Genre Theory, Engineering Education, and Circumventing Internet Bandwidth Problems  

A growing body of empirical research has implied that media seem to make little difference in education. In contrast, in the article “Distance Education Horror Stories Worthy of Halloween,” David Hailey, et al. argue that Internet-based education can be dangerous to the point that it can “sometimes threaten a teacher's career.” Although this might seem troublesome for researchers who maintain that media make no difference, we believe that it points to a different issue. The problems we found stem from genre rather than media choices. The point in this paper is that while media choices may matter little, genre choices are critical – substituting an essay for a lecture or an instruction set for a demonstration can have pedagogical consequences that can improve or disrupt learning.

Hailey, David E. and Christine E. Hailey. Frontiers in Education (2002). Articles>Education>Online

How Genre Choices Effect Learning in a Digital Environment    

Makes the argument that research into the impact of media on learning often misses the impact of genre choices on learning. The article presents a series of studies that imply that genre choices are more important than media choices.

Hailey, Christine E. and David E. Hailey. Journal of Engineering Educators (2003). Academic>Education>Multimedia>Bandwidth

Hypermedia, Multimedia, and Reader Cognition: An Empirical Study    

In this article, we present the results of five tests done in a two-year project examining usability and instructional capabilities of modules developed in hypermedia and multimedia formats. Based on the results of these tests, we reinforce arguments that digitized media may be preferred by learners over traditional media and that learners tend to prefer a graphical user interface metaphor that is personally meaningful over the page metaphor typically used in computer based training. We also reinforce the argument that multimedia does no harm when used to replace more traditional approaches to instruction. On the other hand, we have determined that in some cases hypermedia and hypertext may be counterproductive as instructional media. In brief, we have determined that within the context of this study a majority of students have more difficulty learning in a hypermedia/hypertext environment than in an otherwise identical linear digital environment. In fact, in this study only the very best students were able

Hailey, David E. and Christine E. Hailey. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Education>Multimedia

A Next Generation of Digital Genres: Expanding Documentation into Animation and Virtual Reality  

The purpose of this paper is to discuss virtual reality and interactive animation as potential documentation tools for training and information distribution and to discuss applications available for developing these genres.

Hailey, David E. Utah State University (2003). Articles>Documentation>Interactive>3D

Online Education Horror Stories Worthy of Halloween: A Short List of Problems and Solutions in Online Instruction    

This article examines many surprising problems that arise in the process of distance education using the Internet and describes ways in which instructors and administrators can solve these problems. The information in the article is based largely on the experience of educators at Utah State University who have been exploring distance education for the past six years by teaching a wide range of online courses via the Internet. As a result of this varied online teaching, we have encountered a broad spectrum of challenges to which we have tried to respond and from which we have tried to learn. The solutions described are generalizable to other programs using online delivery for instruction.

Hailey, David E., Keith Grant-Davie, Christine A. Hult. Computers and Composition (2001). Articles>Education>Online>Collaboration

Overview of a Distributed-Hard-Drive-Based Educational Plan  

Although empirical research indicates that media selection may not impact learning a great deal, results are inconsistent and sometimes contradictory. We have done recent studies indicating that inconsistent results may be caused by the extent to which educational developers are modifying the genres within which they typically teach – e.g., converting lectures to essays and converting demonstrations to posted instruction sets. Typically, the instructional developers who significantly modify their educational genres do so because digital media (usually designed for dissemination on the Internet, CD-ROM, or DVD) preclude the large format heuristics we accept as necessary in our traditional classes. New technologies, available this year, seem to provide a solution for this problem. In recent studies, we have successfully placed traditional educational genres on very large, external and/or removable hard drives which we combine with Internet technology to overcome the bandwidth problems we faced in the past. Because this involves a unique, step-by-step process of examining educational materials, re-combining them into external drive technlologies, and then developing new distribution methods, we call the process 'Distributed Hard Drive Protocol.' This paper describes six new, protocols we have developed for educators, trainers, and archivers.

Hailey, David E. and Christine E. Hailey. Utah State University (2000). Articles>Multimedia>Instructional Design>Education

Technology for Professional Writers

This course is a variation of Utah State University's twice-annual Technology and the Writer Course. The Technology and the Writer course is based on research done in the 1990s to determine which writing professions demanded the best salaries and were most likely to survive overseas outsourcing.

Hailey, David E. Utah State University (2005). Academic>Courses>Technology>Technical Writing

Toward Identifying the Font Used in the Bush Memos

The following evidence from a forensic examination of the Bush memos indicates that they were typed on a typewriter: 1. The specific font used is from a typewriter family in common use since 1905 and a typewriter capable of producing the spacing has been available since 1944. 2. The characters “e,” “t,” “s,” and “a” show indications of physical damage and/or wear consistent with a well used typewriter. 3. The characters that are seldom used show no signs of damage or wear. 4. The quality of individual characters is inconsistent throughout the memos beyond expectations from photocopying and/or digitizing but quality is consistent with worn platen and variations in paper quality. 5. Overlapping characters occasionally indicate paper deformation consistent with hammered impressions. 6. Critical indicators of digital production or cut and paste production are missing. Implications are that there is nothing in this evidence that would indicate the memos are inauthentic. Furthermore, from the point of view of the physical evidence in the documents (excluding any rhetorical evidence or external evidence, which is not examined in this study) no amount of additional research on the part of CBS would have lead them to exclude the documents from their 60 Minutes report.

Hailey, David E. Utah State University (2004). Design>Typography>Journalism