Dissertation Defense Announcement for Amy Chase Martin

The Instructional Technology Ed.D. program invites the university community to a dissertation defense for Amy Chase Martin on April 11, 2019 at 10:00 am in HH 110.

Dissertation title: Comparative Analysis of Student Performance Outcomes of Developmental Reading Students in an Active-Learning Classroom Versus a Traditional Classroom

Dissertation committee: Dr. Bill Sadera (Chair), Dr. Scot McNary, Dr. Jack Cole, and Dr. Christine Helfrich

Abstract: Active-learning classrooms (ALCs) are being implemented in higher education, as alternatives to traditional classrooms, in order  to support a growing movement towards student-centered, active-learning pedagogies. Researchers have credited ALCs with contributing to positive student performance outcomes for students who are ranked as lower performing academically, but those studies have been limited to four-year institutions. The majority of undergraduate students in the United States attend community colleges and the majority of community college students require some type of developmental coursework in math or English. Given that students requiring developmental instruction are the most underprepared academically in a community college setting, this study will examine the implications for developmental reading students receiving instruction in an ALC.  Using a quasi-experimental design, this quantitative study measured the impact of one type of ALC, the learning studio, on the student outcomes of performance, attendance, retention and persistence of developmental reading students receiving instruction in the learning studio ALC as compared to those receiving instruction in a traditional classroom. Additionally, the study examined student perceptions of their own learning and faculty performance, as well as social interactions between students and faculty in each of the learning spaces. Findings suggest increased student interactions in the active-learning classroom; however no differerences were detected for other performance outcomes.

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This post was written by Walczak, Robin