Search

Practitioner-focused educational doctoral programs have grown substantially in recent years. Dissertations in Practice (DiPs), which are the culminating research report and evaluation method in these programs, differ from traditional PhD dissertations in their focus on addressing a problem of practice and on connecting theories with practice. As part of our ongoing program evaluation, we reviewed DiPs from doctoral students who graduated from an online asynchronous Educational Doctoral program in Learning Design and Technologies at the University of South Carolina. Findings revealed that most students chose a pragmatic philosophical paradigm, adopted a mixed methods research design, reported an action research intervention implemented with populations in K-12 schools, used surveys and interviews as data sources, and analyzed data with descriptive/inferential statistics and thematic analysis. Implications for the program curriculum are discussed.

AbstractContext Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is the pathological basis of spinal degenerative diseases. Puerarin (PU) is an isoflavonoid with functions and medicinal properties.Objective To explore the effect of PU on IDD and its potential mechanism of action.Materials and methods Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into sham, IDD, low PU, and high PU groups. Rat nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) were isolated and divided into control, IL-1β, 100 and 200 μmol/mL PU, TAK-242 (TLR4 inhibitor), or 200 μmol/mL PU + LPS (TLR4 activator) groups. The water content, inflammatory factors, proliferation activity, TLR4/NF-κB pathway activity, apoptosis rate, protein expression of apoptosis, and histology of the extracellular matrix (ECM) were analysed.Results In vivo: Compared with the IDD group, disorganization of intervertebral disc tissue was significantly improved, water content (2.80 ± 0.24 mg, 3.91 ± 0.31 mg vs. 2.02 ± 0.21 mg) and expression levels of collagen II and aggrecan were significantly increased, and the levels of inflammatory factors and the expression levels of TLR4, MyD88, and p-p65 were significantly decreased in IDD rats treated with PU. In vitro: Compared with the IL-1β group, the proliferation activity of IL-1β-treated NPCs and the expression of collagen II and aggrecan were significantly increased, while the apoptosis rate, levels of inflammatory factors, and the expression levels of TLR4, MyD88, and p-p65 were significantly decreased in IL-1β-treated NPCs treated with PU. LPS reversed the biological function changes of IL-1β-treated NPCs induced by PU.Conclusions PU can delay the progression of IDD by inhibiting activation of the TLR4/NF-κB pathway.

Abstract The purpose of this study aimed to analyze the process of online collaborative problem solving (CPS) via brain-to-brain synchrony (BS) at the problem-understanding and problem-solving stages. Aiming to obtain additional insights than traditional approaches (survey and observation), BS refers to the synchronization of brain activity between two or more people, as an indicator of interpersonal interaction or common attention. Thirty-six undergraduate students participated. Results indicate the problem-understanding stage showed a higher level of BS than the problem-solving stage. Moreover, the level of BS at the problem-solving stage was significantly correlated with task performance. Groups with all high CPS skill students had the highest level of BS, while some of the mixed groups could achieve the same level of BS. BS is an effective indicator of CPS to group performance and individual interaction. Implications for the online CPS design and possible supports for the process of online CPS activity are also discussed.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been touted as a disruptive innovation with a low-cost and flexible option for opening up higher education. However, existing barriers of MOOCs such as a low retention rate and a low forum participation rate have limited their capacity of serving learners. To strengthen the potential of MOOCs, a compelling design that enables an effective learning experience is needed. This article is aimed to propose a series of design guidelines for MOOCs, namely the LITTLE, as a preliminary design framework for an effective MOOC. The LITTLE includes guidelines such as learner-centered, inquiry-based, technology-enriched, trophy-driven, literature-guided, and evidence-based strategies. Examples are provided in concert with theoretical justifications to illustrate the guidelines.

Practitioner-focused educational doctoral programs have grown substantially in recent years. Dissertations in Practice (DiPs), which are the culminating research report and evaluation method in these programs, differ from traditional PhD dissertations in their focus on addressing a problem of practice and on connecting theories with practice. As part of our ongoing program evaluation, we reviewed DiPs from doctoral students who graduated from an online asynchronous Educational Doctoral program in Learning Design and Technologies at the University of South Carolina. Findings revealed that most students chose a pragmatic philosophical paradigm, adopted a mixed methods research design, reported an action research intervention implemented with populations in K-12 schools, used surveys and interviews as data sources, and analyzed data with descriptive/inferential statistics and thematic analysis. Implications for the program curriculum are discussed.

Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) has received increasing attention for its role in promoting learners' cognitive and social development in STEM education. However, little is known about how learners interact dynamically within a group at different time granularities. This gap mainly resulted from overlooking the time dimension of interactions, leading to a lack of nuanced understanding of moment-to-moment interaction in CPS. In this study, we demonstrated the potential of "temporal group interaction density" in modeling online CPS interactions and investigated the impact of temporal interaction density on CPS processes and outcomes. Specifically, we proposed using cumulative weighted density to measure the holistic state of group interactions and explained the differences in group interactions with different collaborative performance and interaction densities by modeling the transition and evolution of interaction sequences through Apriori and cumulative relative centrality. Results indicated that group interaction density cannot directly predict their collaborative performance, but notable differences in interaction patterns existed in the high-performance groups with different interaction densities, while low-performance groups showed interactive commonalities towards the completion of CPS. The findings of this study guided the design of CPS interventions and supported the process mining of CPS interactions, with vital practical implications for CPS assessment and skills development.

Teachers in K–12 schools have shown an increasing desire for open educational resources (OER) to ensure all students can learn effectively. OER provide teachers with free access to open-licensed educational resources that they can retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute for personalized instruction. Open educational practices (OEP) have been considered a pathway to reinforce the acceptance and readiness of K–12 teachers to use OER. This research thus showcases a qualitative study that investigates teachers’ experiences with OEP. This research explains K-12 teachers’ perceived benefits of implementing OER and also discusses their perceived barriers hindering OER usage in K–12 settings. The study also discusses the practical implications of integrating OER in K–12 curriculum.

Open educational resources (OER) have the potential to promote social justice imperatives in education, but because of the uneven provision of technical infrastructure across different countries, it remains uncertain whether the people who need OER the most are its primary beneficiaries. In K-12 education, educators play a major role in the effort to incorporate OER into classroom teaching but, even if they are able to source such resources (overcoming the “first-level digital divide”), many lack the practical capacity to effectively use (e.g., adapt) OER (the “second-level digital divide”). This exploratory research paper employs a cross-cultural perspective to interrogate how the second-level digital divide shapes K-12 teachers’ effective use of OER. With the goal of understanding how this divide influences OERs’ potential to enhance social justice, this research attempts to identify the factors accounting for teachers’ effective use of OER – and any reception gap – between different countries by conducting a series of stepwise logistic regressions applied to a largescale survey of K-12 educators. It does so by assessing OER use amongst 675 K-12 educators around the world in relation to their developmental and cultural contexts, as expressed through the Human Development Index, the Gender Development Index, and Hofstede’s six dimensions of national culture. The findings of this exploratory study provide new insights to support OER adoption in K-12 settings worldwide from a cultural perspective.

This study aims to track college students' on-task rate during the teaching process and to analyze the influence of instructional strategies on on-task rate through the aspects of observable and internal engagement indicators. Thirty-six undergraduate students at a higher education institution in China participated in the study. Students' behaviors and their EEG signals were recorded from fifty-one learning activities. Analyses have been focused on identifying the determinants of student's engagement levels and revealing the impacts of behavioral sequences and cognitive sequences on student's engagement levels. The results show that: (1) instructional strategies, classroom behaviors, and cognitive states were significant predictors of students' on-task rate; (2) the continuity of classroom behaviors improved the on-task rate; and (3) the standard deviations of attention and cognitive load were positively correlated with the on-task rate. This study describes a case of integrating multimodal data analysis in classroom teaching and discusses practical implications for improving classroom teaching.

Self-regulated learning is a crucial skill that may enable massive numbers of learners to thrive in MOOCs, but MOOC learners differ in their self-regulated learning skills, as low self-regulated learners need support to regulate their learning process in MOOCs. Designing self-regulated learning scaffoldings builds upon an accurate appraisal of learners' self-regulated learning and also a person-centered understanding of self-regulated learner profiles in MOOCs. Therefore, this study applied a two-parameter item response theory model to accurately evaluate online learners' self-regulated learning in MOOCs and then performed a cluster analysis to identify learner profiles in terms of their traits in each phase of self-regulated learning. The findings of this study identified five clusters of self-regulated learner profiles, upon which a further statistical analysis result indicated that the learners with lower forethought skills might be less committed to completing course assignments. Implications for self-regulated learning in MOOCs are discussed at the end.

Blended learning, integrating online and in-person components, has been increasingly adopted in higher education to enhance students' learning experience and outcomes. While the advantages of blended learning are well-evidenced, research has primarily focused on the online pre-learning component, neglecting the significance of in-class activities. In-class activities play a crucial role in affording active learning opportunities (e.g., discussion, elaboration), necessitating a systemic understanding of their dynamics. The purpose of this study was thus to systemically investigate college students' learning behaviors during in-class activities in a blended course. In-class activities were video-recorded and labelled manually following a coding scheme. By establishing a linear regression model, the study identified listening to the instructor's lecture and taking notes as two predictors of students' learning gains. Additionally, sequential patterns of learning behaviors during in-class activities were examined. The reciprocal interactions between students' behavior of listening to the lecture and their note-taking actions were noted. The findings of this study contributed to a systemic view of blended learning by shedding light on students' learning behaviors and their implications for instructional practice.

Self-regulated learning (SRL) has been viewed as a critical skill for learner success in MOOCs, but due to methodological limitations of self-reported measures, the relationship between SRL and learner performance remains unquantified. Therefore, this study sought to investigate how SRL impacted learner performance in MOOCs by linking clickstream data about SRL to learner performance variables. Following a social cognitive perspective of SRL, learner traces were categorized into three phases including forethought, performance/volition control, and self-reflection phase. Then separate multiple linear regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship between SRL traces in each phase and learner performance variables (e.g., quizzes scores and forum participation record). The findings of this study indicated that SRL traces in performance/volition control and self-reflection phases positively predict learners' quizzes scores. In addition, SRL traces in each of the three phases were significantly correlated to learners' forum participation, despite a small effect of the model. Particularly, self-reflective traces negatively predicted learners' forum participation but SRL traces in the other two phases had a positive relationship with the outcome variable. Practical implications about supporting learners in MOOCs are discussed in the end.

Blended learning has been widely integrated in college-level computer science education. Despite evidence about benefits of blended learning, students' in-class activities remain underexplored. To afford effective blended learning experience, supporting students in both modalities is essential. This study thus took an initial step to fill the gap by investigating college students' in-class activities in a blended course from the perspective of attention. Using non-intrusive electroencephalography (EEG) instruments to collect attentional data, this study found students' attention in in-class activities positively correlated with their learning gains. Students' attention also varied across in-class activities, reaching a higher level in group discussions than in pre-tests and lectures. Linear regression analysis indicated students' length of time spent viewing online resources and their pre-test scores significantly predicted their in-class attention. The findings of the study provide insight into course design and facilitation for effective blended computer science courses.

Evidence that open educational resources (OER) can decrease college students' educational cost without harm to their course performance on different subjects has been well documented, but student motivation to use OER for learning is underexplored. This study investigated college students' achievement goals of using OER from the perspective of expectancy-value theory. We recorded the survey responses of 246 college students in an education course at a public university in the southeast of the United States of America for analysis. We established a structural equation model to investigate the relationship between their task value beliefs in using OER and their course achievement goals. The findings show that the students' perceived usefulness of OER positively predicted their mastery-approach goals but negatively predicted their performance-approach goals. In addition, their self-estimated cost of learning with OER predicted their mastery-avoidance goals. We discuss practical implications for facilitating college students' motivation toward using OER.

Practitioner-focused educational doctoral programs have grown substantially in recent years. Dissertations in Practice (DiPs), which are the culminating research report and evaluation method in these programs, differ from traditional PhD dissertations in their focus on addressing a problem of practice and on connecting theories with practice. As part of our ongoing program evaluation, we reviewed DiPs from doctoral students who graduated from an online asynchronous Educational Doctoral program in Learning Design and Technologies at the University of South Carolina. Findings revealed that most students chose a pragmatic philosophical paradigm, adopted a mixed methods research design, reported an action research intervention implemented with populations in K-12 schools, used surveys and interviews as data sources, and analyzed data with descriptive/inferential statistics and thematic analysis. Implications for the program curriculum are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]