Perceptions of Illinois school board presidents regarding selected personal and professional characteristics of their superintendent

Collins, Mark Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The purposes of the study were: First, to identify those characteristics, both professional and personal, that board presidents found essential in their superintendent; Second, to compare and contrast the perceptions of school board presidents in all Illinois public school districts regarding the importance of the identified common professional and personal characteristics; Third, to investigate the degree to which enrollment size, district type---unit or dual, and geographical location---Northern, Central, or Southern Illinois---influenced board presidents' perceptions of the desired characteristics needed of their superintendents. Data were collected by use of a survey questionnaire sent to all public school board presidents that were members of the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) in Illinois. Of the 860 public school board presidents that are members of IASB, 474 responded for a return rate of 55.1 percent. The major findings of the study were: (1) Illinois board presidents identified type of experience (M = 4.20), annual budget responsible for (M = 4.14), and licensure (M = 4.14) as the three most important personal characteristics, as well as personal integrity (M = 4.88), honest/fair standards (M = 4.83), and strong communication skills (M = 4.79) as the three most important professional characteristics that they are looking for in superintendent candidates seeking a position within their districts; (2) board presidents of larger districts and northern districts put a greater emphasis on the leadership characteristics while the smaller districts and central and southern districts emphasized the financial/budgetary aspects of the superintendency; and (3) the type of district (K--8, 9--12, K--12) did not have a great affect on influencing the perceptions of board presidents on the importance of the personal and professional characteristics when selecting a superintendent candidate.

Teaching and developing distance education courses: Issues associated with university faculty benefits

Rhoads, Sandra B Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of the study was to contribute to a better understanding of the development of distance education programs and courses delivered by four-year colleges and universities. More specifically, the study investigated policies and procedures that address faculty benefits associated with teaching and developing distance education courses. The study queried 188 four-year colleges and universities in the United States that offer distance education opportunities. Only universities offering expanded information in the Peterson's Guide to Distance Learning Programs 2002 were selected to be a part of the population. Responses from 93 respondents were analyzed. It was concluded that distance education is relatively new in colleges and universities. Institutions are in varying levels of implementation with respect to developing policies for distance education. Colleges and universities recognized that developing distance education courses requires intensive time and consideration on the part of the faculty. Institutions tend to show an interest in supporting faculty in the extra work and time required to develop high-quality distance education courses. Universities use a variety of means to reward faculty for their involvement in distance education, making it a part of a faculty member's load, overload, or a combination of both. Most institutions used the overload pay model, which rewards faculty in addition to full-time teaching duties with no extra credit toward workload quota. Distance education copyright and ownership issues were also a concern. Recommendations included (a) incorporating a distance education component into curricula designed to train higher education faculty; (b) developing continuing education opportunities for distance education faculty; (c) offering recognition toward tenure and promotion for distance education faculty; and (d) replicating this study using a larger study population.

An examination of the process and effects of a simulated disaster exercise at a midwestern ambulatory outpatient university health services program

Baker, Joe Alden Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Practice has long been viewed as the best way to learn new information and behaviors. It has been the fundamental principle of the American educational system and has been instrumental in planning strategies for the military, the police, fire departments, medical care providers, and many other organizations. Although the value of planning and practice is well-acknowledged, no clear guidelines are given, aside from an absolute minimum that is either suggested by practice or mandated by accreditation bodies, to ensure that healthcare providers are prepared to respond to any emergency in the least amount of time and in the most effective manner. Generally, a thorough evaluation of practice drills is seen as the main criteria for the frequency and content of drills. This study investigated the effect of participation in a simulated disaster drill upon direct service and support staff at a midwestern ambulatory outpatient university health service. Research about the impact of disaster drill participation may help increase the effectiveness of staff during a real disaster situation through an enhanced appreciation of the importance of their role and lead to greater preparedness both at work and at home. Emergency/disaster planning and practice are mandated by medical care accreditation organizations, but often planning and implementation are inadequate due to conflicts in allocation of time and resources. Realistic practice is expensive in both money and staff time; many emergency rooms in rural hospitals are staffed by only one person. Some small colleges and universities have no established health service at all that could respond in a disaster/emergency situation and therefore can not practice. Regardless of disaster preparation, drill practice, resources, and personnel, real disaster/emergency events are unpredictable in nature and scope. Furthermore, staffing at any medical care facility is always dynamic because of the uncertainty about staff availability after-hours, weekends, holidays, and during breaks. Fall semester 2003 provided an opportunity to develop and implement a disaster response workshop and practice a simulated disaster exercise for all staff at an ambulatory outpatient healthcare facility at a major Midwestern university. Staff responses immediately after the drill about disaster preparedness activities at work and at home were compared to staff responses a year later after attending a follow-up video workshop about the previous disaster drill activity.

Student learning outcomes in a computer applications module: Online vs. face-to-face instruction

Harting, Kathleen A Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of the study was to contribute to a better understanding of student learning outcomes in a web-based instructional environment. In addition, the study sought to determine if there was a significant difference between the characteristics of students who chose the entirely online web-based instruction to complete a spreadsheet software application module and those who chose the traditional lecture/demonstration instruction. The problem of the study was to determine if student achievement in a university computer applications course module is influenced by the instructional delivery method selected by the student and to discover if there is a relationship between instructional delivery method and student demographics. A quasi-experimental research design was used to conduct the study using students enrolled in six intact sections of a beginning computer applications course at a Midwestern state university. The study took place during the Microsoft Excel module of the course. There were 95 students who chose to complete this module using strictly online web-based instruction, while 106 students chose a traditional lecture/demonstration classroom setting. Both groups had the same instructional materials, and completed the same assessments. At the conclusion of the module, both groups took two assessments in the classroom: a web-based Excel concepts exam using WebCT and a hands-on Excel application exam. The instrument used to measure student achievement was a spreadsheet concept exam and a spreadsheet application exam. The majority of subjects who participated in this study were female; freshmen; in the 18--19 age group; enrolled for 15 semester hours at the time the study occurred; and had a cumulative GPA between 2.01 and 3.0 using a 4.0 system. Using an independent samples t-test, no statistically significant difference was found between exam scores and instructional delivery method. The only statistically significant difference found related to instructional delivery was the variance of a student's ACT score, which did show a positive correlation based on student's choice of the instructional delivery method. Recommendations included further investigation using an entire course to determine if instructional delivery impacts student achievement within the individual modules and the entire course.

Students readmitted following academic dismissal: Using noncognitive factors to develop a success typology

Summers, Shauna E Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

In 1950, Giesecke and Hancock observed that the decision to readmit students who have been dismissed due to poor academic performance "is made more often than not on the basis of inspired guesswork" (p. 72). The present study sought to answer the question---is there a certain type of student who is successful upon readmission---by heeding Warman's (1956) advice and examining noncognitive variables as represented in students' readmission application essays. Essays were drawn from 140 readmitted students' files in an academic advising unit designed for undeclared students at a mid-sized Midwestern university. Essays were coded pertaining to 16 different noncognitive variables representing students' self-reported behavior prior to suspension, their attributions about their academic difficulties, and other qualities of the essays, and Hope Theory (Snyder, 1991, 2002) was used as a framework to conceptualize students' pathways thoughts and agency thoughts relative to their success following readmission. K-means cluster analyses were used to group individuals according to similarity on the noncognitive variables, and crosstabulations were performed at each of four "success observation points" (SOPs) following readmission to assess how accurately the cluster groups identified "successful" and "unsuccessful" students. For the present sample, noncognitive variables associated with students' plans for improving their academic standing were the most accurate in categorizing students as successful or unsuccessful at three of the four SOPS. The noncognitive variables that most accurately categorized successful and unsuccessful students at the final SOP were: class attendance, interaction with instructors and advisors, utilization of campus resources, pathways thoughts, agency thoughts, essay length, essay grammar, and overall essay presentation. The cluster groups generated by the combinations of noncognitive variables accurately identified 66 of 90 (73.3%) successful students for SOP1, 43 of 57 (75.4%) for SOP2, 33 of 50 (66%) for SOP3, and 22 of 39 (56.4%) for SOP4. Therefore, utilizing strategically chosen noncognitive factors when making important readmission decisions is an improvement over the current system. These results provide evidence that the pathways thoughts and agency thoughts components of Hope Theory (Snyder, 1991, 2002) can be translated into noncognitive variables that seem to be linked to academic success following college readmission.

Privacy policies, fairness, trustworthiness and willingness to transact with firms online

Mollick, Joseph Sudeep Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Concern about information privacy is a major obstacle in the development of trust that can support transactions and cooperative relationships between organizations and their stakeholders such as customers. This research employed a 2x2x2 within-subjects experimental design to explore the effects of customers' informed consent, customers' ability to limit data sharing and access to data, and an organization's secondary use of customer data on customers' perception of an organization's fairness and trustworthiness in managing customers' information privacy and customers' willingness to transact. A covariate based on prior studies that has been used to control variability due to error and accentuate the main effects is customers' negative experience of privacy (NEP). Data were collected from business students at a Southwestern US university. Multivariate analysis of variance, adjusted by a covariate, was used to analyze the data. The results support the hypothesized main effects. Findings from this research have implications for managers, customers, regulators, IS professionals and researchers interested in strategies related to the ethics of business information systems (IS), reputation, and trust relations, which work together as glue for human systems that heavily depend on exchange of sensitive information among.

Effects of model race/ethnicity on responses to print advertising: Do popular culture identification and prejudice make a difference?

Hoon, William Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this research was to explore white non-Hispanic viewers' processing of black and Hispanic race/ethnicity in advertising. Previous research has offered mixed results in white subjects' evaluations of ads with black models, while little research has been done with white subjects' evaluations of ads with Hispanic models. An experiment with a repeated measure design was used to investigate the impact of model race/ethnicity on white attitudes and purchase intentions. Participants saw three print advertisements with Hispanic, black, and white models. Prejudice and a new variable, popular culture identification (PCI), were used as covariates in the experiment. Popular culture identification was defined as the identification with popular culture as represented in the following current media products: television programs, movies, rap or hip-hop music, and mainstream magazines. The sample included 76 white non-Hispanic students attending a Midwestern university. Two theoretical perspectives, Tajfel's social identification theory (1978) and Kelman's (1958) social influence theory, were used in the study. Hypotheses predicted that white participants would favor ads with white models after prejudice and PCI were controlled. Findings indicated that model race/ethnicity was not a salient characteristic for whites. Prejudice was a possible cause for some backlash against non-white models by high prejudiced whites. In addition, PCI was found to have a relationship with consumers' attitudes. The potential for PCI as an explanatory variable in consumer research was discussed.

Audiences' Choice of Direct Broadcast Satellite service in a Rural Television Market : Exploring Adoption Factors

하주용 Southern Illinois University Carbondale 2004 해외박사

The purpose of this study was to examine the adoption of direct broadcast satellite (DBS), a multichannel television programming service and the factors associated with the adoption. Based on the assumption that DBS is an innovative technology in the transmission of multichannel video signals to the home, the study uses the diffusion of innovations theory as its framework. To investigate who adopts DBS, seven adoption factors of DBS were identified based on previous media adoption studies. These factors were audience personality (innovativeness trait and attitude towards technology), television viewing needs (need for entertainment, need for specific program content, and need for local information), media technology ownership, media use (television and Internet use), satisfaction with current television programming services, perceived attributes of DBS (relative advantage and complexity), and socioeconomic characteristics (household income, household size, home ownership, and type of residence). A cross-sectional telephone survey was conducted to test the relationships among the variables. The population for this study was television households in a small rural community, Jackson County, Illinois. Of 856 valid telephone numbers, 302 interviews were appropriately completed and used in the data analysis. The study found that DBS adopters or likely adopters tend to be upscale in income, to own homes, to live in a single family home, and are belong to middle-sized households (about three or four). They have a strong need for specific program content such as movie and sports but are less interested in local information. They have already adopted a great number of communication technologies and spend a considerable amount of time watching television, but are not very satisfied with cable or over-the-air television programming services. In addition, those who strongly perceive the relative advantage of DBS, but who perceive DBS technology as no more complex than cable television, are more likely to choose DBS over cable. The findings generally supported assumptions derived from diffusion theory and the uses and gratification perspective. The primary exception was that no personality factors were found to have a significant influence on DBS adoption.

Culture, technology, and multivocality in an Internet-age organization

Obilade, Anthony O Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2001 해외박사(DDOD)

In this study, I focused on the interconnections of power, technology, and culture in an attempt to understand how students discursively negotiated their own meanings within a university that represents technology as an ideologically neutral communication system that provides equal opportunities for all students to achieve their academic goals. I explored how students discursively negotiated new identities as communication in virtual space reduces student-teacher interaction in traditional classrooms. An ethnically diverse group of 30 students provided the data for this study during more than 40 hours of fieldwork spread over 3 months on the campus of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. I employed multiple methods of gathering data and analyzed participants' e-mail messages and narratives. Participants were generally supportive of technology, although European Americans were more enthusiastic about technology than their African-American and Hispanic counterparts. However, European Americans appeared to trust the communication system, while African-Americans did not trust the system. The perception by African-Americans that instructors were hostile to their communication style may be responsible for their distrust of the system. Participants sent mixed messages about the use of e-mail in classroom contexts. On the one hand, they thought e-mail was great for teacher-student interaction, on the other 24 of the 26 members of focus groups (92%) said computer-assisted classrooms would not improve the teaching-learning situation. In fact 12 of the 26 participants (46%) said the introduction of computer technology into the classroom would actually make them learn less. Finally, there were differences between the African-Americans and European Americans regarding the frequency, content, and style of e-mail communication. This is probably because the rhetorical assumptions of African Americans diverge from instructors' expectations. Participants noted that instructors reacted negatively to the use of African-Americans' high context, indirect style in e-mail messages. Thus, culture may influence one's level of comfort with electronic communication. This university needs to question the rhetoric of progress that surrounds technology and listen more to diverse voices before investing more in electronic communication.

Helping the helpers: Focus groups to facilitate a community-based intervention with caregivers

Meyer, Anne T Southern Illinois University at Carbondale 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Informal caregiving is a silent career. Family and friends provide help to loved ones all across the country, all hours of the day, without any pay. There are an estimated 22 million informal caregivers of older adults in the United States and that number is expected to rise to 39 million by the year 2007 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003). Caregiving can cause a myriad of negative consequences (e.g., Bookwala, Yee, & Schulz, 2000; Vachon, 1999), and interventions designed for caregivers typically target these negative outcomes. The Tele-help Line for Caregivers (Chwalisz & Dollinger, 2002-2008) is a telephone-based intervention for rural southern Illinois informal caregivers of older adults targeting their knowledge, problem solving, social support, and feelings. Researchers have argued that without thoroughly understanding individual caregivers, caregiver interventions will continue to only be average (Bourgeois, Schulz, & Burgio, 1996). Thus, for the TLC program to be most effective to the needs of caregivers in southern Illinois, it was important to access the opinions of the people in those communities. Using focus groups, specific questions were posed about the TLC program, including the intervention components and treatment modalities, factors impacting participation, the research component, and marketing/publicity. Other questions posed to these data included what professionals/consumers expected from community-based interventions and whether participating in a focus group fostered a sense of ownership toward the TLC program. Six focus groups were conducted at churches and with professionals who worked with the aging population. Transcripts from the groups were analyzed using the grounded theory method of qualitative analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1990; 1998). From this process, five overarching themes emerged including a paramount concern for caregivers' and care recipients' welfare, the perception that the needs of the "average" caregiver are not as pressing, reaching clients is a challenging task, there is lack of services for caregivers and older adults in this region, and the importance of "selling" community-based services accurately.