The goal of this study was to examine the professional development experiences of two participants while they were creating standards-based individualized education plan (IEP) goals using a virtual world called TeacherSim. The focuses of the study were how did special educators engage with the task of creating standards-based IEP goals using TeacherSim and how did TeacherSim support or hinder this? This research used a descriptive case study selecting two participants from the larger data set of seven participants. The data was analyzed using qualitative coding which compared the observed experiences with the case propositions. This case study demonstrated that special education professionals can work at a distance to learn the process of creating standards-based IEP goals while using the technology of a virtual world. Similarly, the use of virtual world technology appeared to facilitate feelings of physical and social presence, which aided in online collaborative activities.

La presente investigación busca comprender los factores que afectan el comportamiento en un social commerce de los compradores en Lima Metropolitana. Por ello, se han analizado variables como presencial social, apoyo social y confianza en relación a la intención de compra en un social commerce. Las investigaciones presentadas por los autores como base bibliográfica han sido desarrolladas en el mercado mundial, mas no en el contexto peruano. Por tanto, el estudio pretende llenar el vacío mediante la realización de un estudio cuantitativo en los social commerces de Lima Metropolitana. / This research seeks to understand the factors that affect the behavior of buyers in a social trade in Metropolitan Lima. For this reason, variables such as social presence, social support and trust in relation to the purchase intention in a social business have been analyzed. The research presented by the authors as a bibliographic base has been developed in the world market, but not in the Peruvian context. Therefore, the study aims to fill the gap by conducting a quantitative study in the social commerce of Metropolitan Lima. / Trabajo de investigación

This thesis investigates the use of virtual avatar heads to enhance local video see-through collaboration in a mixed reality environment. When users engage with each other using a head-mounted display, the device sits atop their head and obstructs their view, concealing their gaze and facial expressions while collaborating. This makes communication harder by removing non-verbal hints. The proposed solution aims to restore them by rendering virtual avatar heads on top of users heads. The study examines the impact of different avatar styles, including the potential effects of the uncanny valley, as well as the use of lip syncing versus facial tracking to animate avatar mouths. An application was developed using Unity3D to implement this solution, allowing two users to collaborate in a mixed reality environment with avatars on their heads. An experiment was conducted with 56 participants, where users collaborated in two tasks: the twenty question game and a collaborative object placement task. A between-subject design was used to compare with and without avatars, avatar rendering type and avatar lip animation. During the experiment, social presence, user experience and performance were measured through questionnaires (Networked Minds of social presence, NASA TLX and User Experience Questionnaire) and eye gaze data. The study found that although there was not always a strong difference between no avatar and avatars, the use of cartoon avatars with lip syncing was the most favorable option, enhancing the user’s comfort and facilitating interpretation of their partner’s emotions and feelings, as well as receiving more attention from them, which could be due to the Uncanny Valley. However, no evidence of performance improvement was found. The findings of this study have important implications for the design of collaborative mixed reality environments, highlighting the potential benefits of using virtual avatars to enhance communication and social presence. The study also underscores the importance of avatar style and facial animation as well as the potential impact of the uncanny valley on user experience. / Denna avhandling undersöker användningen av virtuella avatarhuvuden för att förbättra lokalt samarbete med genomskinlig video i en mixed reality-miljö. När användare interagerar med varandra med hjälp av en huvudmonterad display sitter enheten ovanpå huvudet och skymmer sikten, döljer blicken och ansiktsuttrycken medan de samarbetar. Detta försvårar kommunikationen genom att ta bort icke-verbala ledtrådar. Den föreslagna lösningen syftar till att återställa dem genom att rendera virtuella avatarhuvuden ovanpå användarnas huvuden. Studien undersöker effekterna av olika avatarstilar, inklusive de potentiella effekterna av uncanny valley, samt användningen av läppsynkronisering kontra ansiktsspårning för att animera avatarernas munnar. En applikation utvecklades med Unity3D för att implementera denna lösning, så att två användare kan samarbeta i en mixed reality-miljö med avatarer på sina huvuden. Ett experiment genomfördes med 56 deltagare, där användarna samarbetade i två uppgifter: spelet med tjugo frågor och en samarbetsuppgift för objektplacering. En mellanobjektsdesign användes för att jämföra med och utan avatarer, avatarens renderingstyp och avatarens läppanimering. Under experimentet mättes social närvaro, användarupplevelse och prestanda med hjälp av frågeformulär (Networked Minds of social presence, NASA TLX och User Experience Questionnaire) och ögonstyrningsdata. Studien visade att även om det inte alltid fanns en stark skillnad mellan ingen avatar och avatarer, var användningen av tecknade avatarer med läppsynkronisering det mest fördelaktiga alternativet, vilket förbättrade användarens komfort och underlättade tolkningen av deras partners känslor och sinnestämming, samt fick mer uppmärksamhet från dem, vilket kan bero på Uncanny Valley. Det fanns dock inga bevis för att prestandan förbättrades. Resultaten av denna studie har viktiga konsekvenser för utformningen av kollaborativa mixed reality-miljöer och belyser de potentiella fördelarna med att använda virtuella avatarer för att förbättra kommunikationen och den sociala närvaron. Studien understryker också vikten av avatarstil och ansiktsanimering samt den potentiella inverkan av uncanny valley på användarupplevelsen.

No description available.

No description available.

People are increasingly turning to online communities for entertainment, information, and social support, among other uses and gratifications. Online communities include traditional online social networks (OSNs) such as Facebook but also specialized online health communities (OHCs) where people go specifically to seek social support for various health conditions. OHCs have obvious health ramifications but the use of OSNs can also influence people's mental health and health behaviors. The use of online communities has been widely studied but in the health context their exploration has been more limited. Not only are online communities being extensively used for health purposes, but there is also increasing concern that the use of online communities can itself affect health. Therefore, there is a need to better understand how such technologies influence people's health and health behaviors. The research in this dissertation centers on examining how online community use influences health and health behaviors. There are three studies in this dissertation. The first study develops a conceptual model to explain the process whereby the characteristics of a request from an OHC user for social support is answered by a wounded healer, who is a person leveraging their own experiences with health challenges to help others. The second study investigates how algorithmic fairness, accountability, and transparency of an OSN newsfeed algorithm influence the users' attitudes and beliefs about childhood vaccines and ultimately their vaccine hesitancy. The third study examines how OSN social overload, through OSN use, can lead to psychological distress and received social support. The research contributes theoretical and practical insights to the literature on the use of online communities in the health context. / Doctor of Philosophy / People use online communities to socialize and to seek out information and help. Online social networks (OSNs) such as Facebook are large communities on which people segregate into smaller groups to discuss joint interests. Some online communities cater to specific needs, such as online health communities (OHCs), which provide platforms for people to talk about the health challenges they or their loved ones are facing. Online communities do not intentionally seek controversy, but because they welcome all perspectives, they have contributed to phenomena such as vaccine hesitancy. Moreover, social overload from the use of OSNs can have both positive and negative psychological effects on users. This dissertation examines the intersection of online communities and health. The first study explains how the interaction of the characteristics of a request for social support made by an OHC user and the characteristics of the wounded healer drive the provision of social support. The model that is developed shows the paths through which the empathy of the wounded healer and the characteristics of the request lead to motivation to provide help to those in need on an OHC. In the second study, the role of characteristics of a newsfeed algorithm, specifically fairness, accountability, and transparency (FAT), in the development of childhood vaccine hesitancy is examined. The findings show that people's perceptions of the newsfeed algorithm's FAT increase their negative attitudes toward vaccination and their perceived behavioral control over vaccination. The third study examines how different uses of OSNs can influence the relationships between social overload and psychological distress and received social support. The findings show how OSN use can be tailored to decrease negative and increase positive psychological consequences without discontinuing use.

Mixed richness communications occur when a participant in a conversation receives a different media or combination of media than they transmit. Mixed richness communications occur in the workplace when technical, physiological or practical limitations prevent the use of the same media on both ends of a conversation. Prior research in CMC has focused on same-richness communications, and the design guidelines that are available for same-richness communications may not be applicable to mixed-richness communications. This study attempts to establish a basis for understanding mixed-richness communications by evaluating same-richness communications using concepts and measures previously applied to mixed-richness communications Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel, 1984, 1986) defines the richness of a communication medium in terms of its ability to reduce uncertainty and equivocality. According to Daft and Lengel's task-media fit hypothesis, communications are most effective and satisfying when the media richness matches the level of uncertainty and equivocality in a task. Social presence is the perceived ability of a medium to transmit the social cues that lead to a sense that the medium is "warm, personal, sensitive, and sociable" (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976). Social presence has been suggested to be a predictor of user satisfaction for computer-mediated communications (CMC), and has been used as measure of media richness in previous studies (Rice, 1993; Yoo & Alavi, 2001). This study examined the effects of communication medium and task equivocality on task performance, communication effectiveness and sense of social presence. Pairs of participants were required to complete high and low equivocality collaborative tasks while communicating with each other using CMC. The communication media varied between participants. During some sessions, participants received and transmitted the same media (video-only or text-only). In other cases, participants transmitted text and received video or vice-versa. From the recorded transcripts of each user session was extracted task performance in terms of task time-to-complete and communication effectiveness in terms of the frequency of communication breakdowns. Based on the task-media fit hypothesis, it was expected that task performance and communication effectiveness would be affected by the interaction between communication medium and task equivocality. For the most part, task-media fitness was not confirmed. Only one of the four hypotheses supporting task-media fitness was confirmed for time-to-complete, and none of the four hypotheses supporting task-media-fitness was confirmed for communication breakdown frequency. In the overall analysis of time to complete, Medium was found to have had a significant effect. Sending and receiving text was significantly slower than all other tested media. Sending and receiving video was significantly faster than all other tested media combinations. After completing each task, participants completed a short questionnaire designed to measure the sense of social presence using the original scales developed by Short and Christie. The sense of social presence reported in video communications was significantly higher for all scales than the sense of social presence reported in mixed-richness environments. The sense of social presence reported in text communications was only significantly lower than mixed-richness environments for one scale, with no significant difference for all other scales. / Master of Science

M.. Tech. (Information Technology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology) / The Green Paper for Post-School Education and Training states that higher education and training institutions are faced with the challenge of teaching underprepared students. Vaal University of Technology (VUT) Ekurhuleni has experienced an increase in the number of underprepared first year students from basic education to higher education, similar to other higher education institutions (HEIs) and training centres, and most of these students are familiar with messaging service applications. The purpose of this research is to determine if messaging service applications have a constructive role to play in supporting tertiary education. A variety of journals, books and other online materials were reviewed to learn and confirm the current information on messaging service applications and electronic communication interaction in higher education. A mixed methods research methodology has been adopted comprising of both qualitative and quantitative research. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews as well as questionnaires with structured questions to address the objectives of the study. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed to students and the sample (N=212) resulted in a response rate of 84.8%. Interviews were conducted targeting students doing a bridging course in Information Technology. In addition, data was collected from one of the messaging service applications, Whatsapp, for one semester with one class. For the analysis of the data, two theories—Social Presence Theory and Context Awareness Theory—were adopted. This research found that students who partook in the study displayed a positive perception of using messaging service applications in an educational environment. Furthermore, the textual interaction analysis indicates that students were able to successfully interact and use messaging services as educational supporting tool outside the classroom. From the findings a model has been developed which demonstrates how student learning outside the formal classroom learning environment can be supported through the use of messaging service applications. The research contributes to a better understanding of using of messaging service applications as an educational supporting tool in higher education. Messaging service applications enable students to forget about gender and cultural differences; it encourages them to work together as an online community. This research furthermore provides a basis for HEIs and academic leaders to initiate the discussion and consider the possibility of introducing messaging service applications as educational supporting tool outside the classroom.

This thesis comprises a critical review and suggestions for enhancement of the Community of Inquiry Framework (CoIF), the frequently cited model of collaborative community-based online learning. It combines a systematic engagement of relevant literature and research, with the application of the CoIF thinking to six of my peer-reviewed publications. Although not initially conceived as forming part of a doctorate submission, these publications are drawn upon throughout this narrative, to assist my interrogation of the CoIF. They are also used to provide evidence of my continuing journey as an education researcher. This thesis is therefore not an exegesis – a traditional meta-narrative encompassing this candidate’s publications. It moves beyond my findings in the publications to create and present supplementary concepts, and develop pointed guidance about using the Framework in supporting online learning in tertiary education. My review first critically interrogates the three constituent elements or Presences of the CoIF. Social presence emerges as a highly complex and multi-faceted construct, in which the de-emphasising of the affective in the CoIF seems at variance with current research reporting the strong student emotional response to working online, and particularly in collaborative, community-based groupings. Then, in Cognitive presence, there has been little consideration of, and specificity about, reflection in the CoIF. My critique proposes that reflection and critical thinking are distinct but inter-related concepts; both of which need to be addressed. Teaching presence is renamed ‘Tutoring presence’ informed by my review based upon my emergent understandings of student-centred learning. Two enhancements to the CoIF are then proposed, together with the rationale for establishment of a Tutors’ Network. The first enhancement, referred to as 'the Influences,’ unites and enriches the individual Presences. The second argues for the existence and use of a personal learning retreat at the heart of a community of inquiry, addressing a perceived omission in the CoIF. This learner ‘space’ provides a ‘quiet, safe place’ for the private (internal) world of the learner, as a foil to the shared collaborative space in the CoIF (the external world). Finally, a Tutors’ Network is outlined as a vehicle for advancing their understandings and knowledge of online, collaborative, community-based learning in general, and in particular of communities of inquiry. This should develop the abilities of online tutors, improve their learners’ educational experiences and encourage research and scholarship into the CoIF.

Attrition among students in online courses worldwide is well-documented at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels. However, little is yet known about the reason for attrition among in-service teachers in online training. Online education aims to provide access to education for the masses, but with higher attrition rates, it may be viewed as less effective than traditional education. This study explored factors that influenced attrition and persistence among teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in an online teacher training environment. Tinto's Community of Inquiry framework and Short, Williams, and Christie's Social Presence Model provided the conceptual framework for this qualitative case study to address the research question. Six participants in Latin America from 4 online courses, selected through criterion and convenience sampling, participated in the study. Data sources included online questionnaires, personal narratives, and a focus group interview. Each data set was analyzed using open coding to identify emerging themes, selective coding for purposes of analysis, and finally axial coding to confirm overarching themes. Findings indicate that social, teacher, and cognitive presence are key to engagement in online learning and persistence, while lack of such presences can demotivate and lead to attrition. Thus, it is important to design online training that fosters all 3 types of presence. Results also included recommendations for designing more engaging online teacher training curricula. This study contributes to positive social change by providing online course designers with a deeper understanding of factors which influence attrition and persistence.