gamified apps was both personally enjoyable and meaningful. It highly engaged them emotionally and cognitively. Furthermore, social interactions between peers regarding apps’ contents and activities scaffolded their science learning and constructed their personal understanding. Also, these findings suggest that animations and multimodal apps provided children with unique learning experiences regarding abstract scientific concepts and assisted them in gaining new knowledge. Mobile apps afforded the children scaffolds and challenges in proper balance, which maintained their motivation, helped them solve problems, and promoted persistence and risk-taking. The findings of this thesis will provide science teachers, policymakers, researchers, and app developers with an understanding of the potential impact of tablets’ affordances and apps’ educational advantages in supporting and facilitating science learning and their roles in encouraging engagement and scaffolding. Which might encourage science teachers to change the traditional methods that they use in teaching science and employ mobile learning and other modern methods

OnCreate and the virtual teammate: an analysis of online creative processes and remote collaboration

This paper explores research undertaken by a consortium of 10 universities from across Europe as part of an EU Erasmus Strategic Partnership project called OnCreate. Recent research and experiences prove the importance of the design and implementation of online courses that are learner-centred, include collaboration and integrate rich use of media in authentic environments. The OnCreate project explores the specific challenges of creative processes in such environments. The first research phase comprises a comparative qualitative analysis of collaboration practices in design-related study programmes at the ten participating universities. A key outcome of this research was in identifying the shortcomings of the hierarchical role models of established Learning Management Systems (such as Moodle or Blackboard) and the tendency towards evolving 'mash-up' environments to support creative online collaboration