The purpose of this study is to investigate the short-term and long-term effects of two kinds of advance organizers (AOs), a visual concept map and a text outline. The AOs were administered in a fully Web-based course in health care ethics. The outcome measures are students' knowledge acquisition and application in two posttests. This study was conducted through a post-test only control group design with a random assignment. The population of the study involved 166 college students who participated in this online class in their junior or senior year. The voluntary research participants were randomly assigned into the two treatment groups and one control group. The treatment of AO was administered as an integral part of a one-week-long online module on the topic of patient-physician relationships. Students of the two treatment groups were presented with one of the two AOs, while the control group was instructed to proceed to textbook reading without an AO. Then, students were tested on the subject matter with two parallel posttests. Both posttests were composed of a multiple-choice question quiz and a set of scenario-based essay questions. The students took posttest I at the end of the instructional week, and posttest II four weeks after. A survey and interviews were also conducted to supplement the quantitative results with contextual information. The findings do not demonstrate a statistically significant AO effect among the treatment groups and the control group. However, in agreement with the previous research, this study shows a positive but inconclusive benefit of using AOs for students' short-term knowledge acquisition. The students using a concept map consistently obtained higher learning achievements than individuals using a text outline. More importantly, this study reiterated the proposition that students of lower-learning abilities benefit more from using an AO for online learning than those of higher-learning abilities. The current study extends our knowledge on the use of AOs in fully Web-based educational environments. The results indicated that although AOs more often than not have small facilitative effects for learners, they are not equally effective for all learners in all learning situations. The incorporation of the instructional strategies, such as AOs, in Web-based courses and programs might benefit online learners, especially those students of lower verbal and analytical abilities, or of lower prior knowledge of the material-to-be-learned.

Two major questions guide this study: How are different on-line teaching styles related to classroom participation; does the on-line classroom generate a more gender-neutral environment? The data source for this study was a classroom instruction and performance program at a mid-size university in the Northwest. Included in this study were 59 students (38 males and 21 females) with 75 separate course records from six classes. Each academic discussion conference transcript was coded by message to record message traffic flow for each instructor and student. There were four actions that instructors used that influenced the participation performances of their class. The organization of the conferences influenced participation performance. The two discussion conference model out performed the single conference model in message traffic. Instructor guidance, which was issued by message, had a profound affect on student performance. Although each instructor assigned a percent of the final grade based on participation, this guidance appears to have been relegated low on the students' priority. Guidance given in a prepared syllabus which the students received both in paper and electronic form did not have the same impact as a personal instructor message. At the start of the study, it was assumed the instructors would provide most of the on-line encouragement to students to participate. During the coding process it became obvious that fellow students provided most of the positive social encouragement to participate. Not only did these students conduct student-centered discussions but they also self-motivated the group to participate more. Does the on-line classroom foster a more gender-neutral environment? The results of this study are mixed, but very encouraging. There was no flaming or questionable innuendoes detected in any of the messages. The t-tests did not show a significant difference between male and female participation performance except for length of message. Females were encouraged by their peers to participate and their messages were valued. Since one did not have to wait a turn to speak in these on-line classrooms, there was more air time for all. In these on-line courses the verbose did not silence the rest. / Ed. D.

The enormous growth of online learning creates the need to develop a set of standards and guidelines for fully online programs. While many guidelines do exist, web-based programs still fall short in the recognition, adoption, or the implementation of these standards. One consequence is the high attrition rates associated with web-based distance learning programs. This poor outcome has a negative impact on the perceived quality of these programs which in turn limits the resources that are made available to academic institutions for implementation. Faculty plays a significant role in this dilemma. While academic administrators strive to enhance their online offerings for a number of reasons, faculty are faced with a number of barriers that deter them from adapting to this mode of delivery. This report outlines how an in-depth analysis of these barriers was carried out. A mixed research synthesis design approach known as metasummary was used to synthesize the quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research studies that address the issue. The outcome of the synthesis was a set of solutions and recommendations that can be used to increase faculty buy-in and ownership of online learning. Regulatory bodies responsible for accrediting distance programs can benefit from these recommendations by including specific guidelines that explicitly consider the level of faculty satisfaction as a measurement of effectiveness when evaluating fully online programs.

This thesis aims to contribute to the optimising of the educational engagement of low socio-economic and other historically underrepresented populations in undergraduate, web-based distance learning in higher education. It establishes, through theoretical and philosophical argument, the value of a participative justice approach to equity, a social constructionist epistemological framework for curricular praxis, and a relational conceptualisation of networked computing. The project to re-map the terrains of equity, curricular practice, and web-based distance learning in higher education emerges out of a realisation that current maps are restrictive, epistemologically flawed, and theoretically deficient, thereby inhibiting the educational engagement of disadvantaged students and obstructing systemically equitable outcomes. Without a new curricular map web-based distance learning is likely to maintain, if not exacerbate, distance education�s historic record as having the highest levels of inequitable outcomes in higher education. In response, the thesis, taking a critical social constructionist stance, problematises current equity, curricular practice, and networked computing discourses in relation to culture, power, and politics. As a critical postmodernist counter-narrative, the thesis proposes paradigm shifts from an access to a participative approach to equity, from an individual to a social learning model for curricular practice in distance education, and from a technocratic to a relational conceptualisation of networked computing. Web-based distance education is positioned as a site of contestation where the need for equity is greatest and the implementation of a new model of curricular practice is most likely to succeed since web-based distance learning is still a newly emerging mode of study in which academics are themselves newcomers in search of effective curricular practices. This leads to the development of �Critical Interdependent Acculturation� as a �next generation� social constructionist curricular practice for web-based distance learning. Having established the capacity of networked computing to sustain such a curricular practice, this thesis offers academics a new conceptual architecture, �Imaginative Designs for Equitable Achievement of Learning� (IDEAL) to optimise the educational engagement of all students in web-based distance learning in higher education, but especially for those least advantaged. Accordingly, the thesis invites academics to re-evaluate their approach to equity, their epistemic assumptions and to transform rather than transfer old paradigm curricular practices in networked distance learning. The remapping of equity in web-based curricular practices undertaken in this thesis represents a significant contribution to knowledge. The study, by taking a critical postmodernist approach to class, power and social relations, addresses significant research gaps in its theoretical analysis of disadvantaged students in distance education, especially its web-based mode, in which these students are most at risk of educational disengagement. The study targets the operation of social power at the micro-level of curricular practices in higher education and shifts the web-based learning debate from technological access to equitable engagement in its social practices. The reconfiguration of curricular practices to transform the operation of power in mainstream programs positions this study as a groundbreaking project, and by arguing for a systemic curricular response geared towards equitable educational engagement, it affirms that curricular focused research is a significant factor in achieving equity in web-based higher education, rather than being peripheral to it.

Traditionally manufacturing job shops either have a process layout or a product layout. The advantages of one type of layout tend to be a disadvantage for the other. Hybrid cellular constructs represents a novel fusion of process and product layouts. In this thesis, hybrid cellular constructs specifically Hybrid Flow Shops and Reoriented andamp; Reshaped Cells are clearly described in terms of their structure, key features, and modes of operation. An engineering procedure is illustrated by cases and particular manufacturing circumstances where each concept would be most useful are identified. This thesis then defines the lean practices that are compatible with the structure in question and identifies what practices are incompatible. It suggests how to modify lean practices to fit and at least obtain some benefits for the incompatible ones. Finally, a procedure for design of logistics management systems for assembly cells and lines is presented.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:05:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2131.pdf: 8350502 bytes, checksum: 4dc12e822d8a4aeea41a8ba2b85769f2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-22 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / The development of technologies that assist in the teach-learning process is an rgued subject in some areas of knowledge. The great diffusion of Web-based Educational Systems (WbE-S) has been shown the popularization of distance learning and its support tools. The Tidia-Ae project, support by FAPESP, aim at the development of a WbE-S that can use the concept about high velocity internet. But, the WbE Systems don t have a personal treatment of user s necessities. So, the offers of personalization resources for systems aim at improving the teach-learning process using the treatment of real necessities of each user. The content recommendation, more specifically a recommendation system, is one of several techniques for that and it is a non-intrusive meaning of help user s in a system with a lot of information. This technique was used in Tidia-Ae environment to development of this thesis. This thesis presents the I2P model based on metrics of Interests, Preferences and Popularity which are acquired by the measuring of the relationship of users and system resources. These metrics provide a form to calculate the recommendation offers of resources. The calculation is done using Collaborative Filtering technique and the personalization is offered in collaborative form, considering the group learning. / O desenvolvimento de tecnologias que auxiliem no processo de ensinoaprendizagem é assunto discutido em várias áreas do conhecimento. A grande difusão de Sistemas Educacionais baseados nas tecnologias existentes na Web (também chamados de Sistemas Educacionais baseados na Web Web-based Educational Systems WbE-S) demonstra a popularização da educação a distância e das ferramentas de suporte a esta. O projeto Tidia-Ae, financiado pela FAPESP visa, sobretudo, o desenvolvimento de um WbE-S que possa explorar os conceitos da internet de alta velocidade. Os WbE-S, comumente, não possuem um tratamento personalizado das ações dos usuários no sistema. Assim, a oferta de recursos de personalização de sistemas visa melhorias no processo de ensino-aprendizagem através do tratamento das necessidades reais e pessoais de cada aluno. A recomendação de conteúdo é uma das possíveis técnicas para oferta de personalização. Trata-se de uma forma não intrusiva de auxiliar o processo de escolha dos usuários num sistema com grande conjunto de informações. Está técnica foi amplamente explorada e, junto com o projeto Tidia-Ae, serviu como base para a criação do modelo I2P. Este trabalho define e propõe o modelo I2P baseado em métricas de Interesses, Preferências e Popularidade obtidas no relacionamento entre os usuários e os recursos do sistema. Estas métricas fornecem o embasamento para oferta de recursos adequados às necessidades dos usuários num WbE-S. O cálculo para oferta de recomendação é realizado com a técnica de Filtragem Colaborativa e, assim, a personalização é oferecida de forma colaborativa, considerando o aprendizado em grupo.

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Online schooling is the newest form of education and it is quickly gaining popularity. However, this educational format also comes with one of the challenges that has always been present in schools, which is academic dishonesty. In the English Language Arts content area, academic dishonesty is most often manifested as plagiarism, however, cheating on online quizzes or exams still exists. Although this issue has always been present in English classes, it is becoming more of a concern because of the vast number of technological resources available to students including websites with pre-written papers and the various methods students can now use to instantly communicate with each other. This study combines and synthesizes a literature review and a survey of secondary online English educators at Florida Virtual School to give their perspective on aspects of cheating and plagiarism in online English education including a comparison between online and face to face academic dishonesty, reasons students cheat or plagiarize in online education and attitudes toward academic dishonesty, how students cheat and plagiarize in online classes, how teachers detect academic dishonesty in their online classes, consequences and policies of academic dishonesty in online education, and preventing academic dishonesty in online education. The overall new finding, from comparing both the literature review and the FLVS survey results, was that academic dishonesty in online education is not vastly different from academic dishonesty in face to face classrooms; therefore, academic dishonesty in the online environment is not as much of a mystery as commonly perceived. The survey did, however, expand the knowledge about online academic dishonesty at the secondary level, and specifically in the English Language Arts content area.