A technology-enhanced course has many components that contribute to student satisfaction. Although technology plays a role in the delivery of instruction, the focus of this study was to identify student satisfaction with several Components: modes of discussion, modes of research, types of learning activities, modes of submitting assignments, modes of testing, and format of course materials. Additionally, the study described relationships between the learning styles and self-reported measures of student satisfaction for the 19 students in the study.Results from this study indicated that participants were more satisfied with chat room discussions, web-based research, web-based testing, and online availability of course materials and grades than with techniques used in traditional classrooms. Based upon these results, a teacher who is concerned about student satisfaction in technology-enhanced courses should be aware that these teaching techniques were more satisfying to students in a technology-enhanced astronomy course. It would be useful to do more study of the characteristics of technology-enhanced courses that affect student satisfaction and related outcomes

Brotz, William Joseph

English

This qualitative study explores the pedagogical and curricular thinking of five professional astronomers, faculty at a university, about teaching the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram in introductory astronomy courses for non-science majors. Data sources for this study included two semi-structured interviews per participant, in which they were asked about teaching the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, as well as about the introductory course in general. In addition, participants were asked to complete four cognitive tasks; the creation of a lesson plan, a concept map on how they would like their students to think about the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram at the end of the course, a Pathfinder network rating task, and responding to stereotypical student statements regarding the Hertzsprung- Russell diagram.

The data was analyzed using a case study approach, followed by a discussion of themes that emerged from the data. Results indicate that participants had primarily affect and process goals for the course, rather than content goals. In addition, they wanted students to view the HR diagram as a part of a flow chart, where input physics (both observed and inferred properties of stars) leads to the construction of the HR diagram, which in turn is used to make inferences about stellar evolution. Participants identified several student difficulties with the HR diagram, among which interpreting a graph was the most pertinent. In several stereotypical student statements, participants responded using the exact same analogies to explain the concepts to the students. This may be indicative of some underlying pedagogical content knowledge

Brotz, William J.

iStarDB (The Astronomy Education Research Repository)

Components Associated With Perceived Student Satisfaction In A Technology Enhanced Secondary Astronomy Course

D-Scholarship@Pitt

COMPONENTS ASSOCIATED WITH PERCEIVED STUDENT SATISFACTION IN A TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED SECONDARY ASTRONOMY COURSE

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http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/7938/1/brotzrev2.pdf

COMPONENTS ASSOCIATED WITH PERCEIVED STUDENT SATISFACTION IN A TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED SECONDARY ASTRONOMY COURSE

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D-Scholarship@Pitt

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