In the Information Age, Corporate America needs to realize that the most efficient and effective organizations are often the ones that are good at accessing, processing and retrieving vital information. American manufacturing design activities, which were responsible for developing and/or maintaining engineering documents, has come to realize the need for the latest technology for the dissemination of engineering documentation. However, at the same time, it is necessary to protect this information without compromising its accessibility and integrity. The ability to expeditiously retrieve engineering documents is important for maintaining America's position in global competition and by the armed forces for America's security. Yet, these paper-intensive organizations have had great difficulties in storing and using engineering documents. As the volume of data generated continued to climb, organizations are finding that accessibility to their information is decreasing. Traditional methods for the delivery of engineering documents has created numerous problems ranging from the inability to find, use and update engineering documents to errors, unnecessary expenditures, and untimely delays in the shipment of critical equipment. Internet retrieval of documents offers manufacturing design organizations a highly cost effective approach towards rectification. In this study, the researcher analyzed what had been the conventional approaches of engineering documents' storage and retrieval and what actions America design activities were taking to achieve change. The development and key aspects of the Web (World Wide Web) are discussed. Six case studies are described and analyzed: three involving traditional EDMS (engineering document management systems) and three involving different Internet approaches. In this study, a proposed methodology was developed using the Web to implement a multi-manufacturer technological mall that allowed secure access and delivery of manufacturers' solicitations and engineering documentation.

There is a shortage of training opportunities for teachers of the visually impaired in assistive technology, and specifically, telecommunications with speech software. The investigator produced a multimedia tutorial for teacher training purposes in speech supported telecommunications. The tutorial included an in-depth demonstration of the installation and features of a talking Internet browser. The tutorial contained a menu system in which the user had the choice of training with video demonstrations, written instructions, or vocalized explanations. The purpose of this developmental study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a multimedia tutorial for training teachers of the visually impaired. A pre-tutorial questionnaire determined the teachers' exposure to and experience with speech-supported telecommunications. After three months to one year of training with the multimedia tutorial, the teachers completed a post-tutorial questionnaire to assess their feelings about the tutorial and their expertise in speech-supported telecommunications. Several teachers in the study and a few of their blind students were interviewed and observed by the investigator. The data from the questionnaires, observations, and in-depth interviews were compiled and analyzed in anecdotal form. The research question for this study was, "Can a multimedia tutorial effectively train teachers to use speech-supported telecommunications with sufficient skill and confidence to use this tool with their students?" The answer was a qualified yes. The successful teachers were motivated to learn speech-support telecommunications, received support during the study, had equipment available for their students, and used the tutorial efficiently. The teachers who did not complete the technology-based training did not have blind students, support during the training, computers available for student use, or extensive computer experience. The investigator made recommendations for improvement of the multimedia tutorial developed for this study and for future multimedia tutorials on assistive technology. The implications from this study may be the advancement of training strategies for teachers of the visually impaired.

The goal of the dissertation was to produce a CD-ROM based visual, auditory and text resource for children and adults that provides an understanding of and appreciation for agriculture today and in the future. Research indicated a great need for addressing the concept of agricultural awareness education in a friendly environment. The outcome of the effort is Farming for the Future, a computer program that covers the major operations of a grains and oilseeds farmer in western Canada. It shows the importance of agriculture to the overall economy and the enormous potentials for this and related fields in the future. The approach taken in the development process closely adheres to the recommendations of Vaughan (1994). The development team included the doctoral candidate who served as subject area expert and project manager/editor, a graphics designer, and a programmer. The authoring system used to create the navigational control through the content was Authorware v2 .0. Testing was conducted throughout the development and trial implementations to ensure that objectives were being met and that the product performed as intended. Within these pages find a discussion of the project, the research, the process, the product, and plans for the future. It is the candidate's hope that this experience will be of great assistance in many ways to prospective developers of educational materials.

The focus of the study was a survey of faculty and student use/needs of library services and user education at Daniel Library, The citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. More specifically, the study sought to determine user information needs and how the library staff should adapt for meeting the educational and research needs of its clientele. Data were collected in separate questionnaires for testing three multi-part null hypotheses with one-way ANOVA. The student survey was pilot tested in spring, 1991. The population of the study was 141 faculty and 284 students. Means, responses in percentages, and one-way analysis of variance with Scheffe post hoc comparisons were used to test the hypotheses and to analyze the findings. To test Hypothesis I faculty responses were divided by three subject area groups (social sciences, humanities, and sciences) for nine individual one-way ANOVAs on library use and value. To test Hypothesis II student responses were divided by three subject area groups (social sciences, humanities, and sciences) for 19 individual one-way ANOVAs on library use and value. To test Hypothesis III student responses divided by class standing (lower-level undergraduates, upper-level undergraduates, and graduate students) for 25 individual oneway ANOVAs on information needs and user education. Faculty responses by clusters differed on five of nine items tested. For four items on resources purchases when budgets are cut, journals were very important to all faculty respondents, while sciences respondents saw media purchases less important than all other faculties and humanities respondents saw library book holdings relatively more important than other disciplines. Sciences faculties differed significantly with all other faculties on two of five items testing faculty encouragement of students to use the library for specified assignments (the critical thought paper; the research paper or prospectus). Sciences faculties differed with social sciences faculties on the encouragement of students to use the library for a book or journal review assignment. Seventy percent of the faculty responded "adequate" or "more adequate" on whether library holdings were adequate to produce quality project assignments. All student responses tested for r coefficients showed no systematic correlation for the number of courses taken in fall, 1991 and the number of courses requiring use of the library. Student responses by clusters differed on 8 of 19 items tested. Based on frequency of responses, student highest frequency of "most frequent" reason to use the library was to check out books. Findings supported differences between student clusters that respondents of the sciences used the library less than respondents of other disciplines. Mean totals for all sciences respondents were lower for all assignments except gathering and interpreting data. Testing of groups divided by class standing showed no differences in student perception for 18 of 25 items on information need and library instruction. Students perceived a need for information, but not that they needed information help. More than 40.8 percent of all respondents "strongly agree" that acquiring information was important to their coursework and/or job performance and 71.1 percent responded "higher" or "highest" degree that they were able to determine on their own the value or relevance of a source to their research task. All groups showed no differences in their perception of finding what they needed in the library because of their research ability, their luck, or their urgent need to find information. However, results indicated that graduate student respondents saw reading reviews, reading journals in your field, and reading journals in other fields significantly more important than undergraduate’s students in gathering information for classes, while graduate students saw using abstracts and indexes significantly more important than juniors and seniors. ANOVA results on five of the seven methods of finding information were not significant. Undergraduate students valued assistance with determining the value or relevance of a source. The pattern of responses and ANOVA findings suggested that all students have an expressed need for use instruction assistance and a decided preference for "help as needed from a reference librarian" as the instruction method. The study showed the discipline (social sciences, humanities, or sciences) in which the students were enrolled proved to be a significant factor in their perception of library use and value. The class standing of students (lower level undergraduate, upper- level undergraduate and graduate) was not a significant factor in the student’s perception of information need and library instruction. Twelve recommendations were made for improving the citadel Library's service and user education mission based on this investigation.

The researcher in this study investigated the perceptual and cultural gap that exists between the users of IT services and the providers of IT services. Modern business and IT are almost indistinguishable and each constituency needs the other to succeed, yet IT initiatives continue to fail with alarming regularity. Research has indicated that business professionals and IT professionals think and behave differently in many important ways, as IT professionals have favored an aptitude for numbers and theories, while business managers have preferred to focus on people, politics, and financial matters. Moreover, IT professionals can often act superior and arrogant when interacting with business professionals. The goal of the researcher in this study was to investigate the perceptual and cultural relationships versus effectiveness between business professionals and IT professionals. The researcher determined that this problem was best investigated using a qualitative study as this is the most effective method for gaining an understanding of the interrelationships between people. The researcher used inductive reasoning to answer five questions directed at the relationships between four categories: individual beliefs, corporate culture, organizational architecture, and IT effectiveness. This study had no precise hypothesis because the purpose of this type of inquiry is to analyze relationships rather than test them. The inherent lack of clarity in language between the two groups introduced some validity issues in the results and in measuring the satisfaction of IT services. This is a challenge as requirements such as timeliness, courtesy, and responsiveness are critically important, but also personal, and therefore vary between individuals. The researcher found that business professionals and IT professionals think and communicate differently, and although the two constituencies respect each other’s knowledge, the differences lead to different approaches to delivering IT services. The business professionals in this study favored an organizational architecture that provided quick response from a trusted IT partner. IT professionals also believed this model was valid but valued organizational models that featured reusability and standards to ensure system efficiency and reliability.

The mission of California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) is to provide tertiary (postsecondary) education to a service area covering 27,400 square miles of Riverside and San Bernardino counties in Southern California. California in general and CSUSB in particular are in the midst of a prolonged budget crisis. CSUSB problems include over-crowding and under-funding. In order to save budget money for the State University system including CSUSB, the utilization of computer-based tele-education was presented as a viable alternative to traditional face-to-face proximate education. The purpose of this dissertation was to write one upper-division CSUSB course using the Automated Course Development System (ACDS) as one of the most efficient methodologies to achieve that goal. The ACDS authoring system has been designed and developed by a Nova team (including this researcher). To date no computer-based teleducation courses of direct applicability to CSUSB have been written using ACDS. The Nova team developed ACDS to alleviate problems like those being experienced at CSUSB. The CSUSB problem may be succinctly restated as: Additional ways are needed to help California state University, San Bernardino fulfil its mission University budgets are being curtailed, and Preliminary ACDS version 1 has been developed, but no course product useable by CSUSB has been written for computer-based teleducation at CSUSB using ACDS. This dissertation was written to accomplish: The design and development of the teleducation INFO-472 course product using version 1 of ACDS, and The recommendation of further improvements for the design and development of version 2 of ACDS. The underlying fundamental purpose of this dissertation was to write one complete CSUSB course to show the use of computer-based teleducation (CBT) with version 1 of the ACDS teacher / student-friendly system to facilitate fulfilment of the CSUSB mission during the current budget crisis. The INFO-472 course product will help illustrate the important potential that computer based teleducation solutions have at CSUSB using the Automated Course Development System (ACDS).

Utility company libraries are scattered geographically, but serve a specific information clientele. These libraries are supported by parent companies or government entities that provide electrical, gas, and/or telephone services. In this era of increased regulation, and financial difficulties for all types of utilities, their respective library budgets are shrinking. Thus reliance on each other for interlibrary lending is increasing; but there is no ILL network, formal or informal, and no organization that would various types of utilities other than the represent the Public Utility Division (PUD) of the Special Libraries Association. The PUD decided to create a Union List of Serials for the libraries of those members wishing to participate in the study. This investigation involved gathering the data for that list, and providing the Union List itself to the PUD. The library holdings were then analyzed to determine the resource capacity in terms of title diversity and collection overlap. The potential contributions to an interlibrary loan network were examined for the entire group, between various segments of the list, and between the trade association libraries and their individual constituents. The existing interlibrary loan policies of the participating libraries were also examined and included in the Union List of Serials provided to the Division. Other studies have shown the relationship between collection size and overlap is linear and positively correlated, but have not dealt specifically with overlap in serial collections. This study tried to determine whether this relationship also existed for this group and for serial collections.

A study was performed to identify factors affecting student enrollment and retention in the Master of Science in management information systems degree offered by Nova Southeastern University. In its early years, this university distinguished itself through unique program offerings in both the traditional and nontraditional formats. Competition for student enrollments among higher education institutions has become fierce and programs offered in flexible formats are no longer unique to this university. Research was performed and a survey instrument was developed to measure levels of student satisfaction with the program. Enrolled students representing the traditional on-campus format and the nontraditional online format formed the two independent test groups. The survey was administered and statistically analyzed to measure the student's level of satisfaction with the program. Study findings included: (I) more than 65 percent of the responses from the total sample agreed or strongly agreed with all of the statements in the instrument; (2) the online and on-campus means for total sample were nearly identical; (3) more than 50 percent of the respondents had completed less than 4 classes; (4) less than 10 percent of the respondents had completed 9 or more classes; (5) about 51 percent of the respondents were more than 36 years old. Results revealed that in all measurements of student satisfaction in this study, no significant differences between the online and on-campus groups were found. Nova Southeastern University has not only pioneered unique models of delivery but the results of this study indicate their students were satisfied. In an era when most higher education institutions are reporting more than 32 percent student attrition this program has maintained an attrition rate of less than 10 percent. It appears that Nova Southeastern University has created a desirable model that other institutions may want to study and emulate.

Computers are a part of everyday life, and to be effective, one should be proficient with and recognize the uses of computers. A myriad of college courses are offered to provide students with this essential background. Some students have difficulty in learning to use a computer and its applications. Some of the difficulty may stem from the failure of students to pose questions in class during lecture or demonstration of applications. In a traditional class, an instant messaging system would provide a means of communication during class without the anxiety of speaking in front of others. Other students would not have to wait for a time to ask questions but could ask throughout the class period. Questions could lead to discussions and clarifications that may not have taken place otherwise. This research focused on augmenting in-class instruction in a college business computer applications class with the use of an instant messaging service, AOL Instant Messenger, as a means to increase student participation during class lectures; thus, instant messaging provided an alternative way of communicating which may directly increase student performance and communication apprehension. The results of this study showed no significant difference in the performance and communication apprehension between the experimental and control group. There was an increase in both groups in performance of course content knowledge and hands-on software application ability.

This study examined learning styles and achievement scores with hypertext-based computer-assisted instruction (CAI) as it pertains to the adult learner. The learning styles investigated in this study were used as independent variables in an a priori manner to determine the causal inference between learning style and achievement. Correlations among additional variables, such as attitude toward CAI, experience with computers, and experience with CAI software variables, were examined in an a posteriori manner. The experiment consisted of one independent variable, learning style, which is a subject independent variable consisting of two levels- the iconic mode and the reading mode-as delineated by the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory. The dependent variable is the achievement gain determined by the difference between the pretest and posttest scores. This dissertation inquiry was designed to add to the body of knowledge pertaining to the efficacy of CAI for the adult learner. The focus of this study was to determine the need for the integration of adult learning styles into the design of CAI for adult learners. The propagation of CAI in adult education necessitates an investigation of adopting learning styles into the design of CAI to facilitate the acquisition of skills. The investigation addressed several issues regarding the design and deployment of CAI in adult educational settings. First, the adoption of learning styles into the design of CAI answered particular educational concerns about andragogy. Second, the investigation addressed the needs of instructional technologists for content development.