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Item A framework for seeking the connections between technology, pedagogy, and culture : a study in the Maldives(University of Waikato, 2017) Adam, Aminath ShafiyaEducational technology researchers have often overlooked the effect of culture on teachers’ use of digital technologies in their pedagogical practice. Several technology integration models, such as the Technology Adoption Model (TAM) and Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK), have also failed to explain the connections between technology, pedagogy, and culture. This paper argues that teachers’ pedagogical and technological practices cannot be fully understood without considering the social and cultural norms of their specific cultures. An ethnographic methodology, linked to Bourdieu’s (1977) habitus, is used to explore teacher educators’ practices in the Maldives. The author uses interviews, observations, focus groups, and the hanging-out approach to gather data from eleven teacher educators who work in a Maldivian university. Key findings demonstrate that teacher educators’ pedagogical and technological practices are influenced by their own culture, their early learning experiences in the Maldives, and their workplace (institutional context). Through this finding, the paper proposes a framework; namely, Pedagogical and Technological Cultural Habitus (PATCH), for understanding teachers’ pedagogical and technological habitus in various contexts. The PATCH framework provides a theoretical basis for designing technology-oriented professional development for professionals in various pedagogical contexts, including virtual and blended pedagogical spaces. It also contributes to the TPACK framework by adding an outer layer to its current theorisation to represent teachers’ backgrounds and habitus when examining their practices.Item Cultural impact on teacher-educators' use of technologies in their pedagogical practices : a study in the Maldives(The University of Waikato, 2014) Adam, Aminath ShafiyaA substantial body of literature discusses the complexity of integrating technology into teachers’ pedagogical practices. However, the literature provides limited understanding about the impact of teachers’ culture on their use of technologies. I argue that technological and pedagogical practices of teachers cannot be fully understood without considering the social and cultural norms of their specific cultures. This paper aims to explain the impact of Maldivian culture on teacher-educators’ technological and pedagogical practices. My research used an ethnographic methodology linked with Bourdieu’s (1977) habitus as a lens. The data were gathered from eleven teacher-educators who work in a Maldivian university context. The process of ethnography took place during two visits to the research site. In the first visit, I spent six weeks “hanging out”1 with the participants, interviewed them individually, and observed six participants’ classroom teaching. In the second visit, I spent five weeks hanging out and organised focus groups with ten participants. Accordingly, follow-up interviews were carried out with five participants to clarify the main understanding of teacher educators’ habitus. The finding was generated through various strategies adhering to grounded theory. Key findings demonstrated that teacher-educators’ technological and pedagogical habitus was influenced by the cultural practice related to their learning norms and some aspects of their institutional context. The study revealed that teacher-educators adopted specific technologies available in their workplace relying on benefits gained for their pedagogical purposes. However, these pedagogical purposes were much influenced by the social cultural norms of the Maldives. As a result, the participants formed technological (PowerPoint-assisted) and pedagogical (content-oriented) habitus. This study offers valuable insights for understanding the impact of culture and habitus on teachers’ practices and their use of technologies both in schools and university contexts.Item Employer and academic staff perceptions of science and engineering graduate competencies((University of Waikato), 2018) Adam, Aminath Shafiya; Khoo, Elaine; Zegwaard, KarstenThis paper reports on the findings from a study investigating science and engineering employers and university academic teaching staff perceptions of the competencies science and engineering recent graduates require in the workplace. Data were collected through surveys and focus group interviews of science and engineering employers and academic teaching staff. Participants rated 26 graduate competencies on how important they are for graduates entering the science and engineering workplace across three aspects: important today, important in 10 years’ time, and, the perceived competency performance level of recent graduates that have entered the workplace. The findings revealed that employers thought teamwork, written communication, problem solving, oral communication, and interpersonal relationships were particularly important for today while academic teaching staff, however, viewed problem solving, written communication, critical thinking, conceptual thinking, and oral communication to be important today. The findings offer insights into the extent current preparation of science and engineering students are meeting employer expectations and highlight shifts in perceived future competencies to enhance support for student learning and employability outcomes. Implications are offered for strengthening curriculum, pedagogy and assessment approaches for workplace preparation. Finally, we discuss the limitations of the present study and how future research might resolve those limitations.Item Employer and lecturer perceptions of science and engineering graduate competencies : implications for curricular and pedagogical practice(The University of Waikato, 2018) Khoo, Elaine; Zegwaard, Karsten; Adam, Aminath ShafiyaCONTEXT The University of Waikato has embarked on a major curricular review and redesign, making it compulsory for all students enrolling in an undergraduate degree to complete at least one paper/course in work-integrated learning, with the intent of developing workplace competencies and increasing employability outcomes. An investigation into the kinds of competencies valued by key stakeholders involved in supporting student learning and preparation for the workplace was, therefore, warranted as an initial step for (re)designing student university and workplace experiences to ensure coherence and foster more authentic application of theoretical ideas in real-world contexts. PURPOSE This paper reports on the findings from a study investigating science and engineering employers’ and university lecturers’ perceptions of the essential graduate competencies to be successful in the workplace. Their views and suggestions for enhancing current curriculum, pedagogy and assessment approaches were also sought. APPROACH Using a mixed-method approach, an online survey was conducted for science and engineering employers and science and engineering academic teaching staff. Participants rated 26 graduate competencies in terms of how important they are for graduates entering the workplace across three aspects: important today, important in 10 years’ time, and, the competency performance level of recent graduates that have entered the workplace. A follow up focus group interview provided further insights including strategies for strengthening student workplace preparation. RESULTS Employers thought competencies such as Teamwork, Written Communication, Problem Solving, Oral Communication, and Interpersonal Relationships to be particularly important for today and included competencies such as Computer/ICT use as well as Self-Management to be more important for 10 years’ time. Academic teaching staff, on the hand, viewed competencies such as Problem Solving, Written Communication, Critical Thinking, Conceptual Thinking, and Oral Communication to be important today and added Data Analysis to this list of important competencies for 10 years’ time. Both groups agreed that the biggest gap between the important competencies today and graduates’ level of competence were in the areas of Written Communication, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and SelfManagement Skills. Strategies were offered for enhancing student preparation for the workplace. CONCLUSIONS The findings provide insights into the extent current preparation of science and engineering students are meeting employers’ expectations and highlight shifts in perceived future competencies. This study can inform the university’s review of current curriculum, teaching and assessment activities to enhance support for student learning and employability outcomes.Item Importance of knowledge sharing in higher education institutions(2020-06-15) Shina, AishathIn this knowledge era, knowledge sharing has been found to be of utmost importance to organizations, especially in Higher Education Institutions where academics are knowledge workers. To keep up with the dynamic new economy where knowledge has become a valuable resource and asset, innovation is essential. This could be achieved by sharing and disseminating the new knowledge its employees create. Though knowledge sharing is one of the fundamental responsibilities of the academics, it is believed that there are academics who like to share their knowledge, and there are academics who don’t. As most of the existing literature focuses on the reasons for knowledge hoarding, the researcher felt that it might inspire academics to share their knowledge when they are aware of the benefits of knowledge sharing. So, this study intends to explore academics perception with a main focus on the importance of sharing knowledge among academics. Semi structured interview questions were used to collect data, a total of 15 academics from five Higher Education Institutions in the Maldives participated. Participants were selected by utilizing purposeful sampling method. The data were analyzed using thematic approach. The emergent themes are presented and supported with existing literature. As knowledge being a valuable resource and asset, it can be augmented if people share their knowledge among each other and learn from each other.Item Managing insider issues through reflexive techniques : an insider-researcher’s journey(The University of Waikato, 2013-01-01) Adam, Aminath ShafiyaExperiences of conducting research vary according to the researcher’s position in the research process. This paper discusses the experiences and valuable insights of a researching journey with colleagues who share commonalities with the researcher. This is often described as an insider-researcher’s experience, in which the researcher conducts research into intimately-known communities, such as one’s own profession, workplace, social grouping, or a specific aspect of their culture. Although it is possible to generally define the characteristics of an insider-researcher, the issues and challenges experienced by individual researchers vary according to their contexts. This paper highlights a number of issues and challenges which emerged during an ethnographic data collection process. These issues were primarily associated with the researcher’s own insider knowledge, entanglement, and role ambiguity. This paper describes these issues and how they were managed through several reflexive techniques such as writing a field-journal, the ‘think aloud’ approach, and diagramming. Exploring these issues and challenges may contribute to a wider understanding of insider-researcher perspectives in the research journey.Item Online assessments in Maldivian higher education institutions : challenges faced by students(Institutes for Educational Research in NSW, SA and WA, 2023-10) Waheeda, Aishath; Shaheeda, Fathimath; Muna, Fathimath; Shina, AishathThe spread of Covid-19 forced many higher education institutions to switch to e-learning using a diverse range of educational platforms. The purpose of this qualitative research is to explore the challenges encountered by Maldivian higher education institutions conducting online assessment during the Covid-19 pandemic, from both lecturer and student perspectives. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from a purposively selected sample of full-time lecturers (nequivalent30) and students (nequivalent30) at 10 different higher education institutions in Maldives. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis. Findings revealed that issues related to technical difficulties, Internet connections, and students' lack of basic technological skills as major difficulties faced by students. Inadequate exam space during online assessment was a root cause of other obstacles. In addition issues related to feedback …Item Professional development for enhancing technology-integrated pedagogical practice : an ethnographic study in a Maldivian teacher education context(The University of Waikato, 2015) Adam, Aminath ShafiyaA substantial body of literature discusses the complexity of integrating technology into teachers’ early established pedagogical practices. This paper examines technologyrelated professional development and its impact on teacher educators’ technological and pedagogical practices. The data were gathered from eleven teacher educators through an ethnographic approach that took place during two visits to the research site. With respect to the first visit, the researcher spent six weeks “hanging out” with the participants, interviewed them individually, and observed six participants’ classroom teaching. Then, with the second visit, the researcher spent five weeks “hanging out”, and organised focus group discussions with ten participants. Lastly, she had follow-up interviews to clarify and validate the main understandings. The findings were generated through various strategies adhering to grounded theory. Key findings identified two types of professional learning: one is formally designed by the institution and the other is which occurred informally between colleagues. The findings also suggest that teacher educators continued using digital technologies in their early established pedagogical practices without necessarily bringing a change to their approaches to teaching. This paper argues that the professional development does not help teacher educators change their pedagogical practices unless it is connected with their backgrounds and the context of practice.Item Research trends and patterns on emotional intelligence in education : a bibliometric and knowledge mapping during 2012–2021(De Gruyter, 4-6-2024) Solih, Mohamed; Ahmed, Nasrulla; Moosa, Visal; Shareefa, Mariyam; Wider, WaltonThe increasing rate of publications on emotional intelligence, especially regarding student learning, underscores the need to study research trends in this domain. This research utilizes bibliometric and science mapping analyses to generate an overview of research on emotional intelligence in education, using data sourced from SCOPUS. The terms “emotional intelligence,” “teaching,” and “education” were used as keywords for data search and retrieval. Data were analysed using various bibliometric indicators such as the number of publications, citations, collaborations, co-citation, and keywords. While descriptive statistics were used to analyse bibliometric indicators, bibliometric network analyses using VOSviewer were carried out for science mapping analyses. The findings indicate that while publication counts surged between 2012 and 2021, average citations remained constant. Despite Western predominance, Asia significantly contributed to research output. Notable collaboration was seen among Asian, Balkan, and European nations, but limited among individual authors. The keyword analysis informed major themes such as leadership skills, training, medical education, entrepreneurship, personality, special needs, and psychosocial aspects. Summarily, emotional intelligence in education has emerged as a globally acknowledged research area, and this work elucidates its thematic knowledge, offering insights for prospective researchers.Item The challenges related to offering of online teacher education programmes : a study in a Maldivian university(The University of Waikato, 2016) Adam, Aminath ShafiyaThe Maldives with its geographical uniqueness (a chain of islands spread out and far from each other), could place e-learning in a central position to offer higher education opportunities for teachers. This paper explains challenges associated with offering of online teacher education programmes in a Maldivian university context. The study adopted an ethnographic approach, gathered data from eleven teacher educators through interviews, focus group conversations and hanging out approaches. The findings highlight a number of challenges related to geographical, infrastructural and cultural. These challenges were analysed via Bourdieu’s (1986) three forms of capital (economic, social and cultural) attempting to understand the aspects involved in the practicality of offering e-learning programmes in this specific context. The paper contributes to understanding the limitations related to online programmes in small island communities and specific cultures. While using three forms of capital to examine these factors, this study provides a new theoretical understanding for designing e-learning in various contexts.Item Understanding of knowledge sharing : academics' perspective(2019-12-30) Shina, AishathKnowledge is seen as the most important strategic resource in an organisation, especially in universities where knowledge is produced, applied and disseminated among academics. Studies on knowledge sharing have emerged as a key research area that has gained attention especially during the twentieth century. Though the topic is popular, the construct has not been well defined theoretically nor has it been properly operationalized. As there appears little consistency, it is very difficult to define knowledge sharing. This apparent lack of consistency is problematic for developing an understanding of the term. In this regard, this study intends to explore the definitions of knowledge sharing as perceived by academics’ in higher education institutions in Maldives. This study employed qualitative approach to collect data, consisting of nine semi-structured interviews of academics, from three higher education institutions. Participants were selected by utilizing purposeful sampling technique. Initial thematic approach revealed two main themes. The emergent themes are presented by using instances from interview transcripts which is linked and supported by literature. This study reports preliminary findings, and final results will be reported when data analysis is fully completed.Item Understanding teacher educators' pedagogical and technological cultural habitus (PATCH) in the Maldives(The University of Waikato, 2015) Adam, Aminath ShafiyaThe literature widely discusses the complexity of integrating technology in teachers’/teacher educators’ pedagogies, overlooking the impact of professionals’ culture when investigating their use of technologies in their practices. Bourdieu (1977) argues that people’s practices are embodied within their cultures; hence they form habitus through their past and present experiences both consciously and unconsciously. This paper argues that technological and pedagogical practices of professionals cannot be fully understood without considering their social and cultural norms of their specific cultures. This research was designed through an ethnographic approach linked with Bourdieu’s (1977) habitus as a lens for exploring teacher educators’ practices in the Maldives. The data was gathered from eleven teacher educators through interviews, observations, focus group discussions, and the hanging out activities in a Maldivian university context. The findings were generated using various strategies adhering to grounded theory for capturing an in-depth understanding of how teacher educators shaped their pedagogies. The paper presents two cases out of eleven teacher educators who participated in this research. Key findings demonstrated that teacher educators’ technological and pedagogical practice was influenced by their own culture, early learning experiences (social cultural), and their workplace (institutional culture). More specifically, the study indicated that teacher educators formed technological (PowerPoint-assisted) and pedagogical (content-oriented) cultural habitus by the influence of their social cultural norms in the Maldives. This study offers new theoretical understanding related to the impact of deep-seated cultural and context aspects on professionals’ practices and their use of technologies both in schools and university contexts.Item Using qualitative data analysis tools ‘fit for purpose’ for making sense of teacher educators’ use of digital technologies in their pedagogical practices(The University of Waikato, 2017) Adam, Aminath Shafiya; Falloon, GarryThis article describes the analysis process associated with an ethnographic study in which data were generated through interviews, observations, focus groups and hanging out techniques. The purpose of the study was to make sense of how teacher educators’ specific technological and pedagogical practices were formed, with particular focus on the possible influence of their culture. The researcher used various analysis strategies involving the integration of a number of digital data tools (NVivo-10, Mindjet, Inspiration-8-IE, and Microsoft applications) that served different purposes at different times. The article argues that researchers should consider using an integration of different digital tools, applying them as ‘fit for purpose’ at various times during data analysis. It suggests doing this will assist researchers to seek a deeper understanding of qualitative data and manage the ‘messiness’ of analysis, while assisting with the complexity of the meaning making process.