The delivery method of a math course may affect the math scores of nursing students, which relates to rates of medication errors that could be fatal. The purpose of this study was to discover the relative effectiveness of a delivery method of a math course. Benner's novice-to-expert theory guided the study. A sequential explanatory, mixed-methods, nonexperimental pre-/posttest alternative treatment design was used. Phase 1 answered which delivery methods-online self-directed, face-to-face, or a mix of online self-directed with instructor lead-were associated with the best Medication Administration Competency exam results. Phase 2 included students' assessment of each learning method. The sample size was 148 students who were admitted to 1 nursing school between 2011 and 2013. The data were collected from 4 sources: (a) archival standardized entrance exam math scores, (b) archival standardized exit exam math scores, (c) a qualitative survey regarding student perceptions of the delivery method, and (d) a qualitative section of the same survey with math questions. The ANCOVA analysis showed no statistically significant difference in the delivery method used. Students with lower pretest exam scores took the posttest exam more times and also had lower posttest grades. The content analysis showed that students from all 3 groups did not see an advantage in the delivery method, but in certain teaching strategies that support learning. Therefore, the nursing school should continue to allow students to select their preferred delivery method, or offer fewer methods as they were equivalent. Positive change could come from using teaching strategies that students valued, improving their ability to provide correct dosages and increasing patient safety in the healthcare environment.

In an effort to improve instruction and better accommodate the needs of students, community colleges are offering courses delivered in a variety of delivery formats that require students to have some level of technology fluency to be successful in the course. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between student socioeconomic status (SES), course delivery method, and course type on enrollment, final course grades, course completion status, and course passing status at a state college. A dataset for 20,456 students of low and not low SES enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) course types delivered using traditional, online, blended, and web enhanced course delivery formats at Miami Dade College, a large open access 4-year state college located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, was analyzed. A factorial ANOVA using course type, course delivery method, and student SES found no significant differences in final course grades when used to determine if course delivery methods were equally effective for students of low and not low SES taking STEM course types. Additionally, three chi-square goodness-of-fit tests were used to investigate for differences in enrollment, course completion and course passing status by SES, course type, and course delivery method. The findings of the chi-square tests indicated that: (a) there were significant differences in enrollment by SES and course delivery methods for the Engineering/Technology, Math, and overall course types but not for the Natural Science course type and (b) there were no significant differences in course completion status and course passing status by SES and course types overall and SES and course delivery methods overall. However, there were statistically significant but weak relationships between course passing status, SES and the math course type as well as between course passing status, SES, and online and traditional course delivery methods. The mixed findings in the study indicate that strides have been made in closing the theoretical gap in education and technology skills that may exist for students of different SES levels. MDC’s course delivery and student support models may assist other institutions address student success in courses that necessitate students having some level of technology fluency.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine which of the three training-delivery systems is the most frequently selected by training professionals in Virginia and which training methods are selected to support the chosen delivery systems. The study also examined the extent to which internal and external factors contributed to the selection of the delivery systems and the training methods. Qualitative research methodology was employed in analyzing the results of 12 in-depth interviews with purposively selected training professionals in Virginia in order to answer the research questions. This study found that (a) the training professionals chose instructor-led classroom for 46% of their programs, the blended method for 32%, and online for 22%; (b) they used a wide variety of training methods to support the program objectives and meet the audience’s needs; and (c) external factors more frequently impacted selection decisions than did internal factors, but one internal factor that impacted selection decisions was the training professionals’ understanding of instructional systems design. The external factors that had the greatest impact on the training system chosen were workplace constraints such as immediacy and scalability and the size and geographical dispersion of the audience. That is, for large and/or dispersed audiences coupled with time constraints, the online delivery system was chosen most often. Likewise, mandatory programs were most likely to be offered online. The following conclusions were drawn: (a) a shift is taking place from instructor-led-classroom delivery to blended delivery, (b) instructor-led classroom incorporates methodologies that extend beyond the lecture format, (c) companies are using emerging technologies in training and development, and (d) training and development continues to add value to the workforce, which is a powerful competitive advantage. / Ph. D.

From September 2000 through May 2001, a team of two psychologists and two psychology graduate students (myself included) from the University of Saskatchewan delivered a variety of psychological services to a remote reserve community in northern Saskatchewan via telehealth from the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. Using telehealth, we provided psychoeducational information, therapy, assessments, case consultations and support services to Aboriginal health workers in this community. The present study is an evaluation of the use of telehealth in the delivery of psychological services to remote reserve communities. A semi-structured interview was employed to gain knowledge about the experiences of people involved in this telehealth project as well as the insights, thoughts and beliefs of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal mental health workers regarding the use of telehealth with remote communities. In total, eight interviews were conducted for this study. Results indicate that although telehealth technology was seen as positive, psychology is often perceived in a negative manner by Aboriginal people. Due to this disconnection between Aboriginal people and Western psychology, psychological service provision with telehealth needs to be considered in conjunction with building relationships and trust in the community. Despite the difficulties, the results indicate that there is much that can be gained by providing psychological services to remote Aboriginal communities via telehealth.

From September 2000 through May 2001, a team of two psychologists and two psychology graduate students (myself included) from the University of Saskatchewan delivered a variety of psychological services to a remote reserve community in northern Saskatchewan via telehealth from the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon. Using telehealth, we provided psychoeducational information, therapy, assessments, case consultations and support services to Aboriginal health workers in this community. The present study is an evaluation of the use of telehealth in the delivery of psychological services to remote reserve communities. A semi-structured interview was employed to gain knowledge about the experiences of people involved in this telehealth project as well as the insights, thoughts and beliefs of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal mental health workers regarding the use of telehealth with remote communities. In total, eight interviews were conducted for this study. Results indicate that although telehealth technology was seen as positive, psychology is often perceived in a negative manner by Aboriginal people. Due to this disconnection between Aboriginal people and Western psychology, psychological service provision with telehealth needs to be considered in conjunction with building relationships and trust in the community. Despite the difficulties, the results indicate that there is much that can be gained by providing psychological services to remote Aboriginal communities via telehealth.

According to September 2011 information from the U.S. Census Bureau, the construction industry in the United States is valued at nearly eight hundred billion dollars annually. A 2004 collaborative study by Construction Industry Institute and Lean Construction Institute suggests that as much as fifty seven percent of time, effort, and material investment in construction projects do not add value to the final product. When compared with twenty six percent wastes in the manufacturing industry, it becomes obvious that the construction industry has a problem. Construction projects that come in over budget and behind schedule have become the rule rather than the exception, leading to contentious business relationships and costly litigation. This study will strive to identify and analyze the primary sources of these problems. Research and industry experience point to a lack of communication and cooperation among the various entities required to complete a construction project as the leading causes of waste in the industry. Further analysis suggests that traditional forms of construction contracts encourage adversarial and non-cooperative behavior between parties. Additionally, poor communication between various contributors opens the door for additional wasted cost. Fortunately, the development of tools such as Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) present new options to construction professionals that are proving to help address some of the challenges the industry faces today. IPD as a project delivery method creates a culture of collaboration and teamwork, where a culture of risk avoidance and conflict once stood, while BIM provides a platform for better communication among parties. When used together, these tools can reduce or eliminate many of the major sources of waste within the industry. This thesis will provide descriptions, analysis, and case studies that demonstrate the use of these tools and the potential they have to make a positive impact on the construction industry. / text

After a series of transitional phases, the microfinance industry has recognised that microfinance should comprise a variety of financial services, not only credit. In their endeavour to provide services to low-income populations, microfinance practitioners have therefore delivered services through a variety of institutional forms and delivery methods. While the outreach has been promising, the provision of services on a cost covering basis has lagged. Practitioners have attributed the difference in performance to differing country contexts (in particular urban, highly populated versus rural, less populated areas) and institutional capacity. / The goal of this thesis is, therefore, to identify factors which potentially affect the performance of microfinance institutions but have so far not found due consideration. With the increasing trend towards commercialization the microfinance industry, like commercial banking, relies more on economic, capitalist principles in cash based economies. These principles and the use and need for cash based services are assumed to be universally accepted and existing. I attempt to identify issues, in particular characteristics of societies, which contradict this notion and thus might impact on the performance of microfinance institutions. I examine these in Bogia District of Madang Province, a rural area of Papua New Guinea (PNG). In addition, I study a potential role model for a microfinance institution that might be able to integrate these local specificities beneficially into its service delivery. / This thesis makes this argument in theoretical terms in Chapters Two and Three, which comprise a review of factors affecting the performance of microfinance institutions, in particular focusing on factors so far not deeply researched. The review establishes that some issues are more considered as influencing performance than others. In particular the potential clients' understanding of economic principles and their familiarity with the functions and use of money in partly established cash economies find little consideration in the microfinance research literature. / Chapter Four provides background details to PNG and Chapter Five details the research methods as well as the field site. Chapters Six and Seven analyse the key findings of the field research, in particular: i) the local socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics and their potential impact on the performance of microfinance institutions and ii) an application of these findings to examine whether a co-operative could serve as a role model for the successful service delivery in rural areas of PNG. / Through the field research it could be documented that these issues are crucial to identify for any microfinance institution since familiarity with financial services and functions of money and understandings of contractual obligations of villagers in rural areas, in particular for credit services, may vastly differ from the institutions’ perception. Through their remoteness villagers are also used to interact informally within their clan and kinship groups. Therefore, a co-operative set-up will be a suitable option for delivering microfinance services in rural areas of PNG since it is a familiar and accepted form and can incorporate local specificities into its service delivery and thereby contribute to the economic development of its members.

abstract: Over the last two decades, Alternative Project Delivery Methods (APDM), such as Design-Build (DB), have become more popular in the construction industry, specifically in the U.S., and the competition for APDM projects has risen among construction companies. The Engineering News Record (ENR) magazine analyzes DB firms and publishes the list of the top 100 every year. According to ENR articles and many scientific papers, the implementation of DB method has grown drastically over the last decade, however, information about growth trends depending on firm size and segment is lacking. Also missing is knowledge the future market trends over the next five years. Furthermore, public agencies and DB firms may be worried that DB projects do not distribute wealth equally among DB firms. Using the top 100 firms deemed representative of the DB market, the author has divided the market into volumes based on rankings to analyze the total DB market revenue growth. A comparison between international and domestic revenues indicated that the top five DB firms have 64% more involvement in the international market compared to the domestic market. Furthermore, while the research shows increasing market share only for the top five firms, the author has found that (1) a large portion of their market share is due to a large growth in their international market, and (2) revenues for all volumes of the DB market have increased. Moreover, regression and time series analyses allow for the forecasting of the DB market growth, which the author anticipate to move from about $100B to about $150B in 2020. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Construction 2014

abstract: Much of the water and wastewater lines in the United States are nearing the end of their useful life. A significant reinvestment is needed in the upcoming decades to replace or rehabilitate the water and wastewater infrastructure. Currently, the traditional method for delivering water and wastewater pipeline engineering and construction projects is design-bid-build (DBB). The traditional DBB delivery system is a sequential low-integration process and can lead to inefficiencies and adverse relationships between stakeholders. Alternative project delivery methods (APDM) such as Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) have been introduced to increase stakeholder integration and ultimately enhance project performance. CMAR project performance impacts have been studied in the horizontal and vertical construction industries. However, the performance of CMAR projects in the pipeline engineering and construction industry has not been quantitatively studied. The dissertation fills this gap in knowledge by performing the first quantitative analysis of CMAR performance on pipeline engineering and construction projects. This study’s two research objectives are: (1) Develop a CMAR baseline of commonly measured project performance metrics (2) Statistically compare the cost and schedule performance of CMAR to that of the traditional DBB delivery method A thorough literature review led to the development of a data collection survey used in conjunction with structured interviews to gather qualitative and quantitative performance data from 66 completed water and wastewater pipeline projects. Performance data analysis was conducted to provide performance benchmarks for CMAR projects and to compare the performance of CMAR and DBB. This study provides the first CMAR performance benchmark for pipeline engineering and construction projects. The results span across seven metrics in four performance areas (cost, schedule, project change, and communication). Pipeline projects delivered using CMAR have a median cost and schedule growth of -5% and 5.10%, respectively. These results are significantly improved from DBB baseline performance shown in other industries. To verify this, a statistical analysis was done to compare the cost and schedule performance of CMAR to similar DBB pipeline projects. The results show that CMAR pipeline projects are being delivered with 6.5% less cost growth and with 12.5% less schedule growth than similar DBB projects, providing owners with increased certainty when delivering their pipeline projects. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil Engineering 2015

Professional development is a lifelong learning process and technology has provided and will continue to provide new and different delivery methods. Regardless of the delivery method, the intention of professional development is to increase teacher knowledge, which in turn, increases student achievement. At a southeastern community college, meaningful professional development and technology training became a service requested by faculty and staff. The college identified the need to provide in-service training that could fit within their employees’ schedules and incorporate the college’s existing infrastructure. This need grew into the creation of virtual training sessions hosted by the eLearning department of the college. The virtual training sessions were conducted initially as a synchronous live web conference and recorded for later use as an asynchronous recorded webcast. Specifically, 7 research questions were developed determine if live web conference or recorded webcast training sessions were an effective delivery method of training, if the sessions were having an impact on professional learning, and if there were factors that were affecting participation in the sessions. The primary mode of data collection was though a survey instrument designed by the researcher. Results of the statistical analysis showed that faculty are participating in the sessions beyond minimum requirements, with the highest participation in recorded webcasts. The training program studied was very effective as indicated by high session attendance, high levels of information usage and moderate to high ability of participants being able to utilize the information gained from the sessions. Participants valued the elements of the live sessions including interaction and the ability to clarify information without delay. Several barriers raised for attending the live sessions included the following: lack of time, presentation speed, and lack of topic detail. Participants indicated the appreciated elements of a recorded webcast included the following: convenience, ease of use, and flexibility. Participants did not raise many barriers for attendance in recorded webcasts, although lack of time and repetitive topics were mentioned. The valued characteristics of both live web conference and recorded webcast mirrored the valued elements of the both individual delivery methods. The study concludes with implications and recommendations for further research.