CASEmSTUDIESmINmPATHOPHYSIOLOGY:
THEmDEVELOPMENTmANDmEVALUATION mOFmAN mINTERACTIVE mONLINEm
LEARNING mENVIRONMENTmTOmDEVELOPmHIGHER mORDERmTHINKING mAN
DmARGUMENTATION
DISSERTATION
Presented minmPartialmFulfillment mof mthemRequirement mform
themDegreemDoctormof mPhilosophyminmthe
GraduatemSchoolmof mThemOhiomStatemUniversity
By
LyndamC.mTitterington,mM.S.
*m*m*m*m*
ThemOhiomStatemUniversity
m2007
DissertationmCommittee:
Approved mby
ProfessormDavid mL.mHaury,mAdviser
ProfessormRossmNehm
m
AdvisermColleg
ProfessormBarbaramThomson emof mEducation
, Copyright mbymLyn
damC.mTitterington
2007
, ABSTRACT
Thismstudympresentsmamframeworkmformexaminingmthemeffectsmof mhighermordermthink
ingmonmthemachievement mof mallied mhealthmstudentsmenrolled minmampathophysiologymcourse.m
A mseriesmof mclinicalmcasemstudiesmwasmdeveloped mand mpublished minmanmenriched monlinemen
vironment mthat mguided mstudentsmthroughmthemprocessmof mdevelopingmamsolutionmand msuppor
tingmit mthroughmdatamanalysismand minterpretation.mThemseriesmof mcasemstudymmodulesmscaffo
lded margumentationmthroughmquestionmprompts.mThemmodulesmbeganmwithmamsimple,mdirec
t mproblemmand mtheymbecamemprogressivelymmoremcomplexmthroughout mthemquarter.mAmcont
rolmgroupmwasmassigned mampencil-and-
papermcasemstudymbased muponmrecall.mThemcasemstudiesmweremscored mformcontent maccuracym
and mevidencemof mhighermordermthinkingmskills.
Highermordermthinkingmwasmmeasured musingmamrubricmbased muponmthemToulminmargumentat
ionmpattern.mThemresultsmindicated mimplementingmamcasemstudymof meithermonlinemormtradition
almformat mwasmassociated mwithmsignificant mgainsminmachievement.mThemWeb-
enhanced mcasemstudiesmweremassociated mwithmmodest mgainsminmknowledgemacquisition.mTh
m
emargumentationmscoresmacrossmthemseriesmfollowed mtwomtrends:mdirected mcasemstudiesmwer
emassociated mwithmhighermlevelsmof margumentationmthanmill-
structured mcasemstudies,mand mtheremappeared mtombemanminversemrelationshipmbetweenmthemst
udents’margumentationmand mcontent mscores.mThemprotocolsmdeveloped mformthismstudymcanms
ii
, ervemasmamtemplatemformamlarger,mextended minvestigationmintomstudent mlearningminmthemonlin
emenvironment.
iii
THEmDEVELOPMENTmANDmEVALUATION mOFmAN mINTERACTIVE mONLINEm
LEARNING mENVIRONMENTmTOmDEVELOPmHIGHER mORDERmTHINKING mAN
DmARGUMENTATION
DISSERTATION
Presented minmPartialmFulfillment mof mthemRequirement mform
themDegreemDoctormof mPhilosophyminmthe
GraduatemSchoolmof mThemOhiomStatemUniversity
By
LyndamC.mTitterington,mM.S.
*m*m*m*m*
ThemOhiomStatemUniversity
m2007
DissertationmCommittee:
Approved mby
ProfessormDavid mL.mHaury,mAdviser
ProfessormRossmNehm
m
AdvisermColleg
ProfessormBarbaramThomson emof mEducation
, Copyright mbymLyn
damC.mTitterington
2007
, ABSTRACT
Thismstudympresentsmamframeworkmformexaminingmthemeffectsmof mhighermordermthink
ingmonmthemachievement mof mallied mhealthmstudentsmenrolled minmampathophysiologymcourse.m
A mseriesmof mclinicalmcasemstudiesmwasmdeveloped mand mpublished minmanmenriched monlinemen
vironment mthat mguided mstudentsmthroughmthemprocessmof mdevelopingmamsolutionmand msuppor
tingmit mthroughmdatamanalysismand minterpretation.mThemseriesmof mcasemstudymmodulesmscaffo
lded margumentationmthroughmquestionmprompts.mThemmodulesmbeganmwithmamsimple,mdirec
t mproblemmand mtheymbecamemprogressivelymmoremcomplexmthroughout mthemquarter.mAmcont
rolmgroupmwasmassigned mampencil-and-
papermcasemstudymbased muponmrecall.mThemcasemstudiesmweremscored mformcontent maccuracym
and mevidencemof mhighermordermthinkingmskills.
Highermordermthinkingmwasmmeasured musingmamrubricmbased muponmthemToulminmargumentat
ionmpattern.mThemresultsmindicated mimplementingmamcasemstudymof meithermonlinemormtradition
almformat mwasmassociated mwithmsignificant mgainsminmachievement.mThemWeb-
enhanced mcasemstudiesmweremassociated mwithmmodest mgainsminmknowledgemacquisition.mTh
m
emargumentationmscoresmacrossmthemseriesmfollowed mtwomtrends:mdirected mcasemstudiesmwer
emassociated mwithmhighermlevelsmof margumentationmthanmill-
structured mcasemstudies,mand mtheremappeared mtombemanminversemrelationshipmbetweenmthemst
udents’margumentationmand mcontent mscores.mThemprotocolsmdeveloped mformthismstudymcanms
ii
, ervemasmamtemplatemformamlarger,mextended minvestigationmintomstudent mlearningminmthemonlin
emenvironment.
iii
