The purpose of this qualitative content analysis study is to investigate the themes and potential gaps in quality assurance rubrics and scorecards used to evaluate online courses in higher education. For the utility of this study, the themes and potential gaps in quality assurance rubrics and scorecards is generally defined as the recurring…

Sketching is considered a helpful activity in STEM design and education. Scholars have argued for including children in designing technology as it has been found to improve product design and leads to social and cognitive benefits for children. However, little is known about children's learning and sketching experiences when participating in…

This Doctor of Arts dissertation addresses the use of drawing as a tool to facilitate life science education and research. The literature review addresses frameworks of drawing-to-learn and Professional Vision which guided the design and implementation of the research and education experiences. A result of this dissertation work is a manuscript…

This is an empirical, ethnographic study about middle school students' mathematical joy in a formal math classroom. This study is situated in a year-long Research Practice Partnership with 6th grade mathematics teacher and 21 students in her 3rd block class. Through this collaboration, the teacher and I sought to design tasks to support students'…

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of undergraduate students who choose to take online courses. In light of this trend, this research aims to delve into the performance and development of online learning identities to gain a better understanding of the unique experiences of these learners. Additionally, the study…

This dissertation investigates how collective process-oriented documentation tools, combined with Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, can enhance knowledge construction in hands-on, open-ended learning environments, such as makerspaces. Through a three-year design-based research, the study developed and tested a collective documentation…

Learning is a complex, subjective process. An important perspective on learning is that anyone, regardless of their level of education, can participate in learning about science and contribute to their community. The public increasingly looks towards online resources to find answers to challenges, so it is necessary that people become empowered to…

My dissertation examines undergraduates' online learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic through three distinct studies. The primary goal of my dissertation is to shed light on crucial aspects of social cognitive learning theories and learning experience design (LXD) applied in distance learning. These studies, using an LXD approach…

This study investigates the impact and experiences of students designated as English Language Learners (ELLs) as they engage with student-centered worked example videos (WEVs). Students from two southwestern high schools collaborated and provided their experiences as they watched WEVs and worked through four slope calculation problems. Although…

Technology is transforming higher education by removing geographic constraints for both students and instructors and increasing learning and cooperation with internet-based applications. Bloom's taxonomy continues to play a significant role in instructional design for both the classroom and online, but other theories that address the challenges of…

With the innovation of the internet, the learner is able to access his or her online classroom anytime, and anywhere based on the customized online learning environment by instructional designers. Creating online learning environments, also known as instructional design, can be challenging. This research focused on how instructional designers…

Online course enrollments continue to increase, and even more online courses are now offered as a result of the pandemic (O'Keefe et al., 2020). Although some students succeed in online courses (Battalio, 2009; Murray et al., 2012), most either earn low grades or do not complete the courses (Angelino et al., 2007; Wilson & Allen, 2011). Some…

This three-article dissertation explores Learning by Evaluating (LbE), an educational approach that enhances student learning through the process of assessing and providing feedback on peer work. Leveraging principles of comparative judgement, students evaluate pairs of exemplars side-by-side to determine which is better and provide a rational for…

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) presents postsecondary educators with a conundrum: how to design and support small-group activities without stifling deep and meaningful learning. The literature indicates that students are not consistently practicing higher-order cognitive activities, educators are not reliably designing or…

This research study explored reasons why girls consistently outperform boys in the classroom, examining professional development teachers may have received, strategies teachers are implementing, and teacher's self-efficacy in teaching boys. This was a qualitative study centered on the idea that boys do not perform as well in school as girls…