Date of Graduation

2004

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

The integration of computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies into the higher educational settings have required faculty to change their roles from the direct instructional model to a model based on constructivists' ideas. CMC instructional tools (ITs) have provided a change by shifting a traditional teacher-centered setting into a teacher facilitator environment. Teacher's professional development has become an important task to effectively integrate technology into their courses. Questions concerning the implementation and value of CMC technologies and their impact in higher education are not yet clear. The purpose of this research study was to determine the extent to which CMC technologies promoted the achievement of stated goals and objectives for course taught in higher education. This study was directed by three research questions: (1) In what ways are higher education faculty using CMC technologies to deliver their courses? (2) What is the faculty's primary instructional intent for the CMC technologies they selected for integration into the teaching process? (3) In what ways does the integration of selected CMC technologies promote achievement of stated goals and objectives in their courses? The research study population consisted of 17 higher education faculties from the Trek 21 project at West Virginia University during the year 2001. These participants received technical training, enhanced web-designed courses, worked collaboratively, and prepared instructional resources during a 7-day week period during summer 2001. The data collection was done by survey, course analysis, and interview. Findings indicated that faculty was mainly using CMC technologies to support teaching practices and to improve teacher's productivity. ITs were basically targeted to increase interactivity, open avenues for feedback, and provide online resources but less used for inquiry-based and active learning. Faculty's primary intent to integrate CMC technologies was to create different avenues to communicate with students and to offer them a learning environment that would support students outside the classroom. CMC promoted the achievement of goals and objectives with different degree of success mainly in two different areas: content delivery and course management and less regarding telecollaborative activity structures.

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