As technology has advanced, corporations, government entities, and institutions of higher education have all begun experimenting with online classes and training. In colleges and universities around the world, everything from individual online classes to entire online degree programs are now offered. While many researchers and educators support this trend, many are concerned with whether online education is truly comparable to traditional, live instruction. The goal of this study was to evaluate an online version of a floral design course in comparison to the traditional version of the class. There were 140 students in the sample, including both the online and traditional classes. All were students at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. During the spring semester of 2003, the experimental group was enrolled in the online version of the course, while the control group was enrolled in the traditional version of the course. Students in both groups were asked to fill out surveys at the beginning and end of the semester to collect background information and to evaluate the course. Their floral designs were evaluated at the beginning and end of the class in order to measure design skill, and grades earned in the class were also collected at the end of the semester for comparison purposes. Statistically significant differences were noted in class grades, with traditional students outperforming the Web-based students in lecture points, lab points, and overall course grades. No statistically significant differences were noted in terms of student course satisfaction. In addition, students in the traditional class outperformed Web-based students in design skills. Besides class differences in performance, variables such as gender and distance course preparedness seemed to affect the outcome of some measures. Overall, females outperformed males in both classes. In the Web-based class, students found to be more prepared for distance learning courses fared better than students who were not as prepared. These results may indicate that certain students may do better in an online course than others, and it may be possible to screen these students in advance in order to maximize success in the online classroom.

As technology has advanced, corporations, government entities, and institutions of higher education have all begun experimenting with online classes and training. In colleges and universities around the world, everything from individual online classes to entire online degree programs are now offered. While many researchers and educators support this trend, many are concerned with whether online education is truly comparable to traditional, live instruction. The goal of this study was to evaluate an online version of a floral design course in comparison to the traditional version of the class. There were 140 students in the sample, including both the online and traditional classes. All were students at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. During the spring semester of 2003, the experimental group was enrolled in the online version of the course, while the control group was enrolled in the traditional version of the course. Students in both groups were asked to fill out surveys at the beginning and end of the semester to collect background information and to evaluate the course. Their floral designs were evaluated at the beginning and end of the class in order to measure design skill, and grades earned in the class were also collected at the end of the semester for comparison purposes. Statistically significant differences were noted in class grades, with traditional students outperforming the Web-based students in lecture points, lab points, and overall course grades. No statistically significant differences were noted in terms of student course satisfaction. In addition, students in the traditional class outperformed Web-based students in design skills. Besides class differences in performance, variables such as gender and distance course preparedness seemed to affect the outcome of some measures. Overall, females outperformed males in both classes. In the Web-based class, students found to be more prepared for distance learning courses fared better than students who were not as prepared. These results may indicate that certain students may do better in an online course than others, and it may be possible to screen these students in advance in order to maximize success in the online classroom.

The theory of embodied cognition focuses on mechanisms of meaning beyond the traditional in western metaphysics dichotomy of body and mind. These mechanisms are considered to be the emerging aspects of meaning related to early infant experience of interaction with the environment. Image schema as the earliest form of representation in the mind corresponds to the notion of archetype from analytical psychology. Theory and research suggest that being in touch with the archetypal level of cognition is related to integration of parts of the personality and promotes well-being. Art and creativity are considered to facilitate this process and in this sense to promote healing. Active imagination is a method devised by C. G. Jung to relate to different aspects of the personality through creativity which results in a creative product. Active imagination bears similarity to art, however it focuses not only on the aesthetic outcome of the creative endeavor but also on the transformation of the personality in this process. Analytical psychology studies a number of creative expressions of the products of active imagination such as sand play, drawing, clay modeling, writing, dancing and psychodrama. However, there are no available empirical studies of the healing aspects of creative work with cut flowers. We hypothesized that being involved in creative work with cut flowers would promote well -being expressed in increase of hope, existential/spiritual meaning and humility and decrease of depression, anxiety and physiological symptoms. The participants in our study were undergraduate students from Texas A&M University either involved in a semester long course in Floral Design or in an Introductory Psychology Course. Participants were assessed at two time points on all variables of interest. They were also asked to draw mandalas and to write essays (floral condition). Although quantitative analysis did not find any significant differences between the groups over time as a result of the creative work with cut flowers, the qualitative analysis of the mandala-drawings and the essays showed statistically significant tendency to balance, centeredness and calmness over time in the floral group.