Useful and Challenging Characteristics of Web-Based Training: Comparing Perceptions of U.S. and Korean Employees
Employees who participate in web-based training (WBT) often have perceptions of course effectiveness that differ from course designers. The focus of this presentation is to report those characteristics of WBT that employees of two major corporations, one in the US and one in South Korea, indicate as helpful or challenging to their success. The purpose of this study is to investigate the components of the WBT that employees recognize as helpful in their learning process and the components of WBT that students identify as challenging. To guide this research, there are three primary research questions: What WBT components do US and South Korean employees recognize as helpful in the learning process? What WBT components do US and South Korean employees recognize as challenging? How do perceptions of WBT differ among US and South Korean employees?
Faculty Members' Informational Needs and their Methods of Access to information in Isfahan University of Medicals Sciences
Introduction: Faculty members' needs to information and their awareness towards these needs, is of special importance. So that, this study was performed to determine the priority of faculty members' informational needs and their method of access to information in order to improve the efficacy and the procedures of supply, collection, and organization of information in informatics centers and libraries of the university. Methods: In a descriptive cross sectional study in the year 2007, all faculty members of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (616 faculty members in 60 educational departments) were studied. Data was gathered using a valid and reliable researcher made questionnaire. Then, the data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics and Spearman correlation coefficient. Results: According to the findings, the majority and the most important priorities of information resources included: print books, print journals, and specialized databases. The most familiarity with and the most applicable methods of access to information were electronic mail, workplace library, home page of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, search engines, and free on line medical databases. There was a correlation between easy access to information in workplace’s library, the coverage of needed information resources, and population’s satisfaction with the coverage of needed information resources in school libraries and their usage. Conclusion: Considering the limited usage of libraries’ electronic and new resources by faculty members, it is recommended to plan for faculty members' education which may lead to the more use of new information resources.
The Effects of Students' Computer-Based Prior Experiences and Instructional Exposures on the Application of Hypermedia-Related Mental Models
The focus of this study was for students using an extensive hypermedia environment to state how the program's features, tools, or commands reflected four theoretical constructs: 1) semantic networks, 2) concept maps, 3) frames/scripts, and 4) schemata. Two exercises were created: 1) context-weak and 2) context-strong. It was found that, when the context was strong, the students cited more semantic networks and concept maps than when the context was weak. They, however, cited more frames/scripts and schemata when the context was weak than when the context was strong. In addition to viewing the four construct-models individually, the results were interpreted when establishing a linear construct-models group (semantic networks and frames/scripts) and a nonlinear construct-models group (concept maps and schemata). Results were also interpreted when grouping the construct-models as information-structure construct-models (semantic networks and concept maps) and as user-practiced construct-models (frames/scripts and schemata).