The development, application, and implications of a strategy for reflective learning from experience

The problem on which this study focused was individuals' reduced capacity to respond to change and to engage in innovative learning when their reflective learning skills are limited. In this study, the preceding problem was addressed by two primary questions: To what degree can mastery of a strategy for reflective learning be facilitated as a part of an academic curriculum for professional practitioners? What impact will mastery of this strategy have on the learning style and adaptive flexibility of adult learners? The focus of the study was a direct application of human resource development technology in the professional preparation of teachers. The background of the problem in light of changing global paradigms and educational action orientations was outlined and a review of the literature was provided. Roots of thought for two key concepts (i.e., learning to learn from experience and meaningful reflection in learning) were traced. Reflective perspectives from the work of eight researchers were compared. A meta-model of learning from experience drawn from the literature served as a conceptual framework for the study. A strategy for reflective learning developed from this meta-model was taught to 109 teachers-in-training at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Kolb's Adaptive Style Inventory and Learning Style Inventory were administered to the treatment group and to two control groups taught by the same professor. Three research questions and fourteen hypotheses guided data analysis. Qualitative review of 1565 personal documents generated by the treatment group indicated that 77 students demonstrated "double-loop" learning, going beyond previously established limits to perception, understanding, or action. The mean score for depth of reflection indicated "single-loop" learning with "reflection-in-action" present. The change in the mean score for depth of reflection from the beginning to end of the study was statistically significant (p $<$.05). On quantitative measures of adaptive flexibility and learning style, with two exceptions, there were no significant differences noted between treatment and control groups on pre-test to post-test differences and on post-test mean scores adjusted for pre-test responses and demographic variables. Conclusions were drawn regarding treatment, instrumentation, and application of the strategy and the meta-model. Implications of the strategy and the meta-model for research, for education, for human resource development, for professional practice, and for personal growth were suggested. Qualitative training materials and Kolb's instruments were provided in the appendices.

The effects of word prediction and text-to-speech technologies on the narrative writing skills of students with specific learning disabilities

This study investigated the effects of word prediction and text-to-speech on the narrative composition writing skills of 6, fifth-grade Hispanic boys with specific learning disabilities (SLD). A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to explore the efficacy of word prediction and text-to-speech alone and in combination on four dependent variables: writing fluency (words per minute), syntax (T-units), spelling accuracy, and overall organization (holistic scoring rubric). Data were collected and analyzed during baseline, assistive technology interventions, and at 2-, 4-, and 6-week maintenance probes. ^ Participants were equally divided into Cohorts A and B, and two separate but related studies were conducted. Throughout all phases of the study, participants wrote narrative compositions for 15-minute sessions. During baseline, participants used word processing only. During the assistive technology intervention condition, Cohort A participants used word prediction followed by word prediction with text-to-speech. Concurrently, Cohort B participants used text-to-speech followed by text-to-speech with word prediction. ^ The results of this study indicate that word prediction alone or in combination with text-to-speech has a positive effect on the narrative writing compositions of students with SLD. Overall, participants in Cohorts A and B wrote more words, more T-units, and spelled more words correctly. A sign test indicated that these perceived effects were not likely due to chance. Additionally, the quality of writing improved as measured by holistic rubric scores. When participants in Cohort B used text-to-speech alone, with the exception of spelling accuracy, inconsequential results were observed on all dependent variables. ^ This study demonstrated that word prediction alone or in combination assists students with SLD to write longer, improved-quality, narrative compositions. These results suggest that word prediction or word prediction with text-to-speech be considered as a writing support to facilitate the production of a first draft of a narrative composition. However, caution should be given to the use of text-to-speech alone as its effectiveness has not been established. Recommendations for future research include investigating the use of these technologies in other phases of the writing process, with other student populations, and with other writing styles. Further, these technologies should be investigated while integrated into classroom composition instruction. ^

The effect of study skills instruction on the study strategies and attitudes of college students with learning disabilities

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of participating in an existing study skills course, developed for use with a general college population, on the study strategies and attitudes of college students with learning disabilities. This study further investigated whether there would be differential effectiveness for segregated and mainstreamed sections of the course.^ The sample consisted of 42 students with learning disabilities attending a southeastern university. Students were randomly assigned to either a segregated or mainstreamed section of the study skills course. In addition, a control group consisted of students with learning disabilities who received no study skills instruction.^ All subjects completed the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) before and after the study skills course. The subjects in the segregated group showed significant improvement on six of the 10 scales of the LASSI: Time Management, Concentration, Information Processing, Selecting Main Ideas, Study Aids, and Self Testing. Subjects in the mainstreamed section showed significant improvement on five scales: Anxiety, Selecting Main Ideas, Study Aids, Self Testing, and Test Strategies. The subjects in the control group did not significantly improve on any of the scales.^ This study showed that college students with learning disabilities improved their study strategies and attitudes by participating in a study skills course designed for a general student population. Further, these students benefitted whether by taking the course only with other students with learning disabilities, or by taking the course in a mixed group of students with or without learning disabilities. These results have important practical implications in that it appears that colleges can use existing study skills courses without having to develop special courses and schedules of course offerings targeted specifically for students with learning disabilities. ^

The impact of increased writing time allotment on the developmental writing skills of intermediate elementary school students

The purpose of this study is to determine which of several treatment groups and/or grades have shown growth when increased writing time allotment has occurred. Third, fourth and fifth grade students identified as Gifted, Learning Disabled, and Limited English Proficient enrolled in ESOL classes were the 69 subjects.^ All students were allotted at least one hour of writing time, four days a week for the school year of 1994-1995. Writing activities conducted during the school year involved the full writing process, including prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. Pretests and posttests were administered across the grade levels at a designated period of time using the same administration procedures as the Florida Writing Assessment Program. Three teachers rated each sample on a scale of zero to three.^ The results of the oneway ANOVA indicated that the three raters did not score the pretests and posttests significantly different from each other. A single group pretest-posttest experimental design was used on the three groups. The results of the Gifted group revealed that the Gifted C subgroup (Gifted Behavioral) appeared to have averaged a higher gain score than both the Gifted A and Gifted B subgroups. For the four subgroups of the LD group, no distinct pattern was evident. The Group C subgroup (ADD) appeared to have scored lower than the other three subgroup although their mean IQ score was higher than the others LD subgroups. Comparisons were difficult to make among the four ESOL subgroups due to low subjects and/or scores. Qualitative analyses were also conducted using semi-structured interviews with the Gifted, Learning Disabled, and ESOL teachers. All believed the additional instructional time spent on writing made the difference in the increased writing scores.^ The study indicated that time alone is not a significant factor in developing accomplished writers. Direct instruction perhaps in a specific strategy or skill may lead to significant results. ^

Parents Acquiring Learning Strategies (PALS): How Empowering Hispanic Parents Increases Parental Involvement and Student Achievement

Some Hispanic parents in Miami-Dade County show limited involvement in the educational process of their children. Currently, Miami-Dade County Public schools consists of an increasingly high number of language minority students who come from homes where parents are limited in their English proficiency. Consequently, these parents have difficulty assisting their children with schoolwork and often feel they lack adequate skills to involve themselves in school curricula. The lack of parental involvement by this population has a negative impact on students’ learning and their academic achievement. The purpose of this study is to impact the level of participation of these families and to study its ultimate effect on students’ academic achievement.

Metacognitive Strategies and Learning

During the past decade, metacognition has been identified not only as a component of cognition but also as an important factor in learning. This practitioner proposes that educators and educational researchers should focus on the development and implementation of metacognitive learning strategies. The existing metacognitive studies have concentrated on several areas. One area centers on the continuing efforts to identify all the elements of metacognition. Another area concentrates on the roles that metacognition plays in specific learning behaviors that occur at various ages and levels of complexity. The third area investigates the relationships of metacognition to specific content areas of learning by focusing on the effects of metacognitive learning strategies. The most common areas of study have been reading comprehension, math skills, writing skills, and applying metacognitive strategies to learn various subjects using the computer. Directly or indirectly, the existing studies relate to the expanding applications of the relationships and relevancies of metacognition to learning. Considerable evidence confirms that when students use metacognitive strategies they often experience a higher level of learning. This practitioner believes that experiencing higher levels of learning gives students the confidence they need to construct knowledge which promotes lifelong learning.

Children as Change Agents: The Influence of Integrating Environmental Education into Home Learning Projects on Families and Community Members

Environmental education focusing on sustainability should be integrated into the elementary curriculum. Learning experiences should include home learning projects that are relevant to the students, involve active participation, and stimulate discussions with their families. Students can use their knowledge and skills to influence the attitudes and behavior of their parents and other community members.

Maximizing Hospitality Learning Outcomes: An Integrated Experiential In-Class Approach

This study explored the influence of an experiential, in-class approach to the hospitality curriculum as a means of increasing its efficiency and effectiveness. Specifically, the study provides an example of how hospitality faculty might utilize an experiential, in-class approach to integrate additional hospitality-specific content along with process and content issues for working in teams and team decision-making. The results of this study support the efficient and effective use of an experiential inclass teaching method. The value of this study is twofold: (1) it provides an initial test of this approach’s usefulness and (2) it provides a forum for continued conversations of how experiential approaches can be utilized to enhance and reinforce other hospitality content and managerial skills and to bridge the gap between vocational and liberal education outcomes.

Patterns and effects of notetaking by learning -disabled and nondisabled adolescents: A comparative study

This study analyzes the qualitative and quantitative patterns of notetaking by learning disabled (LD) and nondisabled (ND) adolescents and the effectiveness of notetaking and review as measured by the subjects' ability to recall information presented during a lecture. The study also examines relationships between certain learner characteristics and notetaking. The following notetaking variables were investigated: note completeness, number of critical ideas recorded, levels of processing information, organizational strategies, fluency of notes, and legibility of notes. The learner characteristics examined pertained to measures on achievement, short-term memory, listening comprehension, and verbal ability.^ Students from the 11th and 12th grades were randomly selected from four senior high schools in Dade County, Florida. Seventy learning disabled and 79 nondisabled subjects were shown a video tape lecture and required to take notes. The lecture conditions controlled for presentation rate, prior knowledge, information density, and difficulty level. After 8 weeks, their notes were returned to the subjects for a review period, and a posttest was administered.^ Results of this study suggest significant differences (p $\le$.01) in the patterns of notetaking between LD and ND groups not due to differences in the learner characteristics listed above. In addition, certain notetaking variables such as process levels, number of critical ideas, and note completeness were found to be significantly correlated to learning outcome. Further, deficiencies in the spontaneous use of organizational strategies and abbreviations adversely affected the notetaking effectiveness of learning disabled students.^ Both LD and ND subjects recalled more information recorded in their notes than not recorded. This difference was significant only for the ND group. By contrast, LD subjects compensated for their poor notetaking skills and recalled significantly more information not recorded on their notes than did ND subjects. The major implications of these findings suggest that LD and ND subjects exhibit very different entry behaviors when asked to perform a notetaking task; hence, teaching approaches to notetaking must differ as well. ^

An interview study of community college student perspectives on service -learning

Over the past two decades, the community college in the United States has boasted a leadership role in the movement to make education community-based and performance-oriented. This has led to an intensification in attempts to search for more innovative means to make education more experiential and relevant to students' lived experiences. ^ One such innovative program that holds promise to meet this challenge is service-learning. This paradigm attempts to relate the academic education in the classroom to community-based problems, which fits in neatly with the community-based characteristics of the community college. It promises to link ideas developed in the classroom and their practical application within the community through guided reflection. It is designed to enhance and enrich student learning of course material by combining citizenship, academic subjects, skills, and values. ^ Though many studies have been carried out in regard to the outcomes of service-learning through quantitative means, relatively few qualitative studies are available, and those available have primarily studied traditional students at four-year residential colleges or universities. Therefore, there is an urgent need to study non-traditional students' perspectives at the community college level. ^ The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the perspectives of five students at Broward Community College, Central Campus, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The following exploratory questions guided this study: (1) What elements constitute these students' perspectives? (2) What variables influence their perspectives? (3) What beliefs do these students hold about their service-learning experience which support or are contrary to their perspectives? ^ This ethnographic interview study was conducted over a period of twelve months and consisted of three interviews for each of the five participants. The analysis of the data was conducted following the stringent principles of ethnographic research which included constant comparative analysis. The interviews were tape recorded with the participants' permission, transcribed verbatim, and organized into categories for in-depth understanding. Furthermore, these categories were developed from the data collected and an organizational scheme for understanding and interpreting of these perspectives emerged. The researcher, as well, kept a reflective journal of the research process as part of the data set. ^ The results of this study show the need for a better grasp of the concepts of service-learning on the part of all involved with its implementation. In spite of this, all of the participants displayed gains to a greater or lesser degree in personal growth, academic skills, and citizenship skills. ^

Effects of real -time captioning and sign language interpreting on the learning of college students who are deaf or hard of hearing

College personnel are required to provide accommodations for students who are deaf and hard of hearing (D/HoH), but few empirical studies have been conducted on D/HoH students as they learn under the various accommodation conditions (sign language interpreting, SLI, real-time captioning, RTC, and both). Guided by the experiences of students who are D/HoH at Miami-Dade College (MDC) who requested RTC in addition to SLI as accommodations, the researcher adopted Merten’s transformative-emancipatory theoretical framework that values perceptions and voice of students who are D/HoH. A mixed methods design addressed two research questions: Did student learning differ for each accommodation? What did students experience while learning through accommodations? Participants included 30 students who were D/HoH (60% women). They represented MDC’s majority minority population: 10% White (non-Hispanic), 20% Black (non-Hispanic, including Haitian/Caribbean), 67% Hispanic, and 3% other. Hearing loss, ranged from severe-profound (70%) to mild-moderate (30%). All were able to communicate with American Sign Language: Learning was measured while students who were D/HoH viewed three lectures under three accommodation conditions (SLI, RTC, SLI+RTC). The learning measure was defined as the difference in pre- and post-test scores on tests of the content presented in the lectures. Using repeated measure ANOVA and ANCOVA, confounding variables of fluency in American Sign Language and literacy skills were treated as covariates. Perceptions were obtained through interviews and verbal protocol analysis that were signed, videotaped, transcribed, coded, and examined for common themes and metacognitive strategies. No statistically significant differences were found among the three accommodations on the learning measure. Students who were D/HoH expressed thoughts about five different aspects of their learning while they viewed lectures: (a) comprehending the information, (b) feeling a part of the classroom environment, (c) past experiences with an accommodation, (d) individual preferences for an accommodation, (e) suggestions for improving an accommodation. They exhibited three metacognitive strategies: (a) constructing knowledge, (b) monitoring comprehension, and (c) evaluating information. No patterns were found in the types of metacognitive strategies used for any particular accommodation. The researcher offers recommendations for flexible applications of the standard accommodations used with students who are D/HoH.

Functional near infrared spectroscopy study of language, joint attention and motor skills

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an emerging non-invasive optical neuro imaging technique that monitors the hemodynamic response to brain activation with ms-scale temporal resolution and sub-cm spatial resolution. The overall goal of my dissertation was to develop and apply NIRS towards investigation of neurological response to language, joint attention and planning and execution of motor skills in healthy adults. Language studies were performed to investigate the hemodynamic response, synchrony and dominance feature of the frontal and fronto-temporal cortex of healthy adults in response to language reception and expression. The mathematical model developed based on granger causality explicated the directional flow of information during the processing of language stimuli by the fronto-temporal cortex. Joint attention and planning/ execution of motor skill studies were performed to investigate the hemodynamic response, synchrony and dominance feature of the frontal cortex of healthy adults and in children (5-8 years old) with autism (for joint attention studies) and individuals with cerebral palsy (for planning/execution of motor skills studies). The joint attention studies on healthy adults showed differences in activation as well as intensity and phase dependent connectivity in the frontal cortex during joint attention in comparison to rest. The joint attention studies on typically developing children showed differences in frontal cortical activation in comparison to that in children with autism. The planning and execution of motor skills studies on healthy adults and individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) showed difference in the frontal cortical dominance, that is, bilateral and ipsilateral dominance, respectively. The planning and execution of motor skills studies also demonstrated the plastic and learning behavior of brain wherein correlation was found between the relative change in total hemoglobin in the frontal cortex and the kinematics of the activity performed by the participants. Thus, during my dissertation the NIRS neuroimaging technique was successfully implemented to investigate the neurological response of language, joint attention and planning and execution of motor skills in healthy adults as well as preliminarily on children with autism and individuals with cerebral palsy. These NIRS studies have long-term potential for the design of early stage interventions in children with autism and customized rehabilitation in individuals with cerebral palsy.

Vocabulary learning through use of the picture-word inductive model for young English learners in China: A mixed methods examination using Cognitive Load Theory

English has been taught as a core and compulsory subject in China for decades. Recently, the demand for English in China has increased dramatically. China now has the world's largest English-learning population. The traditional English-teaching method cannot continue to be the only approach because it merely focuses on reading, grammar and translation, which cannot meet English learners and users' needs (i.e., communicative competence and skills in speaking and writing). ^ This study was conducted to investigate if the Picture-Word Inductive Model (PWIM), a new pedagogical method using pictures and inductive thinking, would benefit English learners in China in terms of potential higher output in speaking and writing. With the gauge of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), specifically, its redundancy effect, I investigated whether processing words and a picture concurrently would present a cognitive overload for English learners in China. ^ I conducted a mixed methods research study. A quasi-experiment (pretest, intervention for seven weeks, and posttest) was conducted using 234 students in four groups in Lianyungang, China (58 fourth graders and 57 seventh graders as an experimental group with PWIM and 59 fourth graders and 60 seventh graders as a control group with the traditional method). No significant difference in the effects of PWIM was found on vocabulary acquisition based on grade levels. Observations, questionnaires with open-ended questions, and interviews were deployed to answer the three remaining research questions. A few students felt cognitively overloaded when they encountered too many writing samples, too many new words at one time, repeated words, mismatches between words and pictures, and so on. Many students listed and exemplified numerous strengths of PWIM, but a few mentioned weaknesses of PWIM. The students expressed the idea that PWIM had a positive effect on their English teaching. ^ As integrated inferences, qualitative findings were used to explain the quantitative results that there were no significant differences of the effects of the PWIM between the experimental and control groups in both grade levels, from four contextual aspects: time constraints on PWIM implementation, teachers' resistance, how to use PWIM and PWIM implemented in a classroom over 55 students.^

An interview study of community college student perspectives on service-learning

Over the past two decades, the community college in the United States has boasted a leadership role in the movement to make education community-based and performance-oriented. This has led to an intensification in attempts to search for more innovative means to make education more experiential and relevant to students' lived experiences. One such innovative program that holds promise to meet this challenge is service- learning. This paradigm attempts to relate the academic education in the classroom to community-based problems, which fits in neatly with the community-based characteristics of the community college. It promises to link ideas developed in the classroom and their practical application within the community through guided reflection. It is designed to enhance and enrich student learning of course material by combining citizenship, academic subjects, skills, and values. Though many studies have been carried out in regard to the outcomes of service-learning through quantitative means, relatively few qualitative studies are available, and those available have primarily studied traditional students at four-year residential colleges or universities. Therefore, there is an urgent need to study non-traditional students' perspectives at the community college level. The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the perspectives of five students at Broward Community College, Central Campus, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The following exploratory questions guided this study: 1. What elements constitute these students' perspectives? 2. What variables influence their perspectives? 3. What beliefs do these students hold about their service-learning experience which support or are contrary to their perspectives? This ethnographic interview study was conducted over a period of twelve months and consisted of three interviews for each of the five participants. The analysis of the data was conducted following the stringent principles of ethnographic research which included constant comparative analysis. The interviews were tape recorded with the participants' permission, transcribed verbatim, and organized into categories for in-depth understanding. Furthermore, these categories were developed from the data collected and an organizational scheme for understanding and interpreting of these perspectives emerged. The researcher, as well, kept a reflective journal of the research process as part of the data set. The results of this study show the need for a better grasp of the concepts of service-learning on the part of all involved with its implementation. In spite of this, all of the participants displayed gains to a greater or lesser degree in personal growth, academic skills, and citizenship skills.

Mand – to Tact Training Transfer Acquisition Rates in Children Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder with Limited Verbal Skills

Autism Spectrum Disorder () is defined as “the presence of severe and pervasive impairments in reciprocal social interaction and in verbal and nonverbal communication skills” (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual, 2000). It is estimated that 1 in 68 children across the United States are diagnosed with ASD. One of the most common delays that children diagnosed with ASD experience are language delays. Children with ASD that have a language delay will often develop maladaptive behaviors as a result of poor communication skills (Carr & Durand, 1985). The failure to develop mand acquisition in typical fashion results in behaviors ranging from social withdrawal to self-injurious behaviors (Cooper et. al, 2007). A lack of a strong tact repertoire can further impede and complicate the learning of other necessary components of language due to the inability to successfully label items and events in the physical environment of the child. The purpose of this study is to replicate with a reversal in verbal operant training of the procedures described in Wallace et al. (2006) in which two children with ASD underwent tact training to facilitate the formation of mands; essentially this study aims to accomplish mand training first to establish as tact. It is hypothesized that mand training will result in a greater repertoire of tacts due to strength of the relationship between mands and the control over the social environment (Cooper et al., 2007). The two children in the study will be taught to mand items that will be ranked in order of preference via stimulus preference assessment. This study is of great importance due to the indispensable value of effective social communication skills. Data gathered on improving communication skills is of great value to the ASD community as the implications for functional skills result in better communication with family and greater control of individual functioning.