Ph.D. - Education
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Item USING DESIGN BASED RESEARCH (DBR) TO MAP AN ONLINE UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING (UDL) MULTIDISCIPLINARY FRAMEWORK OF INSTRUCTIONAL COACHING(2024) Munafo, Koran Nichole; Sorensen, Christine; Hoffman, Daniel; EducationItem Student experience and academic performance in an online asynchronous community college course delivered in accelerated, cohort, and traditional formats: A mixed methods study(2024) Mahi, Michele; Halagao, Patricia E.; EducationItem HAʻI MOʻOLELO: ENGAGING ALOHA ʻĀINA CURRICULUM TO HOʻOULU ʻŌPIO AT WAIʻANAE INTERMEDIATE(2024) Oana, Ululani Kekahiliokalani Brigitte Russo; Kukahiko, Eōmailani; EducationItem Negotiation in classroom conversations: An examination of teacher and student engagement(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Whatley, Kristina Doot; Maaka, Margaret J.; EducationEducators are becoming increasingly aware of the necessity for providing students opportunities to engage in content-area dialogic talk, even when the conversation runs the risk of being emotionally uncomfortable. Students need the mindsets and skills to be able to enter into respectful dialogues with individuals from diverse backgrounds in order to find common ground where it exists, and to disagree civilly and productively where common ground is absent. For teachers to effectively facilitate these dialogues, they must make decisions in creating and designing spaces for talk to occur, effectively navigating challenges that arise during classroom talk. The literature suggests that teachers negotiate tensions in four key areas: (1) diminishing their experiences to honor students’ experiences, (2) developing a classroom culture and expectations conducive to dialogic inquiry, (3) balancing the linguistic and cognitive demands of rationality and argumentation with storytelling and humor, and (4) intervening effectively during talk time to provide support for students. Many teachers who are experienced facilitators can navigate these tensions in order to encourage productive student-centered conversations. However, the current body of literature lacks a framework to guide teachers in making these decisions. This dissertation explored the decision-making processes of five experienced teachers in secondary-level content areas in Hawaiʻi to develop a model of decision making for inexperienced teachers interested in learning how to similarly facilitate dialogic talk in their classrooms. Data were collected from audio recordings of intensive interviews to elicit a rich description of their teaching philosophies and experiences, their language use, and their relationships with their students. From these sources, the data were analyzed using qualitative methods blending tools to capture common themes. The analysis of interview data details the factors that enable these teachers to persevere in opening dialogic spaces despite the challenges, strategies they use to create conditions for productive talk, and ways in which they view the nature of teacher intervention during dialogues. The study concludes by generating a framework for decision making in which teachers use their knowledge of their students to flexibly set short-term cognitive, linguistic, and social emotional goals for student talk, moving students through successive stages of a spectrum ranging from teacher-controlled talk to student-led talk.Item Enhancing Learning Outcomes In Online Environments Through The Support Of Self-regulated Learning(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Gose, Davilla Riddle; Paek, Seungoh; EducationThe online learning environment demands the ability to self-regulate, set up learning goals, monitor progress, and self-reflect on the learning process. Self-regulated learning (SRL) is an approach to learning where students actively have control over their behaviors. Self-regulated learning theory implies that learners possess certain attributes or engage in strategies to promote comprehension, retention, and learning. This dissertation explored SRL strategies across regulatory phases (i.e., forethought, performance, and self-reflection), distinct regulator profiles, relationships to academic achievement, and implications to instructional design (ID) within a competency-based online course. Study participants were students in LTEC 112: Technologies for Academic Success. Results showed participants employed SRL strategies at different levels across phases and subscales. Three profiles of self-regulators emerged: (a) minimal, (b) moderate, and (c) competent. These profiles were positively correlated to academic achievement in LTEC 112. The study identified ID elements that supported self-regulatory skills. Findings revealed five areas of focus (i.e., instructor support, personal timeline, check performance, course syllabus, and expectation setting) as important and where instructional designers intentionally incorporated these types of SRL elements into their design. This study expanded and enhanced the understanding of how the complex range of SRL processes and self-regulation profiles intersect with ID strategies used in online learning.Item Effects of the Concrete-Representational-Abstract Instructional Sequence on Solving Algebraic Equations for Middle School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Goya, Dana; Wells, Jenny; EducationAs students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) participate in the general education setting at greater rates, they are expected to meet rigorous grade-level academic standards. Students with ASD typically struggle with problem solving, higher-ordered thinking, and mathematical reasoning. When students enter middle school, mathematics becomes more abstract and cognitively complex. Therefore, it is imperative to identify effective educational strategies and supports for middle school students with ASD. The concrete-representational-abstract (CRA) instructional sequence has proven results and is an evidence-based practice for students with learning disabilities. CRA involves the use of concrete manipulatives that develop into pictorial representations and eventually into abstract numerical strategies, all taught via explicit instruction. This study investigated the effects of the CRA instructional sequence on solving one-step, two-step, and three-step algebraic equations for two middle school students with ASD. Once both participants met mastery criterion in each concrete, representational, and abstract phase for one-step and two-step algebraic equations, CRA instruction was provided to participants in a dyad. Results indicated a functional relation between the CRA instructional sequence and solving one-step, two-step, and three-step algebraic equations for both participants. When CRA instruction was provided in a dyad, both participants were also generally able to achieve mastery criterion. Participants also shared positive feelings related to their experiences with the CRA instructional sequence. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.Item A Moʻokūʻauhau Of Educational Decision-making In Hawaiʻi: Native Hawaiians In Higher Education(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Silva, Aulii-Ann P.; Maaka, Margaret J.; EducationNative Hawaiians have long been underrepresented among Hawaiʻi’s university graduates, yet there is a dearth of studies that explore factors that have contributed to these disparities. My dissertation investigated how multiple factors: prejudices among education administrators, erasures of early advocates from dominant narratives, and failures to evaluate and/or sustain Native-serving programs have resulted in wide disparities between the ethnic group with the smallest proportion of university graduates in Hawaiʻi (Native Hawaiian) and the one with the largest proportion of graduates (White). Consistent with Indigenous research methodologies, methods used herein involved designing inquiry that posed questions to problems for which Native Hawaiians seek solutions; privileged Native Hawaiian language, culture, and values; and incorporated Native Hawaiian stakeholders as co-researchers. To ensure access to and relevance for fellow educators, practitioners, and advocates, this dissertation generated an overview of my positionality and three articles that can be easily disseminated to and adapted by other Native communities. Most data collected came from primary sources: personal experiences, university and government archives, eyewitnesses, U.S. Census, institutional records, and participant feedback. These unique data enabled a critical review of Native Hawaiian presence at the University of Hawaiʻi as depicted in its dominant historiographies and institutional reports. Salient themes in these data suggested that endeavors to restore the presence of Native Hawaiians within UH’s historiographies, sustain effective strategies at-scale, and incorporate eradicating university degree disparities in Hawaiʻi among UH’s strategic priorities offer promising opportunities for increasing Hawaiʻi’s Native Hawaiian university graduates.Item Be Skeptical, Save Time: Teaching Generation Z To Determine The Credibility Of Online Information(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2023) Vogel, Amanda; Frambaugh-Kritzer, Charlotte; EducationThis qualitative study aimed to explore sixth-grade students' reasoning as they conducted their online inquiry research projects while the teacher simultaneously taught them the skills necessary to evaluate the information obtained from the Internet. The author of this qualitative study played a dual role as the researcher and sixth-grade English language arts teacher. Using critical participatory action research, she worked with her colleagues to observe, reflect and design a new curriculum to meet the challenges of supporting sixth graders to conduct research using Web 4.0 technologies. The research question guiding this study asked what happens when Generation Z students conduct inquiries on the Internet when teachers are instructing them to evaluate information and reason online. Data sources included: interviews, observation, and multiple artifacts collections. Employing Erickson's interpretive research methods, three assertions were found: 1) Generation Z students rely on heuristics when deciding what to trust online, 2) Generation Z students need instructional support to determine the credibility of online information, and 3) Generation Z faced challenges offline which often became challenges online. Due to these findings, it is suggested that educators recognize the online inquiry heuristics guiding Generation Z's decision-making and use that knowledge to empower students to access credible information. This will require a comprehensive approach to critical media literacy focused on explicitly teaching and providing practices to middle school students as they learn to take a skeptical stance toward online information and read laterally to confirm the credibility of online information.Item Ola Nā Iwi Oʻu I Kuʻu Wahi Keiki: A Story of Personal Evolution Through Caring for a Child with Multiple Disabilities(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Magalei, Jerusha Nanea Puanani Wallace; Maaka, Margaret J.; EducationOla Nā Iwi Oʻu I Kuʻu Wahi Keiki: A Story of Personal Evolution Through Caring for a Child with Multiple Disabilities details a unique perspective not common in research about caregiving. Usually, research shares how parent caregivers have shaped the lives of their children with multiple disabilities. My study flips that perspective, documents my caregiving journey, and examines how providing care for my son has shaped my personality, my outlook on life, my relationships, and my achievements. This autoethnographic study examines my perspectives and positionality as a Hawaiian and Māori researcher with maternal, spiritual, and educational responsibilities. I use storytelling as documented in my journal writings, songs, letters, poems, videos, and self-interview to analyze my evolution as a parent caregiver. My autoethnographic study seeks to answer the following questions: • What have been my aspirations for my son’s health and well-being as his parent caregiver and how have these aspirations shaped my decisions regarding his life, his spiritual well-being, and his education? • How have I evolved through the process of caring for my son? What has been the nature of this evolution, and how has my practice of personal reflection been an essential part of my journey with him? • How might my practice of personal reflection inform other parents of children with multiple disabilities as they seek to navigate their journeys? In developing these questions, I was inspired by the sentiment contained in the ʻōlelo noʻeau, “kihe ka ihu i ka ʻale. One who sneezes when the spray from the surf rises at the bow of the canoe” (Pukui, 1983, p. 192).Item Understanding the Special Education Teacher Pipeline in Hawaii: How Characteristics, Motivations, and Program Preferences Influenced Enrollment Outcomes Among Targeted Populations(University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2022) Kim, Janet; Ornelles, Cecily; Yoshioka, Jon; EducationAlthough Hawai‘i suffers from a chronic teacher shortage similar to the rest of the country, there are variables that make Hawai‘i’s dilemma unique. Between 2015–2020, there were over 1,000 teaching positions unfilled, with more than a third of positions being specific to special education (HIDOE Employment Reports, 2015–2020). In 2019, the Hawai‘i DOE reported 94% of their teachers as highly qualified, however, that percentage dropped to 84% for the field of special education. One of the primary drivers of the teacher shortage is teacher attrition. In Hawai‘i, attrition accounts for about 88% of the annual demand and is caused most by teachers who leave the profession prematurely and many choosing to leave the state. Attrition rates are doubled for teachers who were not trained by a local teacher education program. The College of Education at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) is the largest local producer of newly certified teachers in the state each year. The targeted population for this study were 959 individuals who had started an application to a UHM special education teacher preparation program between 2015–2020. This mixed-methods exploratory sequential design study (qual → QUAN) examined applicant characteristics, motivations for entry, and program preferences. A subanalysis determined if significant differences in motivations or preferences existed among targeted subgroups currently underrepresented in the teacher workforce in Hawai‘i (i.e., nontraditional, male, minority, geographically isolated). As a final analysis, all variables were examined to determine if characteristics, motivations, or preferences impacted enrollment outcomes. This study served to better understand who expressed interest in pursuing the special education profession and why, as well as, to better understand what they wanted in a program in order to pursue it.