Digital Commons Network^™

The Fit Between Task And Medium In Sending Equivocal And Unequivocal Messages: How Self-Reported Skill Creates Self-Reported Attitude In Using The Medium, Teresa Merritt

Theses

Communication channels selected by members of an organization can have an impact on the outcome of the messages sent. The media richness theory proposes that task performance can be optimized when task information is matched with the medium's ability to convey information richness. The current study surveyed 25 support staff within the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology to evaluate the best media fit between task and medium for sending equivocal (ambiguous) and unequivocal (clear and concise) messages. The findings supported the media richness theory, and employees report positive attitudes associated with media use.

Buddy's Alphabet Adventure, Jeremy Andrew Galante

Theses

Not Included

Discovering Asian Deaf Heritage: A Curriculum Project For Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Asian-American Students, Kelly Kim

Theses

As a gradual rise in the population of Deaf and hard of hearing Asian students occurs across the United States, classroom teachers of the Deaf are facing this challenge of educating a "unique" and "racial-ethnic" student population and may be somewhat inadequate to serve as role models for Deaf Asian students. Redding (1997) states that identity and role confusion are confounded by a lack of appropriate role models and negative attitudes/stereotypes about minorities in the mainstream society. Thus, issues of inequality, lower academic expectations of minority students, and lack of understanding about multicultural issues and needs of students present a …

Words And Their Primary Associates: A Comparison Of Deaf And Hearing Students, Carol Convertino

Theses

This word association study compared the primary associates given by deaf college students with those from a set of hearing norms. Forty common words were selected from the norms; twenty category names for which the primary associate was an exemplar (or member of that category) and twenty exemplars for which the primary associate was the category name. Overall, deaf students showed a similar pattern of responses to the hearing norms, although the strength of the primary associates for the deaf students was not as strong as for the hearing students. Comparing responses to the two groups of stimuli, hearing students …

Deaf International Students At Rit/Ntid And Their Perceptions About Learning English, Argiroula Zangana

Theses

Deaf international students are a vital part of the student population at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Those students arrive at RIT with a variety of English skills and at various levels. The objective of this study is to investigate how deaf international students improve their English skills once they arrive at RIT /NTID. Did they improve their English skills through Spoken American English, American Sign Systems (i.e. American Sign Language and/or Signed English), and/or English classes from NTID/RIT? Furthermore, participants were asked how they felt about learning English and if their feelings changed while attending NTID/RIT. Participants were …

An Interactive Bilingual/Bicultural Approach To Literature Comprehension, Laurie Kettle

Theses

With the new popularity of the Bilingual/Bicultural (Bi-Bi) philosophy in Deaf education over the last few decades, one wonders how well the philosophy is succeeding in the classroom, what the philosophy looks like in practical teaching, and how well the philosophy is carrying over into homework time. This master's project covers the rationale for the Bi-Bi movement in Deaf education, as well as showcases current strategies used by English teachers at California School for the Deaf-Fremont. In addition, it contains suggestions for all teachers of the Deaf for implementing a Bi-Bi philosophy and creating in their classrooms a more equal …

Mathematics: It's All About Language, Elizabeth Barrett

Theses

Not many years ago, Hillegeist and Epstein, from Gallaudet University, wrote that 'while there is no question that the increase in difficulty of the mathematical concepts is an important factor in mathematical comprehension and there seems to exist an effect on comprehension specifically related to language. The special role of language in mathematics is a factor in the educational success of deaf students. However,they add that at this point (1987), the nature of the language effect is not completely clear. (Hillegeist&Epstein, 1987). Reading this statement led me to the purpose of this project, which is to review literature that will …

Perspectives Of Appropriate Educational Support Services For Non-English Speaking Families Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Children: The Ideal And The Real "A Literature Review", Katherine Groves

Theses

It is widely recognized that children with special needs require considerably more help in and out of the classroom in order to achieve access equal to that of children without special needs. A series of laws in the United States has been established to focus on the needs of special needs children (for example: Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act - IDEA - of 1990),and these laws have a significant impact on children who are deaf or hard of hearing (hereafter, deaf). The IDEA (P.L. 101-476& 105-17), for example, has opened the …

Cochlear Implants: A Tips & Reference Guide For Teachers Working With Students Using Cis, Thomas Ohl

Theses

Like a stampede, the cochlear implant (CI) has taken the worlds of deaf and hardof- hearing persons by storm. From its inception in the mid 1980's, some have embraced the technology as a miracle cure, while others have thought of it as cultural genocide. Yet, today, many would argue that the implant has come and is here to stay. There are many teachers with students using implants who feel inadequately prepared to deal with this technology. You might be one of them. If you are, this booklet is for you...keep reading! This book will provide you with skills and expertise …

Social Issues Facing Deaf Students In Mainstream Education, Jennifer Lunney

Theses

This review examined the serious impact social isolation can have for the mainstreamed deaf student. When considering a successful high school experience, one must consider both the academic and social components. It is proposed here that the isolation a deaf student typically experiences will greatly impact their identity and self-esteem. Additionally, this review examined the role of the unwritten curriculum, the issue of a least,restrictive environment, identity and socialization/isolation factors, and teaching strategies as they relate to mainstream education. Deaf students face barriers in the mainstream that are often overlooked by teachers and parents. This review consolidates and highlights the …

Expressing Negation In Chinese Sign Language, Jun Yang

Theses

This research project paper presents my observations and analysis of the expression of negation in Chinese Sign Language (CSL). I interviewed 15 Chinese Deaf adults in Beijing, China and videotaped those interviews. Some expressions of negation in CSL are similar to those found in other sign languages (e.g., ASL, BSL, and International Sign Language) in their linguistic aspects (e.g. non-manual signals, negative signs, and structures of negative sentences). On the other hand, I discovered that CSL has some unique features in the expression of negation. For example, there is a negative handshape, a fist with the little finger extended, the …

Proposal: An Enhanced Reading Program For Young Deaf/Hh Students, Amanda Beauchamp

Theses

Educators of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing face a tough challenge when it comes to the development of reading skills in young deaf children. Every classroom with deaf students has the potential to include a diversity of students with various linguistic backgrounds/abilities. Every deaf child's individual exposure to language has a direct effect on his/her literacy development. It then becomes the teacher's responsibility to assess each student's experience with language and linguistic ability and create a reading program suitable to the needs of the students in her classroom. After much research and some experience in the field, it is …

Student Outcomes Assessment: Ntid's Business Careers Department, Kathleen Garlinghouse

Theses

1. The need for the project (What is the severity of the problem or magnitude of the need for the services (local/national): Students graduate from college with a variety of general and specific skills. However, most colleges would have a difficult time "describing" to potential employers the specific skills work related attitudes that their graduates possess. During the last decades, interest has grown in what is called "Student Outcomes Assessment". This term has come to mean the activities undertaken by a college to identify and measure academic and job related skills that the college feels most, if not all, of …

A Curriculum For Teaching Black History: Civil Rights Movement To Middle School Students Using Technology, Rukiya Isoke

Theses

The curriculum contains unit plans for teaching African American Studies, Civil Rights Movement: Voting Rights to middle school students, bi-weekly, for eight weeks, eighty minutes per period. The unit plans have been designed based on the New York State guidelines for teaching Social Studies.

A Professional Development Curriculum For Educators Of Deaf Students: Comparative Linguistics, Sharon Staehle

Theses

The teachers at Rochester School for the Deaf (RSD) find a challenge: their ability to translate fluently between two languages grammatically, American Sign Language (ASL) and English providing the instructions related to the literacy. Almost all of the teachers have been rated at the Advanced level of Sign Communication Proficiency Interview (SCPI), an assessment measurement. The indication is that they do not demonstrate complete bilingual competence. For the literacy skills, it is important for the teachers to be able to switch fluidly between the two langues of instruction - ASL and English - while teaching deaf and hard of hearing …

The Psychological/Social Impact Of Cochlear Implants, Bonnie Bell

Theses

As technology keeps advancing, more and more young deaf children will be given a cochlear implant. Yet, how will this decision influence their future lives? This research project focused on the perceptions that cochlear implant users, deaf professors, and future teachers of the deaf and hard of hearing have of the cochlear implant, for their reactions or opinions could influence the user’s potential benefit from the device. Its purpose was to provide some insights into what perceptions future generations of cochlear implant users may encounter through the use of questionnaires that consist of demographic and open-ended questions. One of the …

Science Assessment Of Deaf Students: Considerations And Implications Of State Accountability Measurements, Julie Mountain

Theses

As states increasingly require students to take standardized tests, it's crucial to examine the ability of such tests to accurately reflect actual student knowledge and skill within content domains. This project reviews the literature about assessment in general and written text features problematic to deaf readers. It seeks to analyze the content breadth and depth as well as the text readability and other linguistic features of Massachusetts' and New York's high school physics tests. Finally, it considers the use of tests with their potential linguistic bias for making decisions about student content mastery and potentially other high stakes decisions such …

Vision-Based Hand Shape Identification For Sign Language Recognition, Jonathan Rupe

Theses

This thesis introduces an approach to obtain image-based hand features to accurately describe hand shapes commonly found in the American Sign Language. A hand recognition system capable of identifying 31 hand shapes from the American Sign Language was developed to identify hand shapes in a given input image or video sequence. An appearance-based approach with a single camera is used to recognize the hand shape. A region-based shape descriptor, the generic Fourier descriptor, invariant of translation, scale, and orientation, has been implemented to describe the shape of the hand. A wrist detection algorithm has been developed to remove the forearm …

Sharing The Big Apple : A Survey Study Of People, Place And Locatability, Samer Nadim Karam

Theses

Over the past half century social trends and new technologies have weakened local social ties and thus, the fabric of civil society itself. Mobile location-aware community systems offer one path to redress these problems by enhancing community cohesion and the formation of social capital by helping people to meet each other and coordinate their actions. However, little is known about the general population's desire and attitude towards these systems.

The design space described by the People-to-People-to-Geographical-Places Framework (P3-Framework), was used to guide a survey study of the impact of 'place' on people's social information needs and their willingness to share …

Ambulatory Biopotential Measurement, Lakshmi Chitra Penugonda

Theses

Biopotential signals measure the electrical activity of different parts of the body. Conventional bedside monitors only provide information about the body under restricted conditions. Observation and documentation of biopotential signal during daily activities and the relation to patient symptoms may be important factors for clinical decision-making. Ambulatory monitoring helps to monitor the biopotential signal of a patient in the natural environment. The effective ambulatory system can help a physician to diagnose the patient's abnormality.

In this project, a low cost and flexible ambulatory biopotential system, compared to the commercially available systems, was designed and tested. Concurrently a software program was …

Parameter Based Synthesis Of Sign Language, Amanda Irving

Theses

The primary objective of this project is to demonstrate synthesis of signs in American Sign Language with a finite number of parameters. The parameters in this method include 22 key locations, six location modifiers, six orientation indicators, 46 hand shapes, six predefined movements and seven possible end effectors. These parameters can be used in conjunction with a computer script and they maximize precision and versatility while minimizing development time and resources. The parameters for each sign are stored in an individual text file averaging approximately half a kilobyte.

The success of this project is demonstrated using UGS's Jack Software, Version …

The Construction And Maintenance Of A School Intranet Based Discipline Monitoring System : Design Development And Implementation Using Open Source Software Mysql, Php And Apache, Seán Geary

Theses

This aim of this project is to build a School Discipline Database, which will record and display student breaches of discipline, using dynamic web pages. Management presently implements a school discipline system based on the issuing of Yellow or Red cards to students, depending on the gravity of the offence. A student incurs detention, when 3 Yellow Card offences for general misbehaviour or 1 Red Card offence for serious misbehaviour occurs. The database is created and populated using open source software MySQL, PHP and Apache. A database driven web site allows the content of the site to reside in a …

The Pedagogical And Practical Issues Of Using Ict In Post-Primary Schools, Kay O'Sullivan Mc Carty

Theses

This study was an investigation into some of the pedagogical and practical issues that need to be considered when using ICT, with particular reference to post-primary schools. This investigation was prompted by the introduction of broadband into Irish schools in the next twelve months. Resources need to be developed that are subject specific and relevant to the Irish curriculum. The principle learning theories were examined and their pedagogical implications for post-primary teachers were discussed. The definition of learning styles was explored, different measurements were looked at and several internet based inventories were examined. The VARK questionnaire was administered to a …

‘Co-Constructing’ Changes To Classroom Practice: Processes Developed With Early Childhood Teachers For Students At Educational Risk., Carmel P. Bochenek

Theses

Current research confirms that high quality teaching makes the difference in students’ learning outcomes. In addition, contemporary views of teacher education highlight the benefits of teachers being involved as active learners in their own professional development and whole school planning. This research examines processes by which teachers construct change in their thinking and classroom practice to better meet the needs of students at educational risk in early childhood classrooms. Ten early childhood teachers, in one rural primary school were supported in their professional growth by the participant researcher. The most important outcome of this teacher-researcher action learning project was the …

Automated Extraction Of Disease-Gene Relationships From Medline, Jennifer R. Paine

Theses

The increasing amount of scientific information available to researchers in the form of biomedical literature is beginning to bring about a need for the development of tools to extract information automatically from these sources. One segment of information of particular interest to researchers is the linkage information between genes and diseases. These linkages can help researchers interpret large-scale genomics studies as well as make logical connections between gene expression levels and certain phenotypes. To make the finding and collecting of this information practical, automated methods of information extraction are required. In this paper, I propose a method for the automated …

Coexisting, Hyun Jung Lee

Theses

This thesis describes the artist's sculpture and jewelry/wall composition, which uses figurative forms representing simplified and exaggerated parts of the human body. The author describes how this artwork expresses the themes of community and coexistence in the human condition.

Parametric Synthesis Of Sign Language, Jerome Allen

Theses

The isolation of the deaf community from mainstream society is in part due to the lack of knowledge most hearing people have of sign language. To most, there seems to be little need to learn a language that is spoken by such a small minority unless perhaps a relative is unable to hear. Even with a desire to learn, the task may seem insurmountable due to the unique formational and grammatical rules of the language.

This linguistic rift has led to the call for an automatic translation system with the ability to take voice or written text as input and …

Supply Chain Risk Mitigation, Roshan R. Pai

Theses

In recent years, especially post 9/11, there has been an increasing awareness for securing business supply chains against probable disruptions. With globalization and lean inventories, the efficiency of supply chain has greatly enhanced over the years, but at the expense of new vulnerabilities. Supply chain vulnerabilities have resulted in disruptions to the economic stability and security. As a result, risk analysis and mitigation has now grown to become one of the key links to business stabilization. To ensure business continuity, it is necessary to identify key assets (physical and operational) within the supply chain and secure them against probable threats. …

A Kinematic Analysis Of Hand Configurations In Static And Dynamic Fingerspelling, Gillian B. Sherry

Theses

The focus of this study was the investigation of target handshapes in American Sign Language fingerspelling in order to determine whether there was a difference between static canonical structures and structures produced in the context of a movement sequence. This was achieved by measuring the joint angles of a signing hand with an 18-sensor CyberGlove® by Virtual Technologies, Inc.

A discriminant analysis was used to identify targets that occurred at points of minimum angular joint velocity. A multivariate analysis of variance with planned compansons was then applied to these dynamic data along with the static data to test the hypothesis. …

Speech Enabled E-Learning Technology For Adult Literacy Tutoring, Jason Meade

Theses

This research presents the work involved in developing a speech-enabled e-Learning prototype for use in literacy tutoring. As the main objective was to develop an interface for literacy learning, initial research concentrated on establishing a framework for literacy e-Leaming through the use of speech technology. Requirements for best practice e-Learning and the relevance of learning theories to an e-Learning application were also investigated. The technologies to facilitate this, such as text to speech technologies and mark-up languages, were addressed during the implementation of speech-enabled prototypes. Both server-side and client-side prototypes were implemented to investigate speech technology. Testing found the server-side …