Investigates how teachers evaluate WebQuests in an effort to describe and identify a common, generalizable rubric that new users of WebQuests could use. The investigation included how often the teachers who were surveyed used WebQuests in the classroom, and what these teachers used to evaluate WebQuests. Examines whether teachers are using rubrics they had created themselves, or WebQuest rubrics that are provided for them.

In 1975, J.K. Hvistendahl and Mary R. Kahl tested 200 individuals to determine if readers preferred serif type for the body text of stories in newspapers. Subjects read stories set in serif and sans serif type. They were timed and asked for their preference as to which typeface they felt was more legible. The researchers found that test subjects preferred serif type the body text in their newsprint. After comparing the time it took subjects to read stories, researchers found readers needed less time to read stories set in serif type than sans serif.Almost 25 years later, another generation of readers has emerged, and Web pages are commonplace among many newspapers today. Yet nothing has been done to determine if these same findings are true for the World Wide Web. This study set out to do just that.Two hundred subjects were recruited for this study, each one placed into one of four groups: male student, male non-student, female student, and female non-student. Each subject was asked to read two 325-word stories, each on its own World Wide Web page. One story was set in a serif typeface, the other set in a sans serif typeface. Subjects were unobrusively timed with a stopwatch as they read each story. After reading the two stories, they were asked which typeface they felt was more legible, serif or sans serif.Overall, readers showd no statistically significant preference for serif or sans serif type in body text on the World Wide Web. The data was tested with ANOVA while frequencies and were also gathered. Only one statistically significant interaction surfaced which found that male students, who preferred sans serif type, took a statistically significant longer time to read online stories set in serif type. / Department of Journalism

The majority of Web site design literature mainly concentrates on the technical and functional aspects of Web site design. There is a definite lack of literature, in the IS field, that concentrates on the visual and aesthetic aspects of Web design. Preliminary research into the relationship between visual design and successful electronic commerce Web sites was conducted. The emphasis of this research was to answer the following three questions. What role do visual design elements play in the success of electronic commerce Web sites? What role do visual design principles play in the success of electronic commerce Web sites? What role do the typographic variables of visual design play in the success of electronic commerce Web sites? Forty-three undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory level MIS course used a Likert-style survey instrument to evaluate aesthetic aspects of 501 electronic commerce Web pages. The instrument employed a taxonomy of visual design that focused on three dimensions: design elements, design principles, and typography. The data collected were correlated against Internet usage success metrics data provided by Nielsen/NetRatings. Results indicate that 22 of the 135 tested relationships were statistically significant. Positive relationships existed between four different aesthetic dimensions and one single success measure. The other 18 significant relationships were negatively correlated. The visual design elements of space, color as hue, and value were negatively correlated with three of the success measures. The visual design principles of contrast, emphasis radiated through contrast, and contrast shape were negatively correlated with three of the success measures. Finally, the typographic variables of placement and type size were both negatively correlated with two of the success measures. This research provides support to the importance of visual design theory in Web site design. This preliminary research should be viewed as a realization of the need for Web sites to be designed with both visual design theory and usability in mind.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Having graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in 1998, I found myself reassigned there two years later only to watch the same frustrating cycle of inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Classes were still being manually scheduled using 3x5 cards, the results transferred into a 1970’s mainframe for printout on 15 inch-wide computer paper, and then distributed by hand. Incoming US and international families from any of 50 countries found it difficult to locate timely orientation information. Students, faculty and staff did not have a convenient, consistent method of finding people, places or things on campus. The school’s intranet was littered with outdated, irrelevant information. And the crews of 300 warships, positioned worldwide, were hungry for 24/7 distance learning programs. Bureaucracy, fiscal pressure, excruciating oversight, and declining enrollment stifled the school’s prospects. A group of us in the technology department launched the school’s first Web Operations Group and I modeled NPS’s new website after Monterey’s weekly open-air farmer’s market. I harvested three conclusions: 1) Like the fresh produce sold every Tuesday afternoon, no one wants information that is beyond a week old; 2) The marketplace provides a secure, convenient, consistent forum in which to transact business as well as ideas; 3) The stalls with better marketing and more relevant produce or services garnered more business. I started attending NPS bi-weekly leadership meetings and asking lots of questions. With no budget, I taught myself how to use web-authoring tools, studied the government Web edicts, and leveraged my server privileges to help stakeholders communicate ideas, collaborate on research projects and partner with NPS. After collecting survey data, I pitched the final concept to school leadership, crafted the new website over Christmas break, and went live six weeks later. As a result some report processing was reduced from two days to two minutes, information resources were doubled, data clutter was reduced by 96%. The redesigned website now loaded in a third of the time and a simple, ubiquitous search tool helped people locate campus resources instantly. / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy

Thesis advisor: Ana M. Martínez Alemán / The term “diversity” was popularized in Justice Powell’s opinion in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which identified the benefits of a diverse student body as a compelling state interest. Forty years after Bakke, deep inequities remain in higher education and racist events occur with regularity on college campuses (“Campus Racial Incidents : The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education,” n.d.). Institutions continue to struggle to address student concerns and a significant gap remains between students and administrators on the topic of diversity and inclusion. Because the public website is the face of the university to the world and the most powerful platform for conveying institutional values, goals, and priorities, representations of diversity on university webpages are potent statements about how institutions address these topics (Snider & Martin, 2012). Jesuit universities in particular have a 500-year tradition in education that is founded on a deep respect for cultural difference, making them an excellent choice for a study on diversity (O’Malley, 2014). This exploratory qualitative study utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis to examine how diversity is characterized on Jesuit higher education websites. The 28 Jesuit higher education institutions in the United States were analyzed during two time periods using a framework combining elements of Fairclough (2003) and McGregor (2014). The data were interpreted through the lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT), which posits that racism continues to be endemic and omnipresent in the United States. CRT scholarship on microaggressions, whiteness, and colorblindness is a foundational element of this analysis Based on this analysis, institutions were placed in an adapted model of diversity development based on Williams (2013). While respecting cultural difference and care for the marginalized is at the core of the Jesuit mission, translating this to an inclusive diversity web presence has presented challenges for institutions. In this study, just 3 of the 28 Jesuit higher education institutions attained the most advanced stage—Inclusive Excellence. Few Jesuit institutions placed diversity at the core of the mission or maintained cohesive and powerful diversity messaging across the website. This study found instances where imagery, prose, and information architecture issues reinforced hegemonic norms and objectified individuals. This analysis concludes with diversity website content recommendations for administrators, communications professionals, and faculty who seek to be inclusive rather than alienate, deconstruct hegemonic norms rather than reinforce them, and balance marketing goals with campus authenticity. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

"I know but one freedom, and that is the freedom of the mind" Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Web metrics offer significant potential for online businesses to incorporate high-quality, real-time information into their strategic marketing decision-making (SDM) process. This SDM process is affected by the firm�s strategic direction, which is critical for web businesses. A review of the widely researched strategy and SDM literature identified that managers use extensive information to support and improve strategic decisions and make informed decisions. Offline SDM processes might be appropriate for the online environment but the limited literature on web metrics has not researched information needs for online SDM. Even though web metrics can be a valuable tool for web businesses to inform strategic marketing decisions, and their collection might be less expensive and easier than offline measures, virtually no published research has combined web metrics and SDM concepts into one research project. To address this gap in the literature, the thesis investigated the differences and commonalities of online and offline SDM process approaches, the use of web metrics categories for online SDM stages, and the issues encountered during that process through four research questions. A preliminary conceptual model based on the literature review was refined through preliminary research, which addressed the research questions and investigated the current state of web metrics. After investigating various methodologies, a multi-stage qualitative methodology was selected. The use of qualitative methods represents a contribution to knowledge regarding methodological approaches to online research. Four stages within the online SDM process were shown to benefit from the use of web metrics: the setting of priorities, the setting of objectives, the pretest stage and the review stage. The results identified the similarity of online and offline SDM processes; demonstrated that Traffic, Transactions, Customer Feedback and Consumer Behaviour categories provide basic metrics used by most companies; identified the Environment, Technology, Business Results and Campaigns categories as supplementary categories that are applied according to the marketing objectives; and investigated the results based on different types of companies (website classification, channel focus, size and cluster association). Three clusters were identified that relate to the strategic importance of the website and web metrics. Modifying the initial conceptual model, six issues were distinguished that affect the use of web metrics: the adoption and use of web metrics by managers; the integration of multiple sources of metrics; the establishment of industry benchmarks; data quality; the differences to offline measures; as well as resource constraints that interfere with the appropriate web metrics analysis. Links to offline marketing strategy literature and established business concepts were explored and explanations provided where the results confirmed or modified these concepts. Using qualitative methods, the research assisted in building theory of web metrics and online SDM processes. The results show that offline theories apply to the online environment and conventional concepts provide guidance for online processes. Dynamic aspects of strategy relate to the online environment, and qualitative research methods appear suitable for online research. Publications during this research project: Weischedel, B., Matear, S. and Deans, K. R. (2003) The Use of E-metrics in Strategic Marketing Decisions - A Preliminary Investigation. Business Excellence �03 - 1st International Conference on Performance Measures, Benchmarking and Best Practices in the New Economy, Guimaraes, Portugal; June 10-13, 2003. Weischedel, B., Deans, K. R. and Matear, S. (2004) Emetrics - An Empirical Study of Marketing Performance Measures for Web Businesses. Performance Measurement Association Conference 2004, Edinburgh, UK; July 28-30, 2004. Weischedel, B., Matear, S. and Deans, K. R. (2005) "A Qualitative Approach to Investigating Online Strategic Decision-Making" Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 8 No 1, pp. 61-76. Weischedel, B., Matear, S. and Deans, K. R. (2005) "The Use of Emetrics in Strategic Marketing Decisions - A Preliminary Investigation" International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 2 Nos 1/2, p. 109-125.

Thesis (M.A. in Art Education) -- School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 78-86)

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As the continuous waves of new technology, there has been an explosion of electronic access to government information. It has undeniably not only led to a dramatic change in the way people communicate, but also increased the ability of institutions, businesses and individuals to channel information. Among various formats of electronic access, the World Wide Web (WWW) is the most powerful way to disseminate information. Governments are well placed to take advantage of the Internet's ability to disseminate electronic documents quickly, cheaply and efficiently. Moreover, as new communication technologies make it possible to establish a closer relationship between citizens and their governments, it is increasingly likely that the Internet's role in the political process will evolve beyond the mere dissemination of information. The intention of this study is to compare the Technology Acceptance Model to a traditional version and a decomposed version of the Theory of Planned Behavior in terms of their contribution to the understanding of the government web sites usage. Data from a field study of 207 students are used to test these models using structural equation modeling. The results are concluded as follows: The coefficient of determination R2BI of the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior is about 0.4, in other words, approximately 40% of the variation in behavioral intention is explained by linear regression of behavioral intention on attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. In the view of behavioral intention, the explanatory power of the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior is equivalent to the Technology Acceptance Model, and is moderately better than the Theory of Planned Behavior. There are several managerial implication. First, the designers of the government web sites should pay more attention to understand the information need of users, not just put effort on technical level. Second, Ease of use with readable format is the best discipline of the government web sites design. Third,. The designers may have to enrich the content of the government web sites so as to enhance intention of users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 196-200). Also available on the Internet.