Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/732
Browse
8 results
Search Results
Item The effect of cell phone policy on student achievement(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2023) Sperling, Kenneth Alan, Jr.; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: C. John GravesCell phones and their prevalence in the high school classroom has had disastrous effects on student attention and retention. Problems with cell phones and various forms of social media may have plagued classrooms, but in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic induced social isolation, these problems have been exacerbated. Four different cell phone policies were tested to see which policy contributed to the highest student achievement on summative assessments. Surveys were conducted on teachers within the school to collect general thoughts on cell phones and cell phone policies in their own classrooms. Surveys were conducted to gather student opinions on cell phones and social media. A Likert survey was given pre and post a metacognitive unit on cell phones/social media, mental health, and circadian science that was taught to see if students changed their beliefs about cell phones and social media once they were presented with the science about them. The results of my study suggests that while no one cell policy to be the best amongst all classes, the policy which made students turn in cell phones but allowed them to charged produced either the largest jump in student achievement comparatively to their last unit, or the least amount of drop in student achievement amongst all classes. Other results include mass consensus amongst teachers with frustration related to cell phones in the classroom, and that students' opinions on how cell phones affect their health and their ability to live life without cell phones can be changed if presented on a metacognitive unit on effects of cell phones and social media on their health.Item Efficient markets and meme stocks: social media and volatility spillover in the GME short squeeze(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2022) Clark, Anthony Matthew; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Joseph AtwoodThis paper examines two issues central to the recent retail finance phenomena of 'meme Stocks', using evidence from the GameStop short squeeze of early 2021. The first is the degree to which web traffic predicts abnormal returns of a stock when that stock receives a high degree of public interest. The second is the degree to which semi-exogenous assignments of popularity to a stock result in increased volatility in similar stocks, i.e., if meme stock crazes result in volatility spillovers. Using a Bayesian, Time-Varying Parameter approach, this paper estimates both the relationship between relevant web traffic (r/wallstreetbets, Twitter, Google Search) and the performance of GameStop stock, as well as volatility spillovers from GME to untargeted stocks. We find mixed evidence of a Granger-causal relationship between web traffic and GME returns. In addition, we find evidence in support of the existence of large, transient volatility spillovers.Item Documentary photography, climate crisis, and immigration: 'Migrant mother' as a lens to understand contemporary migrant stories(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2021) Leary, Courtney Lynne Burns; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mary MurphyPhotographs are an important tool for understanding American culture and have the potential to influence public perception. Documentary photography specifically can often be used to enact social change and facilitate discourse about uncomfortable or difficult topics from both the past and present. Individual photographs can become defining symbols of entire periods of American history. Dorothea Lange's 'Migrant Mother' is one such example. The current research within the fields of History and American Studies regarding photography is mainly centered on how it can be used in museums and how it fits into our understanding of the past. However, it is also important to acknowledge how particular images have influenced our present understanding of America and how images can be used to facilitate conversations that will contribute to social change. As social media and mass media at large become more integrated into our daily lives and we, as consumers of media, become increasingly inundated with painful images the impact of documentary photography is changing. This first part of this thesis examines the history and tradition of documentary photography in America, including Dorothea Lange's contributions to the field and how 'Migrant Mother' impacted and continues to impact people's understanding of the Great Depression through that single photograph. Chapter Two focuses on the relationship between climate crisis and human migration patterns by examining the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s and the current climate crisis, with a focus on border communities. Chapter Three then examines modern examples of documentary photography to understand how today's documentary photographs impact American attitudes and the effect that America's current state of extreme political polarization has on the social power of particular photographs. Specifically, I analyze three examples: the picture taken of a drowned Syrian child migrant who was attempting to reach Greece in 2015, a photograph taken during the summer of 2019 of a migrant father and his young child drowned in the Rio Grande River after attempting to cross the border into the United States, and recent images taken during the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in August of 2021.Item Examining the experiences of teachers in online professional development: a teacher education twitter-based professional learning network(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2020) Nusbaum, Rebecca Mae; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Carrie B. Myers and Nick Lux (co-chair)Teacher Education Twitter-based Professional Learning Networks, commonly referred to as 'EdChats,' have increased rampantly in number and in reach over the past decade. Global, national, and local reforms tout EdChats as an effective learning platform and an innovative form of Professional Development, yet the EdChat trend is new enough that it has not developed research depth. EdChats provide a supplementary solution to traditional district-mandated auditorium Professional Development models. EdChat models often leverage social constructionist and constructivist learning paradigms in a highly accessible ubiquitous environment. Uniquely, EdChats seemingly highlight educators as self-directed learners who are seeking to curate their own learning trajectory to ultimately improve their practice. This qualitative study was framed from Garrison, Anderson and Archer's (2000) Community of Inquiry, as it sought to examine reported experiences through social presence, teacher presence, and cognitive presence. Intersection of these three areas provides relevant criteria for online learning analysis, and heavily aligns with educational experience at the crux of the model. This study served to examine reported overall learning experience of #MTEdChat participants through three guided research questions: learning experience, assumed learning roles, and how they learned from varied perspectives. The participants included 10 educators who met the following criteria: (1) being an in-service or pre-service K-12 educator: teacher, principal, coach, or school administrator, and (2) having participated in #MTEDCHAT one time or more. Participants were interviewed through secure video conference, their interviews were transcribed and analyzed, and emergent categories were developed. The data was analyzed using open codes and further analyzed through categories and emergent themes. Key findings revealed that learning experiences were comprised of three recursive buckets of learning, as described through: interpersonal, intrapersonal, and social capital. Participants revealed how these three primary areas helped to construct their reported learning experiences. Findings illustrate the value of learning reciprocally in a group, and how social capital can effectively facilitate learning. Also telling was the identifiable connection between a geographically boundless environment and the varied perspectives that it yields. Reported learning experiences provide relevance and prompt future use and recommended improvements.Item On a heuristic point of view concerning social media news and secondary teachers(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2018) Johnson, Spencer Theadore; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ann EwbankCertain cues used by a consumer of news can trigger heuristics that help determine whether information is credible (Metzger, 2007; Sundar, Knobloch?Westerwick, & Hastall, 2007). This study addresses which cues secondary teachers perceive as effective when assessing the credibility of news on social media. The purpose of this study is to determine how secondary teachers rate cues in order of importance when evaluating the credibility of news obtained in the context of social media. The participants in this study were secondary teachers in a northwest state who teach about online information credibility. A survey adapted from the Kids and Credibility Study (Flanagin, Metzger, & Hartsell, 2010) asked secondary teachers to rate the importance of 23 credibility cues or heuristics commonly found in social media news posts. A principal components analysis revealed three components that are a composite of heuristics reflected in the literature (Beavers et al., 2013). The resulting components were named Endorsement, Reputation & Confirmation, and Low Level Endorsement respectively. By using a sum scores comparison, the composites of heuristics were ordered by perceived level of credibility (DiStefano, Zhu, & Mindrila, 2009; Grace-Martin, 2016). Reputation & Confirmation rated highest on the scale as indicators of credibility, Endorsement ranked second, and Low Level Endorsement ranked last. The results of the study indicate that secondary teachers believe that the most effective heuristics while using low to medium cognitive effort for assessing news credibility are the reputation of the author of the information, along with confirming the information from another source to make a quality judgment on the factual nature of the source. Social endorsements (such as 'likes' and 'shares') on social media play an important role in determining credibility; however, secondary teachers indicate that they perceive Reputation and Consistency to be better at indicating credibility. This study illuminates the role heuristics play in credibility decisions when evaluating news found in a social media setting.Item Effect of social media and pledge coins on pro-environmental behavior of Yellowstone National Park Youth Conservation Corps enrollees(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2017) Sedgeley, Nicole Marie; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter WoolbaughIn a world facing many serious environmental concerns, such as climate change, there needs to be a new generation of stewards willing to ensure our natural resources can be enjoyed for generations to come. These next stewards may come from programs like the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) in Yellowstone National Park. These individuals are from the ages of 15 - 18 and serve for one month inside the park. They work on projects that help conservation and education efforts in Yellowstone National Park while also learning and developing leadership and career skills. The two sessions of 2016 YCC enrollees (N = 60) were chosen to participate in this study focused on the impact of social media and social pressure on pro-environmental behavior. Studies have shown that this age demographic is more likely to be influenced by social media, thus this study was interested in how this influence impacted their behaviors and attitudes toward the environment and creating social change. Half of the enrollees (n = 27) were asked to create a video to post to social media in which they would pledge to help the environment. Then once the pledge was completed, they would post another video to social media challenging another individual to also perform a pro-environmental action and passing on to them a wooden pledge coin. The other half of enrollees were the comparison group and were not asked to post any social media components. Both sessions were given two sets of Likert-scale question and short-answer questionnaires six months apart to evaluate any changes in attitudes or behaviors toward the environment following their experience in the YCC. The results of this study showed that after six months of social media monitoring, no YCC enrollee posted a pledge video to social media, and only one enrollee reported passing on a pledge coin. The questionnaires confirmed these findings. Enrollees disagreed that social media was an influence, but rather they agreed that families and social networks were an influence on their behavior. They also agreed to having interest in and caring for the environment. Furthermore, the short-answer questions identified the already strong connection these teenagers had to the environment, with many stating that they often participate in many pro-environmental behaviors already, but that the YCC program increased their awareness and likelihood of doing more. Indeed, these YCC participants are the current and future stewards of our natural world, but this study found that using social media with pledge videos and pledge coins are not likely to be an effective means to encouraging others to do the same. Further research is needed to validate these findings due to the small sample sizes and complications with the questionnaire administration.Item Health care providers perspectives on social media in professional practice(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Nursing, 2013) Dixon, LaNora Bellamy; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Laura LarssonCommunication technology evolution including social media (SMT) is creating challenges and opportunities in health care delivery, the impact of which is not fully understood in the health care arena. While consumer utilization studies are ongoing, a paucity of published literature exists to study health care provider's perceptions of the significance of these changes. The purpose of this research was to quantify health care provider's familiarity, utilization of SMT, and perceptions of benefits and barriers to use in professional practice. This was a non-experimental descriptive phenomenological study. The study population (n=310) included health care providers (M.D., D..O., ND, NP, PA) employed with a regional, Western health care system. This study was conducted using a concurrent, mixed-methods approach. A validated survey, developed using Pender's Health Promotion Model, was distributed to the target population by the organization's Nursing Research Council (NRC). Response rate was 20% with an age range of 27-70 years. Gender included females (50.8%) and males (49.2%). Tenure in practice included < 5 years (16.9%), 5-10 years (15.3%), 10-20 years (30.5%), and 20 + years (37.3%). Respondents were primarily M.Ds (62.7%), followed by D.O. (1.7%), N.D. (1.7%), NPs (16.9%), and PAs (16.9%). Familiarity with the term "social media" was 95% with personal account ownership (62.7%). Utilization of SMT in practice varied by application with 78.7% indicating no current use followed by health education (13.1%), practice promotion (6.6%), scheduling and appointment reminders by text (4.9%), interactive patient communities (4.9%), and patient self-management tools (1.6%). Smartphone utilization was 98.3% with 69.5% accessing health care applications. Sixty one percent perceived benefit of SMT in improving patient care, but 53% disagreed or strongly disagreed with benefit for clinical decision-making. Predominant barriers to SMT in practice included: uncertainty of legal implications, time commitment to monitor, and patient/provider confidentiality concerns. Power-users were younger, were 4 times more likely to utilize smartphones to access health care related applications, 3.4 times more interested in SMT benefits, and 3.5 times more likely to anticipate future SMT use in practice. SMT may be most useful as a complement to traditional delivery modalities.Item The impact of social networking in the secondary science classroom(Montana State University - Bozeman, Graduate School, 2011) Theobald, Katherine Loretta; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Peggy Taylor.In our current society, students are inundated with social media. This study explored the impact of its use in a secondary science classroom specifically on discussion board responses and community building. Students utilized a social media outlet to conduct asynchronous discussions, collaborate with classmates, and expand their understanding of the material. The outcomes of this study were gauged through surveys, interviews, and output.