| 1. |
- Aghaee, Nam, et al.
(författare)
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Communication and Collaboration Gaps among PhD Students and ICT as a Way Forward : Results from a Study in Sweden
- 2015
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Ingår i: Proceedings of E-Learn. - : Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education. ; , s. 237-244
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The low completion rate and slow progress in PhD education have been highlighted in many studies. However, the interaction problems and communication gaps that PhD students encounter make this attempt even more challenging. The aim of this study is to investigate the peer interaction problems and ICT based solutions from PhD students’ perspectives. The data collection method was an online questionnaire and in-depth interviews were used to follow up. The target group for the survey was the PhD students in Computer Science at Stockholm University. The total number of respondents for the survey was 53 PhD students and eleven randomly selected PhD students for the interviews. The results reflected a lack of peer interaction as an important issue in the perspective of the students. Based on this, the study showed several ICT solutions that have the potential to reduce the interaction problems and thereby improve PhD students’ collaborative learning and research quality.
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| 2. |
- Aghaee, Naghmeh, et al.
(författare)
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Soft Skills Demand and Supply Through the Lens of Higher Education Students
- 2023
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Ingår i: Vol. 22 No. 1 (2023): Proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on e-Learning - ECEL 2023. - Reading, UK : Academic Conferences International (ACI). - 2048-8645 .- 2048-8637. - 9781914587917 - 9781914587900
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Soft skills are becoming equally crucial as hard skills in today's labour market. In contrast to hard skills which are teachable typically through formal education, soft skills are non-technical and interpersonal, allowing individuals to be able to find and succeed in their studies, jobs, and professional life. Despite the increasing emphasis on soft skills, many university students are either unaware of or neglect enhancing them. Soft skills deficiency among university students has become a significant concern for employers, educators, and policymakers, as it negatively affects students' academic performance and future employment prospects. The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ perceptions of the demand for soft skills and the possibility and availability of learning opportunities. The expected outcomes intend to provide insights about awareness of soft skills among students and pathways to reduce the soft skills gap through training provisions in higher education settings. Furthermore, it aims to find out how the young generation (mainly Generation Z) would perceive digitalisation and specifically gamification as a solution to facilitate soft skills training. This is a mixed method study, in which, an open survey was the data collection media. The survey was conducted during the spring semester of 2023 and analysed using visualisation and summarisation methods. Based on the outcome of 66 master’s and bachelor's students attending the digitalisation courses in two classes in Sweden, over 50% of the students perceived a lack of soft skills in their curricula. They were also positive toward the use of gamification as an effective digital strategy, recognising it as a powerful tool to facilitate training and developing soft skills as a part of formal learning in higher education. As a suggested approach, gamifying soft skills training potentially creates simulations that mimic real-world situations to allow students to practice and develop their soft skills in a safe and low-stakes training environment. This facilitates training soft skills for better communication and collaboration during their academic journey and after their graduation and to prepare students for successful careers.
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| 3. |
- Hrastinski, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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How are campus students using social media to support their studies? An explorative interview study.
- 2012
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Ingår i: Education and Information Technologies. - : Springer. - 1360-2357 .- 1573-7608. ; 17:4, s. 451-464
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Abstract Social media hype has created a lot of speculation among educators on how these media can be used to support learning, but there have been rather few studies so far. Our explorative interview study contributes by critically exploring how campus students perceive using social media to support their studies and the perceived benefits and limitations compared with other means. Although the vast majority of the respondents use social media frequently, a “digital dissonance” can be noted, because few of them feel that they use such media to support their studies. The interviewees mainly put forth e-mail and instant messaging, which are used among students to ask questions, coordinate group work and share files. Some of them mention using Wikipedia and YouTube for retrieving content and Facebook to initiate contact with course peers. Students regard social media as one of three key means of the educational experience, alongside face-to-face meetings and using the learning management systems, and are mainly used for brief questions and answers, and to coordinate group work. In conclusion, we argue that teaching strategy plays a key role in supporting students in moving from using social media to support coordination and information retrieval to also using such media for collaborative learning, when appropriate.
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| 4. |
- Aghaee, Naghmeh
(författare)
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Finding potential problems in the thesis process in higher education : Analysis of e-mails to develop a support system
- 2015
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Ingår i: Education and Information Technologies. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1360-2357 .- 1573-7608. ; 20:1, s. 21-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Autonomous learning hype has created much speculation in educational systems regarding how to develop the learning process. Final project (thesis) in Bachelor’s and Master’s levels is a significant part of study for students in higher education. However, there are some problems, which lead students not managing to do or finish their thesis. As a part of a solution to these problems, the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV) at Stockholm University, Sweden, has established an information and communication platform, called SciPro. The system was initiated in 2011 to support students and supervisors during the thesis process courses. This study contributes by exploring problems that learners have faced during the final project courses and analyzing discussed issues in the emails, sent to the SciPro support group, ThesisSupport. A random sample of one hundred emails has been analyzed with the help of a content analysis tool, in order to develop the categories, which cover the discussed issues. The result of the study shows six exhaustive and mutually exclusive categories of problems: 1) Thesis initiation (26 %), 2) Info-mail (4.7 %), 3) Technical issues (17.1 %), 4) Exemption (18.7 %), 5) Supervision (17.1 %), 6) Final seminar (16.4 %). Consequently, based on the significance of the categories, two groups of strategic suggestions are developed: 1) developing communications and 2) developing instructions. These strategies intend to enhance support for the autonomous learning process for the thesis courses in higher education.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Aghaee, Naghmeh, 1986-, et al.
(författare)
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ICT-supported peer interaction among learners in Bachelor's and Master's thesis courses
- 2016
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Ingår i: Computers and education. - : Elsevier BV. - 0360-1315 .- 1873-782X. ; 94, s. 276-297
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Peer interaction and collaborative learning through the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is used to an increasing extent in higher education. Universities attempt to motivate learners (students) to support their peers to enhance the quality of learning outcomes. This study monitors how an ICTSS (ICT-based Support System) facilitates peer interaction in the Bachelor’s and Master’s thesis process. The aim of the study was to investigate learners’ perception of usefulness of an ICTSS for peer interaction and the influencing factors on the quality of the peer interaction. The ICTSS was developed at an institution in Sweden (the institution’s name has been removed during the double-blind review). The system facilitates peer interaction in three ways: peer reviews, active participation, and final opposition. The study employed a mixed-method approach, which included an online survey followed by in-depth interviews. The target groups were learners at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level in computer science and information systems. The findings showed that learners perceived the peer interaction useful to enhance the quality of the thesis outcomes. However, there are influencing factors affecting the quality of peer interaction, in different phases of the thesis process. Examples of these factors are the quality of thesis manuscripts, supervisors’ control and grading of the process, clear instructions and guidelines, learners’ understanding of the peer interaction and why it takes place, previous training and learners’ motivation to perform peer reviews. Following these factors, the study developed a set of strategic suggestions from both pedagogical and technical aspects to enhance the peer interaction in the thesis process. Considering these suggestions makes the use of the ICTSS more effective to enhance the quality of thesis learning outcomes.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Aghaee, Naghmeh, et al.
(författare)
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Interaction Gaps in PhD Education and ICT as a Way Forward: Results from a Study in Sweden
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. - : Athabasca University Press. - 1492-3831. ; 17:3, s. 360-383
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Many research studies have highlighted the low completion rate and slow progress in PhD education. Universities strive to improve throughput and quality in their PhD education programs. In this study, the perceived problems of PhD education are investigated from PhD students' points of view, and how an Information and Communication Technology Support System (ICTSS) may alleviate these problems. Data were collected through an online open questionnaire sent to the PhD students at the Department of (the institution's name has been removed during the double-blind review) with a 59% response rate. The results revealed a number of problems in the PhD education and highlighted how online technology can support PhD education and facilitate interaction and communication, affect the PhD students' satisfaction, and have positive impacts on PhD students' stress. A system was prototyped, in order to facilitate different types of online interaction through accessing a set of online and structured resources and specific communication channels. Although the number of informants was not large, the result of the study provided some rudimentary ideas that refer to interaction problems and how an online ICTSS may facilitate PhD education by providing distance and collaborative learning, and PhD students' self-managed communication.
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| 9. |
- Aghaee, Naghmeh, et al.
(författare)
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Learners’ Perceptions on the Structure and Usefulness of e-Resources for the Thesis Courses
- 2014
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Ingår i: European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning. - : Walter de Gruyter GmbH. - 1027-5207. ; 17:1, s. 154-171
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nowadays, utility of information and communication technology (ICT) in education is a way to facilitate interaction and accessing information for learning in higher education. However, finding a set of structured e-resources to facilitate learning within specific courses is still a big challenge in most of the institutions and universities. This includes the problems and challenges for the thesis courses in both undergraduate (Bachelor) and graduate (Master) level in Sweden. To overcome or reduce the problems and enhance quality of outcomes in the thesis courses, the department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV) at Stockholm University has developed a Learning Support System, SciPro (Scientific Process), to support thesis process. This study aims at investigating learners’ perspectives on usefulness of structured e-resources in order to reduce challenges for finding information related to the thesis steps in SciPro. This is done based on an open online survey, carried out in 2012-2013 of students’ perspectives at DSV. The study found the actual problems and hence suggested a model as a way forward to sort the useful e-resources to support reducing the problems in the thesis process.
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| 10. |
- Aghaee, Naghmeh M., 1984-, et al.
(författare)
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Choosing open source software : Strategies behind and reasons for municipalities’ use of Open Office
- 2011
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of the study was to explore the strategies and reasons for Swedish municipalities to migrate from proprietary office applications, such as Microsoft Office, to the use of the open source software OpenOffice. We performed a comparative case study of three Swedish municipalities in the region of Västra Götaland currently implementing or planning to implement OpenOffice; Alingsås, Falköping and Kungälv. The methods of data collection used in the study were semi-structured interviews with IT managers, such as IT strategists and Chief Information Officers (CIOs), in each municipality, and document analysis.The findings of the study indicated that one of the municipalities had an IT strategy including strategies for use of open source software. The second municipality planned implementation of OpenOffice but were “between IT strategies”, as the current IT strategy hadn’t been updated for some years. The third municipality had abolished IT strategies, as the difficulties of anchoring strategies on all levels of the organisations were too large. Instead, operative guidelines concerning i.e. the use of open source software were used in IT management. The main driver of implementing OpenOffice was to lower IT costs. The IT managers were well aware of the fact that open source software is not entirely free of cost, but estimated the total cost of ownership of OpenOffice to be less than for Microsoft Office. Perceived barriers of implementation and use of OpenOffice were lack of standardisation with current administrative and enterprise systems used in the municipalities as well as a general lack of knowledge and familiarity with open source software among staff. There were also a genuine concern over the possibility of the community of OpenOffice developers leaving the program and its users to embark on new open source software project. The traditional relationship between systems suppliers and customers was perceived to disappear and be replaced with a much more uncertain business relationship. Further research in a larger number of Swedish municipalities is needed in order to increase the understanding of the circumstances of migration to open source software in municipalities.
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