Organizational culture is a primary component of functional decision making in universities.  In order for administrators, faculty, and staff to effectively coordinate an efficient academic environment for health education, continuing cultural assessment and change are necessary.  The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of culture at the university level.  Specifically, 50 students from two health education courses at Rowan University were studied with regard to three main levels of culture with respect to the Health and Exercise Science Department:  Artifacts, Espoused Values, and Basic Underlying Assumptions.  The Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) was utilized to determine how departmental culture affects the perceptions, thoughts, and feelings of students.  In this paper, results of the OCAI were examined in terms of how students rated the current departmental culture, and what they would prefer it to be in five years.  It was hypothesized that student perceptions of departmental culture would positively coincide with the overall mission, goals, and objectives of the department and university.

This paper expands upon previous research conducted on the effectiveness of implementing Microsoft MovieMaker (a digital video editing program) into the classroom.  Sixty-one graduate and twenty undergraduate students from King’s College and Rowan University took part in this study.  Using the MovieMaker software to design student created tutorials on material learned in class, participants uploaded finished movie tutorials to the Internet-based website “You Tube” with the goal of providing classmates with a distance education learning program.  With the ability to create and upload coursework using graphics and animation, new opportunities exist for teachers and trainers to expand their teaching methodologies while catering to a variety of learning styles.  The purpose of this study was to investigate student perceptions of the effectiveness of the You Tube tutorial project on their learning so that a future educational workshop to teach the basics of creating and uploading student video tutorials may be implemented.  A survey containing both quantitative and qualitative components was administered at the completion of the You Tube project to assess student perceptions of this teaching strategy. Quantitative analysis involved the use of frequencies and descriptive statistics, while qualitative analysis consisted of grouping open-ended responses into the following themes:  1. Application of You Tube; 2. Major Strengths of the You Tube Project in the Learning Process; 3. Instructor Effectiveness in the Learning Process; and 4. Suggestions for Improvement to Enhance Learning.   Results showed that the You Tube tutorial methodology had a significant positive effect on perceived student learning.

An understanding of the relationships among the integration of computer technology by women educators in higher education and effective teaching could have a significant impact on education. Pennsylvania Universities and Colleges have made their commitment to educational technology and provided support for the implementation of such technology. Currently, we have little empirical evidence to show that the use of computer technology by women educators actually does improve learning. Incumbent upon this commitment to educational technology, women educators have a right to ask if their investment of time and effort in learning how to use and implement the technology will produce significant benefits for their students. This research developed a survey instrument to rank statements and gain an understanding of the perceptions of women in higher education concerning the integration of computer technology and teacher effectiveness. The methods used to develop the instrument involved the analysis of relevant research, construction of appropriate items, identification of the population sample, validity and reliability, and pilot testing. The population under study was limited to two Colleges and one University in Northeastern Pennsylvania during the spring and fall semesters of 2007. The results indicated that the women surveyed felt teacher effectiveness is most strongly associated with the availability of technology tools to collect data for the purposes of instructional planning.  Conversely, participants felt that teacher effectiveness was not strongly associated with lesson sequences that integrate technology resources, implementation of procedures consistent with school policies that protect the privacy of electronic student data, and demonstration of ethical behaviors regarding the use of technology.

The purpose of this study was to develop a knowledge base on factors associated with performance-enhancer usage among female athletes at the high school level in order to identify markers for a future prevention-education program.  The study used a pretest-only, between-subjects Likert Scale survey to rank the importance of internal and external pressures that may lead to performance-enhancer usage among this population.  Subjects included 122 female athletes from top-ranked sport programs at 7 New Jersey high schools.  Descriptive and quantitative statistics were used to analyze the data at a p<.05 significance level.  The Chi Square Test of Homogeneity, Spearman Correlation Coefficient, Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA, and Scheffé Post-Hoc Test were used to analyze associations between the nine survey issues and five levels of importance.  Results indicated that subjects rated the pressure to win and self-induced competitive pressures as the two most important factors in leading to performance-enhancer usage.  Chi-Square results showed significant differences in the level of importance for each of the nine issues presented, while the Spearman Correlation revealed several correlations among certain issues.  The Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA showed significant differences in ranks when data were grouped by school and sport.  Post-Hoc analysis supported findings of the Kruskal-Wallis One-Way ANOVA.  This study provided descriptive and quantitative data that added to the existing research.  The findings may be used by health educators and athletic coaches for performance-enhancer prevention-education programs.

No abstract