Browsing by Subject "Engagement"
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Item A method for the magic : devising and developing engaged Theatre for the Very Young(2019-05-08) Chambers, Carolina Lorraine; Alrutz, MeganThis reflective practitioner research study explores an artistic and education process for developing engaged and engaging Theatre for the Very Young (TVY). Through this study, the researcher asks the questions: What happens when I center an educational theory in a TVY theatre making process? And what does it look like to intentionally center the play habits, rituals, and relationships of very young people in TVY through performance choices? The researcher examines a perceived tension between artists and educators, both of whom work to center young people, in order to see what happens when theory and practices from arts and education are combined. This study examines a ten-week devising process and subsequent performances of a new TVY piece called Magic Box. The researcher observes and analyses preschoolers’ play as inspiration for the devising and rehearsal, as well as ways that environment and adult intervention shaped youth engagement during the performance. The study concludes with recommendations for both artists and educators to attend to each other’s expertise, and encourages practitioners to include youth voices as dramaturgs for performances intended for them.Item A new proscenium : exploring interactive live performance in a socially distant digital world(2021-05-06) Conard, Jordan Christopher; Bloodgood, WilliamIn the era of virtual entertainment and social distancing protocols, many live entertainment industries are asking how they might create engaging experiences that connect audiences and performers. Is it possible to merge Theatre, Television, and Gaming into a new medium that plays to the strengths of each of these forms? What actions can be taken to successfully combine mediums and maintain liveness? How can we remotely and virtually connect audiences and performers? In a connected world, with entertainment at our fingertips, my curiosity in cross medium entertainment has been given an opportunity, as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, to devise and create a system that would allow for audiences and performers to connect in real-time from anywhere in the world. While the prevalence of producing streamed theatre over Zoom places a temporary band-aid on the problem of being unable to congregate in person; Existing technologies allow for connections to be found for audiences and performers alike in live entertainment, using low latency video streaming, audience voting, bespoke website user interfaces, and audience dictated diverting storylines; audiences and performers can indeed connect via a new spin on live entertainment. While there are inevitably obstacles encountered with emerging technologies and techniques, I conclude the live entertainment industry should explore the convergence of mediums rather than settle for the limitations of virtual Zoom Theatre or recorded Theatre performances. Through a new residency presented by Texas Performing Arts and Fusebox in December of 2020, my collaborators and I, the Frank Wo/Men Collective, explored and designed a new medium that brought together features of theatre, film, television, and gaming. The resulting production revealed that the combination of mediums can in fact create engaging experiences that open up a wild variety of engaging opportunities for the audience and the performers alike. While the COVID-19 pandemic will eventually end, there will be a long-lasting effect on the live entertainment industry as some people may choose to avoid congregating with large groups for years to come. The solutions and explorations presented serve as a starting point for others interested in this live entertainment medium.Item Academic library use and undergraduate engagement and persistence(2013-05) Taylor, Meredith A.; Saenz, Victor B.Once considered the "heart of the university," many academic libraries are facing heightened pressures to prove their relevance and value to administrators, faculty, and students, especially during these times of constrained resources and greater calls for accountability and productivity in higher education. At the same time, colleges and universities are continually striving to understand how their institutional environments affect undergraduate engagement, persistence and, ultimately, degree attainment. As a fundamental co-curricular resource, it is time for academic libraries to start systematically assessing how they affect, either directly or indirectly, their parent institutions' goals of student engagement and persistence. This quantitative study investigated the relationship between the use of an academic library, its physical resources and spaces, and student engagement and persistence at a large, public, research university. This unique study combined institutional and library data sources for analysis, including the results from a large-scale student experience survey with over 13,000 respondents, data from the student information system, and library use data from a variety of library data systems. Descriptive statistics as well as correlations, linear regressions, and logistic regressions were conducted to investigate the relationship between the library-use variables and variables representing sense of belonging and satisfaction, academic engagement, academic disengagement, and persistence. The study found many practically significant, as well as statistically significant, correlations and predictive relationships between the library-use variables and the student outcome variables for engagement and persistence, although most of the effect sizes were small. The small to medium effect sizes re-presented in the results suggest that there a complex relationships between the variables and indicate the need for further research. This study contributes to an area of the literature that has received little attention from previous researchers and demonstrates one approach to creating a unique student-level dataset by combining student experience survey data with institutional data and library use data in order to investigate how the use of library resources and spaces may affect student success outcomes.Item Autonomy and agentic engagement among first-generation college students : exploring resources for psychological need satisfaction(2019-05-07) Freeman, Jennifer Lynn; Schallert, Diane L.Previous research has demonstrated that higher education creates distinct challenges to first-generation students’ well-being and motivation in university. Amid growing interest in psychological interventions to support first-generation students’ well-being in college, this study used the self-determination theory of basic needs as a framework to examine these students’ resources and strategies. Previous research within this framework has emphasized teaching practices to boost student engagement through support for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. However, much remains to be explored regarding students’ active role in need fulfillment and agentic efforts to reshape their learning environments. Beliefs and strategies regarding self-determination have also been linked to orientations toward autonomy satisfaction as asserted (self-reliant) or assisted (reliant on supportive environments and relationships). This study sought to extend our understanding of how inner and environmental resources intertwine in first generation students’ active pursuit of psychological well-being. First-generation students (n=212) were surveyed regarding their beliefs, perceived resources for psychological need satisfaction in college, and agentic engagement. This mixed-method study integrated findings from correlation and regression analyses, used to examine associations between student beliefs, perceived need support, and agentic engagement, with findings from the analysis of qualitative responses regarding students’ salient experiences of need satisfaction or frustration in college. Results demonstrate that first-generation students’ interdependent motives for college may coincide with either asserted or assisted orientations toward experiencing autonomy, but only an assisted orientation was linked to significantly greater overall satisfaction in college. However, alongside supportive teacher practices, the orientation toward asserted autonomy predicted increased agentic engagement in college classes. Participant narratives highlighted how environments and relationships in college life also were connected with first-generation students’ proactive efforts to fulfill their psychological needs. This research develops an understanding of how the college environment, instructors, and learners’ own agentic efforts help nurture first-generation students’ inner motivational resources.Item Classroom working alliance for students with disabilities : differences between special education and general education teachers and association with student engagement(2020-08-13) McClelland, Amanda Marie; Toste, Jessica; Peng, Peng; Sandbank, Micheal; Knowles, ChristenStudents with disabilities (SWD) are at risk for a multitude of negative outcomes including academic failure, behavioral difficulties, and incarceration (e.g., National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2014; Rudasill et al., 2010). Students work throughout their day with both special and general education teachers to support their school progress. Upon entering middle school, additional challenges come in terms of developmental changes as well as changes in the school setting/dynamic, which can be very difficult for students. Positive relationships with teachers may help mitigate some of the risks that these students face (e.g., Hamre & Pianta, 2001). Positive teacher-student relationships (TSR) have been defined as high ratings of closeness and low ratings of conflict and have been associated with increased academics, and engagement (Murray & Zvoch, 2011; Spilt et al., 2012). Students that are more engaged show increases in academic achievement, social skills, behavior, and school success for both SWD and typically-developing students. At the same time, some studies have used measures to extend TSR to include the collaboration between teachers and students, called alliance (e.g., Heath et al., 2007; Rogers et al., 2015). Studies have shown associations between alliance and engagement for SWD from first through sixth grade (Knowles, 2017). The present study extended current research to identify the following: (a) Do student ratings of their classroom working alliance with teachers differ between their special education and general education teachers? (b) Do student ratings of classroom engagement differ between their special education and general education teachers? (c) Are student ratings of classroom working alliance differentially associated with engagement for special education or general education teachers? (d) Are the magnitudes of the relations between student ratings of alliance and engagement different for special education and general education teachers? These questions were addressed by recruiting 20 SWD in middle schools. Individual sessions were held with student and they answered surveys about their special and general education teachers. Results showed that students had higher levels of alliance and engagement with their special education teacher than their general education teacher. Significant differences were found within Emotional Engagement. Findings from this study show that alliance and engagement are moderately associated for special education teachers, while large, significant associations were found for general education teachers. When examined there were small associations between teachers, though most were non-significant. A better understanding of how relationships work across different teachers could impact the way teachers work and interact with their students and work together within the classroom.Item Clickers and classroom engagement : the impact of audience response systems on student attentiveness and engagement(2011-05) Crandall, Jason Robert; Robinson, Daniel H.; Whittaker, TiffanyStudent engagement is a critical component of effective classroom instruction. Many socio-constructive pedagogies, including active learning and peer instruction, depend upon students not only paying attention to, but actively shaping, the learning environment. Student response devices, such as clickers, are thought to increase student engagement by providing students with regular opportunities to check their comprehension or express their opinions. Claims of increased student engagement due to clicker use are often based upon student self-reports and have only a small correlation with observed learning gains or other measures of attentiveness. This paper compared self-report data, pre- and post-test scores, and a direct test of attentiveness to investigate what effect clicker use has on student engagement. Analyses showed that subjects using clickers were significantly slower to respond to tests of attentiveness than subjects in other conditions. This suggests that using clickers affects what students are able or willing to attend to during a lecture.Item Cultura Within : designing workshops and transitional objects that empower young Latina women to persevere in higher education(2016-08) Sibrian, Ana Angelica; Gorman, Carma; Catterall, Kate; Park, JiwonLatinos are one of the fastest-growing ethnic minority groups in the United States. Yet they have the lowest college graduation rate of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. This report documents self-reflective, participatory processes I used, based on my personal experience as a Latina in higher education, to design engaging workshops and transitional objects to support the Latina community at the University of Texas at Austin. I propose that workshops promoting awareness of structural barriers, coaching in self-reflective techniques, and the co-creation of totemic objects that serve as transitional objects and aides-mémoires can empower young Latina women to persevere in higher education. The workshops were designed to use group storytelling, self-reflection and sharing methods to educate and empower young Latinas to create an on-going sense of agency and build stronger communities within higher education.Item Developmental students' levels of engagement and student success in two-year institutions : a study of a suburban community college in Texas(2011-08) Sesay, Marie; Bumphus, Walter G.; Roueche, John; Northcutt, Norvell; Muller, Chandra; Johnson, DreandThe need for development education for first year community college students is a growing trend and has a variety of solutions. Engagement and retention of these students is vital to the success of the student and the college in which they attend. Taking developmental education courses should not be repetitive hurdles for a college student. This study is to establish the level of engagement of community college students who are enrolled in developmental education compared to students not enrolled in developmental education and their levels of success. The study evaluates administrative practices that engage developmental students in 2-year institutions. This study aims at increasing successful outcomes in developmental education students through research. The study of levels of engagement, retention, successful strategies and academic support may be the determining factor of success of developmental education students and the 2-year institution in which they are enrolled. Quantitative analysis will determine if there are significant differences in the engagement levels among first year developmental education students versus first year viii non-developmental college students within 2-year institutions and what institutional practices or academic support initiatives support developmental students’ engagement in 2-year institutions. The instrument used was the 2009 SENSE (Survey of Entering Student Engagement). This tool assists colleges to focus on the “front door” of the students’ college experience. This study uses an independent sample t-test to analyze the responses of students currently enrolled in developmental education courses versus students enrolled in non-developmental courses. The SENSE Survey was administered to students at 120 member community colleges during the fourth and fifth week of the fall 2009 semester. Fall 2009 was the first national administration of the survey. A 20- year community college system in suburban Houston, TX was specifically examined. This study determines the significance of implementation of successful programs and academic support procedures to enhance the college experiences and performance of students enrolled in developmental education, increases more efficient use of college resources, and assists students to complete developmental courses to persist into college level courses.Item Effects of fantasy and fantasy proneness on learning and engagement in a 3D educational game(2015-05) Lee, Jaejin; Liu, Min, Ed. D.; Resta, Paul; Riegle-Crumb , Catherine; French, Karen; Toprac, PaulFantasies are defined as byproducts of human imagination and mental activities to internalize unusual external objective stimulus. In the literature, utilization of fantasy in educational settings promoted intellectual and emotional improvements. However, the research implications from these fantasy research studies are mostly limited to traditional game design and classroom teaching. There are two research purposes in this study. The first is to examine how different types of fantasy and student fantasy proneness influence science learning, factual information acquisition, and game engagement in a 3D educational game environment called “Alien Rescue.” To accomplish this purpose, this research investigated the effects of fantasy type and fantasy proneness on science learning, factual information of alien characters, and game engagement. The second purpose of this study is to investigate student’s perception of the varying types of fantasy. To accomplish the second purpose of the study, this research inquired how student identified each type of fantasy and related his or her past experience to the embodied characteristics in alien characters. The participants of the study were 103 students who used Alien Rescue in four classes as their science curriculum for 10 days. The students in two classes were assigned to a treatment group using models with portrayal fantasy and the students in two classes were assigned to the other treatment group using models with creative fantasy. Employing mixed methods, this study analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data such as surveys and student interviews. The results in the quantitative part of the study showed that portrayal fantasy was effective for science learning, alien information acquisition, and game engagement. Specifically, the students who used portrayal fantasy models showed higher improvement of science knowledge and scored better on both alien information acquisition and game engagement. High fantasy proneness group also showed better game engagement. The finding with qualitative data showed that the students pointed out eight elements in identifying 3D fantasy objects, and those elements were relevant to the design elements that the researcher included in the 3D modeling procedure. The students also showed a perception pattern that they understood 3D game characters based upon previous experience regardless of fantasy type. The findings suggested that portrayal fantasy was effective in enhancing content learning, factual information acquisition, and engagement in educational games because the familiarity of the fantasy elements makes the identification of the fantasy characters easier and faster. However, too deep involvement in fantasy resulted in ineffective and inefficient learning outcomes. The findings also suggested that eight components of 3D models were essential elements in identifying fantasy game characters by learners as well as designing the 3D characters by game designers.Item Engagement in parent-child interaction therapy : the influence of mothers’ adverse childhood experiences(2019-08-15) Chahal, Zohra; Stark, Kevin DouglasAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are early life events associated with negative physical, psychological, and social outcomes. In subsequent generation parent-child interactions, these outcomes are associated with adverse parenting practices. Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an established intervention to mitigate potentially harmful outcomes of adverse parenting. However, poor parental engagement in PCIT can devalue the benefits of the intervention. The proposed study seeks to investigate the predictive role of mothers’ history of ACEs in four PCIT engagement outcomes: treatment completion, attendance rate, homework completion rate, and attitude towards therapy. Descriptive analyses, Student’s t-tests, and linear and logistic regression analyses will be conducted. Implications and future directions to address engagement in PCIT will be discussedItem Highly-engaging community colleges and their successful Hispanic students(2008-12) McLean, Christine Michelle; Roueche, John E.The purpose of this study was to investigate what contributes to Hispanic student engagement and success. The research was twofold, and included 1) a review of highly-engaging and Hispanic-serving community colleges’ programs, practices, and services that contributed to Hispanic student success; and 2) an investigation of Hispanic students’ experiences and relationships that contributed to their success. This was a qualitative investigation to illuminate quantitative data on four colleges across the United States that scored above-average on three or more CCSSE Benchmarks in 2007. Eighteen Hispanic students who were near degree or certificate completion and transfer were interviewed. This research also included Recommendations for Research and Practice, all for the purposes of promoting Hispanic student engagement and success in community colleges.Item Increasing engagement with the supply chain to improve the performance of power sector projects(2019-05-13) Carlosena, Gabriel Raúl; O'Brien, William J.Global and complex supply chains are the norms on capital projects, particularly in the power sector, and better integration of the supply chain is an opportunity to improve project cost, schedule, quality, and safety. In that context, this research wants to identify opportunities that can improve the engagement with the supply chain in power projects and understand the potential of those opportunities to improve the project performance. Based on the review of existent literature and twelve open-ended phone interviews with industry experts representing different stakeholders, eleven opportunities were identified. Opportunities varied from framework agreement with suppliers and modularization to improvements in supplier's contracts and early design freeze. In order to determine the relationship between the opportunities and project performance, a survey was designed, and 30 responses were collected and analyzed. According to the respondents, all opportunities are viable for consideration and have potential to improve project performance, but early involvement of stakeholders, use of standard designs across projects, and better integration of suppliers in Advanced Work Packaging ranked in the top. Overall, the present work provides recommendations that mainly owners and contractors in the power sector can consider in order to improve the engagement with their suppliers. Companies should choose the opportunities that are better for them to implement based on their current involvement with the supply chain, their objectives, and their resources.Item Information triage : dual-process theory in credibility judgments of web-based resources(2010-05) Aumer-Ryan, Paul R.; Dillon, Andrew; Robinson, Daniel H.; Bias, Randolph G.; Rice-Lively, Mary Lynn; Geisler, GaryThis dissertation describes the credibility judgment process using social psychological theories of dual-processing, which state that information processing outcomes are the result of an interaction “between a fast, associative information- processing mode based on low-effort heuristics, and a slow, rule-based information processing mode based on high-effort systematic reasoning” (Chaiken & Trope, 1999, p. ix). Further, this interaction is illustrated by describing credibility judgments as a choice between examining easily identified peripheral cues (the messenger) and content (the message), leading to different evaluations in different settings. The focus here is on the domain of the Web, where ambiguous authorship, peer- produced content, and the lack of gatekeepers create an environment where credibility judgments are a necessary routine in triaging information. It reviews the relevant literature on existing credibility frameworks and the component factors that affect credibility judgments. The online encyclopedia (instantiated as Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica) is then proposed as a canonical form to examine the credibility judgment process. The two main claims advanced here are (1) that information sources are composed of both message (the content) and messenger (the way the message is delivered), and that the messenger impacts perceived credibility; and (2) that perceived credibility is tempered by information need (individual engagement). These claims were framed by the models proposed by Wathen & Burkell (2002) and Chaiken (1980) to forward a composite dual process theory of credibility judgments, which was tested by two experimental studies. The independent variables of interest were: media format (print or electronic); reputation of source (Wikipedia or Britannica); and the participant’s individual involvement in the research task (high or low). The results of these studies encourage a more nuanced understanding of the credibility judgment process by framing it as a dual-process model, and showing that certain mediating variables can affect the relative use of low-effort evaluation and high- effort reasoning when forming a perception of credibility. Finally, the results support the importance of messenger effects on perceived credibility, implying that credibility judgments, especially in the online environment, and especially in cases of low individual engagement, are based on peripheral cues rather than an informed evaluation of content.Item Interrogation outcomes and linguistic style matching(2015-05) Baryshevtsev, Maxim Victorovich; McGlone, Matthew S., 1966-; Pennebaker, James WCooperation is an important aspect of investigative interviews and is usually obtained through rapport-building during questioning. The specific strategies used vary between interviewers, but nonetheless involves actively engaging with the interviewee. Previous research on behavioral mimicry has found that there is a positive association between rapport and mimicry. The current study looked at the relationship between linguistic mimicry and interrogation outcome. Specifically, the interrogations that were analyzed were of professional polygraph examiners questioning subjects about whether cheating occurred during a trivia game. Results showed partial support for deceptive non- confessions matching more at the beginning of the interrogation compared to confessions. Also, there was evidence that linguistic matching increased from pre-confession to post- confession and those confessions that that were initially deceptive tended to increase in mimicry as the interrogation progressed. Results and implications are discussed.Item Joy’s mediating effect on digital consumer engagement with advertising(2022-07-27) Sussman, Kristen Leah; Bright, Laura Frances; Wilcox, Gary B.; Sciarrino, JoAnn; Yeager, DavidFrom a computational perspective, advertisers stand the chance to benefit from a better understanding of a message’s framing effects on behavioral responses to an advertisement. Sentiment analysis, which relies on a text analytic process to determine the opinions, beliefs, and feelings of a speaker directed toward someone or something, has been shown to be useful in determining associations between words and discrete emotions. Surprisingly little research to date has examined the ad framing effects of emotion in an advertisement’s copy or the role that the emotion plays in relation to behavioral outcomes of engagement. Current research exploring discrete emotions tends to live in the news media, science communication, or health communication streams of literature with less attention given to how discrete emotions affect behavioral outcomes in advertising. Even fewer studies have considered the role of emotion in text, aside from examining how terms may evoke an emotion using survey-based methods. To address this gap, I introduce a text analytic process using a real-world advertising sample of Facebook advertisers. Using the NRC lexicon, I use natural language processing to measure the sentiment and emotional frames of a corporate brand advertising sample. Each advertisement was coded for a mean sentiment measure before being measured for discrete word associations of joy. Given the broader theoretical aim of this dissertation and the overabundance of literature focused on the negative effects of media, I focus on the positive emotion of joy and examine its mediating effects on digital consumer engagement with advertising. This dissertation contributes to advertising effectiveness literature, first by conceptualizing engagement behaviors alongside outcomes of advertising processing, and then by arguing for the importance of engagement as a measure of effectiveness in relation to emotions as a frame. My results extend previous emotion advertising literature by showing that joy-frames can mediate outcomes of advertising processing. Specifically, I show that words associated with joy in text mediate outcomes of clicks. Moreover, I show how word associations with positive, discrete emotions can mediate behavioral outcomes of digital consumer engagement with advertising and suggest how these findings can be used in a theoretical and applied manner.Item Knowing your neighbors : an analysis of the social media app “Nextdoor” and human interaction(2019-05) Patton, Emma Ann; Wegmann, Jake; Mueller, ElizabethThe advent of technological advancement in the past decade has radically changed the way people communicate with one another, even those who live next door to us. The online application, Nextdoor, aims to provide a digital space for neighbors to get to know one another, and my study explores the effects of a geographically-based social network on the St. John’s neighborhood in Austin, Texas. Using demographic analysis, the racial and ethnic makeup of the geographic neighborhood was compared to that of the online participants. Posts on the Nextdoor app were analyzed and coded for the themes in their content, and a survey was distributed digitally to the Nextdoor community members to obtain rich qualitative data. My study shows evidence for a racial disparity between the geographic and online community and a fairly monetized community with the most salient theme being for sale and free. Ultimately, my study elaborates the great connectedness available to Nextdoor community members as well as the disconnectedness and division that social media can produce.Item The multidimensional influences of positive emotions on stress, coping, resilience, wellness, and work engagement(2013-05) Gloria, Christian Tolentino, 1981-; Steinhardt, MaryAccording to Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, positive emotions -- such as joy, contentment, and love -- help individuals cope with stress, maintain well-being, and flourish in life. Guided by this theory, this dissertation project conducted three studies which explored the multidimensional influences of positive emotions on stress, coping strategies, resilience, trait anxiety, depressive symptoms, and work engagement. Study 1 examined the mediating role of coping strategies on the link between positive emotions and resilience; in addition, the moderating effect of resilience on the influence of stress toward trait anxiety and depressive symptoms was tested. Study 2 investigated if one's positivity would distinguish differences in their levels of stress, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms. Finally, Study 3 examined whether stress and positive emotions would account for the variance in work engagement, over and above what has been explained by known predictors -- specifically, work meaningfulness and supervisor support. Path analysis, interaction analysis, multivariate analysis of variance, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis were used to test the different models within these studies. A sample of 200 postdoctoral fellows completed the survey (38% response rate). Results showed that a) coping strategies partially mediated the link between positive emotions and resilience; b) resilience moderated the effect of stress on trait anxiety and depressive symptoms; c) the different categories of positivity distinguished differences in experienced stress, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms; d) stress and positive emotions accounted for additional variance in work engagement, above what is already explained by work meaningfulness and supervisor support; and e) positive emotions completely mediated the relationship between supervisor support and work engagement. Findings support the broaden-and-build theory's hypotheses that positive emotions enhance adaptive coping strategies and fuel resilience. The data also demonstrated that resilience protected postdocs from experiencing heightened levels of trait anxiety and depressive symptoms by diminishing their relationships with stress. One strategy to optimize health would be to increase opportunities for postdocs to experience positive emotions, which would subsequently spark the upward spiral toward improved coping, greater resilience, and reduced stress, anxiety, and depression. To promote work engagement, it is important for supervisors to not only be mindful of assigning meaningful work to their employees (or help employees find meaning in their work), but supervisors should also be a supportive leader within a positive workplace environment.Item Museum visitors' self-efficacy and interest in contemporary art(2015-05) Wilson, Lauren Michelle; Schallert, Diane L.; Patall, Erika AContemporary art can pose a particular challenge for museum visitors to interpret, and psychological literature suggests that such challenge to self-efficacy may lower interest (Hong & Lin, 2013; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Schunk & Usher, 2008). This study sought to explore museum visitors’ interpretive strategies, feelings of self-efficacy, and interest. Factors including prior knowledge, interpretation support (e.g., labels), and challenge of artwork were also considered. Results discuss suggestions for museums when displaying works that may be perceived as challenging or unapproachable. Participants included visitors to the Blanton Museum of Art and students at the University of Texas at Austin who were pre-screened for prior knowledge of museums. Sessions occurred during the fall of 2014 and included completing questionnaires while viewing three works in the contemporary galleries. Students also participated in focus groups. Both quantitative and qualitative results confirmed predictions that interpretive self-efficacy and interest are related. Provision of labels did not show significant difference for self-efficacy or interest, but high prior knowledge of art did show increased levels of self-efficacy. A search for meaning and aesthetic observation and preference typically drove participant interpretations; most were highly personal. With low self-efficacy, participants struggled to interpret works and even considered pieces arbitrary. However, they enjoyed being challenged to interpret the work on their own before viewing the label. Participants responded particularly well to the idea of using interactive interpretive devices as a means of building understanding for works to which they may not otherwise be drawn. Overwhelmingly, low-prior-knowledge infrequent visitors wanted clear explanations of the artist's motive for creating the work and wanted the ability to visualize or even mimic the artistic process for creating each piece. Museums striving to increase interest in contemporary art for visitors should prioritize building self-efficacy through supportive interpretive strategies.Item News engagement logics : examining practices of media outlets and their audiences on social networking sites(2020-12-04) Tenenboim, Ori; Reese, Stephen D.; Chen, Gina; Chyi, Hsiang; Johnson, Thomas J; Stroud , Natalie JIn an attempt to build relationships with audience members in the digital media environment, news organizations operate beyond their proprietary platforms. On non-proprietary platforms, such as Facebook, they occupy spaces that are termed here triple-party news-spaces: digital spaces that involve a news publisher, a platform owner, and users. The proposed dissertation seeks to identify and explicate the underlying logics of media production and usage in these spaces. On the production side, it draws on 28 interviews to investigate how 14 news organizations in the United States of America and Israel produce messages for triple-party news-spaces. On the media usage side, it employs a content analysis of 1,600 messages and an analysis of engagement metrics for 157,962 messages to examine to what extent and how news organizations’ messages differ in the modes of engagement they generate: commenting versus sharing versus liking/reacting. By examining media production and usage in triple-party news-spaces, the dissertation develops conceptually and empirically news engagement logics that are employed in these spaces—logics by which news organizations act to evoke audience interaction with their content, and audience members actually interact with it. While audience engagement is generally important for news organizations, it is particularly important on social networking sites where algorithms prioritize posts that generate engagement. In developing news engagement logics, the dissertation uses the theoretical construct of media logics, news value theory and literature on engagement enhancers, and the participatory paradigm in audience research, suggesting that certain content characteristics are associated with each of the examined modes of engagement in more than one country and other content characteristics are associated with particular modes of engagement. The dissertation also suggests that the news organizations under study strive to balance between perceived journalistic imperatives or standards and perceived rules of the social media “game” by combining older and newer logics in selecting content, deciding when to post it, choosing expression style, signaling which content deserves more attention, and determining the organizations’ approach toward user-generated content. Business implications for news organizations and democratic implications for civic life are discussed.Item On-campus and online : the lived experiences of students enrolled in the online courses of a major research university(2015-05) Mayo, Jeffrey Robert; Reddick, Richard, 1972-; Somers, Patricia; Saenz, Victor B; Webber, Michael; Schell, JulieOnline education’s potential to “scale-up” the traditional lecture-based, face-to-face course while maintaining or improving the quality of instruction attracts the attention of university administrators, faculty, and policymakers interested in opening access to higher education and expanding access to faculty experts. However, previous research has focused on distance education and not online education offered through campus-based institutions. As such, this dissertation used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to examine the lived experiences of students enrolled in online courses offered through a major research university (MRU). This study employed student engagement and developmental ecology theories to present the perspectives of 11 students through the analysis of student interviews, journals, and questionnaires; course syllabi; and faculty interviews. The significance of this study lies in its capacity to capture student perceptions and behaviors to better understand how online courses, and specific components of such courses, promote or discourage undergraduate student engagement in the modern research university. The interview and journal data indicated that online courses have the capacity to promote active and collaborative learning, academically challenge students, and contribute to a supportive campus environment at an MRU. Students related an enhanced sense of being independent and responsible for their own learning to online courses’ physical and transactional distance. Further, they considered anonymity as crucial to honest interactions with peers and teaching assistants and strengthened their commitment to one another. With regard to student-faculty interactions, students in the synchronous courses tended to form meaningful connections with faculty through intimate, face-to-face interactions rather than through online activities. The study also found that the perception held by some students that online courses equate to an “easy ‘A’” and mandated course enrollment negatively influenced participants’ investment of time and effort in their online courses. Given these findings, this dissertation calls for instructors and policymakers at major research universities to integrate key online and face-to-face components into online course designs and dedicate the necessary resources to engage students across the physical and transactional gap. For their part, students may consider how settings beget certain behaviors in their selection of physical workspaces and strategically utilize in- and out-of-class activities as active and collaborative learners.