The Teaching and Research Blog

CITE Seminar: Open the PDF Goldmine: emerging research development in IT in education in the Faculty of Education

PDF refers to post-doctoral fellow and not that Adobe proprietary file format.   I am attending this seminar because I may be one of these fellows, one day. What do these guys do? Let's find out!

Ecological modeling of educational change: wow, I was just writing about this today! Some important points that need to be reiterated in my literature are, one, ecology is no more than a metaphor (i.e. a relational analogy) and the ecology (i.e. any phenomenon within the environment) is measured by models:

Ecosystems can be anything, it seems

What are the problems with modeling? One, they are flat: they can only provide partial information, an incomplete understanding: we can't get a rich, 360 degree understanding. Forcing the classroom systematic order into a natural systematic order is difficult not least because the classroom picture is skewed in the interpretation; indeed, a biologist might find such interpretation foolish: the translation isn't clean and thus the analogy must be less direct than abstract. Meta-analysis methodology, therefore, is crucial in translating (i.e. coding) one systematic order into another.

How does the second language interfere with the results of the study: how the quality of the question affects the quality of the discussion. I keep going back to this point in Knowledge Forum Research in Hong Kong: how can we tell if students coginitively possess the discourse types but lack the discourse language? At least Dr. Lai acknowledges the possibility of academic results in explaining the results, which, incidentally acknowledges second language interference.

Is the KF work compulsory?  What are the constraints (e.g. word limits; number of contributions) How does the nature of the assignment, that it is work, influence the RJ picture? (Can the constraints explain the same number of notes contributed by all participants, regardless of RJ) Well, I finally asked this question and learned that this work was compulsory, in the sense that it was homework: there were no other constraints, it seemed (although some teachers may enforce a participation quota at times).

Confucian Heritage Cultures (CHC): oh, no...these generalizations are too broad!  Jae tries to differentiate between Bushido culture and cowboy culture: that they are cultures are fails, I believe.

He likes Popper Cycles too: great!

Changing Practices and Changing Perspectives: Pedagogical Technologists in Schools

Pedagogical technologists in schools are often teachers first and para-coordinators of pedagogy and technology second, and their role as a pedagogical technologist has, in the past, predominantly focused on supporting technical aspects of teaching with information technology (IT). However, the role of the pedagogical technologist in schools in Hong Kong may be changing, due to the increasing presence of IT in schools and changes to the specific ways that schools think about IT in education. A number of schools have appointed full-time pedagogical technologists whose primary duty is supporting the pedagogical aspect of teaching through IT and helping teachers use technology to best support student learning, taking into account technological pedagogical content knowledge. These pedagogical technologists are drivers of school change through technology. This study explores the role of selected pedagogical technologists and examines what they do to improve schools' ways of doing through technology. In examining these cases, this study will develop some general principles about what makes pedagogical technologists successful in today's schools. This study will employ a multiple-case study research strategy with the pedagogical technologist being the unit of analysis. Data will be collected by observing and interacting with selected pedagogical technologists at work. The pedagogical technologists, principals and teachers will be interviewed. Documents will be collected and a number of class lessons will be observed.

This is feedback that I received from my supervisor:

1. Better structured - define study: changing practices; people in these changes; how technology drives change; who are these people? Present TPCK and its research early in the presentation (even in your research proposal) - better term: get rid of preconceived notions of IT coordinator
2. Make your definition of technology clear because there are many preconceived notions of technology too
3. Simplify and clarify: keep to the main theme: what is this about? Examining changing practices and changing schools because of these pedagogical technologists who use technology to affect change. (Technology is the driver; or is it a proxy?)
4. Nikki Davis (2008) in International handbook on information technology in primary and secondary education; Zhao & Frank (2003): go back to these guys to inform your understanding; check out the books’ references
5. How can other presentations inform my understanding? Justification for geographic selection: convenience; which kinds of people are coming to these schools?  Why?  Think hard!
6. Improve pacing.
7. Present at CITERS 2011: be concise, 5, 10 minutes

Researching Qualitatively: Experiences of a Comparative Educator

I am at this workshop, organized by the Social Work & Social Administration Department, because Manzon is "a rising star" in comparative education.  She knows a thing or two about superb qualitative research and comparative education.  I hope to learn about both in ways that inform my own research, today.

Manzon worked at an investment bank as an analyst before joining academia.  She is, indeed, a special one to be selected for analyst work by an investment bank.  Additionally, she is a special one because she is international: she was born in the Philippines, of Chinese ancestry, moved to Hong Kong and has done major research in Singapore.  Not everyone on the earth can do that.  It is good to have her talents, and context in the education field.

Females comprise 90% of the audience.  It seems as if everyone has an Asian face.

Research Focus: I need to spin my personal IT coordinator orientation to describe whether or not I am an insider in the research.  This is important.  Off the top of my head, I am an insider in that I do share similar professional experience with the pedagogical technologists: I was a teacher; I was not a Hong Kong person working in Hong Kong; I was a technology-savvy teacher; I was a driver of change in my organization through technology; and I speak English as a first language.  In sum, my individual indicators may share a similitude.  On the other hand, I am an outsider in terms of organization: I have never worked in a non-mainstream school in Hong Kong, save for the YMCA of HK Christian College, a DSS school (The pedagogical technologists in my study work at International schools, ESF schools and PIS schools.). Additionally, I never assumed this parituclar pedagogical technologist role in which I supported teaching through IT full-time.  In sum, that I am investigating an emerging role in an emerging context suggests strongly that I'm an outsider.  I am more an outsider than an insider.

Case comparison: I need to go back to George Bereday's (1964) framework from Comparative Method in Education to compare my cases.  I can use one of these comparison methods to compare all the individual and external indicators across cases.  

Initial Comparability of Pedagogical Technologists (i.e. Case Unit of Analysis)

Similarities: (very similar) job roles; non-mainstream schools; "wealthy" schools; external environment; Hong Kong; men; age; ethnicity; salary(?)

Differences: official job roles and titles; specific curricula and technologies; specific visions and missions; past experience

To compare, perhaps developing a "Key informants' Profile" table in which characteristics (rows) are compared across units (columns).

In writing the cases, and definitely in analyzing the cases, I can use the Bereday (1964) model and its models: description and interpretation (e.g. context and policy); juxtaposition (e.g. similarities and differences) to form hypothesis, for example; and simultaneous comparison & conclusions.

Qualitative Researcher Tip: Do your own transcriptions because you can analyze and categorize immediately, as you transcribe.  Don't give this opportunity to anyone else! When transcribing, use colors to code and then put sentences of the same color in a new file.

Qualitative Researcher Tip 2: Ask the superficial questions first before diving into the deeper questions that cause reflection about beliefs, values and assumptions.  

Qualitative Researcher Tip 3: Send your dissertation presentation to international scholars (e.g. Laurillard; Davis) to get their initial impressions.  These guys, it seems, want to share! Tell Bob too that you are going to do this.  Network well, dude; and send the presentation to scholars in Asia too, not least because their contexts may be more similar to the Hong Kong context and you do want to network, and eventually work long-term, in Asia.  

Qualitative Researcher Tip 4: Not only societies in your field are the same.  Some are shells, comprising just a man and a dog.  Go after only the active societies and journals in your field as you develop professionally.

The tree or the forest? Am I interested in only pedagogical technologists in this particular Hong Kong context or am I aiming for deepening the understanding of the pedagogical technologist in schools adjusting to rapid technological change around the world?  I want to shoot for the latter, but I need more comprehensive data!

Postgraduate Research Conference - May 2011

This Dr. Andy Gao is a successful person with successful habits.  He and I share several propensities in common: we both do our work in the morning and set word limits; we cannot focus on a task for more than four hours; but after the core work is done in the morning, we don't feel guilty spending the day doing something else. In general, he and I are disciplined and do seize opportunities "to serve," though I wonder how selfless his serving and my serving are.  

Indeed, what scares me about this presentation is the contradiction between community and the marketplace.  All these suggestions "to serve" that Dr. Gao has proposed are self-serving, selfish; they are not selfless; in essence, all these suggestions imply that students should be calculating, cunning strategic, never doing anything for free but getting something out of it: always an exchange: never provide a free lunch: this is the same works mentality that I encountered at Morrison Hall.  Small wonder these questions that I hear now about the problems of sustaining a community of practice cause me to chuckle: we can't create a community based on selflessness when we treat the community as a marketplace where actions are rationale and selfish.  

Nevertheless, the audience appreciates the advice.  That is good.  This knowledge is useful for these people's careers and, I suspect, for their hearts: I believe, to draw in five discplines and deep learning, these manifestations of academic success owe more to a changing heart than to a determined will.  Maybe what is shared this evening will bear much fruit in many people's hearts!

Useful tip: see how a journal article is cited by other authors!

Investigating possible relationship between personal epistemology andsituatedness of ideas in online collaborative progressive discourse

 Who are these students? 32 grade 8 Hong Kong students: ESL students?

I wonder how elements, such as some students' cheating (Indeed, how to limit cheating?) and some students' lack of vocabulary limit students' epistomological responses: can we use Chinese to expland these students' technological range? Along those lines, I wonder if the survey will be delivered in Chinese or English. Indeed, if I were to deliver an epistomological response in Korean, that response wouldn't be as epistomologically progressive as an English-language response I could deliver on the same topic.

Big assumption: English levels are sufficient to express epistomological beliefs.  That's dubious.

Is the KF work compulsory?  What are the constraints (e.g. word limits; number of contributions) How does the nature of the assignment, that it is work, influence the RJ picture? (Can the constraints explain the same number of notes contributed by all participants, regardless of RJ)

Library Focus Group

I first shared my opinion on what should be changed: the notorious bathrooms need to be cleaned. (They are being renovated, the librarian rejoined.) In addition, the furniture needs to match the constraints: I cited the collaborative furniture configurations in quiet zones as an inexplicable contradiction.  Finally, I told the group about my pet peeve, squatting.  (The library is patrolling these days, the librarian added, but they may cease after the exam period. The other librarian corrected me when I generalized that squatting was a part of HKU culture.) All in all, the library's quality of life was poor compared such university libraries as the CityU library, for which reason I didn't study at the main library.

 

I also enumerated favorable changes. First, I like the new head librarian: his initiatives are bold and sensible; he is also responsive and follows up fast.  Second, the library has selected and displayed the foyer exhibitions well.  I enjoy stopping in my tracks to view the displays.  The text messaging system is also a technology worth leveraging even more as it can deliver all the pertinent information the library dispenses to a captive audience; after all, a user is more likely to check a text than he is to check his e-mail; but, alas, texting is expensive, the librarian lamented -- all the better to be judicious about what information to text, I retorted.

 

I found out about a second floor garden and was led out to it by the librarian after the meeting.  The view was spectacular; and the lush, green grass, the wild type, refreshed my senses and reminded me of America -- how rare it is to find grass in this concrete jungle! Maybe this attraction will be enough to induce my return to the library.  

 

I didn't realize how dense the library website pages were until I tried to navigate the website in front of my other focus group members to find something -- in this case, a new acquisition list; later, I tried to find other materials, to no avail. This reminded me of the signs at HKU: too many signs make navigation, even for the most digitally literate, perilous! I was relieved to hear, therefore, that the website is being relaunched, hopefully, with a simpler interface.  I reluctantly expressed interest in being a part of the testing team.

 

While one librarian appears, in the aim, agreeable to our group's proposals, one of the librarians is playing the devil's advocate.  While I think hearing a second opinion is good, this only reinforces the idea that change is hard: how ironic that focus group suggestions are being shot down by the staff members running the group! She seemed the most conservative: she balked at the idea of providing space for students to eat, calling the results of such practice, "dirty!"

 

HOW TO: Hire the Perfect CTO

Today, CTOs are multi-taskers that aren’t just coders locked in some basement — they play a vital role in a tech company’s strategic plan and growth. Not only do they need to have a high level of diversified technical prowess and proficiency, but they also need to possess strong leadership and project management capabilities. With development teams often based around the world, being the center of communication and progress can either lead to a tremendously successful strategy or a bottleneck that can slow down an entire company.

via mashable.com

The chief technology officer (CTO) resembles closely what an information technology (IT) coordinator should do, the IT coordinator requiring significant pedagogy knowledge on top of these other vital CTO characteristics, I think. I wonder if any schools in Hong Kong, in fact, employ an officially-titled CTO. If that is the case, I would love to compare the CTO to the school's IT coordinator, if the school also employs one.

GRSC6009 - Session Six

Stacking the review deck: it is possible to recommend reviewers for your journal article submission; therefore, if you know people on a journal's editorial board who are friends, or favorable to your position, it is possible to recommend those people to review your paper thereby increasing your chances of publication in that journal.  That is a conflict of interest, and also a way to get published!

A benefit of disclosing conflict of interest in recommending reviewers is that though you know someone, that person could be someone who is an expert, (because that person has reviewed your paper before, for example, at a conference.)

Remeber to acknowledge people who have helped you in developing your paper (e.g. your supervisor; another professor).

Be careful about pressured authorship (someone demanded to be placed on your paper) and check the ICJME guidelines.

Work on an authorship assignment when writing with co-authors; alphabetically with weight could help.

There is a bias towards Chinese names, it seems; Chinese people's works are more carefully scrutinized, perhaps, because of the malfeasance in Chinese academia.  I raised to the class the possibility of publishing under my first and second names, David James, rather than my first and last names, David Woo, to obviate this bias.  The lecturer was amused and wondered how I could justify this nomenclature on my CV: I think I could easily explain my rational: Chinese bias; and last name bias.

Library Focus Group Meeting

I expressed in being a part of a library user focus group and I've just received my invite.  I look forward to sharing my opinions and minor expertise on learning spaces.  

Dear user,

 Thank you for your support to our Non Local Student : Library needs Survey and we would like to hold the Focus Group meeting on May 11, 2011 at 2:30 pm to discuss what the library can help you and improve our service.  Please let me know by e-mail at...with your name if you will be able to attend the meeting.  Thanks for your help.

 Best regards,

...

Reference Librarian

 

 

Changing the Learning Space: An Incremental, Popperian Approach

I spent a week writing this triple-play, all-kill (that is, a term paper-cum-conference paper-cum-journal article). Overall, I think the topic, applying Popper Cycles to learning spaces, is curious, if double-minded: what would improve the paper is a singular focus, and if the audience and reviewers' responses are good, then I'll send this off to a few critical friends to see what can be extended in this paper for a journal article. I'm willing to rewrite sections of this paper for peer-reviewed journal publication.

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

The NET Inquiry

My YouTube videos prompted one viewer to write to me:

Hi David,

I realised getting an English teaching (NET) position in HK is hard and competitive. Let alone that even a degree does not satisfy the requirements. From my two weeks (my first time in HK) of analysing the job situation and interviews, one must have at least a Post-graduate in Education (Master of Education is even better) to qualify for a position. Preferably for a well paid position, one must additionally have at least 3 - 5 years of teaching experience. I have at least around...years of teaching experience (teaching students and school teachers in...), hold a bachelor of social science and CELTA qualified. 

All of my applications were rejected. Firstly to note, I thought I may have gotten a position at a secondary school (in...) since the interviewers were amazed at my qualifications and teaching skills. However I was rejected. I dont really know why. Probably I might lack a Postgraduate Diploma in education. I am still in confusion what went wrong during the interview. Do I lack skills or qualifications? 

After having a look at your video I am extremey shocked at the piles of paperwork on the desk! How many hours a day do you work on the paperwork alone? Seems scary... 

I may be offered a teaching position at a college / public university in... But I don't whats it like. Maybe you can enlighten me. 

Thank you for your reply. Appreciate it! 

This was my response:

Dear...
I'm surprised to hear about your rejections. Did you apply to schools directly or go through the government for the NET scheme? And do you mind sharing to which schools you applied? 

For the government NET scheme, qualifications matter: I think you must have a PGDE or else someone with that qualification should get taken ahead of you. Likewise, maybe someone more with more impressive qualifications and better interview skills received offers from those schools which did not offer you the post. From my experience, I'm quite sure that in the early part of my career, I received rejections not least because I wasn't a good interview. Only when something changed in me did I start receiving lots and lots of offers.

Have you considered applying to DSS schools in Hong Kong? They offer competitive salaries and can circumvent strict government qualification requirements. International schools, PIS schools and ESF schools, likewise, can hire regardless of your paperwork.

As for teaching paperwork, in general, there will be lots in a mainstream school, even for a NET -- having said that, I was never a NET. Paperwork is tough: being asked to be a counselor, a security guard, an accountant, etc. in addition to being a teacher is tough; small wonder mainstream education doesn't change; you need to be a glutton for punishment and a real joygiver, a public servant, to prosper in a public school and to improve it: the right person can do this!

I suspect you will be paid less to teach in China, but you will be taken care of: I've heard good things about the working environment in universities in China: although there are more students, they are more affable, friendly, outgoing, and all those things that improve one's quality of life. Those people may be harder to find, in general, in Hong Kong society.

Bless you; and have a good morning!

Warmly,
David