Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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2015 - 20172

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    INTENTIONAL IMPLEMENTATION: A SELF-STUDY EXAMINING AND EVALUATING INSTRUCTIONAL IMPLEMENTATION OF DIGITAL TOOLS TO FOSTER ACADEMIC WRITING IN THE ENGLISH SECONDARY CLASSROOM
    (2017) Alcoser, Michelle Elaine; McCaleb, Joseph L; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This self-study examines the planning, practices, policies, and procedures present in a blended learning classroom environment to develop academic writing with tenth and eleventh grade public high school students. Digital technology is a prevalent and powerful force intertwined with most aspects of the human experience in the twenty-first century. As school systems, educators, and teacher educators try to respond to and within this rapidly evolving climate, they are confronted with challenges on many fronts, including infrastructure, professional development, teaching practice, policy, and further compounded by fiscal limitations. This effort is additionally challenged by a high-stakes testing climate in which state exam scores are used to evaluate the performance of the student, teacher, school, district, and state levels. Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) is the frame predominantly used in academic literature to articulate, explore, and understand the aspects in play in the 21st-century classroom. Two practices implemented with digital tools to support academic writing development, discussion boards and digital document submissions/revisions were studied. Digital document submission/revision was found to have a positive relationship with fostering improved attitudes towards revision and about students’ own writing efficacy. This practice was most successful when classroom policies were modified to account for the shift in the nature of the task and its role in student learning. This self-study suggests a fourth dimension of knowledge is necessary to understand and implement digital technology in the classroom. Organizational knowledge (OK) includes: classroom policies, the arrangement of physical and virtual spaces, and classroom management in physical and virtual spaces. Technological Organizational Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TOPACK) would integrate OK into the framework, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of what teachers need to know when implementing instructional technology in their classrooms. While some have included classroom management under the pedagogical knowledge branch of TPACK, I suggest that this fails to acknowledge the larger OK needed beyond the knowledge of how best to teach and is a limited perception of the purpose of classroom management. Navigating institutional and procedural considerations also impact classroom operations. Additional research is needed in the area of OK and how its components are impacted by the inclusion of digital technologies in the 21st-century classroom and to confirm the findings.
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    ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY USE AMONG SECONDARY SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS IN A PRIVATE SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS WITH SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES: TYPES, LEVELS OF USE AND REPORTED BARRIERS.
    (2015) Constantinescu, Carmen; McLaughlin, Margaret; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Special education teachers are expected to integrate assistive technology (AT) for students with disabilities per Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). However, the legal mandates do not provide clear guidelines regarding the type, the frequency, and the purpose for which AT can be used and, often, the decision of AT integration is left up to teachers and members of Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) teams who may or may not have complete knowledge of the AT implementation strategies. This research study provides an overview of how teachers of different content areas in a technology-rich self-contained secondary program for students with learning disabilities implemented AT in their daily instruction. Teacher reports and observations reflected discrepancies in how teachers may perceive their teaching with AT and revealed that, in spite of having access to a variety of technologies, there continues to be a focus on using low and medium AT (less complex technology). Specific factors (barriers) that influenced the integration of technology for students with learning disabilities are also investigated and described.