Browsing by Author "Lisa Grable, Committee Member"

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    The Affects of Standards-based Communication Technology Education Units on the Achievement of Selected Standards for Technological Literacy by Middle and High School Students in Technology Education
    (2006-05-11) Blue, Carl Nelson; Lisa Grable, Committee Member; Bill DeLuca, Committee Member; Richard Peterson, Committee Chair; Aaron Clark, Committee Member
    At a national level, new instructional units for the middle and high school Technology Education classroom were disseminated and field-tested by the TECH-know Project, the National Science Foundation funded program (NSF). North Carolina State University, the Technology Student Association (TSA), and the Departments of Public Instruction of North Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma, and Virginia were partnered to create, pilot, revise, and distribute student-centered instructional materials that are based on TSA activities. These activities and curriculum materials were correlated with the Standards for Technological Literacy as identified by the Technology for All Americans Project (ITEA, 2000). Core science, mathematic, and technology education concepts and principles were identified and embedded into these instructional units. An assessment was developed to determine the effects of standards based education on a purposeful sample of Technology Education classrooms. For the purpose of this study, research focused on the four TECH-know Project's communication technology education units of instruction. 1) Cyberspace Pursuit is a middle school unit that explores technologies related to the Internet and webpage developments. 2) Digital Photography is a middle school unit that explores the technologies and concepts behind electronic imaging. 3) Desktop Publishing is a high school unit that explores technologies related to digital printing. 4) Film Technology is a high school unit that explores the technology behind digital video and concepts for video production. These four instruments were measured by means of student pretest and posttest content knowledge. Criterion-referenced tests (CRT) were developed within the course of the TECH-know Project's expert content development and pilot testing. Conclusions on inferential statistical methods on the administered CRT data provided positive results in regards to students' scores in science, mathematics, and technology content. An analysis of data ascertained the variables that influenced on student's scores. Conclusions found that the TECH-know instructional materials, gender, and grade level had significant influence on student gains in knowledge of technology, mathematics, and science content. Descriptive statistical methods summarized data collected on student's access to communication technologies outside the classroom. An analysis of data ascertained the variables that influenced on student's scores. Conclusions based on analysis of variance for control pretest group in this study found that access to certain communication technologies had significant influence on specific student scores at the control pretest treatment stage and at posttest treatment stage based on grade level, gender, and material content.
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    Utilization of Instructional Technology: Towards a Conceptual Model for Teacher Education
    (2004-04-06) Coulter, Benjamin Mark; John Pettitt, Committee Member; Ellen Vasu, Committee Member; Lisa Grable, Committee Member; Bradley S. Mehlenbacher, Committee Chair
    The intent of this study was to propose and test a conceptual model that described utilization of instructional technology by teacher education faculty in University of North Carolina teacher education programs. Focus on utilization was guided by the study's conceptual framework originally developed by Seels and Richey (1994a). Research questions focused on factor groupings contributing to overall utilization of instructional technology; investigating sub-set variables having the most influence on use of technology; describing the nature of relationship between factor groupings and use of instructional technology; creating and testing a conceptual model that illustrates factor groupings and their relation to the use of instructional technology; and identification of specific factors and barriers most frequently cited by faculty as influencing their use of instructional technology. Development of the study included the creation of a 43 question instrument. Structural Equation Modeling employing Exploratory Factor Analysis, Principal Components Analysis, and Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to identify and refine factor groups and test the conceptual model for goodness-of-fit. Study results confirmed goodness-of-fit for the proposed conceptual model of technology use. Five factor groups, identified as primary components of the conceptual model, had varying degrees of relation to the use of technology, with institutional infrastructure holding the highest degree of relation. Faculty participating in the study indicated major influencing factors for their use of technology as: 1. support structures within their teacher education program; 2. classroom availability of technology equipment for instructional use; 3. awareness of benefits that technology offers to teacher education candidates; 4. personal technology literacy. Additionally, faculty indicated that few significant barriers exist that prevent them from using technology in teacher education courses. The most significant barrier reported was lack of time to research and develop technology-enhanced instruction. Qualitative comments suggested that the majority of faculty had very positive attitudes towards technology use. Given increased emphasis on identified factors, UNC teacher education programs have the potential to improve technology integration throughout their preparation program.