This report describes the purpose, analysis, design, development, and evaluation of a web-based tutorial to train student television camera operators for BYU Broadcasting at Brigham Young University. The report includes the results from audience and needs analyses, the rationale for the instructional approach, reviews of existing instructional materials, and reviews of instructional theory and practice literature. It also describes multiple evaluation activities for the tutorial and a critique of the project. The audience and needs analyses found that an interactive, web-based tutorial would be an appropriate delivery method for the instruction. The instructional literature review supports the project's instructional and evaluation methodologies, especially its extensive use of rapid prototyping. The evaluation report describes multiple iterations with paper and electronic prototypes and a field test with 11 target audience members. This report describes how testing and revision iterations led to multiple improvements in the product, and a pre- and posttest administered during the field test demonstrated a significant increase in the intended learning outcomes. The projects exemplified many strengths and pleased the stakeholders, although further improvements in the instruction, assessment, and evaluation could have been implemented with more time and resources.

<p>  </p> <p>With fewer speech-language pathology (SLP) clinical training opportunities, it is difficult for students to gain the experience necessary to display proficiency and confidence in treating patients with dysphagia. To address this gap, many educators have turned to simulation-based training (SBT). This project examined the impact of a novel computer-based simulation dysphagia training implemented into Purdue University’s core Dysphagia course on students’ confidence and competence. During this training, students completed a comprehensive bedside swallowing evaluation and analysis of a videofluoroscopic swallow study (VFSS) of 2 simulated patients. </p> <p>A repeated measure design was utilized. Data were collected on 27 SLP graduate students (n=27; 26 females, 1 male; age range: 21-27 years) at baseline, Post-Simulation 1 and Post-Simulation 2. We evaluated confidence and clinical knowledge through the following outcome measures: students’ self-rated confidence levels rated using an adapted Self-Efficacy survey, and agreement levels with our gold standard rater on clinical evaluation forms. Data for students’ self-rated confidence were collected at three time points (baseline, Post-Simulation 1, Post-Simulation 2), and organized into three composite areas (Treatment, Evaluation, and Personal & Interpersonal Skills). Clinical knowledge was measured at two time points (Post-Simulation 1 and Post-Simulation 2 ) using clinical evaluation forms, which were completed for each of our two simulated patients. Clinical evaluation forms included a cranial nerve exam form, a videofluoroscopic swallow study (VFSS) analysis form, and an Overall Impressions and Recommendations form, including the Functional Oral Intake Scale (FOIS) and a recommendation list. </p> <p>Significant increases in confidence in the Evaluation (t(26)= -8.22, p < .0001), Treatment (t(26)= -5.06 , p < .0001) and Personal & Interpersonal (t(26)= -10.31, p < .0001) composite areas of the Self-Efficacy survey were seen from baseline to Post-Simulation 2. While students did not show significant improvements in clinical performance for FOIS ratings and VFSS analysis, they did show significant improvements in their ratings for the cranial nerve exam (t(26)= -5.728, p < .0001), and in their choice of recommendations (t(26) = -5.247, p < .000 1) between the first and the second simulation. </p> <p>In this sample of participants, students had significant improvements in confidence and clinical competence in several clinical knowledge areas. These paired results suggest that these participants benefitted from completing our SBT dysphagia training. Although our findings provide some initial insight into the impact of this novel computer-based SBT for graduate dysphagia education, additional research is required to further validate these findings. </p>

This study explored the effectiveness of embedding a guided, learner-generated instructional strategy (query method), designed to support learners' cognitive and metacognitive processes, within the context of a computer-based complex task training environment (i.e., principles of flight in the aviation domain). The queries were presented as "stop and think" exercises in an open-ended question format that asked learners to generate either simple (low-level elaboration) or complex (high-level elaboration) sentences from a list of key training concepts. Results consistently highlighted the benefit of presenting participants with low-level elaboration queries, as compared to the no-query or high-level elaboration queries. In terms of post-training cognitive outcomes, participants presented with the low-level elaboration queries exhibited significantly more accurate knowledge organization (indicated by similarity to an expert model), better acquisition of perceptual knowledge, and superior performance on integrative knowledge assessment involving the integration and application of task-relevant concepts. Consistent with previous studies, no significant differences in performance were found on basic factual knowledge assessment. Presentation of the low-level elaboration queries also significantly improved the training program's instructional efficiency, that is, greater performance was achieved with less perceived cognitive effort. In terms of post-training metacognitive outcomes, participants presented with the low-level elaboration queries exhibited significantly greater metacomprehension accuracy and more effective metacognitive self-regulation during training. Contrary to predictions, incorporating the high-level elaboration queries into the training consistently failed, with only a few exceptions, to produce significantly better post-training outcomes than the no-query or the low-level elaboration query training conditions. The results of this study are discussed in terms of the theoretical implications for garnering a better understanding of the cognitive and metacognitive factors underlying the learning process. Practical implications for training design are presented within the context of cognitive load theory. Specifically, the increased cognitive processing of the training material associated with the high-level elaboration queries may have imposed too great a cognitive load on participants during training, minimizing the cognitive resources available for achieving a deeper, integrative understanding of the training concepts and hindering successful performance on the cognitive measures. The discussion also highlights the need for a multi-faceted approach to training evaluation.

The United States of America has dropped behind many countries in terms of the Science and Engineering university degrees awarded since the beginning of the nineties. Multiple studies have been conducted to determine the cause of this decline in degrees awarded, and try to reverse the trend in US education. The goal of these studies was to determine the proper instructional methods that facilitate the knowledge acquisition process for the student. It has been determined that not one method works for all types of curriculum, for example methods that have been found to work effectively in curriculum that teaches procedures and physical systems often fail in curriculum that teaches abstract and conceptual content. The purpose of this study is to design an instructional method that facilitates teaching of abstract knowledge, and to demonstrate its effectiveness through empirical research. An experiment including 72 undergraduate students was conducted to determine the best method of acquiring abstract knowledge. All students were presented with the same abstract knowledge but presented in different types of organization. These organization types consisted of hierarchy referred as Bottom Up, Top Down, and Unorganized. Another factor that was also introduced is Graphing, which is a method that is believe to improve the learning process. The experiment was completed in 8 weeks and data was gathered and analyzed. The results strongly suggest that abstract knowledge acquisition is greatly improved when the knowledge is presented in a Bottom Up hierarchical fashion. On the other hand, neither Graphing nor the Top Down or Unorganized conditions affect learning in these novice students. iv This dissertation is dedicated to my parents who established my education career since the beginning of my first day of school. Their prayers and encouragements have an impact toward my life and education.

Today's best intelligent, adaptive, multimedia trainers have shown excellent performance; however, their results still fall far-short of what good human tutors can achieve. The overarching thesis of this paper is that future intelligent, adaptive systems will be improved by taking into account relevant, consistent, and meaningful individual differences. Specifically, responding to individual differences among trainees will (a) form more accurate individual baselines within a training system, and (b) better inform system responses (so that they interpret and respond to observable data more appropriately). One variable to consider is trait arousability, which describes individual differences in sensitivity to stimuli. Individuals' arousability interacts with the arousal inherent to a task/environment to create a person's arousal state. An individual's arousal state affects his/her attentional capacity, working memory function, and depth of processing. In this paper, two studies are presented. The purpose of the first study was to evaluate existing subjective measures of trait arousability and then develop a new measure by factor analyzing existing apparatus. From this well-populated (N = 622) study, a new reliable ([alpha] = .91) 35-item scale was developed. This scale includes two factors, negative emotionality and orienting sensitivity, which have been previously theorized but not yet so reliably measured. The purposes of the second study were to (a) validate the measure developed in the first investigation and (b) demonstrate the applied value of the arousability construct in the context of training. Results from the second study (N=45) demonstrated significant main effects, but the interaction effects were inconclusive. They neither clearly confirm nor invalidate the hypotheses, but they do raise further questions.

Multimedia theory has generated a number of principles and guidelines to support computer-based training (CBT) design. However, the cognitive processes responsible for learning, from which these principles and guidelines stem from, are only indirectly derived by focusing on cognitive learning outcome differences. Unfortunately, the effects that cognitive processes have on learning are based on the assumption that cognitive learning outcomes are indicative of certain cognitive processes. Such circular reasoning is what prompted this dissertation. Specifically, this dissertation looked at the notion of referential connections, which is a prevalent cognitive process that is thought to support knowledge acquisition in a multimedia CBT environment. Referential connections, and the related cognitive mechanisms supporting them, are responsible for creating associations between verbal and visual information; as a result, their impact on multimedia learning is theorized to be far reaching. Therefore, one of the main goals of this dissertation was to address the issue of indirectly assessing cognitive processes by directly measuring referential connections to (a) verify the presence of referential connections, and (b) to measure the extent to which referential connections affect cognitive learning outcomes. To achieve this goal, a complete review of the prevalent multimedia theories was brought fourth. The most important factors thought to be influencing referential connections were extracted and cataloged into variables that were manipulated, fixed, covaried, or randomized to empirically examine the link between referential connections and learning. Specifically, this dissertation manipulated referential connections by varying the temporal presentation of modalities and the color coding of instructional material. Manipulating the temporal presentation of modalities was achieved by either presenting modalities simultaneously or sequentially. Color coding manipulations capitalized on pre-attentive highlighting and pairing of elements (i.e., pairing text with corresponding visuals). As such, the computer-based training varied color coding on three levels: absence of color coding, color coding without pairing text and corresponding visual aids, and color coding that also paired text and corresponding visual aids. The modalities employed in the experiment were written text and static visual aids, and the computer-based training taught the principles of flight to naive participants. Furthermore, verbal and spatial aptitudes were used as covariates, as they consistently showed to affect learning. Overall, the manipulations were hypothesized to differentially affect referential connections and cognitive learning outcomes, thereby altering cognitive learning outcomes. Specifically, training with simultaneously presented modalities was hypothesized to be superior, in terms of referential connections and learning performance, to a successive presentation, and color coding modalities with pairing of verbal and visual correspondents was hypothesized to be superior to other forms of color coding. Finally, it was also hypothesized that referential connections would positively correlate with cognitive learning outcomes and, indeed, mediate the effects of temporal contiguity and color coding on learning. A total of 96 were randomly assigned to one of the six experimental groups, and were trained on the principles of flight. The key construct of referential connections was successfully measured with three methods. Cognitive learning outcomes were captured by a traditional declarative test and by two integrative (i.e., knowledge application) tests. Results showed that the two multimedia manipulation impacted cognitive learning outcomes and did so through corresponding changes of related referential connections (i.e., through mediation). Specifically, as predicted, referential connections mediated the impact of both temporal contiguity and color coding on lower- and higher-level cognitive learning outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed in relation to computer-based training design principles and guidelines. Specifically, theoretical implications focus on the contribution that referential connections have on multimedia learning theory, and practical implications are brought forth in terms of instructional design issues. Future research considerations are described as they relate to further exploring the role of referential connections within multimedia CBT paradigms.

This research study examines the differences between two types of learning presentation formats and their correlation to learning media, and delivery preferences. A research study was conducted with Fall semester-2000, college freshmen, to determine if there was a significant difference in learning via Computer Based Training (CBT) with or without Multimedia information such as: color, photographs, music, or speech. The major questions researched were: (1) Is learning via CBT more effective with or without multimedia information? (2) Which sequence is more effective, that is: (a) presenting non-multimedia information ahead of multimedia information, or (b) presenting multimedia information ahead of non-multimedia information? A set of non-multimedia and multimedia lessons and questions was developed using current courseware development technology, and recorded on CD-ROMs. A demographic questionnaire was used to correlate performance scores and completion times with the two learning presentation formats. Demographic factors researched included student age range, skill level with computers and applications, educational learning media, and educational delivery preferences that is, learning face-to-face (FTF) vs. learning in a distance-learning (DL) environment. Findings revealed that there were no significant statistical differences in learning between non-multimedia and multimedia presentation formats with performance score as the outcome. However, performance score was improved when the participant first experienced a multimedia presentation format. Using participants who had non-multimedia first, completion time in non-multimedia and multimedia sessions did not differ significantly. However, completion time in multimedia was significantly longer than that in non-multimedia condition when the participant first experienced multimedia. With respect to demographic factors, age and skill level did not reveal significant statistical results in performance score as an outcome. However, completion time was significantly reduced when linked with a higher skill level. On average, participants preferred FTF to DL. However, those participants, who preferred DL, scored approximately 10% higher than their FTF counterparts. Recommendations for incorporating multimedia and distance learning are included in the dissertation. Educational leaders are encouraged to review these findings particularly, during the decision-making process. Following the (Recommendations for Practice) section can help to demystify technological applications and arm educational administrators with information for a fruitful request-for-bid process.

English learners (ELs) represent one of the fastest growing student populations in the United States. Given that language can serve as a barrier in EL performance, test accommodations are provided to help level the playing field and allow ELs to better demonstrate their true performance level. Test accommodations on the computer offer the ability to collect new types of data difficult to obtain via paper-and-pencil tests. Specifically, these data can be used as additional sources of validity evidence when examining test accommodations. To date, limited research has examined computer-based accommodations, thus limiting these additional sources of validity evidence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of computer-based test accommodations on high school History and Math assessments using evidence based on response processes, specifically accommodation use and response time. Two direct linguistic accommodations, non-ELs, two EL groups, and five research questions were investigated in this study. Accommodation use results indicated significant differences in use across the three student groups, with ELs using accommodations more frequently than non-ELs. However, there were still high percentages of all three groups not accessing any accommodations on individual items. Accommodation use was more common on History than on Math, and decreased as the assessment progressed. Results suggest future research focus on students actually using the accommodations when conducting research on the effectiveness of accommodations. Response time results showed ELs taking longer to process test items as compared to non-ELs regardless of receiving test accommodations. Receiving accommodations significantly impacted processing time for some of the items on History, but not on Math. Similarly, History showed a relationship between the number of accommodations on test items and response time, but Math did not. These results suggested that the Math content knowledge may have played a larger role in response time than the accommodations. Positive relationships between test performance and response time were found in both subject areas. The most common predictors of both accommodation use and response time across both subject areas were sex, Hispanic status, and socioeconomic status. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The aim of this thesis work was to develop a management information system model for process-oriented healthcare organisations. The study explores two questions: “What kinds of requirements do healthcare managers place on information systems?” and “How can the work and information systems of healthcare managers and care providers be incorporated into process-oriented healthcare organisations?” The background to the study was the process orientation of Swedish healthcare organisations. The study was conducted at the paediatric clinic of a county hospital in southern Sweden. Organisational process was defined as “a sequence of work procedures that jointly constitute complete healthcare services”, while a functional unit was the organisational venue responsible for a certain set of work activities. A qualitative research method, based on a developmental circle, was used. The data was collected from archives, interviews, observations, diaries and focus groups. The material was subsequently analysed in order to categorise, model and develop small-scale theories about information systems. The study suggested that computer-based management information systems in processoriented healthcare organisations should: (1) support medical work; (2) integrate clinical and administrative tools; (3) facilitate the ability of the organisation to measure inputs and outcomes. The research effort concluded that various healthcare managers need the same type of primary data, though presented in different ways. Professional developers and researchers have paid little attention to the manner in which integrated administrative, financial and clinical systems should be configured in order to ensure optimal support for process-oriented healthcare organisations. Thus, it is important to identify the multiple roles that information plays in such an organisation. / <p>Report code: LiU-TEK-LIC-2003:14. On the day of the public defence the status of the article I was: In press and the status of article II was: Submitted.</p>

No description available.