AIDA Programme

Contents About this Virtual Seminar

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AIDA - An Inquiry using Data-Driven Approach

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Schedule

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Keynote Speech

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Presentations Synopses and Researchers’ Profiles 26 August

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28 August

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Acknowledgements

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AIDA - Virtual Seminar This virtual research seminar will feature a number of insightful sessions, including a keynote by Associate Professor Ben Motidyang on learning analytics, research presentations by colleagues from School of Art and Design, and a panel discussion on challenges in research at NAFA during Covid-19.

AIDA is short for An educational Inquiry using Data-Driven Approach. In the context of educational inquiry process, there is a search for truth, through the collection and documentation of rich data. Data is analysed in various forms, in order to seek fresh perspectives through qualitative and/or quantitative methods.

Dr Ben Daniel Motidyang, Associate Professor and Head of Higher Education Development Centre at the University of Otago, will present a keynote address on 26 August, 4pm. On 28 August, the session will feature a sharing about key aspects of educational inquiry, which was a course that colleagues had attended from March to May 2020.

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AIDA (An Inquiry using Data-Driven Approach) A few symbols central to the ancient Egyptians are used for our context as milestones in the educational inquiry process.

The first step is a search for truth, represented by the feather of Truth associated with the goddess Ma’at, featured during judgment in the underworld.

This is followed by the collection and documentation of rich data, which is represented by the papyrus, the earliest form of paper invented by the Egyptians from the papyrus plant. Papyrus, or wadj, conveys the concept of freshness, vigour and growth.

Accordingly, data is collected in various forms, in order to seek fresh perspectives through qualitative and/or quantitative methods.

Finally, implications of the data findings is represented by the ankh, a key which symbolized both mortal existence and the afterlife.

Consider how the research findings may take on a new life in your own teaching practice.

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Schedule Wednesday 26 August 4:00 pm

Welcome

4:10 pm

Keynote by A/Prof. Ben Motidyang Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, New Zealand

5:00 pm

Presentation #1 - Tan Choon Ying (FA) Understanding Fine Art Students' Reception of Online Learning w.r.t. the Community of Inquiry framework

5:30 pm

Presentation #2 - Kwek Sin Yee and Park Hye Young (3DD) Self-Regulated Learning in 3D Design

6:00 pm

End of Day 1

Friday 28 August 3:00 pm

Reflections on Educational Inquiry using Data-driven Approach

by Ethel Chong (AM)

3:30 pm

Presentation #3 - Geraldine Kang (FA) Understanding Students' Self-esteem and Coping Mechanisms in 4D Art Studio

4:00 pm

Presentation #4 - Christabel Teng (DM) Study on the factors that influence students' engagement level during online learning

4:30 pm

Presentation #5 - Anthony Tan & Gary Goh (FS) Technology Enhancements for Critical Thinking in Design Exploration

5:00 pm

Panel Discussion Ethel Chong, Gary Goh, Geraldine Kang, Kwek Sin Yee, Anthony Tan, Christabel Teng, Tan Choon Ying

5:45 pm

Closing Remarks and Acknowledgements Jerry Soo (Vice-President, Academic) End of Day 2

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Keynote Speech Data-Driven Approaches in Educational Inquiry to Enhance the Quality of Teaching and Learning Ben Daniel, PhD Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago, New Zealand Digital learning environments are dramatically transforming the ways teachers teach, and students learn. A student learning experience, in particular, is enhanced when the design of new digital learning environments and pedagogical activities are aligned and, informed by research.

Experiences from the recent pandemic suggest that educational institutions are relying more and more on online learning. Digital learning environments generate a significant amount of useful educational research data. Data in these environments come in various forms (structured, semistructured, and unstructured). As more data and ways of analysing them become available, effective design of learning and teaching will become dependent on these data. With the growing maturity in digital learning technologies, educational data and associated analytics can be harvested and analysed to reveal useful patterns to support better decisions relating to student learning and engagement, as well as the optimisation of teaching practice.

Further, access to learning analytics can enable educational researchers to examine the full latitude and trajectory of a learner's experience, the artefacts they engage with during learning, and their actions as they navigate through the learning environment. Students can use analytics and associated online tools to provide lecturers with accurate and faster feedback on their teaching. However, to fully leverage the opportunities afforded by various forms of educational data and analytics, it is necessary to understand and apply data-driven approaches to educational inquiry.

In this session, I will first present an overview and value of data-driven approaches to educational inquiry, stressing their various roles in enhancing the quality of teaching and learning, as well as their limitations. Second, I will provide examples of pedagogical research initiatives that involved a systematic analysis of student learning and the redesign of research methodology programme for academic staff and postgraduate students.

Third, I will describe an Educational Data Science approach, which includes the development of a digital learning environment(iMethod). iMethod enables students to access various forms of online resources (e.g., text, video, and audio) on research methods. I will then show how the learning analytics harvested from iMethod was used to inform the development of analytical frameworks and tools to support student tackle the complexity of learning research methodology. In concluding the presentation, I will discuss the importance of using educational data science research design, and the challenges associated with collecting and engaging with student digital data.

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Presenter’s Profile Ben Kei Daniel, PhD is Associate Professor in Higher Education, and the Head of Department of Higher Education Development Centre at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Prof Daniel is the convenor for Educational Technology strategic initiatives and an academic member of the IT Governance Group for the University of Otago. He obtained his PhD Jointly in Educational Technology and Design, and Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED) from the University of Saskatchewan in Canada in 2007.

His current research focuses on Big Data and Analytics in higher education. Also, he is actively researching into what constitutes "best practice teaching" in research methods. He has published over 150 peer-reviewed publications, including five books in the areas of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED): Big Data and Data Science, and research methodologies in higher education. His recent book: Daniel, B. K., & Harland, T. (2017). Higher Education Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Research Process. London: Routledge.

Ben is an international award-winning research methodologist with a vast knowledge of theoretical and practical experiences in mentoring postgraduate students and academic staff on various aspects of research methodologies (Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed Methods and Data Science). He holds professional memberships with the International Society for Artificial Intelligence in Education (IAIED), The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (Learning Technologies) and the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education (AACE).

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AIDA An Inquiry through a Data-Driven Approach

Day 1 Presentations 26 August 2020

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Presentation #1 Understanding Fine Art students’ reception of online learning w.r.t. the Community of Inquiry framework Tan Choon Ying (Fine Art)

As Fine Art students are new to online learning, increasing instructors’ awareness of how students communicate online, and what challenges students encounter in various online learning platforms are important to achieving a satisfying online learning experience. What are Fine Art students’ perceptions of online learning?

The research objectives of this project are to use the Community of Inquiry framework as a survey tool to find out what students experienced, when being placed in a new learning environment (fully text-based vs audio-video-chat) : (i) (ii)

What obstacles did they encounter in using the online learning platform What do preferences they have about communicating online with each other, and with the instructor, as compared to learning in the physical classroom.

The Community of Inquiry (COI) framework has become a significant tool for online and blended education research since it was first conceptualized in 2000 for a text-based computer-mediated learning environment by Garrison, Anderson and Archer. Garrison states that “a worthwhile educational experience is embedded within a Community of Inquiry that is composed of teachers and students…learning occurs within the Community through the interaction of three core elements: Social Presence (SP), Cognitive Presence (CP), and Teaching Presence (TP).”

A survey was created based on a list of indicators from the CoI framework, for the three distinct learning environments students encountered during the semester: (i) in the traditional classroom, (ii) in the Canvas Discussion Forum and (iii) in the Canvas Conference session. On completion of the survey, further responses were gathered through a semi-structured interview with students on an individual basis. The findings provided increased awareness of the affordances of various learning platforms, from the students’ point of view.

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Presenter’s Profile Choon Ying’s expertise as an educator is in cultivating Visual Art literacy - equipping others to understand and appreciate Art through interactive learning strategies. She firmly believes that learning to understand Art is a valuable process which arouses curiosity, facilitates critical analysis and reflective thinking. These are essential skills for today’s graduates and tomorrow’s artists and arts practitioners.

Choon Ying has over 12 years of teaching experience at tertiary level. She has taught a range of subjects including Cultural Awareness, Communication Practice, Music appreciation and the History of Architecture and Art. Her interdisciplinary research explores the links between European Art and Music, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Her MA (Art History) dissertation examined how a German Romantic composer, poetmusician, artist and the Chinese literati all shared the common aesthetic goals of seeking ecstasy through music and nature. She has presented papers at conferences organized by the Association Répertoire International d’Iconographie Musicale (RIdIM) and the International Council of Traditional Music (ICTM) Study Group for Iconography of the Performing Arts. Her latest paper was published in Vol. 41 of Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography (2016) is titled “Envisioning a Romantic Tragedy: Delacroix’s Dramatic Images of Othello”.

As a keen artist of botanical subjects, she has a Diploma in Botanical Art from the Society of Botanical Artists (UK) and is a member of the Botanical Artists Society (Singapore).

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Presentation #2 Self-Regulated Learning in 3D Design Park Hye Young and Kwek Sin Yee (3D Design) ______________________________________________________________________________ Self-regulated learning (SRL) relates to an ability to understand and control the learning environment. This includes setting goals, selecting strategies that will help us to achieve those goals, implementing those strategies and monitoring our progress towards our goals.

In design education, the design process mirrors SRL as it requires students to plan, monitor and reflect as they go through the various stages of the design process.

However, there is not much literature on SRL in design education and students mostly learn the design process in a tacit manner with no metacognition of their learning unless it is of the student’s own volition.

For this research, a total of 98 students from across the three diploma years from the Landscape and Architecture (LA) and the Object and Jewellery (OJ) diploma courses participated. We sought to understand the learning strategies of students from the two disciplines and how the students’ motivational beliefs and self-regulated learning practices correlated in their learning process.

A quantitative survey was adapted from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). Both are widely used instruments to measure student motivation, learning strategies and SRL skills. The survey questions the following: 1. Are there any differences in the self-regulated learning strategies between OJ students and LA students?

2. Does entry educational qualification influence the way 3D design programme students practice self-regulated learning in terms of planning, monitoring and reflection?

With this baseline study, teaching and learning strategies may be developed to incorporate SRL into the curriculum.

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Presenters’ Profiles Park Hye Young Programme Leader, Landscape and Architecture Prior to her role as Programme Leader in 3D Design, Hye Young worked as a Landscape Architect in a local landscape architecture practice. Her fresh approach in design and urban aesthetic was highly recognized by the company and enabled her to be part of numerous notable projects both locally and overseas. With her industry experience, Hye Young has been striving to improve the quality of the curriculum by adapting different formats of teaching and introducing critical topics to build student with the indepth insights in the process of design.

Kwek Sin Yee Academic Advisor (UCLan - 3D Design Practice) With a background in business studies, Sin Yee has worked in the civil service and corporate world prior to joining the design field, where she spent the last decade working in the interior design and furniture industry. As Academic Advisor for the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK, BA(Hons) 3D Design Degree Practice programme, Sin Yee was a member of the taskforce involved in the planning and development of the degree course curriculum. She is also the module lead for the diploma theory modules, overseeing the theoretical and research learning of the 3D design programmes.

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AIDA An Inquiry through a Data-Driven Approach

Day 2 Presentations 28 August 2020

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Reflections on Educational Inquiry and Research through a Data-Driven Approach

Pedagogy and Research Unit organised a faculty research workshop series facilitated by Dr Yang Chien-Hui. Over the course of four months, colleagues received an overview on research methods commonly used in educational setting. The course supported colleagues to build confidence in identifying a research problem, design a research study, and obtain data through qualitative and quantitative methods.

Presenter’s Profile Ethel Chong’s research interests are in pedagogy and implementing methods to help students learn better. Currently she teaches writing modules to NAFA’s Arts Management students – academic writing, business communication, proposal writing and research writing. Her recent research project was the use of reflection journals to help students write more analytically in the areas of project management and proposal writing.

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Dr Yang addressing the participants pre circuit-breaker

Zoom group photo after completion of final session

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Presentation #3 Understanding Students' Self-esteem and Coping Mechanisms in 4D Art Studio Geraldine Kang (FA) ______________________________________________________________________________ This project is a qualitative study on the relationship between self-esteem and aspects of art education. Self-esteem is defined as the value judgment of one's selfhood i.e. what one believes they are worth, as opposed to articulating appearance, status and preferences, which constitute the broader notion of self-concept. Teaching in the 4D Art Studio cluster1 has led me to encounter students who, in my personal observation, were overwhelmingly affected by low self-esteem issues. It was also noted that behaviours of high distress tended to surface the most during assessments and formal presentations.

Through open-ended and focus group interviews with select students from the 4D cluster, I wanted to investigate: 1.

2.

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Whether the students identify their experiences in relation to low self-esteem; How the students describe the distress they experience and their response method; How much of students’ distress is a result of academic or personal factors; What students do to manage their academic and personal stresses; What parts of art studio education are particularly detrimental or useful to boosting confidence and self-esteem;

The deeper motivation behind this project can be summarized by researcher Sarah Niemi’s2 advocation that art education and art therapy serve very similar goals, and it would be beneficial to apply relevant elements of art therapy within art education. Further implications of this research include conducting future surveys, semi-structured or open-ended interviews on the learning environments of other Art Studio clusters, implementing standards of supportive learning environments, implementing standards of feedback and critique, conducting further research exercises using principles of art therapy, and further research and analysis on the position of art education.

1. The 4D Art Studio curriculum comprises the mediums of photography, performance/performative art and sound art.

2. Sarah Niemi, Integration of Art Therapy and Art Education (MA Thesis), 2018, University of Wisconsin Superior, USA

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Presenter’s Profile Geraldine’s recent work focuses on using the photographs to talk about the living conditions of migrant labour in Singapore. Her other interests include family, mental illness and land-space issues in Singapore. She uses the act of photography as an introspective method, and wishes for her images to challenge and evoke questions. Her interests have most recently broadened to include situating photographs within an installation, and thinking about the architectural potentials of an exhibition site. Geraldine has also participated in several community-oriented projects. Geraldine is also the co-editor of Left to Right, an anthology of lens-based images made in Singapore.

Geraldine has exhibited over the past seven years in Singapore, Europe and Asia.

Her most notable exhibitions include group exhibitions at the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, the Taipei Artists’ Village, as well as the ifa-Galerie in Berlin and Stuttgart.

She has staged solo presentations at the Institution of Contemporary Art Singapore, Grey Projects and the Nanyang Technological University Centre for Contemporary Art. She was the 2011 winner of the Kwek Leng Joo Excellence in Still Photography prize, and has been featured at the Kuala Lumpur International Photo Awards, Photographer’s Forum, Px3 and the Asian Women Photographers’ Showcase. Geraldine was also invited to speak at KataKatha: Southeast Asian Conversations on Culture and the Arts in Kuala Lumpur. Geraldine was a recipient of the National Arts Council Arts Scholarship for Graduate Studies in 2017 and recently attained her MFA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design, The New School.

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Presentation #4 Study on the Factors that Influence Students' Engagement Level During Online Learning Christabel Teng (Design and Media) ______________________________________________________________________________ In Design and Media Programme (DM), some theoretical modules have been using the approach of blended learning in classroom based on the general understanding that technology can enhance the learning. There is however limited evidence and understanding on the engagement level of these learners. With the recent challenges for lecturers to shift lessons online for an extended period, there needs to be a new level of understanding to this platform of teaching. I am curious to explore factors that influence students’ engagement level during online learning. Especially within the Design and Media programme where 80% of the modules are creative-based, practice-led studios which has traditionally been facilitated and supervised by lecturers in a face-to-face, physical classroom setting.

This research is roused from the 2008 article by Groff & Mouza, titled A framework for addressing challenges to classroom technology use, which presents the limitations of integrating technology in classroom across six components - Research and policy, The School, The Teacher, The Project, The Students and Technology.

My investigation will focus on The Students in DM, to identify factors and how these factors influence their engagement level during the online lessons. The investigation will be revolved around student’s comfort level with online learning, attitudes, and engagement with the content for learning.

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The investigation potentially provides an understanding of the students’ perspectives and attitudes towards online learning condition and support students require for online learning online tools or activities that trigger interest to generate better engagement

With the findings, it will potentially provide insights to how planning and delivery of online modules can be more engaging.

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Presenter’s Profile Christabel has more than 10 years of experience in the web and graphic design industry, having managed projects across various sectors, ranging from fashion & beauty, food & beverage, to IT and government agencies. Her strength lies in managing portfolios from conceptualization to execution. She is always ready to face new tasks and challenges.

Christabel brings this wealth of industry expertise to her teaching at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts. She believes in contributing to the upcoming generation and aims to magnify students’ passion in design. She recognises each student as an individual and aims to facilitate learning through self-discovery; uncovering the niche area of each individual, motivating them to exceed their limits and inspiring them to be critical thinkers.

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Presentation #5 Technology Enhancements for Critical Thinking in Design Exploration Anthony Tan & Gary Goh (Fashion Studies)

__________________________________________________________ The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ perspectives on online learning in promoting engagement and creative thinking in arts education.

Qualitative studies have been conducted to explore whether students think similarly or differently: when one group of students would complete a test without using technology, and the other with technology. In particular, how students think critically in these two conditions will be explored. The research objectives are to discover how technologies have improved learning, the effectiveness of Tech tools/software in education and the impact of technologies in learning on both teaching staff & students.

We are keen to investigate: 1.

What are students’ learning experiences in online learning in arts education?

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To which extent students value online learning in enhancing their engagement?

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To which extent students value online learning in promoting their creative thinking?

With the results from this research, we would like to know more about the amount of learning that could be pushed and to what extent can the student handle, their reaction to technologies in learning.

Tech tools has played a big part in education. we use them on a daily basis to enhance our lesson and elevate the quality of our lesson with tech tools. Beside Microsoft Power point, lesson enhancing software like Adobe Photoshop , Illustrator, Social Media tools like Face Book, Instagram and even TikTok plays a big part in getting student's attention in our class.

Since the invention of tech tools, the way students create their work and think from hand-drawn manually to using technology enhanced tools has made a huge impact in terms of how we teach and student's exploration of design. The time taken to react and discover has been significantly shortened by technology and made things possible a lot faster and more accurate. In this study, how technology can benefit students' critical thinking will be investigated and explored.

The results of this study will provide better insight and inform policy makers on student's benefits and effectiveness in critical thinking using technology.

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Presenters’ Profiles Anthony has worked extensively as a costume designer with various performing arts companies in Singapore since 1993, with collaborations that extend across theatre, musical and dance.

Anthony’s research experience /professional practice are heavily design based. To the extent that even for his Masters dissertation, it was an analogy and discoveries of fashion and theatre designers applying their culture, background, exposure and aesthetic to design and critique the relevancies of their works.

Prior to being an educator, Gary worked in the fashion industry designing for GUESS Kids and was an Assistant Merchandising Manager for international label CK Calvin Klein(Club 21).

Having a strong passion for designing as well as fashion illustrations, he has had his work published in local periodicals and in the fashion illustration publication titled The Great Big Book of Fashion Illustration.

He graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York specialising in womenswear fashion design. More recently, he obtained his Masters in Art and Design with distinction from Loughborough University, UK. His current professional practice interest lies in understanding the semiotics in fashion with the intent of designing prints and patterns for communication.

Gary’s research interest is practice-led. A recent project explored how a methodology might be constructed from a semiotic approach to enhance the meaning and making the process of patterns for fashion, with a focus to support fashion designers in training.

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Acknowledgements Research Ethics Panel and Working Group Jerry Soo (Vice-President, Academic) Sabrina Long (Dean, School of Art and Design) Richard Adams (Dean, School of Arts Management, Dance and Theatre) Ho Hui May (Dean, Office of Academic Affairs) Pedagogy and Research Unit Rebecca Kan (Vice-Dean, Pedagogy and Research Unit) Jonathan Chng (Assistant Manager, Pedagogy and Research Unit) Tan Choon Ying (Research Associate, Pedagogy and Research Unit) Georgette Yu (Lecturer, Fashion Studies) Learning Festival Co-ordinators Sim Choo Lee (Head, Human Resources) Charlene Lim-Ganesan (Senior Manager, Human Resources) Staphy Teo (Senior Executive Officer, Human Resources) Eliza Lim (Executive Officer, Human Resources) Andy Lew (Senior Executive Officer, Corporate Communications Office) Research Consultants Dr Chen Wenli (Associate Professor, Learning Sciences and Assessment, National Institute of Education-National University of Singapore) Associate Professor Ben Daniel Motidyang (Higher Education Development Centre, University of Otago) Dr Yang Chien Hui (Mindsight Inclusion)

And a warm thank you to all participants at the Virtual Seminar on 26 and 28 August 2020!

Organised by Pedagogy & Research Unit Office of Academic Affairs