This study examines the phenomena of (tele)presence in the distinct mediated environment of an online Christian worship service. A quantitative field experiment involving 48 participants who had just viewed a religious Internet broadcast was undertaken. Individual differences in personality and religiosity are examined in tandem with (tele)presence as predictors of a number of outcome variables, including memory, enjoyment of the online worship service and behavioral intention to be more active with the church. The results showed no significant relationship between religiosity and the experience of (tele)presence, but that users who experienced greater (tele)presence enjoyed the service more, had a greater ability to recognize information from the service, and had a greater intention to attend in the future. The implications for online worship services, along with the limitations of this study, are discussed.

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Current literature reveals that researchers are not using student perceptions as a large component to their data collection nor as an avenue to investigate how students pick up on their teachers’ self-efficacy (SE) for, interest in, and enjoyment of science teaching. In my dissertation, I explored the relationship between teacher beliefs, student perceptions of teacher beliefs, and student beliefs by developing and implementing instrumentation measuring students’ perceptions of their teachers’ SE, interest, and enjoyment for science and science teaching. In an effort to measure elementary students’ perceptions of their teacher’s SE, interest, and enjoyment of science and science teaching, I developed nine instruments and established reliability () for each. These instruments are the: (a) Teacher Instrument for Science Self-Efficacy ( = .852); (b) Teacher Instrument for Science Interest ( = .900); (c) Teacher Instrument for Science Enjoyment ( = .923); (d) Student Perceptions of Teacher Self-Efficacy Instrument ( = .635); (e) Student Perceptions of Teacher Interest Instrument ( = .661); (f) Student Perceptions of Teacher Enjoyment Instrument ( = .762); (g) Student Instrument for Science Self-Efficacy ( = .723); (h) Student Instrument for Science Interest ( = .767); and (i) Student Instrument for Science Enjoyment ( = .763). I administered these instruments to grade 3 elementary teachers (NT = 7) and grade 3 students (NS = 73) in three combined surveys: The Teacher Instrument for Science Self-Efficacy, Interest, and Enjoyment, which was made up of 51 Likert-scale items with six open-ended response prompts; the Student Instrument for Perceptions of Self-Efficacy, Interest, and Enjoyment of Science, which was made up of 25 Likert-scale items; and the Student Instrument for Science Self-Efficacy, Interest, and Enjoyment, which was composed of 24 Likert-scale items. The results of a MANOVA showed that there were no differences between groups, in this case teachers, when considering either student perceptions or student beliefs. The results of regression analysis showed that student perceptions of their teachers’ self-efficacy, interest, and enjoyment of science and science teaching are predictive of student interest in and enjoyment of science. Finally, the results of an SEM analysis showed specific predictive pathways that exist between the independent variables (perceptions of self-efficacy, interest, and enjoyment) and the dependent variables (student self-efficacy, interest, and enjoyment). More specifically, student perceptions of teacher self-efficacy predicted student interest; student perceptions of teacher interest predicted student interest and enjoyment; and student perceptions of enjoyment predicted student self-efficacy, interest, and enjoyment of science. Overall, I found that students generally perceive their teachers’ beliefs in science more negatively than teachers report for themselves and that student perceptions of their teachers’ beliefs are predictive of their own beliefs in science. These results hold implications for both research and practice. More specifically, my research provides a meaningful application of student perceptions and gives it weight to be considered in other areas of educational research such as teacher preparation and student achievement. My research provides more support for the impact teacher unpreparedness has on student belief development and on student achievement, given that my research has shown that student perceptions of their teacher SE, interest, and enjoyment are predictive of student beliefs in science. As educational researchers, we have to pay more attention to elementary teacher preparation in science. When teachers are not self-efficacious in science, they have a lower interest in science, thus enjoying it less and further perpetuating the cycle of beliefs development. My research in teacher and student beliefs supports what is already known about elementary teacher SE while also adding new findings regarding teacher interest and enjoyment of science. Further, by including student perceptions, we can continue to gauge the current conditions of various aspects of elementary teacher preparation and practice in science and reconsider its impacts. / Teaching & Learning

The popular construct of goal orientation has been widely researched by industrial and organizational psychologists in recent years. Unfortunately there are several issues with the goal orientation framework that have not been properly addressed in the literature. The present research introduced the three-dimensional achievement goal framework as a plausible and less problematic alternative to the three-dimensional goal orientation framework. Hypotheses regarding the interactive effects of each of the three achievement goals and task complexity on task enjoyment, mental focus and exerted effort, were derived and tested. The results indicated that the positive effects of mastery goals on the motivational variables are stronger for more complex tasks, the positive effects of performance-approach goals are stronger for simpler tasks, and the negative effects of performance-avoid goals are less severe for simpler tasks. / Ph. D.

I used structural equation modeling to analyze different models representing the direct and indirect relationships between coach-created motivational climates (i.e., empowering and disempowering) and teamwork behaviors to collegiate women athletes' (N = 592) perceptions of sport enjoyment, satisfaction with team performance, and collective efficacy. The total effects model represented a better fit to the data than did the indirect effects model; empowering and disempowering climates were associated directly with teamwork behaviors (R2 = .50). As expected, teamwork behaviors were related significantly to each outcome: enjoyment, athlete satisfaction with team performance, and collective efficacy. Although only empowering was related to enjoyment, the indirect effects of both motivational climates were significant: (a) empowering climate X teamwork X sport enjoyment, (b) athlete satisfaction with team performance, (c) collective efficacy, (d) disempowering climate X teamwork X sport enjoyment, (e) athlete satisfaction with team performance, and (f) collective efficacy. The total effect of empowering climate, which included the direct and indirect effects, were significant for enjoyment, athlete satisfaction with team performance, and collective efficacy. No total effect for disempowering climate was significant. The results suggest that the types of climates coaches create, particularly ones that are empowering, may help improve their teams' performance through more and better engagement in teamwork behaviors. Sport psychologists should work with coaches to help them develop such environments and help their teams thrive.