Defense Date

9-25-2020

Graduation Date

Fall 12-18-2020

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

School Psychology

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Elizabeth McCallum

Committee Member

Kara McGoey

Committee Member

Ara Schmitt

Keywords

group contingency, Class Dojo, classroom management, special education

Abstract

Classroom management, although considered one of the essentials of the optimal learning experience, is often a challenge for teachers. Certain classroom management strategies, such as group contingency interventions and token economies, are evidence-based strategies to aid teachers in gaining successful management of the classroom. The utilization of Class Dojo, a popular classroom management website, as a mechanism to implement an interdependent group contingency (IGC) intervention with randomized components may increase both the effectiveness of the intervention and the social validity of the intervention when compared to a manual implementation.

Participants included students in an elementary school self-contained special education classroom and a special education teacher. Students in the classroom consisted of four male and one female students from fourth and fifth grade. The current study is an A-B-C-B single subject v design that includes a baseline phase, two intervention phases, and a maintenance phase. Data was collected by one or more trained professionals during each intervention period and the classroom teacher filled out formal and informal surveys regarding the interventions at the end of the study.

It was hypothesized that the IGC intervention would significantly decrease student disruptive behaviors along with the IGC with Class Dojo as the vehicle of implementation for the intervention and that the classroom teacher would prefer using Class Dojo over the use of a traditional paper and pencil data collection mechanism. Results were inconsistent with the hypotheses for a variety of confounding reasons. However, both intervention phases did result in a consistently decreasing trend in data points. The classroom teacher identified the use of Class Dojo as a preferred vehicle for implementing an IGC intervention and discussed her satisfaction with the classroom management system.

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS