Research was conducted with 10 low literate and 10 medium to high literate students at the University of Baltimore to understand how traditional literacy impacts search habits for new college freshman. Five low literate, non-student participants were included in the research as a control group for the two student populations. It was hypothesized…

Accurate assessment of a text's level of translation difficulty is critical for translator training and accreditation, translation research, and the language industry as well. Traditionally, people rely on their general impression to gauge a text's translation difficulty level. If the evaluation process is to be more effective and the…

This research attempted to bridge the gap between cognitive psychology and educational measurement (Mislevy, 2008; Leighton & Gierl, 2007; Nichols, 1994; Messick, 1989; Snow & Lohman, 1989) by using cognitive theories from working memory (Baddeley, 1986; Miyake & Shah, 1999; Grimley & Banner, 2008), multimedia learning (Mayer, 2001), and cognitive…

Cognitive load theorists claim that problem-centered instruction is not an effective instruction because it is not compatible with human cognitive structure. They argue that the nature of problem-centered instruction tends to over-load learner working memory capacity. That is why many problem-centered practices fail. To better support students and…

This study analyzes the uses of real-world contexts in mathematics lessons in the classrooms of four teachers across two school years at an urban high school. Drawing upon a framework of culturally relevant mathematics pedagogy, this dissertation focuses on how real-world contexts are connected to teaching mathematics for understanding, centering…

Legal and risk management issues substantially impact the operations of colleges and universities, which face escalating compliance requirements in an increasingly litigious environment. Failing to assess legal liability issues and to constructively address them with risk management processes create vulnerability to claims and litigation,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of visual representations and time-compressed instruction on learning and learners' perceptions of cognitive load. Time-compressed instruction refers to instruction that has been increased in speed without sacrificing quality. It was anticipated that learners would be able to gain a conceptual…

Universities are trending towards displacing traditional printed textbooks (p-books) with electronic textbooks (e-books), even though an incomplete body of knowledge exists about the learning value of using e-books as instructional materials. As a result, this dissertation study was conducted to determine if digital textbooks are as…