According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project (2002), The Internet Goes to College, all college students began using a computer between the ages of 16-18 and 85% of those college students owned their own computer and had gone online. The Internet had become a staple of college students educational experiencea functional tool (p. 2).
In the Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Cyber Orientation was implemented to provide transfer students the option of participating in an academic orientation using a web-based program rather than attending an on-campus program. Transfer students were chosen for the pilot because they already had experienced college and possessed a cognitive structure to assimilate the information. Most transfer students admitted to Arts and Sciences have already completed 48 credits or two years of college experience. The assumption was made that transfer students either own computers or have access to computers at their current institutions. The participants of Cyber Orientation were self-selected.
The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate Cyber Orientation, the website and process, to determine whether the students and academic advisors have been satisfied with this option and to make recommendations for improvement. The study used responses from a mandatory survey completed by student participants and information gathered from advisors in an informal discussion. The significance of this study was to determine whether a web-based academic orientation program could be implemented successfully to better serve the students and the institution.
As the Arts and Sciences Advising Center prides itself in the service it provides to all students, and especially in the human contact, which is at the core of its mission, successful implementation of this web-based program is an innovative approach to a traditional process. Information regarding web-based academic orientation also contributes to the body of literature in the field of academic advising and exemplifies the integration of technology while upholding traditional processes and maintaining the student at the center of the focus.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04252006-104716 |
| Date | 26 April 2006 |
| Creators | Mowery, Barbara Jane |
| Contributors | Diane Davis, Louis Berry, Glenn Nelson, Louis Pingel |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04252006-104716/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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