The problem addressed by this dissertation is that undergraduate educational opportunities have been denied to home-bound people because no appropriate "delivery vehicle” exists. This means that severely disabled adults who have the necessary motivation and qualifications, and funds, to study college level courses, still lack special additional opportunities and facilities. While existing communications programming would enable such students to utilize these assets, an academic computer system that includes courseware would be necessary to the process. The procedure developed to investigate the potential of such a project included 1) adopting a course in telecommunications from the Nova University Computer-Based Learning curriculum 2) recruiting students from contacts with physiatrists connected with established rehabilitation organizations 3) providing necessary materials, such as text books, study guides, modems, software , and telephone access facilities 4) prior testing for learning styles and motivation to establish bases for comparisons. The result was that all 10 who agreed to participate were volunteers and expressed enthusiasm for the project, but four never logged on to the system. All completed both tests, but while some of the test answers given by those who logged on and those who never logged on were different, many were the same. Individual written instructions were sent to each student and personal telephone contact was established with each student and on-site volunteer staff people. The conclusions and recommendations growing out of this study entail the idea that the special educational problems addressed might begin to open some new pathways to a large segment of our population. Because this was an initial trial without historical precedents, the basic expectation was that the special students would complete the course. Had they accomplished this, they would have demonstrated their ability to learn and use the subject skills, and would have acquired tools for taking additional computer based learning courses. Unfortunately, this assumption did not give sufficient credence to the idea that good, positive reactions to the technology could be obtained only from the handicapped people who were supposed to make use of it. The foregoing discussion and its implications led to the conclusion that individual attention, guidance, and assistance with hardware/software functions will be necessary for such students to take formalized computer based courses.

The purpose of this study was the development and evaluation of a hypertext computer based training program for new yearbook advisers who lack either a background or certification in journalism. An informal needs analysis and a review of literature established that the training needs of new advisers were being met only through personal contact with publishing representatives. This form of training was dependent as much on the training skills of the representatives as it was on their publishing skills. It was sporadic, subjective, and lacked consistency. This information indicated a need to explore other methods of training. Through a series of checks, it was determined that a hypertext computer-based training program would offer a feasible alternate avenue of training for several reasons. First, a hypertext training program would allow for the differences in background and experience of the new advisers. Second, training would no longer be subject to the availability of representatives or their skill as trainers. Third, it would allow companies to train a population that has a high turnover rate and is geographically dispersed. Fourth, it would allow for maximum training within a limited time frame. A hypertext computer based program was created for this study using Hyper Studio as the authoring system. The development of the program followed the Instructional Systems Development (ISD) approach to design which includes the use of needs analysis, behavioral objectives, criterion-referenced or competency-based testing, and formative evaluation. The CBT program was limited to the following areas: developing a thematic approach, cropping photographs, designing page layouts, using graphic design elements, and preparing pages for submission to the printer. The program was field tested with 30 new advisers. A pre and post treatment multiple choice test was used to measure gains in knowledge; pre and post treatment Likert questionnaires were used to measure interests, attitudes, and expectations toward the computer learning environment. A posttest only control group composed of experienced advisers trained by publishing representatives was used to determine benchmarks for the knowledge-based test. The testing procedures produced data that represented statistically significant increases in both attitudes and expectations and the knowledge level of new advisers. In addition, the personal questionnaires distributed to both groups report that a majority of the advisers, both new and experienced, believe that training can be done through computer based programs. All of these results support the concept that CBT is a viable method of disseminating information to those involved in scholastic publications

Online learning is becoming a fact of life in higher education. Seeing the additional student markets, higher education administrations pressure faculty to develop online courses and convert current courses to this medium. The creation of online courses comes at a considerable price in terms of time, effort, and resources. Many faculty, new to online teaching, are overwhelmed with the demands of preparing and training for their online courses. They must acquire a different set of skills than are needed in a traditional classroom and learn how to use a course management system (CMS). CMSs enable educators to distribute and publish courses on the Web. Each product differs in the steepness of the learning curve, suitability for achieving various instructional goals, and capability to integrate text, multimedia, discussion, and email. However, all products have similar features such as threaded discussions, course information, lecture notes, external links, grading, digital drop box, and online chat. As the number of online courses increases, the number of CMSs, such as Blackboard, WebCT, and Educator, also increases. Higher education institutions often change CMS providers as various providers merge and new providers offer new products. Cost considerations also motivate changes. It is a challenge for institutions to determine which program to use. An institution makes a decision to choose a CMS, only to discover it needs to make the same decision again the next year. Training faculty new to online teaching and supporting existing online faculty to maximize the benefits of these changing tools are ongoing challenges for many institutions. Time constraints on the part of trainers and instructors limit the options for scheduling training sessions and the reluctance of most faculty to move ahead with online teaching impedes most training endeavors. Appropriate training and support will ensure that the instructor can effectively teach and facilitate the online course and not feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the technology. However, new training programs are needed each time an institution changes its CMS. This study developed, implemented, and evaluated a generic tutorial to support faculty as they learn to teach online using any CMS.

The purpose of the author in this dissertation was to investigate relationships between project dependencies and risks and the project schedule slippage and effort overrun in the Engineering Computing Organization of a leading electronic communication company. The rationale for this study was to provide a simple mechanism for the project leaders enabling them to follow their project plan more closely. Engineering Computing (EC) provides support services for all workstations, servers, Computer Aided Design (CAD) applications, and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) applications in a leading electronic communication company. This organization is comprised of several major support groups: Service Center, Systems/Servers (USS), Network Infrastructure, Electrical/Mechanical CAD Applications, Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) Applications, Product Data Management (PDM) Tools, Web Technology, and Process Engineering teams. These teams develop, implement and maintain new computing technologies at a facility with over 3000 users. The majority of the human resources in these interdisciplinary teams are involved in project activities. At any given time, there are multiple projects in progress competing for the following shared resources: machines, equipment, and human resources. These projects often have dependencies to external Computing Technology Suppliers; that is, Network, Hardware, and software products. EC's timely delivery of the engineering systems and tools directly impacts the company's ability to succeed in reaching its cycle time reduction goals in new product development. The managers of EC have been unequivocally interested in the methods, tools and processes that help the organization to better understand and manage project schedule slippage and effort overruns. In this dissertation, a selected sample of completed projects at EC was examined. The researcher designed a questionnaire and conducted interviews with project leaders involved in the selected sample projects. Two cause and effect diagrams were developed to present the categories of reasons associated with the project delays and effort overruns. The inferential statistics testing provided further information on the project characteristics that further exposed the projects to risk of schedule delays and effort overrun. This research study revealed that the top three high-level categories having the largest weights on the schedule delays were supplier product, managerial, and product development. The supplier category that consisted of poor supplier product quality, late delivery and inadequate support sub-categories was the dominant reason for schedule delays in the Engineering Computing projects. Twenty nine percent of the project schedule delays were resulted from having dependencies to the suppliers (external entities). The top three high-level categories of reasons having the largest weights on the effort overruns were rooted to product development, personnel, and planning and execution. Product development category consisted of the reasons resulting in effort overrun introduced during the development lifecycle and processes. The major sub-categories under product development category included scope creep, insufficient information on requirements, and design/code complexity. This category accounted for 40% of the effort overruns in the projects analyzed in this research study. Examination of project schedule delays and effort overruns by project size, type or dependencies in this research study allowed establishing the following conclusions: software projects were exposed to risks of having significantly higher schedule slippage when compared to projects of type "installation" or "documentation", large size projects were exposed to risks of having higher schedule slippage when compared to smaller size projects, projects with dependency to external organizations were exposed to risks of having higher schedule slippage when compared to projects with no dependency to external entities, and software projects were exposed to risks of having higher effort index (cost overrun) when compared to projects of type "documentation", "evaluation", and "installation". These findings provided impetus to the project leaders to improve their project scheduling, effort estimation, risk assessment and risk management processes and practices based on the project characteristics.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of the use of a technology matrix curriculum in the classroom. The students enrolled in the Engineering Technology course at the Fred N. Thomas Career Education Center were the subjects of this research and were tested for any significant difference of immediate retention of the course material. The Career Education Center, which is located on the north side of Denver, Colorado, with a population of about 950 students, is considered a magnet school for special programs. The school consists of a very diverse population, which is multicultural, and students are from every socioeconomic background. The cultural make-up of the Denver Public Schools' student population is approximately 38% Hispanic, 22% Black Americans, 30% Caucasian non-Hispanic and 10% other nationalities of students. Students enrolled at the Career Education Center are from several high schools, both public and private. A learning matrix was designed to correspond with the development of an Engineering Technology curriculum. The learning matrix was offered as a means for matching teaching and learning technique to the individual learning styles of each student. The Learning Matrix incorporated the use of cable television, video based instruction, electronic classroom presentations, database access, oral presentation and lectures, computer presentations, computer testing, satellite communications, on-line conferences, libraries, interactive video, small group and individual activities and haptical assignments. This study was designed to investigate the effects of the use of emerging technologies along with the use of a learning matrix curriculum in the classroom. The study investigated if there was a significant difference in the retainment of knowledge in an experimental group using the authentic technology learning matrix curriculum, as compared to a control group using more traditional educational methods. Career Education Center students enrolled in the Engineering Technology course were tested before and after completing the nine - week Drafting Technology module. Data was gathered regarding the students' direct and immediate retainment of knowledge, following the module, by means of a computerized test covering the material in the Drafting Technology module. Demographic data for the students was gathered through class data sheets.

As learners gravitate to institutions that provide distance education over the Internet, libraries should respond with 21" century technology that delivers optimal support. Currently, there exists no coherent and succinct work to assist a library manager in developing and evaluating an efficient method to deliver electronic library resources and services to an electronic distance education CEDE) global market. The goal of this study was to propose a model that appropriated technology in a seamless and easy manner to provide library support to off-campus users. A variation of the Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) methodology was used to administer surveys to students and faculty of Southern Adventist University, Collegedale, Tennessee. Based on the results of the survey, the author developed a graphical interface that integrates both asynchronous and interactive synchronous library support via the Internet. Usability principles of human computer interaction (HCI) were used to design the graphical interface, or homepage. The main menu and toolbar of each online course contained hyperlinks to the homepage. This flexible arrangement provides for user convenience as it prevents users from having to exit their course work and be reauthorized to access library support. The QFD methodology was preserved in the development of learners' interim-and-post course evaluation tools, and is the means that fosters the continuation of QFD for improvement during the lifetime of the university's distance education program. The tools attempt to measure the quality of the method of delivery and the quality of performance and instruction provided by the library. The results of the evaluations may serve as documentation for accrediting bodies to review when assessing equivalency of off-campus library support to on-campus library support, as stipulated by the current guidelines of Association of Colleges and Research Libraries (ACRL). The author developed a concise practitioner's manual in conjunction with the library model. The manual is a blend of theory and practicality. Each step of the developmental phase of the electronic model can be easily understood by novice librarians who may be endeavoring to launch electronic service or by librarians who wish to update an existing service by integrating 21" century technology. It may be improvised to fit the missions of libraries and their respective parent organizations' strategic planning. The information will assist eager librarians to design a workable strategy when the task to deliver global electronic library support is imminent and limited time is a factor.

The purpose of this research was to design an object-oriented model for inter-organizational collaborative planning applications in an industrial environment. The model provides a plan for the development of business-to-business electronic commerce applications. Such applications may be categorized as informational, transactional, or collaborative. The focus of the model is collaborative planning. Industrial collaborative planning applications enable manufacturers and their suppliers and customers to mutually benefit from reduced supply chain costs and improved customer service. Such applications are increasingly practical from both a technological and financial viewpoint. Such applications are ever more important due to increasing global competition. The ubiquity of internetworking, using internet protocols, makes such applications affordable to even small businesses despite heterogeneous computing environments. The model was developed using object-oriented methodologies and is depicted using the Unified Modeling Language. Use cases were used to determine the characteristics of existing collaborative planning applications and to describe the resulting abstraction. The design conforms to the 4+ 1 architectural view, that is, Logical view, Component View, Process View, Deployment view, and Use case view. Since model design is the focus of the study, the Logical and Use case views are more developed than the other views.

The Navy needs improved methods for assigning naval aviators (pilots) to fixed-wing and rotary-winged aircraft. At present, individual flight grades in primary training are used to assign naval aviator trainees to intermediate fixed wing or helicopter training. This study evaluated the potential of a series of single- and multitask tests to account for additional significant variance in the prediction of flight grade training performance for a sample of naval aviator trainees. Subjects were tested on a series of cognitive and perceptual psychomotor tests. The subjects then entered the Navy Flight Training Program. Subject's flight grades were obtained at the end of primary training. Multiple regression and artificial neural network procedures were evaluated to determine their relative efficiency in the prediction of flight grade training performance. All single- and multitask test measures evaluated as a part of this study were significantly related to the primary training flight grade criterion. Two psychomotor and one dichotic listening test measures contributed significant added variance to a multiple regression equation , beyond that of selection tests E (5, 428) = 27.19, R squared = .24, multiple R = .49 , 2 < .01. A follow-on analysis indicated a split-half validation correlation coefficient of £ = .38, 2 < .01 using multiple regression and as high as £ = .41, 2 < .01 using a neural network procedure. No statistically significant differences were found between the correlation coefficients resulting from the application of multiple regression and neural network validation procedures. Both procedures predicted the flight grade criterion equally well, although the neural network applications consistently provided slightly higher correlations between actual and predicted flight grades.

Problem: Studies indicated that the presence of substitute teachers who are deficient in classroom management skills can be a deterrent to the educational continuity of the students. Due to increasing amounts of negotiated sick leave and compensated time for professional development, teachers are spending more time out of the classroom. Thus, there is a need for substitute teachers to be better prepared to carry on the educational process. However, in New Jersey, there is no provision for training this segment of staff, either through the county, the state, or educational institutions. In a effort to improve the current skills of substitute teachers, this study tested and evaluated a model hypertext computer-based training program that was designed to better prepare substitute teachers for their classroom responsibilities. Procedure: In the first phase of the study, a hypertext CBT program was developed to (a) increase knowledge of classroom management, (b) provide a cost-effective solution to expensive training, and (c) administer training without constraints of time or staff. The second phase of the study field-tested the program using a modified quasi-experimental version of a non-equivalent control group design. Employing a multiple-choice instrument, the experimental group (new substitute teachers) used a pretest, application, posttest design to determine if computer-based training could increase their current level of knowledge. Control group I (experienced substitutes), and control group 2 (experienced teachers) used a posttest-only design to determine benchmarks for the study. Results: (1) Comparison between the experimental group's pretest score (60.25) and control group I's posttest-only score (59.25) indicated no difference in these groups' knowledge, suggesting knowledge of classroom management techniques was not necessarily gained with experience. (2) The analysis of the pretest (60.25) and posttest (78.50) scores of the experimental group indicated the CBT program produced the desired results, at the .05 level of significance. (3) The posttest-only knowledge-based test administer to control group 2 (85.50) supported this author's expectations that experienced teachers would score significantly higher than either the new substitute teachers' pretest scores or the experienced substitute teachers' posttest scores. (4) After the application of CBT, there was no significant difference between the knowledge of classroom management techniques of the CBT trained substitute teachers and experienced teachers. Conclusion: The conclusions of this study are: (I) as demonstrated through the results, the hypertext CBT program created and tested for this study shows a significant increase in substitute teachers' knowledge of classroom management. (2) All substitute teachers needed training regardless of experience. (3) The CBT program was successful under the conditions of the study. And (4), further research is needed to determine if the knowledge gained through this program can be transferred into the classroom. Conclusion: The conclusions of this study are: (I) as demonstrated through the results, the hypertext CBT program created and tested for this study shows a significant increase in substitute teachers' knowledge of classroom management. (2) All substitute teachers needed training regardless of experience. (3) The CBT program was successful under the conditions of the study. And (4), further research is needed to determine if the knowledge gained through this program can be transferred into the classroom.

The purpose in this research was to investigate the use of project management best practices in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation in higher education. ERP packages are well known information systems in support of all functional areas of an academic institution. However their successful implementation has not only eluded the private sector but the non-profit sector as well. Specifically higher education institutions are different because of their structure of administration and academics. This collegial structure based on academic self-governance is unique and therefore poses additional issues. Furthermore, proven project management methodologies and best practices have also by-passed higher education. The critical success factors (CSF) for ERP implementations were found in the literature. The combination of project management best practices and these CSFs presented an opportunity for forming a best practice model for academic institutions to follow. A survey was administered via the web to gather information from higher educational institutions to see if they not only used these factors but followed any project management methodologies. Analysis showed that those institutions that followed project management best practices, and instituted factors that were needed for successful implementations, indeed had a successful implementation. This research also produced a model for academic institutions to follow in their administrative computing implementations.