A qualitative perspective on preservice teachers’ positions related to the use of technology in schools

Alexandru Spatariu; Tianyi Zhang

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2008 (Mar 03, 2008) pp. 738–743

Online discussion forums have become common practice in many areas of education. They are used to enhance student discourse leading to an enriched understanding of course content. Participants in the current study were 44 undergraduate students...

A qualitative view of teacher initiated phone calls in virtual high schools

Marley Belair; Alexandru Spatariu

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2012 (Mar 05, 2012) pp. 3839–3843

Virtual schools have begun to overtake other forms of charter schools in many of the states in which charters are permitted (Kanna, Gillis, & Culver, 2009; Peterson, 2010). The last decade has seen a plethora of virtual schools, from those that are...

Factors that Influence the Quality of Online Discussions

Alexandru Spatariu; Denise Winsor

World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2013 (Oct 21, 2013) pp. 1398–1406

Online discussions (i.e., online discourse) are common components in distance education courses. Online discussions serve to bridge a gap in student interaction that might be compromised due to the isolation of distance education and serve to...

Topics: Instructional Design

Metacognitive Prompts and Mental Multiplication: Analyzing Strategies with a Qualitative Lens

Bobby Hoffman; Alexandru Spatariu

Journal of Interactive Learning Research Vol. 22, No. 4 (December 2011) pp. 607–635

A grounded theory approach was employed to explore the variation in strategies used by students when solving mental multiplication problems. Metacognitive prompts, externally generated stimuli that activate thoughtful cognition, were automatically...

A MOBI Case Study: Teachers Acclimating to Technology in a Preschool Classroom

Denise Winsor; Alexandru Spatariu

E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2014 (Oct 20, 2014) pp. 2069–2079

The enculturation of the iGeneration and technology far exceeds adult experiences. Early childhood teachers are faced with many obstacles when it comes to incorporating technology as a teaching tool or learning activity (Peach, Bell, and Spatariu,...

Topics: Instructional Design, Implementation Examples & Issues

Analyzing Students’ Responses to Metacognitive Prompting in Mathematical Problem Solving Through a Qualitative Lens

Alexandru Spatariu; Bobby Hoffman

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2008 (Jun 30, 2008) pp. 1148–1163

External evaluations, particularly feedback, plays an important role related to strategy use in different phases of learning. Metacognitive prompting, a form of strategic feedback, has been shown to be more instrumental in the learning process. The...

A Qualitative Perspective: Pre-Service Teachers Discuss Educational Technology Online

Alexandru Spatariu; Denise L. Winsor

Journal on School Educational Technology Vol. 6, No. 1 (2010) pp. 24–38

Although there is a push in education to increase the amount of technologies used in the classroom much of the recent literature emphasizes a need to investigate ways to improve the instructional methods used when incorporating technology in...

Test Item Analysis in an English World Literature WebCT Course

Alexandru Spatariu; Norma Engberg; Judith Osterman

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2006 (Mar 19, 2006) pp. 535–540

In late fall of 2003, University of Nevada, Las Vegas' administration implemented a plan to revise the University's General Education Core Curriculum Requirements. Two already existing literature online WebCT courses, ENG 231 and ENG 232 World...

Topics: Curriculum

Exploration of Frameworks for Evaluation of Online Discussions and Methodological Considerations

Alexandru Spatariu; Denise Winsor; Bobby Hoffman

World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2013 (Oct 21, 2013) pp. 2106–2116

In order to evaluate quality of online discourse when using either coursed-based online discussion tools (e.g., discussion boards, chat) or similar tools ancillary to the course (e.g., wikis, skype, mobile device applications) different frameworks...

Topics: research

A Review of Research on Factors That Impact Online Discussions

Alexandru Spatariu; Linda Quinn; Kendall Hartley

World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2007 (Jun 25, 2007) pp. 737–742

In support of online discussions research, this review classifies and describes different factors such as instructional interventions and learner characteristics that affect the quality of discussions. The review will help educators better...

A Review of Research on Factors that Impact Aspects of Online Discussions Quality

Alexandru Spatariu; Linda F. Quinn; Kendall Hartley

TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning Vol. 51, No. 3 (May 2007) pp. 44–48

In support of online discussions research, this review classifies and describes instructional interventions and learner characteristics that affect the quality of discussions. The review will help educators better understand factors such as group...

Defining and Measuring Quality in Online Discussions

Alexandru Spatariu; Kendall Hartley; Lisa D. Bendixen

Journal of Interactive Online Learning Vol. 2, No. 4

In support of research examining relationships between learner characteristics and the quality of online discussions, this paper surveys different methods for evaluating discussions. The paper will present coding methods used in our own research as...

The use of web-based diagrams to facilitate student understanding of educational research concepts

Alexandru Spatariu; Linda Quinn; Karen Grove

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2009 (Mar 02, 2009) pp. 1333–1335

Although existing research addresses various aspects of causal diagrams and text comprehension little is known about their use in a web-based environment. The widespread use of technology in distance and face-to-face classrooms calls for more...

Content Analysis of Discussions in an Online Classroom Management Course

Karen Grove; Linda Quinn; Alexandru Spatariu

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2009 (Mar 02, 2009) pp. 381–385

This study analyzed discussion of 21 teacher candidates in an online course on classroom management to examine development of knowledge and skills in classroom management strategies. Henri's (1992) framework for content analysis of computer-mediated ...

The Development of the Motivation for Critical Reasoning in Online Discussions Inventory (MCRODI)

Tianyi Zhang; Matthew J. Koehler; Alexandru Spatariu

American Journal of Distance Education Vol. 23, No. 4 (2009) pp. 194–211

This study was conducted to develop an inventory that measures students' motivation to engage in critical reasoning in online discussions. Inventory items were developed based on theoretical frameworks and then tested on 168 participants. Using...

Various aspects of technology use with young children

Alexandru Spatariu; Susan Bell; Andrea Peach; Denise Winsor

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2011 (Mar 07, 2011) pp. 3719–3721

The paper addresses different aspects of technology use with young children that we need to be aware of in order to design meaningful learning environments. These include, but are not limited to, evaluation, curriculum alignment, and teacher roles....

Innovations in Teaching Classroom Assessment

Alexandru Spatariu; Michelle Weibel; Lisa Bendixen; Lori Olafson

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2004 (2004) pp. 263–267

In an attempt to better prepare assessment literate teachers, the content and delivery of a required UNLV undergraduate assessment course was revised. The revised course included various methods of assessing student learning beyond the original...

Topics: Video, Classrooms, Audio, Elementary Education, Assessment

Young children and technology exposure outside of the school setting

Andrea Peach; Susan Bell; Denise Winsor; Alexandru Spatariu

Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2011 (Mar 07, 2011) pp. 3713–3715

The paper presents different types of technology used by children at home and outside the home environment. Children are exposed to technology in the home from the time they are born. Children are also exposed to technology in many areas outside of...

The Influence of the Discussion Leader Procedure on the Quality of Arguments in Online Discussions

Alexandru Spatariu; Kendall Hartley; Gregory Schraw; Lisa D. Bendixen; Linda F. Quinn

Journal of Educational Computing Research Vol. 37, No. 1 (2007) pp. 83–103

Many consider rich argumentation to be the core of quality discussions and view it as a vehicle to solving problems and clarifying content. This study examined the influence of a discussion leader intervention on the quality of online argumentation...