OFRS Faculty Research Awards

The Advanced Instructional Systems and Technologies laboratory in collaboration with members of the Learning Environments Across Disciplines research partnership investigates the impact of augmented reality for mobile and wearable devices towards learning and engagement in the context of informal learning environments. Guided walking tours across historical heritages sites and museum exhibits that are augmented with digital devices are conducted in the field and simulated in the laboratory. In doing so, researchers rely on an intelligent quantitative field observation system to log behavioral observations and receive dialogue prompts through text-to-speech synthesis. To learn more about the project, contact Dr. Eric Poitras at eric.poitras@utah.edu

The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) accredits secondary and postsecondary partnerships to support high-quality concurrent enrollment programming for college courses delivered in the high school setting. NACEP-defined concurrent enrollment is one of many types of concurrent enrollment models, yet little is known about the variation in models and how models differentially influence college access and success. This study uses data from a cohort of students in Arkansas to examine accelerated and concurrent enrollment models their effects on students’ access to and success in college.

The National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) accredits secondary and postsecondary partnerships to support high-quality concurrent enrollment programming for college courses delivered in the high school setting. NACEP-defined concurrent enrollment is one of many types of concurrent enrollment models, yet little is known about the variation in models and how models differentially influence college access and success. This study uses data from a cohort of students in Arkansas to examine accelerated and concurrent enrollment models their effects on students’ access to and success in college.

Funding was awarded to conduct a randomized controlled trial to examine the effectiveness of a self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) intervention designed to (1) address the cognitive, socio-cognitive, and meta-cognitive demands and self-regulation of students’ reasoning and problem-solving skills, and (2) systematically connect procedural with conceptual learning of content. The tested intervention, FACT, is a Tier 2 intervention that scaffolds and embeds the construction of written arguments as a learning activity within a framework of mathematics problems solving. The math content focused on using length-based models and number line development. Sixty one students in fourth to sixth grade who were identified as struggling learners (65% were students with special needs) were randomly assigned to the FACT SRSD treatment and Business As Usual. There was a statistically significant effect of FACT on a distal learning math measure for numbers and operations at post-test after controlling for respective pre-test (effect size = 0.63).