The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there were significant differences in student success in face-to-face and online biology courses as categorized by gender, major, and age; and as measured by lecture grades, lab grades, and final course grades. The data used for analyses included data from 170 face-to-face sections and 127 online sections from a biology course during the fall and spring semesters beginning fall 2008 through spring 2011. Researchers have reported mixed findings in previous studies juxtaposing online and face-to-face course delivery formats, from no significant differences to differences in grades, learning styles, and satisfaction levels. Four research questions guided this study with data analysis involving t-tests for independent groups and chi-square tests. This researcher noted significant differences in the results of this study: grades, success rates by gender, success rates by health and nonhealth majors, and nontraditional age (≥25) success rate were higher for students in the face-to-face courses; and the attrition rate was higher for students in the online course sections. There was no significant difference found in the success rate for traditional age (<25) students in the face-to-face sections compared to those in the online sections.

This thesis explores the available resources and research pertaining to the process of athlete monitoring as well as how this information can be used to build an internet based athlete monitoring system. There is currently no system available that provides proper communication tools while also providing the means to track numerous variables to include strength and conditioning programs, performance testing, competition performance, injuries, therapy, pharmaceuticals, medical procedures, psychological status, and academic standing. The objective of this thesis is twofold. First, is to review the literature and determine the needs of a web based athlete monitoring system. Second, is to provide a business plan that will be used in the process of web development and raising capital. This thesis has identified the needs of a web based athlete monitoring system, a business plan for commercial use has been created, and based upon this business plan web development is currently in progress.

This study examined the virtual interactions between novice teachers and their mentor using web-based tools such as blogging and instant messaging. The purpose of the study was to determine the nature of online communication and how web-based tools function in the mentoring process. The mentor/researcher created an online website where novice teachers and their mentor interacted by blogging, instant messaging, and virtually sharing digital resources and ideas for teaching literacy. As the novice teachers interacted on the website, the mentor/researcher conducted an online survey and kept digital records of all blogs and instant message sessions. Later, participants were interviewed and a researcher reflection log was examined to answer additional questions about how web-based tools could be used in the mentoring process. Analysis of the data showed that using web-based tools for virtual interaction provides meaningful mentoring opportunities and creates a platform for authentic discussion. However, the need for face-to-face communication in the mentoring process is still critical and not all novice teachers are comfortable with and interested in using this type of platform for communication. In order to use web-based tools effectively in the mentoring process, mentors must carefully consider their own knowledge of the tools, their time constraints and the interests, knowledge level and motivations of the novice teachers with whom they work.

In the field of instructional technology critical thinking is valued both as a practice for those in the field and as a skill or habit to teach and measure. However, traditional conceptions of critical thinking are limited in their usefulness and restricted to particular kinds of thinking and reasoning. Conceptions of critical thinking in instructional technology are dominated by these traditional perspectives. Missing is a substantive dialogue on the nature of critical thinking. despite the fact that such dialogue is a part of critical thinking scholarship outside of instructional technology. One of the primary limitations of traditional critical thinking is the failure to emphasize the recognition and analysis of underlying assumptions. Assumptions underlie every theory and practice in any field of discipline. Critical thinking itself cannot be practiced without the influence of assumptions, both acknowledged and implicit. In order for a critical thinking approach to facilitate analysis of assumptions it must be sensitive to the characteristics of assumptions and the roles assumptions play in everyday life. For this thesis, I propose a model of critical thinking that involves principles and practices that aid the professional in recognizing and evaluating assumptions, revising assumptions when needed, and adapting practices to align with assumptions. Such critical thinking in instructional technology has the potential to improve the practice of current theories, advance theories in the future, and guide practitioners in decision-making.

Intensivvårds- och Anestesikliniken på ett sjukhus i södra Sverige införde år 2005respektive 2007 ett vårdutvecklingsprojekt, Tool for interactive learning and dailyassistance (TILDA), inom ramen för nätbaserat lärande. Via TILDA kanmedarbetare erhålla kompetenskort för medicinteknisk apparatur. Syftet medaktuell studie var att kartlägga olika faktorer som påverkar varför sjuksköterskortar respektive inte tar medicintekniska kompetenskort via TILDA samt attundersöka sjuksköterskornas inställning till att arbeta med medicintekniskakompetenskort via TILDA. Studien var en deskriptiv tvärsnittstudie ochmätinstrumenten var enkäter. Dataanalys utfördes med hjälp av statistikprogrammet SPSS och kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visade attsjuksköterskor som angav att TILDA som inlärningsmetod passade dem bra ochsom tagit medicintekniska kompetenskort var signifikant mer positiva till TILDAsom inlärningsmetod jämfört med sjuksköterskor som upplevde att TILDA sominlärningsmetod inte passade dem och som inte tagit medicintekniskakompetenskort (p=0.006). Merparten (53 %) av sjuksköterskorna ansåg attmedicintekniska kompetenskort var meningsfulla. Främsta orsakerna till attsjuksköterskorna inte tagit medicintekniska kompetenskort via TILDA vartidsbrist och prioritering av andra arbetsuppgifter. Sjuksköterskorna ansåg att dettog tid samt krävdes lugn och ro att arbeta med TILDA. Som inlärningsmetod varTILDA bra men praktiskt handhavande av apparatur saknades. Det var ocksåviktigt för sjuksköterskorna att innehållet i TILDA är relevant och inte alltföromfattande. / In the year of 2005 and 2007, the Intensive care - and Anaesthetic clinic at ahospital in the southern part of Sweden introduced a project, Tool for interactivelearning and daily assistance (TILDA), within the frame of web based learning.The staff members can receive competence cards through TILDA for biomedicalequipment. The purpose of the current study was to survey different factors thatinfluence why nurses take respectively not take biomedical competence cardsthrough TILDA and to investigate the nurses’ attitudes towards working withbiomedical competence cards through TILDA. The study was a descriptive crosssectional designed study using questionnaires. Data analyses were performed byusing the statistic program SPSS and qualitative content analyses. The resultshowed that nurses who stated that TILDA as a learning method suited them andwho have taken biomedical competence cards were significant more positive toTILDA as a learning method compared to the nurses who experienced thatTILDA as a learning method didn’t suit them and who hadn’t taken anybiomedical competence card (p=0.006). The majority of the nurses (53 %)considered that working with biomedical competence cards are meaningfully. Thepremier reasons why nurses did not take biomedical competence cards throughTILDA were lack of time and giving priority to other work duties. The nursesconsidered that working with TILDA took time and demanded peace andtranquillity. As a learning method TILDA was excellent but practical managementof equipment was lacking. It was also important for the nurses that the content inTILDA is relevant and not too extensive.

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There is a recognized state and national shortage of Career and Technical (CTE) teachers; in certain school districts or by subject area, it is defined as a "Critical Shortage". At the same time, both statewide and nationally, the number of teacher preparation programs for Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers has decreased. To alleviate the shortage and increase access many Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation programs use the web. This study examined retention rates in courses from Fall 1997 through Fall 2003 within web-based courses in a CTE teacher preparation program at the University of Central Florida to identify factors associated with student retention. Three research questions emerged from the primary question: Are there factors associated with retention rates in web-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation courses? (a) Is gender associated with retention rates in web-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation courses? (b) Is ethnicity associated with retention rates in web-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation courses? and (c) Is age associated with retention rates in web-based Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation courses? Enrollees were non-admitted students seeking initial Career and Technical Education (CTE) school district certification as well as admitted students seeking state certification and/or a Bachelors degree. Of the 2371 enrollees in eleven (11) web-based courses during 74 course offerings from Fall 1997 through Fall 2003in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher preparation program at the University of Central Florida, a large metropolitan public university, 92.1% were retained. Three demographic variables, gender, ethnicity and age were compared, to evaluate retention. The categorical data were analyzed using Chi Square Test of Independence.

This study was designed to examine whether a person's prepositioned cognitive style influenced learning achievement in a visually-oriented task for an online learning environment in higher education. Field dependence-independence was used to identify individuals' cognitive styles. A true experimental study was conducted in the fall 2005 term at the University of Central Florida. This researcher followed Dwyer and Moore's research (1991, 2002) and divided learners into three groups (field dependent [FD], field neutral [FN], and the field independent [FI] students). Eighty-three preservice teachers participated in this study; the data from 52 of the FD and the FI participants were analyzed to answer research questions. The findings in this study supported those in the literature review; students from both FD and FI cognitive styles performed equally well in online learning environments. In addition, for providing introductory-level instruction on visually-oriented tasks in an online learning environment, instructions which emphasized an FD approach benefited both FI and FD students in their knowledge-based learning achievement. In this approach, extra cues and sequence of content might have been the reasons that students had higher scores on their knowledge-based learning achievement and satisfaction levels. The findings of this study also indicated that students could demonstrate higher performance-based learning achievement if they had more experiences on the subject matter and higher knowledge-based learning achievement if they felt the instructions were easy to follow and the workload of the module was manageable. Based on the findings and conclusions, the recommendations are: (1) A larger sample size is needed to generalize the findings of the study; (2) In this study, student-to-student and teacher-to-student interactions might affect students' learning achievement. Future studies should consider those interactions as factors and examine their effect on students' learning achievement.

Innovations in information technology have played an important role in the way business is conducted. Technology innovations have great impact on tourism destination marketing organizations such as convention and visitor bureaus, since they are highly dependent on information and timely distribution of it to the public. Information technology innovations such as the Internet allow CVBs to perform their marketing functions in a more efficient manner. The implementation of web-based marketing functions is impacted by organizational characteristics that either foster or hinder their implementation (Thong, 1999; Tornatzky & Fleischer, 1990; Wang & Fesenmaier, 2006; Zhu & Kraemer, 2005). Information technology innovations have been adopted by organizations in different levels of sophistication. Since the main function of a CVB is the promotion of a destination technologies that facilitate this process are important to this type of organization. Unfortunately, the marketing practice of American CVBs is still dominated by principles of mass marketing by communicating the same message to all consumers. As a result, the use of websites by American CVB has been limited to information provision functions and has lost opportunities to build relationship with customers through additional web-based marketing activities. This study proposes that CVBs should use web-based marketing activities to attract and retain relationships with customers. This study provides two main contributions to the existing literature: a) examines web-based marketing functions from a relationship marketing perspective and b) examines the impact of organizational characteristics on the sophistication level of web-based marketing functions. The use and effectiveness of web functions and its applications were examined. The results showed that the majority of the CVBs focus the use of their website to provide information. A standard multiple regression was used to investigate the impact of the organizational factors on the different web functions. The results of the regression show that size, financial resources and management team's technological expertise are the only factors that impact the level of web functions implemented by CVBs.

A common form of training or education evaluation involves the examination of course participant reactions towards various aspects of the course for summative evaluation purposes. Participant reactions have been examined within the framework of a comparison between online and face to face courses often with a slight positive weight towards online courses (Sitzmann et al., 2006). Past research on this topic has denoted a need for studies examining the relationship between objective course characteristics and participant reactions. This paper seeks to examine the relationship between participant reactions of a sample of geographically disbursed teachers enrolled in a large, national professional development company and objective course characteristics as communicated by course syllabi within a framework of comparison between online and face to face courses. The delivery format, knowledge base, specificity of course objectives, and student interaction levels were all related to some degree to various participant reactions, although the effect sizes were notably small. In many cases, an interaction between the delivery format and objective course characteristic in question influenced the participant reaction. Objective course characteristics as communicated by the syllabi appeared to be major predictors of participant reactions within the face to face courses that were examined, but not for the online courses. Course development stakeholders are recommended to pay attention to the course syllabus design process and craft quality syllabi that communicate relevant information while concurrently anticipating potential participant reactions. Organizations may be able to align the outline for instruction or “contract” as presented by the syllabus with recommendations as offered by participant evaluations so as to instill consistent expectations within the participants and maximize positive reactions towards the courses within which they are enrolled