Description: This study analyzes the satisfaction of doctoral students in the joint doctoral program in Christian higher education between Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) and the University of North Texas (UNT). The study focuses on the 18 students who have been identified as advanced participants in or graduates from the joint program from its inception in 1997 through its 10-year mark in 2007. Fourteen of the 18 eligible students agreed to participate in this study for a 77.8 % response rate. The doctoral students completed a survey that was created using a study of Garrett in 2006 of doctoral students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and of McLaughlin in 2002 of graduate students in Christian education at DTS. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the joint doctoral program in higher education between both institutions meets the expectations of the students and prepares them for the range of careers that they then pursue. The study offers a number of findings surrounding the five research questions and offers several conclusions and recommendations for further research. The study concluded that the surveyed participants were immensely satisfied with their education experience thus assuming that the joint program does meet expectations ...

Description: This research investigated a neglected problem - interruption of groups by agent advisory systems. The question was whether interruption by the agent advisory system was beneficial. A survey of literature in four areas is included in this dissertation. The areas surveyed were Agents, Online Help, Computer Supported Cooperative Work(CSCW) and Awareness in CSCW. Based on the review, a human subject experiment was conducted. The study investigated whether the style of agent advisory interface improved the performance of group members. There were three sets of groups, a control set that did not have advisory agents, a set that had system provided advisory agents and a set that had group customized advisory agents. The groups worked together using a CSCW application developed with GroupKit, a CSCW toolkit. The groups with group customized advisory agents used an Agent Manager application to define advisory agents that would give them advice as they worked in the CSCW application. The findings showed that the type of advisory agents did not significantly influence the performance of the groups. The groups with customized agents performed slightly better than the other groups but the difference was not statistically significant. When notified that advice was issued, groups with customized agents ...

Description: Traditionally, K-5 students' writing has had a primarily academic aim-to help students master concepts and express themselves. Even if students take a professional writing course later, they typically do not have the opportunity to practice-over the long period of time mastery requires-the non-academic writing skills they will be required to use as part of their jobs and in their civic life. Based on a limited K-5 study, Texas' McKinney Independent School District is doing a good job of preparing students at the elementary-school level in the areas of collaboration and presentation. A fair job of helping elementary-school students understand the communication situation, define audience, clarify purpose, gather and evaluate resources, and test usability. [And] a poor job of helping elementary-school students with analysis and organization. With their teachers' help, K-5 students eventually grasp the communication situation and can broadly identify their audience and purpose, but they do not appear to select words, format, communication style, or design based on that audience and purpose. Their writer-based focus affects their presentations as well, although they do present frequently. If teachers routinely incorporated audience and purpose considerations into every aspect of communication assignments (format, communication style, design), students would be better prepared for ...

Description: JAC interview with Mary Belenky discussing collaboration, composition, and women's ways of knowing in relation to writing, philosophy, and rhetoric.

Description: This dissertation explores the collaborative process and use of language that went into the creating the United States Constitution in 1787. From a technical communication perspective, the collaborative process explored did not develop any new theories on collaboration, but instead, allows scholars to track the emergence of a well-documented America collaborative process from the early period of the developing American nation on a document that has remained in use for over 235 years. in addition to examining this collaborative process, the author also discusses the use of passive voice and negative language in the first article of the Constitution.