Time is the educational resource educators most desire, but which is in shortest supply. Educators cannot add more days to the 12-month calendar year, or minutes to the day. Whatever control is to be had over the calendar and clock rests in the way time is managed by those in the position of decision-maker. This study examined the change in one middle school's schedule, from a traditional seven period to a four period extended block, as it related to teacher perceptions about time for staff development, instructional preparation, and staff collaboration. Additionally, the study examined teacher perceptions regarding student achievement, student contact overload, and school climate as a result of the change in the school schedule. Subjects for the study were drawn from practicing classroom teachers and other licensed personnel employed at the site school. Two research instruments, the School Schedule Questionnaire Survey and School Schedule Interview Survey, were used to gather data. The School Schedule Questionnaire Survey used a Likert Scale, which asked each subject to respond to a series of statements by indicating whether they strongly agreed, agreed, were undecided, disagreed, or strongly disagreed. This study concludes that teacher perceptions about time available for staff development, instructional preparation, and staff collaboration are greatly influenced by their perceptions about the degree to which they control that time, and can make decisions about its use. It also concludes that teacher perceptions about student achievement is difficult to assess without quantitative measures, and that although teachers felt the schedule had a positive impact on student achievement, most were concerned about the lack of objective measures when making such an assessment. And finally, it concluded that class size may not be the determining measure to assess teacher perceptions about student contact overload, that the total number of students a teacher comes into contact with each day has a greater impact on their perception in this area. / Graduation date: 1999

This study investigated factors that influence career choice and development for gay male school teachers. Ten gay educators participated in the investigation. Data collection methods involved two semi-structured personal interviews and one structured telephone interview for a total of 30 sampling units. Data analysis procedures included reviewing audiotapes, reading transcriptions, browsing documents, coding text units, consulting with mentors and peers, comparing coding categories with previous literature and research, and reflecting on emerging relationships among the data. Major findings relate to identity development, social and family attitudes, secrecy and disclosure, and career motivation. All of the participants described experiences of (a) forming a vocational identity as a school teacher and a sexual identity as a gay man, and (b) blending or merging these primary self-concepts through occupational expressions of advocacy and activism, gender role flexibility, or both. The data further indicate that (a) social bias against public education has a negative influence on career maintenance and performance, (b) family respect for school teachers has a positive influence on career choice, and (c) special case strategies help gay men circumvent the negative influence of social bias against them to enter the teaching profession. Most of the participating teachers revealed their primary reliance on "implicitly out" identity management strategies (Griffin, 1992) to alleviate fears of discrimination, public accusation, job loss, and impaired credibility. Additional qualitative evidence suggests that the need for gay self-disclosure varies with the potential for vocational self-expression in the teaching profession. In the course of their teaching careers, all of the participants reported either (a) compensating for some developmental lag or deficit experienced during childhood or adolescence, or (b) partially satisfying their developmental need to father children. Hypothetical associations among these major findings form the trilateral foundation of an emerging theory that more specifically explains factors that influence the career choice and development of gay male school teachers. This three-part framework reflects the interacting influences of identity integration, self-expression, and self-actualization and reciprocal effects of and on the teaching profession. The theory emerging from this investigation has practical applications for counselor and teacher education, as well as for career counseling. / Graduation date: 1999

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A large amount of research has been conducted that establishes that students of all ages hold conceptions about a variety of science topics that are not in line with accepted scientific beliefs. These preconceptions have been identified in a variety of ways in research situations; this study focused on how secondary science teachers actually attempt to diagnose students' preconceptions in the classroom and the understanding the teachers have about these preconceptions. The use the teachers made of any information gathered in a diagnosis and the reasons for a lack of diagnosis were also investigated. Four experienced science teachers were studied in depth, they were interviewed three times and classroom observations were conducted for nine weeks. The teachers' classroom practices, questioning techniques, understanding of students' preconceptions, and assessment of students' understanding were all analyzed. In this study, the teachers did not use any formal strategies for diagnosing students' preconceptions such as concept mapping, interviews, journals, or writing prompts. The teachers studied claimed that it was important to conduct diagnosis but only one teacher was seen to actually do so. The teacher who did use class discussions as a strategy for diagnosis was the most experienced teacher of the four and also the teacher with the strongest subject matter background. The other three teachers all claimed that they did do diagnosis of preconceptions by questioning their students but they were not seen to do this in their classes. The conclusions from these results are that the teachers did not have a complete understanding of the concept of diagnosing students' preconceptions in order to use that information to attempt conceptual change. The teachers' beliefs were not consistent with their practices in this situation; they may have had certain constraints on them that inhibited the translation of their beliefs into practice. The implications are that preservice and inservice teachers may need to be trained about the importance of, the strategies involved with, and the justification for diagnosing students' preconceptions in the regular classroom environment. Teachers must have an understanding of students' preconceptions and the effect they have on students' learning. / Graduation date: 1999

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This thesis sought to answer the research question: How do the top educators in the area of public relations, marketing, and advertising perceive the concept of integrated marketing communications as compared to one another?The mail survey applying Q methodology was sent to 15 top educators in each of the three fields in the United States for a total sample of 45 educators. A total of twenty-five responses were returned representing 55.5 percent of the sample. When the respondents were analyzed by discipline, there were eight responses from the pubic relations educators, nine from the marketing educators, and eight from the advertising educators. As a result the responses from each disciplines comprised, respectively, 53.3 percent, 60 percent, and 53.33 percent of the total sample.The statements in Q-Sorting were collected from the review of literature and in interviews with the Ball State University advertising, and public relations professors. Each statement either agreed or disagreed with the perception of integrated marketing communications. Each educator was asked to indicate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with each statement.A computer program developed for Q-Methodology studies was used to extract the factors from the educators' responses. After the Q-Sorts were tabulated, the researcher identified two factors, Factor I, and Factor II. The majority of Factor I respondents were the marketing, and advertising educators. The majority of Factor II respondents were public relations educators.The researcher concluded that these two groups had clearly different attitudes toward IMC. Stated in another way, marketing educators and advertising educators had similar perceptions of IMC, while public relations educators perceived the IMC concept very differently. Public relations educators indicated that the concept of IMC would be acceptable if it should be viewed as a total organizational communications function. / Department of Journalism

Although the public schools have spent billions of dollars on computer technology, only a few teachers are integrating them into their teaching. The purpose of this study was to determine barriers to the integration of computers into teaching and potential teaching strategies to encourage integration. Teachers (N=122) from 14 elementary schools completed a questionnaire that assessed computer use. Nine experienced teachers representing different levels of computer use were then selected to participated in interviews that focused on barriers to the integration of computer technology into their teaching. Results indicate barriers exist in two broad areas: institutional limitations (i.e., equipment, training, support, and leadership) and legislative mandates (i.e., benchmarks and state tests). Teachers report a significant lack of computers available for students in the classroom and computer labs, a lack of training and knowledge of how to use software, and a lack of support and leadership at the district and building level. Overall, teachers perceive significant barriers to the integration of computer technology exist in the areas of equipment, training, support and leadership. The findings suggest that some school districts may fail to recognize the need to adequately provide teachers with the necessary external factors of equipment, training, support and leadership, and they may fail to consider the internal factors of perceived relevance, and selfcompetence that are essential for the integration of technology. The study may also suggest that school districts fail to account for educational reform measures, and their impact on teacher ability to integrate computers into the teaching and learning process. Results of this study may indicate that the interrelationship of the external and internal factors must be recognized and integrated when developing learning strategies for the training of integrating computer technology into the teaching and learning process. / Graduation date: 2000