Research Proposal_Merritt (7Dec17)

ASSUMPTION UNIVERSITY OF THAILAND Graduate School of eLearning TARGETING AGENTIC ENGAGEMENT: A STUDY INTO THE EFFECTS OF A DIGITAL BACKCHANNEL ON THE AGENTIC ENGAGEMENT OF UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATES IN A LECTURE-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT BY MATTHEW R. MERRITT A RESEARCH PROPOSALSubmitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Program in Teaching and Technology December 2017

TARGETING AGENTIC ENGAGEMENT: A STUDY INTO THEEFFECTS OF A DIGITAL BACKCHANNEL ON THE AGENTICENGAGEMENT OF UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATES IN A LECTURE-BASED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT By Matthew R. Merritt A Research ProposalSubmitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Program in Teaching and Technology(Dr. Naree Aware Achwarin) __________________________ Chairperson(Dr. Athipat Cleesuntorn) __________________________ Advisor(Dr. Satha Phongsatha) __________________________ Committee Member(Prof. Dr. Chaiyong Brahmawong) __________________________ External Committee Member 2

Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................5 1.1 Introduction of the Study ...................................................................................5 1.2 Background of the Study ...................................................................................7 1.3 Statement of the Problem...................................................................................9 1.4 Research Questions..........................................................................................13 1.5 Research Objectives.........................................................................................13 1.6 Significance of the Study .................................................................................14 1.7 Theoretical Framework....................................................................................15 1.8 Conceptual Framework....................................................................................20 1.9 Limitations of the Research .............................................................................23 1.10 Definition of Terms........................................................................................24Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature ...........................................................................28 2.1 Introduction......................................................................................................28 2.2 Digital Backchannel and Lecture-Based Learning Environment ....................29 2.3 Digital Backchannel and Student Agency .......................................................31 2.4 Lecture-Based Learning Environment and Student Agency ...........................33 2.5 Theoretical Foundations...................................................................................34 2.6 Student Agency in Thailand.............................................................................36Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology .................................................................39 3.1 Introduction......................................................................................................39 3.2 Design of the Study..........................................................................................42 3.3 Study Participants ............................................................................................44 3.4 Evidence and Sources ......................................................................................45 3

3.5 Focus Groups ...................................................................................................46 3.6 Observations and Informal Interviews.............................................................47 3.7 Human Subject Protection ...............................................................................48 3.8 Survey Data......................................................................................................49 3.9 Interview Protocols ..........................................................................................49 3.10 Data Analysis .................................................................................................50 3.11 Procedures......................................................................................................51 3.12 Role of Researcher.........................................................................................51References..........................................................................................................................53Appendix............................................................................................................................63 List of TablesTABLE 1: Agentic Engagement ………………………………………………………. 25TABLE 2: Agentic Engagement with Survey Questions ……………………..….……. 45TABLE 3: Agentic Engagement with Survey Questions and Transcript Coding …...… 50 List of FiguresFIGURE 1: Using a Digital Backchannel to Enhance Student Agency in a Lecture-Based Learning Environment ……………………..………..…………. 22FIGURE 2: Padlet and the Features to be Used by Study Participants ……………....... 27FIGURE 3: Structural Organization of Related Literature Review …......……..………. 29FIGURE 4: Design of Backchannel Loop ……………………...….………………...… 41FIGURE 5: Example of initial survey results and student groupings ………..………… 43 4

Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Introduction of the Study The objectives of this research study are to examine the influence of a digitalbackchannel on student agency in a lecture-based learning environment and design aguiding framework to assist instructors with increasing student engagement in their ownclasses. The study will take place over a 15-week semester with 140 undergraduatestudents enrolled in a general education, environmental science course at AssumptionUniversity of Thailand in Samut Prakan Province. A qualitative research design will beused to analyze the processes involved with aspects of student engagement, with aparticular focus on agency. Pre-treatment data will include a student survey (AppendixA) designed to measure four dimensions of student engagement and levels of comfort inusing educational technology in lecture-based environments. Data from this survey willbe used to form student groups. Groups will be homogeneous in nature and theirinteraction during semi-structured focus group sessions will provide the primary sourceof qualitative data. Other sources of data will include direct observation, contributions tothe backchannel, and informal interviews of participants in the lecture hall over thecourse of the semester. Following interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith& Osborne, 2008) of the collected data, an instructional framework for using a digitalbackchannel in lecture-based learning environments will be designed and introduced. Research consistently shows that student engagement plays a critical role in thedevelopment of academic achievement (Carbonaro, 1998; Eccles, 2004; Portes, 2000).Previous studies in the area of engagement have noted three primary dimensions:behavioral, emotional, and cognitive (Christenson, Reschly, & Wylie, 2012; Fredricks etal, 2004). With ubiquitous access to technology, agency has emerged as a relevant fourth 5

dimension (Reeve, 2013; Reeve & Tsang, 2011). Agency refers to the ability and beliefthat an individual has control over the conditions of their life. To have agency is toinfluence intentionally one’s functioning and circumstances. Agentic students areintentional in their actions, proactive in planning, and self-aware in thought. They are notsimply onlookers of their behavior. They are contributors to their life circumstances, notjust products of those events (Bandura, 2006, p. 164). In an academic sense, agency is amultidimensional, malleable characteristic of learning. Reeve (2011) describes anagentically engaged student as one that takes achievement-facilitating action duringlearning activities that is above and beyond their applications of effort, enthusiasm, andstrategic thinking. For this study, student agency provides a primary target of analysis and as thepredominant cultural context is that of Thailand, results will provide a uniqueperspective. Conclusions drawn in this study will add to the expanding body ofeducational research that introduce popular technologies in educational settings as apositive influence on student agency. Strategic utilization of digital backchannels inlecture-based learning environments has been shown to increase student questioning(Pohl, Gehlen-Baum, & Bry, 2011), improve knowledge acquisition and retention(McNely, 2009), and increase student engagement and interactions (Junco, Elavsky, &Heiberger, 2013). Every classroom can be divided into two layers or channels of communication:the frontchannel, the traditional, verbal dialogue that is the source of primary, publicdiscourse; and the backchannel, an unofficial network, consisting of interactions betweenstudents, the teacher and perhaps with those outside the class. Until recently,backchannels in university lecture halls consisted exclusively of whispers, sideconversations, or the passing of notes. In our current technological environment, the 6

digital backchannel has evolved into relevant and popular communication. This studyhighlights the influence a digital backchannel on a learning environment that hashistorically limited interactivity amongst students, with instructors, and with coursecontent. 1.2 Background of the Study Lecture-based instruction has a long and distinguished history in tertiaryeducation. It is an appealing format for instructors and curriculum writers for a number ofreasons. The lecturer is central to the learning environment and assumes the predominantposition of source and presenter of pre-selected information. The student’s role tends tobe passive, with a simple set of expected behaviors, including listening, note-taking,maintaining quiet, limiting movement, with the end goal of retaining presented materials.Decisions are unilaterally made and the scope of content and timing of lectures can bepreset and planned. The lecture’s appeal is that it provides a format that is universal,orderly, predictable, and repeatable. In 1986, Maryellen Gleason of Pennsylvania State University presented a set oflimitations with lecture-based learning environments that remain as relevant now as theywere then: 1. Large space - large lectures take place in a big room, and interaction doesn't feel like personal communication because the instructor is so far away. Tight rows make group discussion difficult. 2. Isolation - large lectures are full of people, mostly strangers, creating a sense for students that what they say and do doesn't matter, leading them to care less about 7

seemingly small distractions and creating an inhibition about participating in front of a large audience. 3. Group size - the sheer number of students makes inclusive discussions arduous during a regular lecture. 4. Sage on the stage - the instructor appears impersonal, remote, and inaccessible, and there is an implied communication gap between students and instructor. 5. Theater setting - a seating arrangement that feels more like a theater than a class induces student passivity. Gleason’s set of challenges shows a lecture to rely heavily upon auditory deliveryof content. Multiple Intelligences Theory (Gardner, 1985) and research on learningmodalities suggest that students possess three major learning styles: auditory, visual, andkinesthetic. According to Dunn and Dunn (1978), when school-age learners were testedon the single learning modality they prefer, only 20-30% preferred auditory delivery ofcontent. This compared to 40% of learners who identified as visual learners, and 30-40%that prefer tactile/kinesthetic modes. The variety of learning styles is important enoughfor researchers, Mayer & Moreno, to construct a learning theory (Cognitive Theory ofMultimedia, 2003) based on the importance of mode variation. They found that learnersretain more when material is presented in a combination of two or more leaning styles. In response to the learning challenges inherent with lecture-based instruction, ithas historically been educational technology that has provided substantial tools to meetthese challenges. Technology has a history of providing learners with increasingly moreengaging tools. From the introduction of audio/visual recordings of the 1940’s, throughthe television- and radio-infused information age of the 1960’s and 1970’s, to theutilization of personal computers in the 1990’s, and into the globalization of informationin the digital age of the 2000’s, until the current interactive age, educational technology 8

has changed the face of lecture (Veletsianos & Russell, 2014). It is in this current agewhere student interaction, and all the learning benefits that accompany studentinteraction, has an opportunity to flourish. One relevant target for advancing technology in lecture-based learningenvironments has been student engagement. Digital backchannels, like Twitter, havebeen show to increase student engagement in university lecture halls (Schmierbach &Oeldorf-Hirsch, 2012; Junco, Elavsky, Heiberger, 2013). Furthermore, studentengagement amongst university undergraduates has a direct effect on better achievementand deeper learning (Carini, Kuh, & Klein, 2006; Kuh, et al, 2008). Historically, lecture-based learning has limited student voice and interaction, but when incorporated, usuallycomes from the same, small pool of behaviorally-engaged students. As Donnelly (2016)explains, lectures are where extrovert students are heralded, and introvert students are leftto make a go on their own. A foundation element of this study is to show that throughtechnology, all students are able to reap the cognitive benefits of active engagement. 1.3 Statement of the Problem When a Purdue University undergraduate student was asked to respond to aquestion about how she felt about the use of social media during lectures, she respondedwith, \"Instructors who incorporate mobile devices are actively engaging us in the class —they are using the medium of communication that we most often use. We need to findnew ways to present material; we don't need more cut-and-dry lecture formats. Challengeus to think for ourselves while applying the class information in our answers, and we willlikely not disappoint. Lectures are just one way to present material, but with theprevalence that instructors are using this format today, one would think it was the only 9

way to teach” (Aagard, Bowen, & Olesova, 2010, September 2). It is the claim of thisstudy that student use of a monitored, digital backchannel can increase studentengagement, and specifically student agency, in lecture-based formats. In addition, thedata retrieved from the backchannel can help inform instruction and improve instruction,as well. This issue with what this student refers to as “cut-and-dry lecture” is a questionof engagement. Kop and Hill (2008) concluded that student engagement diminishes whenstudents have an increased accessibility to information, but are not allowed to access it.With the wide range of approaches and learning paths that potentially increase studentengagement, redesigning curricula that employ new technologies should be a constantand evolving target for educators. All too often, instructors are required to deliver setcourse materials in accordance with prescribed learning outcomes as mandated byeducational institutions and are not provided with the professional freedom to utilize newtechnologies. Lecture-based instruction typically does not include checks of students’conceptual understanding. Some of the characteristics that make the lecture appealingalso hinder it as a learner-centered environment. Lectures tend to be pre-planned, uniformexperiences for students that are endured regardless of their learning needs. The USNational Research Council recommends “teachers collect information about students’understanding almost continuously, and make adjustments to their teaching on the basisof their interpretation of that information” (Furtak, 2002). Checks for understanding arethe hallmark of a learner-centered classroom. Checks for understanding in lecture-basedlearning environments require a teacher who is willing and able to pause the presentationand be open to updated information from and about students. These checks provide theinstructor with invaluable data on what is being learned, what is not, and wheresupplementary instruction is required. 10

Furthermore, undergraduate courses in universities, worldwide, tend to have highstudent-to-teacher ratios and, as a result, students tend to be passive spectators. As thetransmittal model of teaching (Du, 2012) is prevalent, the lecturer’s connection to thelearners, student participation in discussion, and an ethos of student agency are absent. Incontrast to the transmittal model in which students are understood to be passiveinformation recipients, Vygotsky’s social-constructivist theory (1978) emphasizes theimportance of placing students at the center of the learning process – that is by becomingactive and engaged learners. Many active learning techniques have been developed,primarily focused on encouraging student participation through both written and verbalmethods (Du, 2012). Achilles (1996) concluded that smaller class sizes increase theeffectiveness of teachers' work by increasing the level of attention and participation perstudent, so in lieu of reducing the number of students in a lecture hall, there is a need forresearchers to assist lecturers by developing improved teaching methodologies thatovercome the challenges associated with large, lecture-based learning environments. Done well, lectures provide learners with thought-provoking discourse, but all toooften, the lecture is a passive experience involving the one-way transfer of knowledge.As previously noted, from the university perspective, lectures are predictable,economical, and efficient learning environments. Until alternate learning environmentsare widely accepted in university programming, lecture-based instruction will continue tobe the norm. Changing the status quo must entail new methodologies that mitigate thelearning limitation presented by Gleason and others. Lecture-based learningenvironments that provide universities with the high levels of efficiency, yet increaseoverall student engagement and active learning provide a mutually beneficial crossroadand worthwhile target of academic research. 11

A significant aspect of this study is the context in which it is taking place.Thailand is a south-east Asian country with strong cultural and social norms. Thaistudents approach school with a strong sense of “moral debt” (Mulder, 2000) owed totheir teacher. Historically, Thai culture presumes that the teacher is the representation ofmoral goodness. As a self-sacrificing teacher provides all students with a gift ofknowledge, gratitude for the gift is shown through respectful, even passive, behavior. It ishighly regarded that with the show of respect and politeness, individuals are able tosafeguard their families from societal problems (Chuah, 2010). This is evident in theclassroom, as well, where students are expected to listen and retain as opposed tocontribute and question. Until recently, it was assumed that Thai teachers and students preferred teacher-centered learning environments where students are given the answers and the primaryfocus is rote learning models (Rhein, 2013). Passivity in all students, regardless ofcultural background, attending a Thai international university would be subject to thepredominant cultural context reinforcing this behavior. There is reason to believe thatthere is a shift occurring in this perspective, as active learning is being implemented withsuccess across East Asia (Hallinger, 2013). Recently, the acceptance and application ofnew teaching techniques has been shown to decrease student passivity. Tolley, Johnson,& Koszalka of Syracuse University conducted an intervention study of instructionalmethods and student engagement in large classes in Thailand in 2012. They concludedthat Thai student engagement did increase in lecture-based settings when instructorsincorporated different teaching techniques. Most relevant of these was encouragingstudents to be more active and utilizing student-centered instructional methods. Thisstudy is designed to show how a digital backchannel can encourage student to becomeactive participants in their learning environment. 12

1.4 Research Questions Adler (1987) refers to genuine learning as active, not passive. It involves the useof the mind, not just the memory. It is the process of discovery in which the student, notthe teacher, is the main agent. This study will measure and analyze factors that contributeto student agency. Specifically, the study will target human agency components;intentionality, forethought, and self-awareness (Bandura, 2006, p. 164) and seek todistinguish ways to increase each in a lecture-based learning environment. Questions thatlead to these targets include: 1. What is the relationship between the use of digital backchannel and student agency? 2. What is the impact of a digital backchannel on individual components of student agency? 3. What are the features of a digital backchannel that influence student agency? 4. What instruction techniques are effective when employing a digital backchannel? 1.5 Research Objectives Answers to the aforementioned questions lead to four objectives for the study: 1. Find a relationship between the use of digital backchannel and student agency. 2. Measure the impact of a digital backchannel on individual components of student agency. 3. Identify the features of a digital backchannel that influence student agency. 4. Create a framework for instructors in lecture-based environments to utilize when employing a digital backchannel. 13

1.6 Significance of the Study The conclusions made as a result of this study are intended for universityinstructors and researchers in the fields of educational technology and leadership. Forinstructors, the study will result in a teaching framework that aims to “reverse the flow”of knowledge and challenge the “position of authority” (Bass, 2012). In lecture-basedenvironments, the “flow” tends to be transfer of content knowledge from the instructor tothe student. By reversing this flow, students are able to contribute to the overall learning.Ideas and shared and valued amongst all class participants and student voice and optionsare valued. The framework will challenge the presumption that students deemed ready topractice science only after they have learned science. Instead, students will be encouragedto question, critique, and apply what they have learned, as they learn it. A second significant outcome of this study is its potential application in otherlecture-based courses and environments. Collaboration, contribution, and critique are allmeaningful outcomes of an active backchannel. Bruff (2010) notes that a backchannelallows students to engage in notetaking, sharing resources, commenting, amplifying,asking questions, helping one another, offering suggestions, building community, andopening the classroom. These are all characteristics of a learning experience that shiftsthe lecturer’s role from one of transmitter to coach. Instead of standing in front of anaudience and delivering the unquestioned spoken word, the teacher’s role shifts to anexperienced guide helping students navigate the volumes of content. The responsibility oflearning becomes a shared investment and the lecturer/student relationship changes. Thischanging relationship can potentially improve any lecture-based learning environment,regardless of the size of the class or subject area of the course. 14

1.7 Theoretical Framework When analyzing the effectiveness of technology or an educational tool, severalperspectives on learning are referenced. With the emergence of technology into learningenvironments, theorists have had to identify how this has effected learning. Mostcommon, established learning theories have had to expanded, been amended, and evenreinvented to account for the changes brought about by technology. The theories detailedhere are relatively new approaches to learning, in response to the influence of technologyand a better understanding of human brain development and the mechanics of cognitivedevelopment. They provide the theoretical backbone on which a new teachingframeworks can be introduced, tested, and established. “Behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism are the three broad learningtheories most often utilized in the creation of instructional environments. These theories,however, were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through the currenttechnological boom. Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live,how we communicate, and how we learn. Learning needs and theories that describelearning principles and processes, should be reflective of underlying socialenvironments” (Siemans, 2005). Three learning theories most relevant to the analysis of adigital backchannel’s impact on the learners within a lecture-based environment areSocial Learning Theory, Cognitive Learning of Multimedia, and Connectivism.Social Learning Theory Influenced by the early 20th century cognitivist theories of Behaviorism (Skinner)and Social Learning and Imitation Theory (Holt), Social Learning Theory was developedby Canadian psychologist, Albert Bandura in the 1960’s. His aim was to develop acomprehensive learning model that recognized the complexity of real world influences. 15

Bandura’s primary claims were captured in the famous Bobo Doll Experiment of1961. During the experiment, children were shown to imitate the behavior of othersaround them, especially when the others had perceived similarities. Behaviors were morelikely to be repeated when the people around the children reinforced the behavior, eitherpositively or negatively. This extended to children who simply observed the reinforcedbehaviors of their peers and tried it themselves as a way to receive the same rewards. As a result of the work of Bandura and his colleagues, five tenets of sociallearning theory were developed: 1. Learning is not simply behavioral. It involves learner cognition and takes place in a social context. 2. Learning can occur through observation and observing the consequences others have received based on their behavior. 3. Learning involves reflection and inferences made through observations and decisions about the performance of specific behaviors. Thus, learning can occur without a preceding change in behavior. 4. Reinforcement influences learning but is not the sole source of it. 5. The learner is not a passive receiver of information. Cognition, context, and learner behaviors influence each other and the learning (Edmondson & Moingeon, 1998). Two theories are directly connected to Social Learning, both of which shed lighton the philosophical approach to learning taken by this study: Social Ecological SystemsLearning Theory and Social Constructivist Theory. The former places a greater emphasison interconnections among different elements of a learner’s environment than its parenttheory. While social ecological models of development are challenging to researchbecause of the large number of interacting elements, they help to explain the complex 16

interchange between children and their environments over time. Essentially, this theorynotes that when one part of the learning environment changes, other aspects of theenvironment must change to accommodate and maintain homeostasis (Schaeffer, 2009).Generally speaking, social ecological models of development focus on an individuallearner at the center of a complex array of influences. Most developmental researchersacknowledge the incredible array of factors that influence learners at all ages, but fewresearchers try to incorporate this array into their research designs. For this reason, moreresearch is needed in areas of development that seek to incorporate multiple societalinfluences on learners. The latter, Social Constructivist Theory is evident in many university lecture hallswhere students assume the role of passive spectator and a transmittal model of teaching isprevalent. In contrast to the transmittal model in which students are understood to bepassive information recipients, Vygotsky’s Social-Constructivist Theory (Vygotsky1978) emphasizes the importance of placing students at the center of the learning process– that is by becoming active learners. Social learning theory, and its descendants, is relevant to this study as it places apremium on the factors of learning that a digital backchannel enhances: social interaction,i.e. conversing amongst students on the backchannel; reinforced behavior, i.e.acknowledged contributions to the backchannel; and student agency, i.e. a sense of self-efficacy and control over the pace and direction of course content through contributionsto the backchannel.Cognitive Theory of Multimedia “One of the principle aims of multimedia instruction is to encourage the learner tobuild a coherent mental representation from the presented material. The learner’s job is to 17

make sense of the presented material as an active participant, ultimately constructing newknowledge” (Sorden, 2012). The Cambridge Handbook on Multimedia Learning (Mayer,2005) defines multimedia learning as learning from words, spoken or printed, andpictures, graphics, photos, or video, with an emphasis on computer-based environments. “We propose a theory of multimedia learning based on the assumptions thathumans possess separate systems for processing pictorial and verbal material, eachchannel is limited in the amount of material that can be processed at one time, andmeaningful learning involves cognitive processing including building connectionsbetween pictorial and verbal representations” (Mayer & Moreno, 2003). Mayer and Moreno use Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory (1985) as afoundational piece of their theory. Within Multiple Intelligences Theory, there arecommonly considered the primary modalities: visual (seeing), auditory (hearing),kinesthetic (moving/feeling). Modality refers to how students use their senses in thelearning process. Most students are able to learn using all three modalities, but eachlearner has their own preferences that, if utilized, can enhance learning outcomes.Classrooms of younger learners are usually designed to consider all modalities, buttraditional classrooms for older students, including higher education and lecture-based,rely heavily on the auditory mode alone. Sorden (2012) and Mayer and Moreno (2003)have expanded up Gardner’s work by incorporating the influences of modern media intothe structures of modality. As a result, older students are able to learn through a variety ofmodalities with greater ease than their younger counterparts, but it is easy to forget thatthey still have preferences and still benefit from learning environments that are conduciveto a variety of modalities. Multimedia Learning (2005) and Multiple Intelligences Theory (1985) arefundamental to this study as they recognize and highlight the influence of how the 18

features of a digital backchannel, like ease of Internet access, sharing of resources, andthe inclusion of pictures, sounds, and videos in backchannel contributions, enhance thelearning environment for all participants.Connectivism Connectivism is a theoretical approach to modern learning. In connectivism, thestarting point for learning occurs when knowledge is actuated through the process of alearner connecting to and feeding information into a learning community (Kop & Hill,2008). The connectivist model involves nodes and networks. Nodes are sources ofinformation, which can take many forms. Most commonly, nodes take the form of peopleand resources. Nodes can vary in size, strength, and complexity and regularly change dueto the incorporation of new or updated information. Networks emerge when two or morenodes link, share, and interact. Knowledge is distributed across the network and is opento questioning, confirmation, and critique. Since the information held at the nodes isconstantly changing, an individual’s understanding of a concept also has to be open tochange, critique, redevelopment, and evolution. Understanding develops as individualscreate and edit active connections with the information held in the node. Connectivism is a response to the question, what does learning look like in the21st century? (Ravenscroft, 2012) It is a theory that involves both affective and cognitivedomains. Since networks are built on collective knowledge, they rely on the behaviorsand attitudes of the members of the network. The strength of the network is dependent onthe strength of the connections between the nodes. Connections are also necessary in theindividual learner. The theory emphasizes two essential cognitive elements that effectivelearners exhibit – the motivation to seek new information, and the ability to filter it. By 19

utilizing a connectivist approach, instructors have the ability to “design, promote andcatalyse the development and operation of quality connections” (Ravenscroft, 2012). One aspect of student engagement associates directly with connectivism. Agenticengagement refers to the extent of students’ constructive contribution into the flow of theinstruction they receive. In essence, it is the learner’s ability to connect with the learningprocess. Agentically engaged students express their preferences, ask questions, and lettheir teacher know their needs and wants. Agentic engagement is different from othertypes of engagement, i.e. behavioral, emotional, and cognitive, in that is it uniquelyproactive, intentional, and collaborative. Agentic engagement functions a student-initiated pathway to greater achievement and to a more motivationally-supportivelearning environment (Reeve, & Tseng, 2011). This is a fundamental piece of thisresearch study as the digital backchannel is designed to provide a venue for agenticengagement. 1.8 Conceptual Framework Figure 1 provides a conceptual framework for how a digital backchannel willadjust the conditions and roles in a lecture-based learning environment to promote thecomponents of student agency. There are four significant aspects to the framework: Thestandard lecture-based learning environment, the digital backchannel, the enhancedlecture-based learning environment, and the outcomes. Characteristics of both learningenvironments and a brief description of the digital backchannel are captured in theframework. More specific outcomes will be made clear as the study is undertaken anddata analyze to illicit the potential of the digital tool. 20

Ideas presented graphically are designed to show how digital backchannels havethe potential to enhance the learning experience for students. Through effective use andmonitoring by the instructor and by integrating the digital tool into the presentation ofcourse content, an enhanced learning environment is created. 21

FIGURE 1: Utilization of a Digital Backchannel to Enhance Student Agency in aLecture-Based Learning Environment 22

1.9 Limitations of the Research There are a number of limitations that need to be considered when incorporatingthe results of this research with others in this area and with future research. The study’sgeographical context, subject area and time frame are significant contributing factors tothe analysis of data. Initially, the study takes place at a private, Catholic, international university inThailand. The conclusions reached as a result of the data collected in this study willconsider the cultural and social context, but may not represent a typical Thai population.This analysis includes how the students attending this university are similar and differfrom peers that are attending Thai national universities. Assumption University ofThailand attracts hundreds of students from 75 different countries worldwide. Another limitation of this research is that it will take place amongst studentsenrolled in a single subject area. GE1301, Environmental Science is a lecture-basedcourse in the General Education Department of the Faculty of Arts. As it is a generalrequirement for all Faculty of Arts students, most who enroll are in their first or secondyear at the university. The course has both scientific and social aspects with a noteworthyamount of unique vocabulary for students to retain. Students with limited Englishlanguage skills find it difficult to meet the demands of academic and course-specificlanguage, both reading and listening. Finally, the length of this study is a single 15-week semester. The course covers 5units over the semester. There are five in-class assignments, a midterm and final, and anenvironmental conservation project. The digital backchannel will be used to supplementall assignments and test-preparation sessions. As of result of this research, conclusionswill note the amount of time students were exposure to the digital backchannel. 23

1.10 Definition of Terms Student Engagement can be defined in many ways and this ambiguity poses anissue in this field of research. The term is commonly used as a term describing thereadiness of the learner, as in the student’s perception of safety and belonging. It can alsorefer to how well the family participates in the student’s school-related affairs and can betied directly to statistics such as graduation and drop-out rates. For the purposes of thisstudy and the literature related to this study, student engagement refers to the mentalacuity of the student. It is a measure of how mentally present the student is duringinstruction and how well the information is being processed. Skinner & Pitzer (2012)refer to this conceptualization as “classroom engagement”. Student Agency involves self-regulating, proactive, intentional, and constructiveactions. Where engagement has historically been categorized as behavioral, affective, andcognitive, agentic engagement is a student-initiated pathway. Teachers can establishlearning environments that are conducive to student agency, but in the end, it is up to thestudent to challenge, advocate, find relevance, and set goals for themselves. Reeve (2011)concluded that student agency, similar to behavioral, emotional, and cognitivedimensions of engagement, is a pathway to positive learner outcomes. Sen (1982) notedthat agency involves being actively involved in shaping one’s own destiny, and not justas passive recipients of the “fruits of cunning development program.” For the purposes of this study, the operational definition of student agency willcontain three components. Academic agency is displayed in learners who possesses 1. intentionality, 2. forethought, and 3. self-awareness. 24

Intentionality means the ability to seek out learning opportunities, form and actupon ideas, and align actions with desired outcomes. Forethought means the ability tocreate, initiate, and persist with plans and goals. Learners with forethought consider anddiligently perform smaller steps in pursuit of larger objectives. Self-awareness means theextent to which a learner is conscious of his/her learning needs. Bandura described self-awareness as the ability to be reactive to changing conditions and reflective aboutpersonal learning experiences. Self-awareness is largely connected to metacognition anda learner’s ability to consider their own thinking. These three components provide criteriafor the treatment and measurement of progress throughout the study. The components areshown in Table 1. TABLE 1: Agentic EngagementComponents of Intentionality Forethought Self-AwarenessAgentic EngagementSummary Acts with desire to Plans with objectives Reflects conscious ofCode inquire in mind own learningObservables I F A - Asks clarifying - Completes steps to - Seeks personal questions reach goals relevance - Offers input that - Gathers resources - Communicates adds to learning - Recommends thoughts and needs - Seeks ways to solve- courses of action - Communicates level problems - Suggests, of interest - Recognizes contributes solutions - Generates opinions opportunities Lecture-Based Learning Environments are common amongst the majority oflarge, undergraduate universities worldwide. For the purposes of this study, theconditions of these environments include a single point of expertise (lecturer) deliveringthe content of a course through primarily verbal means to a large group of recipients 25

(students), who are expected to take notes as a method to retain the information presentedfor a future exam. Lecture halls often contain theatre-style seating where attention isdirected at the single source of expertise and interaction between students is discouraged.Typical behavioral presumptions in a lecture-based learning environment include: asingle instructor does the majority of talking and students listen with minimalinterruptions, student concentration typically wanes the longer the lecture continues, theinstructor’s questions are largely rhetorical, responses to the instructor’s questions arecommonly made by students raising their hands, student-to-student talk is oftendiscouraged, students listen and take notes independently, student comprehension duringthe lecture is not monitored explicitly, opportunities to correct misunderstandings are notprovided routinely during the lecture, and student absenteeism often is quite high(Cornell University, 2017). Backchannels are the secondary conversations occurring during the delivery ofthe lecture. In the digital form, they are in-house messaging platforms that are accessibleby students and instructors through a variety of devices. Lecture-based instruction posessocial barriers that the backchannel is designed to counter. The backchannel gives thesestudents a venue to question, comment, and respond to course content without taking thepublic risks normally associated with interrupting the lecture. “Digital backchannels canhelp listeners to share their impressions and engage in collaborative activities. In order tonot only strengthen, but also to increase awareness of ongoing group dynamics, bothsophisticated social interactions and group communication are necessary” (Bry, Baum,Pohl, 2011) For the purposes of this study, a digital backchannel is a web-enabled, digitalspace for learners to interact with the instructor, course content, and each other without 26

interrupting the primary discourse. The backchannel, Padlet, will be used in this study.Students will not need to download software before using this application and a logonand password will be required by all participants to ensure confidentiality. Whencontributing to the backchannel, participants will enter their student number as theiridentification. This number will display next to all contributions to the backchannel,allowing reluctant students to feel a sense of safety in anonymity and at the same time,allowing the researcher to track and monitor individual contributions. Figure 2 shows thefeatures of a Padlet backchannel. FIGURE 2: Padlet and the Features to be Used by Study Participants The instructor can provide questions or instructionsStudents can ask Users can link toquestions or webpages ormake comments upload pictures Student numbers Students can rate are used for posts they like or identification find useful Students can comment on previous posts 27

Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature 2.1 Introduction Although the fields of digital backchannels and student agency are relatively neweducational constructs, the theoretical foundation from which they derive is extensive andestablished. This review of related literature looks into current research on the topicsrelated to this study, and also looks into the seminal work related to the relevant learningtheories from the past. It will review the concepts that have already been studied,definitions that have been established, assumptions that have been made, and models thatstill need exploration. The review is organized into five parts. The first three parts illustrate therelationships between the study’s primary tool (digital backchannel) in the environment(lecture) to reach the goal (student agency). Next, the review clarifies the theoreticalunderpinnings that describe the relationships between the tool, the environment, and thegoal. Finally, the review will examine the impact of the Thai culture on the learningenvironment and how this study is important to the field of study based on the culturaland historical context where it is taking place. Figure 3 provides a visual model of howthe review is organized and in which section of the chapter the concept is examined. 28

FIGURE 3: Structural Organization of Related Literature Review 2.2 Digital Backchannel and Lecture-Based Learning Environment McNely (2009) describes a backchannel as, “a secondary or backgroundcomplement to an existing frontchannel”. Yardi (2008) describes the digital backchannelas an appropriate place to strengthen the collective consciousness of large lectureaudiences and empower students through appropriate forms of communication and 29

feedback. In an academic sense, the digital backchannel is designed to provide studentswith a safe environment to ask questions, makes comments, interact with the otherplayers engaged in a shared learning experience. Du (2012) notes the digital backchannelpromotes of a sense of community, where learners are free to interact and buildrelationships. Lecture-Based Learning Environments have been proven to be an efficientmethod at presenting a large amount of material to a large audience (Bonwell & Eison,1991; Cashin, 1985). These environments tend to have vocal students consume most ofthe scarce in-class discussion time, a lecturer that plays the role of “sage on the stage,”controlling the timing and presented course content, some students may hold negativefeelings about how material is being presents, and students are expected to suppresspersonal, relevant questions (Du, 2012). In recent years, studies have suggested digital backchannel systems provide usefultools for lecturers who are looking to gather real-time students' feedback in a large lectureenvironment (Schmierbach & Oeldorf-Hirsch, 2012; Bry, Gehlen-Baum, Pohl, 2011;Donnelly, 2016; Kay & Lesage, 2009). Some studies describe the challenges presented tolecturers who are asked to use the backchannel to process and respond to large amountsof student feedback in real time during the course of the lesson. Other studies highlightthe learning benefits in allowing students to give feedback during a class and concludethat the effort to extract student sentiments and emotions has been shown to be beneficialto a sense of community. Continuous monitoring of the morale of students andresponding to the most important concerns has been show effective in empoweringstudents. Key findings in this area include an increase in student questioning (Caram &Davis, 2005). A common misconception of digital backchannel use in lecture-formatted 30

instruction includes an increase in student distraction. Du (2012) concluded thatdistractions are not increased by the use of a digital backchannel. Important to the overalllearning environment is the feedback on learning that digital backchannels provideinstructors. 2.3 Digital Backchannel and Student Agency Student agency is a student-initiated pathway to learning which involves self-regulating, proactive, intentional, and constructive actions (Reeve, 2011). The use of adigital backchannel has been shown to increase the factors to that lead to student agency,specifically intentionality, forethought, and self-awareness. Since student agency is onedimension of student engagement (Reeve & Tseng, 2011), an increase in studentmotivation, behavior, affect, and cognitive capacity can all be attributed to digitalbackchannel use. Although there have been several studies theorizing the benefits of backchannelsin the classroom (Cogdill, Fanderclai et al. 2001; Yardi 2006; McNely 2009), theintegration of public digital backchannels in classrooms is an emerging field in educationresearch, and little has been discovered about its impacts. (Du, 2012) Students whointeract with course materials, peers, and instructors have shown an increase in attention,retention, reproduction, and motivation (Bandura, 1987). Digital backchannels are common at large conferences and conventions as a wayto capture and share learning amongst attendees and those interested parties not inattendance. These technologies have found their way into classrooms, as well, but withless prevalence and acceptance. At conventions, the backchannel is commonly used as away to enrich participants’ experience and increase interactivity amongst its users, yetcommon practice and observations indicate that lecturers in lecture-based environments 31

typically discourage side conversations, interaction between students, and the use ofpersonal technological devices. Critiques of lecture-based instruction have been clearabout the drawbacks of lecture halls for university learners and as science uncoversgreater understandings about how the human brain perceives, organizes, and retainsinformation, the more the lecture has been shown to not provide optimal conditions forthe learning. Where lectures provide instructors a high level of control, brain scienceshows us that learning is highly personalized, contextualized, and complex. “Overall, thecombined learning and teaching task is complex, open-ended, and choice-rich, so learnersmust employ a number of cognitive and metacognitive skills to achieve success”(Kinnebrew, Loretz, & Biswas, 2013). Thai-based studies about student agency have shown that there are cultural factorsleading to the promotion of passivity of its students. Similar to European counterparts,the Thai education system has shifted from a system that historically only serves theresourced and elite to one that currently serves a greater number of citizens across awider variety of backgrounds. “In the latter half of the 20th century, Thai highereducation transitioned from an system to a mass based system” (Shiller & Liefner, 2006).The result has been more students engaged in tertiary education and more studentsenrolled in lecture-based classrooms. Culturally, Thai students are taught to be respectfulof elders and to be good listeners. Thai culture places a very high value on learning.Because of this, teachers are highly respected and are typically considered as beingknowledgeable and authoritative. Thai students may not feel as comfortable askingquestions and/or voicing their opinions as Western students and eliciting a response canbe difficult sometimes (Nguyen, 2005). Student agency is a secondary consideration inThai culture, yet research consistently shows that student engagement plays a critical rolein the development of academic achievement (Carbonaro, 1998; Eccles, 2004; Portes, 32

2000). This study will aim to examine the efficiency of one technology tool in facilitatinggreater learner engagement within the Thai context. 2.4 Lecture-Based Learning Environment and Student Agency For the agentically engaged learner, their role in lecture-based learningenvironments is unclear. These learners seek to take an active role in the classroom, butin an educational context where questioning, commenting, and contributing and not thenorm, they are isolated. Chickering & Gamson (1987) concluded that “learning is not aspectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in class listening to teachers,memorizing prepackaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk aboutwhat they are learning, write about it, relate it to experiences, apply it to their daily lives.They must make what they learn part of themselves.” New expectations for lecturers andlearners can help promote student agency in lecture-based learning environments. Analysis of student engagement begun in the United States in the mid-1990’s as away to rank universities based on student experience. This is not to say that studentengagement is a uniquely American phenomenon. Student engagement has been a topicof analysis in universities and K-12 schools, worldwide. In Europe, student engagementbecame an instructional issue when the number of students dramatically rose. Policiespassed that promised mass education for more of its citizens in the 1950’s, drasticallylowering the teacher to student ratio in lecture-based classes. As a result, “both alecturer’s awareness and the students’ participation in the lecture tended to dramaticallydecrease” (Bry, Gehlen-Baum, Pohl, 2011). In Asia, one of the most popular and knownstudent engagement indicators, the Student Engagement Questionnaire or SEQ, wasdeveloped by Kember and Leung at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2009. 33

There is a significant body of research that examines student engagement inlecture-based learning environments and the features of each. As a result of these studies,many researchers have provided insights into how student learning requires supplementalsupport to make large, lecture-based instruction effective (Barr & Tagg, 1995; Knight &Wood, 2005; Heikkil & Lonka, 2006; Gleason, 1986). Researchers in this field haveexplored the relationship between lecture-based learning and student achievement,cognition, engagement, and agency. Their work has shown how active inquiry yieldspositive results in learning outcomes, and one way to make the large lecture class moreactive and participatory is to create and leverage a backchannel. Effective use ofquestioning arouses curiosity, stimulates interest, and motivates students to seek newinformation (Akbari & Schroeder, 2010; Hu, Ching & Chao, 2012). Students engaged inthe questioning process benefit from the clarification of concepts, emergence of keypoints, and enhancement of problem-solving skills. By using questioning, teachers accessstudents’ knowledge, determine needs for focusing reteaching, and encourage students tothink at higher cognitive levels (Caram & Davis, 2005). 2.5 Theoretical Foundations There are four learning theories that provide the theoretical foundation for thisstudy. A digital backchannel provides the opportunities for student to student, student toinstructor, and student to content interaction. Interactions of this nature are markers oflearning that fall within the Social Constructivist Theory (Vygotsky, 1978). When considering student engagement, researchers consider the seminal work ofAlbert Bandura, whose insights lead to the development of the Social Cognitive Theoryof Learning in 1989. Researchers, such as Reeve and Tseng (2011), Heikkil & Lonka 34

(2006), and Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris (2004), have taken the central tenets of SocialCognitive Theory and used them to focus specifically on student agency as a componentof engagement. The intent of the digital backchannel is to increase access learners have tosocial-based channels. This increase in socialization through the digital backchannel willprovide sources of social learning and will play a principal role in the focus of thisresearch. The expansion of educational technology has been a major factor in thedevelopment of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia and Connectivism as relevant,modern learning theories. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia states that students learndeeply when material is presented through multiple media forms. It is based on theassumptions that humans possess separate systems for processing pictorial and verbalmaterial, each channel is limited in the amount of material that can be processed at onetime, and meaningful learning involves cognitive processing including buildingconnections between pictorial and verbal representations (Mayer & Moreno, 2003).Researchers such as Sorden (2012) and Paas, Renkl, & Sweller (2003) continued toexpand upon the theory and have described the effects of cognitive overload. Cognitiveoverload occurs when the amount and rate at which the brain is presented withinformation, data, and images becomes too much to distinguish. The ubiquity ofaccessible information, in all modes, through the Internet has been associated with thisoverload. This theory and the idea of cognitive overload relates directly to how studentsin this study will experience the extra information they will be processing as a result ofthe digital backchannel. Connectivism is a learning framework for understanding how information isprocessed in a technological society. In connectivism, learning occurs when knowledge isactuated through the process of a learner connecting and feeding information into a 35

learning community. Siemens (2004) states, “A community is the clustering of similarareas of interest that allows for interaction, sharing, dialoguing, and thinking together.” Inthe connectivist model, a learning community is described as a node, which is always partof a larger network. Nodes arise out of the connection points that are found on a network.A network is comprised of two or more nodes linked in order to share resources. Nodesmay be of varying size and strength, depending on the concentration of information andthe number of individuals who are navigating through a particular node (Kop & Hill,2008). Approaches to learning that utilize technology are important to this study, as thedigital backchannel provides a unique method to engage with course content anddistribute the knowledge of the group amongst the students’ personal devices. 2.6 Student Agency in Thailand Thai citizens share a deep-seeded pride in their history and unique culture.Buddhism is the dominant religion, at 95% of the population, and Thai culture followsthe basic tenets of the religion. From Nguyen (2005), Buddhism tenets include 1. Showing kindness and tolerance towards others. 2. Belief that what happens to a person is the result of his/her own actions orkarma. 3. Acceptance in reincarnation, where a person has lived other lives before andafter this one and the next life depends on the deeds of this one. 4. Life involves suffering, which comes from one’s craving. Therefore, oneshould give up ambition or greed and do good deeds to improve one’s karma. As an aspect of this inherent and dominant culture, there are educational effects.For the entirety of their early life, in and out of school, Thai university students are 36

expected to receive and be grateful for the knowledge they receive from their teachers.Rhein (2017) describes the relationship as somewhat spiritual and disagreement withthose in authoritative position as cultural taboo. Students are taught politeness and respectas essentially Thai character traits from an early age. As a result, Nguyen (2005) notesthat Thai students develop an aversion to asking questions or voicing their opinions inclass to avoid potentially misunderstood behaviors, thus appearing, through a Westernlens, to act in a more passive manner. In a world that is globalizing, the educational influences of internationalism havereached Thailand. Thai educational policy-makers are not resistant to the effects ofinternational education and value the learning of English language and global awarenessin Thai schools. Shiller & Liefner (2007) and Tolley, Johnson, Koszalka, (2012) haveconducted research on the benefits of how international approaches to learning andinstruction have benefited Thailand educational systems. Specifically, their research,along with that of Deveney, (2005) found that by creating positive and supportiveenvironments where students can develop the confidence to participate in classdiscussions, teachers were able to better connect and understand the learning needs oftheir Thai students. To a similar extent, there is an underlying need for Western teachersto be aware of cultural norms and avoid placing their Thai students in awkward socialsituations where cultural expectations are comprimised. The digital backchannel targetsboth the development of a supportive classroom culture and provides a venue for socialinteraction with less risk of cultural conflicts. Factors that affect academic achievement in Thailand are similar to universitystudents in other parts of the world. Parental education level, socioeconomic status, andhigh school GPA are the same indicators of academic success as the rest of the world(Sutabutra, 2006). Thai students are not different in their learning processes, what is 37

unique is the Thai context in which they are asked to learn. Some proponents of teacher-directed instruction claim that teacher- directed instruction is responsive to the culturallyformed motivational needs of East Asian students (Watkins, 2000). Hallinger (2013)notes that over the past ten years, a growing number of studies have challenged thisassumption, claiming that Thai students can respond enthusiastically and productively toactive approaches to learning (e.g. Biggs, 1994; Hallinger and Bridges, 2007; Hallingerand Lu, 2012; Kember, 2000) In the past, student agency has been rare and repressed inThai culture. Evidence shows that this may be changing with the globalization ofeducational thought and approaches. By its nature, student agency requires intentionaldisplays of analysis, questioning, and investment. It is this dichotomy of thought thatprovides additional motivation for this study. 38

Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology 3.1 Introduction Engagement is a substantial predicator of a student’s educational outcomes (Wang& Degol, 2014), yet the study of student engagement entails complexity andpersonalization. There is research supporting the premise that student engagement isobservable in qualitatively different patterns depending on the individual learner. Theinitial self-assessment in this study quantifies student data on two measures, but the coreof this study is the qualitative analysis of what it means to be academically engaged.Qualitative research is based on inductive reasoning, holistic models, and is concernedwith the process of learning versus its outcomes (Freebody, 2003, p. 36). As this studyaims to determine a digital backchannel’s effect on student engagement, specificallyagentic engagement, the pursuit of this objective will require detailed collection andanalysis of student thinking and mental processing. Qualitative research and the featuresrelated to the processing of qualitative data are an appropriate methodology in reachingthe objectives of this study. The introduction to this study notes how lectures are a common instructionalformat in university undergraduate programs worldwide. As a result, university studentsare familiar and can rely upon what is expected of them in these learning environments.Technological advancement has allowed lecture instructional practice to evolve overtime. This study is built on the premise with the ubiquity of personal technology, we havepotentially arrived at one of those times in the history where lecture-based environmentscan and should evolve. This next evolution can promote student engagement andinteractivity within these lecture-based learning environments. This study takes place in Thailand, where cultural norms and expectations play asignificant part in the effectiveness of lecture-based learning environments. “Thai 39

students may not feel as comfortable asking questions and/or voicing their opinions asWestern students... Eliciting a response can be difficult sometimes” (Nguyen, 2005). Thetypical Thai student expects a lecture-based environment to be a passive experience. Theproblem that arises is that most major learning theories find a passive experience is not anoptimal learning experience for all learners. Figure 3 shows a conceptual plan as to how abackchannel can help transform a passive experience into one where students areencouraged to inquire, and interact without contravening on cultural norms and publicallyquestioning their instructor. Labeled as a “backchannel loop”, the process allows studentinput to add to the general conceptual understanding of the class and inform futureinstruction. 40

Conceptualization of Student Agency as a ResultFIGURE 4: DesignoofftBhaeckUcthialniznaeltiLoonopof a Digital Backchannel in a Lecture-Based Learning EnvironmentAssumption University Undergraduates Highly Engaged Qualitative Study Descriptive Profile: Students Representatives from each student group, non-random Gender, Age, GPA, Academic Feelings, Passive Students Family Support selection DisengagedPre-Treatment Engagement Assessment Students Lecture-Based Learning Behavioral | Affective | Cognitive | Agentic Environment (LBLE) Large space, high Assessment data used to generate three student groups student/lecturer ratio, lecturer at front of classroom, theatre- Reeve & Tsang (2011) Agentic Engagement style seating Scale (AES) Instructor-Generated Questions based on anticipated challenges and student feedback Course Content Monitoring of Backchanneldelivery through primary BACKCHANNEL provides instructor formative channel: Lecture LOOP feedback on student progress, struggles, and conceptual Student-Generated Comments, understanding Questions and Answers backchannel provides venue for interaction with lecture content and peers Bandura, (1991) Siemens, (2004)Social Cognitive Theory- Connectivism - Learning takes place students develop within networks self-efficacyPost-Treatment Engagement Assessment Qualitative Study Behavioral | Affective | Cognitive | Agentic Analysis of student agentic engagement development and influence of digital backchannel Conclusions Effect(s) of digital backchannel on Student Engagement and Student Agency 41

3.2 Design of the Study The nature of research in this study requires there to be a close proximity betweenparticipant and researcher. The internal processes taking place when a student assumes anagentic approach to learning is best uncovered through observation and interaction. Themore comfortable and safe participants feel with the researcher and processes, the morehonest and insightful their answers to queries will be. Behavior can be observed, but todecipher the cognitive, affective, and agentic components of student engagement,analysis of mental processes is needed. Thus, research will be conducted through a seriesof qualitative methods. Initially, interpretation of survey data within the first week of the semester willdetermine a series of homogeneous student groups. Grouping will be formed based onself-perceived agency and disposition towards use of personal technology in lecture-based learning environments. Figure 4 depicts an example of a possible distribution ofstudent survey results. Once groups have been identified, a combination of observation,informal interview, backchannel transcripts, and semi-structured focus groups willprovide data regarding the impact of the digital backchannel on student agency. 42

FIGURE 5: Example of initial survey results and student groupings Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) provides the methodologicalapproach to data examination in this study. IPA is an appropriate methodology becausestudies utilizing this methodology are designed to “investigate how individuals makesense of their experiences” (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014) and the analysis of data willrequire the participants to directly report their responses and experiences. An advantageof using IPA is that it provides personal accounts of experiential themes, like the use of adigital backchannel, and is paired with the researcher’s interpretation of these accounts.IPA is a combination of phenomenology and hermeneutics, providing insight intoparticipants’ thoughts and motivations. Where a phenomenological approach seeks tounderstand the participant’s conceptual understanding of an experience, the dualhermeneutic interpretation of the participants’ actions and words include the actualresponses in combination with the researcher’s ability to decode the meaning-makingthemes contained within these responses. 43

An additional advantage of using IPA is the inductive approach to data analysis.The real-time, constant analysis of data aims to provide a rich description of thephenomena under investigation. This process undergoes continuous refinementthroughout the data collection and analysis process, feeding back into the process ofquestioning and coding of data. \"As events are constantly compared with previous events,new topological dimensions, as well as new relationships, may be discovered\" (Goetz &LeCompte, 1981, p. 58). 3.3 Study Participants The study takes place during the second semester of the 2017-18 school year atAssumption University of Thailand. Students will be volunteers from four sections of anEnvironmental Science course, GE 1301, as part of the College of Arts, General Studiesprogram. The course is lecture-based, relying on the text book, Environmental science: Astudy of interrelationships (Enger & Smith, 2000), as the primary source of content,reading, and lecture. Class sizes range from 25 to 50 students per section. Focus groups will be organized based on the selection method outlined in Figure4. Organizing students in homogenous groups provides them the opportunity to interactwith students who have similar attitudes about technology use and agency. Discussionswith like-minded peers will provide a venue for students to safely share and reinforceeach other’s insights. The intent is to uncover deeper levels of student thinking andprocesses involving agentic engagement in class. Content analysis will be performed onfocus group recordings and backchannel transcripts. This will include the coding andorganization of contextual units, based on word-frequency and the categories that emergefrom the data. Table 2 shows how the Survey Questions will provide grouping dataamongst the separate components of agentic engagement. 44

TABLE 2: Agentic Engagement with Survey QuestionsComponents of Intentionality Forethought Self-AwarenessAgentic EngagementSummary Acts with desire to Plans with objectives Reflects conscious ofCode inquire in mind own learningObservables I F A - Asks clarifyingFocus Group/Survey questions - Completes steps to - Seeks personalquestions - Offers input that reach goals relevance(1-7 agreement Likert adds to learning - Gathers resources - Communicatesscale) - Seeks ways to solve- - Recommends thoughts and needs problems courses of action - Communicates level - Recognizes - Suggests, of interest opportunities contributes solutions - Generates opinions During lectures, I I refer to other I let my teachers express my opinions. resources during class know what I need and During lectures, I ask to help me want. questions to help my understand. I let my teachers understanding. I attend class on time know my interests. every day. 3.4 Evidence and Sources Qualitative studies able to more fully describe a learning phenomenon and rely ona variety of data sources to reach conclusions (Hoepfl, 1997). Data will be collectedfrom five sources: survey, backchannel, focus group, informal interviews, andobservations. Some data will be recorded and text-based: focus group recordings, surveyresponses, and backchannel transcripts. Some data will be collected through notetakingand be recorded as an observed narrative: observations, informal interview notes.Collection of observation and informal interview data will occur continuously throughoutthe semester. These sources will use the observables described in Tables 1, 2, and 3 as thecriteria for relevance. The frequency and nature of these observable events will be notedin observation and informal interview logs. These logs will also be available for content 45

analysis during and following the study. Surveys will be conducted during the first andlast weeks and focus groups will convene at the beginning, the end, and in the middle ofthe term. Focus groups were chosen as a format and source of qualitative data, because theyhave been shown to provide information on how groups of people think or feel about aspecific experience (Krueger, 1998). Focus groups provide insight into why certainopinions are held and can help provide data that evaluates current programs and informthe design of new ones. 3.5 Focus Groups Focus groups session will meet for approximately one hour, three times during thesemester. These will be semi-structured sessions containing four – six planned questionsor scenarios to be presented and discussed at each session. These questions or scenarioswill be developed based on the observations and informal interviews as a way to reachdeeper understanding into student thought processes as relevant issues arise. An exampleof a focus group questions is provided in Appendix B. Focus group sessions will be audio recorded and the researcher will facilitate thediscussion. Facilitation will include sharing and maintenance of interaction norms, note-taking, and ensuring the session is completed within the published timeframe. It is theintent of the researcher to play the role of an outsider looking in on the focus groupsessions in hopes that participants speak about the topic to each other and not at theresearcher or recording device. As these sessions are designed to uncover a deeper levelof student thinking, the less visible the researcher is, the more likely participants willinteract with each other in a non-threatening environment. Interaction norms will beintroduced at the onset of each session and will include: 1. One-person speaks at a time, 46

be aware of how much or little you are contributing. 2. Confidentiality, discussions hereat for the exclusive use of the research study and do not leave this room. 3. PPP, presumepositive intent as we all want to learn and help, there is no need to assume negativeintent. Questions and scenarios are designed to allow participants to focus on howstudents use the digital backchannel and its effect on their engagement, motivation andsatisfaction. The researcher will prepare a set of questions and intended outcomes, but asCreswell (2013) explained, “The initial plan for research cannot be tightlyprescribed…all phases of the process may change or shift after the researchers enter thefield and begin to collect data” (p. 39). 3.6 Observations and Informal Interviews Observations and informal interviews will occur throughout the 15-week courseand will include students selected to participate in the focus groups and well as those whoare not. Surveys will be used at the beginning and end of the 15-week course. Initially,the survey data will be used to select the student groups. At the end of the course, surveydata will help to support findings and will note growth, or lack thereof, regarding comfortlevels in using technology and perception of agency over the course of the semester. Observation log data will include specific criteria that notes the time, number ofstudents, and frequency of occurrences when these actions are performed. Informalinterviews will follow these observations if further clarity or explanation is needed.Criteria for the observation of intentionality include 1. asking clarifying questions, 2. offering input that adds to learning, 47

3. seeking ways to solve-problems, 4. recognizing and acting upon opportunities for learning.For forethought, the criteria include 1. identifying and completing steps in order to reach an objective, 2. gathering resources for immediate and future needs, 3. recommending a course of action, 4. suggesting and contributing solutions.Finally, observable criteria for self-awareness include 1. seeking and sharing personal relevance, 2. communicating thoughts and needs, 3. communicating level of interest, and 4. generating opinions.Criteria are modified versions of Bandura’s (2006) core properties of human agency. 3.7 Human Subject Protection Several steps will be taken prior to the commencement of data collection in orderto protect the rights of all participants during this study. Prior consent from the UniversityPresident, Dean of Faculty, and Course Director will be obtained. Included in this processwill be the student request letter for university leadership to review and critique. Thisletter will include a description of the study’s purpose, scope, procedures, and objectives.The letter will also detail the student’s rights to confidentiality, anonymity, the ability toopt-out of the study at any time for any purpose, and a request for permission for thestudent to take part in the study. 48

Only students who complete the informed consent form will be considered forinclusion in the study. Coding will be used during survey responses, interviews, andobservations to ensure participant anonymity and confidentiality. Reporting on studyresults and conclusions will include a similar level of privacy as false identities will beused when referring to specific individual cases. 3.8 Survey Data Survey questions, see Appendix A, are modified from the CTUS, and Reeve andTan (2006). The adapted survey will be given at the commencement of the semester inorder to determine student groups. The same survey will be given at the end of thesemester to provide data on sample development over the course of the 15-weeks. Surveyquestions are designed to provide self-assessed data regarding a student’s attitude,approach, and engagement in course content, and previous experience with educationaltechnology tools. 3.9 Interview Protocols “Qualitative research has an interpretive character, aimed at discovering themeaning events have for the individuals who experience them, and the interpretations ofthose meanings by the researcher” (Hoepfl, 1997). Informal interviews and observations will take place during class sessions. SeeAppendix C for typical questions that will be asked during class sessions. The researcherwill select times to ask and record answers in the observation log throughout thesemester. Data obtained through this method will allow the researcher some flexibility inwhich points to emphasize and which to ignore. To allow for this flexibility, the interview 49

protocol will be semi-structured with open-ended question structure (Fink, 2009).Examples of foundational questions can be referenced in Appendix B. 3.10 Data Analysis Data collected will take several forms as a result of the research conducted in thisstudy. Coding and content analysis will be performed, interpreted, and evaluated as partof the interpretive phenomenological analysis. Table 3 shows the basis upon which thecoding will be completed. Where survey answers fall outside the established criteria,coding will be expanded or modified to add new observable behaviors.TABLE 3: Agentic Engagement with Survey Questions and Transcript CodingComponents of Intentionality Forethought Self-AwarenessAgentic EngagementSummary Acts with desire to Plans with objectives Reflects conscious ofCode inquire in mind own learningObservables I F A - Asks clarifyingSurvey questions questions - Completes steps to - Seeks personal - Offers input that reach goals relevanceTranscript Coding adds to learning - Gathers resources - Communicates - Seeks ways to solve- - Recommends thoughts and needs problems courses of action - Communicates level - Recognizes - Suggests, of interest opportunities contributes solutions - Generates opinions During lectures, I I refer to other I let my teachers express my opinions. resources during class know what I need and During lectures, I ask to help me want. questions to help my understand. I let my teachers understanding. I attend class on time know my interests. every day. Contributions, Objectives, Steps, Opinions, Needs, Clarifications, Recommendations, Interests, Personal Resources, Questions Reflections Connections 50