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The University of Wisconsin--La Crosse offers the first web-based medical dosimetry program in the nation. There is no data to research a program of this type. This research consisted of the evaluation of other distance education programs including health profession programs in addition to face-to-face medical dosimetry programs. There was need to collect and analyze student perceptions of online learning in medical dosimetry. This research provided a guide for future implementation by other programs as well as validated the University of Wisconsin--La Crosse program. Methodology used consisted of an electronic survey sent to all previous and currently enrolled students in the University of Wisconsin--La Crosse medical dosimetry program. The survey was both quantitative and qualitative in demonstrating attitudinal perceptions of students in the program. Quantitative data was collected and analyzed utilizing a five point Likert scale. Qualitative data was gathered based on the open-ended responses and the identifying themes from the responses. The results demonstrated an overall satisfaction with this program, the instructor, and the online courses. Students felt a sense of belonging to the courses and the program. Considering that a majority of the students had never taken an online course previously, the students felt there were no technology issues. Future research should include evaluation of board exam statistics for students enrolled in the online and face-to-face medical dosimetry programs. Appended are: (1) Benchmarks for Success in Internet-based Distance Education; (2) Cover Letter for Survey; (3) Implied Consent Form; (4) Survey of UW-L Online Medical Dosimetry Program; and (5) Data Collection and Analysis. (Contains 8 tables.)

Student dissatisfaction has been a problem in higher education with regard to the provision of assessment-related feedback. Due to the distant nature of online learning, instructors are faced with many challenges in delivering quality feedback because the communication is asynchronous and lacks social cues that are present in a F2F environment. The purpose of this multiple case study was to further explore how to enhance asynchronous instructor feedback using screencast media. Perceptions of asynchronous text and screencast feedback was collected through semi-structured interviews and a pre-structured, online questionnaire. The target population included adult learners who were graduates of a SAA program at a Midwestern University. A purposeful sample of seven alumni cases was used to provide the needed participants for this case study. Significant findings from this study revealed recognized benefits of screencast due to multimodal cues, elaboration of feedback with verbal cues helping with complex changes, depth and details of feedback, and rapport building. Text feedback was perceived as more efficient for processing changes, being more mobile, and making changes at leisure. Text feedback was perceived better for mechanical changes and screencast was better for conceptual and other changes. Most participants stated that both text and screencast was helpful at all stages of writing. Participants perceived the addition of screencast as the explanatory, in-depth feedback typically missing from text feedback. The screencast feedback provided a sense of connection to the instructor which helped fulfill the disconnect or feeling of isolation that learners often feel in online courses. The participants used multimodal feedback to make improvements to writing and identified strengths of both modes for required revisions. Findings from this study were consistent with existing literature and contributed to the media richness theory and cognitive theory of multimedia theory. Suggestions for future research included evaluating multimodal feedback in different stages using two control groups, a student perception study of multimodal feedback but with a larger sample size, and a content analysis study of multimodal feedback to measure improvement in writing or learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]