Qualitative Research and Computer Analysis: New Challenges and Opportunities

The use of computers for Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) in qualitative research has been growing rapidly in the last decade. QDA programs are software packages developed explicitly for the purpose of analyzing qualitative data. A range of different kinds of program is available for the handling and analysis of qualitative data, such as Atlas/ti, HyperRESEARCH, and NUD*IST. With the development of new technologies, the QDA software has advanced from the efficient code-and-retrieve ability to the development of sophisticated organizing system or conceptual tool for data analysis as well as information management. This presentation is an initial discussion on the impact of database and web technology on QDA. The following issues will be discussed: why or how QDA methods are different from the database approach as means of managing and exploring unstructured data; what data mining and web search tools offer to qualitative research; what QDA software should do to support web-based research; and what methodological and technical problems are posed for web-based QDA by the web itself.published_or_final_versionCentre for Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kon

Promoting conceptual change of learning sorting algorithm through the diagnosis of mental models: The effects of gender and learning styles

It has been advocated that pedagogical content knowledge as well as subject matter knowledge are important for improving classroom instructions. To develop pedagogical content knowledge, it is argued that understanding of students' mental representations of concepts is deemed necessary. Yet assessing and comparing mental model of each individual is very tedious and time consuming. This study attempted to use gender and learning styles to associate mental models in learning sorting algorithm. The Gregorc Style Delineator (GSD) was used to measure learning styles of the participants. Mental models were assessed using the Pathfinder Scaling Algorithm (PSA). Results indicated that females showed greater similarity in mental models than males and concrete learners also exhibited closer resemblance to the expert mental model than abstract learners. These suggest that gender and learning styles can be meaningfully used to associate mental models in order to provide a group-based instead of individual-based diagnosis and thus promote conceptual change in learning. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.postprin

Teacher Adoption of Web-based Learning in Blended Environment

Because of the significant benefits to be gained from Internet technology, many educational institutions have brought in online learning management systems to their traditional classroom courses. The emergence of blended instruction allows teachers to integrate the advantages of face-to-face classroom interactions with positive attributes of distance learning. Nevertheless, the value of the blended approach relies heavily on the teachers’ adoption of the add-on platform. In view of the fact that individual perception has a very real impact on behavior, this paper explores the teachers’ preconceptions about web-based learning system in blended environment. Data were collected via interviews with nine teachers from a tertiary institution about their authentic experiences and viewpoints on an e-learning platform, and were analyzed qualitatively using the approach of phenomenography. Altogether, there emerged nine categories of descriptions on teachers’ perception. The future of blended learning will most likely be determined by how teachers are able to arrive at a good balance between the tradition and the technology. An understanding of the teacher’s perception is crucial to provide insight on successful implementation. The paper ends with the discussion on the implications drawn out from the findings.published_or_final_versionCentre of Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kong and Education and Manpower Bureau, the Government of the Hong Kong SA

ICT as a Lever for Student Change and Advancement

Curriculum innovation using ICT has been regarded as an essential strategy for educational change throughout the era of knowledge society over the past decade. The aim of this seminar is to present local as well as international cases of ICT-supported pedagogical practices that advanced student learning in primary and secondary schools. The students’ roles, teachers’ roles, and students’ learning outcomes in connection to the innovations will also be discussed.published_or_final_versionCentre for Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kon

Implementing knowledge management in school environment: Teachers' perception

Knowledge Management (KM) can be used as an alternative strategy by schools to help teachers equipped with relevant skills to face the challenges to improve performance as its uses in commercial sectors. However, little research has been undertaken on how KM can be applied to school environment. To put KM into action, it is crucial to understand teachers' perception of KM at the outset. The study was carried out in a typical Hong Kong secondary school. Interviews, based on relevant KM models, were conducted to understand teachers' perception of KM. We found that knowledge sharing, people, culture and knowledge storage with IT support were regarded as important from the interviewees' points of view. Most interviewees might accept that KM can help improve their practice but it needs the support of various dimensions such as people, culture, IT and management. The findings may provide insights for KM implementation in the school.published_or_final_versio

ICT Implementation in Hong Kong Schools: findings from an preliminary review of the HKSAR 5-year IT in Education strategy plan

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Methodological approaches to comparing pedagogical innovations using technology

The study of educational innovations has become increasingly important in education research as many countries around the world have embarked on education reforms that aim to change both the goals and practices in education. There is also a general expectation that such innovations can be leveraged or supported by the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the learning and teaching process. However, comparative studies of innovations are relatively rare. SITES M2, as an international comparative study of innovative pedagogical practices involving 28 participating systems, thus faced important methodological challenges the solution of which was no less an innovation in itself. This paper examines the methods of analysis used and the kind of research findings that resulted from the work of three research teams that had conducted comparisons of the case studies of innovation collected, including the work of the SITES M2 International Coordinating Centre (ICC). Even though all three studies attempted to examine similarities and differences across multiple case studies, the analysis conducted by the ICC looked for characterizations of the innovations while the other two studies developed meaningful ways to compare the cases in terms of "levels of innovation" across a number of dimensions. In discussing the methodological differences across these studies, this paper pays special attention to how one could compare different innovations in terms of their levels or extents of innovation and what such comparisons may contribute to our learning from technology-supported education innovations. © 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.postprin

Enhancing Spoken Vocabulary Performance in Children with Autism in a Multimedia-supported Context

Adopting a cognitive perspective of information processing theory in multimedia learning, this study attempts to explore how much progress children with autism with limited speech make in their verbal vocabulary acquisition via a tailor-made multimedia software. These children’s speech difference than their typically developed counterparts is assumed an outcome of delayed development in the ability of retrieving appropriate information in their working memory from their long term memory instead of their receptive language capability. This is expected to help these students with the media acting as an external memory to fill the gap and prospective findings may assist professionals in such fields as education, cognitive psychology, information and communication technology, and neuropsychology as well in further investigation in these areas as contributing factors to autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and learning models for ASD students. With an ABA design of single-subject multiple-case with the design experiment approach, five children, whose parents are native Cantonese speakers, from 8 to 14 in their chronological age in a special school have been selected to participate in this investigation of 15-session 35 minutes each. Their performance in the four aspects of language, that is, phonological, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatics, will be examined. In order to obtain a relatively reliable and valid result, a pilot study on preliminary data in three different settings is being conducted. With similar or the same characteristics like those in main study, two kids each with language age of 4 to 5 in these settings, that is, a voluntary association catering for children with learning, another special school than the participating school, and the participating school.published_or_final_versionCentre of Information Technology in Education, University of Hong Kong and Education and Manpower Bureau, the Government of the Hong Kong SA

School leadership and teachers' pedagogical orientations in Hong Kong: A comparative perspective

As a secondary analysis of SITES 2006, this paper aims to explore the school leadership factors that potentially affect teachers' pedagogical orientations. The exploration is guided by four questions: (1) How do we describe school leadership factors? (2) What are the principals' perceptions about pedagogy and ICT use? (3) What are the teachers' perceptions about pedagogical orientations? and (4) How does the school leadership associate with teachers' pedagogical orientations? Eight school leadership constructs were identified, which cover four areas: learning goals, priority for resource allocation, types of assessment, and priority of competencies for school leadership to acquire. The findings also indicate a gap between principals' and teachers' perceptions on pedagogy and ICT use in Hong Kong. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009.postprin

Parental influence on children's home computer use and digital divide in education

Session C6: ICCE Conference on Technology, Pedagogy and Education - Full Papers: C6_F9_284FThis case study compares the data from two secondary schools and attempts to contribute to a better understanding of the construct of parental influence on children's information and communication technology use at home. It identifies five components of parental influence: parents' information and communication technology (ICT) skills, parental monitoring, parental control, parental guidance and parental worries. The relationships among these components were often complex with intriguing similarities and differences among the participants. The findings suggest the existence of certain inequalities in education or, as the authors prefer to call it, the digital divide in education.postprintThe 19th International Conference on Computers in Education (ICCE 2011), Chiang Mai, Thailand, 28 November-2 December 2011. In Proceedings of the 19th ICCE, 2011, p. 595-60