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This study investigates the validity and instructional value of a rubric developed to evaluate the quality of online courses offered at a midsized public university. This rubric is adapted from an online course quality rubric widely used in higher education, the Quality Matters rubric. We first examine the reliability and preliminary construct validity of the rubric using quality ratings for 202 online courses and eliminate 12 problematic items. We then examine the instructional value of the rubric by investigating causal relationships between: (a) course quality scores, (b) online interactions between students, instructors, and content, and (c) student course performance (course passing rates). A path analysis model, using data from 121 online courses enrolling 5,240 students, show that only rubric items related to "learner engagement and interaction" have a significant and positive effect on online interactions, while only student-content interaction significantly and positively influence course passing rates.

This study examines how student and instructor participation in online discussions impacts students' course performance. The context for the study is university introductory online mathematics/statistics courses, which typically have much higher failure rates than their face-to-face counterparts. Using text-mining techniques, we analyze online discussion data automatically collected by a Learning Management System across five years from 2869 students in 72 online courses, who collectively contributed 20,884 posts. These semi-automated techniques enable a broader and more scalable view of participation behaviors by investigating: (1) student posting and non-posting behaviors (called online speaking and listening, respectively), (2) the textual content of posts, and (3) instructors' strategies for structuring discussions. Multilevel modeling results show that online listening behaviors significantly predict students' course performance. Further, students' posts that built on other contributions or applied new knowledge have the highest predictive value in terms of course performance. Finally, the instructors' use of open-ended prompts is the only variable positively and significantly links to students' course performance. Links to theory, instructional practice, and educational data mining are discussed.

Elementary school teachers are increasingly being asked to teach computer science (CS)--a subject area with which they often have little familiarity. To address this gap, teacher professional development (PD) is a common approach for helping teachers become familiar with CS content. This paper describes a collaborative PD designed to accompany a novel seven-week instructional unit that introduces students to programming concepts by having them first play an "unplugged" board game and then create their own game levels in Scratch. We present findings from a study investigating how a group of elementary educators engaged in the PD, what they learned, and how this impacted their subsequent classroom implementations. We analyzed the educators' discussions during the seven-week PD sessions as well as their instruction during each lesson's classroom implementation. Teacher discourse during PD revealed three kinds of sense-making episodes (suggestion, reflection, and connection). We found that most suggestion episodes, as well as many connection episodes, directly influenced subsequent classroom implementations. This is indicative of the value of teacher-led conversations in helping teachers develop agency in recommending meaningful adaptations to lessons. Finally, a majority of connection episodes were grounded in the board game, suggesting that the instructional approach also supported teacher learning.

This paper examines variability in teachers' usage patterns as they interacted with an online teacher support tool, the Curriculum Customization Service (CCS), in their professional work. Understanding variation of use with technology provides information about why users, and in this case teachers, use certain elements in their planning and teaching. By mining the usage log files of over 40 teachers who used the CCS over a year-long period, we analyzed for variability using a framework developed in marketing research to characterize appropriation of technology. This analysis helped reveal different kinds of teachers' patterns along two dimensions: frequency and variability of use. We then turned to qualitative records of teachers' experiences during the year to better understand why those variations appeared. Focusing on the experiences of several teachers, using their log files with interview and observation data, we distilled "contextual contingencies" that influenced how they chose to use the CCS.

This study investigated the structural relationships between self-regulated learning, teachers' credibility, information and communications technology (ICT) literacy and academic performance in blended learning. The study sample comprised of 449 undergraduates who completed blended courses within the past 3 years and consisted of 53% males (N = 238) and 47% females (N = 211). Participants anonymously completed a 41-item questionnaire examining their self-regulated learning, perceptions of their teachers' credibility, ICT literacy, academic performance and demographic background. Path analyses indicated that the relationship between subscales of teacher credibility (caring and trustworthiness) significantly related to academic performance except for competence. In addition, caring positively predicted trustworthiness, and ICT literacy predicted self-regulated learning. Self-regulated learning positively related to caring, trustworthiness and academic performance. The findings also highlighted that both caring and trustworthiness mediated the impact of self-regulated learning on academic performance. Implications for practice or policy: (1) College teachers can improve students' academic performance by enhancing students' perception about their caring and trustworthiness; (2) College teachers may need to give more opportunity for students to self-regulate their learning; (3) College teachers can express care towards their students to improve individual relationships as well as affect the broader climate and then gain the students' trust; and (4) College governors may consider making policies to guide teachers to attach more importance to their teaching.

The rapid growth in Internet technologies has led to a proliferation in the number of Open Educational Resources (OER), making the evaluation of OER quality a pressing need. In response, a number of rubrics have been developed to help guide the evaluation of OER quality; these, however, have had little accompanying evaluation of their utility or usability. This article presents a systematic review of 14 existing quality rubrics developed for OER evaluation. These quality rubrics are described and compared in terms of content, development processes, and application contexts, as well as, the kind of support they provide for users. Results from this research reveal a great diversity between these rubrics, providing users with a wide variety of options. Moreover, the widespread lack of rating scales, scoring guides, empirical testing, and iterative revisions for many of these rubrics raises reliability and validity concerns. Finally, rubrics implement varying amounts of user support, affecting their overall usability and educational utility.

The widespread availability of high-quality Web-based content offers new potential for supporting teachers as designers of curricula and classroom activities. When coupled with a participatory Web culture and infrastructure, teachers can share their creations as well as leverage from the best that their peers have to offer to support a collective intelligence or crowdsourcing community, which we dub "crowdteaching." We applied a collective intelligence framework to characterize crowdteaching in the context of a Web-based tool for teachers called the Instructional Architect (IA). The IA enables teachers to find, create, and share instructional activities (called IA projects) for their students using online learning resources. These IA projects can further be viewed, copied, or adapted by other IA users. This study examines the usage activities of two samples of teachers, and also analyzes the characteristics of a subset of their IA projects. Analyses of teacher activities suggest that they are engaging in crowdteaching processes. Teachers, on average, chose to share over half of their IA projects, and copied some directly from other IA projects. Thus, these teachers can be seen as both contributors to and consumers of crowdteaching processes. In addition, IA users preferred to view IA projects rather than to completely copy them. Finally, correlational results based on an analysis of the characteristics of IA projects suggest that several easily computed metrics (number of views, number of copies, and number of words in IA projects) can act as an indirect proxy of instructionally relevant indicators of the content of IA projects.

This study focuses on two user types in an online educational community--novices and elders--and explores the characteristics of their behaviours and contributed products by analyzing usage logs. Results show that novices and elders have different behavioural trajectories. In addition, the products created by elders attract more views.

While many rubrics have been developed to guide people in evaluating the quality of Open Educational Resources (OER), few studies have empirically investigated how different people apply and perceive such rubrics. This study examines how participants (22 teachers and 22 non-teachers) applied three quality rubrics (comprised of a total of 17 quality indicators) to evaluate 20 OER, and how they perceived the utility of these rubrics. Results showed that both teachers and non-teachers found some indicators more difficult to apply, and displayed different response styles on different indicators. In addition, teachers gave higher overall ratings to OER, but non-teachers' ratings had generally higher agreement values. Regarding rubric perception, both groups perceived these rubrics as useful in helping them find high-quality OER, but differed in their preferences for quality rubrics and indicators.

Computer science (CS) is increasingly becoming a topic for teacher librarians to offer in their libraries. The American Library Association (ALA) has drawn attention to both the importance and opportunity [...]

This article examines clustering as an educational data mining method. In particular, two clustering algorithms, the widely used K-means and the model-based Latent Class Analysis, are compared, using usage data from an educational digital library service, the Instructional Architect (IA.usu.edu). Using a multi-faceted approach and multiple data sources, three types of comparisons of resulting clusters are presented: (1) Davies-Bouldin indices, (2) clustering results validated with user profile data, and (3) cluster evolution. Latent Class Analysis is superior to K-means on all three comparisons. In particular, LCA is more immune to the variance of feature variables, and clustering results turn out well with minimal data transformation. Our research results also show that LCA perform better than K-means in terms of providing the most useful educational interpretation for this dataset.

Despite of much focus on professional development aimed specifically at developing teachers' technology integration skills, rigorous studies of effective PD (professional development) are lacking. Evidence is also lacking on how these skills can best be integrated with pedagogical and content knowledge to improve student learning. The purpose of this article is to present two "design-oriented" TTPD (technology-related teacher professional development) designs and investigate the designs' impact on teachers. In one TTPD (tech-only), teachers learned technology skills to create activities using online learning resources. In the other (tech+PBL), teachers learned to create PBL (problem-based learning) activities using online resources. All teachers implemented these activities with their students. Findings indicate similarities and differences across several outcomes, including teacher knowledge, teacher attitude, usage of PBL and Web usage data. In addition, an instrument was developed to measure the students' self-reported knowledge, attitudes and behavior regarding their teachers' implemented activities. The instrument was shown to be valid and reliable. Problem-Based Learning Alignment Rating Scale is appended. (Contains 10 tables and 2 figures.)

This article describes the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD) process and its application in the field of educational data mining (EDM) in the context of a digital library service called the Instructional Architect (IA.usu.edu). In particular, the study reported in this article investigated a certain type of data mining problem, clustering, and used a statistical model, latent class analysis, to group the IA teacher users according to their diverse online behaviors. The use of LCA successfully helped us identify different types of users, ranging from window shoppers, lukewarm users to the most dedicated users, and distinguish the isolated users from the key brokers of this online community. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the discovered usage patterns on system design and on EDM in general.

In this paper, we propose that paper circuitry provides a productive space for exploring aspects of computational thinking, an increasingly critical 21st century skills for all students. We argue that the creation and operation of paper circuits involve learning about computational concepts such as rule-based constraints, operations, and defined states. Moreover, paper circuitry materials are low cost, provide a low threshold to entry, and draw upon the familiarity that already exists with respect to paper as a hands-on and interactive medium. Paper circuitry thus provides multiple points of entry for students who are unfamiliar with computational thinking ideas while also supporting creative, artistic and crafting activities. It also provides an important alternative to the typically steep learning curve associated with learning a programming language. We define paper circuitry and associated technologies, show how they afford key dimensions of computational thinking, and present examples of paper circuit projects created by students.

This article describes a professional development (PD) model, the CT-Integration Cycle, that supports teachers in learning to integrate computational thinking (CT) and computer science principles into their middle school science and STEM instruction. The PD model outlined here includes collaborative design (codesign; Voogt et al., 2015) of curricular units aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) that use programmable sensors. Specifically, teachers can develop or modify curricular materials to ensure a focus on coherent, student-driven instruction through the investigation of scientific phenomena that are relevant to students and integrate CT and sensor technology. Teachers can implement these storylines and collaboratively reflect on their instructional practices and student learning. Throughout this process, teachers may develop expertise in CT-integrated science instruction as they plan and use instructional practices aligned with the NGSS and foreground CT. This paper describes an examination of a group of five middle school teachers' experiences during one iteration of the CT-Integration Cycle, including their learning, planning, implementation, and reflection on a unit they codesigned. Throughout their participation in the PD, the teachers expanded their capacity to engage deeply with CT practices and thoughtfully facilitated a CT-integrated unit with their students.

In this article, we describe a conceptual framework, called the Innovative Library Activities Framework, which helps clarify the influence of three dimensions of librarianship--sense of librarianship, resource community, and conception of library space--on the implementation of innovative library activities. The first dimension encompasses a librarian's professional identity and his/her understanding of the profession. The second dimension addresses how a librarian seeks guidance and support from a resource community for development and implementation of library services and materials. The final dimension involves a librarian's conception of the library space and place. Each dimension is closely examined, drawing evidence from data collected during observations of and interviews with participating school librarians. We conclude with implications for the profession and LIS education., Introduction Libraries in the United States are in flux. Increasingly recognized by the public as innovative community centers, librarians are expanding and remaking their traditional services (Martin, 2015). Libraries are [...]

This article reports results from a scale-up study of the impact of a software tool designed to support teachers in the digital learning era. This tool, the Curriculum Customization Service (CCS), enables teachers to access open educational resources from multiple providers, customize them for classroom instruction, and share them with other teachers. The study involved 73 Earth science teachers and their students in five U.S. school districts, and examined impacts of CCS deployment on teachers' attitudes and practices--as well as their students' learning gains--over the course of one school year. Results are reported in two parts: the "impact" study included all teachers, while the active user study examined the usage patterns of teachers who actively used the CCS following the use-diffusion framework. Results from the two studies revealed complementary results. Teachers in the "impact" study reported significant increases in their awareness of other Earth science teachers' practices and in their frequency of using interactive resources in their instruction. Results also suggested that there were contextual differences between school districts that affected teachers' use of the CCS. Results from the "active user" study showed much less of a connection between teachers' CCS usage patterns and their reported attitudes and practices. However, the students of teachers who showed the most variety in their use of the CCS had significantly higher learning gains. In addition, these teachers' use of the CCS tended to benefit student populations that had a larger portion of low socio-economic status students across all user typologies and other measured demographics.