Abstracts – Session One
10:00 – 11:00 – 6EN – 561
Chair: Junita Duwi Purwandari
Sedigheh Abbasnasab Sardareh: Statistical software for specific end-users: The case of doctoral students in education and social sciences
Despite the existence of statistical software, textbooks, courses, and online tools, most doctoral students in education and social sciences struggle to master statistical analysis. A factor that seems to have been overlooked has to do with the design of the statistical software itself. Most software has not been designed for non-statisticians or non-computer programming students. Hence, an examination of human-computer interactions in the context of a common education research statistical problem might reveal facets of software design that contribute to or hinder successful solving of the problem. To decide on the software to be used for the human-computer interaction experiments, a comprehensive list of software was evaluated by the researcher. Criteria included statistical features of the tools; technical properties such as user interface, visualization, data entry and manipulation; usage properties such as speed/the number of steps, ease of command/use, and efficiency. These criteria are important because they directly influence users’ statistical analysis performance. Strengths and weaknesses of each software tool were identified based on the aforementioned criteria and three software (SPSS, RStudio, & RCommander) were selected for the purpose of the experiment. These software have different characteristics and are widely used for analysing data in different disciplines including education and social sciences.
Trang Nguyen: Going digital? Doctoral students’ use of social media for research writing support
The ubiquity of digital technology in higher education environment (Siemens & Matheos, 2010) has highlighted the need to investigate how social media influences doctoral research writing. More evidence is needed concerning how online tools serve as a source of support to complement supervisor advice and traditional networks such as library workshops and peers (Guerin et al, 2016). Against this background, this research investigates doctoral students’ experiences of using networked technologies to seek support for their doctoral research and writing. Data from 11 interviews were thematically analyzed to capture both the potentials and the risks of embracing web 2.0 tools for the doctorate. The presentation will share some emerging findings regarding the relationship between online tools and doctoral work. Ways in which social media could be effectively integrated into research writing support will also be discussed. The research has implications for different stakeholders in doctoral education field including doctoral students, supervisors and university library services.
Tian Yang: Teachers’ Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in Three Kindergartens in China
The Ministry of Education in China has issued guidelines on implementing information and communication technology (ICT) in a wide range of educational settings (Ministry of Education of China, 2012), to assist global competition in the integrated development of ICT and to satisfy the urgent needs of education reform. Accordingly, some kindergartens in China have begun to use ICT in teaching activities (Liu & Pange, 2015). While previous studies suggested that teachers’ perceptions and practices in relation to ICT use are significant for the effects of ICT on young children and its application in kindergartens (Oldridge, 2010; Yelland, 2005), little is known about their actual practices. The goal of this study is to investigate how teachers use ICT in kindergartens in China and what factors influence their actual practices.
In order to gain an in-depth understanding of what influence teachers’ use of ICT as well as their actual use, a case study was conducted from September 2018 to January 2019, in three kindergartens in Nanjing, China. Multiple data sources (i.e., individual interviews with teachers, classroom observations, teachers’ teaching plans, and public documents regarding ICT implementation) were gathered over 15 weeks. In the presentation, the researcher will share preliminary findings about how the teachers use ICT in group teaching activities and play-based activities in participating kindergartens, and how their actual practice is influenced by the early childhood education context in China. It is hoped the findings of this study will have implications for policy-makers to offer guidelines or other resources related to ICT implementation for kindergarten teachers in China.