Currently, many educators are focusing on the development of Web-based material and the quality of such material needs to be evaluated. Expert review, as a formative evaluation method, is an important method to evaluate the material prior to release. Other studies have described the use of Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs) and also domain students, with enough knowledge in the subject area, as a way of enhancing the quality of the reviewed material. In addition to the SMEs and domain students a lecturer and graduate student, both in the subject discipline area, were used to review Web-based lectures on Advanced Computer Architectures. Both additional reviewers had sufficient knowledge of the discipline. The research investigates three main hypotheses: I) whether a review conducted by domain reviewers (SME and domain student) or discipline reviewers improves the quality of material, 2) whether using discipline reviewers improves the quality of the material more than domain reviewers and 3) whether there are differences in the quality of the material resulting from students' and lecturers' review. Five versions of the material were developed and used as inputs to an experiment that was designed to test the hypotheses by using questionnaires and tests. In summary, the findings of the research were that: SME reviewer and discipline reviewers were effective in producing higher quality than the unreviewed material. However, rather interestingly, the domain student was shown to be the least effective in enhancing the material. The investigation also found that there was no significant difference in the quality of the material resulting from students' and lecturers' review. Furthermore, it was found that the media used to present the material was more useful when the quality of that media was perceived to be high. Finally 90% of the subjects were willing to study Web-based lectures as part of the course.

This study aimed to investigate the role of academic libraries in Saudi higher education in supporting distance learning (DL) in the country. Two cases, known for their history of offering DL programmes in the country, were selected. These were Imam Mohammad Bin Saud Islamic University (IMBSIU) in Riyadh and King Abdul-Aziz University (KAU) in Jeddah. A mixed methodology, which included both qualitative and qualitative approaches, was used. Triangulation of data collections methods was achieved by implementing a document analysis, interviews and questionnaires. The results indicated that DL in the country is transforming traditional approaches into fully automated techniques through the implementation of e-learning via the Internet; the Saudi government is supporting this approach. However, the results also showed that policies of academic libraries lack rules which recognise DL stakeholders right to be served and supported. Little or no co-operation was found to exist between academic libraries and DL deanships in both case studies; this could hinder the efforts made by academic libraries to serve and support DL stakeholders. In addition, textbooks were found to be the main source of learning and teaching in DL, thus reducing the desire of DL stakeholders to use their academic library. The lack of DL guidelines was found to be responsible for making distance learners less likely to use information resources other than textbooks. Official interactions were weak between DL stakeholders, especially learners with their instructors, and with academic and non-academic support such as academic library services. This was found to be responsible for a lack of academic library support specifically designed for DL stakeholders, and many other factors relating to the existing condition of academic libraries were also found to be significant in failing to recognize the right of DL stakeholders to be served. However, overall, participants attitudes toward the importance of academic libraries in supporting DL stakeholders were positive. Moreover, participants expressed a desire to find solutions as soon as possible to overcome the current lack of information services designed for DL stakeholders. According to this study s results, several recommendations have been formulated related mainly to the importance of building co-operation between academic libraries and DL deanships in the country. It is concluded that there is an urgent need for DL stakeholders needs and rights to be recognised and supported by any means in order to improve the quality of DL. Hence, several models/solutions, which can be implemented in either the short or the long term, are proposed here in order to provide solutions for the current lack of information services being offered to DL stakeholders by both academic libraries and DL deanships.

Twenty-first century learners have bought into a cafeteria-style mentality for obtaining higher education that learning should be available at the student's convenience. Institutions that ignore this postmodern trend will likely find their applicant pools dwindling along with significant reductions in entering class sizes. Students will simply choose other schools able to provide respected, accredited, and useful learning which fits their busy lifestyles. Since 1987, Dallas Theological Seminary (Texas), a 76-year-old graduate school of theology in the conservative, evangelical, free-church movement, has offered distance learning classes in both extension and print-based delivery models. Because the faculty plays a pivotal role in the successful or unsuccessful implementation of online courses (McKenzie, Mims, Bennett, & Waugh, 2000), the present study uncovered the attitudes of full-time, graduate theological faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) regarding distance learning and the likelihood of faculty to adopt this delivery innovation. Bruce Manning's (1976) Trouble-Shooting Checklist (TSC) for Higher Education Institutions was the instrument used in the study. The TSC is a nonparametric test designed to uncover differences between the observed and expected levels of acceptance that a department, program, or institution possesses regarding change toward distance learning in contrast to residential learning. The checklist's two major purposes are to provide an overall norm-referenced, predictive score estimating the organization's likelihood of adopting and implementing an innovation and to profile the strengths and weaknesses of an organization's environment (culture) relative to the adoption and implementation of innovations. Five scales provide a comprehensive understanding of the organizational climate, personality and leadership characteristics of participants, communication pathways within the organization, the degree of sophistication or expertise within the organization, and the receptivity of the students. An official administration of the instrument was conducted involving all full-time faculty at DTS. Frequency counts, percentage distributions, and the chi-square goodness-of-fit statistic were used to analyze the data at the .05 alpha level. A summary of findings from the questionnaire was prepared indicating that significant change must take place within the faculty culture of DTS before distance learning innovations can be implemented.

This study investigates the correlation between students' learning styles, computer competency and student satisfaction in Web-based distance learning. Three hundred and one graduate students participated in the current study during the Summer and Fall semesters of 2002 at the University of North Texas. Participants took the courses 100% online and came to the campus only once for software training. Computer competency and student satisfaction were measured using the Computer Skill and Use Assessment and the Student Satisfaction Survey questionnaires. Kolb's Learning Style Inventory measured students' learning styles. The study concludes that there is a significant difference among the different learning styles with respect to student satisfaction level when the subjects differ with regard to computer competency. For accommodating amd diverging styles, a higher level of computer competency results in a higher level of student satisfaction. But for converging and assimilating styles, a higher level of computer competency suggests a lower level of student satisfaction. A significant correlation was found between computer competency and student satisfaction level within Web-based courses for accommodating styles and no significant results were found in the other learning styles.

patients and their families. The purpose of the study was firstly, to explore and interpret the meaning of the experiences of critical care nursing students about clinical accompaniment in open distance learning (ODL). This aspect has not been researched before and as such, there is no empirical data about the clinical accompaniment of the critical care-nursing students in ODL. Secondly, to develop guidelines for facilitation of clinical accompaniment in critical care nursing in ODL. A qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was conducted. Non-probability purposive sampling was used to select participants to provide information about clinical accompaniment in ODL. Data was obtained through in-depth interviews supplemented by field notes compiled during fieldwork. The study findings revealed that participants regard relationships and communication as important for clinical accompaniment. The distance factor inherent in distance learning was problematic for student’s motivation and support. The presence and visibility of the lecturer was pivotal for the students. Of importance also were the relationships with the managers and colleagues. The perception of participants was that managers of clinical facilities were not as readily accessible as would have been the lecturer. Although negative experiences were described, paradoxically these experiences seemed to have empowered the student to develop survival skills, patience and assertiveness to take action on how to deal with the situation. From the findings the researcher was able to develop guidelines the implementation of which, is hoped to ensure effective clinical accompaniment of critical care nursing students in ODL. / Health Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Health Studies)

Employers of newly minted information technology graduates are concerned that students graduating with information technology degrees offered in online environments are lacking critical noncomputing skills (soft skills). Further, it is unclear whether online environments have the capacity to foster the "soft skills" necessary for graduates to be successful in actual work environments. On-ground universities have tried multiple solutions including integrating soft skills into lower division courses--both technical courses and general education courses. On-ground universities have also suggested incorporating performance-based capstone experiences into technical degree programs. While much research has been done in evaluating the value of capstone experiences in face-to-face environments, research investigating the potential of such an experience to enhance and demonstrate soft skills resulting from the engagement in an online environment is lacking. The purpose of this study was to examine the value of a project-based capstone experience in promoting and assessing the enhancement of soft skills in an online undergraduate information technology degree program. The main goals of this research were to discover whether online competency based programs and the culminating project-based capstone promoted enhancement and demonstration of critical soft skills necessary to succeed in information technology work environments. Results of the study were based on analysis of interviews, curriculum and literature reviews, and extant survey data. A standout outcome of the study includes a new Gains' in Soft Skills Scalelet based on National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) survey questions to measure gains in soft skill competence. Several conclusions can be drawn from this study. First, critical soft skills are taught and demonstrated as a result of engagement with the online competency-based undergraduate information program. Second, it appears that some soft skills are more strongly emphasized than others thereby implying that the online learning model may be well suited to teaching and demonstrating some soft skills and not others. Finally, the culminating project-based capstone experience appears to be missing two key requirements: team participation and oral presentations.

This study is a qualitative evaluation of the impact of the Certificate for Distance Education Practitioners, a collaborative staff development programme for open and distance learning practitioners in the five southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. It aims to inform the stakeholders of this programme on its impact and to add to the limited research on open and distance learning in Africa. It is the first southern African systematic evaluation of the impact of a staff development collaboration programme delivered through open and distance learning methods. The study evaluates the impact of the programme on the 1997 - 2000 learners and on the organisations where these learners worked. Parlett and Hamilton’s (1975) illuminative evaluation methods were combined with McAnany’s (1975) five criteria impact evaluation model to produce an expanded and innovative design of programme impact evaluation. Postal questionnaires and interviews provided biographical data and direct views of the programme’s participants. Progressive focusing illuminated the key issues emerging from the programme’s delivery and McAnany’s (1975) evaluation criteria were used to analyse and interpret the programme’s impact. One of the key findings from this study is that the conceptions informing the delivery of the Certificate for Distance Education Practitioners are based on notions of openness, flexibility, learner-centredness and collaboration and that the programme’s implementation endeavoured, in varying degrees, to match these notions. The second finding is that the participants regarded the programme highly as a sound introduction to open and distance learning approaches and practices and felt it contributed to the application of learner-centred ideas in their organisations. However, the programme’s low enrolment numbers and progressively declining throughput rates contradicted this high regard and did not match the providers’ original projections. Lack of resources impacted negatively on participants’ application of open and distance learning approaches while organisations’ implementation of new policies and mergers created job insecurity for some participants. As in Perraton and Lentell (2004) other key issues emerging from this study include the absence of enabling staff development policies, lack of recognition, currency and/or reward after completion of the programme, limited marketing, level and national focus of the programme, and management and administration issues. These findings suggest that it is possible to deliver a regional collaboration staff development programme through open and distance methods but that the issues raised in this study need to be addressed to make such programmes sustainable, effective and financially viable.

Orientador: Douglas Altamiro Consolo / Banca: Vera Lúcia Teixeira da Silva / Banca: João Antonio Telles / Resumo: Uma proposta interacionista sobre aprendizagens de línguas prevê que o aprendiz de uma L2 pode se beneficiar do engajamento em interações com outros falantes, quer nativos ou não nativos, dado o pressuposto de que são reconhecidos, na interação, componentes favoráveis ao avanço desse aprendiz em seu estágio de interlíngua. Neste escopo, a procura, por parte do aprendiz, de garantir a compreensibilidade da sua produção pode conduzir a esforços de negociação de significado, negociação de forma e outros movimentos conversacionais capazes de propiciar condições para que lacunas em seu conhecimento interlingüístico i) emerjam durante a interação; ii) sejam reconhecidas (passem pelo processo da percepção); e iii) sejam revisadas. Além disso, por meio de movimentos conversacionais: i) o insumo lingüístico (input) a que o aprendiz é exposto durante a interação pode se tornar qualitativamente enriquecido - o que implica em informação lingüística mais diversificada e recorrente; e ii) o aprendiz pode ser forçado a processar a informação lingüística sintaticamente, e não apenas semanticamente, na medida em que este direciona sua produção (output) a um grau mais elevado de compreensibilidade. Esta pesquisa vale-se do contexto de aprendizagem in-tandem tal como é proposto pelo projeto temático (apoiado pela FAPESP) Teletandem Brasil: línguas estrangeiras para todos (TTB) que proporciona situações de comunicação a distância, via ferramentas multimediais de interação pela Internet (por exemplo, o MSN Messenger), em que falantes nativos de línguas diferentes podem ensinar sua língua materna ao outro, em sessões alternadas de interações. Neste trabalho de pesquisa no escopo do TTB, lanço mão de um corpus de interações-aula orais gravadas em áudio digital, posteriormente transcrito, para compreender as características da interação... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: An interaction perspective on language learning states that the L2 learner may profit from engaging in interactions with other native or non-native speakers, considering the notion that some aspects of interaction may trigger processes that benefit the learning process. When the learner seeks comprehensibility, this effort may lead to negotiations of meaning, negotiations of form, and other adjustments in conversation that may cause occasional language knowledge gaps to be i) shown on the conversation surface, ii) noticed, e iii) reprocessed. Furthermore, by means of conversation moves i) input might be modified and diversified, ii) the learner might be pushed to process the language syntactically as (s)he works towards comprehensibility. This study has been held in the context of tandem learning as proposed in the Teletandem Project: Foreign Languages for All (TTB) that offers language students an opportunity to experience learning a language by communicating on-line with speakers of other mother tongues on multimedia interaction through the internet. Within the research, we study a set of recorded and transcribed in-voice interations, aiming at understanding the characteristics of interaction in this computer-mediated context, with the support of a perspective of language learning based on interaction. Within the information found we draw special importance to the taxonomy of conversational moves and the participants‟ interaction behavior over the period of tandem sessions, as well as the influence of particular components such as learner‟s attention and technological resources onto the way interactants manage their collaborative dialogue. / Mestre

Orientador: João Antonio Telles / Banca: Rosinda de Castro Guerra Ramos / Banca: Douglas Altamiro Consolo / Resumo: A presente pesquisa configura-se como um estudo de caso sobre representações sociais de professoras brasileiras de espanhol/ LE, vinculadas a rede pública de ensino do Estado de São Paulo e que lecionam em Centros de estudo de Línguas, SEE-SP. Buscaram-se indícios sobre as representações dessas participantes de pesquisa acerca: (a) do teletandem, (b) da tecnologia que subsidia sua prática, bem como (c) das reflexões dessas professoras sobre a realidade instaurada pelo teletandem e suas experiências em âmbito profissional. O contexto do estudo foi um curso (semi-presencial) de formação continuada ministrado durante o segundo semestre de 2009 que se intitulou Formação do Professor para o Ensino/Aprendizagem de Línguas Estrangeiras em Tandem. Fundamentada por uma metodologia qualitativa, a interpretação dos dados aponta para a existência de quatro campos representacionais que se inter-influenciam: (a) como as participantes de pesquisa se representam com relação à tecnologia; (b) como as participantes de pesquisa representam a relação de seus alunos com a tecnologia; (c) como as participantes representam a tecnologia, e, (d) como as participantes representam o teletandem e a tecnologia que lhe dá subsídios. As reflexões das participantes de pesquisa contemplaram vários aspectos da aprendizagem em teletandem, dentre eles: (a) as características do idioma a ser ensinado e aprendido em teletandem (tipo de variante), (b) a vivência intercultural obtida através do contato com falantes nativos das línguas-alvo, (c) a natureza real e virtual (telepresencial) das interações em teletandem, e (d) as possibilidades de orientação e de mediação para interagentes que participem desse contexto de ensino/ aprendizagem de línguas síncrona e online / Abstract: This research can be defined as a case study of the social representations of female Brazilian teachers of Spanish as Foreign Language within the public elementary school system of São Paulo State. These teachers teach in the Centers of Foreign Languages Study - SEESP). Evidences of these participants' social representations regarding (a) teletandem, (b) the technology that supports teletandem, as well as, (c) these teachers' reflections about the reality established by teletandem in contrast to their other professional foreign language teaching experiences. The context of the study was a blended continuing education course entitled Teacher Development for the Teaching/Learning of Foreign Languages in Tandem. Grounded on a qualitative methodology, data analysis revealed the existence of four interactive representational fields that are mutually influential: (a) how participants represent themselves in relation to technology, (b) how participants represent the relationship between their students and technology; (c) how these participants represent technology itself; and, (d) how they represent teletandem and the technology used to subside its practices. The reflections of the research participants throughout this study contemplate various aspects of the teletandem learning process, including: (a) the characteristics of language to be taught and learned during teletandem sessions (i.e: which variations ought to be of more prestige); (b) the intercultural experience gained through contact with native speakers of target language; (c) the nature of teletandem interactions (blended, virtual/real, telepresencial); and, (d) the possibility to mediate and to facilitate learning among peers via this synchronous online environment of language exchange / Mestre

Neste trabalho, apresentamos o desenvolvimento de ferramentas no programa iGeom - Geometria Interativa na Internet, para ensino-aprendizagem de Geometria, dando destaque aos recursos que facilitam a integração e uso deste programa, principalmente em ambientes de educação a distância via Internet. Atualmente, este tipo de programa é bastante conhecido e a Geometria que ele possibilita é usualmente denominada Geometria Dinâmica. Em poucas palavras, um programa de Geometria Dinâmica é a implementação computacional da régua e do compasso, permitindo que os objetos construídos sejam movidos mantendo-se às propriedades da construção. Dentre os principais recursos desenvolvidos, destacamos a autoria e a validação automática de exercícios e a comunicação com servidores, que podem ser utilizados para integrarem o iGeom em sistemas gerenciadores de cursos pela Web. Deste modo, se integrado a um sistema gerenciador, estes recursos podem ser utilizados para facilitar a tarefa do professor, que poderá criar exercícios diretamente pela Web e não precisará avaliar pessoalmente as respostas de cada aluno, e também para que o aluno saiba de imediato se sua solução está dentro do esperado pelo professor.¶ / In this work, we present the development of tools on the software iGeom - Interactive Geometry on Internet, which can be used for teaching and learning Geometry. We highlight the features that simplify the integration and the use of the iGeom in distance education through Internet mainly. Presently, this kind of program is well known and the Geometry it allows is usually named Dynamic Geometry. Concisely, a Dynamic Geometry software is the computational implementation of the ruler and compass. It allows the user to drag objects and to automatically redraw the whole construction while preserving their mathematical properties. We focus three features among the main developed ones: the communication, the authoring and the automatic checking of exercises. These resources simplify the teacher’s task, when integrated into a learning management system. With them, the teacher can create exercises directly on the Web leaving to the software the task of checking each student’s answer. Moreover, the student can have, in real time, an evaluation of his own performance.