Operationalization of Variables - Annotated Bibliography Example

Operationalization of Variables Part The hypothesis for this study is that: Hypothesis Slow learning who are taught using (specialized computer instruction) will perform better on 3rd grade assessment than students who are not instructed with the instruction". Hypothesis 2: Specialized computer instruction results in better performance in 3rd grade students compared to non-specialized teaching. Topic: The effects of computerized instructions on performance of 3rd grade students. Annotated bibliography Thomson, James,Bakken, Jeffrey, Barbara Fuk, Peterson-Karlan, George (2004) The article gives an overview of the most effective technological practices used in improving literacy skills of students’ special educational needs. It gives a summary of the prevalent challenges faced by students with disabilities and legal requirement for technological consideration. It then gives suggestion fo the incorporation of assessment info into creation of individualized education programs (IEPs). Nebraska Department of education. (2011). “How to Select Administer, and Evaluate Accommodations for Instruction of Students with Disabilities”. The article gives the guidelines that instructors have follow when giving instructions to students with disabilities. It starts by outlining the steps that should be followed in accommodation. It then gives the states regulations and requirements for accommodation, which should be used in accommodation and considerations that should be put for instruction. It then gives a detailed outline how individualized educational programs should be rolled out for different students with different disabilities. Milena Valen~i~ Zuljan and Janez Vogrinc (2013).Facilitating Effective Student Learning through Teacher Research and Innovation This is a module that has been written by different authors. The article gives different innovation in teaching that has been developed in line of the participatory teaching method. It outlines the outcomes of different empirical studies on application of the novel procedures and their effectiveness. The modules give detailed technological methods used in dealing with students with special needs. Antrey, Sheila & DeMuth, Sandy. (2012).Processiing Deficit and Specialized Instructions and Accomodations The article gives details on guiding specialized instructions on accommodations. It outlines the different learning challenges that individual students may have and gives suggestions of strategies that a teacher can apply to accommodate the various learning challenges. Trisha O’Connell, Geoff Freed, and Madeleine Rothberg Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media WGBH Educational Foundation. (2010) The aim of the article is to show how apple technology can be incorporated in education to assist student will learning disabilities and other forms of disabilities. It outlines how Apple has developed hardware and software that support these learners. This new technology is developed based on information about learning processes gathered from diverse fields such as neuroscience, psychology, education and machine learning. Connor, Carol, Alberto, P., Compton, Donald (2014). “Improving Reading Outcome for Students with or at Risk or reading disabilities: A synthesis of the Contributions from the Institute of Education Sciences Research Centers” The article is aimed at improving the existing strategies of dealing with reading disabilities. It starts by presenting the various challenges that learners with reading disabilities are faced with both at school and in life and general. The article reviews the result of an 8-year project that had been carried out to investigate different ways that can be used to mediate and even prevent reading difficulties in students at risk and with reading disabilities. From this research several methods that can be used to methods of helping student facing this challenge and intervention for learners at risk of developing this disability. Part of the intervention involved training instructors with the skills to assist learners with reading disabilities. “ A parent’s Guide to Universal design for learning (UDL)”.Parent advocacy Brief. This article explains how the application of UDL can be effective in improving learning for student with learning disabilities and even improving learning for those students without any disabilities. In this article, the author has described how UDL can be used in designing a curricula framework that enables persons to have enthusiasm for learning and gain skills and knowledge. The article has identified three principle of UDL. One is that the teacher should provide multiple means of representation to enhance learning. Other principles include providing varied means of engagement and presentations. In students with disabilities these strategies reduce the barriers to achievement. Fuchs, Lynn, Fuchs, Douglas, Hamlet, Carol, Phillips Norris, Karns & Kathy(1995). “General Educator’s specialized adaptation for Student With learning Disabilities”. This article was used to investigate effectiveness of specialized adaptations. The research used a subject of 40 general educators with at least one student with learning disability in Math. The teachers were tutored using two methods: routine adaptations and routine incorporated with specialized adaptations. Specialized adaptations were not associated with enhanced learning but when applied at individualized level. Results indicated that teachers in the latter group engaged differentially in specialized adaptation and that their thinking about how they planned for their students with LD changed. Although some teachers implemented substantively important, individually tailored adjustments, others relied on adaptations that were uninventive and limited. Specialized adaptation was not associated with enhanced student learning. Valdemar W. Setzer. “A review of Arguments for the Use of Computers in Elementary Education” This article adopts the argumentative approach where it presents some of the arguments for forth that supports the use of computers in teaching elementary students and then illustrates the argument against the use of computers at this level. The articles uses well illustrated evidence to show that use of computers a method of instruction at the elementary level is justifiable. Janney, Rachel, Snell Martha, Beers, Mary & Raynes Maria (1995). “Integrating student with moderate and severe disabilities into general education” In this study, the effect of integration of specialized education teacher and general educations are explored. The research explores the change process experienced by these learners by studying 10 schools where students with moderate and severe disability have been integrated into general schools. The article sites importance of implementing strategies that will reduce resistance to change. These include training for teachers and incorporation of modern technology in teaching. Operational Definition Article 1: “Using technology to improve the literacy skills of students with disabilities” Some of the specialized computer based methods that can be applied include: ReadPlease and OutSPOKEN. These are specialized computer programs that read texts displayed on a screen to the user. Read & Write programs This program convert any printed text into an audio folder that can be played on any portable device. Microsoft ® Word and Write:OutLoud SOLO™ This program format text by increasing font size making it easily readable. Visual Tracking magnifier Highlight texts making them easy to read. Word prediction and word completion program: Softwares that predict the word or statement that the user is typing. Article 2 “Specialized adaptations for students with Learning Disabilities Special adaptations in this case are defined as special adjustments and supports to student with difficulties at the individual level. Article 3: “Processing Deficit and Specialized Instructions and Accommodations” The article defines accommodation as the different ways that a teacher can modify the teaching methodology in order to accommodate diverse learning disabilities. Article 3: Improving Reading Outcome for Students with or at Risk or reading disabilities: A synthesis of the Contributions from the Institute of Education Sciences Research Centers”. This defines reading outcomes as the score that the learners attain on a reading assessment test. Article 4: Using Apple Technology to Support Learning for Students with Sensory and Learning Disabilities. Article recognizes slow learning as one of the learning disabilities. Slow learning is defined as a situation where a student has the ability to learn but at a rate that is slower and below the rate of the average student of their age. Data Collection Methods For this research that is based on the hypothesis "Slow learning students who are taught using (specialized computer instruction) will perform better on 3rd grade assessment than students who are not instructed with the instruction" data will be collected by interviewing 3rd grade teachers from 10 different schools. This survey will seek to get information on the specialized computer instructions used and the effect this has on the performance of slow learners which will be measured through the scores the students get in assessment tests. The score of slow learners in schools using the specialized tests will be compared with those from schools that do not use the specialized tests. Objectives Identify the commonly applied specialized computer instructions Investigate the effect of the application of the specialized instructions on learning of slow learners. The following questionnaire should be filled by teachers in 3rd grade Tick Where appropriate. 1. Do you have any student who is a slow learner in your class? Yes No 2. If yes, what are the learning difficulties that the student experience? 3. Which of the following technologies have you applied in your classroom to help the slow learners? A. The wordmaker B. ReadPlease and OutSPOKEN C. Read & Write programs D. Microsoft ® Word and Write:OutLoud SOLO™ E. Visual Tracking magnifier: 4. Which of the mentioned Program is most effective in learning? 5. Have you used any other computerized programs in class? A. Yes B. No (if yes, state which ones) 6. How can you rate the effectiveness of learning using computerized instructions A. Very effective B. Fairly effective C. Effective D. Not effective 7. Computer based instructions improve learning for students who are slow learners compared to routine methods of instructions A. Strongly agree B. Agree C. Disagree D. Strongly disagree 8. Have you received any training on the use of computerized instructions? A. Yes B. No 9. Do you enjoy teaching using computerized instructions? A. Very much B. Somewhat C. yes D. Not really E. Not at all 10. Do the students enjoy the lessons facilitated using computerized instructions? A. Very much B. Somewhat C. yes D. Not really E. Not at all How the open ended questions may be used in qualitative survey Question 9 and 10 are used to gauge the teachers and students attitude towards the use of computerized instructions. This is because the attitude of the learner and the instructor always affects the outcome of learning. If the attitude of the teacher towards the use of computerized instructions is negative, then the outcome of a learning experience using those strategies will be negative. On the other hand, if the learners are have negative attitude, the outcome will again be negative. Instruments used to measure the dependent Variable Continuous assessment tests These tests are reliable since they are bound to give similar results when administered more than once. They are also valid because they measure change in performance which is the intended goal. Class participation Measures the number of times that a student is actively involvement in classroom activity which is closely linked to increased learning Practical tests Test the students mastery of practical skills such as writing, reading, drawing and constructing. References “ A parent’s Guide to Universal design for learning (UDL)”.Parent advocacy Brief. http://www.cpacinc.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/ParentsGuidetoUDL.pdf Antrey, Sheila & DeMuth, Sandy. (2012).Processiing Deficit and Specialized Instructions and Accomodations. https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Special-Education-Services/Documents/IDEAS_processing_deficits_ppt.pdf Connor, Carol, Alberto, P., Compton, Donald (2014). “Improving Reading Outcome for Students with or at Risk or reading disabilities: A synthesis of the Contributions from the Institute of Education Sciences Research Centers”. National Center for Special Educational Research. http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/pubs/20143000/pdf/20143000.pdf Fuchs, Lynn, Fchs, Douglas, Hamlett, Carol, Phillips Norris, Karns & Kathy.(1995). “General Educator’s Specialized adaptation for Student With learning Disabilities”. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Exceptional-Children/16732204.html Janney, Rachel, Snell Martha, Beers, Mary & Raynes Maria (1995). “Integrating student with moderate and severe disabilities into general education” http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/Exceptional-Children/16732202.htm Milena Valen~i~ Zuljan and Janez Vogrinc (2013).Facilitating Effective Student Learning through Teacher Research and Innovation. Nenbraska Department of education (2011). “How to Select Administer, and Evaluate Accomodations for Instruction of Students with Disabilities”. http://www.education.ne.gov/assessment/pdfs/Accommodations_Guidelines_Students_Disabilities_Nov_2011.pdf Thomson, James,Bakken, Jeffrey, Barbara Fuk, Peterson-Karlan, George (2004). North Central Regional Educational Center. Using technology to improve the literacy skills of students with disabilities. http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/literacy/disability.pdf Trisha O’Connell, Geoff Freed, and Madeleine Rothberg Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media WGBH Educational Foundation. (2010). Using Apple Technology to Support Learning for Students with Sensory and Learning Disabilities. http://www.apple.com/education/docs/L419373A-US_L419373A_AppleTechDisabilities.pdf Valdemar W. Setzer. “ A review of Arguments for the Use of Computers in Elementary Education”. Read More