Engineering an online course: applying the 'secrets' of computer programming to course development

Colleges and universities are increasingly migrating towards utilising the World Wide Web to convey at least part of, and in many cases, their entire curricular offering. Despite this trend there is little support for the professors responsible for translating courses refined over a career in the classroom for delivery via the Web. Teachers who are experts in their subject area and masters of their craft when in a classroom find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to relearn how to teach in a new environment with little or no support. Development of an online course is, in many significant aspects, analogous to developing a computer product. The procedures and tools utilised in the software engineering field to manage computer software development, therefore, offer promise for developing online courses. This paper explores the potential of one process developed for the software engineering field—the System Development Lifecycle (SDL)—as a tool to effectively design and develop online college courses.     

Academic growth expectations for students with emotional and behavior disorders

Computer adaptive assessments were used to monitor the academic status and growth of students with emotional behavior disorders (EBD) in reading (N = 321) and math (N = 322) in a regional service center serving 56 school districts. A cohort sequential model was used to compare that performance to the status and growth of a national user base of more than 7,500,000 students without disabilities. Consistent with numerous previous findings, status or level of performance of students with EBD was consistently low relative to their nondisabled peers. However, for the most part the students with significant EBD demonstrated rates of growth similar to the nationwide sample of nondisabled peers. There was considerable variability in the academic growth of students across grades and between treatment programs, and this variability is described and discussed. Implications for policy and practice in student progress monitoring and teacher evaluation systems are discussed.     

‘We’ve got a lack of family values’: an examination of how teachers formulate and justify their approach to teaching sex and relationships education

Sex and Relationship Education (SRE) in England has been the focus of critical scrutiny on several occasions, but there has been little attention paid to how teachers formulate their provision, especially given their crucial role in determining what is taught in the classroom. While current policy suggests that provision should be inclusive of sexual diversity, it simultaneously gives educators the scope to determine the form this takes. This is an important issue given the substantial impact that teachers’ views and discourses have on what is taught. Using a discourse analytical framework, this study sought to examine how teachers of SRE formulate and account for their provision, with a particular focus on how their assumptions about young people’s sexual health needs underpin their actions. Initially, teachers sought to formulate their activities in terms of an overall ethos, providing legitimacy for the key elements of their programme being aligned with official government health promotion strategy, as opposed to other areas such as pleasure and diversity. This was supported by their constructions of young people, particularly young women and individuals from ‘at risk’ communities, as being particularly vulnerable.     

The impact of teachers' beliefs on the literacy experiences of young children: a New Zealand perspective

There has been a growing focus in New Zealand on the early literacy learning of young children. This emphasis has challenged early childhood teachers to ensure there are appropriate literacy events within their programme. The aim of this study was to identify early childhood teachers' knowledge and beliefs about literacy learning and examine how these translated into literacy practices. Four early childhood settings were chosen—two sessional kindergartens and two full‐day early learning centres. Eight early childhood teachers from four different centres were interviewed. All teachers held a recognized early childhood qualification and were working within the framework of Te Whaariki, the New Zealand early childhood curriculum. Five children in each setting were observed using narrative observations. All teachers were committed to providing meaningful and purposeful literacy experiences within a play‐based programme. However, although teachers had created rich early literacy environments, there was some tendency toward formal skills‐based interactions. The children themselves created many opportunities for authentic and rich literacy events.     

A Theory of Reasoned Action Approach to Examining Academic Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Adolescents in a College Readiness Program

In the United States, the Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) fosters relationships between racial-ethnic and low-income adolescents and adults and peers who help them and their families take formal steps toward pursuing a college degree. However, the extent to which GEAR UP students seek teachers, counselors, parents, or friends to prepare for college during program participation is underexplored in the literature. Using the Theory of Reasoned Action as a guiding framework, this study examined the extent to which GEAR UP participant attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions influenced whether participants sought academic support from teachers, counselors, parents, or friends during an academic semester. Strong direct and indirect effects were found in structural equation models examining GEAR UP student subjective norms, intentions, and behaviors regarding seeking academic support from friends. The data on students seeking academic support from school personnel and parents were less conclusive. Participation in GEAR UP activities influenced these relationships. Implications for how practitioners and researchers support the college readiness of adolescents in GEAR UP are discussed.

     

The comparative efficacy of two approaches to teaching sixth graders opinion essay writing

Children in sixth grade randomly assigned to a teacher-made writing procedure anchored in the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) model and training procedures were predicted to surpass children assigned to the comparison condition on dependent measures of writing clarity, organization, and cogency. The prediction was generally substantiated. The results suggest that the rate of change among individual children in the SRSD condition was faster than among children in the comparison condition on measures of clarity and organization. On the measure of cogency, findings showed that the rate of change among individuals in the SRSD condition compared to the comparison condition approached but did not reach statistical significance. Variance in growth parameters on the measure of writing clarity was statistically significant; however on the measure of organization, there was no substantive variation in individual growth parameters. Social validity data from all the children and teachers indicated the training was well received. The results are taken to support the efficacy of the SRSD model and training procedures.     

Long Nav or Short Nav?: Student Responses to Two Different Navigational Interface Designs in LibGuides Version 2

This study used two successive phases of usability testing to evaluate two different versions of a Communication 430 course LibGuide. The first version of this guide had a longer, more visually complex navigation menu, with more course-related research information directly accessible through this menu. The second version had a shorter, less complex menu that offered less directly accessible information. Twenty-four of the 33 students enrolled in the class (73%) tested either one version or the other for usability in completing tasks that simulate course-related research assignments, ultimately indicating they found the longer navigation menu more usable. This paper may be the first to describe the engagement of students enrolled in a course in testing a LibGuide dedicated specifically to that course. As such, it will be of interest to many academic librarians and instructional design professionals.