Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    Open Access
    An exploratory study on promoting students’ critical thinking by using weblogs
    (2008-06) ;
    Woo, Huay Lit
    Critical thinking becomes an essential competency for people in the new information age. The purpose of this research is to investigate to what extent writing online reflections using weblogs can promote students’ critical thinking. This research is conducted in a secondary school. After completing 3 weblogs, a focus group interview was conducted to collect their feedback on the design and implementation of the research. The results showed that the students liked the way of writing online reflections. They attempted to make the weblogs interesting, convincing and logical. Also, they liked to view others’ reflections and to give comments. This paper presents the formative evaluation processes and results of the research.
      320  137
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Supporting beginning teachers' case–based learning in a technology-mediated learning environment
    The current challenge faced by most beginning teachers is the disparity between the theories of classroom management exposed to in pre-service, and the practices in complex and ill-structured classroom situations. Such a theory-practice gap has led to the need to re-examine the existing instructional approach used in teacher learning and helping them develop deep understanding and meaningful learning for teachers. This proposed study explores case-based learning and related areas, beginning teachers’ case-based learning for self-analysis, discussion and reflection. It also explores how technology can be used to support teachers' case-based learning. The affordances of technology and design of technology-mediated learning environment will also be presented.
      211  210
  • Publication
    Open Access
    Engaging online students in blended synchronous learning: An exploratory study
    (The International Academic Forum, 2024)
    Blended synchronous learning (BSL) is an instructional approach that enables online students to participate in classroom activities from geographically separated sites using video conferencing technologies. Despite its educational benefits, maintaining and increasing the engagement of online students is challenging. In this study, some strategies were adopted in two classes (N=22 & 23) to investigate how online students could be effectively engaged and their perceptions of the strategies applied. Surveys and focus group discussions were administered. Results showed that leading group discussions was helpful for online students to be engaged. However, it had challenges for online students as they did not know who was talking and not every member could be observed in the video. Having a teaching assistant (TA) was highly rated. It enabled the instructor to pay close attention to the questions posted to the chat box promptly and helped online students know what was happening in class when the connection was unstable. Giving peer feedback was another useful strategy. However, it only worked when everyone was familiar with the assignment topics of others. Using an interactive tool like Pear Deck did not noticeably increase student engagement. It seemed the design of learning content and activities was more important than the tool itself. In addition, the students commonly indicated that they were highly engaged, and they did not think that their engagement level was lower when they were online. This finding was inconsistent with existing literature, which requires further investigation in the future. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.
      9  18