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This study examines the theory of social presence and its relevancy to distance learning. Short, William, and Christie (1976) originally designed social presence to evaluate the difference between types of dyads (one-to-one interactions) and the quality of the communication media used for those interactions (Rafaeli, 1988; Rice, 1984; Walther, 1992). However, the theory of social presence was not design to explain mediated communication between multiple individuals. Although studies have investigated the effects of social presence in computer-mediated conferencing, little field research exist on the importance of social presence with multiple individuals communicating together within a Web-based instructional program. Moreover, it is evident from the body of literature that a universal meaning of social presence is lacking. For this reason, social presence in this study referred to the degree to which adult learners perceived that they had established some form of rapport with members of an online community. This includes interactions with other learners and support personnel (i.e., faculty, staff, technical support, graders, etc.). Social presence has emerged as an important social factor in the field of distance learning (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997; Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, & Archer, 1999). Recent field studies emphasize the importance of examining social and psychological factors that affect student satisfaction, impact learning, and influences the way people communicate in distance learning environments (Blocher, 1997; Gunawardena, 1995, Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997; Hackman, 1990, 1996; Hiltz, 1997; Rourke, 1999; Walther, 1992). Researchers in the fields of education and human interpersonal communication have identified "interactivity" (i.e., interaction), "intimacy," and "immediacy" as attributes that enhance social presence (Christophel, 1990; Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997; McIsaac & Gunawardena, 1996; Mehrabian, 1989; Moore, 1989b; Short et al., 1976). Although social presence has been characterized as an important construct in distance learning (McIsaac & Gunawardena, 1996), little existing field research describes the value adult learners place on it, and whether it affects their satisfaction within a mediated learning environment. This descriptive study examined the adult distance learners' perceived value of social presence (based on interactions, intimacy, and immediacy), in addition to whether it existed within an asynchronous Web-based instructional program. / Ph. D.

This study seeks to explore an understudied population, Middle Eastern students, in the area of instructional communication. Of particular interest, the study seeks to understand how Middle Eastern students’ view their Western instructors’ verbal and nonverbal immediacy. The literature review establishes a conceptualization for verbal and nonverbal immediacy and the relationship between immediacy and gender, and immediacy and culture. Expectancy violations theory is used to understand the phenomena from an expectancy violations perspective and Hofstede’s dimensions will be used in an instructional context to understand how Middle Eastern students’ culture may influence students’ expectations. This study uses a mixed method approach to create a holistic views of Middle Eastern students’ expectations and expectancy violations. The survey method seeks to understand Middle Eastern students’ expectation for instructor verbal and nonverbal immediacy, and email responses seeks to understand expectancy violations and cultural influence on student expectancies. The results of the study show that Middle Eastern students view verbal and nonverbal immediacy as important factors in the student-teacher relationship and cultural factors play a role in students’ expectations.

This study used an experimental design and a direct test of recall to provide data about teacher immediacy and student cognitive learning. Four hypotheses and a research question addressed two research problems: first, how verbal and nonverbal immediacy function together and/or separately to enhance learning; and second, how immediacy affects cognitive learning in relation to student motivation. These questions were examined in the context of video instruction to provide insight into distance learning processes and to ensure maximum control over experimental manipulations. Participants (N = 347) were drawn from university students in an undergraduate communication course. Students were randomly assigned to groups, completed a measure of state motivation, and viewed a 15-minute video lecture containing part of the usual course content delivered by a guest instructor. Participants were unaware that the video instructor was actually performing one of four scripted manipulations reflecting higher and lower combinations of specific verbal and nonverbal cues, representing the four cells of the 2x2 research design. Immediately after the lecture, students completed a recall measure, consisting of portions of the video text with blanks in the place of key words. Participants were to fill in the blanks with exact words they recalled from the videotape. Findings strengthened previous research associating teacher nonverbal immediacy with enhanced cognitive learning outcomes. However, higher verbal immediacy, in the presence of higher and lower nonverbal immediacy, was not shown to produce greater learning among participants in this experiment. No interaction effects were found between higher and lower levels of verbal and nonverbal immediacy. Recall scores were comparatively low in the presence of higher verbal and lower nonverbal immediacy, suggesting that nonverbal expectancy violations may have hindered cognitive learning. Student motivation was not found to be a significant source of error in measuring immediacy's effects, and no interaction effects were detected between levels of student motivation, teacher verbal immediacy, and teacher nonverbal immediacy.

I detta kandidatarbete har vi undersökt hur man på bästa sätt kan främja direktmedieringen med hjälp av den visuella designen. Detta utforskades och visualiserades genom ett tredimensionellt pusselspel med fem olika objekt som innehåller olika pussel, där vi har fokuserat på den visuella designen. Som designperspektiv har vi använt ramverket MDA i kombination med core pillars för att hålla oss inom rätt områden i vår designprocess. Några övriga metoder vi använt under projektets gång var: Metod 635, scrumban, moodboards. Resultatet blev genom vår gestaltning en kombination av olika medie- och designval i ett försök att hitta balansen för rätt estetiska känsla. / In this bachelor thesis, we have investigated how to best promote immediacy using visual design. This was explored and visualized through a three-dimensional puzzle game with five different objects containing different puzzles, where we focused on the visual design. As a design perspective, we have used the MDA framework in combination with core pillars to keep us in relevant areas in our design process. Some other methods we used during the project were: Method 635, scrumban, mood boards. The result was, through our design, a combination of different media and design choices in an attempt to find the balance for the right aesthetic feeling.

Graduate teaching associates (GTAs) maintain a prominent presence in higher education institutions nationwide, warranting our attention to both their instructional effectiveness and well-being. Though they remain an integral part of higher education, the training practices implemented for GTAs often fall short in addressing all of the needs posed by the role GTAs fulfill. The shortcomings in training often stem from an overemphasis of basic teacher preparation skills (such as syllabus creation, lesson planning, and grading) and university/departmental policies, as well as a lack of attention to teaching effectiveness and skills on managing uncertainties and identity concerns in their unique role. In the hopes of filling existing gaps in the training of GTAs, offered here is a supplemental guide that seeks to satisfy the needs of GTAs, regardless of the discipline within which they teach. The salient needs of GTAs can be classified as either task or self concerns. The GTA task concerns identified in this work stem from the want to be "good" and effective teachers, who are not only well-liked by students, but who are also successful at promoting learning, motivating students, and managing the classroom effectively. In addressing these task concerns, this work introduces readers to instructional communication-based concepts/constructs, specifically teacher immediacy and behavior alteration techniques (BATs) and messages (BAMs), along with practical means by which GTAs can utilize them in the classroom. Self concerns experienced by GTAs, such as role conflict due to managing multiple identities, impostor phenomenon, and teacher self-efficacy, are also addressed here, in addition to practical means by which GTAs can reduce uncertainties through taking an active role in the socialization process.

This study investigated the role of both arts-integrated instruction (art activities as part of math instruction) and teacher immediacy (teacher caring behaviors) levels on students' math achievement. Although students from low socio-economic culturally diverse school districts have shown improvement in academic test scores, their scores are still significantly lower than scores of students from other school districts. Research has shown that when there is an increase in teacher immediacy, students' academic success increases. Despite this known correlation, there is a lack of literature on the ways that arts integration, combined with teacher immediacy, can affect academic success. Constructivist theories, experiential learning building upon what the student knows and hands on activities, were the framework for this study. The sample population for this quantitative study was high school students from a low-socioeconomic, culturally diverse school district. Data from a student survey (n=119) were entered into a hierarchical multiple regression analysis to determine whether measures of teacher immediacy and arts integration predicted students' New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge standardized math scores. The results did not allow for rejection of the null hypotheses, contradicting past research for both the arts and teacher immediacy on academic success. Due to the limitations of this study, further research is needed to determine the relationship between arts-integrated lessons and teacher immediacy on students' success in culturally diverse low-socioeconomic school districts with low academic achievement.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-55).

Telle la nature qui aime à se cacher, la médiation apparaît d’abord comme médiation absente ou oubliée. L’ontologie se développe spontanément comme discours qui affirme l’immédiateté de l’être. Mais si l’être est immédiateté, c’est-à-dire identité simple à soi-même, alors le discours sur l’être est impossible. Seule la médiation, qui est l’identité négative, ou encore l’identité qui se réalise par le truchement de l’altérité, de la différence permet à l’ontologie de se réaliser comme discours sur l’être. Mais non seulement le concept de médiation rend possible l’ontologie, mais elle éclaire de manière remarquable la Métaphysique d’Aristote. C’est pourquoi nous proposons une lecture de la Métaphysique qui montre son unité thématique via le concept de médiation.Ensuite, le coeur de la médiation est la logique que nous saisissons dans ces principaux moments : tout d’abord comme philosophie platonicienne du langage qui saisit la prédication comme unité du même et de l’autre, puis véritablement comme logique syllogistique fondée sur le moyen-terme, véritable médiateur des termes de la conclusion, et enfin comme logique spéculative hégélienne. Pour terminer, le concept de médiation permet de rendre raison d’une certaine cohérence de l’histoire de la philosophie, et notamment de classer les réponses types(au sens d’un idéal-type) concernant le problème central de l’ontologie à savoir le rapport entre l’être et le discours. Notamment nous étudierons deux périodes de l’histoire de la philosophie :l’antiquité de l’affirmation parménidienne de l’immédiateté de l’être à la médiation aristotélicienne conçue comme finalité ou actualisation d’une puissance, ou entéléchie, et la modernité de Descartes à Hegel qui voit un mouvement analogue s’opérer en son sein mais à partir du concept d’Infini en acte et non plus à partir de l’être. / As Nature - which loves to hide - mediation appears at first as missing or forgotten. Ontology develops spontaneously as a discourse affirming the immediacy of being. But if being is immediate, that is to say simple identity in itself, then no discourse on being is possible. Only mediation, which is negative identity, or even identity which exists through the articulation of otherness, enables ontology to exist as a discourse on being. But not only does the concept ofmediation enable ontology, but it also remarkably enlightens Aristotle’s Metaphysics. That is why we suggest an interpretation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics which shows its thematical unity through the concept of mediation.Then, the core of mediation is logic grasped thanks through the following steps : first of all through Plato’s philosophy of language, that interprets predicating as unity of the same nessand of the difference, then through Aristotle’s syllogistic logic based on the middle term, the true mediator of the terms of the conclusion, and finally through Hegel’s speculative logic.Finally, the concept of mediation enables the reader to somewhat make sense of the Historyof Philosophy and especially to sort typical answers (that is ideal types) regarding ontology’sforemost disputed point i.e. the relationship between being and discourse. Moreover, we will study two periods in the History of Philosophy : ancient philosophy starting from Parmenides’claim that being is immediate to Aristotle’s mediation, perceived as a purpose or the actualization of a potentiality or even entelechy and modern History from Descartes to Hegel during which a similar movement occurs but with a different starting point : the concept of actual infinity vs the concept of being.