Research Design!

Its Monday again and I feel that Ive lost the chain! The chain of  my study! Im trying to focus:

Curriculum Reform, a Study of Change and Change Agents in the computing Discipline

Here are my RQs:

What are the key characteristics of contemporary Computing curricula? (Document Analysis) 

University of Melbourne (Computing & Software Systems)

The University of Queensland (Electrical & Computer Engineering)

The University of Sydney (Bachelor of Engineering, Electrical Computer) 

University of Newcastle (Bachelor of Engineering, Computer).

What factors shape the curriculum in Computing discipline? (Survey) 

Lecturers at the above-mentioned universities (or even other universities)

What is the role of academics as change agents in curriculum change in Computing discipline? (Interview) 

Change agents at the above-mentioned universities. 

Update RQs!

What are the key characteristics of contemporary Computing curricula? (Document Analysis) 

·         Assessment Items

·         Course Type

·         Core 

·         Directed

·         Objectives

·         Analysis & Synthesis

·         Apply Knowledge

·         Computer Professional Skills

·         Design & Development

·         Fundamental Knowledge

·         Others

o    Health Safety Requirement

o    Multidisciplinary

o    Sustainability

·         Practical Implementation

·         Soft Skills

·         Understanding

·         Previously Offered

·         Teaching Method

·         Year

What factors shape the curriculum in Computing discipline? (Survey) 

1) External Factors (Factors outside the organization)

2) Internal Factors (Factors inside the organization)

·         Organisational factors

·         Students-related factors

·         Content-related factors

What is the role of academics as change agents in curriculum change in Computing discipline? (Interview) 

Interview (First phase)

Can you please tell me a little bit about yourself?

• The journey of your professional career
• When did you start?
• How did you start?
• Your career stage
• Your experience in this position?
• How do you see yourself in this career?

What is the major challenge in your professional career?

• Why do you think this is so?
• Any other challenges that you have noticed?
• Can any of those challenges be overcome? How?

What influenced you to work in this career?

• What do you like about this?
• What do you don’t like?
• What needs to be changed?

Is there any committee in your institution for curriculum revision?

• How it works?
• Any regular meeting?
• Your relationship with other colleagues

What makes the Computing discipline different from others?

• Emerging technology
• Equipments & safe environment
• Mandatory requirements 

New academic year! New week! New day!

Its the first day of new year, academic year. Youka goes to year five!!! She was so excited! Im too! Her new teacher is an author and Youka expect to have a great progress in writing!

I sent an email to Allyson again, asking her for an appointment. She must be very busy, or she is tired of me! Not respond yet. I need to see her to

1. Finalize my RQs
2. Show her my questionnaires
3. Show her my interview questions
4. Show her my coding and explain my plan for the future
5. Ask her about my sampling
6. Ask her about a worthwhile conference
7. Ask her about UNSW
8. Ask her about a conference
9. Ask her about the title of the research

But, right now I can work on:

1. Finding a high prestigious conference
2. Working on my UNSW paper
3. Working on my ethics
4. Working on my coding
5. Call 17000 for installing NVivo on my laptop
6. Making my Dropbox

What can I ask from Elena? Its good to talk to her, but it doesn't change the situation.

Lets start!

By the way, I got a phone call yesterday! I need to work Thursday afternoon and most of the Friday. Exciting!

First round of coding is done!

After a deep review of the whole degree of Computer Engineering (University of Newcastle), I decided about the nodes:

• Assessment Items
• Course Type
• Core 
• Directed
• Objectives
• Analysis & Synthesis
• Apply Knowledge
• Computer Professional Skills
• Design & Development
• Fundamental Knowledge
• Others
• Health Safety Requirement
• Multidisciplinary
• Sustainability
• Practical Implementation
• Soft Skills
• Understanding
• Previously Offered
• Teaching Method
• Year
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

I need to remind myself that Id like to categorise this objectives according to Habermas's 3 different human interests:

1) Technical

• Apply Knowledge
• Design & Development
• Computer Professional Skills

2) Practical

• Understanding
• Analysis & Synthesis
• Practical Implementation

3) Emancipatory

• Soft Skills

Feeling excited!

This year is going to be a fantastic year! Well done 2014! I had a job interview yesterday at Navitas. It went well and I received a phone call afterwards that said CONGRATULATIONS! Woohooo!!!! However, I know that my responsibilities will be doubled, I like to challenge myself. Time-management, the skill that I need!

Since last week I was working on the curriculum document. Finally, I could manage to enter all the data into NVivo. I had done that before, but this time with different view:

I review all the course explanation and objectives carefully and extracted lots of key words. Now its the time to review the key words to extract some theme. 

I need to see Allyson soon. Life is going to be challenging afterwards, but Ill handle it. 

Three generic domains of human interest

Ive read a little bit about Habermas theory. He believes that there are three different areas that human generates knowledge:

1. Technical interest
2. practical interest
3. Emancipatory interest

Habermas and Curriculum!

A new idea came to me while I was scanning 'The curriculum? Thats just a unit outline, isn't it? '. 

As I understood, in this paper they conducted interview to explore the concept of curriculum used and applied by teachers. They identified 4 categories, however then, they tried to fit these categories in Habermas's knowledge constitutive . 

I thought I can do the same. See the curriculum documents by my vision, then try to fit those categories in Habermas. 

Back to work!

It was a busy weekend, one party on Saturday night (an Aussie gathering) and one last night (an Iranian group). Now backed to work...

I found a good paper focusing on Software engineering curriculum (Software Engineering Education: A Road Map). Although it is old (2000), but it is still worthwhile...

My plan for today:

• Finish the rest of papers
• Read more about Habermas
• Coding

Habermas's theory!

Habermas's theory of 'knowledge-constitutive interests' says that knowledge is tied to 3 underlying human interest:

1. Technical interest
2. Practical interest
3. Emancipatory interest

I was thinking I might be able to look at the curriculum to see these categories in the content. Chiiiiiing!

Check it later!

14-01-09 Habermas' Philosophical Discourse of Modernity

14-01-09 CURRICULUM REFORM IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A HUMANITIES CASE STUDY

Happy Thursday!

I planned for today in a very detailed, let see how it works...

Here is the revised questionnaire based on Elena's comments:

How much do you think the following factors affect the way you shape the curriculum of the program/ degree you are involved?  Please rate from 1 (No Effect) to 4 (Major Effect) according to the following instruction and if you think the factor is not applicable please mark 5 as Not Applicable.

1                    No Effect

2                    Minor Effect

3                    Moderate Effect

4                    Major Effect

5                    Not Applicable

External factors
No.	Factors	1	2	3	4		5
1	Global issues (e.g. growing population)
2	International professional & accreditation bodies (e. g. ACM or ABET)
3	International benchmarking (comparing curriculum with those at the best international universities)
4	National benchmarking (comparing the curriculum with other Australian universities)
5	National needs (e.g. considering skill shortage)
6	Regional needs
7	National professional & accreditation bodies  (e. g. ACS / EA / AQF)
8	Political issues at the national level
9	Industry agendas (e.g. what particular content they want taught)
10	Emerging technology
What other similar factors do you think effect shaping curriculum? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How much do you think the following factors affect the way you shape the curriculum of the program/ degree you are involved?  Please rate from 1 (No Effect) to 4 (Major Effect) according to the following instruction and if you think the factor is not applicable please mark 5 as Not Applicable.

1                    No Effect

2                    Minor Effect

3                    Moderate Effect

4                    Major Effect

5                    Not Applicable

Organisational factors
No.	Factors	1	2	3	4		5
1	Organisational support (e.g. providing resources & facilities)
2	Availability of staff with relevant qualification and experience
3	Organisational structure (e.g. university’s policies and procedures)
4	The influence of industry advisory committee
5	Intrinsic motivation
6	Organisational culture (e.g. whether that culture welcomes change)
7	Curriculum review committee (e.g. Teaching & Learning committee)
8	Influential individuals (e.g. senior staff tuned with organisational policies and politics)
9	The influence of program co-ordinator
10	Pedagogical issues (e.g. innovative teaching techniques)
11	Research & Development Committee at the university
12	Internal benchmarking (e.g. comparing curriculum with other disciplines)
What other similar factors do you think effect shaping curriculum? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How much do you think the following factors affect the way you shape the curriculum of the program/ degree you are involved?  Please rate from 1 (No Effect) to 4 (Major Effect) according to the following instruction and if you think the factor is not applicable please mark 5 as Not Applicable.

1                    No Effect

2                    Minor Effect

3                    Moderate Effect

4                    Major Effect

5                    Not Applicable

Students-related factors
No.	Factors	1	2	3	4		5
1	Students’ communication skills
2	Students’ analytical skills
3	Students’ social skills
4	Students’ mathematical ability
5	Students’ English language competency
6	Students’ critical-thinking skills
7	Students’ attrition/retention
8	Students’ background (e.g. socio-economic, ethnic, etc)
9	Students’ satisfaction (e.g. student subject evaluation)
10	Students’ demands (e.g. students ask a particular software to be taught )
11	Students’ workload
12	Students’ gender
What other similar factors do you think effect shaping curriculum? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How much do you think the following factors affect the way you shape the curriculum of the program/ degree you are involved?  Please rate from 1 (No Effect) to 4 (Major Effect) according to the following instruction and if you think the factor is not applicable please mark 5 as Not Applicable.

1                    No Effect

2                    Minor Effect

3                    Moderate Effect

4                    Major Effect

5                    Not Applicable

Content-related factors
No.	Factors	1	2	3	4		5
1	Flexibility in delivery of subjects
2	Inclusion of practical learning activities
3	Consideration of interdisciplinary content
4	Assessment tasks
5	The inclusion of prerequisite courses
6	The existence of outdated subjects
7	Courses with low-enrolment
What other similar factors do you think effect shaping curriculum? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------