The purpose of this inquiry was to examine the consequences and concerns with the diffusion of Internet2 at Texas A&M University (TAMU). Internet2 is a university-led effort to develop advanced network applications and the network technologies needed to support them. Internet2 adoption at TAMU took place towards the end of the 90s decade with the inclusion of the university in the University Corporation for the Advanced Internet Development (UCAID). This dissertation reviewed the Internet development and its relationship to universities. There were two theoretical models of change used, Diffusion of Innovations and Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). Specifically, “the consequences of change” was the focus in the Diffusion model, and “the stages of concern” was the focus in CBAM. This study used qualitative methods of inquiry with three sources of information --interviews, observations and archival information (printed and online). Seventeen participants were interviewed during the spring of 2006, selected on the basis of convenience, homogeneous, and snowball sampling. The participants were placed in an area, or an intersection of areas, of a diagram with teaching, research, and support-services realms. Through qualitative analytic induction, emerged twenty categories arranged in five different themes: (1) Texas A&M’s use of Internet2, (2) the dilemma of the information sharing, (3) the influences of Internet2, (4) Internet2 discussion, (5) Internet2 concerns. Internet2’s creation and Texas A&M University’s adoption rationale emerged through the narrative analysis. This study matched partially the frameworks of Rogers and Hall and Hord because a pre-stage of unawareness was necessary to install since Internet2 resulted to be extensively used at Texas A&M University, but with most of the users not aware of it. The audit trail, peer-debriefing, and member checks were the mechanisms installed to guarantee trustworthiness. Qualitative analytic induction and narrative analysis were the research strategies and the report was presented in the manner of a case study and summary of findings.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 2003. / "Major Subject: Educational Human Resource Development." Title from author supplied metadata (automated record created on Apr. 30, 2004.). Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 2003. / "Major Subject: Educational Human Resource Development." Title from author supplied metadata (automated record created on Apr. 30, 2004.). Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 2003. / "Major Subject: Education Human Resource Development." Title from author supplied metadata (automated record created on Apr. 30, 2004.). Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 2003. / "Major Subject: Education Human Resource Development." Title from author supplied metadata (automated record created on Apr. 30, 2004.). Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Texas A & M University, 2003. / "Major Subject: Educ Human Resource Dev." Title from author supplied metadata. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and employee engagement on the intent to leave of public school teachers in South Louisiana. The teachers were described on those psychological measures as well as the demographic characteristics of age, gender, marital status, education level, years experience in education, years experience in their current school system and years until eligible for retirement. In order to collect the necessary data, the following instruments were utilized: the Job Descriptive Index/Job In General, the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, the Utrecht Work and Well Being Survey, three-point Intent to Leave instrument, and a demographic survey. A total of 244 useable responses to these instruments were completed by participating teachers. Findings revealed that the largest group of teachers were of the Generation X age category. The majority of the teachers surveyed were female, married and had earned a Bachelor of Science degree, and the largest group had over 20 years experience in education. There were few significant relationships between the psychological variables and the demographic variables. Findings also indicated that the teachers were generally satisfied with their overall jobs. Negative correlations were found between scores for each of the three psychological measures of Job in General, Organizational Commitment, and Employee Engagement; and Intent to Leave. A model was found that explained 45.2% of the variance in intent to leave among public school teachers in South Louisiana from selected psychological and demographic measures. Based on these findings, the researcher concluded that the teachers were found to be satisfied with their jobs, particularly their co-workers and the work itself; committed to their xiii organization, engaged, and to possess very little intent to leave. The teachers were found to be dissatisfied with their pay and with their opportunities for promotion.

The purpose of this study was to determine which has the strongest correlation to student achievement as measured by value-added test scores: Principal Observations, Teachers Self-Efficacy Ratings, or Student Perceptions of Teacher Effectiveness. 68 teachers from a K-12 public school in the southeast region of the United States agreed to participate in the study. The Teachers Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) was utilized to measure the teachers in terms of their own reports of self efficacy. The School Improvement Model (SIM) of Iowa State University instruments were used to measure the students perceptions of teacher effectiveness. The Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) model observation protocol was used to measure the principals/supervisors observation scores. These three measures were run in a multiple regression correlation to determine which of the three was the strongest predictor of student outcomes. An analysis of Pearsons Moment Correlation among all three variables revealed that the principal observation scores were the only statistically significantly correlated measures that could be inferred to have any predictive impact on student achievement as measured by Value Added Scores.

The purpose of this study was to describe southern region 4-H educators training experiences and attitudes, demographics, and leadership beliefs and attitudes. Based on a review of literature, most youth development workers tend to bring similar beliefs and attitudes to their work (Huebner, 2003). The Brumbaugh Youth Leadership Development Questionnaire, a twenty seven item survey, including multiple choice, open-ended, ranking, likert scale, and demographic questions, was developed and distributed online to all 4-H agents in the following United States southern regional states: Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Overall, southern region youth educators viewed youth leadership development training as very or somewhat important. The most attended youth leadership development training method by youth educators was workshops. Youth educators most preferred face to face type trainings, such as workshops and district/regional/area trainings. Southern region youth educators ranked the ability of a leader to make decisions as the highest item in the leadership belief and attitude, which could be very helpful when teaching about youth and adult partnerships during a youth leadership development training. Youth educators felt that group leaders did not have to be knowledgeable about leadership theory, which would suggest that youth leadership development clubs tend to focus on context rather than content. The majority of the respondents were Caucasian and female. It was found that southern region youth educators hold rather similar views about leadership, regardless of age, gender, office location, level of education and years of service.