Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 39-41). Also available via the Internet.

The thesis investigates online teaching and learning and in particular, the role of the 'e-moderator' as pedagogical leader in relation to e-learner capabilities. The research builds upon a number of existing models including that of Bass and Alvolio (1996), their 'transactional/task-giving' and 'transformational/motivational' behaviours, and applies these to e-moderator work. Secondly, a review of the research literature provides further concepts applicable to e-learner online behaviour - collaborative capability and knowledge construction ability. These are utilised to create a new model, the 'model of Pedagogical Variation', where online teaching is viewed as situational, and e-learners of varying degrees of capability can be given opportunities to maximise their online learning. A hypothetico-deductive methodology, following the work of Karl Popper (2002), is adopted as the theoretical framework. The research sought to corroborate the proposed pedagogical model, which was successfully achieved with experienced e-moderator practitioners adapting Kelly's (1955) personal construct psychology using the six elements: socialising, scaffolding, knowledge construction, weaving, summarising and archiving. In accordance with the hypothetico-deductive approach, an evaluation was then conducted with the objective of refuting the basic underlying assumptions of the Pedagogical Variation model. The model did withstand attempts at falsification, but is presented here as provisional, open to further scrutiny, testing and comparison. Future research could be in the development of diagnostic tools for e-moderator evaluation of e-learner capabilities and on e-learner preferences regarding the selection of a particular online learning environment. It is suggested that effective online teaching is dependent not only on e-learner context but also on e-moderators' pedagogical leadership. The model for Pedagogical Variation is an attempt to show how adaptations in design and delivery can be made in asynchronous learning networks in order to motivate and facilitate successful outcomes for e-learners, whether they are digital natives or digital immigrants (Prensky,2001 ). Online course providers and developers may also use the Pedagogical Variation model as a blueprint for exploring creative ways of implementing new emerging learning technologies fit for the 21st Century.

Computer-based interactive learning environments in physics can help students to differentiate between their intuitive views on natural phenomena and the formalisms of Newtonian physics. This thesis describes empirical investigations of a specific type of interactive learning environments, computer-based simulations. In many cases computer simulations deal with a simplified and idealised version of the natural phenomenon. Presenting the user with a simplification of reality is seen as one of the advantages of simulations, since too complex and too realistic simulations may sometimes be overwhelming for learners and may not permit the identification of the underlying model. Yet implications arise about the degree to which students either expect or perceive simulations to be real and how these expectations and perceptions affect their interaction with the simulation. Reality for the purposes of this research is considered to be a construct comprising the visual fidelity (fidelity) and the complexity of the underlying physical model (complexity) of the simulation. Evaluation of a number of simulations, two case studies and interviews with simulation designers and educators suggested these components. Altering the relation between fidelity and complexity levels affects students' learning and contributes to the students' perception of reality. This is demonstrated in a study of a number of simulations of the same physical phenomenon (Newtonian collisions) with degrees of fidelity and complexity which have been examined to test this hypothesis. Two empirical studies were then conducted to investigate the use of simulations which represented different fidelity and complexity levels. Analyses were carried out on videotapes and questionnaires of students interacting collaboratively with the simulations (40 hours of computer based activity). The empirical approaches to these studies, reports on work done, including the emerging data in multiple forms (questionnaires, video and audio tapes of the students interaction) and its analysis are presented in this thesis. The work reported looks at students' interaction with the simulations (pre to post test learning gain and issues concerning pre and post testing), their comments on the interface and the model underlying the simulation. The thesis supports the view that well designed computer-based simulations can promote learning and that design issues are essential to the creation of successful simulations. The findings claim that: a) enhanced fidelity of an instructional simulation has positive effects on the learner outcome, b) interfaces which use multiple representations offer valuable information which facilitates problem solving strategies, and c) low complexity simulations are better suited to novice learners. These outcomes are presented as implications for simulation design and the use and development of a syntax in simulation design is also discussed (design criteria for how systems might be built). Finally the outcomes' applicability, the limitations of the studies, as well as the scope for further research that should lead to an understanding of the factors which promote successful use of simulations in the teaching of physics are presented.

The research described in this thesis is concerned with the design of hypertext-based learning systems. More specifically, it is concerned with investigating the effects of visualising semantic relations between nodes on learning in hypertext-based learning systems. One of the most commonly cited problems with hypertext is the distraction that stems from the high level of learner control in hypertext systems. This might partly be responsible for the fact that there are few evaluations of hypertext in education which have shown the strength of hypertext over other media in terms of learning outcomes. In order to ease the problem of distraction so as to improve the application of hypertext in education, an approach employing visible link-types is proposed. It is hypothesised that labelling links explicitly with semantic relations between nodes can lower the learner's cognitive overheads in making navigational decisions so as to improve learning. It is also hypothesised that this kind of labelling can make the conceptual model of the knowledge domain intuitively clearer to the learner and thus facilitate learning. A set of three empirical studies has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in different situations, using different methodologies. The results found from these studies demonstrate that visualisation of semantic relations between nodes has potential for improving the use of hypertext for learning.

Education does not take place in a vacuum, it is a terrain where conflicting ideologies compete and relations of power are inscribed. Despite, however, the accumulation of studies illustrating the social and political nature of schooling, sociological work concerned with educational computing is in short supply; with few exceptions, sociologists of education have not directly addressed educational computing. The development of IT in education in the last two decades has been largely uncritical and the field has been dominated by technocentric approaches. This thesis is an effort to develop a sociological language for understanding educational computing and suggests that the introduction and use of IT in education should be situated within its social, political and cultural context. Appropriating ideas from the sociology of education, sociology of technology and cultural studies, the thesis uses a cultural circuit analysis of Logo progran1I11ing language as a case-study in the sociology of culture in order to illustrate some of the ways in which the introduction of new technologies in education may interplay with the maintenance and/or transformation of existing power relations. The first part of the thesis raises questions that strive to situate technological products -and particularly computers in education- within a sociological paradigm. It establishes four main arguments that run through the whole study: • that most existing accounts of IT in education are inadequate; • that sociology of education and cultural studies can -and should- add to our social perspectives on the use of IT in education; • that technological artefacts used in education are socially constructed and can be analysed in terms of a "circuit of cultural production"; • that we could demonstrate the utility of such a model by running it through the development and implementation of a major IT phenomenon, that is Logo. In the second part of the thesis, analysis is divided in five parts (five analytically distinct "moments"). Through reconstructed accounts of participants and secondary sources, analysis of "moment" 1 (production) demonstrates the contingent and unstable nature of Logo as constantly changing and developing technology in the context of the decision-making processes. Analysis of "moment" 2 (text) discusses Logo as a "text", its "philosophy" for education, and the embodiment of its epistemological principles in the technical design of the language. Analysis of "moment" 3 (marketing/economics) discusses the role of marketing, politics, and economics in the development and evolution of Logo; it illustrates that the activities of mediators like government departments and the microcomputer industrial lobby were crucial to the modification and redevelopment of Logo beyond the context of its initial development. Analysis of "moment" 4 (context) situates the introduction of Logo to mainstream schools within its social and political context suggesting that the disintegration of "progressive" education largely constituted the context for the "decline" of Logo during the process of restructuring of formal education in the late 1970s and 1980s. Against this background, analysis of "moment" 5 (consumption) discusses the ways in which Logo was received in the educational arena and was implicated in the politics of educational innovation, looking into the place that Logo occupied within the institutional and organisational cultures of mainstream schools. Finally, based on the discussion of Logo as a case-study and the findings thereof, the thesis summarises the main analytic and methodological messages and points to directions for further research.

First the thesis reviews the development of Intelligent Computer Assisted Instruction (ICAI) systems by outlining the different ways that computers have been used in education followed by a description of the functionality of ICAI systems in terms of the Hartley-Sleeman model of classification. This is followed by a discussion of the skills required within writing and their pedagogical context. The different strategies that have been applied to computer supported composition are then discussed with examples of systems where appropriate.

This study was undertaken to investigate how program sequencing would effect a sixth-grade group of Ss. A linear program of 111 frames that taught base five arithmetic was chosen for the study. The program presented in its original order was called the logically sequenced program. The program whose frame sequence was determined by a table of random numbers was called the scrambled sequenced program. On the basis of IQ scores, two groups of students were formed. Equal numbers from each of these two groups were then assigned at random to one of the two programs of instruction. The two programs of instruction were presented to the Ss by means of computer terminals. A posttest was then administered to test the effect of program sequencing on learning facts and skills that were taken directly from the program. Also tested was the effect of program sequencing on the student's ability to use the principles developed in the program to solve problems that are an extension of these principles. There was found to be a significant increase in the program error rate and program completion time for the scrambled sequenced program when compared to the logically sequenced program, implying that the program chosen for the study contained dependency among the frames. The results of the posttest indicated that there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the two groups although in each case the logically sequenced group did achieve a higher mean score. It was also found that there was no significant interaction between sequence of instruction and ability level. Many previous studies in program sequencing have dealt with an older population in comparison to the population chosen for this study. The conclusions from these studies have generally been that sequence of instruction has been overemphasized as a variable for consideration in program construction. While the results of this study indicate that sequence of instruction may be more important for a younger population, some doubt is raised as to the importance of attempting to obtain a carefully sequenced, small error rate program. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This thesis has developed arprototypical system which provides information on dietary practices for those individuals interested in applying nutritional principles to their eating habits. The system has the potential to provide information which both accurately reflects nutritional guidelines and facilitates adoption of recommendations, by providing a self-explanatory statement of foods to consume and by limiting suggested changes in present food pattern. The prototypical computerized system developed has two major functions: (i), diet-assessment to appraise the acceptability of individual's dietary practices; and (ii), diet-planning to recommend modifications in the diets of those individuals not meeting specified limits. The focus of the system is a constrained-optimization algorithm that generates a revised food plan which both satisfies nutrient constraints, and minimizes the deviation of food items rand item groups from the original amount consumed by the client. Testing has been restricted to a descriptive evaluation of some of the algorithm's characteristics -- specifically, the design assumptions which define the acceptability of deviating from an original inventory, and the revised diets developed when these assumptions are modified. The results illustrate that altering these design assumptions produces marked variations in the revised diets with respect to observed parameters. Further modifications in the algorithm have been suggested. The explorative evaluation provides a foundation for more systematic evaluation of the validity of the algorithm. Recommendations for facilitating the further development and testing of the system are outlined. This thesis has shown that mathematical modeling provides an effective means of collating the vast amount of data required to develop cogent dietary recommendations which are nutritionally accurate, straightforward, and acceptable to the client. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate

No description available.

The purpose of this thesis is to conduct an integrative review of existing literature focusing on Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT), specifically canines, on human health. The reviewed articles were published between the years of 2000 to 2014, written in the English language, scholarly in nature, in peer-reviewed journals with access to full text electronic versions of the article, along with articles that provided current anecdotal information related to the effects of AAT. Search terms included the phrase, "animal assisted therapy" in the title. Results of the literature search yielded an enormous quantity of recent and innovative research on various aspects of AAT. Various animals were identified with ATT, most often canines; however, it is not uncommon to find that horses, dolphins, felines, birds, or even small mammals satisfying the same roles. Of these, for this thesis thirteen research articles were selected that dealt primarily with canines in AAT. The findings from the review for this thesis suggested that despite the large volume of available research on ATT in general, a gap in literature exists focusing on the health outcomes with specific animal species. Additionally, the research was noted to be fragmented in nature and the findings were inconsistent; thus, limiting the development of evidence based ATT interventions. Implications for nursing research, policy, education and practice are discussed, along with limitations of this integrative review.