Browsing by Subject "intentions"
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Item Popular Television and Visual Culture: Intentions and Perceptions of Aliens in America(2010-10-12) Sourdot, Ludovic A.This study examined the intentions of a group of individuals who created the sitcom Aliens in America broadcast on the CW Network in 2007-2008 and the ways in which three separate groups (bloggers, TV critics and local television viewers) perceived the show. In doing so I attempted to uncover the pedagogical implications of these intentions and perceptions for visual culture studies. I used a qualitative approach to conduct this study. I gathered interviews the creators of the show gave to media outlets in 2007 and 2008. I also gathered data from three other distinct groups for this study. First, I conducted focus group interviews with 13 individuals who watched and discussed their perceptions of Aliens in America. Second, I surveyed the perceptions of bloggers through a narrative analysis of postings published on the CW network website in 2007-2008. Thirdly, I sampled reviews of the show by TV critics to learn about their perceptions of the show. This study uncovered three key findings. First, the existence of a gap or disconnect between the ways in which the show was intended by its creators and how it was perceived by selected audiences. The second major finding was the unexpected level of engagement with the show exhibited by bloggers and focus group participants and their deep connection with some of the characters. The third finding involved the use of audio cues in some episodes of the series and its possible influence on viewers to react in a certain way to specific situations. These findings have specific implications for visual culture studies. First, the show presents an immense potential for use with seasoned educators during workshops. Second, these findings indicate that the use of audio cues in TV shows is problematic for younger audiences and requires more media literacy to take place in the art education classroom. Third, teacher education programs could use the show to train pre-service teachers and help them relate to the type of television programming their students are engaging with on a daily basis.Item Using a theory of planned behavior approach to assess principals' Professional intentions to promote diversity awareness beyond the level recommended by their district(2009-05-15) Landeck, Edith SuzanneThe increasing population diversity in the United States and in public schools signifies a need for principals to promote diversity awareness as mandated by principal standards. A means to quantify and measure the principals? diversity intentions empirically is required. This study researched the possibility that the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) could provide a theoretical basis for an operation measurement model. The instrument for the study was an electronic survey administered via e-mail to a random sample of 151 principals. This instrument incorporated the Professional Beliefs About Diversity Scale (Pohan & Aguilar, 2001) with the operationalized General Principal?s Diversity Model and the Professional Diversity Intentions sub-models. Three research questions guided the study: 1) Can a theory of planned behavior approach be used to assess school principals? professional intentions to promote diversity awareness? 2) What are the intentions of Texas principals to promote diversity awareness in general and among the five diversity dimensions of disabilities, gender, language, racial/ethnic, and social class in their campus community? and 3) Do these intentions differ among five demographic characteristics of race/ethnicity, gender, age, degree, and campus type? Findings of the study were: 1. The results of this study provided the scientific validation that the TPB approach can be used to assess public school principals? professional intentions to promote diversity awareness. 2. At present, Texas principals? intentions are only slightly more positive than the neutral midpoint, a 3.38 average score out of a possible 5.00 regarding intention to promote diversity awareness. Frequency analysis of the submodels indicated positive intentions for Gender (58 cases or 38.41 percent); Race/Ethnicity (78 cases or 51.66 percent); Social Class (79 cases or 52.32 percent); and Disabilities and Language each had 89 cases (58.95 percent). 3. Principals? intent to implement diversity decreases with age and higher academic degree held. 4. Hispanic principals are more likely than African American or White principals to promote diversity awareness. This study concluded that a Theory of Planned Behavior approach as operationalized in this study may be used to assess school principals? professional intentions to promote diversity beyond the level recommended by their district.Item Visitor perceptions of alternative transportation systems and intelligent transportation systems in national parks(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Dilworth, Virginia AnnThis dissertation examines the potential use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and alternative transportation systems (ATS) in national parks. Visitors at two of the national park units in California, Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GOGA) and Sequoia and Kings Canyons National Parks (SEKI), were surveyed during May and July 2002 regarding their attitudes and intentions toward a variety of transportation and travel planning items (including ITS and ATS tools). There were three principal areas of inquiry: attitude toward transportation and travel planning tools, likelihood of using transportation and travel planning tools, and the difference between intentions for using tools before arriving at the study parks and while at the study parks. The results revealed several key findings. First, there was substantial support for the relationship between attitudes and intentions. Furthermore, both experience with technology and attitude toward technology were predictive of intention to use technology in the study parks. Third, there was a significant difference between the attitudes and intentions of visitors to an urban park (GOGA) and visitors to a rural park (SEKI). In particular, GOGA respondents perceived alternative transportation (e.g. shuttle, public bus, park and bike) as more appropriate than did SEKI respondents. Fourth, while some support was found for a relationship between one of the ITS goals, safety, and attitude toward ITS tools in national parks, there was no support for the relationship between other ITS and ATS goals (e.g. reduction of congestion) and attitudes toward or intent to use these tools in national parks. Finally, there was a significant difference between the types of tools respondents would use before arriving at and while at the study parks. Technology such as the Internet was more likely to be used before arriving at the parks. Following from diffusion of innovations theory, changes in perception toward these tools, as well as possible changes in the likelihood that they will be used in national parks, may be monitored by future research.