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Technology presents great opportunities for developing and delivering education and training. Specifically, audio and video communication technologies have become useful tools for extending the reach of training and staff development. Unfortunately, many of these opportunities are missed due to lack of technology adoption and assimilation. Developing formal training programs is one way to improve organizational effectiveness. Therefore, it is essential that organizations design and implement training programs that are efficient and address relevant job competencies. Training managers and development executives are eager to leverage technologies to train and support employees. Today's institutions and organizations rely to a large extent on training, and there is ample reason to believe that the importance of training for organizations will continue to increase in the future. The quality of employees and their development through training and education are major factors in determining organizational growth. Desktop video-conferencing (DVC), when used effectively can present an effective channel for training at a distance. The goal was to establish a model training process for DVC instruction that addressed the professional development needs of a globally-dispersed trainer population. Trainers completed a needs assessment that translated into a needs-driven instructional design. Course content was developed to meet specifications of a predefined template to be delivered by the technology. Implementation of the training was guided by six interrelated components of training that included conceptual framing, guided practice, establishment of evaluation benchmarks, provision of social and technical support and retraining. Participants were provided opportunities for hands-on and collaborative activities during the training. The study contributed to the knowledge base of training and learning technologies and provided practical uses of DVC for professional development of distant trainers.

The widespread popularity of the Internet has made the promise of worldwide electronic commerce (EC) a reality. Companies are exploring how to provide goods and services over the Internet in order to extend their reach to a global marketplace that conducts business 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The low cost of transacting business electronically has been the motivating factor as consumers eagerly look toward the Internet to create economic opportunities. Electronic payment, a financial exchange that takes place online between buyers and sellers, is an integral part of EC. The content of this exchange usually involves some form of digital financial instrument (such as encrypted credit card numbers, electronic checks, or digital cash) that is backed by a bank or an intermediary, or by legal tender. With the rapid growth in EC, organizations are often faced with the problem of selecting an appropriate electronic payment system (EPS) to meet their requirements. While demand is rapidly growing, security concern is a major reason that impedes EC growth. Organizations selecting individual EPS with different security methods find it extremely difficult to do business with each other. Selection of an EPS is a complex task. Firms often lack the necessary in-house expertise to make this choice. Hiring external consultants with expertise in the area can be expensive. A poor decision may have a significant negative impact. Implementing an EPS requires considerable technical expertise. Difficulties involved in selection and implementation include identifying the firm’s requirements, understanding available EPS options, and evaluating the best option based on economic, technical, and operational concerns. To deal with the complex decision of EPS selection in a changing environment, an expert system may be used. An expert system prototype for the selection of EPS was proposed, based on analysis and evaluation of major electronic payment systems (EPSs). The goal of this dissertation was to develop a rule-based expert system that would aid the requirement analysis process by asking appropriate questions; maintain a knowledge base on the security characteristics of various EPSs; and contain the expertise required to select and implement an appropriate system that meets an organization's security requirements. An extensive literature review was conducted to evaluate major EPSs to ascertain each system's applicability, strengths and weaknesses. Features of each were analyzed, with an emphasis on security aspects. Results were used to help design and build a prototype rule-based system to help organizations determine an appropriate strategy for security in EPS. The following EPSs were considered: Electronic card-based systems: First Virtual (FV), Cyber Cash, and Secure Electronic Transactions (SET). Electronic checks: Net Bill and NetCheque. Electronic cash payment systems: Ecash and CyberCoin. Micropayment systems: Millicent and Pay word. The decision table approach was utilized to ensure that the rule base was well designed. The proposed system is capable of providing security advice related to those EPSs that have been included in the system. The proposed system handles questions based on security characteristics, but is not able to handle new systems whose characteristics have not been entered into the system. The expert system was designed in such a way that future changes to EPS characteristics require minimum change to the knowledge base. A prototype expert system for the selection of electronic payment systems was built and tested to validate the system. The recommendations of the expert system were compared to the recommendations of experts. Test results indicated that the rule-based paradigm with decision tables is useful in the design of a successful expert system for the selection of EPSs.

Higher education institutions are embracing the Internet as a means of offering distance education programs and augmenting face-to-face on-campus courses. Consequently, there is a surge in technology-mediated Web-based learning products, in particular, Instructional Management Systems (IMSs). Notwithstanding the growth in IMS usage, the quality and effectiveness of online teaching and learning still lie with faculty. Their perceptions of this technology will ultimately determine whether its implementation meets with success. Increasingly, faculty are encouraged and/or required to use electronic technology in their teaching. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to utilize a research design employing a quantitative survey instrument to establish faculty perceptions of the effectiveness of using IMSs in the teaching and learning environment. The target population consisted of full-time and adjunct faculty using Blackboard CourseInfo version 4, Level I as their chosen IMS at seven of the 10 colleges that constitute the Maricopa Community College District (MCCD), Arizona. MCCD is the largest community college system in the United States, with a student population over 243,000 enrolled in credit and non-credit courses. Data were collected with a survey instrument designed by the researcher entitled "Faculty Perceptions of Blackboard as an Effective Instructional Management System", and validated by a panel of knowledgeable Blackboard Course Info version 4, Level I users within the MCCD. This instrument identified: a) faculty Blackboard usage, training, and support; b) faculty release time and compensation; c) faculty personal opinions relating to Blackboard usage; d) Blackboard tools faculty utilize the most; and e) what features faculty believe would enhance Blackboard. Analysis and synthesis of the survey results, together with the literature review, provided answers to the research questions and enabled the development of a set of guidelines to enable deans, division chairs, information technology directors, and faculty to clarify goals and objectives for effective IMS selection, deployment, and utilization in their own institutions.

This study was a comparative analysis of student achievement in writing proficiency by students enrolled in a Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) E-School (DES) second language course of Advanced Placement (AP) German and by students enrolled in a like DoDEA traditional course. Criteria for subject selection was enrollment in a SY2001-2002 DoDEA AP German course with no previous enrollment in a DoDEA distance learning course. The distance learning and traditional groups had 20 subjects each. A pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental design was used. The null hypothesis was applied, stating that the distance learning students would demonstrate achievement comparable to that of traditional students. Treatment was administered by AP German teachers at Heidelberg High School, Germany, Patch High School, Germany, and the DES. Student achievement in writing proficiency was determined by post-study essay scores. Validity and reliability were established for the rubrics-based assessment instrument. The AP German teachers evaluated the essays. The study period was 10 weeks with nine weeks of instruction and one week of vacation. All subjects wrote a pre-study essay at the beginning of the study period, experienced instruction in a specified curriculum during the study period, and wrote a post-study essay. All essays were converted to a standard format for evaluation. Gender, grade level, and grade point average (GPA) data were examined to determine homogeneity of the populations, with results showing no significant difference between the groups with regard to these factors. Statistical treatment of data revealed no significant difference for pre-study essays between the two populations. Analysis of pre-study and post study scores for each of the populations revealed a significant gain in writing proficiency for both populations. Analysis of post-study essay scores revealed no significant difference between the two populations. The null hypothesis failed to be rejected. Further analysis of student achievement and GP A established a weak correlation that was statistically significant at the .05 alpha level. Recommendations included rigorous research to establish the impact of distance learning courses on student achievement, research in the area of distance delivered second(foreign) language instruction, and research to' explore effective pedagogies and instructional strategies for distance learning technologies.

The mathematics scores of primary school students in Virgin Gorda, as indicated by national tests, have shown that their basic mathematics skills are poor. The purpose of this study was to identify teaching strategies that could help improve mathematics scores. This study was designed to examine the effects of three teaching strategies on the scores and self-concept of 9-11 year-old students learning to add and subtract fractions. These strategies were the use of traditional methods, the use of the computer as a tutor, and the use of a combination of computers and traditional methods to teach addition and subtraction of fractions. Forty students participated in the study. They were divided into three treatment groups and one control group. Each treatment group was taught addition and subtraction of fractions using one of the teaching strategies for ten weeks. Students were tested before treatment, immediately after the treatment, and two months after treatment. The test instruments were teacher-made tests on fractions and the Self-Perception Profile for Children. The results showed no significant difference in mean scores between the treatment groups on the fraction test immediately after treatment. However, when gender was considered, there was a significant difference between means of the boys and girls within the group taught by traditional methods. There was also a significant difference between the means of boys and girls within the group taught by computers. The boys in the combined traditional and computer group had a mean that was higher than boys in the other two groups. All the treatment groups had significantly higher mean scores than they had before treatment. The control group however showed no significant change. The use of computers resulted in improved self-concept. Students who were taught using computer tutorials or tutorials in combination with traditional methods had higher self-concept mean scores than students who were taught only by traditional methods. Two months after the treatment, students' mean scores on the fraction test were significantly lower for the traditional and computer groups than they had been immediately after treatment. There was no significant difference in mean scores for students in the combined group. These findings suggested that the use of computers (CAl) was as effective as traditional teaching methods and helped students to be more positive about themselves. In addition, computers, when used together with traditional methods appear to be useful in improving the scores of boys. Further, the combined use of computers and traditional methods was effective in helping students retain material. The study indicates that if the use of computers in the classroom is carefully planned, then CAl can help to improve the mathematics scores of students in the British Virgin Islands. However, the computers should be used by teachers trained in their use and the classes should be evaluated regularly.

High school students have had difficulty analyzing data collected in laboratory experiments. This problem has been well-documented in the body of literature, and many suggested remedies have been proposed regarding the use of computers. The author attempted to demonstrate that an increase occurs in student data analysis skills when using computers. The hypothesis offered in this dissertation declared that students exposed to the computerized pre-analysis system will increase their abilities to analyze laboratory data into a conclusion better than students who are not exposed to the system. The system suggested placing three micro-computers in the physics, chemistry, and general science laboratories and equip the devices with simple spreadsheets and graphing software. The author devised spreadsheets for 15 experiments commonly used in high school science. The spreadsheet screens and equations are displayed in the appendices of the dissertation. Quizzes were also devised that place data on graphs or in problems similar to those found in each experiment three class meetings following the laboratory experience, each student took the quiz. Following completion of the project the students again took the Arlin Test of Formal Reasoning (ATFR). The study was conducted during a 12 week period of the 1991-1992 school year. The author used student produced laboratory reports, quiz scores, and the pre and post application of the Arlin Test of Formal Reasoning as analysis tools. A t test of significance was performed on these tools. The results determined that students in the classes using the computer were affected by the project. Specific reasoning skills were improved according to the test data. The program developed in this dissertation could serve as a seed in science education. The program contained a study of five experiments in each of three disciplines of science. The expansion to a complete set of experiments used in those courses could increase the benefit to the students involved. The expansion of this concept to other realms of science such as Earth Science, Astronomy, and Life Science could also enhance student skills. The concepts put forward in this dissertation could be expanded to other disciplines. Use of this project could be expanded to social studies or other subjects. The examination of population data, production, economics, and any data of a statistical nature could be studied by students in a laboratory setting such as described in this program.

The educational community is seeking meaningful ways to use technology as a learning tool. In Pennsylvania, students must develop multimedia projects as part of the school curricula. Despite this requirement, little has been documented about the success factors in the integration of these projects across the curriculum. This study explored the key factors required for the successful integration of student multimedia projects within middle school classrooms in Berks County, Pennsylvania. It explored these research questions: How is multimedia authoring by students integrated within the school curriculum? What are the key enabling factors for middle school teachers who successfully integrated multimedia authoring into the school day? What impediments keep other teachers from doing likewise? What are the best practices in professional development and ongoing support that resulted in classrooms in which multimedia authoring was a tool that enriched learning? Data were collected across multiple measures to produce a comprehensive profile of the current status of multimedia authoring as it was related to professional staff development, technology support, and student learning. The measures developed for this study were a teacher questionnaire. A teacher interview guideline, a classroom observation checklist, and a multimedia project evaluation rubric. This multiple procedure approach was used to ensure accurate descriptions of what was taking place in classrooms. The study found that teachers were successfully integrating student multimedia authoring projects into the curriculum in meaningful ways that used technology as learning tools that resulted in numerous benefits. The multimedia authoring software used to create these projects was a true student-centered toolkit that supported constructivist learning. When creating multimedia projects, students enthusiastically investigated the world around them while they mastered subject area content and technology skills. The process promoted critical thinking, problem solving, social collaborating, researching, interviewing, organizing, and time managing skills. Teachers made the most of the multi modal approach that this process provided by creating assignments that allowed students to articulate themselves in meaningful ways. They found that student multimedia authoring projects are a good alternative form of educational assessment because students produced authentic learning products. Students were willing to put forth extra effort and often worked long after class had ended. The results of their efforts were immediate and tangible. Integrating multimedia projects in the classroom energized learning, actively engaged students, and helped define the role of technology in the classroom.

A selective-phrase-based preprocessor for use in generating the feature set of an email message prior to its classification as spam or non-spam is presented. The proposed preprocessor subsumes the phrase-based preprocessor used by Yerazunis and the word-based preprocessor employed by Graham. In Yerazunis' phrased-based approach, a sliding window of W contiguous words is used to generate phrases, and all sub-phrases of each W-word phrase are used as features. In Graham's word-based method, just the individual words in an e-mail message are used as features. The primary goal of this investigation was to detennine whether the classification accuracy attained by Yerazunis' preprocessor can be achieved at a lower computational cost by selecting a much smaller but promising set of phrases from which to generate the sub-phrases that constitute the features. The proposed preprocessor first identifies a small number f of words from the input text (namely, those that are most likely to appear in spam messages). For each such word, it then selects B distinct phrases of W contiguous words that contain that word and uses all sub-phrases of each such phrase as features. A secondary goal of the research was to investigate the sensitivity of the classification accuracy on/, B, and W. The methods used by the proposed preprocessor and the preprocessors devised by Yerazunis and Graham were tested on a benchmark corpus of e-mail messages. The classification accuracy and other metrics were measured and reported. The results indicated that the classification accuracy of the proposed preprocessor was comparable to that of Yerazunis' preprocessor while utilizing a much smaller set of features. In addition, the research indicated optimum values for f, B, and W: The best accuracies were achieved at (j, B, W) = (2, I, 2) and (j, B, W) = (2, 2, 2).

The purpose of this study was to compare two methods of library skills instruction: the traditional lecture method and the hypertext program "What A Problem!" to determine which method was more effective. In 1991 an instructional design was developed for the basic library skills orientation program. From this design a hypermedia computer instructional program "What A Problem!" was written. Sixty subjects were randomly selected (using a table of random numbers) from a population of 430 students enrolled in ninth grade English classes at South Fork High School in Stuart, Florida. This study used a multiple time-series experimental design; there were two experimental groups. The first hypothesis that was addressed in this study was that there was a significant difference in test scores between subjects who had received the hypermedia treatment and students who had received the lecture treatment. The first null hypothesis that was tested was that no significant difference existed in the test scores between students who had received the hypermedia instruction and students who had received the traditional lecture method of instruction. Data from equivalent form posttests (A, B, C) were used to support or not support the null hypothesis. Posttest A was given one day following instructional treatment. Posttest B was given seven days after instructional treatment. Posttest C was given twenty-one days after instructional treatment. Using a t-Test, the mean scores of the two instructional treatments were compared to see if the mean scores differed significantly at the .050 level. The mean scores did not differ significantly on the Posttests; therefore, the first null hypothesis was supported. The second hypothesis that was examined was that there was a significant correlation between subjects' perceptual response learning styles and the hypermedia method of instruction. The second null hypothesis was that there was no significant correlation between the hypermedia method of instruction and perceptual learning style. Subjects were given the NASpSP Learning Styles Profile and scored on the three subscales of the perceptual learning style subscale: the visual subscale, auditory subscale, and the emotive subscale. The subjects' perceptual response subscale scores were then compared to the posttest scores of the library skills tests to determine if a significant relationship existed. A Pearson r was used to determine the correlation coefficient between the subscales and the posttest scores. In the hypermedia treatment group, significant positive correlation was found between the mean scores on Posttest Band Posttest C and the visual learning style subscale responses; therefore, the second null hypothesis was not supported on these posttests. No significant correlation was found between Posttest A's mean scores and the visual learning subscale. Therefore, the second null hypothesis was supported on Posttest A. A significant negative correlation was found on all the Posttests (A, B, C) and the auditory subscale of the NAASP Learning Style Profile of the hypermedia group. Therefore, the null hypothesis was not supported on the auditory subscale. A significant negative correlation was also found between the scores of Posttest Band Posttest C and the emotive response subscales. Therefore, the null hypothesis was not supported on Posttest Band Posttest C with the emotive subscale responses.