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The PGR Student Conference 2015

Summaries of Research Presentations

Morning Session

Strand: Mathematics and Science Education

Chair: Dr Andri Christodoulou

Location: Room 3001

10.00 – 10.30  Post-Graduate Students’ in China: Their Mathematics Education Journeys in Their Own Words

Claire Walker

10.30 – 11.00  Using Multimodal Video Analysis to Investigate Structural Aspects of Young Children’s Mathematical Thinking

Joanna Williamson

11.00 – 11.30  Humanistic Science Teaching: Learning from Secondary Teachers’ Instructions

David Bowman

11.30 – 12.00  Mathpen Handwriting Recognition Technology: Streamlining Online Communications for Mathematics Learning Communities (and Beyond)

Mandy Lo

Although the web is an effective learning environment, digitising mathematical expressions is prohibitively complicated and tedious for many. My PhD studies involve first, designing and implementing a freely available online handwriting recognition software for mathematics expressions (which I named MathPen) and second, investigate the role MathPen can play in rectifying the problem and how this may make real ‘online collaborative maths talk’ possible both for the mathematics learning communities and beyond.

12.00 – 12.15  Informal discussion of presentations and research field

Strand: Leadership, School Effectiveness and School Improvement

Chair: Professor Jacky Lumby

Room: 4007

10.00 – 10.30 Assessing capacity for improvement in primary schools of Central Oaxaca, Mexico

Rosie Cruz

10.30 – 11.00 Effectiveness of Critical Thinking (CT) Skills Intervention in Developing Critical Thinking Skills of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Students in Pakistan

Shumaila Mahmood

11.00 – 11.30 Educational Process Factors for Effective Education in Resource Constrained Countries: A Multilevel Analysis

Hamis Mugendawala

11.30 – 12.00  Professional Development at Rustaq College of Applied Sciences in Oman

Zulaika Al-Saadi

Professional development is very important for both employees, to develop their own goals and to update their knowledge, and for organizations, to be on the right track to cope with other organizations and with global changes all over the world.  This paper will give an insight to the efforts done by the college to encourage and involve its employees towards professional development. It will also explore the problems that have led to the inconsistent practices and propose solutions based on the employees’ feedback.

12.00 – 12.15  Informal discussion of presentations and research field

Strand: Biography and Identity

Chair: Dr Jenny Byrne

Location: room 2003

10.00 – 10.30  Learning from linked lives:  Key findings from a prosopographical analysis of the character and influence of the guests at the 25th Jubilee dinner of the British Psychoanalytical Society at the Savoy Hotel, on 8th March 1939.

Julie Greer

10.30 – 11.00  Views From Behind the Stair Guard: A Study into the Working Lives of Nursery Nurses

Natasha Crellin

The Early Years sector has faced massive reforms over the past 25 years including the introduction of profit making day nurseries.  The impact of how these nurseries have affected the workforce has attracted little commentary.  This research asks the question, ‘How does the profit status of a setting impact on nursery nurses experiences of their work?’ It studies nursery nurses working identities by exploring the rewards, frustrations and motivations for entering and remaining in the workforce.

11.00 – 11.30  A qualitative study of the micro-processes and mechanisms of mindfulness

Willeke Rietdijk

Many randomised control studies in health care have shown a positive impact of mindfulness-based interventions, but not much research has been conducted into how mindfulness works. Gaining an insight into this is fundamentally important for our understanding of the human mind and will thus impact on all fields in which mindfulness is applied, including education, and might also help shed light on learning and psychological change processes. This PhD study proposes the use of the phenomenological Elicitation Interview method to study mindfulness processes at a micro-level. The theoretical framework will be presented an overview will be given of mindfulness mechanisms proposed in literature.

11.30 – 11.45  Informal discussion of presentations and research field

Strand: Higher Education

Chair: Professor Jürgen Enders

Location: Room 4005

10.00 – 10.30  Exploring Factors Contributing to Student Progress in the Indonesia Open University

M. Husni Arifin

 

10.30 – 11.00  Philosophical Underpinnings for Researching Marketing of Higher Education: The Critical Realist Perspective

Eva Nedbalova

11.00 – 11.30  Altered Positions - A Study on the Expectations and Experiences of Career Mentoring in Higher Education

Kavita Hayton

11.30 – 12.00  Health Risk Behaviours among University Students in Saudi Arabia

Saad Alshehri

12.00 – 12.15  Informal discussion of presentations and research field

Summaries of Research Presentations Afternoon Session

Strand: Technology & Innovation

Chair: Dr Martin Dyke

Location: 3001

13.15 – 13.45  Teachers’ Perceptions of Student-Centred Learning in the Online Environment

Nashwa Ismail

13.45 – 14.15  Technology Enhanced Teacher-Learning in Rural Bangladesh

Golam Jamil

14.15 – 14.45 The Use of Technology to Promote Creative and High Quality Talk between Pupils in the Primary Classroom

Linda Cooper

This presentation emerges from an exploration of digital technology’s potential   to promote creative, high quality talk between pupils in the primary classroom. In particular, the use of digital games will be discussed in order to question how their educational potential might be harnessed to facilitate learning and collaboration. Using the ‘Minecraft’ gaming world to create an immersive environment, the talk of children has been recorded and analysed to examine it for dialogic elements.​

14.45 – 15.00 Informal discussion of presentations and research field

Strand: Leadership, School Effectiveness and School Improvement

Chair: Professor Jacky Lumby

Room: 4007

13.15 – 13.45  International University Partnerships: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

Damon Burg

13.45 – 14.15  Exploring the Impact of ‘Connectedness’ within a European Nurse Education Network for Participant Nurse Educators

Nita Reynolds

This presentation shares the preliminary stages of an EdD study through an overview of the defining conceptual thinking.  Included will be an analysis of the context of nurse education and the notion of a network.  A scholarly practice framework of academics and communities of practice will be also explored. Preliminary findings from an initial focus group of participants will also be shared and the impact this had on this conceptual phase considered. ​

 

14.15 – 14.45  Quality Assurance and Effectiveness in Kurdistan Higher Education: The Reform Process

Selar Othman Ali

14.45 – 15.00 Informal discussion of presentations and research field

Strand: Citizenship and Education

Chair: Dr Kalwant Bhopal

Location: Room 4005

13.15 – 13.45  Political Learning in Post-16 Education and Training

Rebecca Ridley

13.45 – 14.15  Possibilities of Citizen Participation in Decision-Making through EPG within the Process of Policy Implementation

Angeline Dharmaraj

This presentation emerges from an exploration of literature on policy and community. In particular, the working conceptualization of community power and influence. I seek to work out the scope of participatory democracy to establish an order in the policy implementation process through citizen involvement that could bring justice through educational provisions in rural India.  ​

14.15 – 14.45  The Influence of the University on Civic Behaviour of Young People in the United Kingdom: A Quantitative Research

Jinyu Yang

14.45 – 15.00 Informal discussion of presentations and research field

 

Poster session 12.30-13.00 in room 2003 (during lunch)

(Posters will remain put up for the rest of the day)

Developing Teachers’ Skills in ICT – Abdulsalam Almanthari

To what extent is educational leadership, within the school culture in Kuwait, prepared for facing the challenges presented by globalisation – Aliah Alduwailah

Teacher Evaluation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) Schools – Improvement through E-Portfolio – Ebtesam Alharthi

Learning Disabilities Rooms (Resource Rooms) as One of the Alternatives in Supporting Children With Learning Disabilities in First Cycle in the Basic Education in the Sultanate of Oman - Khawla Al Mamari

An Examination of Student Teachers' Experiences and Perceptions of Teaching Practice in the College of Education at the University of Azzawia in Libya – Khulod Khmag

Health Risk Behaviours among University Students in Saudi Arabia – Saad Alshehri

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PGR Conference Research Presentation Schedule 23 May 2014