Research & Writing

Below is the list of resarch and writing works completed since the past three years of my Ph.D. studies. This section includes Publications, Workshop and conference presentations, Technical reports, Research awards, and Research projects.

Publications

Jahnke, I., Mei, Y., Pham, M., He, H., & Austin, L. Unpacking the Inherent Design Principles of Mobile Microlearning. Tech Know Learn (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10758-019-09413-w. Retrieved from rdcu.be/bDXMB

What I learned:

• mobile microlearning design princiles;
• qualitative method analysis with in-depth interviews.

Pham, M., Xu, X., Bueno, J. & He, H. (2019). Pedagogical usability in the design of a learning module on virtual reality. In K. Graziano (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 547-551). Las Vegas, NV, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved May 14, 2019 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/207693/.

What I learned:

• pedagogical usability applications in the instructional design;
• how pedagical usability was actually implemented in the design of content and learning activities for a module other fellow students and I designed and developed: lessons from reflections.

Marin, R, S., & Pham, T.N.M. (2018, June). Academic proceedings from 2018 University-Industry Interaction Conference (UIIN): Economic impact evaluation over three years of an entrepreneur consulting program: A case study of the TECH-SERIES program at the University of Missouri, Columbia (pp. 29-44). ISBN: 978-94-91901-35-5. Link to the article here.

What I learned:

• to build economic impact models using IMPLAN input-output models.

Pham, M. T. (2017). BOOK REVIEW: Halma, R. & Oplinger, C. S. (2017). The Lehigh Valley: A Natural and Environmental History. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press. 361 pages. ISBN: 0271020946.. FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education, 4(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.18275/fire201704011117

What I learned:

• how to write a book review;
• we can write a book review for any book we are interested in;
• writing a book review helps gain a deeper understanding of the book.

Lee,B., Liu, Yu., Pham,T.N.M., & Grove, D. (2016). Comprehensive Educational Plan for Human Resource Development: Tourism. Journal of Education & Social Policy, 3 (5), 30-42. Retrieved May 14, 2019 from jespnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_5_November_2016/4.pdf

What I learned:

• how to conduct literature review
• to work in collaboration with researchers of other fields for publications

Workshop and conference presentations

2019

Pham, M. (2019, April). Using GIS to teach beyond curriculum. Presented as a poster at the annual meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), San Francisco, Mexico. Link here.

What I learned:

• we might not be able to change the curriculum but we can use GIS to make lessons more interactive and authentic;
• to use ArcGIS to build maps.

2018

Jahnke, I., Current, N., He, H., Lee, Y.M., Pham, M., Hewitt, C., Sadalana, G., & Moore, J. (2018, Oct). User Experience and Usability Testing within the Sociotechnical Process - Methods, Challenges, and PitFalls. Presented as a workshop at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), Kansas City, USA. Link here.

What I learned:

• to train people within one day with basic knowledge of usability testing and how to implement that knowledge in practice through given scenarios.

Lee, Y.M., Pham, M., & Grace Zhou. (2018, Oct). Comparison of Instructional Content Organization Towards Learning Engagement. Presented as a poster at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), Kansas City, USA. Link here.

What I learned:

• mental model and its application in instructional design

Lee, Y.M., He, H., Pham, M., Hewitt, C., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2018, Oct). Mobile Microlearning: Designing Learning for Journalists and Other Learners ‘In The Field’. Presented at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), Kansas City, USA. Link here.

What I learned:

• mobile microlearning principles in designing online learning.

He, H., Pham, M., Lee, Y., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2018, October). IE Lab Research. Presented as a poster at College of Education Research Day, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Link here.

What I learned:

• how to make a brief yet still self-explanatory description of the projects the IE Lab has conducted.

Marin, R.S. & Pham, M. (2018, June). Economic Impact Evaluation over Three Years of an Entrepreneur Consulting Program: A Case Study of the Tech-Series Program at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Accepted as a paper at the annual meeting of University-Industry Interaction Conference (UIIC), London, England. Link here.

What I learned:

• to build economic impact models using IMPLAN input-output models.

Marin, R.S. & Pham, M. (2018, June). Implementation Model of a Tech-based Entrepreneur Support Program and its Impacts. Accepted as a paper at the annual meeting of University-Industry Interaction Conference (UIIC), London, England. Link here.

What I learned:

• to work in collaboration with researchers of other fields for publications.

Pham, M. (2018, March). Game design for the enhancement of students' interests in science. Presented as a roundtable discussion at the annual meeting of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), Mexico City, Mexico. Link here.

What I learned:

• game design principles;
• how game design principles can be implemented in designing educational learning activities and games.

2017

Current, N., He, H., Pham, M., & Jahnke, I. (2017, October). Introduction to Usability Testing For Games. Presented as a training session at the LexMizzou Workshop 3: Usability and Accessibility for Games, Columbia, MO. Link here.

What I learned:

• to train people with basic knowledge of usability testing and how to implement that knowledge to evaluate the user-friendliness of a game.

He, H., Pham, M., Lee, Y., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2017, October). IE Lab Research. Presented as a poster at College of Education Research Day, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Link here.

What I learned:

• how to make a brief yet still self-explanatory description of the projects the IE Lab has conducted.

Technical reports

Note: Content of the technical reports belongs to the IE Lab's clients and is not public unless requested. If you would like the access to any of the following reports, please contact the IE Lab at ielab@missouri.edu

2019

Pham, M., Singh, Kanupriya., Qazi, M., Sadanala, G., & Jahnke, I. (2019). Fire Service Instructor I Report. MU Extension

Pham, M., Singh, Kanupriya., Qazi, M., & Jahnke, I. (2019). Master Gardener Report. MU Extension

Pham, M., Baker, C., Sadalana, G., He, H., Riedel, N., & Jahnke, I. (2018). Expert Review Report and Technical and Pedagogical Usability Checklist . MU Extension

2018

He, H., Lee, Y. M., Sadanala, G., Pham, M., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2018). List Builder Prototype Usability Study Phase 1 Report. Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

Lee, Y. M., He, H., Pham, M., Hewitt, C., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2018). Mobile Applications for Microlearning: A Review of Academic and Industry Implementations. Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

2017

Flanagin, B., Atiso, K., Lee, Y. M., He, H., Pham, M., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2017). Usability Research for St. Charles City-County Library Website Final Report. Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

He, H., Lee, Y. M., Flanagin, B., Pham, M., Current, N. & Jahnke, I. (2017). Usability Research for the RJI APME’s NewsTrain Project Final Report. Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

He, H., Lee, Y. M., Pham, M., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2017). Comparative Systems Analysis: Process to Determine System Functions for Media Innovation System. Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

He, H., Pham, M., Lee, Y. M., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2017). Media Innovation System Sitemap and Prototypes. Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

Pham, M., Hewitt, C., Mostowfi, S., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2017). Usability Research for Push Mobile News App Final Report. Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

Pham, M., He, H., Lee, Y. M., Flanagin, B., Noronha, I., Atiso, K., Current, N., Demir, F., & Jahnke, I. (2017). Usability Research for the ElevatEd System-Final Report. Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

2016

He, H., Pham, M., Atiso, K., Demir, F., Current, N., & Jahnke, I. (2016). A comprehensive usability and user experience study report for the Kinect-based Fall Risk Evaluation and Feedback System: Time Up and Go Test (TUG test). Columbia, MO: IE Lab.

What I learned:

• how to work in collaboration with other team members to write the final report;
• how to code and analyze qualitative data;
• how to interpret the usability scores.

Research awards

Research awards

2019

LIS Education and Data Science for the National Digital Platform (LEADS-4NDP) fellowship ($5,000) (2018- 2019). Read more about the fellowship here.

• Project: The Repository Analytics and Metrics Portal (RAMP)

Institute for Research on Innovation & Science (IRIS) Research Award ($15,00), Co-PI (granted but deferred since the PI is not yet a doctoral candidate) (2018 - 2019). Read more about the grant here.

• Project: Economic Impacts of Social Innovations Grants

Student Teaching as Research (STAR) grant ($1,500) (2018 - 2019). Read more about the grant here.

• Project: Students as Co-Designers of Learning Contents using OpenSim VR tool

2017

EcoFun project ($3,000), I-Corps, University of Missouri (2017). Read more about this grant here.

2016

LexMizzou project ($3,000), I-Corps, University of Missouri (2016). Read more about this grant here.

Virtual reality and games

2019

03/2018 – present. TELL ($1,500). Funding source: STAR grant. Role: (1) grant writer, (2) developing course instructional materials for IS_LT 7360 Introduction to Digital Media, (3) developing data collection instruments, (4) collecting data, (5) analyzing data, (6) writing conference presentations and publications.

2018

10/2017 – 03/2018. EcoFun ($3,000). Funding source: University of Missouri Innovator Track and I-Corps Site Training Track. Role: (1) grant writer, (2) survey protocol designer and developer, (3) data collector, (4) data analyst, (5) assistant in preparing documents for pitching game ideas, and (6) game designer and developer.

2017

08/2017 – 12/2017. LeXMizzou: Students as Game Co-Designers for Learning eXpeditions at Mizzou ($ 24,997). Funding source: University of Missouri IT Division. PI: Dr. Isa Jahnke. Role: (1) Co-presenter to pitch the project idea for the investors; (2) co-ordinator of the workshops; (3) game design and developer.

01/26/2017 – 07/26/2017. Learning Expedition at Mizzou (LexMizzou) ($3,000). Funding source: University of Missouri Innovator Track and I-Corps Site Training Track. Role: (1) grant writer, (2) survey protocol designer and developer, (3) data collector, (4) data analyst and (5) assistant in preparing documents for pitching game ideas.

What I learned:

• virtual reality and game development platforms like OpenSimulator, ARIS, Guidigo, Scratch, MIT AppInventor, & Stencyl;
• how to write a successful grant proposal;
• the need to establish relationships with grant funders;
• attitude to adopt when learning that a proposal has been denied;
• what to do when learning that a proposal has been denied.

Research projects: UX and usability evaluation

2019

10/2018 – 05/2019. User Experience Evaluation of Selected MU Extension Courses. Client: MU Extension. Role: (1) project lead, (2) liaise with the client, the direct, and IE Lab group members, (3) develop heuristic usability and pedagogical usability checklist for online and blended courses evaluation, (4) plan and design data collection methods to evaluate the contracted courses, (5) collect data, (6) evaluate the selected courses, (7) write report on usability and pedagogical usability issues and usability improvements for the courses, and (8) write conference presentations and publications based on the work of the project.

2018

08/2018 – 11/ 2018. User Experience and Efficacy of the Mobile Microlearning Course ‘The 5 C’s of Writing News for Mobile Audiences’. PI: Dr. Linda Austin, Project Director for NewsTrain. Funding source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia. Role: (1) recruited and liaised with research participants before, during, and after the research and (2) participated in the planning and designing of data collection instruments, (3) and conducted the study on user experience and efficacy of the course using Think-Aloud, task-based analysis, and follow-up interviews.

05/2018 – 06/2018. Listbuilder Prototype, Usability Study Phase 1. Client: Whereby.Us. Role: (1) recruited and liaised with research participants before, during, and after the research, (2) planned and designed evaluation instruments using observations, Think-Aloud, and task-based analysis.

01/2018 – 03/2018. Usability Course. Client: Dr. Sandra Erdelez. Role: (1) developed contents for remote usability testing: an online course for undergrad and grad students at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

08/2017 – 02/2018. Mobile Applications for Microlearning: A Review of Academic and Industry Implementations. PI: Dr. Linda Austin, Project Director for NewsTrain. Funding source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia. Role: (1) conducted academic literature review on success and failure factors of mobile micro learning, (2) conducted industry press review, (3) participated in the plan and design of interview protocol, (4) recruited and liaised with research participants before, during, and after the research, (5) conducted interviews and analyze interview data, (6) wrote the report and contributed to the conference presentation and publication of the results of the project.

06/2017 – 08/2018. Usability Research for the RJI APME’s NewsTrain Project. I: Dr. Linda Austin, Project Director for NewsTrain. Funding source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia. Role: (1) recruited and liaised with research participants before, during, and after the research, (2) participated in the plan and design of survey and focus group instruments, (3) conducted focus groups, (4) analyzed data to get deeper understanding of how to createjust-in-time mobile microlearning in which the users candevelop digital journalism skills, and (5) wrote the report.

05/2017 – 08/2018. Usability Research for the ElevatEd System. Client: The Hook Center. Role: (1) Project lead and (2) Usability researcher.

2017

9/2017 – 11/2017. Usability Research for Push Mobile News App. Client: Christopher Guess, 2017 RJI 2017 Fellow. Funding source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia. (1) project lead, (2) usability researcher.

07/2017 – 08/2017. Usability Research for SISLT website. Client: The School of Information Science and Learning Technologies, University of Missouri, Columbia. Role: (1) project lead, (2) usability researcher.

03/2017 – 05/2017. Usability Research for St. Charles City-County Library Website. Client: St. Charles City-County Library. Role: Usability researcher.

01/2017 – 05/ 2017. Comparative Systems Analysis: Process to Determine System Functions for Media Innovation System. PI: Dr. Michelle Ferrier, Associate Professor, Scripps College of Communication, Ohio University. Funding source: Reynolds Journalism Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia. Role: (1) comparative systems reviewer, (2) data collector, (4) data analyst, (5) prototype developer and (6) usability researcher.

10/17/2016 – 10/17/2017. Usability Testing of the Kinect-based Fall Risk Evaluation and Feedback System. Funding source: University of Missouri Research Council. PIs: Lorraine Phillips, Carmen Abbott, Isa Jahnke, Richelle Koopman, Marilyn Rantz, Stephanie Reid-Arndt, and Marjorie Skubic. Role: Usability researcher.

2016

10/17/2016 – 10/17/2017. Usability Testing of the Kinect-based Fall Risk Evaluation and Feedback System. PIs: Lorraine Phillips, Carmen Abbott, Isa Jahnke, Richelle Koopman, Marilyn Rantz, Stephanie Reid-Arndt, and Marjorie Skubic. Funding source: University of Missouri Research Council. Role: Usability researcher.

What I learned:

• to work with clients to identify UX research opportunities and objectives;
• to liaise with clients, director and manager of the IE Lab, research participants;
• to lead and participate in UX research projects;
• to plan, design, and conduct UX research studies in the lab, in the field, and remotely using a variety of qualitative methods (observation, Think-Aloud, interviews, task-based analysis etc.) and quantitative methods (SUS survey) across platforms;
• to identify user needs assessments and system requirements, draft usability testing protocols, conduct iterative usability testing including but not limited to using Morae software and Nielsen's heuristics for UX design, develop prototypes, provide consultations on system design and development, collect, code, and analyze data qualitatively and quantitatively, and write reports on UX improvements for clients;
• to maintain and develop contents for the IE Lab website;

My overall reflections

In the past three years, the work at the Information Experience (IE) Lab, quantitative and qualitative research classes I have taken, doctoral seminars, and the attending of conferences have helped me to get to know various qualitative and quantitative research methods.

I have been learning a diversity of UX and usability research methods through my work at the IE Lab. Also, working with the IE Lab has provided me the opportunity to have hands-on practice of learning about the flow of conducting a study: identify the research opportunities and objectives, plan, design, and how to actually conduct a study. Through the IE Lab work, I also have learned how to translate our work into publications, conference workshops, and conference presentations.

During the past three years, I have attended one qualitative course, eight quantitative courses, and three doctoral seminars. If permitted, I still love to take more quantitative courses since they have provided me with a strong foundation to do both qualitative and quantitative research, especially quantitative research. The techniques and skillsets I have gained from these method courses have helped me perform well in my work at the IE Lab, in my internship which requires skillsets in quantitative research analysis, and earn a certain number of research awards. These courses also have helped me with methods to translate research ideas into presentable or publishable products.

Attending conferences in the field also has provided me with opportunities to be exposed to new ideas and trends in the research area of my interests, which can help me uncover more research ideas. At the same time, I also learn about what I can do with research methods I have learned and the shortcomings I have for those methods through the presentations of other fellow researchers.

What I still need to improve

Although I have been learning a great number of research methods, especially quantitative methods, most of my conference presentations utilize qualitative research methods. Also, I have limited publications and none of my publications is related to quantitative research. In this coming academic year, I plan to work on more publications, especially quantitative research publications which use large scale public datasets like PISA or TMISS.