Volume 3, Number 4 1997
Contents
An Interactive, Networked, Asynchronous, Student Evaluation System: Architecture and Field Studies
Mimi M. Recker and John Greenwood 327Abstracts
An Interactive, Networked, Asynchronous, Student Evaluation System:
Mimi M. Recker
UTDCmimi.recker@vuw.ac.nz
John Greenwood Graduate School of Business and Government Management Victoria University of Wellington P.O. Box 600 Wellington, New Zealandjohn.greenwood@vuw.ac.nz
As the number of courses offered via advanced telecommunications technologies continues to increase, so does the responsibility of properly evaluating the quality of the course content, activities, and delivery mechanisms. At many universities, courses are evaluated via student evaluations. This paper describes a project at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) that uses the World Wide Web as an architecture for conducting student evaluations of courses and teaching and collating their results. We describe the organisational and technical issues that the design of our system needed to address, the system’s architecture and its implementation, and how the implementation attempted to resolve the tension between student anonymity, confidentiality, and privacy while guaranteeing user authenticity. We present results from three trial field studies of the system and conclude with a discussion of future work.
Faculty Perceptions of Distance Education: Factors Influencing Utilization
Pamela Taylor Northrup
University of West Florida 11000 University Parkway Pensacola, FL 32514, USApnorthru@uwf.edu
Distance education is gaining widespread support as a justifiable approach for instructional delivery in postsecondary institutions. However, little research has focused on the perceptions of faculty and their role in the utilization of distance education facilities. Analyzing faculty perceptions of distance education may provide insight into why some higher education faculty choose to adopt distance education for course delivery while others choose to continue with traditional teaching approaches. This study was one of the first to use Roger’s Innovation-Decision Model (1983) to examine the effects of faculty perceptions of distance education for course delivery by the innovation attributes relative advantage, trialability, compatibility, complexity, and observability. One hundred fifty postsecondary education faculty across the U.S., who were aware of distance learning and considered its use, were surveyed. Main effects between awareness and consideration were found with trialability being a significant factor influencing faculty utilization of distance education.
Strategies for Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) Implementation in the Distance Learning Environment
Marlyn Kemper Littman
School of Computer and Information Sciences Nova Southeastern University, 3100 South West 9th Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315,USAmarlyn@scis.nova.edu
ATM is a high speed, high performance, multiplexing and switching technology that has important implications for distance learning. With its unique ability for transmitting multiple types of broadband communications traffic in a seamless integrated environment, ATM can support networked multimedia, virtual reality, and interactive video applications. Despite ATM’s potential for accommodating innovative telelearning paradigms, debate persists in the academic community about whether the time is right to invest in ATM technology. This paper examines ATM capabilities, merits, and limitations. Representative ATM projects in the distance education environment are described. Challenges associated with ATM use in the educational setting are explored. Strategies facilitating ATM deployment for instructional delivery and enrichment are delineated.
Using Networked Information to Create Educational Guided Paths *
Frank M. Shipman III, Catherine C. Marshall, Richard Furuta,
Donald A. Brenner, Hao-Wei Hsieh, and Vijay Kumar
Center for the Study of Digital Libraries and Department of Computer Science Texas A&M University College Station, Texas 77843-3112furuta@cs.tamu.edu
The extensive and encyclopedic materials found on the World Wide Web must be tailored and contextualized to support the instructional goals of education. We have explored the concept of “guided paths,” ordered lists of pages independent of the existing Web structure, and have implemented a prototype, Walden’s Paths. In addition to creating paths, a teacher may annotate the individual pages of a path to provide transition, emphasis, and missing explanation. In addition, some limited interactivity and control over the display of remote information is possible in our prototype. Walden’s Paths works with standard Web browsers and servers so it can be integrated into an educational setting using existing hardware and software.
Factors Related to Teachers’ Adoption of a Two-Way Interactive Distance Education Technology
Sanaa I. Abou-Dagga
Palestinian Curriculum Development Center P.O. Box 719 Ramallah, Palestine, IsraelMary E. Huba
Department of Professional Studies in Education N247B Lagomarcino Hall Iowa State University Ames, IA 50011, USAmhuba@iastate.edu
The purpose was to identify factors related to teachers’ perceived likelihood of using a state-wide, two-way, interactive distance education technology. A research model was developed and tested. Data were collected via survey from 325 teachers who attended inservice training.
Teachers’ attitude regarding use of the technology in their professional role as educators was the primary predictor of their likelihood of using it for instruction. Teachers’ attitude toward using the technology was in turn significantly predicted by their habit of using other technologies, their attitude toward the technology’s educational promise, the strength of their beliefs about positive consequences of using it, and the strength of their beliefs about the influence of the opinions of important others on their use of it. Attitude about use was not related to their attitude toward the technology’s logistical constraints or the strength of their beliefs about negative consequences of using it. Results are discussed in terms of theory and practice.