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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between nonverbal immediacy of community college teachers, both full-time and part-time, and their within-semester student retention rates.

This study investigated a synchronous web-based course system (SWBCS) as a supplement todistance learning courses. Although challenges exist (such as the complex interface and potentialtechnological problems); these systems hold the potential to enhance the distance learning experiencethrough increased interaction, immediacy, social presence, group work, and collaboration. Using a rigorous blend of research methods, the study investigated the following questions: (1) what types of pedagogical strategies do instructors implement, (2) how do instructors utilize the tools, (3) which tools do instructors choose to use, (4) why do instructors use the tools and strategies that they choose, and (5) what perceptions do students and instructors have about using a SWBCS? A total of five unique cases were examined using surveys, interviews, focus groups, analysis of archival documents and extensive classroom observations. The classrooms observations were essential to answering the research questions; a comprehensive observation instrument was developed and validated during this research. Results show instructors implemented familiar strategies based on their teaching styles. The most successful strategies were: (1) mini lectures with interactive exercises, (2) structured group work and collaborative exercises, and (3) case study discussions. Each instructor used the tools in the synchronous system to solve a problem or address an issue, such as lack of immediacy or the need to guide the assimilation of information. Most instructors used a wide variety of the tools, including: (1) VOIP, (2) textual chat, (3) white board, (4) hand raising and emoticons, and (5) breakout rooms. Although some tried many tools, most chose to use tools based on training, experience, the teaching strategies selected and student needs. Both instructor and student perceptions were positive and all of the instructors planned to continue to use a SWBCS in the future. Overall, the SWBCS was found to supplement existing distance courses, allowing educators to build connections with and among students more efficiently and increase the potential for interaction in the online classroom. In addition, this research provided the initial framework for the development of a set of guidelines to support the planning and use of SWBCS in higher education instruction.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:29:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Martin pg1_100.pdf: 960966 bytes, checksum: dc47efdad009e2f6d7a407a97c8d80c7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-10-26 / This thesis analyzes the relationship of market communication with the obsession for immediacy present in contemporary social culture and manifested in advertising. We live in a society marked by intense consumption in real time and not restricted by distances. To keep alive this pace of consumption, companies try to stimulate the market through a type of advertising that incorporates in its language features of urgency and immediacy observed and extracted from society. From a social perspective, this thesis discussed the presence of the time element in contemporary life and its appropriation by marketing communication. The research developed based on the method of content analysis studied more than three hundred television commercials and about two hundred printed advertisements which presented solid evidence of this appropriation of the culture of urgency and immediacy by market communication. This emphasis on the urgent and on the immediate strengthens and stimulates the existing social model. In other words, the sum of a lifestyle that worships speed with the presence of such elements in the market communication contributes to the promotion of a dictatorship of the now, based on the promise of instant gratification. These elements that characterize contemporary society are, from the commercial point of view, effectively appropriated by market communication as this contemporary social condition, when transformed into selling points, contributes to cause a state of harmony with the consumer s cognitions. / Esta tese analisa as relações da comunicação de mercado com a obsessão pelo imediato presente na cultura social contemporânea. Vive-se hoje numa sociedade marcada pelo consumo intenso, em tempo real e não restrito por distâncias. Para acelerar a circulação de produtos e serviços, as empresas tentam estimular o mercado através de anúncios que incorporam em sua linguagem as características de urgência e imediatismo observadas e extraídas da sociedade. Sob uma perspectiva social, esta tese discutiu a presença do elemento tempo na vida contemporânea e sua apropriação pela comunicação mercadológica. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida sob o método de análise de conteúdo em mais de trezentos comerciais de televisão e em cerca de duzentos anúncios impressos que apresentaram sólidas evidências dessa apropriação da cultura de urgência e imediatismo pela comunicação de mercado. A ênfase no urgente e no imediato reforça e estimula o modelo social vigente. Em outras palavras, a soma de um estilo de vida que cultua a velocidade com a presença de tais elementos na comunicação de mercado contribui para a promoção de uma ditadura do agora, baseada na promessa do prazer instantâneo. Esses elementos que caracterizam a sociedade contemporânea são, do ponto de vista comercial, eficientemente apropriados pela comunicação de mercado, uma vez que essa condição social, quando transformada em argumento de vendas, contribui para provocar no consumidor um estado de consonância com suas cognições.

Quel est le sens de ce geste, finalement assez étrange, qui consiste à vouloir (s') improviser en musique, jusqu'à vouloir se montrer improvisant ? C'est en résonnant de grand air que ses significations raisonnent, et qui s'abordent aussi en sabordant. Ici, le complexe d'identité dans son entier est bouleversé, comme mis à vif dans un amour du son délesté de musique : l'urgence s'éprouve au plus fin, sur la crête d'un temps prêt à tout moment à s'évaporer en une immédiateté aussi foncièrement nouvelle qu'ancestrale. Le spectacle d'improvisation apparaît dès lors comme une sorte de lieu de jonction entre la fête sacrée et l'intimité d'un art brut. À la rencontre de l'autre pourtant dénié, le rapport à soi de l'improvisateur en jeu retrouve sa mondanéité propre et son originalité souveraine. / Why does someone want to improvise (by) music, and even show himself improvising ? Meanings of improvisation appear by resounding to wild life, and need destruction to be sensed. Here, the overall identity is shattered, sublimed in a love for sound without music. Improviser feels the urge, when time is ready to disappear in a new and ancestral immediacy. In this way, improvisation's show is like a confluence of sacred celebration and naive art. At the encounter of the one yet denied, the improviser's self-appreciation finds its own worldhood and its sovereign originality.

Bivariate correlation was used to examine possible relationships between instructor immediacy and instructor presence, and a statistically significant correlation was found. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine whether the linear combination of instructor immediacy and presence caused significant variance in student affective learning, cognition, and motivation. For all three of the latter dependent variables, the linear combination of instructor immediacy and presence was found to cause statistically significant variance. However, although the overall regression models were significant in all three tests, instructor immediacy was not found to be a significant individual predictor for causing variance in affective learning, cognition, or motivation, whereas instructor presence was found to be a significant individual predictor of all three. Finally, factorial ANOVA revealed that, for perceptions of instructor immediacy, only classification and course type were found to explain significant variance, with undergraduate students in asynchronous courses reporting significantly lower instructor immediacy. For perceptions of instructor presence, graduate students tended to rate their instructors as having higher presence than did undergraduate students, and students in synchronous courses tended to rate their instructors as having higher presence than did students in asynchronous courses.

Previous cross-cultural research in nonverbal immediacy indicates that nonverbal immediacy behavior varies across cultures, and some researchers have suggested that power distance might serve as a moderating variable, however no research has systematically set out to determine whether that is the case. This study assessed the perceived use of nonverbal immediacy under symmetric and asymmetric power conditions, as well as gender, in three cultures: Brazil, Kenya, and the United States. Quantitative data was collected from 527 participants who completed a nonverbal immediacy measure and an individual power distance measure under either a symmetric or an asymmetric power condition. Results related to power distance partially supported the idea that cultural power distance may act as a moderating variable with regard to the use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors. Related to gender, results revealed that: (a) female participants perceived more nonverbal immediacy behaviors than males, (b) under symmetric power conditions females were perceived to use more nonverbal immediacy than males, and (c) under asymmetric power conditions there was no statistically significant difference between use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors between females and males. Implications of results, limitations, and suggestions for future research are presented.

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