A Web Application to Support Research on Epistemic Beliefs
Location
CSU Ballroom
Start Date
18-4-2016 10:00 AM
End Date
18-4-2016 11:30 AM
Student's Major
Computer Information Science
Student's College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Mentor's Name
Rebecca Bates
Mentor's Department
Integrated Engineering
Mentor's College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Second Mentor's Name
Jonathan Hardwick
Second Mentor's Department
Computer Information Science
Second Mentor's College
Science, Engineering and Technology
Third Mentor's Name
Lisa Benson
Description
Research into the epistemic beliefs of engineering students – that is, their beliefs about knowledge, its structure and where it comes from – is currently being used to guide and improve the educational process, and to provide insight into how people learn. Data-gathering for this research includes presenting subjects with a set of knowledge-related words, and then measuring how the subjects perceive the importance of and relationships between the words. This project presents a novel web application designed to support this data-gathering task in an intuitive and visual manner. Researchers load the web app with a list of predetermined words, which appear in circles on a blank canvas. A web prototype has been created to structure how the site is going to look. Then, we created a website application dividing different sections into keywords, circles, and colors. The goal is to have the user can move, resize, delete, create and link word-circles to represent how they perceive the importance of and relationship between the words. The digital diagrams created, can be used as prompts in qualitative interviews. The diagrams will also allow research to be extended quantitatively, as comparisons of relationships, size, and placement can be done across multiple subjects, or with the same subject at different times. Within the month of March, the web application would include a database to store students and teachers information; and improvements would be made based on feedback from the researchers about ease of use and quality of data collection.
A Web Application to Support Research on Epistemic Beliefs
CSU Ballroom
Research into the epistemic beliefs of engineering students – that is, their beliefs about knowledge, its structure and where it comes from – is currently being used to guide and improve the educational process, and to provide insight into how people learn. Data-gathering for this research includes presenting subjects with a set of knowledge-related words, and then measuring how the subjects perceive the importance of and relationships between the words. This project presents a novel web application designed to support this data-gathering task in an intuitive and visual manner. Researchers load the web app with a list of predetermined words, which appear in circles on a blank canvas. A web prototype has been created to structure how the site is going to look. Then, we created a website application dividing different sections into keywords, circles, and colors. The goal is to have the user can move, resize, delete, create and link word-circles to represent how they perceive the importance of and relationship between the words. The digital diagrams created, can be used as prompts in qualitative interviews. The diagrams will also allow research to be extended quantitatively, as comparisons of relationships, size, and placement can be done across multiple subjects, or with the same subject at different times. Within the month of March, the web application would include a database to store students and teachers information; and improvements would be made based on feedback from the researchers about ease of use and quality of data collection.
Recommended Citation
Adom, Stanley and Zhejian Wang. "A Web Application to Support Research on Epistemic Beliefs." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 18, 2016.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2016/poster-session-A/48
