Browsing by Subject "Instructional systems"
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Item The acquisition of intellectual expertise: a computational and empirical theory(2005) Kaczmarczyk, Elizabeth Christine; Miikkulainen, RistoItem Course content authoring and sequencing using XML(Texas Tech University, 1999-08) York, Billy BrooksFor a variety of reasons, classroom computers in our public schools are not being utilized to the fullest extent possible. In an effort to provide more accessible software, in this work we explore the feasibility of using an open systems model to develop course authoring applications. These programs may be used by educators to produce tutorials quickly and simply at little or no cost. As educator gathers all files and URLs which are to be part of the tutorials, and organizes them using the authoring software. This is accomplished using a Document Type Definition (DTD) to define a series of rules for a direct instructional model based on Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction. We then developed a Java application which may be used to produce tutorial files based on the DTD in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. We then produced a Java applet which may be used to view the tutorial files. We met our goal of showing the feasibility of using an open system model with a protocol for course authoring software. In addition, our programs form a complete system for creating, editing, and storing tutorials. Beyond this, they are also inexpensive, produce cross-platform tutorials, and provide a GUI to aid in ease of use.Item Historical background and pedagogical analysis of piano works by selected Taiwanese women(Texas Tech University, 2004-05) Tobita, Yujen ChenWestern art music has been in development in Taiwan for nearly four hundred years, since it was first introduced by the Dutch in the first half of the seventeenth century. During this time, western art music was influenced by dramatic changes in Taiwan's political system, which affected the role it played in the lives of Taiwanese people, as well as the role Taiwanese people played in the evolution of this new music. During the 1980s, growing interest in the study of western art music development in Taiwan led to the discovery of significant works by Taiwanese male composers. As a result, there have been several studies which analyze works by major Taiwanese male composers and their contributions to the development of western art music. However, the works and achievements of Taiwanese women composers have been largely neglected. This dissertation is the first complete historical examination of the various roles played by Taiwanese women in the development of western art music in Taiwan, combined with a pedagogical study of piano solo works by selected Taiwanese women composers. This study includes a thorough investigation of political, economical, educational, social, and cultural changes over the last four hundred years in Taiwan, and recognizes the contributions and achievements of Taiwanese women in the history of western art music to explain how these women emerged as prominent composers in the 1980s. A detailed study of the selected solo piano music composed by two prominent Taiwanese female composers was completed in order to illustrate their ability to integrate western compositional techniques with Taiwanese stylistic elements. The purpose of examining the combination of western and eastern components is to assist piano players in learning and understanding Taiwanese piano music. This dissertation also provides new historical background information on the relationship of specific folk materials to selected compositions. Complete lists of interview questions and works for the two composers of interest are included.Item Not I, not not I: personifying resilience through performance(Texas Tech University, 2004-05) Simmons, JakeNot availableItem Online technical communication: pedagogy, instructional design, and student satisfaction in Internet-based distance education(Texas Tech University, 2000-08) Cargile Cook, KelliIn response to the growing popularity of internet-based instruction in technical and professional communication, this dissertation is the first study to offer a comprehensive examination of pedagogical designs for such instruction. To answer the study's primary research question—How should program directors and instructors design curricula and employ technologies to best deliver technical communication courses and their associated literacies online?—two different pedagogical designs (one presentational, the other interactive) are compared in the study. The presentational design is most similar to traditional paper-based correspondence courses: materials are provided online; students work independently and at their own pace; and student/teacher interactions are restricted to student-initiated questions and teacher feedback on assignments. The interactive design employs three additional communication features—a bulletin board, a chat room, and an internet-based collaborative writing application—in the course's technology mix. Through these technologies, students interact with the instructor on a regular basis, comparable to the interactions onsite students have with their writing instructors. From these two designs, data was gathered on the formative and summative assessment opportunities each design afforded, on student grades as a result of the opportunities, on student literacy demonstration and achievement, and, finally, on student satisfaction with each design. This data was then analyzed to determine which design was most effective. The results of this study did not definitively demonstrate that one design was superior to the other, although the interactive design did appear to promote increased literacy achievement. In fact, both designs seem to have their advantages, depending on the course's literacy goals, students' needs, and institutional constraints, such as class size and instructional load. Because neither pedagogical design in this study was clearly better than the other, the study suggests that a variety of effective designs are not only possible but desirable. Based on these findings, the study recommends an online instructional continuum ranging from presentational to interactive designs. Using this continuum as a starting point for planning a distance course, instructors can locate their own pedagogical and student needs and create an individualized design that best delivers instruction to satisfy these needs.Item Recurrent neural networks for time series prediction(Texas Tech University, 1996-08) Tanyous, Ebtesam ShenoudaNot availableItem The effects of conceptual tempo and computer-assisted instructional environment on college students' self-regulated learning and academic achievement(Texas Tech University, 1996-08) Chyung, Seung YounThere has been an effort toward restructuring schools, where students are encouraged to develop their abilities to use their own various cognitive strategies to solve problems and help themselves to become more effective learners. A group of cognitive psychologists identifies effective learners as self-regulated learners who are metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally active. Compared to the effective self-regulated learners, learners with impulsive conceptual tempo style interested the researcher as an indicator of ineffective and inefficient learners in the process of becoming self-regulated learners. Previous research studies showed that learners with an impulsive conceptual tempo style tended to be ineffective in systematically approaching academic tasks when compared to learners with a reflective conceptual tempo style. This study was concerned with how to prepare computerized learning environments to help the ineffective learners become effective self-regulated learners. This study investigated the effects of two different Computer-Assisted Instructional (CAI) environments and the effects of self-awareness of conceptual tempo styles on college students' self-regulated learning (SRL) skills and their academic achievement scores. Two different CAI environments were compared in this study: INtelligently Controlled CAI (INC CAI), and TOtally Learner-Controlled CAI (TOLC CAI). ESTC CAI adopted the cognitive apprenticeship teaching method using coaching features, and TOLC CAI did not. Students' conceptual tempo styles were measured by a computerized version of the Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT) to categorize them as either impulsive or reflective persons. Students' SRL skills were measured by Zimmerman's SRL model: a metacognitive change (self-monitoring levels), a motivational change (self-efficacy levels), and a behavioral change (self-learning activity levels). Academic achievement scores were also measured. MANOVA tests revealed that INC CAI was significantiy more effective on college students' SRL skills than TOLC CAL. There were no significant effects on students' SRL skills and academic achievement scores due to their self-awareness of conceptual tempo styles. Students in INC CAI showed significantly higher persistency levels than students in TOLC CAI. This study proves that the cognitive apprenticeship teaching method using coaching features in a CAI environment is significantly more effective on college students' development of SRL skills than traditional CAI environments. This study suggests that educators and instructional designers should invest their efforts in developing and utilizing CAI that serves as an intelligent partner to human cognition and that helps students to become self-regulated learners.Item The effects of three teaching models on undergraduate college student achievement in an online self-paced lesson(Texas Tech University, 1998-08) Martindale, Emery SherwoodNon-classroom-based instruction (NCBI) is becoming much more common, particularly due to the growth of computer networks (Harasim, 1995). NCBI is defined in this study as any planned learning environment that is not designed to occur in the traditional classroom. With the rapid expansion of NCBI there is a need to examine its effectiveness in terms of instructional design. A primary method of evaluating various forms of NCBI lies in the examination of the teaching model employed in the instructional design. Many institutions and organizations are providing computer-based instruction for training students and employees. However a large segment of this NCBI remains exclusively in the domain of the behavioral family of teaching models, despite evidence of the effectiveness of other teaching models (Joyce et al., 1992). This is occurring even as the effectiveness of current NCBI is under scrutiny due to high drop-out and failure rates. This quasi-experimental study compared three teaching models from three distinct model classifications for effectiveness in an online self-paced lesson. The models were direct instruction from the behavioral models, concept attainment from the information processing models, and group discussion from the social interaction models. The research questions were: what effect does teaching model have on college students' achievement in a self-paced online lesson?; and what effect does teaching models have on number of test attempts? Participants were a class section of 128 undergraduate college students enrolled in a self-paced campus-based computer literacy course. The study found no significant differences in number of test attempts needed to pass the course instrument. There were also no significant differences in mean test scores or first attempt test scores for participants, regardless of teaching model or prior WWW experience. There was a significant interaction effect between teaching model and WWW experience. This may indicate that certain models are more effective for NCBI environments. Instructors may not have to train for both using the World Wide Web and for the course content. Limitations of the study included the length of time the activities were carried out, and the length, difficulty level, and comprehensiveness of the measurement instmments. Suggestions for further research included: use of other teaching models and combinations of models; increased intervention time with the teaching models; and use of altemative populations and instructional content.