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Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have come to dominate internet usage in recent years. Facebook alone has over 550 million users as of Fall 2010, while Twitter claims over 100 million users. While academia was fairly quick to adopt online education models in the 1990s, it has thus far not yet embraced social media portals as a way to deliver course content and engage students. This may be due to uncertainties regarding student perceptions about social media, its purposes, and its applications. In this research, the Social Media Affinity Scale was created and deployed to measure perceptions about social media. The results of this scale provide a measure of readiness that university academics could use to determine whether social media might be used effectively and efficiently among students. Results of the study showed that, among the students surveyed, no significant differences exist between males and females in their internet usage, social media usage, and beliefs about social media sites in general. Based on these results, a roadmap for social media integration is proposed for college classes. [The article contains a bibliography.]

Two sections of the Principles of Management course were examined to compare student outcomes based on course delivery method. The first section was a traditional F2F class, while the second section was parallel cohorts of students meeting in two separate locations, but linked by ITV (Interactive Television). The professor appeared once per week in each location, effectively resulting in a hybrid synchronous ITV delivery in which students were only in the same room as their professor 50% of the time. Regression analysis, t-tests and correlations were performed on both total points earned and student scores on an assessment exam. Results showed there to be no significant difference in student outcomes between the two delivery methods.

In recent years, males and females have demonstrated fairly equal amounts of internet usage, but females have demonstrated higher usage of social media sites. These observed differences served as the impetus for the current study. A survey was conducted in early 2010 among college students to assess whether differences still occur between males and females, and specifically with regard to social media usage. In order to assess these phenomena, the Social Media Affinity Scale was created and deployed. Results of the study showed that, among the students surveyed, no significant differences exist between males and females in their internet usage, social media usage, and also beliefs about social media sites in general. Given that students have overwhelmingly adopted social media, we propose that there is now an opportunity to leverage social media in college courses to deliver content and engage students in ways not previously possible. A bibliography is included.

Assessments have risen in prominence in colleges of business, in response to requirements of accrediting agencies. Among the forms of assessment are embedded exams within courses, often in the form of multiple-choice tests near the end of the semester. These tests can be stand-alone comprehensive exercises, or comprise a small portion of a larger exam. Performing well on exit exams such as the ETS is highly dependent on how well students did in their foundational courses. This study examines outcomes assessment scores in 11 sections of the Principles of Marketing, Management, and Business Law courses at a southwestern university. These courses were taught by a variety of full-time and part-time faculty. Models were constructed based on demographic variables as well as native ability, effort, and type of instructor. The results indicate that part-time instructors in these courses had exam scores 15% lower than those of students in courses taught by full-time professors. Furthermore, it was observed that students with adequate native ability (as measured by their ACT score) and effort (as measured by their cumulative GPA), could overcome the effects of poor instruction by part-time faculty.

This research explores the impact of students' ability to adjust to school environment at a residential accelerated upper-level high school for math and science. Students in their junior and senior years were given the DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness) behavioral instrument and tracked over a two year period. The DISC has been used in job profiling to help companies make better hiring decisions such that employee retention and job success are maximized. The DISC identifies a person's adapted behaviors based on what he or she believes about the environment, and also identifies the person's natural or preferred behaviors. Stress from the environment can be measured by reviewing the difference between the adapted and natural behaviors. Dissimilarity between the adapted and natural behavioral styles would indicate more stress related to the environment. The individual difference scores for the four DISC components were added to create a new variable, TotalD. The study used multiple regression analysis to assess the impact of TotalD scores on the outgoing GPA of the student. Results indicate that the greater the TotalD score, the lower the outgoing GPA. Further analysis showed via t-tests that students with an outgoing GPA of 3.60 or higher were most affected by this TotalD score. This research illustrates that the DISC can be used with relatively young subjects to determine how well they are adjusting to the environment. Findings can also be used to help improve retention at the institution and better predict those who may be most at risk for attrition.

Neuropsychologists have demonstrated the effect music has on the human brain, and that a peak "musical memory age" occurs around 14, when normal bodily maturation is in progress. A group of 114 college students between the ages of 19 and 25 was exposed to short clips of the top 20 songs from each of the 11 years during their youth; participants were asked to rate their liking of each song sample on a 0-10 scale. Data analysis showed that the peak musical memory age of these students was not as precise as prior research had shown, and that overall there was difference in degree of musical affinity between age groups in the sample. This deviation from prior findings may have resulted from changes in how music is available today. Whereas specifically targeted music was once standard procedure in past TV advertising, these findings produce new implications for future TV advertising. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

When firms face crisis, the instant and open channels of social media communication create a double-edged sword. While corporations can more quickly communicate with stakeholders, any missteps will have drastic and nearly immediate repercussions. What are the relationships among social media, subjective norms, attitudes, and intentions during corporate crisis? We explore this phenomenon via a study of a crisis faced by Lowe's, an international home improvement store, and how current and potential customers reacted. By utilizing a structural equations model to examine an integrated model of multiple constructs, we find that Facebook usage is associated with behavioral intent, perceptions of ethicality, and attitudes toward the organization. Counter intuitively, we find that an increase in participant Facebook usage is negatively related to felt subjective norms. Our findings indicate that beyond the traditional relationships examined by the Theory of Reasoned Action (e.g., norms, attitudes, and behavioral intent), that social media and subjective norms have a strong relationship with general attitudes and ethical attitudes toward an organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper develops a model of media evasion based on optimization theory. The behavioral model adjusts for several compensating variables including age, locus of control, and religious intensity among [...]

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to analyze the market segments of students enrolled in undergraduate online business courses at a regional state university. By understanding the defining characteristics [...]

ABSTRACT Electronic music downloads (EMDs) continue to generate controversy in the recorded music industry. In the first years of the 21st century, sales of prerecorded CDs plummeted, and were blamed [...]

The study explores the use of an innovative technique for data collection - Amazon Mechanical Turk. Three studies utilizing the Theory of Planned Behavior to assess population behavior were used to compare behavioral outcomes between Amazon Mechanical Turk and general and specified populations. Results show that Amazon Mechanical Turk is a viable and generalizable sampling technique when a general population sample is needed. However, when specific populations are desired Amazon Mechanical Turk might be suboptimal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Clarendon, Texas, a debate emerged over the material (re)presentation of Christianity in the form of 10-foot crosses morally mapping the cultural landscape. To analyze the rhetoric of moral mapping, we examine how the transcendental embodiment of faith structures the landscape and mediates the ideological subject in order to assess the material function of Clarendon's crosses. The disassociation between the interpretation of the Clarendon community as "Christian" and the complex reality of what it means to be an ideological subject constituted through--or apart from--religious identification necessitates a theoretical frame that addresses the crosses as structuring and structured experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature reports that males have been more open to technological change and adoption. This pattern includes high-tech products as well as online applications. A survey was conducted among college students to assess whether differences still occur between males and females with regard to technology usage, product adoption and social media participation, as well as to measure perceptions of traditional print media versus the emerging market of e-reader devices. Results of the study showed that no significant differences exist between males and females, but overall, students feel that traditional print media is still better than e-readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demographic and behavioral characteristics of students in four undergraduate online business courses were analyzed in order to build profiles of online demand, as well as to determine the market segment(s) being served. The analysis revealed student traits that demonstrate multiple market segments being served by these courses. A predictive model was prepared that incorporates key independent student variables that can forecast student demand for courses and degree programs online. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]