Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Educational design in higher education'

There is limited literature regarding how higher education leaders influence and shape curriculum do for graduate students. The question is how the curriculum is influenced by higher education leaders. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to discover how those in leadership positions in higher education influence and shape curriculum for business school graduate students. Examining the influence higher education leaders have on curriculum design will provide information to universities to evaluate their current processes and may help universities continue to improve program quality. An exploratory qualitative descriptive approach was taken for this study. Qualitative data was collected via eight interviews with those involved in curriculum design. Specifically, participants for this study were those in leadership positions (administrators, deans, associate deans, and senior faculty) in the masters of business administration (MBA) program at a selected university in the Northeast region of the United States. The data from the interview transcripts were analyzed to discover how those in leadership positions in higher education influence and shape curriculum for business school graduate students. The four major themes identified in this study were flexibility, streamlining, continuous improvement, and innovation. The study revealed that factors such as flexibility, communication (internal and external), adaptability, and technology all contribute to robustness of the graduate business curriculum and are a reflection of how those in leadership positions influence the curriculum. The findings from the study revealed similar views regarding participants’ experiences about their role in influencing and shaping the curriculum, challenges faced, and common experiences among several participants. The study revealed that the participants reported positive feedback on their level of participation with the curriculum design process. The practical implications that may result from the proposed research may explain the current leadership structures, both formal and informal, within department of business. Results of the study may also have the potential to inform the development of future curriculum design efforts to enable current and future department faculty and chairs to influence curriculum design as effectively as possible.

The primary purpose of this study was to design a valid and reliable survey instrument gauging three concepts; (a) utilization of technology-enhanced instructional practices, (b) perceptions of Missouri higher education faculty concerning self-reported instructor role and (c) perceptions of millennial students’ preferred learning styles. The secondary purpose of this study was to identify differences and similarities among various subsets of the data, examined by investigated concepts, as well as disaggregated by each demographic for individual survey items.

The six independent variables included type of institution, size of institution (based on Carnegie Size Classification), department, rank, gender and age range. The study also included 34 dependent variables divided into three sections. First were 8 items (items 7–14), designed to discern the HE faculty’s self-reported utilization of technology-enhanced instruction in their classroom. Next were 10 items (items 15–24), focusing on faculty perceptions of their instructional role in the classroom. Following were 16 items (items 25–40) asking for self-reported faculty perceptions concerning the learning preferences of higher education students.

The population for this study included 2,978 faculty at a randomly selected group of 15 two-year and four-year, public and private Missouri higher education institutions based on a listing of Missouri higher education institutions provided by the Missouri Department of Higher Education (MDHE). The survey was completed by 249 of these faculty members. Cronbach’s alpha and a pilot survey were conducted to determine validity and reliability. Univariate analyses, including cross tabulations and graphs showing frequency counts and percentages and measures of central tendency and dispersion, consisting of mean, median, mode, standard deviation and variance, were employed to determine utilization of technology-enhanced instruction by Missouri HE faculty as well as perceptions concerning instructional roles and millennial students’ learning characteristics as identified by research. Finally, Chi-square analysis and cross tabulations showing frequency numbers and percentages of each survey item were generated for each of the six demographic items.

The findings confirmed that the Survey of Higher Education Instructional Practices (SHEIP) was a valid and reliable instrument for collecting information concerning utilization of technology-enhanced instruction as well as perceptions of instructor role and students’ preferred learning styles. It was also shown a majority of Missouri higher education faculty are employing technology-enhanced instruction. Findings also indicated percentages of faculty using traditional and contemporary instructor roles were nearly equal. A small percentage more faculty did report using more contemporary instructor roles, but this is a point that could be explored in further research. Furthermore, outcomes indicated that a majority of faculty did agree with the manners which current research indicated millennial students prefer to learn. The theory of disruptive innovation indicated manners in which higher education can implement the change needed to “disrupt” the current system in academia. Research indicates change is needed if higher education is going to prosper in the rapidly changing academic world.

Because the field of educational development (also known as faculty development, academic development, and staff development) is relatively new, very little is known about the competencies required for those who work in the field. Additionally, there are no formal pathways or means of formal preparation for educational developers. This study utilized a mixed-methods research design to explore the competencies required for a leadership role in the field of educational development.

The first part of the study sought to identify these competencies by using the Delphi technique to survey experts in the field. The second part explored whether these competencies were currently represented through content analysis of job postings for educational development leaders. Twenty-two (22) experts from the field of educational development in the United States were selected using purposive sampling and snowball technique. Participants engaged in four rounds of questionnaires during the Delphi survey and generated 66 knowledge, skills, abilities and values required for an educational development leadership position. The expert panel did not agree that 7 of these items belonged on the competency list. An analysis of job postings for educational development leaders revealed an additional 8 competencies not identified in the Delphi study.

Analysis and further refinement of these competencies generated during the Delphi survey and content analysis of job postings resulted in 10 areas of knowledge, grouped into four categories: classroom or disciplinary-based knowledge, educational and instructional knowledge, organizational knowledge, and higher education system knowledge. Nineteen (19) skills or abilities were also identified and grouped into five categories: administrative duties, educational development services, enhancing organizational culture around teaching and learning, professional and scholarly development, and individual and soft skills. Eleven (11) values also emerged.

The research from this study indicates that there is indeed, a formal body of knowledge attributable to the field of educational development, as well as a distinct set of skills and abilities required for successful developers. Better understanding these will help further professionalize the field of educational development and create a formal pathway or means of preparation for those seeking to enter the field.

An Investigation of Higher Education Faculty About Mobile Learning. Serena Brown, 2018; Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education. Keywords: mobile learning, mobile devices, technology integration, learning engagement, instructor perceptions, MLPS, UTAUT.

This applied dissertation was designed to investigate instructor perceptions about mobile learning among instructors in higher education. The study included the areas of influences of mobile technologies over the approaches of teaching and learning, use of mobile learning technologies to develop class instruction, use of mobile learning for professional learning, influences of mobile learning over the restrictions of time and space when acquiring knowledge anytime, anywhere, and mobile learning to facilitate teacher-student communications. An additional objective of this study was to add a more current literature source to the existing literature addressing instructor perceptions about mobile learning in higher education.

The writer used the Mobile Learning Perception Scale, a quantitative survey, using a cross-sectional survey design collecting data at one point in time during the study with nonprobability convenience sampling.

An overall analysis of the data revealed higher education instructors agreed (mean = 3.81, median = 4.00, mode = 4) with K12 teachers (mean = 4.09, median = 4.00, mode = 4) mobile learning techniques and tools were beneficial for use in the approaches to teaching and learning, influential in the development of classroom instruction strategies, useful for professional learning, influential over the restrictions of time when acquiring knowledge anytime, anywhere, and useful for facilitating teacher-student communication.

The results of this study provide administrators the benefit of insight into instructors’ perceptions and attitudes of mobile learning at the higher education level. Knowing higher education instructors’ perceptions and attitudes about mobile learning afford the institution a much-needed understanding of the direct determinants and influencing key moderators which inform behavioral intention and use of mobile learning technologies (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003).

The purpose of this case study was to document stakeholders’ perceptions of adopting and integrating OER materials in higher education. Specifically, this study sought to understand the perceptions of institutional faculty, librarians, instructional designers, and students with the adoption and use of OER at a state college in east Florida. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with institutional faculty, librarians, and instructional designers. A survey was distributed to students enrolled in OER integrated courses during the Spring semester. Theoretical perspectives on the adoption and diffusion of OER as an innovation were grounded in Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation theory.

An analysis of the data revealed that stakeholder perceptions are a key factor in the rate of adoption and diffusion within the institution. Faculty perceptions of resource quality and time involved to curate the resources proved challenging for OER adoption and integration. Instructional designers perceived the resources as time consuming yet highly accessible. Librarians perceived the resources as beneficial, but a lack of awareness and understanding of licensing rules made adoption and integration challenging. Students perceived the resources as advantageous, above average in quality, and just as effective as traditional textbooks. Despite the challenges presented, stakeholders agreed that access to the resources and the cost savings for students were significant enough to outweigh the time involved to locate, adapt, implement, and utilize the resources.

Background: Online learning is now at the forefront of education, making a college degree more accessible than ever before. With online enrollments at an all-time high, quality instruction is essential to the sustainability of the institution and ultimately affects student enrollment and retention. Research exists on the effectiveness of syllabus design and the use of inventories, but the gap in the existing literature lies in combining the two.

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to analyze possible relationships between syllabus design and student achievement, student engagement, student satisfaction, faculty instruction, and faculty satisfaction.

Research Design: An Online Syllabus Inventory (OSI) was developed as an evaluative and instructional tool and served as the independent variable for syllabus design between administration of control and experimental courses.

Data Collection and Analysis: This mixed methods study synthesized quantitative and qualitative data gathered from 28 online courses and 379 students. Data sources included student analytics from a learning management system, course evaluations from a student information system, and feedback from study participants.

Findings: In the domain of student achievement, a significant difference was found between two control and experimental courses. In the domain of student engagement, a significant difference was found in six courses. Among the sample, course-level factors were found to be significantly different in the domain of student satisfaction. No significant difference was found among instructor-level factors.

The purpose of this research project was to improve the practice of using online lectures at a small private university. Using action research methodology, the researcher worked with a group of five university instructors to refine the use of online lectures through design and pedagogical practice. Beginning with a template or guide based on the literature, the instructors developed online lectures connected with a student activity. Following the principles of the TPACK framework, instructors were urged to develop student activities that worked best for their specific content as well as their desired student outcomes. Two cycles of implementation, analysis, and modification were used to refine the template and the student activities.

Data were gathered from the students who viewed the online lectures and from the faculty through focus group meetings after each cycle. Analysis of both the students’ experience and the instructors’ experience led to minor changes in the template but more significant changes to the associated student activities.

Findings suggest that the effective use of online lectures depends largely on the student activity included with the lecture; in other words, pedagogy is at least as important as design. Other factors, such as practice and experience with developing online lectures are needed to develop the instructors’ expertise with both technical issues as well as pedagogical issues. Although the online lecture template and suggested activities list were honed to a degree of effectiveness, it will take an ongoing process of analysis and modification to keep this tool relevant in the coming years.

Purpose. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to examine the factors that influence students’ intentions to continue to use digital texts. Specifically, the purpose was to investigate what impact the external factors of instructor modeling and instructor expectation to use had on the intention to continue to use digital textbooks as well as how the internal factors of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction with the digital textbook impact students’ intentions to continue to use digital textbooks.

Theoretical Framework. The theoretical framework for this study is the Technology Adoption Model (TAM). This user acceptance model was developed by Fred Davis (1986) and is used extensively to provide an understanding of user acceptance processes as well as theoretical insights into the design and implementation learning technology.

Methodology. This study used a quantitative, cross-sectional survey instrument based on the E-Book Adoption Scale (Jin, 2014b), an instrument that was tested for reliability and validity using a Cronbach’s alpha test.

Findings. Students’ perceived ease of use and usefulness of the digital text predict student satisfaction with the digital text. Students whose instructors did not provide resources for using a digital text were more likely to be satisfied with the digital version of the textbook yet, there is no significant relationship between instructor expectations and intervention to students’ intentions to continue to use digital textbooks.

Recommendations. The ease of use of a digital interface is the aspect most likely to impact student satisfaction. College student purchasing patterns of digital texts are significantly influenced by the perceived ease of use of the text and the perceived usefulness of the text. Perceived ease of use is related to the interface of the text. Publishers who clearly apply this field of research to their product development will provide digital texts that students are more likely to be satisfied with and to adopt as a preferred learning platform. Institutions that develop support systems to help their faculty members make the most of the digital features of the texts will better support students.

The introduction of technological tools has created a paradigm shift in the field of education. As such, online learning has become a popular method for students to access educational courses. Due to the increased demand by learners for online classes, administrators at American institutions of higher learning are faced with the challenge of moving faculty members to an online environment. However, transitioning to an online environment requires a role change for faculty members. Specifically faculty members must shift their instructional methods from on-ground lecturer to online mentor, which can be challenging. Indeed many faculty members transition to online instruction without the necessary training, support, or skills needed to be successful. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to develop a better understanding of how higher education faculty members transition from a face-to-face (i.e., on-ground) teaching format to an online teaching format. Participants included nine faculty members, representing different colleges and universities, who teach at post-secondary institutions within the United States. Participants had taught face-to-face classes for one year or more, and had taught at least three classes using an online format. An in-depth, open-ended, semi-structured interview format was used to gather data. The data provided by the participating faculty members were collected, coded using a line-by-line format, and the codes were compared to one another with the goal of finding a pattern. The development of conceptual categories and data analysis continued until saturation was achieved. Based on the data analysis, transforming was the conceptual theme for how higher education faculty members transition from a face-to-face (i.e., on-ground) teaching format to an online teaching format. Three transitioning skills were also identified as integral components for faculty members transitioning from face-to-face to online instruction. Future areas of research include: 1) how foreign language instructors develop asynchronous communicative collaborative activities and 2) how administrators could add specific subject area needs into their training programs or workshops.

Online courses can be a source of isolation for both students and instructors. Social presence as a human connection in the online learning environment has been researched, yet the findings have not been easily implemented to support a sense of community. This study examined doctoral students’ perception of social presence and results indicated that it correlates to their sense of community in online courses (r = .82, p <.01). The participants were primarily female doctoral students over the age of 40. Responses to the open-ended questions provided support for the various social presence definitions identified by researchers. Additional level of analysis included thematic review. Themes of satisfaction, frustration, and peers mattered were evaluated by raters with confirmed inter-rater reliability. Participant responses were found to express the theme of satisfaction over 50% of the time when perception of community was present in the course. They expressed almost 80% of the time that their peers’ sharing of knowledge mattered. Although textual analysis word count did not support the importance of the facilitator or instructor, content evaluation of participant responses indicated there was value of instructor course design allowing peer-to-peer discussion, learning, and emotional support. This study confirms that instructor facilitation of social presence is essential for students to experience their own social presence and sense of community in an online course. The results of this study can be used to help guide instructors intending to use collaborative constructivism design techniques to improve student engagement and retention in doctoral online courses.

This study sought to address the challenge of interesting university professors in adopting more deliberate and integrated approaches to course design through a multi-case study of five professors in the liberal arts at a top-tier research university. Professors watched video-recorded interviews with five of their own past students who were graduates of the university. The researcher interviewed the professors before and after they viewed the alumni feedback. Professors were asked to reflect on what most surprised and concerned them in the interviews and if and how they were inclined or disinclined to alter their courses. Professors were also asked to compare feedback from alumni to feedback from students. Central findings related to the research questions were that: (a) professors’ views of their course and course design changed after receiving feedback from their alumni; (b) professors perceived a need to alter their course design when they received surprising and concerning feedback from alumni; (c) but, feedback needed to be sufficiently concerning for professors to be inclined to alter their course designs, and (d) even then, several factors disinclined professors to follow through on changes. These factors opposing change include professors’ recollections of their college experiences, lack of pedagogical and course design knowledge, and university disincentives to focus on teaching. Professors appreciated hearing from the alumni because alumni had longer-term and more real world perspective than current students and were unconcerned about grades. Professors uniformly disliked, and to a great extent disregarded, student feedback from course evaluations because surveys are anonymous and lack context about who is making a comment and why. In contrast, the alumni interviews allowed professors to see and hear personalized feedback that provided context for which individual said what. Several additional findings emerged from the research. These were: (a) professors developed courses based on limited understanding of what students retained in a course; (b) professors relied considerably on their own educational experiences and on trial and error in creating courses and in their teaching; and (c) professors’ dislike of course evaluations made them skeptical of student feedback. These findings have potential significance for professors, faculty developers, universities, and students because they suggest an avenue for impacting faculty attitudes about their course design by planting seeds of curiosity about the link between design and course impact. Findings also support the use of alumni interviews as a tool for collecting feedback and existing evidence that faculty development efforts are best when they are personal, context-specific, and endure over time. Because this was a small exploratory study, repeating the alumni interview approach with more faculty and alumni is recommended.

Traditional classroom educators face the challenge of teaching online due to the increasing demand of online courses at higher education institutions. Educators who transition from the traditional classroom to online instruction experience the need to incorporate different skills and strategies in order to become an effective online instructor. This qualitative study sought to investigate the difficulties experienced by traditional classroom instructors who are attempting to transition to an online classroom format and what strategies can be used to overcome these difficulties. A qualitative meta-synthesis design was used for this research study because the research questions and approach position towards the appropriateness of meta-synthesis research. Four themes presented themselves from the meta-synthesis of eight research studies. The following four themes captured the experience of educators transitioning from traditional instruction to online instruction: increased workload, changing roles and skills, enhanced support and training, and various communication and engagement strategies. The findings from this study found that traditional educators transitioning to online instruction face many challenges as they attempt to create an engaging classroom environment that echoes engagement in a traditional classroom. The results of this study can assist educators in developing their online teaching skills.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of incorporating feedback from learner engagement and learner satisfaction into the instructional design of online and hybrid courses at the community college level. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory and experiential learning cycle provided the theoretical framework. This mixed methodology study explores whether significant relationships exist between instructor assessments/feedback, learner engagement and learner satisfaction in the online and hybrid learning environments based on the quality of instructional design. A convenience sample of 62 students enrolled in nine online and hybrid courses at a Southern California community was used. Descriptive statistics, linear multiple regression, independent samples t-test, path analysis, and ANCOVA using a general linear model were used for quantitative statistical analysis. Findings reveal no statistically significant difference in learner engagement and satisfaction between groups, and no statistical significance between groups for learner engagement or learner satisfaction when controlling for feedback. A statistically significant causal relationship existed between instructor feedback and learner engagement. Emergent themes from qualitative data analysis revealed influencers of learner engagement include instructor presence, student-led instruction, ease of use, learning style and instructional design, and influencers of learner satisfaction include instructor presence, student-led instruction, sense of community, ease of use, and instructional design. The significance of this research adds a new avenue of empirical inquiry into the quality of student-centered instructional design of online and hybrid courses and the effects on learner engagement and learner satisfaction at the community college level.

The virtual 3D world of Second Life continues to grow as an educational platform for higher education. Instructional designers and faculty designers by assignment in this multi-case study described the constructivist instructional strategies, design models, and processes, utilized to create constructivist collaborative-learning environments in Second Life. A gap was identified in the literature surrounding the use of constructivist design and the effects on various alternative-learning environments, such as Second Life. Ten participants from higher education were purposively chosen to participate in the study. All of the 10 participants met the criteria that included five years experience in instructional design and two years experience designing in Second Life. Five participants were instructional designers and the other five were faculty designers by assignment. Data were collected from four sources that included in-depth semi-structured participant interviews, an observational protocol guide, and documents. The same observation protocol guide was used to examine Second Life sites while the participants were present. The study identified the instructional design models, processes, strategies, advantages, and challenges for instructional design in Second Life. Included in the findings is an instructional design model for use in virtual worlds such as Second Life. .

Creekside High School is a high-performing public high school where students who are not White or Asian face a racialized school environment. This dissertation examines the school’s initiative to detrack its ninth grade Algebra class. Detracking is the process of placing students in heterogeneous classes instead of grouping students by ability. The framework of design-based research was adopted to perform this study. Design-based research places the researcher and practitioners in collaboration working to iteratively design interventions. Chapter Two is a qualitative study that examined the perceptions of tracking shared by teachers and the community. This study found that the community holds many misperceptions about detracking due to lack of communication from the school and the district. However, the study also found a small group who want to build more equitable solutions. Chapter Three is a quantitative study of student outcomes. There was a slight drop in student grades between the tracked course and the detracked course with no drop in exam scores. Furthermore, students in the detracked course were more successful in their subsequent Geometry courses. Chapter 4 is qualitative study of pedagogy and teacher perceptions. Pedagogy changed during the detracking process. The tracked course was very teacher-centered, and the rigor was not universal due to there being two levels of Algebra. During the first year of the detracked course, the course became much more student-centered, and the average level of rigor increased. However, for advanced students, rigor and challenge were missing, and this was an area of focus for the second year. Teacher perceptions also changed throughout the process. The teachers on the team have grown into viewing Mathematics as an interconnected, non-linear system of thought and have moved beyond questioning detracking to developing solutions. Chapter Five is a qualitative study synthesizing all of the data collected in Chapters Two through Four. These data were used to propose a leadership framework called Critical Design-Based School Leadership. Critical refers to the use of a critical lens focused on equity and Design-Based refers to the use of design-based research techniques as the mechanism for school leadership.

The purpose of this exploratory multi-case study was to examine the role of instructional design and instructor training on student learning outcomes and student satisfaction within the online class using group work, a form of collaborative learning. Group work has been strongly recommended for online classes. Data allowing insight into contemporary events in context were collected via an online survey, personal interviews, and document examination. Students were given a link to an online survey with both selected response and open-ended questions. Instructors were interviewed either face-to-face or via voice over Internet protocol (VOIP). Syllabi and class handouts were collected and examined using content analysis. These different sources of data were triangulated during the analyses. The participants in the study were undergraduate students and four instructors at a state supported institution of higher education in the southwestern United States. Data collected revealed that those instructors using group work who had the most training and assistance from the Instructional Technology Support in the design and facilitation of classes using group work had the highest level of student satisfaction as well as the highest student perception of good learning outcomes. The data show that when the instructional design using group work is well done and the class is well conducted, student satisfaction and student learning are good. The data show that the amount of instructor training undertaken had a major impact on how students reacted to the classes. The students' perception of learning outcomes differed from that of the instructors. The instructors perceived the classes as being generally successful; however, the students' perceptions were less positive. The levels of training applied by each of the faculty to the design of their online class shows that the more training, the higher the level of satisfaction. Both student success and learning outcomes suffer if the class is not designed and taught with best practices for online group work. Further research needs to be done on the use of online group work in graduate classes and lower division undergraduate classes as all of the studied classes were upper division.

This research investigated Computer Aided Design (CAD) education in the interior design. program focusing on educators' opinions about creativity aspects including computer application, teaching materials and teaching methods as well as other trends in CAD education. A questionnaire was sent to one hundred eighty-two members of the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC).

A frequency distribution was used on 69 usable returned surveys to describe the sample characteristics and to determine the teaching materials and support. Means and T-tests were employed to examine if a significant difference of opinions toward CAD integration existed between designers based on creativity, teaching materials, and teaching approaches.

Findings indicate that educators are thinking positively regarding the creativity aspects of teaching CAD. There was no significant difference between IBM educators and Apple Macintosh educators in terms of opinions concerning creativity and teaching approaches and also no significant difference in the educators who are using more flexible teaching approaches and the educators who are using more rigid teaching approaches in terms of creativity. Educators thought CAD courses are most helpful for students' future careers. Educators remarked that their college, department, and other faculties are generally very supportive. Overall the educators had fewer than 4 years of experience in teaching CAD. One or two CAD educators were teaching in each interior design program. IBM personal computer, AutoCAD software, instructor prepared tutorials were the most used teaching materials.

As online courses become more established, there has been a clear impetus to build interactivity, personalization, and real-time feedback into courses. Faculty and course designers have cast envious eyes at video and online games that engage and enthrall players for hours and some are experimenting with gamification—a blanket term that covers all manner of attempts to build student intrinsic motivation into online courses. In this study I analyze four cases of gamified online courses at accredited institutions of higher education. I've looked at game elements the course builders are including and whether this might be a means of progress toward educational and societal goals. My conclusion is that there is potential significantly to increase student engagement in the concept of gamifying online courses. I outline areas for future study by suggesting frameworks within which gamification might be further analyzed and assessed.