This dissertation discovered the factors influencing how students value asynchronous Web-based courses through the use of qualitative methods. Data was collected through surveys, observations, interviews, email correspondence, chat room and bulletin board transcripts. Instruments were tested in pilot studies of previous semesters. Factors were identified for two class formats. The asynchronous CD/Internet class format and the synchronous online Web based class format. Also, factors were uncovered for two of the instructional tools used in the course: the WebCT forum and WebCT testing. Factors were grouped accordingly as advantages or disadvantages under major categories. For the asynchronous CD/Internet class format the advantages were Convenience, Flexibility, Learning Enhancement, and Psychology. The disadvantages included Isolation, Learning Environment, and Technology. For the synchronous online Web based class format the advantages were Convenience, Flexibility, Human Interaction, Learning Enhancement and Psychology, whereas the disadvantages included Isolation, Learning Environment and Technology. Concurrently, the study revealed the following factors as advantages of the WebCT Forum: Help Each Other, Interaction, Socialization, Classroom News, and Time Independent. The disadvantages uncovered were Complaints, Technical Problems and Isolation. Finally, advantages specified for the WebCT testing tool were Convenience, Flexibility and Innovations, and its disadvantages were Surroundings Not Conducive to Learning, and Technical Problems. Results indicate that not only classroom preference, learning style and personality type influence how students value a Web based course, but, most importantly, a student's lifestyle (number of personal commitments, how far they live, and life's priorities). The WebCT forum or bulletin board, and the WebCT testing or computerized testing were seen mostly by students, as good tools for encouraging classroom communication and testing because of the convenience and flexibility offered. Still, further research is needed both quantitatively and qualitatively to ascertain the true weight of the factors discovered in this study.

Geometric shapes can be represented in a variety of different ways. A distancemap is a map from points to distances. This can be used as a shape representationwhich can be created through a process known as a distance transform. This the-sis project tests a method for three-dimensional distance transforms using frac-tional volume coverage. This method produces distance maps with subvoxel dis-tance values. The result which is achieved is clearly better than what would beexpected from a binary distance transform and similar to the one known fromprevious work. The resulting code has been published under a free and opensource software license. / <p>The developed code is available under a GPL license here https://gitlab.com/Emiluren/3d-distance-transform</p>

SUMMARY: Published guidelines for distance learning library services provide a framework for distance education librarians to use in planning services for off-campus students. Other literature in the arena of distance education librarianship provides concrete examples of how reference services have been offered in real settings. This paper attempts to synthesize these two types of literature in order to offer models of reference service for distance learners.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / This study aimed at refining one of the most influential and well-known theories of distance education - the theory of transactional distance (TD). TD theory was developed by Michael G. Moore based on correspondence forms of distance education. The study researched a distance learning environment that had not been investigated in relation to TD - synchronous Web-extended classrooms. In this unique format, live on- campus classes are delivered simultaneously to both in-class students on campus and remote students on the Web who attend synchronously via virtual classroom Web collaboration software. The research involved N=235 students enrolled in 14 graduate business courses. ANOVA tests, correlation and regression analyses were deployed on the 46-item "Scale of TD for synchronous Web-extended learning environments" questionnaire. The study compared perceived TD for three attendance groups: always in-class, always online, and mixed. It found no difference in TD among them. The learning environment enabled by using Saba-Centra Web collaboration software combined with other technologies provided a comparable learning experience for all three learner groups. The findings confirmed that four dimensions of dialogue, student-student, student-instructor, student-content, and student-interface interactions are significant in students' perceived TD and their engagement with learning. Moreover, their significance levels varied for different attendance groups. This research confirms the need to refine TD theory to view dialogue as a multidimensional construct. Furthermore, student-instructor and student-student interactions were significant factors that affected TD in all three learner groups. This study analyzed student satisfaction. The study not only found no difference in satisfaction by attendance type, but also it found that TD is strongly related to student satisfaction: the lower the TD, the more satisfied the students are with the learning environment, including interactions with the instructor, fellow students, course content, and the interface. For all attendance groups, interaction with other students was the common factor that affected satisfaction. The study demonstrated that the level of TD also affects students' perceived learning: the lower the TD, the higher the students' perceived learning. Thus, the study suggests that instructors plan activities that include interpersonal interactions between themselves and students, and also among students in all attendance groups.

This thesis examines issues that affect women in online learning, and discusses four women's particular experiences in the University of Central Florida's distance learning program. Online education involves aspects of support and communication that may affect women's learning experiences either positively or negatively. Distance learning may also allow women to pursue their education while still taking care of their families and outside work. In order to get a better idea of how distance learning impacts women, I discuss several studies that examine how distance learning affects women in particular. I identify three areas from this literature that seem to be particularly important in order for women to have a successful distance learning experience: social support, technical support, and awareness of differences in discussion style. After reviewing the existing literature, I discuss how this literature applies to four women's experiences here at UCF. I talk with them about how they perceive their online learning experiences, and about how they feel that the issues identified in the literature are reflected in their own lives. I discuss their issues with support, technical support, and online discussions, and relate these to existing literature in order to come up with areas that may need further exploration or improvement. I conclude the study by providing suggestions and recommendations for professors who deal with women in their online classes. I also suggest areas for further exploration in the field of women's distance education.

This thesis explored the application of Media Synchronicity Theory and its potential for translating Critical Pedagogy (specifically Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed) into a computersupported collaborative work (CSCW) environment. It introduces the Maquina dos Oprimidos (Mados) prototype, a CSCW supplement to traditional asynchronous learning networks. Mados operates as a role-playing debate game, in which students debate a pre-selected prompt while performing assigned character roles. The study explores the prototype's potential to affect student's identification with their assigned character and personal attitude toward the prompt, as well as examining the effect of presence on students' performances. The study was performed with 38 8th grade students. Subjects debated a prompt which proposed a banning cell phones from classrooms. Results show that subjects collaboratively constructed solutions that compromised between both positions, while slightly favoring the antiban position. Results also show that subjects experienced gains in character identification after participating in the task regardless of assigned character, hinting at a separation between perceived similarity to characters and affinity for characters' position. The ability of subjects to defend their assigned character's position while inhabiting their own perspective, that of an 8th grade student, also hints at this separation. Additionally, results indicated correlations between subjects' control factors, a subset measure for presence, and total change in prompt agreement. Other positive correlation exist between subject's reprocessing attempts and task performance, as well as total presence and task performance

This dissertation examines distance learning within a local, particular context: UCF's English department. In order to fully examine distance learning in this specific environment, I employ institutional critique as my methodology, a rhetorical and spatial approach that allows me to map distance learning within UCF's English department. Drawing upon the work of David Harvey, I examine the experienced, perceived, and imagined spaces of distance learning in our department. Through an examination of the history of naming UCF, rhetorical analyses of institutional documents that reference technologies, analysis of survey results noting faculty attitudes and perceptions of online learning, and postmodern mapping of faculty members' perceived and ideal spaces, we can find local solutions for local problems related to distance learning.

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