The Use of Assistive Technology in School-Aged Children with Learning Disorders

Assistive Technology (AT) allows children with Specific Learning Disorders (LDs) to adequately access school curriculum. There is a paucity of literature addressing the use, perception of use, and training of students who qualify for AT. The few studies completed suggest that children with AT like their devices and find them useful. The current exploratory study examined the grade level of children provided AT devices, the types of AT hardware and software being used by children with various learning limitations in a school environment, and children’s perception of their AT devices. Archival data collected from school-aged children referred to the Learning Disabilities Association of Windsor-Essex County (LDAWE) was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. It was predicted that grade level, type of AT device, themes of liking, and themes of disliking would predict children’s perception of their AT and the AT training after training sessions. Logistic regressions revealed that children’s perceptions of their AT and AT training were influenced by their grade, device, and Disliking theme, but not Liking theme. Affirmative perceptions of the utility for specific apps ranged from 0% to 100%. In regard to what they liked about their AT, children most commonly responded with themes of “Helpful” (51%), with 8 themes emerging in total. For what they disliked about their AT, children most often responded with themes of “Technical Problems” (31%), with 15 emergent themes. The results of the current study add to the understanding of current practices of AT training and the utilization of AT by children. The findings of the current study should guide AT distributors and trainers in deciding which AT hardware to provide to children with LDs and how to provide training. Additionally, these results can benefit consumers and practitioners in their selections and recommendations of AT hardware

The Analysis of Consumers’ Affective Responses to Brand Presentation, Awareness, and Loyalty: A Contemporary Development in Selecting Media Channels

In today’s digital age, it is becoming increasingly difficult for advertising professionals to effectively evaluate which media channel will best reach their target audience. This study investigated the differences in self-reported consumer affective responses to brand presentation, brand awareness, and brand loyalty by medium. An experiment was performed to determine if there were differences in brand presentation, brand awareness, and brand loyalty between traditional and digital media advertisements. Statistically significant differences were found between participants’ responses to viewing a Facebook-branded business page and a traditional print advertisement

Uses and gratifications of problematic social media use among university students: a simultaneous examination of the big five of personality traits, social media platforms, and social media use motives

Recent studies suggest that users' preferences of social media use differ according to their individual differences and use motives, and that these factors can lead to problematic social media use (PSMU) among a minority of users. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the influences of (i) demographics and Big Five personality dimensions on social media use motives; (ii) demographics and use motives on social media site preferences; and (iii) demographics, personality, popular social media sites, and social media use motives on PSMU. The sample comprised 1008 undergraduate students, aged between 17 and 32 years (M = 20.49, SD = 1.73; 60.5% women). The participants completed a questionnaire comprising the Social Media Use Questionnaire, Social Media Usage Aims Scale, and Ten-Item Personality Inventory. Multiple linear and hierarchical regression analyses showed that social media use motives of (i) meeting new people and socializing, (ii) expressing or presenting a more popular self, and (iii) passing time and entertainment were associated with problematic social media use. Moreover, participants that preferred Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook reported higher scores of problematic social media use. Finally, being female, introverted, conscientious, agreeable, and neurotic were associated with PSMU. The findings offer empirical evidence for uses and gratifications theory because the findings demonstrated that (i) different personality traits predict different motives, (ii) different motives predict preference of different platforms, and (iii) different individual differences such as personality, preference of platform, and specific use motives predict PSMU

A Domain-General Perspective on Deviancy: People’s Sensitivity to Deviancy and its Social Consequences

In this dissertation, I propose that people’s sensitivity to deviancy is a domain-general phenomenon—an aspect of the individual experience that manifests across distinct domains. Supporting this possibility, across a multi-faceted approach (cross-cultural, developmental, nonconscious processes), I document that people’s responses to deviancy—their evaluative and affective responses to distortions in regularities and patterns—overlap across highly divergent domains (e.g., nonsocial stimuli, social actions, physical characteristics, nonvisual stimuli, visual stimuli). Additionally, in line with this broad conceptualization of deviancy, I find that people’s domain-general responding towards deviancy is largely negative in affect, emerges at a young age, exists cross-culturally, and may even causally contribute to complex social phenomena, such as prejudice. Collectively, these findings highlight the potential of adopting a broad domain-general conceptual understanding of deviancy to gain new traction on fundamental questions asked in social and cognitive psychology

Feminine Stem Role Models: Attempts to Improve Women's Motivation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Fields by Countering the Unfeminine-Stem Sterotype.

Women remain underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, perhaps in part because STEM is seen as incompatible with femininity. Interventions that change perceptions of academic fields (e.g., counterstereotypic role models) can boost motivation, but feminine STEM role models remain untested. It may seem daunting to combine the incompatible qualities of femininity and success in “unfeminine” fields, making feminine STEM role models less effective motivators than more everyday, gender-neutral women in STEM. Studies 1a and 1b test this possibility by asking middle school girls to read interviews with college women who were feminine or gender-neutral in terms of appearance and hobbies, and who were succeeding in STEM fields or in school generally. Study 1a suggests that feminine STEM role models dampen girls’ self-rated ability and future plans in math. Study 1b corroborates past evidence that role models are more threatening than inspiring when their success feels unattainable: girls disinterested in STEM (who were most harmed by reading about feminine STEM role models in Study 1a) saw feminine STEM success as least attainable. Study 2 aimed to replicate these effects with a female college sample, with “humanities” replacing “school” as the comparison role model condition. STEM role models generally improved English self-ratings and harmed math self-ratings. Perceiving STEM role models as less attainable than humanities role models mediated their negative effect on math self-concept. Study 3 used improved stimuli and found that gender-neutral female STEM role models were more motivating than feminine STEM role models. Study 3 also assessed three individual differences. A Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT) was developed to measure implicit associations between STEM-related words and photos representing unfeminine appearance, as opposed to photos representing feminine appearance. Explicit unfeminine-STEM stereotypes and participants’ endorsement of feminine appearance were also assessed. Feminine STEM role models were least motivating for participants with strong implicit or explicit stereotypes, yet feminine appearance endorsement did not moderate feminine STEM role model effects. Overall, gender-neutral STEM role models were found to be more effective motivators than feminine STEM role models. Implications for interventions aimed girls and women in STEM are discussed.PHDPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99856/1/dibetz_1.pd

Latinx Children’s Push and Pull of Spanish Literacy and Translanguaging

We explored 19 Latinx children’s literacies in Spanish and translanguaging by asking, “What are Latinx children’s experiences and beliefs regarding Spanish and translanguaging reading and writing? How do tutorial staff and teacher candidates (TCs) help the youth to resist hegemonic and bracketing practices of English-only?” This study took place in a South Texas tutorial agency, where children voluntarily attended for after-school homework help. Data sources consisted of questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, hobby essays, and newsletter articles. Most children reported negative school-related language experiences and expressed dislike and unease regarding Spanish and translanguaging reading and writing, although they lived less than 10 miles from the Mexico border. However, two tutorial staff and 15 TCs provided counter narratives and modeled that Spanish and translanguaged (hybrid) reading and writing are neither wrong nor difficult. Schools’ accountability pressures and the U.S. socio-political milieu move language to the center (centripetal forces), while forces that resist normalization are centrifugal. Implications relate to how neighborhood educational centers, TCs, and classroom teachers can help subaltern youth to resist centripetal language forces

What’s In It For Me? Consumer Perceived Value of Marketing Activities as a Driver of Consumer Brand Engagement on Social Network Sites.

Social network sites are transforming the way companies, both big and small, communicate and market to consumers. Many businesses recognize the need for incorporating a social networking strategy as part of their overall marketing efforts. This strategy involves the use of social network sites as a means of promoting and communicating about a focal brand to consumers, attracting and building relationships with consumers, and increasing sales. However, an effective social network strategy is much more complex than simply having a Facebook page to which companies occasionally post. The effectiveness of marketing on social network sites depends at least in part on the marketing activities a firm chooses to utilize as well as tangible and intangible value these activities provide consumers. The effectiveness of social network site strategies can be measured in terms of online consumer brand engagement – or how many users are paying attention to and interacting with an organization’s brand content on social network sites. The purpose of this dissertation is to 1) create a classification of social network site marketing activities and 2) empirically test the role of perceived instrumental, experiential, and social value as drivers of online consumer brand engagement with company-generated marketing activities

Nurturing the pain: audiovisual tributes to the Holocaust on YouTube

This article examines how digital technology interacts with Holocaust remembrance in post-socialist countries. Using the Lviv pogrom of 1941 as a case study, it explores how Russophone and Ukrainophone web users engage with audiovisual tributes to this event on YouTube. The article scrutinizes user engagement with Holocaust memory on two levels: the level of representation (how the pogrom is represented on YouTube) and the level of interaction (how users interact with tributes to the pogrom). The article suggest that digital media can democratize existing memory practices, but it does not necessarily lead to more pluralist views on the past

Factors that influence celebrities' personal brands: the effects of fan club membership offers on celebrity image

2012 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.The performing artist fan club business has recently developed into a widespread concept for generating music revenue online (Garrity, 2002). Fans have demonstrated willingness to pay to join fan club memberships offering elite benefits such as concert ticket pre-sales, meet and greet opportunities, unique merchandise, and access to exclusive news and media (Garrity, 2002). The risk with this new business model is that some fans could be insulted that they are now being asked to pay money to subscribe to their favorite artist's sites which were formerly free. This study examined the trend of celebrities charging their fans monetary fees to be members of their fan clubs, and the potential impact that this business model has on the celebrity's image. Positive or negative effects were examined by applying the theory of branding, including concepts of personal branding, internal branding and identity, external branding and image, and the Identity-based Brand Equity Model (Burmann, Hegner, & Riley, 2009). The study employed a 2x2 post-test only factorial experimental design and administered an entertainment questionnaire to 200 undergraduate college students at Colorado State University. The questionnaire examined attitudes toward one of two celebrities prior to and after exposure to an offer to join the celebrity's fan club. The fan club membership offers contained two manipulated variables: type of fan club membership (paid versus free), and celebrity and genre (pop/Lady Gaga versus country/Taylor Swift). The dependent variables in this study were the target market's attitudes toward the celebrity, and their motivation to join the fan club. Results revealed that only eight of 200 participants chose to sign up for fan club membership, regardless of the entertainer. The eight participants who chose to sign up for a fan club received a free fan club offer. Across celebrity conditions, fans are significantly more likely to find a fan club offer more appealing if it is free, and they will be more likely to join a fan club that is free rather than paid. Furthermore, liking or disliking an artist before being presented with their fan club offer greatly impacted fan motivation and likeliness to join a fan club. Fandom research and branding literature suggested that charging fees for fan club membership could negatively influence a celebrity's image. The Identity-based Brand Equity Model (Burmann et al., 2009) implied that if celebrities charged for fan club membership, and fans did not expect this or feel that the behavior aligned with the artist's brand promise, the artist's image would be negatively impacted. Study results challenged this model and indicated that fan attitudes toward both Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga did not alter when participants were presented with a paid versus free membership offer. Thus, charging for fan club membership may not support an entertainer's image, but more importantly, it will not harm an entertainer's image. These conclusions are presented to help celebrities and their management elect if they would like to charge for fan club membership. Results propose that entertainers interested in fan club monetization can apply a revenue model to increase earnings, and their image will not be harmed. Yet, artists need to think through the necessary benefits required to make paid fan clubs alluring, and take into account that fans are more likely to join fan club memberships that are free

Gaming with Mr. Slot or gaming the slot machine? Power, anthropomorphism, and risk perception

We propose that risk perceptions are systematically influenced by anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism effects, however, are moderated by the individual's feelings of social power. People with low power perceive higher risk in playing a slot machine (study 1) and in getting skin cancer (study 2) when the risk-bearing entities (the slot machine and skin cancer) are highly anthropomorphized. In contrast, those with high power perceive greater risk when the entities are less anthropomorphized. We hypothesize these effects occur because those with high (low) power perceived a greater (lesser) degree of control over the anthropomorphized entity. In study 3, we investigate the reverse effect that higher perceived risk may increase anthropomorphism for people with low power but decrease anthropomorphism for people with high power. © 2010 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc.published_or_final_versio