Browsing by Author "Stella, Julie"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A capability approach for online primary and secondary students with disabilities
    (Wiley, 2017-10-06) Stella, Julie; Corry, Michael; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    A capability approach was used to identify and synthesise research studies about online students with disabilities in primary and secondary school (aged five to 18 years) in an attempt to describe the experience from an empirical perspective. A capability approach is intended to maximise agency and can be used to describe the extent to which individuals are able to use limited resources to build a satisfying and enjoyable life. In this analysis, a derived capability set was used to narrow the larger body of research about primary and secondary students in online education in order to consider only studies that described ways in which students successfully used online education to maximise agency. The derived capability set was: autonomy, judgement, practical reason, affiliation, high school graduation and a desire to help others. A method for deriving the capability set and ways in which a capability approach fails to describe this experience are discussed.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Creating Virtual Spaces to Build Community Among Students Entering an Undergraduate Biomedical Engineering Program
    (Springer Nature, 2020-08-20) Higbee, Steven; Miller, Sharon; Waterfill, Abigail; Maxey, Kayla; Stella, Julie; Wallace, Joseph; Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology
    After the transition to online instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, students in our program lamented the loss of connection to their peers, more so than diminished access to faculty, teaching assistants, or other resources. Fortunately, given that the semester was well underway when the transition occurred and few students in our courses were new to our BME program, we feel that students missed out on relatively few formative community-building experiences. This would not be the case for a fall semester of online instruction, however, so we must take action for the sake of our incoming class of undergraduate students. Our experience from spring 2020 and our review of the relevant literature suggest that we can be successful at building community among our new cohort of BME students, regardless of the mode of instruction.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Intervention in Online Writing Instruction: An Action-theoretical Perspective
    (Elsevier, 2016-06) Stella, Julie; Corry, Michael; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    This analysis argues for an interwoven perspective of motivation, engagement, agency, and action in Online Writing Instruction (OWI) compiled from shared elements of empirical research in online education, writing instruction, and especially student academic engagement in traditional classrooms, where the research domain is comparatively mature. Engagement is the common element shared by these domains. In online education research, engagement is sometimes understood through intentional student actions. In writing instruction, engagement is commonly understood through human agency. In academic settings, engagement can be seen as a foundational part of Self-Determination Theory, which is comprised of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional engagement (Deci and Ryan, 1985). Educators often find measures of engagement valuable because they are reliable predictors of student outcomes, and they suggest a reasonable point of intervention for struggling students. A measure of agentic engagement, which describes the extent to which a student exerts agency to personalize a learning experience, could add value to measures of engagement, especially in OWI where actions and agency are integral to student success. In addition, a focus on engagement and intervention/remediation may offer an opportunity for students to succeed in learning online, not just in OWI, which is a valued skill in the workplace.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Teacher self-efficacy in online education: a review of the literature
    (Association for Learning Technology, 2018-10-17) Corry, Michael; Stella, Julie; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    Although empirical validation of teacher self-efficacy in face-to-face environments continues, it remains a relatively new construct in online education. This literature review, which was conducted over academic databases and which examined work published in the past 15 years, explores three areas of research about teacher self-efficacy in online education: (1) ease of adopting online teaching, (2) online teaching self-efficacy in comparison to demographic and experience variables and (3) changes in teacher self-efficacy in professional development scenarios where self-efficacy was measured before and after treatment. Research studies demonstrate agreement (or no discernible disagreement) in the importance of system/curriculum quality in the implementation of online learning and the recognition that a measure of self-efficacy in online pedagogy has not yet been empirically derived. Researchers continue to examine the balance of technological and pedagogical knowledge that supports the development of teacher self-efficacy, the role of learner self-efficacy in teacher self-efficacy and whether teacher self-efficacy differs fundamentally in online education. In addition, it seems clear that empirical validation of the association of teacher self-efficacy and student success has yet to occur in online education with the rigour seen in face-to-face modes of delivery.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Teaching Writing in Online Distance Education: Supporting Student Success
    (University of West Georgia, 2013) Stella, Julie; Corry, Michael; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    An intervention is a counseling action an instructor may use to support a student who struggles to work productively in an online writing instruction (OWI) course. Interventions may increase retention and graduation rates at institutions as well as increase student and teacher satisfaction (Allen, Bourhis, Burrell, and Mabry, 2002; Archambault and Crippen, 2009; McCombs, Ufnar, and Shepherd, 2007; O'Dwyer, Carey, and Kleiman, 2007; Stein, Wanstreet, Calvin, Overtoom, and Wheaton, 2005; Sun, Tsai, Finger, Chen, and Yeh, 2008). In Moore's (1993) Theory of Transaction Distance, interventions are called "advice and counsel," and they are a crucial component of the program structure element in the theory. Many researchers recommend early identification and intervention for struggling students (Archambault et al., 2010; Simpson, 2004). For example, Simpson (2004) found that early interventions following Keller's (1987) ARCS model (Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction) were effective in helping students complete a course. In addition, Simpson found that such interventions could be cost effective; however, there are many open variables when calculating cost. As researchers and online instructors, the authors recommend early intervention activities performed by email and text messaging at many opportunistic intervention points during the course of the instruction. As well, developing an intervention strategy prior to course beginning to assist in planning and preparation is advocated and recommended.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Thinking Beyond the Service Course Model: Intentional Integration of Technical Communication Courses in a BME Undergraduate Curriculum
    (ASEE PEER, 2022-08-23) Stella, Julie; Higbee, Steven; Miller, Sharon; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering
    Contemporary engineers must be confident communicating technical and non-technical information to diverse audiences. Traditional curricula may rely on highly generalized communication courses, which are not targeted to the disciplinary content or communication needs of specific engineering fields. To better prepare engineering undergraduates, students may benefit from a curriculum that deconstructs boundaries between disciplinary content mastery and effective communication. Here we describe efforts to intentionally develop and pair technical communication courses with existing biomedical engineering (BME) laboratory courses. To achieve this, interdisciplinary faculty came together through a Community of Practice to design and implement a curriculum that maximizes the benefit of writing instruction through strategic timing and more field-specific relevance. Our work developed a strategically timed integrated curriculum wherein two one-credit technical communication courses replaced an existing 2-credit technical communication course requirement—in the new model, students take a one-credit technical communication course in their sophomore year and a one-credit technical communication course in their junior year. By integrating the courses earlier in the program, we highlight how BME sophomores are now able to apply writing skills immediately to classroom assignments and continually grow their communication skills over the course of the program. Additionally, the integrated curriculum limited the genres of writing to those commonly found in the BME field (industry and academia), with an emphasis on writing as both a process and a product. We will share the changes made within both the engineering and technical communication courses. Briefly, students completed culminating overlapping assignments that were drafted and polished in the TCM class then submitted for a technical grade to the BME course instructor. Throughout, our approach focused on building student-student, student-instructor, and instructor-instructor relationships. Classroom communities and student-student relationships were grown and nurtured through technical peer review, collaborative writing, and team membership (e.g., roles, relationships, management, leadership). In the faculty Community of Practice, key strategies included: 1) integrated, ongoing, and consistent assessment of written and oral communication student deliverables, and 2) a shared content-related vocabulary provided continuity and connections among technical skills and communication to augment the student experience. Here we describe efforts to intentionally develop and pair technical communication courses with existing biomedical engineering (BME) laboratory courses. To achieve this, interdisciplinary faculty came together through a Community of Practice to design and implement a curriculum that maximizes the benefit of writing instruction through strategic timing and more field-specific relevance.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Understanding online K-12 students through a demographic study
    (Contact Nord, 2014-12) Corry, Michael; Dardick, William; Ianacone, Robert; Stella, Julie; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    Online K-12 learning opportunities have proliferated, but much remains to be understood about the characteristics of participating students. This study presents a demographic profile of fulltime, K-12 online learners today and compares them with public school students nationwide in the United States. The data was collected from a parent survey that produced 119,155 valid responses/records for students enrolled full-time in online K-12 public schools in 43 states. The study shows that the online student population includes somewhat more females than males, and more middle school than elementary or high school students. White students are overrepresented among full-time online learners compared with their share of the nationwide student population, while Hispanic/Latino and Asian/Pacific Islander students are underrepresented. Gifted and talented students and English language learners (ELLs) are also underrepresented. These data provide a baseline for more detailed explorations and can assist practitioners, policy makers, and researchers in making important decisions about online education that have implications for all students.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Understanding Online Teacher Best Practices: A Thematic Analysis to Improve Learning
    (SAGE, 2014-01-01) Corry, Michael; Ianacone, Robert; Stella, Julie; Technology and Leadership Communication, School of Engineering and Technology
    The purpose of this study was to examine brick-and-mortar and online teacher best practice themes using thematic analysis and a newly developed theory-based analytic process entitled Synthesized Thematic Analysis Criteria (STAC). The STAC was developed to facilitate the meaningful thematic analysis of research based best practices of K-12 education delivery options. In the study, data for the thematic analysis consisted of published research about best practices in both brick-and-mortar and online education. The use of both brick-and-mortar as well as online teacher best practices provided an opportunity to identify commonalities among these modes of delivery. Based on these commonalities, the thematic analysis detected emergent themes, which could be used as a foundation upon which online teachers might build specialized practice. As well, research-validated teacher best practice themes generated from this study may be considered a starting point for defining teacher best practices in online education and for their development. Emergent themes were discussed in the context of the data and the environment of online education. The STAC analytic process provides a foundation for analysis and may be used by researchers for other thematic analyses in the future.