Nathan

=Research Interests:= My research interests focus on how students use technology in higher education classrooms and the impact that both the technology and the way students are using it impact learning, and assessment. In my experience students are not always going to use technology in the way it was designed or in the way the instructor intended, and does this use or misuse of technology help or hinder the learning process. Below I illustrate a couple of projects/potential projects that are in line with the type of research that I really find not just interesting, but enthralling!

Recently I conducted a pilot study examining how students are using the streaming recordings of lectures and how this related to their performance in the class. I hope to adapt this concept and refine it for my dissertation work.

A second project I worked on and hope to explore further is the use of synchronous online exams in medical/dental schools and if this mode of assessment is a benefit or hindrance to students, and if students hold preconceived notions about the use of this technology and its impact on student assessment performance.

=Theoretical Foundations:=

Experiential Perspectives:
The concept of experiential perspectives has a focus on active learning. Much of the research that I have completed and am interested in pursuing is centered on the active learning concept. My research focuses on higher education and by extension the learning and pedagogy of older and adult learners. Malcolm Knowles (1976) suggests that adults learn best when dealing with specific real world experience and active learning.

The experiential perspective divides learners into four types: Converger, Diverger, Assimulator, and the Accomidator. My research is focused on college students assort into each of these groups, specifically interesting is the Diverger.

Empirical Perspectives on Memory and Motivation:
This area of educational research deals with motivation as well as the validity and reliability of assessments. Schema-based approaches to motivation in multimedia learning are a topic that would also directly relate to the research I proposed as motivation in the use of video lecture capture.

Lit. Review:
Beldarrain suggests that since its inception, distance learning has focused on maintaining communication between instructors and students (2006). Learning communities arise from our abilities as educators to foster interactions in distributed environments. Learner-centered constructivist environments are at the center of a pedagogical shift in the broader field of distance education. The constructivist principals seek to foster online learning to motivate, cultivate and to meet the needs of today’s learners. Interaction is considered to be necessary to a successful learning experience. According to Beldarrain, several recent studies suggest a strong relationship exists between the use of emerging educational technologies and increasing learner collaboration (2006). “Today’s learners demand more control of the learning experience when they need it” (Beldarrain 2006). Wikis give learners more control to better foster the social interactions they crave. Wikis unlike blogs provide a more permanent and serious form of interaction for students and instructors. Wikis reflect the collaborative works of many authors. Wikis can come in two formats, instructor mediated or student mediated. The student mediated form allows the individual students to direct their own interactions. It does allow for a more enriching social interaction as students do not worry about being stifled by the instructor, but it does remove some of the control of the instructor to drive the content.

Many teachers or instructors create a course website for disseminating information to students. Often they serve the purpose of providing the instructors email address and phone number and the syllabus. The use of a Wiki would allow all the same functionality of a static course website, and provide additional benefits as well. One of these benefits is that the Wiki can be used as a tool of collaboration both between instructor and student as well as between students. As a collaboration tool, Wikis can provide an asynchronous location to work with students on issues that occur outside of the classroom. Carter cites several unexpected benefits of using a wiki in his mathematics course (2009). The use of “virtual office hours” is much more convenient to working and non-traditional students and increased their rate of success, and students with medical or personal issues could still collaborate with their classmates and the instructor to participate in the class even if attendance to the weekly meeting was not possible.

Elgort, Smith and Toland’s examined perceptions of both students and instructors in their use of Wikis in collaborative interactions (2008). The consensus in today’s literature is that in higher education learning environments, emphasis on cooperative and collaborative learning enhances learning outcomes and authentic learning. In addition recent surveys of employers list interpersonal and collaborative skills as one of the top 10 skills sought after for college graduates. The ability to collaborate is an essential life skill in our society. It is important to foster these skills in our institutions of higher education. Elgort, Smith and Toland identify elements needed for successful collaboration. Positive interdependence, this is the concept that the success of the individual is linked to the success of the group. It is a common principal when dealing with group work pedagogy. Individual and group responsibility is the idea that though students have a fair share of the groups work load they will be assessed individually. This works well with the Wiki as a collaborative tool as most Wiki sites have a history so you can monitor individual contributions to the project over time. In the higher education environment student participation in collaborative endeavors should be moving towards the goal of creating a learning community. This is especially important in postgraduate education, professional inquiry communities are imperative in many of today’s professions, especially those requiring advanced training. Elgort, Smith and Toland study found that student’s general attitudes towards group work in general was mixed (2008). Students and instructors both indicated that Wikis were helpful both for providing a media to display their thoughts and to collaborate. That being said, the use of Wikis alone did not seem to change student’s minds regarding the effectiveness of group work in general. The purpose of Hazari, North and Moreland’s study was to investigate the potential of Wikis for teaching and learning (2009). A survey instrument was designed for the Hazari et al. study to address four specific constructs as they deal with wiki technology; Pedagogy, Motivation, Group Interaction and Comfort with Technology. These four features are necessary for facilitating learning through the use of wikis. Researchers ask if factors such as age, gender, work experience, and web development experience will affect user satisfaction, and by extension benefits to learning with wiki technology. Educators for several years have placed a strong emphasis on social networking and technology enhanced interactional and collaboration tools as facilitators in learning. Wikis allow the development, and subsequent distribution of web content. Further, Wikis allow instructors to determine the scope and level of participation of individuals for gauging interaction and providing individual assessments. Even with the above-mentioned advantages, educators much gauge the usefulness of wiki technology in their own educational situation. According to Hazari, North and Moreland, the use of Wikis in education is firmly in line with the Constructivism and Engagement theories (2009). Hazari, North and Moreland found that factors such as gender yielded significant differences in their usability survey. Males were more likely to engage in collaborative interaction via Wiki technology than females. This could be tied to the fact that males spend more time online and many studies cite they are more comfortable with emerging technologies as such. Hazari, North and Moreland conclude that no single learning technology, Wikis included, can in and of themselves change the way people learn; rather they should serve as a catalyst for educators to build collaborative learning communities and facilitate greater group learning (2009). Neumann and Hood studies the impact of Wikis on student engagement and collaboration (2009). In this study students were divided in to groups and asked to wither collaborate via the Wiki or in a traditional face-to-face method. In the Neumann and Hood study participation in the collaboration was low due to the fact that it was not assessed for a grade in the course (2009). Neumann and Hood report that Wikis can facilitate increased student-instructor and student-student interaction and collaborative learning. This has been supported by several other studies of the use of Wikis in higher education. The use of Wikis is directly in line with the constructivist idea that collaboration will lead to greater understanding and learning. This principal has been well studied and is commonly accepted in most educational settings. Neumann and Hood found that the use of Wikis lead to a marked increase in collaboration between students in the groups using them (2009). Though they also suggest that there is not a link between assessment of the writing projects of the Wiki collaboration groups and the students that wrote alone. This seems to suggest that, at least in this case study there is not a link between increased collaboration between students and the increased ability to produce higher assessment results (Neumann & Hood 2009).

Gap in the Literature:
As video lecture capture technology is a reasonable new technological development, little research exists on its effects on learning when used in classrooms. Much of the information we have on the subject comes from anticdotal observations of college and university professors. The bulk of the research thus far has focused on changes in attendance after the addition of streaming video capabilities in large lecture classrooms.

Research Questions:
Will performance of students who did not attend class regularly and received lecture material primarily in a digital format, with that of students who physically attended the lectures and used the streaming video lecture captures as to review?

Problem Statement:
The development of a new technology such as video lecture capture creates a gap in the literature as we do not yet understand its impact on student learning. The completion of this study will increase our understanding of the use of video lecture capture impacts student learning.

Theoretical Basis:

Methodology table: || **Strengths** || **Limitations** || **Primary Source for This Methodology** || **Why I Will or Will Not Use This Method** ||
 * **Research Methodology**
 * **Quantitative ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * **Survey** || Flexibility, collect large amounts of data quickly. || People are not always honest || Likert, Rensis (1932). "A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes". //Archives of Psychology// **140**: 1–55. || **YES, Easiest way to get at research Question of my study.** ||
 * **Correlation Analysis** || Strong yet simple statistical analysis || Very specific data requirements || C. Spearman, "The proof and measurement of association between two things" Amer. J. Psychol., 15 (1904) pp. 72–101 || **YES, Simple test to examine relationships between two or more random variables.** ||
 * **Regression Analysis** || Strong and common statistical analysis || Very specific data requirements || Pearson, Karl; Yule, G.U.; Blanchard, Norman; Lee,Alice (1903). "The Law of Ancestral Heredity" || **NO, does not lend itself to the data that I will examine.** ||
 * **Factor Analysis** || Strong analysis, takes commonality into account || More complex than other statistical tests || Spearman, C. (1904). "General intelligence," objectively determined and measured. //American Journal of Psychology//, //15//, 201-293 || **MAYBE, more research will have to be done to determine if the data is compatible.** ||
 * **Qualitative ** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * **Phenomenological** || Compare phenomenon without examining significance. || Does not consider significance of the phenomenon || Stanley Payne, //The Art of Asking Questions//. Princeton: Pinceton University Press, 1980 || **NO, this study is practical in nature, significance is important.** ||
 * **Case Study** || Allows for an in-depth examination of one group. || Cannot make generalizations based on results || Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. || **MAYBE, Analysis consists of one class or classes on one topic would could be set as a case study.** ||
 * **Grounded Theory** || Forms new theories without the scientific method || Difficult to validate the theory without incontrovertible evidence. || Glaser, B. (1992). Basics of grounded theory analysis. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press. || **NO, does not lend itself to the research questions.** ||
 * **Ethnography** || Provides detailed analysis of a group as a whole. || Is only appropriate in certain research settings || Mead, M (1953). //The Study of Culture At A Distance// || **NO, not appropriate for the research questions.** ||
 * **Mixed Methods ** || Allows combination of the strongest methodologies from each Paradigm || Only appropriate for certain types of research questions and data. || [|Creswell, John] (2004). //Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research// || **MAYBE,** ||


 * Research Questions**
 * || **Methodology**

You may use the same methodology for each question, or not, depending on the questions you are asking. || **Sample**

You may only have one sample for your study, or several different groups/individuals. || **Data Collection**

Data collection methods include interviews, questionnaires, focus groups, pre-post tests, etc. || **Statistical Analysis**

If you are able to provide this, please do so. ||
 * **1.** Will performance of students who did not attend class regularly and received lecture material primarily in a digital format, with that of students who physically attended the lectures and used the streaming video lecture captures as to review? || Quantitative || Student - Survey responses || Survey || **Correlation Analysis,** ||
 * ^  ||^   || Student - Video Recording usage data || Archival data || Mann-Whitney U test because it could be used to compare the student class rank within each group. This compares rank order of students in two groups based on whether the student was attending most lectures and had the option of viewing the video, or students who attended fewer than half the lectures and relied primarily on the videos ||

Baker, W., & Green, J. (2007). Limits to Certainty in Interpreting Video Data: Interactional Ethnography and Disciplinary Knowledge. //Pedagogies//, //2//(3), 191-204.

Ethnography
 * Research Questions || Who does interpretation of disciplinary knowledge differ amongst high school students? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || Ethnographies best answer questions that require in-depth analysis of a population. ||
 * Strengths || Can provide a level of insights into a population other methods can not reach. ||
 * Limitations || Usually require long term study that is not conducive to all research projects. ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || Mead, M (1953). //The Study of Culture At A Distance// ||

Calk, R., Alt, K., Mills, S., & Oliver, R. (2007). The Effective Delivery of a Streaming Video Course Lecture. //Accounting Education//, //16//(1), 81-93.

Case Study
 * Research Questions || Will students who watch videos of the instructor teaching differ from those that watch a paid actor? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || Case studies can be used to evaluate a variety of research questions. ||
 * Strengths || Very versatile methodology. ||
 * Limitations || Difficult to make generalizations since only one specific case was examined. ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ||

Cilesiz, S. (2009). Educational Computer Use in Leisure Contexts: A Phenomenological Study of Adolescents' Experiences at Internet Cafés. //American Educational Research Journal//, //46//(1), 232-274.

Phenomenological
 * Research Questions || What educational potential exists in computer based leisure activities for adolescents? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || This methodology examines specific phenomena ||
 * Strengths || Allows for an indepth study of particular phenomena ||
 * Limitations || Does not consider the significance of the event being studied. ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || Stanley Payne, //The Art of Asking Questions//. Princeton: Pinceton University Press, 1980 ||

Dey, E., Burn, H., & Gerdes, D. (2009). Bringing the Classroom to the Web: Effects of Using New Technologies to Capture and Deliver Lectures. //Research in Higher Education//, //50//(4), 377-393.

Correlation Analysis
 * Research Questions || Is there more effective information transfer in video format as opposed to live format? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || A comparison of two numerical sets of variables. ||
 * Strengths || A reasonably simple statistical test that still can yield powerful results. ||
 * Limitations || Only specific types of data can be compared using this type of analysis ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || C. Spearman, "The proof and measurement of association between two things" Amer. J. Psychol., 15 (1904) pp. 72–101 ||

O'Brien, H., & Toms, E. (2010). The development and evaluation of a survey to measure user engagement. //Journal of the American Society for Information Science & Technology//, //61//(1), 50-69.

Factor Analysis
 * Research Questions || What are the levels of user engagement on online shopping sites? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || This method can describe variability between factors that have a commonality or confounding factors better than correlation analysis. ||
 * Strengths || Takes additional factors into account. ||
 * Limitations || Requires large data sets for reliable results. ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || Gorsuch, R. L. (1983) //Factor Analysis//. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. || Spearman, C. (1904). "General intelligence," objectively determined and measured. //American Journal of Psychology//, //15//, 201-293 ||  ||

Russell, C., & Weaver, G. (2008). Student Perceptions of the Purpose and Function of the Laboratory in Science: A Grounded Theory Study. //International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning//, //2//(2), 1-14.

Grounded Theory
 * Research Questions || Do students understand and appreciate the importance of laboratories in science? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || Grounded theories can be applied in cases where the answer to your research question can be applied to a general theory across several areas. ||
 * Strengths || Allows for generalizations between cases ||
 * Limitations || Diffent approach than the scientific method most research is based upon. ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || Glaser, B. (1992). Basics of grounded theory analysis. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press. ||

Tang, T., & Austin, M. (2009). Students’ perceptions of teaching technologies, application of technologies, and academic performance. //Computers & Education//, //53//(4), 1241-1255.

Mixed Methods
 * Research Questions || What are student perceptions of four objectives, across five teaching technologies? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || Applied to cases where research questions can be examined by more than one methodology / Paradigm. ||
 * Strengths || Often provides additional strength to an argument is multiple methods support the same conclusion. ||
 * Limitations || Mixed methods often take more time to analyze because you are using more than one methodology. The data also has to be appropriate for the methodology. ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || [|Creswell, John] (2004). //Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research//. [|Prentice Hall]. ||

Yang, H., & Cheng, H. (2010). Creativity of student information system projects: From the perspective of network embeddedness. //Computers & Education//, //54//(1), 209-221.

Regression analysis
 * Research Questions || How does network embeddedness effect project team creativity? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || A comparison of several variables. ||
 * Strengths || Common and powerful statistical test. ||
 * Limitations || Like most statistical tests, only certain types of data are appropriate for this type of analysis. ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || [|Creswell, John] (2004). //Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research// ||

Woo, K., Gosper, M., McNeill, M., Preston, G., Green, D., & Phillips, R. (2008). Web-based lecture technologies: blurring the boundaries between face-to-face and distance learning. //ALT-J: Research in Learning Technology//, //16//(2), 81-93.

Survey
 * Research Questions || What are the benefits of lecture capture experiments for distance learning students? Non-distance learning students? ||
 * What kind of question is best answered? || Surveys are very versatile tools that can be used to answer a variety of questions, but are specifically useful in assessing opinions or perceptions of subjects. ||
 * Strengths || Versatile tools able to gather data that can be analyzed in a variety of formats. ||
 * Limitations || Surveys can only give the information that respondents give you. This may or not be accurate. ||
 * Most authoritative sources? || Likert, Rensis (1932). "A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes". //Archives of Psychology// **140**: 1–55. ||

Significance of the study:
 As video lecture capture technology is a reasonable new technological development, little research exists on its effects on learning when used in classrooms. Much of the information we have on the subject comes from antidotal observations of college and university professors. The bulk of the research thus far has focused on changes in attendance after the addition of streaming video capabilities in large lecture classrooms. As technology is constantly changing and evolving, it is difficult for those researchers who study its use in education to keep up with the demand for studies of different technologies effects on student learning and developing best practices for technology use. Any and all well developed studies of the use of technology in education are typically welcome in the field. But that being said, it is not enough to conduct research; one must also share findings with the professional community and educational administration. It is the hope of the researchers that this study will help the instructors of the course and administrators of the department and university better understand how students are using the video capture in their classes. Further it will allow them to better tailor its continued use to enhance student learning and positive social change through and increased access for future classes of students. The results of this study should be presented to the students of this and similar courses to encourage them to employ video lecture capture use patterns that may positively impact their course rank.  

Journals:
1. Advances in Physiology Education a. As this study was done specifically on students of physiology at a major research university, it would be very relevant to other physiology instructors that may be teaching in a similar format. 2. Journal of Educational Research a. A pilot of this work was recently presented at the educational research association’s eastern regional conference and was well received. As a journal that focuses on disseminating quality educational research it would also make a good choice. 3. Journal of educational technology and Society a. This journal presents research on a variety of technology related topics and often presents a heavy focus on higher education which is often not present in many educational journals.

Professional Conferences:
1. Eastern Educational Research Conference a. As mentioned above this seemed like a good venue to get feedback on the methods and theoretical concepts of this project. As such I presented a pilot study of this topic through the State University of New York at Buffalo. (This study was not affiliated with Walden U in anyway) 2. State University of New York Conference on Instructional Technologies a. Though it is a small meeting, and one may even suggest that “professional” may be stretching it, Many SUNY instructional technologists and administrators with first hand or second hand experience with this specific technology and its use on SUNY campuses will be present. This makes it a good platform to push for reform if it is needed.

One of the primary forms of scholarly dissemination of research is to present at associations and conferences. Attached below is the PPT file from a recent presentation I gave on this topic at the Eastern Education Research Association meeting. This study was preformed by myself and my co-author in conjunction with the State University of New York at Buffalo and is not directly associated with my affiliation with Walden University. I hope the insight I gained from this work and from the presentation will help me better prepare for my dissertation research. This study could be considered a pilot study towards those ends.