S Fan

A mixed-method research to investigate the adoption of mobile devices and Web2.0 technologies among medical students and educators.

BackgroundThe past decade has witnessed the increasing adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in medical education. Recently, the notion of digital habitats, Web 2.0 supported learning environments, has also come onto the scene. While there has been initial research on the use of digital habitats for educational purposes, very limited research has examined the adoption of digital habitats by medical students and educators on mobile devices.This paper reports the Stage 1 findings of a two-staged study. The whole study aimed to develop and implement a personal digital habitat, namely digiMe, for medical students and educators at an Australian university. The first stage, however, examined the types of Web 2.0 tools and mobile devices that are being used by potential digiMe users, and reasons for their adoption.MethodsIn this first stage of research, data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Questionnaire data collected from 104 participants were analysed using the Predictive Analytics SoftWare (PASW). Frequencies, median and mean values were pursued. Kruskal Wallis tests were then performed to examine variations between views of different participant groups. Notes from the 6 interviews, together with responses to the open-ended section of the questionnaire, were analysed using the constructivist grounded theory approach, to generate key themes relevant to the adoption of Web 2.0 tools and mobile devices.ResultsThe findings reflected the wide use of mobile devices, including both smart phones and computing tablets, by medical students and educators for learning, teaching and professional development purposes. Among the 22 types of Web 2.0 tools investigated, less than half of these tools were frequently used by the participants, this reflects the mismatch between users’ desires and their actual practice. Age and occupation appeared to be the influential factors for their adoption. Easy access to information and improved communication are main purposes.ConclusionsThis paper highlights the desire of medical students and educators for a more effective use of Web 2.0 technologies and mobile devices, and the observed mismatch between the desire and their actual practice. It also recognises the critical role of medical education institutions in facilitating this practice to respond to the mismatch.

English Language Teaching in Nepal: An Investigation of Issues and Challenges

The research question that is being asked in this chapter is ‘what is an appropriate structure for reporting this study on English language teaching in Nepal?’ The study itself is an investigation of issues and challenges explored using a mixed methods approach.

Keeping connected: exploring the potential of social media as a new avenue for communication and collaboration in early childhood education

ABSTRACT Parent and family engagement has long been a significant element in early childhood (EC) education. Lack of family involvement can lead to a number of consequences in children’s physical and emotional development. However, attempts and strategies used by early learning centres and childcare centres to resolve this issue are often unsuccessful. Face-to-face interactions as the traditional way of communication are becoming inadequate due to parents and families’ busy schedules. Through interviews with 17 participants, including EC professionals and parents, from three childcare centres in Northern Tasmania, Australia, the project being reported in this paper explored the readiness of the two stakeholder groups to use social media tools to facilitate better communication, collaboration and family involvement. Findings of the research revealed an interest in adopting social media tools by both EC professionals and parents. Concerns were also expressed from a number of aspects, such as confidentiality and time constraints.

digiMe: An Online Portal to Support Connectivity through E-Learning in Medical Education

Connectivity is intrinsic to all aspects of our life today, be it political, economic, technological, scientific, or personal. Higher education is also transcending the previous paradigm of technology enabled content delivery and e-learning, with a new emphasis on connectivity, enabling participants to exchange knowledge and collaborate to meet educational goals. In this study, a social media technology supported website—digiMe—was developed and evaluated at the School of Medicine of one Australian university. Connectivity to other medical learners and health professionals is intrinsic to digiMe. This paper reports the functionalities of this website, results of a post-intervention evaluative survey, and statistics of website usage generated from Google Analytics. The results revealed more active adoptions and a more positive attitude towards digiMe from Year 4 students compared to Year 5 students. The participants showed a desire for access to a recommended collection of apps, such as those offered through digiMe. However, many participants did not use digiMe beyond initial introduction to it. digiMe demonstrated its potential in raising awareness of web and mobile apps useful for enhancing connectivity, although it needs to be introduced to students in earlier years of their medical education to achieve a higher impact on their learning.

Exploring the Use of Big Data Analytics for Improving Support to Students in Higher Education

In the past two decades, with the globalisation of education, there has been a continuous increase in the diversity of students in Higher Education. This diversity form a basis for a culturally rich environment, although, the cultural and language differences and the diversity in teaching and learning styles also bring challenges. From a university’s perspective, providing the maximum support to overcome these challenges and achieving maximised student engagement would be in its best interest. Recent advances in Big Data and increase in electronically available education data can help in achieving these aims. This paper reports the findings of a preliminary study which applies Big Data analysis methods to analyse education data gathered from learning management systems. The aims was to understand ways to improve student engagement and reduce student dropout. This paper documents the experience gained in this early exploration and preliminary analysis, and thereby provides background knowledge for reporting of data from the formal data collection stage which will be conducted at a later stage of research.

The Establishment of a Framework of Communicative Competence of Seafarers

With the development of technology and automation of merchant vessels, ship losses have decreased significantly from 1% in 1912 to 0.149% in 2009 (Allianz, 2012). However, the number of accidents categorised as attributable to human elements has not decreased, in which communication failures represent one third of these elements (Trenkner, 2007). A review to date clearly shows that communication failures are one of the dominant contributing causes of accidents at sea (Ziarati, Ziarati, & Calbas, 2009). Under the International Regulations on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW 2010), each Administration (flag state) shall require every company to ensure that at all times effective oral communication is maintained on board ships (IMO, 2011). Almost 90% of all vessels under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) are presently crewed with multilingual personnel who, for various reasons, are often unable to communicate effectively with each other (Trenkner, 2009). Cultural differences can also impede effective communication and knowledge sharing (Fei, Chen, & Chen, 2009). Three major barriers have been identified in communication at sea including the difficulties of being proficient in Maritime English, inadequate awareness and understanding of diverse culture, and a lack of sociolinguistic ability in communication (Schriever, 2011). Language and culture are inextricably linked. The aim of cultural training is to develop strategies for predicting, understanding and resolving miscommunications. Training and teaching in language and communication skills are essential tools to support effective teamwork and promote a culture of safety (Alert, 2007). Pritchard (2011) emphasised that miscommunication may have negative effects on the morale of the crew and their working environment. It is clear that seafarers’ communicative competence is becoming increasingly important for safe shipping. Although the concept of communicative competence is a well-established concept, it is relatively new in the context of maritime education and training. No systematic research has been done to identify the concept of communicative competence in the shipping context. The structure and purposes of this chapter are to: (1) systematically review the development of the concept of communicative competence over the past decades, (2) identify components of communicative competence in the shipping setting, and (3) develop a framework of communicative competence for maritime education and training based on (1) and (2).

Issues in English language teaching in Nepal

The use and importance of English language teaching (ELT) is increasing worldwide, in developed as well as developing countries. Regardless, the quality of teaching and learning has decreased considerably in most countries; significant efforts have been made and applied to improve English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching and learning processes (Fareh, 2010).

Measurement of Vocabulary Knowledge

It has been widely acknowledged that vocabulary plays a significant role in second language acquisition. To a large degree, learners’ improvement in L2 acquisition depends on their progress in acquiring individual words and word parts (Barcroft, 2004). Meara and Fitzpatrick (2000) claimed that communicative effectiveness can be achieved more successfully by learners with a larger vocabulary pool than by those with a more detailed command of a smaller one.

Web-Based Technologies

Ubiquitous computing and access to digital resources are making web-based learning more feasible and acceptable and successful web-based learning endeavours can be seen around the globe, as well as within Australia (Robina & Anderson, 2010). The World Wide Web (Web), as an essential means of support, is contributing to the development of remote teaching and providing a wealth of possibilities in the field of education (Wu & Xie, 2012).