Human-computer interaction for development (HCI4D):the Southern African landscape

Human-Computer interaction for development (HCI4D) research aims to maximise the usability of interfaces for interacting with technologies designed specifically for under-served, under-resourced, and under-represented populations. In this paper we provide a snapshot of the Southern African HCI4D research against the background of the global HCI4D research landscape.We commenced with a systematic literature review of HCI4D (2010-2017) then surveyed Southern African researchers working in the area. The contribution is to highlight the context- specific themes and challenges that emerged from our investigation

Utilizing Facebook Groups in Teaching English as Foreign Language: Indonesian EFL Teachers’ Voices

In the era of 4.0, social media has become an integral part of everyday life, including for the purpose of teacher learning. One of the means of social media that has been used for enhancing teachers’ independent professionalism is Facebook Groups related with their teaching professions. The present qualitative study aims at (i) exploring English as A Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ experiences in utilizing Facebook Groups for their teacher learning and (ii) finding out the benefits of teachers’ involvement in teaching-related Facebook Groups. In collecting the data for the present case study, in-depth interviews were done with two teachers, one novice teacher and one experienced teacher. The findings and discussions indicated that teachers use Facebook groups to enhance their professionalism, despite they tend to start refraining from utilizing the groups due to uncomfortable atmosphere that Facebook now offers. Additionally there are three benefits found of joining Facebook groups, namely their enriched information on content knowledge, knowledge of curriculum and knowledge of educational contexts. In the current time where teachers need to shift into distance learning in the timely fashion, whereas many subjects need to be comprehended quickly

Respon Pengguna Facebook terhadap Tugas Matematika

This is a part of a larger study investigating the potential of Facebook for mathematics learning. This case study explored the responses of Facebook users towards opened and closed mathematical tasks posted on Facebook. In total, 149 Facebook users responded to the tasks resulting in 242 comments during a short period of time. All of the responses were downloaded and content analysis was utilised to identify patterns occurring within the responses. Virtual ethnographic study was also applied to further identify the demographical background of participants (education/professional background and locations). The results of this study suggests that opened mathematical tasks create broader opportunities for the Facebook users to express their mathematical ideas in different ways and attract richer mathematical interactions among the users than closed mathematical tasks. The nature of the task potentially shaped the types of responses from the Facebook users. This paper discusses some broad observations on the implications of the study as well as suggestions for future research

Indonesian novice EFL teachers' understanding of and engagement in reflective practice: An exploratory study

Reflective practice, its benefits and role in teaching have received much scholarly attention. Although several studies investigated the reflective practice concept in many contexts from several perspectives, not many studies have explored how it is understood among practising teachers. The number of studies exploring reflective practice in the Indonesian context is even smaller. Hence, this thesis aimed to investigate how Indonesian novice EFL teachers understood and engaged in the concept. In this regard, the current study set its research context as two cities in West Java, Indonesia. This study took a qualitative exploratory study approach and applied the convenience sampling method to choose six participants. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, pre- and post-observation conferences, classroom observations and reflective journals. The NVivo 12 Software was used to store the vast amount of collected data, and thematic analysis was applied to analyse it. The findings suggested that the participants conceptualised reflective practice as a flashback activity to enhance their practice. Equally, the participants engaged in four types of reflection: reflection-before-action (RbA), reflection-in-action (RinA), reflection-on-action (RonA), and reflection-for-action (RfA). It was observed that generally the participants’ different types of reflections intersected. The participants’ reflections were also analysed through the five levels of Farrell’s (2015) framework: philosophy, principles, theory, practice and beyond practice. Hence, the participants’ reflections on their personal and professional identities, their perceived roles in education, their assumptions, beliefs and conceptions, their espoused theories and theories in use were presented. Moreover, the participants’ reflections on the curriculum and delivery methods were explored as well as their reflections on educational policies and sociocultural issues. It was noted that the findings of the current study mostly aligned with the previous research, especially in terms of attributing to the reflective practice concept a retrospective aspect. Furthermore, the results of this study suggested that a holistic reflection did not necessarily mean critical reflection. It was indicated that although describing and justifying the critical incidents were crucial, teachers needed an action plan to enhance their upcoming practices. Therefore, a full cycle of reflection, namely, RbA, RinA, RonA, and RbA is encouraged among the practitioners. Based on the findings and thorough discussions, several implications were presented for educational researchers, policymakers, and practitioners