The purpose of this quantitative study was to provide a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to collect radiologic science faculty members' perceptions of online education. Using a survey modified from an existing study, data were collected concerning faculty perceptions of online education in radiologic sciences. R was used to analyze the survey data through exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, short form optimization, and weighted multiple regression analysis to produce an instrument that exhibits both content and construct validity, is reliable, and is a shortened, optimized version of the original instrument. The findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are provided to begin work broadening this under-researched area in the field of radiologic sciences.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate the relationship between the digital divide and the Latino-White achievement gap in online education. Through an analysis of archival enrollment and academic performance data a comparison was conducted between online and face-to-face courses by ethnicity. Additionally, academic performance data was then compared to survey responses from online students on digital motivation, material access, internet skills, and internet usage. Findings and recommendations for future research are discussed and provided to continue the exploration of disparities of digital access and academic performance in an effort to inform decisions in higher education.

Middle America is dying. The United Nations reports the average number of deaths per 1,00 population in the U.S. has steadily increased an average of 1.2 per 1,000 persons annually since 2015. Existing research offer conflicting theories regarding the factors influencing the phenomenon. the purpose of this study was to examine reliable and valid secondary data to determine if statistical evidence exists to support the prevailing theories. Statistical evidence was observed that suggests the crude death rates among U.S. non-Hispanic white (NHWs) populations was significantly higher than other U.S. population segments between 2015 and 2018. Statistical evidence was also observed that suggests U.S. NHWs sought ambulatory services for alcohol and drug use self-injuries at higher rates than other U.S. population segments. However, the evidence suggest that U.S. NHWs are not more likely to experience earlier than expected deaths from excessive alcohol or drug use than other U.S. population segments. The study's implications are that U.S. policy makers should consider long-term economic development and sustainability strategies focused on the promotion of higher education as a deterrent to self-harm among U.S. residents without college degrees or skills certifications. The study recommends future large-scale quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-use studies that examine the micro, …

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, universities throughout the United States closed their campuses and transitioned their face-to-face courses to remote learning. The unprecedented transition created a unique learning and teaching environment. This case-based qualitative study investigates the experiences of business professors from a prestigious school of business that taught during the transition. Findings derived from the digital Likert survey instrument completed by all the business faculty and semi-structured interviews of selected business faculty. Some of the topics of the survey and interviews included communicating with students, developing the learning management system course content, delivering asynchronous material, delivering synchronous classes, and providing instructional feedback. Findings included a significant growth in business professor's perceived skillset in almost all topics, an interest in further developing skills, and an interest in adopting the new skills in future face-to-face courses. Through NVIVO analysis of the interviews, four thematical elements were identified: faculty efficacy, faculty training, course delivery, rapport. The study investigated a deep wholistic view of the data presented and provided an extensive in-depth description of the social phenomenon. A practical framework for incorporating the identified themes was developed for business schools needing to establish and maintain online business programs.

This case study investigated the phenomenon of the black white test score gap by seeking to determine if there was a difference in the academic performance of African American students and their White peers. The determination of student academic performance was made using scores from second semester Algebra II classes at two high schools in the Tucson Unified School District. The data covered three academic years and was analyzed via SPSS (independent samples t-test, ANOVA, and a pairwise analysis) and content analysis for qualitative analysis. Findings revealed that there was no variance in the scores of African Americans and their White peers attending an affluent school; however African Americans attending a low-income school scored lower than all groups that were compared in this study.

This meta-analysis looks at the results of five studies on the use of technology for the treatment of dyscalculia in primary school age children. Results show significant positive improvement using specialized software treatment technologies for students in Grades 1-5 in various countries using four different software games. However, little is known overall about the effectiveness of technology treatments for dyscalculics, and even less is known about standardized assessments and treatment of this learning disorder in the United States. The literature researched for this dissertation did not put forth any known policies that drive assessment and treatment of dyscalculia. Future studies are needed about dyscalculia, that provide more detailed information to allow other researchers to verify their work.

A case study was used to survey 308 teacher trainees in western Kenya to investigate the extent to which pre-service teachers in two Kenyan teacher training colleges are prepared to integrate technology in teaching. . The study uses the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) framework to understand the knowledge needed by the pre-service teachers to integrate technology effectively. Data was gathered using the Survey of Pre-Service Teachers' Knowledge of Teaching and Technology and three open-ended questions. Data from the survey does not distinguish the TPACK variable among the respondents. The data suggests that the pre-service teachers rate themselves highly on the other six TPACK subscales of technological knowledge, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, technological pedagogical knowledge, and technological content knowledge. Further, the data suggests that the respondents' personal use of technology, to a large extent, influences how they use technology in classrooms. Lastly, the data indicates that the survey instrument is inadequate in capturing all the TPACK subscales in this population as it shows weak internal consistency. These findings imply that faculty in these colleges need to be more intentional and deliberate in teaching the trainees how to integrate technology in lessons. Policymakers and college administrators may …

This study explores the phenomenon of computational thinking indicated by the use of Bloom's taxonomy's cognitive domain verbs in the Scratch community, the online, collaborative environment for the Scratch Visual Programming Language (VPL). A corpus of 660,984 words from three Scratch community sub-forums provide the data for this study. By semantically aligning cognitive domain verbs of Bloom's revised taxonomy to computational thinking (CT) dimensions, the occurrences of the verbs in Scratch community sub-forums are used to indicate instances of computational thinking. The methodology utilizes qualitative coding and analysis with R® and RStudio®. The findings show language attributes such as expressions of imagination, sharing of creative details, collaborative development ideas, teaching, modeling, innovating, solutions focused, and technical support to be indicative of computational thinking and CT dimensions. The computational thinking dimension referred to as computational perspectives occurs most frequently within Scratch community participant discourse. The environmental factors found to contribute to computational thinking and the CT dimensions are supporting tools, personalized learning, supportive organizational culture, social learning, and organizational support. Common among the three computational dimensions is the contributing environmental factor described as supportive organizational culture, with the computational perspectives dimension prevailing among the corpora. The characteristics of computational perspectives and …

The current study was conducted with foreign language students enrolled in the summer course at Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), an intense foreign language program. The study measured and analyzed students' preferences toward mobile applications for learning a foreign language. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data on students' preferences of mobile delivery modes for learning a foreign language. The research design deployed was single-case design at two points-in-time, called repeated measures design in the t-test statistics, where effects-over-time of treatment (i.e., using a technological device) were tracked. The effects-over-time of using a mobile device for learning foreign language skills were significant and the magnitude of differences in students' attitudes between Weeks 2 and 8 was also significant. Students must have felt that their performance had changed at Week 8 and that using a smartphone could have been the difference. The structure and the research methodology of having null hypotheses that are tested statistically are both clear enough to provide a template for a replication of the study with a different sample. The statistical tests used by this study can be replicated with different research problems or a different audience.